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 It was good for it's time, but became outdated.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! 

Countdown

A year from now, in May 2019 the Union Pacific is marking the 150th Anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The plan is to take the only restored and (hopefully) operational Big Boy locomotive to the event.

I last saw the train four years ago, when they brought it to the UP Steam Shop here in town from California. That was the last Depot Days I went to. With the deadline approaching, thought I'd go back and see how 4 years work has progressed.

Here's a quick link to that post: http://spiritboxstudio.blogspot.com/2014/05/caution-big-boy.html

The Depot Days are still the same as before - a lot of interesting trains, but my feelings haven't changed from four years ago. All the interesting old stuff is cordoned off, you can't go into any of the trains anymore, it's just too limited and restricted for me. But it's still interesting for a few photos.

The Big Boy is - in parts. Lots of parts. Apparently the tear down is done, most everything has been repaired or rebuilt. Custom made parts are done or in the process, and they are beginning to reassemble the train. Though it looks to me like they have a looooong way to go. Considering they have less than a year to get it all together, finished, tested and operational. But they're committed to having it ready for next May. Barring any unexpected major problems, they'll likely do whatever they need to get 4014 back on the rails.

Here's some of the main drive wheels waiting to get reinstalled. Serious Heavy Metal! The cab for the train was just to the left of these wheels, it still needed some work done on it. Behind the wheels you can see some of the 844 'Living Legend' locomotive. Another shot of that one coming up soon...

The front undercarriage of the engine. Lots of parts here look like they've been rebuilt, it's painted and probably just waiting for a few other things before it can be put back in place. You can see the front of the locomotive behind it

This wide shot shows the whole boiler of the train as it is today. There were people working on it as the open house was going on. Looks a little more like a missile than a train right now with all the other parts removed. More work to be done before it can get painted and start reinstalling everything, but I'm sure it'll start looking like a Big Boy before long.

But I didn't come just to see the progress on the Big Boy. I snapped a few more photos on the rather chilly day. But it was better than the day before when it rained all day.

Here's a head-on shot of the 844 'Living Legend'. The last steam locomotive built for the Union Pacific. And the only steam locomotive never officially retired. Originally pulling passenger cars, then freight cars, it was finally put on Special Service duty. Which it still does to this day making occasional special excursion trips. The other operational steam locomotive they have, the 3985 Challenger was nowhere to be seen. Must be stored elsewhere currently.

The signal lights atop a slightly weathered old passenger car outside what's left of the Roundhouse in the rail yard. Some of the old train cars are almost like new, other like this are fair but showing some weathering. Others are just rusted, parted out hulks.

I like this somewhat weather beaten sign on the door of the Roundhouse. Inside are a number of older steam and diesel engines currently. In various conditions. Everything shows its age, just like this worn sign on the worn door of a worn old building. But they just keep on.

Outside the Roundhouse were these two old cabooses. Pretty weathered and rusted, I went with a basic black & white look for these two tired old cars.

This is an old GM Electro-motive diesel engine. These were some of the first "streamlined" diesel engines that replaced all the steam locomotives. Before they were replaced by the newer diesel locomotives still in use today. There are a couple of these older diesels in the shop. I don't know if they are operational, but they sure look like they are. They look almost like new.

Probably my favorite shot of the day. This old engine spends its days looking out the Roundhouse windows, across the railroad tracks at the restored UP Depot. Longing for the days of being out on the rails, now just watching "the kids" go by every day with their loads...

That's it for my return to Depot Days. The Countdown is on! Will Big Boy 4014 make it? Guess we'll  know in about a year.