Not So Super Day

Went to Superday this year. The annual kids day at the park. With many food vendors, assorted kids rides and activities, exhibits, and in my opinion WAY to many vendors selling products/services. Seems like its becoming more and more a business day in the park.

The not so super part is the new Mayor of the city made some changes. The worst was eliminating the car show. Which has always been a huge part of the day. And gives the adults something to do. They eliminated a few other events they've done in the past. I guess that's called progress?

I went and wandered around. Wanted to take some car photos with my new camera! Instead I took some random photos around the park. Which was ok too. Lets get to that shall we?

I took my 'new' K-01 camera, along with a 21 mm wide angle and a 10-17mm fisheye zoom.

Closeups of a nice white flower in a flower bed.

A small bubbling fountain outside the Botanic Gardens building

A weed shot with a very narrow depth of field. These kind of shots are a little trickier to get with this mirrorless camera, looking at focus on the back screen. And the breeze blowing the weeds around sure doesn't help.

The only shot with the fisheye zoom. Angled so theres really no fisheye distortion. Just a nice day on the lake.

While the lack of car show made Superday considerably less super for me, there is a bit of good news! On July 4th, along with fireworks that night, there will be a car show that day. So maybe I can make up for it soon!

And So It Begins...

Starting a new mystery project.

What is it?

Gee, I wonder what it is? It's orange, I'm pretty sure.

More details to come in the future...

Total K-0!

K-01, actually.

Pentax K-01. My 'New' camera. New to me. It's actually used, I just bought it online from a guy (in Hawaii!) planning to upgrade.

I bought another Pentax because, well, that's what all my lenses are! And I can use them all on this camera.

I posted about getting rid of my K10D Pentax DSLR last year. Since then I haven't been able to use any of my lenses. That was a full on DSLR, 10 megapixel camera. It was good for it's time, but became outdated.

This new camera is 'different'. It uses regular DLSR lenses. But its the only Mirrorless design SLR that Pentax ever produced. Being mirrorless, it has no eyepiece, prism or mirror like DSLRs. You just look at the scene on the monitor on the back. It's supposed to make the camera smaller, and other brands that make mirrorless cameras ARE smaller. But they have different lenses for those cameras. Pentax kept their old DSLR mount for the camera so you could use the old lenses. Which is great. But the design makes the camera almost the same size as a regular DSLR.

It is a unique looking camera. Controversial. Much maligned. It was designed by Marc Newson, an Australian industrial designer. The camera itself is very well made. All metal body, with rubber grips. Very solid. But it looks like a brick. Handles like a brick. Its far from 'ergonomic'. Probably went a little to far to form over function. It's very usable as it is, but certainly could be better. There are workarounds, such as adding stick on grips to the front and back. Which I'm planning to do.

You wouldn't be wrong thinking it looks like its designed for kids by Fisher-Price. They even made it in some colors like bright yellow and bright blue.

But its actually a pretty decent camera. It came out in 2012, about 6 years ago. A very good Sony 16 megapixel sensor. Lots of capabilities and features. Current cameras with this size of sensor usually have 24 MP sensors. But that's some of what 6 years of progress get ya, for more $.

Here's the front of the camera. With my old hand strap attached I had on my DSLR.

The back. No articulated screen which would be nice. But I can live without it. 

The camera was in great shape. Other than a few small scratches the prior owner got on it during a hike, it looks almost like new. And, its only had a little over 1700 photos taken with it. Which is nothing for a 6 year old camera. Came with all the parts and accessories, all for just under $200!

My plan is to use this for a while. While waiting for Pentax to come out with a camera I really want. They have 3 DSLRs out right now, each has features I like and don't like. I'm holding out hope they'll come out with a camera in the future with ALL the features I want, and none of the features I don't. Probably won't happen. They'll probably go out of business before that happens, as they're more of a niche camera company all the time. Unfortunately.

Finishing up with a big and little shot -

Here's my physically smallest (21mm) and biggest (55-300mm) lenses mounted on the camera.

Shots USING the camera? Patience! Soon seeing them you will be, hmmm?

Head For The Hills

Just cause I'm going out for a hike. Nothing else.

Yet...

Anyway, after a seemingly endless cold and wet spring, we finally got some drier, warmer weather. It only comes in spurts. We get a couple nice days, followed by a week of cold and rain. Some spring this year.

Visited the nearby State Park again for a free visit 'kids' day. Free is always fine by this kid! There were a fair number of people about, but attendance seemed definitely lower than past years. But I never saw much promotion for it this year. Saw a Giant sponsored mountain bike trial ride trailer at the main trail head. And it looked pretty much deserted. Huh.

On to a few photos!

Big rock face. Looks Grumpy. But its actually called the Chameleon I believe.

A frozen shot of a small water feature along the stream. Looked kinda nice on the warm day. But the water is actually very cold. And a little too fast moving right there anyway. People were kayaking and canoeing a little ways farther along where it begins turning into the reservoir.

A neat little crown or halo of some yellow flowers along a trail. I was expecting more wildflowers since it had been so wet, but maybe it was a little early since it just warmed up. Bugs weren't a problem either. Always a plus.

That's all for this hike. Coming soon - some NEW (to me) camera tech!