Remembering PRESTAGS

Fly sunning itself in the late afternoon

I've seen these big flies doing this in the early morning and late afternoon - presumably warming themselves up.

This was the first macro shot using the little manfrotto tripod that was in a camera bag I bought - really helps with bracing against the brick wall. I hope it will help shots when the jumping spiders emerge too. a little sharpening and exposure adjustment.

big crop

lesser crop

view as shot (it was more or less upside down)

have to post obviously - the moon

hand held last night from my front porch, seeing how the Nikon AF-P 70-300 DX goes vs the Tamron 70-200 f2.8. sharpened a little and contrast adjust a little in View NXi

70-300 AF-P

Tamron 70-200. although shorter, the Tamron image holds up well even with the additional cropping. (it is a big piece of glass)

Moon, supermoon

So I fired off some quick shots tonight before the supermoon was engulfed by cloud ...

here is one as shot (slight touchup for exposure). Hand held, D7500 @ 300mm

50% crop

Evening Sunday 3 May. D7500 @ 300mm, on tripod.

as shot

50% crop

another one, slightly different exposure

50% crop

Wonderful PRESTAGS Era Technology - Sony Earth-Orbiter CRF-5090

I picked up a wonderful old radio last week.

1972, made in Japan. That is almost half a century old.

Genuine PRESTAGS Era Technology. Would have been playing as the SPI classics came off the printing press.

It’s the Sony Earth-Orbiter CRF-5090. It really doesn’t get any cooler than a name like “Earth-Orbiter”. When it was released it must have been some pretty top notch kit.

It is big, heavy, and made of beautiful metal and chrome. Everything is rock solid unlike the junk made today. I bet most of today’s radios won’t be around in 48 years. And more to the point – it still works.

Here it is with the front cover closed, and then with the cover open next to my modern short wave radio, the Tecsun PL-880. I don’t think the modern one will be going strong in 48 years time.

It has a massive long aerial, and 9 bands including air band and marine band. The bands turn in an analogue cylinder with 3 bands showing at one time. Last night I was listening to the local AM and FM bands. I will need to play around with short wave.

I find it remarkable that it works so well. The circuitry must be primitive compared to the advanced circuitry now, and it obviously doesn’t have a PLL receiver or Digital Signal Processing and other features that enhance weak signals.

The sound is rich, crackles slightly until precisely tuned. It has a big shiny metal tuner with a fine tuner inside. Also a tuning meter. A little red light goes on inside the tuning band when a good signal is hit. All works fine. The main light works. The headphone jack works.

One great feature is that the front cover folds down, then slides in half way under the radio revealing a spectacular time zone map of the world, with a slider for calculating times. I love this map.

No power cord came with this radio but it did also originally hold batteries. Someone more technical than I has rigged up a pack inside the battery compartment than uses 10 x current AA batteries. This is the only post 1972 modification that I can see.

Why don’t we make solid beautiful equipment like this anymore instead of plastic junk with built in 3 or so years redundancy.

I found some history on radiomuseum.org.

New toys. Food. Old toy. Birds.

NEW TOY

So I got a poor man's RX100 - a used Canon S120 (for $120 incl post) with the teeny 1/1.7 inch sensor.

I'm pretty impressed. Solid build - metal top and bottom. Lot to learn to drive it though.

Should be good for quick photos.

Dinner last night.

Carl: spring rolls, chicken things, wedges


Thygo - stir fry / satay + kanga bangas

Packet cake made by Carl & Thygo last night, iced today, tastes good.

Lexi enjoying the sun

selfie of Grumpy old Man

 

Another NEW TOY - old binoculars (Gumtree special, $30)- object d'art

image quality good and much more comfortable to hold than the new-bought Olympus.  Both 8x40. Dad had/has a pair like these older ones when I was young.

thi

 

OLD TOY - D7500 + (stellar little) AF-P 70-300 DX VR - Crested pigeons from the clothes line. No cropping.

Editing rights?

I was going to edit my Tent post but doesn't seem possible once published on Prestags ...

IT IS POSSIBLE GRUMPY OLD MAN

was going to add that the Blue tent is advertised as '12 man' - I suppose it would be possible but it would be sardines with just sleeping bags, 4 per cubicle.

I imagine the other one might be rated at '9 man'.

once you start putting stretchers and other gear in it is harder to fit more people in. 

WELL WHAT DO YOU KNOW, IT WORKS

happy old man

Hoverflies

Took a rec day today to try to sort some stuff, including tax. Minor distraction in the morning - lots of hoverflies around a bush. Lile so many tiny little attack helicopters, as their name implies, just hovering in mid air. Creation is amazing.

Thought I will quickly (sic.) try to take a few shots.

Here a couple of better ones. Started with the Macro lens but it was having real trouble focusing quickly enough (especially in flight), and not focusing on the background. Using a tripod. Then tried the Tamron 70-200, focus speed better but it has a long minimum focus distance. Then tried the little Nikon 70-300 AF-P, and at this point remembered to go AF-C (moving targets) rather than AF-S (stationary) focus mode. Still elusive little blighters to catch. Out of camera jpegs with some sharpening and brightness/contrast adjustment and some cropping.

I expect if I tried processing the RAW images I could get them better - reduce noise, improve colour and exposure. A job for another day.

85mm

as shot (only shot uploaded that is not a crop), can you see him?

crop of above

not a hover fly ... (crop)

70-200

70-300 AF-P DX

that little 70-300 is a great little lens !

I could have kept playing for ages longer but didn't.

A few from the dog park this afternoon

took Lexi to the dog park (dustbowl) and tried out the Tamron 70-200 f2.8. Some in focus ...

Three attached. Lexi loves to chase and be chased. One of these is reminiscent of Hairy McClairy :-)

 

Star photography - part 2 - stars, kit, moon

one of the first ones, 15mm, complete with airplane or chopper ... Note that this is not what my eye saw - these are long exposures between 10 and 30 seconds. The trees are all fuzzy because it was quite windy and they were flapping about.

shot settings: manual focus (preset before dark), manual exposure - f2.8 & between 10 and 30 seconds, ISO between 2000 and 3200.

11mm showing the ingress light from the late arrival campers ...

20mm, after moving a bit further up the hill. Can you see the Southern Cross?

There are a few more. I was reasonably pleased with this for a first go.  Here is the set up as shot by my phone

Off to bed reasonably early but didn't sleep so well. Very windy through the night. Got up at 3am for a call of nature ...
and lo, the waning moon was evident. 300mm and cropped a lot. manual exposure about 1/500 sec and f8, ISO 400 (from memory)

 

next time I think I will search for a spot with a rocky outcrop in the foreground. Orroral valley would be great but I think it is shut off at night.

Star photography - part 1 - setup and packup

After soccer Saturday, I thought - sky is clear, moon is waning, not too cold - I should pack up some gear and try to shoot the stars.
Did a quick google and you tube swat for the settings ...
So after a frantic whipping up of the easy-up tent, sleeping bag etc, and requisite camera gear and some camping gear and food, off I went with Lexi to Wood's Reserve.
I forgot a few things - stretcher, G-shock, battery lantern ...
Took a focus setting shot and set lens to manual. Got the tent up before dark then pottered around getting some food, having a shower [the indulgent luxury of Wood's].
focus shot facing west-south-west. D7500 + Tokina 11-20 f2.8

star photos in part 2 ...

Sunday morning

my 'little' Coleman Lakeside 4 tent - I can put this one up on my own without any trouble as the height of the poles means you can reach everything. The quid pro quo is you can't really stand up in it except in the very centre.

home in time for choir practice & Mass

On the road again

After an awesome drive from Brisbane to Toowoomba, and back, I find myself pining for the open road again. This time my animal magnetism was overstretched, and I had neither man nor dog as companion. I did have a beast though!

Although it looks much the same as the Thrifty (best car hire firm ever!) beast, this one was noisy. I had forgotten how much noisy it makes. And Thirsty. For this journey, I used my entire quarter's fuel allowance for the Prius. Old tech, I suppose.

Spring was showing on the road with the wattles just starting to burst.

I stopped at a rest area and found some Rosellas and Grass Parrots enjoying a midday feed.

I had all these lenses in the car, but the trouble with those is by the time you have them all set up, the target has gone!

Just before jumping into the car again, I checked out the name of the reserve.

I can just image the Germans saying "There is a mad Aussie down there chucking grenades. Let's decamp." Thomas Derrick did inspire me though: next time I'm with my mates, I'll spend some time chucking grenades around.

Road Trip Stage One is a success, and Blust is in the Black.

Now I wonder if I will get a turn. The again, if John Michael Young wanted a turn, he had to invent a whole game. I just have to be patient, I suppose.

Of GAS Attacks And G-Shocks

GAS = Gear Acquisition Sydnrome.

A potentially serious disorder, common in PRESTAGS era males, and can be contagious.

Over the last six months I have managed to completely tame my field recording equipment GAS attacks, and much moderated my photography equipment GAS attacks.

Last week's purchase of a Panasonic Lumix DC-TZ90 was a relapse, and I blame Thygo because he is always tempting me with photography GAS ideas.

My new TZ90 is currently charging, ready for a test run sometime soon.

Nevertheless G-Shock GAS attacks have continued unabated, and I am expecting the arrival of another one this week. Bad Boy.

However, there are some G-Shocks that are beyond the reach of a GAS attack.

Unfortunately.

There is the 18 karat pure gold (as in real gold) G-Shock, model G-D5000-9JR (2019). Only 35 were made.

And there is the G-Shock MRGG1000HT (2016) "Hammer Tone".

This one was hand crafted using the tsuiki technique. Only 300 were made.

And there is the G-Shock MRG-G2000GA-1A (2019) hand-finished by Japanese swordsmith Sadanobu Gassan. Only 300 to be made.

But the one that I like the most, is the G-Shock MRG-G1000RT-1A (2015). This one is made from Titanium 64 alloy which is seven times harder than pure titanium.

Only 100 made.

Just dreaming.

I haven't forgotten, Python will want a G-Shock with a special background.

I think a white G-Shock in a white fridge next to a white Napoleon is pretty special.

 

Super fast delivery of GAS (little tripod - wall macro tool)

I ordered a little tiny tripod over the weekend and amazingly it arrived today.

The idea is to have something I can brace against the wall for shooting jumping spiders. Thought about a gorillapod but heard they are prone to squish down under weight/pressure, and, perhaps more importantly, if they get left in a hot car the joints are cactus.

So this little guy arrived:

It has two leg settings. The yellow I added for testing against the brick wall to avoid scratching it in the first 5 mins.

The macro set up. The ball head is from a monopod I had already. The rig can screw directly into the camera but then there is no movement possible.

and the results. providentially I spied a jumping spider when I was doing soccer practice with Carl (I expected them all to be gone but it hasn't really got cold yet).

These are straight out of camera jpegs, cropped (a fair bit) and downsized for the web - no post processing. The tripod works well I think, and I was impressed with the results - I think it gave the bracing / stability I was hoping for.

note the spinerets - they don't weave webs but play out a safety line behind them. He/she is sitting in the groove of mortar between two bricks which give an indication of scale.

Coleman Lakeside 4

the two lakeside 4 tents.

cream & blue

 

green and green

Nikon 16-85 Testing for the GAS Arrival

I am excited about my new GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) attack, to be collected next week: the Nikon D7500 and the Nikkor AF-S DX 16-80mm f2.8.

My aim is that this will be my new travel walk-around combo, especially for my next trip to Italy.

I'm hoping the 16-80mm with f2.8 will be great for outdoor scenic shots, plus great inside Churches.

The closest I can come to seeing what the 16-80 range will be like is having a play with my D7200 and a second hand 16-85mm f3.5 I purchased some time ago.

This morning I took some shots at Canada Bay. Stupidly, I didn't do any at exactly 80mm.

The 16mm is great for scenic shots:

Here is the Bushell's factory at 16mm and then with different zoom.

At 16mm:

At 42mm:

At 85mm:

Here are some shots of a bright blue car on the side of the road:

At 16mm:

At 34mm:

At 85mm:

Yes this is a great range.

Now I need to play around indoors. Although I'll probably have the actual GAS attack by then.