Trade In, Trade Up

My old Pentax K10D DSLR camera, that I haven't used much lately, was something I've been thinking of selling. Just the body. It's about 10 years old, and since cameras are now little computers with lenses on them, not vessels to keep film from getting exposed, they need upgrading every so often. Technology changes make them obsolete, just like an old PC. Then they just sit around unused, collecting dust. More clutter. I'm trying to declutter. And so decided to get rid of it.

Was going to sell it on eBay. But Amazon offers a trade in service. And the value of it was maybe a little better than what I've seen cameras like mine sell for on eBay. Since I still had all the manuals, cables, original box etc. I gave it a try.

They ended up giving my about $30 less than I expected. Which wasn't great, they said it was 'heavily scratched' which it was not. The box was a little rough looking, but not the camera. I also traded in an even older Canon G6 point and shoot I hadn't used in years. Didn't get much for it. Not sure I like the Amazon trade-in service, feels like I should have gotten a little more. But it's done, time to move on.

The money from both of them will go towards a new DSLR probably. Just haven't decided which one to get. It'll be a Pentax, since that's what all my lenses are. Using the old technology to pay for the newer technology seems to be about as good a way to go as any, I guess. Who knows.

When I get a new camera I'll post about it here. Till then, I'll keep shooting with my trusty little Pentax MX-1. My only usable digital camera now. Yikes!

End Of The Road

For my old Jeep.

I've had a Jeep J10 pickup truck for ~17 years. I really like the look and style of the old Jeeps. Even if they aren't the most reliable thing on four wheels.

I had big plans to restore and fix it up, customize it, possible even doing a custom extended cab body conversion. Which they never made, so it would be really unique. It was easy to mock up the idea on the computer!

I even though of doing a whole body swap. Taking the body, with the extended cab, swapping it onto the frame and systems from a Toyota. Then it would still look like the Jeep, but be drivable and reliable as a Toyota. Certainly doable, many people do swaps like that.

I just didn't want to invest the time, large amounts of money and more. Plus my lack of detailed knowledge of how to do that sorta stuff finally made the decision for me. After mostly just maintaining it and keeping the rust semi at bay, I decided to sell it.

Put it on eBay, and it sold. To a guy near Toronto Ontario in Canada! Seems like a real nice guy, was happy to get it. Shipping it there wasn't cheap, I know that. Hope they fix it up and enjoy it up there, eh?

So here's it's send off - DHCBWOCHO style...

Eclipse

Right after I got back from my summer trip, we had the total solar eclipse. Well, it was total, about 100 miles north of where I was in Cheyenne. We had 97.5% totality of eclipse.

It was interesting. Got noticeably cooler. Probably 10-15 degrees for a short while. Was still daylight, but kind of an odd 'dim' to the light. The parking lot lights started turning on, till the eclipse began to end.

Put together a montage of photos, I shot with my small camera through a pair of eclipse glasses. While we missed out on the totality, we also missed out on the traffic! And it was pretty bumper to bumper. Going up and coming back later the same day. Looked like a parking lot on the highway.

Travellin' Man

Time for my summertime roadtrip to visit some family. And I always find a couple interesting photos to take along the way.

Had lots of interesting weather and clouds during the trip. Made a black and white out of this very interesting cloud scene.

Some heavy rainy clouds as well, as you can see from this. Looks like its just about to touch the ground. Was in and out of clouds and rain all the way.

And after you have rain, there's always some standing water. I liked how the water was reflecting the clouds, and broken up by all the rocks. That's about all I have that's interesting from this trip.

Explodio!

Independence day - which always ends in a big Fireworks show.

Same as every year, set up in the dark, shoot a bunch of pictures as the show goes on without really looking at them, hope you got something good afterwards!

And, I managed a couple!

 

The first, a nice starry multiple burst shot.

A big blue and a smaller red burst. That little one between them looks almost white. Maybe its a actual red/white/blue combo?

The last colorful burst from this July 4th. Happy Independence Day everyone!