02 August 2015
Island Life, 2 August 2015: Photography
02/08/15 15:21
In 1610 Galileo Galilee became the first person to point a telescope at objects in the sky. It’s often believed that Galileo invented the telescope, but that is incorrect. That honour belongs to a group of spectacle makers from the Netherlands. They invented the telescope in 1608 and were marketing it to sailers and harbour masters. Galileo merely improved upon the invention and used it in a way that no one had thought of before.
So, why the history lesson? You see at work we make, among other things, remote controlled cameras. The SP45 is a good basic camera with a pan, tilt and built in lights. The SP90 adds zoom (10x optical and 4X digital), plus a better imager, automatic focus, better low light capability, and other refinements. The SP120 is the largest of the cameras and comes in two models, a Standard Definition version with 36x optical zoom and a High Definition version with a better imager, but only 10X optical zoom.
We have a pool of equipment that customers can rent or we send out for sales demonstrations. Well, a couple weeks ago the Rental/Demo SP120 SD was back, for the first time in months, and I decided to try an experiment in the spirit of Galileo. I borrowed the camera for the weekend. When I got home I set it up on the deck. Then I waited. And waited. And waited. This time of year actual dark doesn’t happen till about 10:30. In fact there was still a bit of glow on the horizon at 11:00. Once it was mostly dark I started looking at things in the sky. I could see stars, I think I saw Saturn but wasn’t able to resolve any detail. The camera may be 120mm in diameter but the lens is only around 25mm. As a result, it just doesn’t gather enough light to resolve details in fainter objects. Once the Moon came up though my idea was vindicated. There was plenty of light (I actually had to turn the brightness all the way down to keep it from washing out). I could see craters, and mare basins, and mountainous highlands. It was wonderful. Also, the system has a built in DVR that lets me both take videos and snapshots of the image.
OK, yes I can see more clearly and fainter objects with my regular telescope. Its lens is 125mm diameter vs the camera’s 25mm and that makes a big difference. And there’s a hint of chromatic aberration in the image. But I’m impressed. These pictures were taken with a water tight/weather tight camera designed for use in sewer pipes, industrial tanks, beneath the ocean, in underground tunnels and nuclear plants. I think all things considered, these shots are bloody impressive. Now I just have to figure out how to combine my telescope and it’s superior optics, with the systems remote control functions. THAT would be fun to play with. (The time stamps on the pictures is not correct.)
In other news, we’re looking at painting the outside of the house. We’ve been looking at the Rancid Moss colour for long enough. It’s time to shake things up a bit. Now, those of you that know us know that we’re not afraid of strong colours. Beige need not apply on our house. We have narrowed it down to four and have put up test swatches to see how we like them.
First though I think the neighbours probably wonder if we’re going to do the whole house as a patchwork quilt, and we thought about it. Honestly, with Home Depot having the samplers on sale at about half price it’s definitely doable. However as tempting as that might be, we’re going to choose one. We’ve shown it to Barb and a few others. We’ve even talked about putting a table at the end of the driveway and letting the neighbours vote. They’re the ones that have to look at it. So here is your chance to have some input on this as well. Which colour do you like better, 1, 2, 3, or 4. Drop us a note and let us know. We are not planning on painting the stucco or the brick chimney.
A funny thing happened while we were picking out colours. We were at the Home Depot, Paint Department and they were mixing up a sample of the red for us. As we waited a tattooed guy in a torn Harley shirt and faded blue jeans, came up. He was in the process of painting his house too and was buying his third 5 gallon pail of blue. As you might expect he had paint in his hair, and on his shirt, and on his arms, everywhere. The only place where it wasn’t sticking was where the sweat was washing it off. He had just placed his order when Marsha said, “Oh that’s a nice blue”, walked over and grabbed his arm. “Is this the colour you’re painting the house? Oh I like that.”, and then she held out his hand to the clerk and said, “Can we get a sample of this as well?”
The clerk and I were a bit taken aback, for that matter so was Mr. Hair&Sweat. But then we all just cracked up. I mean we didn’t know this person at all, but there’s Marsha jumping in with both feet and everyone rolled with it. That’s what I like about this little town. (By the way Mr. Hair&Sweat’s blue is colour #4.)
In totally unrelated news, Kraft announced that in Canada Kraft Dinner won’t be called Kraft Dinner, or even Macaroni and Cheese any more. No from now on it will just be called KD. They say it’s because that’s what most people call it up here, anyway. Personally I think this will allow them to remove any remaining trace of “cheese”. I suspect that from now on it will be made in the same plant and out of the same stuff as Lego blocks, cell phone cases, and McDonalds Nuggets..
And finally, as you know I have fun with words. I especially like to update lyrics for well known tunes. Here’s a lyric I’ve been playing with:
Do, Some cash I just got paid.
Ray, My bookie in the Bronx.
Me, Some guy that wears my shorts.
Fa, The girl who sells me lox.
Sol, My agent, call him Mo.
La, Do da de da de do.
Te, The model of my car.
Which will bring us back to
Do’h
Some people think I don’t take the classics seriously enough. I really don’t know where they get that. There’s nothing at all disrespectful about that. I can just imagine Julie Andrews singing “Do, some cash…”. It would have been the high point of the movie.
We were also happy to have two of our nephews, Luke and Joel come up to visit for a few days. It was nice to how much they have grown into some nice young men. (mega)
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Our Nice Weather.
So, why the history lesson? You see at work we make, among other things, remote controlled cameras. The SP45 is a good basic camera with a pan, tilt and built in lights. The SP90 adds zoom (10x optical and 4X digital), plus a better imager, automatic focus, better low light capability, and other refinements. The SP120 is the largest of the cameras and comes in two models, a Standard Definition version with 36x optical zoom and a High Definition version with a better imager, but only 10X optical zoom.
We have a pool of equipment that customers can rent or we send out for sales demonstrations. Well, a couple weeks ago the Rental/Demo SP120 SD was back, for the first time in months, and I decided to try an experiment in the spirit of Galileo. I borrowed the camera for the weekend. When I got home I set it up on the deck. Then I waited. And waited. And waited. This time of year actual dark doesn’t happen till about 10:30. In fact there was still a bit of glow on the horizon at 11:00. Once it was mostly dark I started looking at things in the sky. I could see stars, I think I saw Saturn but wasn’t able to resolve any detail. The camera may be 120mm in diameter but the lens is only around 25mm. As a result, it just doesn’t gather enough light to resolve details in fainter objects. Once the Moon came up though my idea was vindicated. There was plenty of light (I actually had to turn the brightness all the way down to keep it from washing out). I could see craters, and mare basins, and mountainous highlands. It was wonderful. Also, the system has a built in DVR that lets me both take videos and snapshots of the image.
OK, yes I can see more clearly and fainter objects with my regular telescope. Its lens is 125mm diameter vs the camera’s 25mm and that makes a big difference. And there’s a hint of chromatic aberration in the image. But I’m impressed. These pictures were taken with a water tight/weather tight camera designed for use in sewer pipes, industrial tanks, beneath the ocean, in underground tunnels and nuclear plants. I think all things considered, these shots are bloody impressive. Now I just have to figure out how to combine my telescope and it’s superior optics, with the systems remote control functions. THAT would be fun to play with. (The time stamps on the pictures is not correct.)
In other news, we’re looking at painting the outside of the house. We’ve been looking at the Rancid Moss colour for long enough. It’s time to shake things up a bit. Now, those of you that know us know that we’re not afraid of strong colours. Beige need not apply on our house. We have narrowed it down to four and have put up test swatches to see how we like them.
First though I think the neighbours probably wonder if we’re going to do the whole house as a patchwork quilt, and we thought about it. Honestly, with Home Depot having the samplers on sale at about half price it’s definitely doable. However as tempting as that might be, we’re going to choose one. We’ve shown it to Barb and a few others. We’ve even talked about putting a table at the end of the driveway and letting the neighbours vote. They’re the ones that have to look at it. So here is your chance to have some input on this as well. Which colour do you like better, 1, 2, 3, or 4. Drop us a note and let us know. We are not planning on painting the stucco or the brick chimney.
A funny thing happened while we were picking out colours. We were at the Home Depot, Paint Department and they were mixing up a sample of the red for us. As we waited a tattooed guy in a torn Harley shirt and faded blue jeans, came up. He was in the process of painting his house too and was buying his third 5 gallon pail of blue. As you might expect he had paint in his hair, and on his shirt, and on his arms, everywhere. The only place where it wasn’t sticking was where the sweat was washing it off. He had just placed his order when Marsha said, “Oh that’s a nice blue”, walked over and grabbed his arm. “Is this the colour you’re painting the house? Oh I like that.”, and then she held out his hand to the clerk and said, “Can we get a sample of this as well?”
The clerk and I were a bit taken aback, for that matter so was Mr. Hair&Sweat. But then we all just cracked up. I mean we didn’t know this person at all, but there’s Marsha jumping in with both feet and everyone rolled with it. That’s what I like about this little town. (By the way Mr. Hair&Sweat’s blue is colour #4.)
In totally unrelated news, Kraft announced that in Canada Kraft Dinner won’t be called Kraft Dinner, or even Macaroni and Cheese any more. No from now on it will just be called KD. They say it’s because that’s what most people call it up here, anyway. Personally I think this will allow them to remove any remaining trace of “cheese”. I suspect that from now on it will be made in the same plant and out of the same stuff as Lego blocks, cell phone cases, and McDonalds Nuggets..
And finally, as you know I have fun with words. I especially like to update lyrics for well known tunes. Here’s a lyric I’ve been playing with:
Do, Some cash I just got paid.
Ray, My bookie in the Bronx.
Me, Some guy that wears my shorts.
Fa, The girl who sells me lox.
Sol, My agent, call him Mo.
La, Do da de da de do.
Te, The model of my car.
Which will bring us back to
Do’h
Some people think I don’t take the classics seriously enough. I really don’t know where they get that. There’s nothing at all disrespectful about that. I can just imagine Julie Andrews singing “Do, some cash…”. It would have been the high point of the movie.
We were also happy to have two of our nephews, Luke and Joel come up to visit for a few days. It was nice to how much they have grown into some nice young men. (mega)
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Our Nice Weather.