Pee Nine Five Oh

I've had a lovely time out today at the hospital. It made for a refreshing diversion to working from home, walking from home, staying at home, food-shopping with people devoid of sense. I've never been so happy at the prospect of a flexible endoscope bringing light to the place where the sun don't shine. I feel very lucky that the NHS is just starting to get back into the swing of dealing with non-Covid stuff in time to coincide with my three-monthly scans and checks. All looks fine, well - clinically at least - if you've ever had a colonoscopy or similar you'll know that it doesn't look pretty on the screen ....

Even in a non-pandemic situation, ordering online on a Saturday evening and parcel arriving on Monday afternoon is pretty good going. Just before 4pm today the P950 turned up, and whilst I knew it would be a bit bigger and heavier than the P600 I've abused for the last 5.5 years, I wasn't quite prepared for how much....

P600 vs P950

P600 vs P950 - both on full zoom

It's a proper handful. It feels balanced though.

Nikon Coolpix 4500, Panasonic Lumix FZ45, Nikon Coolpix P600, Nikon Coolpix P950

The above is not quite the full evolution of my digital photography. My first digital camera was a Sony Cybershot DSC-S50, that really did die and I'm not sure what happened to it (probably in the loft somewhere). It had a swivel screen like the P600/P950 - only a less robust and that's what got broken. It got replaced with the Coolpix 4500 for macro stuff in c2003. I also had a secondhand Canon EOS350D DSLR which I used for birds for a while not long after starting this blog, but it had a dirty sensor and I eventually sold it on e-bay. The 4500 still works (or would if I charged the battery) but has so many dead pixels it is effectively useless. The FZ45 was working fine when I stopped using it, I just wanted a cleaner image which is why I ended up back with Nikon.

The P950 really is a bit of a beast though, and will take a bit of work to get used to. The macro set-up I've been using, with the P600 on a small tripod on the kitchen worksurface and x2 daylight lamps (above), will need some revision I think.

Anyway, out the box, in with an SD card and into the garden with what little charge was on the battery. The first bird I pointed it at was predictably one of the two male Blackcaps that have been frustratingly singing in clear view close by whenever I am without camera in hand. Not a bad first bird photo I reckon.

I charged the battery up enough to have a quick walk down the lane, although the light was starting to go with clouds rolling back in (no doubt they'll roll out before dusk and mothing). I pointed the camera at a Goldfinch on both no zoom and full zoom - no cropping or image editing here, just resized and an arrow added.

and the same with a Woodpigeon ....

It's got potential! I'm waiting for a step-down ring, but as the lens is so massive I couldn't get the full 67mm - 43mm needed for the Raynox lenses. For now I've ordered a 67mm - 52mm which will go onto the 52mm - 43mm I use with the P600. It might not work! The P600 is certainly not dead, and unlike the FZ45 I don't expect it will just be left ignored. Whilst the dials and controls are flaky, that's only an issue when out and about and changing modes. The image is still clean and is the same resolution as the P950, so I may well continue using it at home for macro stuff for a while until I get comfortable with and (hopefully) somewhere near proficient with the P950.


Anyway, that's enough blathering on about cameras - here's some beetles knocked out of hawthorn on Saturday afternoon.

Lochmaea crataegi

 Neocoenorrhinus aequatus, or whatever it's called this week

Cantharis decipiens

Lately I've been listening to the Wake Up the Coma album by Front Line Assembly ...

Shifting Through the Lens

Meh, I'm just not feeling it today. Whilst the sun was out there was a right nippy wind blowing through. Consequently not as much happening with no new insects showing themselves. The moth trap last night was pants too.

In fact the only bit of interest came during darkness without me knowing about it until this morning. I noticed what appeared to be fairly fresh droppings in the garden yesterday, and decided I'd lay some bait and try to make use of the camera trap I bought a while ago (on a whim, it's hardly been used). It worked, but I'd forgotten that the camera needs to be set a bit further back than I had left it so all the clips are a bit out of focus. Here's a brief one ....

So having caught this Hedgehog shifting through the lens, I set it back up later in the morning just to catch a few birds and check the distance whilst I got on with some work. Later on when checking, I had a few clips so downloaded a neat free bit of software to edit a couple of them (VideoPad Video Editor from NCH) seeing as my new PC is Windows 10 and Microsoft have ditched Movie Maker in the process. Nothing exciting, I'm just playing.

Not sure what to do at the weekend, I wouldn't be surprised if the weather was total shite meaning I can't get out anywhere. Oh, wait .....

This week, I have mostly been listening to ..

Front Line Assembly - or FLA as they are more usually known. There are only two Canadian bands/artists that I regularly listen to - and this does not include Bryan Adams, Celine Dion or Avril Lavigne ....

FLA were formed by Bill Leeb after he left my other favourite Canadian band Skinny Puppy. They have a big back catalogue since their first 1987 release, right through to 2007 and probably more to come. Bill Leeb has also been involved in numerous side-projects including Intermix, Noise Unit and Delerium.

Whack the volume up - no, louder than that - but don't watch this first video clip if you are epileptic, and any of them if you:
1 have a headache
2 like the vocal track to be clean and shiny like that nice lad Joe McElderry