2005-03-06: Ridiculous Numbers of Pictures

Speaking of which, Sony's apparently backing out of the high-end camera market. My 828 was once listed under the category of "Cybershot Pro", and now the category has been renamed to "Cybershot Enthusiast" on Sonystyle.com, and Sony's site specifically about the 828 has been permitted to go away (www.cybershotf828.com, which I'm not linking to since the web has enough broken links already). And they've now introduced the 12x optical-zoom DSC-H1. Although its MSRP is half of what the 828 ran for when new ($499 for the new model), they've stripped down a lot of features and added a few new ones:

1. Zoom: Almost double (12x, vs the 828's 7.1x)
   They also added optical image stabilization, almost mandatory at 12x.
2. Resolution: Reduced (5.1MP, down from 8.0MP) Almost double the zoom, but almost halve the resolution. I'm not sure the equation has improved.
3. Nightshot (infrared): Gone
4. Widest angle: Reduced from 28mm equiv to 36mm (lower is wider).
   Personally, I find the 828's wider angle VERY useful.
5. CCD size: Reduced
   Same pixels/square inch as the 828's CCD, this isn't likely to reduce sensor noise much.
6. Size: Smaller; much smaller lens assembly.
7. Lens: No more Zeiss name.
   I've never been one to get hung up on brands, so... eh, whatever.
8. Media type: Memory Stick only
   The 828's CF slot was one of my top reasons to buy it. The H-1's internal buffer, which the 828 lacks, is a nice touch. However, in the 828 you just fill both media slots (CF + MS) for 'oops, left out the microdrive' scenarios.
9. Weight: 460g vs 696g - so around 33% less.
   Ok, I'll recommend it over the 828 for grannies and the French. However, they changed out the magnesium body for Drebel-like plastic.

So, looking at it, the H-1 fails to excite me. Perhaps later, when a lower priced Indian-manufactured variant called the H-1B is introduced, it will have some compelling features. At any rate, Sony seems to have decided they can't cut it in the prosumer camera market, and are refocusing on slightly-feature hungry Sony loyalists. The introduction of this model reassures me that the 828 was a good choice, which is unlikely to get surpassed any time soon. At least, not by a camera with built-in IR. Don't get me wrong; if my 828 were burnt in a fire, I'd probably buy a new 828. The H-1 just doesn't impress me.

Now that I'm no longer sidetracked by the camera... Sunday. I took around 200 pictures, and deleted a fair number of them. Because the barber shop had a huge waiting list (apparently all the marines want haircuts at noon), I skipped the haircut and took pictures on the pier. The fish weren't biting; in fact, I only saw one fish actually get caught, and it looked small. I got a fair number of seagulls, as well as a pigeon or two. I also caught someone violating the no pets on the sand law. I also took a couple pictures of honeybees on flowers.

Next, I noticed some interesting car issues. Summer's not yet in full swing, hence the classic cars aren't cruising the beach yet. However, for your viewing enjoyment I spotted a smashed windshield, a biker dude, and the car with tackiness apparently exceeded only by its owner's patriotism. Here are the left, front, and right views of what happens when you go nuts on a dilapidated Olds with an airbrush and a stencil that says "USA" on it. Who knows, maybe 'decorating' a car in that condition is a statement by some Moore-worshipping pansy who voted for Kerry. Truthfully, I was surprised to find the stencilling on it. What first drew me to the car, was the belief that I was going to be photographing a car which looked as though a family of seagulls had been enthusiastically dive bombing it for several generations. I had expected to photograph a car exemplifying an altogether different definition of 'craptastic'.

By that time, my grandmother had been fed lunch, so I picked her up and took her to Aunt Merle's. I got lucky, and it was while Aunt Merle's son was mowing the field near her house with his Ford tractor.

Next up, I wandered the field behind her house. Since it seems everything I shoot there and upload to shutterstock sells, I took springtime pictures of the windmill, rusty vehicles, and the pump which is also a bee hive. I also scattered a few hard to categorize pictures in the main March directory.

On my way back to the house, I ran across a few rabbits in the field. The directory is here. In this picture, there are two rabbits. You'll probably have to zoom twice to see the second one, as I didn't even see him until I was writing this journal entry. And I'm not counting what I think is a squirrel statue on that post. In the later pics in that directory, I found a rabbit by the avocado tree who wasn't too concerned about my presence until I started getting closer. Naturally, I took as many pictures as I could before he ran for cover.

That was pretty much it for the day - other than that I did get my haircut after dropping my grandmother off, so all was right with the world.