Challenge! March Symposium: The Small Sensor Look.

Finally, a sundowner. Also been through the Topaz Denoice. Not much to play with, shooting a 12 Mp
Sundowner.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
JPG only P&S, but I like(d) that little Ixus enough to have a rummage after it after finding this here tread. Found the slightly latter S95 instead, now to find the charger for that and give it a spin. A lot of the stuff from the same setting are why I finally bought into the Dslrs again with the Pentax K7, I had plans to get one of the lovely Canon G10s and call it a day, but they released the G11 before I got around to it, and that was fugly and not to my liking. :O
 
Last edited:
@Briar Hope you are still having fun with your Death Valley shots and that we get to see some of them soon. As you wished, here is a shot from a memorable travel, this one taken in Viareggio, Italy:
View attachment 250899

It was a great trip, combining Italy, Monaco and south of France. I have a small reportage on my site here, if you might be inclined to check it out:


These are beautiful Milan. Thank you for sharing. Is that your family?

I didn’t realise you spoke French. Do you speak many languages? I’m in awe of anyone who can master a second language, or more. I studied French at school, then German at University but, because I am so out of practise, find now if I try to speak either I just mix the languages up. I do better at reading.

I love Italy. I’ve travelled there a few times over the years so my footsteps have been in similar places to yours but I’ve not seen much of France (other than Paris) and I’ve never been to Monaco. From your photographs I can see that I’d love to see both.

I’m still working my way through my photos. I took hundreds of pictures. I click a lot!
 
I still remember the Nikon 1 V1 infuriating me on this shot.

I was crouching on the ground, wishing I had a flip/twist display because I still had my motorcycle helmet with comms system on so that I could communicate with my friend Sandy who was riding across the bridge.

So I'd give Sandy direction, ("Traffic's free here, Go!" ... "Speed up a bit to put some distance on the cars behind you." ... "move towards the centerline") while snapping a burst of photos.

But after each burst, I'd have to pause for precious seconds while the camera went into auto-review mode (no way of turning off) and I'd have to do a quick double-tap of the shutter button to get it back to picture-taking mode. And in that time, Sandy had traveled further across the bridge, or a break in the traffic was squandered because I was waiting for the camera.

View attachment 250881
Searching for Doughnuts in Kentucky by John Flores, on Flickr


On the other hand, I could mount the little camera on a suction cup to the back of the bike, program it to take a photo every 5 seconds in P mode, and rely upon the camera's excellent AF to get the shot. It was probably the best camera I've ever used for this type of shot.

View attachment 250882
Nikon 1 V1 in Kentucky by John Flores, on Flickr

These photos are SOOO cool, John. I took the liberty of looking at your Kentucky Donut Hunting album on Flickr and it's just as cool. The whole thing makes me want to get on my Vespa, ride to Kentucky, and go on a Donut Odyssey to visit every donut place still standing! Of course, it's possible that some no longer exist, while others have sprung into being and are thus giving birth to new generations of Donut-making-artistry.

What a cool trip. Thank you for sharing this.
 
Last edited:
I keep coming back to look at this image of yours, Don. I really like it.
I'm also consumed with curiosity: what is or was your original subject? And (I know this is a stupid question, but) was the owl 3-D - or part of an illustration?
Thanks Miguel, the background is an ink on velum drawing I did from back in design school days. The owl is actual a hand painted little curio that I keep from my mother’s effects. I like the supposition of the owl (who are depicted as wise in many narratives) with the sort of mathematical graphics in that long ago drawing exercise. So the little bird sits there all the time. I have thought about photographing the set up many times, but the lighting is poor. So it seemed a good subject for the S95 with its tiny sensor.
By the way, I really like that Pentax Q. Looks like a fun camera with a great lens selection. Have had many different camera brands over the years, but somehow never tried a Pentax. I always liked them from way back in the spotamatic days.
 
These photos are SOOO cool, John. I took the liberty of looking at your Kentucky Donut Hunting album on Flickr and it's just as cool. The whole thing makes me want to get on my Vespa, ride to Kentucky, and go on a Donut Odyssey to visit every donut place still standing! Of course, it's possible that some no longer exist, while others have sprung into being and are thus giving birth to new generations of Donut-making-artistry.

What a cool trip. Thank you for sharing this.

Thanks, Manuel. This thread is giving me an opportunity to go through the archives are relive some of these old trips. If you're ever in Lexington, Kentucky, I've got one word for you - Spalding's. Simply the best donut I've ever had.

My journey into quality small sensor cameras was prompted by my editor over ten years ago when she said in her inimitable Austrian accent, "John, we need photos of you in the stories." Other editors had set up tripod shots where they'd point the camera at an old barn, set the timer, and then run to get in the frame. But I wanted to show action.

So I set up a tripod shot with a landscape and the bike, set the timer, and ran to the bike and pretended to ride. The result was...meh.

1347649065_4f14cbc2dd_c.jpg

Roxbury
by John Flores, on Flickr

So I researched some more and ended up with a Manfrotto SuperClamp and Magic Arm with a Ricoh GX100 on the end. I knew that the physics of having a DSLR on the end of a long pole on a moving motorcycle was difficult at best, so I sought to reduce the mass.

The GX100 got the nod because it was one of the few compacts with an interval timer so that I could set it up to take a photo every 5 seconds as I rode through a scenic area:

4505562808_10432bdde1_b.jpg
Ricoh GX-100, Manfrotto Super Clamp and Magic Arm, Piaggo MP3
by John Flores, on Flickr

I also experimented with remote, wired triggers, as the image above shows.
That Ricoh was a fine little camera and introduced me to the excellent UI of the GX/GR line.

It was a total numbers game. Out of hundreds of shots taken this way, many of the would end up blurry or sharp but uninteresting. If I got one or two passable photos each time, I was satisfied.

This may have been my first published "motorcycle selfie" using these new methods.

1837374499_705b0f399d_c.jpg

Day02-R0014054.jpg
by John Flores, on Flickr

Not my greatest work, but I knew that I was onto something.
 
Went shopping at one of the nicer southern Oregon supermarkets, the Co-Op in Ashland. And (no, I'm not making this up), I encountered both a whale and a savage rabbit.

The Whale was a wool felt cat house (or, conceivably, a cave for a smaller dog)---

Q7_Mar7_21_wool_Whale_cat_house.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


While the smallish 'Paleo-friendly Bunny' (no, I'm not making that up, either) was apparently the offspring of Chocolate + Coconut Milk parents---

Q7_Mar7_21_Paleo_chocolate_Bunny.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


Something in the Bunny's twisted approximation of a Mona Lisa grin...tells me this story isn't over yet.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top