Postage And Packaging

Just as I checked my mailbox this morning (the real-world one, not my e-mail) the mailman arrived.  We said "hi", exchanged some pleasanteries and we both went our separate ways; me upstairs to my studio, he to continue his round.

Jus as I sat down, I heard a "dum-dumdumdumdum-dum-dum" on the window and whaddayakno, there was the mailman again.  Seemed he forgot a delivery for me. So, the good man handed me a package the size of a small shoebox, we shared some more pleasanteries and I went back inside and he, well, he continued his service.

From the minute I saw the marking "Royal Mail" on the box, I knew my lenses had arrived, since the guy I bought 'em from lives near London, U.K.  I of course already thought so, since I wasn't expecting anything else.

Lenses were very neatly packaged with probably a complete British newspaper crammed around and between the lenses.  Good.  Unpacked 'em both, saw that the filters for the Tamron 500mm were included and tried them on the camera.  The Tamron was a touch reluctant to get fitted, which was more due to me not being used to swap lenses on a DSLR: I missed the red marker on the lens, which has to correspond to the red marker on the camera in order to fit the lens smoothly.

Once I noticed those markers, switching goes without a glitch and both lenses -the Tamron and te Canon 75-300mm USM lens- fit and work properly.  Must say that working with the Tamron mirror lens is going to take some getting used to.  Indeed, working with the Canon EOS600D is going to need some adapting on my part, me being used to the point-and-shoot Canon SX1-iS...

All I need now is some proper casings for the lenses and off we go into the wilderness to harass the natives by pointing my lenses in their general direction...

I'll keep you posted...
JJ

The Camera Eye

Yesterday, my new second-hand Canon EOS600D (Rebel T3i) arrived from Cottbus, Germany, courtesy of Hermes Paket International.

Usually things from Germany arrive through DHL courrier. Hermes is cheaper, but their track and trace system isn't as accurate. It was still announced on their website as just having been sorted at their hub in Cottbus while someone was already on my doorstep with the package.

Wasn't home, but a neigbour signed for it and left a note (Hermes guy also left a note, must add) and brought me the package as soon as he saw me.

No problems with the content. Everything was inside the original box, as advertised by the seller on ebay.  The guy even threw-in an adapter to hang the camera directly on the mains through a wall-socket.

 

My first surprise however, was that the EOS600D is actually lighter than my Canon PowerShot SX1-iS, even with the EFS 18-55mm lens attached to the former.  My guess is that this is due to the different batteries: a single 7.5volts one for the EOS600D, while the SX1 has four AA/HR6 1.5volt batteries.  Although I must add that the SX1 has a more sturdy feel to it.  Must be because of the slightly more compact size.

Due to its bigger size, the 600D feels better in the hand. I've got fairly large hands, so the 600D's bigger size comes in, well, handy, as the buttons are spaced more evenly so there's less of a chance to accidentally hit something while manipulating the camera.

A few buttons also have different naming, which had me dive into the manual a few times already.  First and foremost to learn how I could actually switch the display from informative text to seeing what I saw through the viewfinder.

There's a "Display" button on top of the camera, but all it does is turn the display off or on, not switch between picture and menu.  After having checked the manual, I foud out that I had to hit the one button I'd been avoiding altogether.  Didn't wanna touch that button, because it's red.  A similar red button on the SX1 is for filming, so, I thought that it would be the same on the 600D.  Not so: that red button on the 600D is to switch to so-called "Live Mode".  In Live Mode you are indeed able to see on the display what you see through the viewfinder.  Only negative about this is that Live Mode is switched off everytime the camera goes into stand-by.  For now, that stand-by modus kicks in after 30 seconds.  Annoying thing is that you have to hit the red button again, everytime the camera has been in stand-by...

Maybe there's a way around it, but I haven't come across one in the manual, so far.

Anyway, seems I'll have to do a bit of studying.  Can't wait to go out and use the camera, though.  I bought a couple of lenses too -a 75-300mm USM and a Tamron 500mm mirrorlens- so I'm waiting til they've arrived.  Then I'll have to buy enclosures for the lenses and then I'll have a walkabout through the port, see what's pleasing to the eye and the camera...

I'll keep you posted.
JJ

Yes I'm moving on, moving on from town to town...

Well, not exactly from town to town, as Bad Company sang in 1974. But I'm moving anyway, albeit only 300 meters in birdflight.

Been living here for only four years, since October first 2008. Social Housing is what we call it in Belgium. Is a company which owns several thousands of apartments and rents them to people who subscribed for such an apartment -when one is free, that is.

Rent is calculated according to income, which is very fine by me.

My current "residence" is a bit on the small size, an overgrown studio, really. Thirty-six square meters. That's it. Just room enough for me to turn around in-between the furniture I've stacked-up over the last couple of years.

The apartment I'm moving to is more than three times as large, with just under one-hundred and twenty square meters. Is going to be a nice change to be able to actually walk around in my apartment, instead of shuffling along a narrow pathway in-between boxes and furniture.

Must say I overdid the buying in recent years -with the knowledge I was going to move "soon", I kept on acquiring stuff. And the more things you buy, the smaller the apartment becomes, of course.

I also -finally- bought the wardrobe that goes with the bed I bought two years ago. At the time, I couldn't buy the wardrobe -well I could, but then it didn't fit in the bedroom because of lack of space.

I went to see the apartment a couple of weeks ago. Looks exactly the same as the one my mom is getting. Which is kinda logical, since it's in the apartment block just next to mine. And since the blocks were all built around the same time, it kinda fits that the apartments lay-outs are the same.

The housing company is now going to improve the apartment. I get new kitchen furniture as the cupboards that were there were kind of tacky and looked old and used. The walls are getting a fresh lick of paint and the floor gets new carpetry too.

The only thing which bothers me a tad is that I'll have to spend a small fortune on draperies. I've got around twenty-eight square meters of window, so I'll have to do some decent window dressing.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting out of this place and moving into the new apartment. Need some breathing space, desperately. On the other hand, it's a bit of a shame we have to move. With "we" I mean all the other folks who live in "my" block. It's not exactly a block, since the housing consists of a U-shaped building with a ground floor and one storey and with a large, grassy open space in the centre.

You reach your apartment via a gallery, which means that when I go outside and stand on the gallery, I look out over the grassy centre of the block -hey! I can even see the front door of my mom's apartment from where I live.

Living in such a tucked-away area also means that you have lots of contact with the other residents. In the summer, people put chairs and small tables outside on the -broad- gallery, so there's lots of contact -a small friendly community of around 35 people.

That is lost now. An apartment block isn't the same. You go out of the apartment and you're in stairway hall, with a door across the landing that leads to your neigbour's apartment -a neighbour you only encounter sporadically when both happen to go out at the same time.

But I don't mind too much either. Bit of a loner by nature, so I don't specifically need to get in touch with the surrounding natives. But it's still a pity that our small community is being split up. Especially since a lot of the folks around here are elderly people, for which others -including myself- were always at the ready to help 'em out.

But, like I said; I can't wait to get out and move in. If that makes sense.

I'll keep you posted.

JJ

Say cheese...

Photography. You know, the act of pointing a camera at some or other object and clicking away until the batteries wear out; that kind of thing.

I like that. Taking pictures I mean -not the batteries running out.

I started off way back in the early eighties of the last century, with a clunky Zenit 35mm mirror-reflex camera. Mainly taking pictures at rock gigs, using the most sensitive film available at the time: 400ASA dia-film from AGVA-Gevaert.

Sadly, most of my negatives have gone missing over the years -thanks to moving places every so often and everytime leaving more and more stuff behind you deem not worth the trouble of shlepping around any longer. Of course, once in a while you leave behind a box of "junk" which also containes stuff you'd never want to throw away.

As in most cases, you only notice something is missing when it's too late.

I took up photography once more when I went to New York City, spring of 2007. Got a small digital compact from my sis; an HP PhotoSmart C935. Not too bad a camera, that one. Fairly compact and very easy to use, with satisfying results.

The reason I got it from my sis was because she in the meantime had bought a Canon PowerShot S2 iS, a compact with DSLR features.

Now, while I was walking around at J&B on Park Row -just across from City Hall Park, I saw a Canon PowerShot S3 iS for $300, including a Lamborghini bag, a 1GB SD card, four AA batteries with speed charger and a miniature tripod.
Having checked prices back in Belgium, I was amazed that this camera would cost me the equivalent of $600 back home.

So, I did the only reasonable thing an irrational man would do and I bought that Canon S3 iS, with a little (read: big!) help from my sister, I must add.  Never regretted it either.  My sister on the other hand...

In 2010 I stepped up a notch and bought the Canon PowerShot SX1 iS, which carried a 20x zoom and a DIGIC 4 sensor -the same sensor most DSLR cameras have. Was a little less satisfied with that SX1 though. Quality of pictures was slightly better than with the S3, but it is slightly bulkier (didn't fit in the Lamborghini case) and most buttons were switched around which made holding the camera without altering the settings a bit of a sport. I've got fairly big hands, you see, so I inadvertedly hit this or that button every time I took a hold of the camera.

Just the other day, I found a Canon EOS600D -in the USA & Canada also known as the Rebel T3i- on ebay. Came with a standard 18-55mm lens and everythig that was in the original box: manuals, three disks with software, belt, the lot.

Also found a 75-300mm USM zoom from Canon and a 500mm mirror lens (MTO MC 3M-5CA 500mm f8). The latter seems to be one of the best 500mm mirror lenses that money can buy, according to some research I did.

Anyway, everything is in the mail and I expect the camera and the lenses to arrive sometime next week. So, it'll be snapping time again...

I'll keep you posted.

JJ

Wow... over a year already...!

Although The Rolling Stones claimed that time was on their side, it doesn't seem to be on mine and it sure floats fleetingly fast...

To be honest (aren't we all, at some point) I'm not such a Blog-nut -although I promised myself -very furtively- to post regularly here.

Okay, so, once every ten years is also regularly; but I meant to visit and post at least once a week. Funny how one can get distracted to a point that you forget all about such trivialities as a web Blog. Well, not exactly forgetting -the thought of it is always floating about in the mind, albeit in some deep, dark recess, so obscure your everyday conciousness doesn't reach it, or, when it does, that thought gets waved back to where it came from.

But I'll post more often, I promise. Which could mean, of course, that my next post will be in about 15 months from now...