in-my-viewfinder

As you might have seen I have done a few things differently to the last upteen months.
For one I have bothered to go out and take some photographs. For another I used a compact camera!
Yes things are a bit different at the moment but I hope you agree that my new Nikon Coolpix A does a very good job in my DSLR's absence.
I have found the new camera very liberating as I can quickly grab it and go no matter what my plans. It is also fairly stealthy so you don't stick out too much but still takes very high quality photographs.
I am getting used to shooting with a wide prime which has been a new challenge. The camera lends itself to landscapes so naturally I have ended up shooting subjectively. This has to be done in an interactive seance to make the best use of the lens. It has been an enjoyable learning experience and one I intend to build upon whilst I enjoy my free time.


I have been shooting with the DSLR back home but not sharing the images on here as they are more technical images that don't lend themselves well to an art website. I might pick out a couple to share if I deem them at least interesting enough but in the mean time if you want to see them and maybe have a good read about some fun engineering projects then check out these blogs:

VW Transporter T5
Suzuki GSXR400 GK73A
Yamaha RD250 D
Honda VFR800 RC46
Honda NSR250 MC28

Hello all and sorry for being so quiet.
I have been busy and the camera has taken a back burner as I have been concentrating on building up my racing career (more on this another time). I have also let my premium slip as frankly I'm not here enough to need it.
I have been away with work a lot and seen some great stuff but sadly have been unable to share. My DSLR is too big to be bringing in my limited luggage so I have to use a compact. Unfortunately my Fuji XP130 went walkies earlier in the year so I am stuck with a mobile phone. Suffice to say the pictures are good enough but not what I would share on here.
As such I have been in the market for a pro grade compact camera. I am keep to stay in the Nikon brand as I like to keep things familiar. I have looked at cameras like the Fuji 100 series and Leicas but they are a bit steep for what I am planning to use them for.

I have a short list of cameras (very short in fact) with the Nikon DL as the top pimp daddy and the cause of all of my problems.
The DL was announced last year as a three frame pro grade compact range. I was looking at the two smaller cameras but as yet these have not been released due to the earthquake damaging the factory last year.
The other two are the Nikon Coolpix A and P340 with the P330 as a rank outsider. All of these are discontinues cameras due to the DL's planned released which has left a big gap in the Nikon range. As such all of these cameras have rocketed up in price as demand outweighs supply.

The Nikon  has a hot shoe and a DX sensor so is to all intents and purposes a shrunk down SLR. The prime 28mm equivilent f2.8 lens would work fine whilst away and the familiar controls would be most welcome. THis camera oozes quality and for the loss of a bit of zoom (something I wont use a great deal) I can live with that.

The P340 and P340 are very similar cameras with a zoom for extra flexibility. The camera can produce some great images from a small frame so is up there with the A for me. Between the two the p340 ditches the GPS for Wifi of which I would use neither. The other differences are small except for the lens ring control on the P340 which looks very helpful. Unfortunately the P340 is very hard to find second hand and are reaching an outrageous premium for very worn cameras.

So I'm strggling for a compact camera. I know there are more out there but nothing is quit grabbing me. I am ope to suggestions though so feel free to stick your two pennies worth in, it would be much appreciated.

As many of you know already I sold my Audi A4 last year before going on my travels. You may also know I bought a blue VW T5 2.5 TDI 130ps LWB 4motion Transporter but that didn't last long soooo: I bought another one.
Everyone welcome to the stable my new VW T5 2.5 TDI 130ps LWB Transporter, in silver. Being Silver it won't have all the engine problems of the Blue one (cough) and as I had to wait a little longer to get it, t cost more so is less tatty.
This has resulted in me having a van so I can move big stuff again and turn up to photo shoots not dressed like a power ranger which is helpful. Also I'm skint again so I will have to play with the toys I have and no new ones for a bit.
As per the bikes I have a blog for the VW Transporter on blogger where I will waffle about various mods and tweaks I perform on the Dub rather than bore you with it on here. You might get some cross over with photography though so it is doubtful that this will be the last you will hear of it (none of the current images are mine mind).
If you were wondering what I was on about with regards to blogs then there is also a NSR250 SE MC28 and VFR800 F RC46 blog that are pretty well established with some interesting tails of wo for you to giggle at over a brew.
You will also spot me on the VWT5Forum, if you are a member; please do say hi .

On another subject entirely I am currently away from home (oh well that makes a change) and only had space to pack my F90x with a Nikkor 50mm f1.4. Currently wishing I had brought the Tamron 17-35 as the leaves are turning giving me a few landscape opportunities that I had to pass up with the kit I have. A variety of random stuff may well come up though, part of the fun of what I do I guess
Have a van pic by the previous owner until I get a chance to photograph the damn thing.




A collection of new images should always be accompanied by a journal so here it is.
Yesterday I took a trip to a local Falconry and wildlife park; namely Woodside wildlife park and falconry. As it turns out it is a small yet pretty good place to visit. Some real characters in the animals and staff made the day much more enjoyable.
I got another chance to shoot with the Tamron 150-600mm and yet again I let the shutter speed get far too low. Still learning!
Even so I managed to get one or two decent images. One thing that was bothering me allot that day was the lens seeming to struggle to focus. Now this is never easy with small fast moving birds but it was consistently focusing too far out. This was in part due to the limit switch getting knocked back on but other times it was just having a mare. It was also not refocusing between frames which it is supposed to do. Otherwise I had a nice time and got one or two decent frames.
As for motorcycles I have been in the garage with the VFR800 for minor exhaust maintenance and the RD250 to make it look a bit more like a bike than a pile of bits. I have included an image of its starting point above. Things aren't looking a whole lot better but I am starting to get some direction on this project now. The NSR250 is now stripped ready for painting and the other RD is a rather unconvincing pile of bits.
A big reason for reduced motorcycle work and photography has been work and my garden. Both are hungry for my attention and neither look any better for it.



Yet again I have been quiet. This is partially because I have nothing much interesting to say but mostly because I have been rather busy. 2 new Yamaha RD250's that are scattered round my garages are a big cause of this!
Anyway there was a reason for this update that was of more interest to you:
As you may know already; I own a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with a 498R2 ball head. I recently noticed that the ball locking lever was doing absolutely nothing (the friction knob and panning lever worked fine still). It would just wind in to its stop having achieved nothing. The ball head could be locked with the friction screw but this was far from ideal so I assumed that this head had prematurely died.
I was looking for a replacement head (a little miffed that this had died after just a couple of year light usage) and thought I'd just try to see if there was anyone else with this problem. As it happened there are and this flickr discussion gave me the answer I needed.The cause of the issue is a plug in the end of the screw or more to the point its absence. If you wind the locking lever too far out this plug can fall out into the ball head. To retrieve it all you have to do is unscrew the locking lever and give the head a shake. 2 minutes later, with the plug back slotted into the end of the locking lever screw, everything works like new
This is a known 'problem' and Manfrotto's answer is to just not unscrew it too much. As it happens mine had wound out whilst walking so it would be advisable to lock the head before traveling. Some people have suggested gluing or soldering the plug into the end of the screw but this is a bad idea as it will introduce friction when screwing the lock lever in thus damaging the head.
One other thing I found out about this head that I did not know was that you can lull the levers out and rotate them freely. This is [supposed to be] useful if they lock in an undesirable position.



This weekend a few colleges and I dragged ourselves out of our hotel and went on a little road trip through the heartland of the USA.
The first place we visited was Wichita, Kansas state. Here we met up with F16CrewChief (If you don't know him, he has one of the best catalogues of aircraft on dA check him out!) where we visited the Kansas aviation museum and Kansas Cosmosphere. Both were fantastic, interesting places to visit.
The aviation museum was especially good to photograph; from the Art-Deco terminal to the exhibits themselves (some actually squeezed inside the terminal building itself!) making for a great range of interesting subjects. Some of the images from the museum are featured above, the last of which, the Jet Mentor is very special indeed. There are plenty more images besides these and I will upload some of these later.
The Cosmosphere has some great exhibits, some of which I will share soon, the Apollo 13 command module was my personal highlight.
Once we were done with the Cosmosphere we said our goodbyes to F16CrewChief, who had been dropping all kinds of interesting insight up until this time, so we could make our way to Kansas city.
On our way to Kansas we stopped at the former Mildred concrete plant. Sadly it was dark when we got there making exploration tricky. What we were able to get to in our limited time was very interesting though, I only wish we had more time and better planning to make more of it.
Kansas brought us the WW1 museum at the Liberty memorial and Negro baseball league museum. Both were very interesting and informative. The world war 1 museum was allot more substantial than we had been lead to believe with very large collections of small arms, field guns and even a tank. Pretty impressive considering its size.  
All good things have to come to an end sadly and now facing -9c accompanied by a rather chilly wind, we decided to go home. This meant we didn't get to visit the PHM-5 Aeris hydrofoil we had hoped to see. Promise of blizzards, no response from the museum piece owner and a lack of taste for any further driving saw us skip out this extra leg to our journey.
For a relatively short notice trip it was a good fun event made all the more special for F16CrewChief taking the time to come say hello to whom we owe a big thank you.



With the Tamron 150-600mm f5-6.3 DI VC USD it was inevitable that the already over stuffed Tamrac Adventure 9 was far to small for the job. I spent far to long researching bags and was considering some real monsters before settling on a second hand Expedition 7.
Big enough to carry the monster Tamron fitted to the camera along with all of my other lenses, two speed lights and assorted crap. Most importantly though the Tripod fits down the centre of the back, far less annoying than dangling under the bag like it did on my Adventure 9.
I look forward to getting out with it for an adventure or expedition...