So it’s nearly been a few months now, so here’s what’s not so good with my Olympus e620.
Well I’m very gald to say, “Not a lot!!”. Yep, nearly all incredibly minor niggles are down to me as much as the camera. By that I mean, I’ve still to learn how to drive it properly.
Nothing I hear you cry? Well you’re right to be suspicous of my claim, as there is one thing that is annoying. Theres no autofocus assist beam!!
Auto focus struggles in low light or low contrast situations. Now the e620 makes use of the pop up flash, which it strobes whilst trying to focus. Not only is this very slow, it’s quite annoying and, if I’m honest, embarasing. Having moved from compact cameras with those handly little focus assist lamps, this is annoying when considering a DSLR is supposed to give me more photographic power. Sometimes it just fails to focus at all.
I know there are ways round it, like focusing on something nearby, but same distance, or turning all the house lights on, but that’s not always possible. You can of course revert to manual focus, but without any means of knowing if focus is acheived, other than using ones eye, this can be hard too in low light.
So what do I do now? Simple – I chose to buy a flashgun with an AF Assist lamp. I purchased a Metz 48 AF-1, which has turned out to be really good and has solved the low light autofocus problem. It does mean I have to cart the flashgun around with me, but then I do, since I’ve payed for it ;-).
I guess this is a problem with DSLRs, as even with a built in beam, you are often focusing on object much fiurther away than you would with a compact point and shoot.
Other than that, all is going well and I’m enjoying the Olympus e620.
During early September, whilst out doing some Christmas shopping in Tunbridge Wells, my son and I heard some drumming! It’s was a samba band. We followed our ears to investigate and found Bloco Fogo playing in the centre by the clock tower.
Luckily I had my shiny new Olympus e620 with me, in the hope I’d have cause to use it, and I did!
After successfully pushing my way through to the front, using my son’s pram as a people plough, I attached the 50 to 150mm lens and started snapping away.
Now I must stress, at the time I was still getting used to the camera, and still am! So despite taking quite a few shots, these are the only one’s worth uploading, the rest are either out of focus, wrong exposure, or naff composition.
Bloco Fogo are an Afro-bloco samba band from Kent www.blocofogo.com. I’ve seen them before and have to say they are rather good, very loud, colourful and energetic. So loud in fact, that my son covered up his ears for the duration!
Since 2009 saw a landmark Birthday, and Christmas was looking, I thought it about time to move up from a digital compact camera and get myself a new toy, a Digital SLR.
Now many moons ago I used to dabble in photography with an Canon AE-1 of my Dad’s and then my own Canon A-1. Quick to adopt digital I bought a Sanyo VPC-X350 in 1999, as it did video too. Nothing special by today’s standard, but it was very novel being able to click away for free and check I got the shot there and then. After a few years of that I bought a Canon PowerShot A520, as it had loads of manual features I’d missed since the days of film. This served me well, until I updated to a Canon PowerShot A700, which has served even better and continues to do so now.
However, the capability of my compact camera is limited in certain situations and when asked to take some photos at a party, since I seemed to be the only one with a camera, I struggled. The main problem was the very low light, under which the A700 struggled. Whilst suitable stationary close up shots were OK, anything too rapid and I missed the action, through having to wait for the flash to re-charge. Plus the range of the flash was just not far enough. Afterwards, I thought: “wouldn’t it be nice to have a flashgun”. Alas the A700 has not hot shoe, but that was enough, coupled with the up and coming Birthday to think about getting something more powerful.
The journey to the e620 had started, though I didn’t know I’d end up with one. At first, I thought I’d look at some of the larger compacts, or ‘Bridge’ cameras that could accommodate a flash gun. The hope was this could be an affordable option, as budget was tight. There was no chance of blowing 4 figures on a load of semi-pro stuff.
To my surprise, the cost of these hybrids seemed to top the budget SLRs. The more I looked the more I got confused on what I should get. Great sites like http://www.dpreview.com, steves-digicams.com, www.ephotozine.com, and www.photographyblog.com gave me a big insight into the pros and cons of cameras available, as it’s all to easy to fall for the manufacturer’s jargon.
I narrowed the search to the Canon EOS 500D, Nikon D5000, the new Pentax K-x and the Olympus e620. Now the Pentax was initialy the most interesting, since it was available in red. Now I know that’s no reason to choose a camera, but I was very tempted. I was tempted too by it’s use of AA batteries which is something I find very handy on holiday with my Canon PowerShots. Hoever, the reviews and forum threads on capacity with AA was appaling and scared me off. So time to compare the other 3. I thought I’d best see them in the flesh and that’s when I liked the e620. It’s compact, lightweight (as are the lenses thanks to in-body stabalisation) and has an articulated screen (something I find very useful on my video camera). Many folks said it’s important to be comfortable with the camera in hand, and the e620 drew me in. I was no longer tempted by the HD video of the others, as it seems D-SLRs are not thr right format for recodding video, espceically when auctoficus ins’t available whiclt recording, or apature control, etc… Video cameras as good for video and at the moment, it seems, D-SLRs are still best for stills.
So to sum up, why I bought the e620?
I liked it in the flesh
In body image stabilization.
Versatile articulated screen – great when at the back of the crowd, or for self portrait.
Loads of features – most of which I feel I need and enough to keep my mind occupied for a while.
Image quality, that whilst might be pipped at the post by the Canon at high ISO, it’s still way ahead of what I can acheive with my PowerShot 700.
Price – I got a twin lens bundle 14-42 and 50-150mm that I couldn’t find anything near to for the Canon or Nikon.
I’m not going into detail about the pros and cons compared to the rest, as there’s plenty of good reviews out there, that have already done that. What I do hope to do, however, is blog ‘living with an Olympus e620’ as a new to Digital SLR user coming from a digital compact user’s perspective.
That’s it for now – time to read some more of the user manual – again
For just one day, myself and 6 work colleagues visited The Poppy Factory, not really knowing what to expect, other than the chance to make some poppies. The day turned out to be quite an eye opener and one that leaves me seeing poppies in a whole new light.
We were given a brief tour of the factory and an insight into the history of the Poppy Factory charity. Then it was straight down to work to make as many lapel type poppies as we could in 3 hours. I achieved about 750, which seems quite a lot, however, it’s a drop in the ocean when you consider the numbers produced by the Factory this year of 38 million Remembrance poppies, 5 million Remembrance petals, 900,000 crosses and 100,000 wreaths!
Having bought many a poppy over the years, it’s amazing that you never really get to find out where they come from. Well The Poppy Factory is where. Yep – this one place manned by 50 or so people churn out the whole lot, working throughout the year, with some home workers chipping in too. The fact that such as huge initiative is fed by such a small outfit is amazing and a credit to all at the factory.
Who are these incredible people? The work force mostly comprises disabled ex Service or dependants of ex Services men and women. The Poppy Factory is a charity in it’s own right and through the production of poppies, provides employment and support for such people.
The history of The Poppy Factory starts in 1922, with the current factory dating back to 1933. Major George Howson MC started the factory when after serving in the 1st World, he set up a small factory in South East London.
Poppies are sold during The Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal, which runs during October in the run up to Rememberance Day on the 11th of November.
The poppies we made are in fact for next year, so who knows, I might end up buying one I made 😉
Despite never having gone there myself, I still find it fascinating to see images of what are time capsules. The site is a forum and following the thread for the Ritz Cinema, I stumbled across another site with some more photographed places of old, including the Ritz Cinema http://www.curiousplaces.co.uk/index.php
Hooked I return to the 28 Days Later forum and whiled away an hour looking at some fascinating images.
Are there any more sites out there like this I wonder? Time to Google!
Well I’ve done it! Completed my first London Playtex Moonwalk. It took over 8hours, so needless to say my knees are very stiff and have got some juicy blisters to nurse. It’s the first Moonwalk I’ve done and I have to say I’m up for another – it’s a truly fantastic, fun, moving and uplifting experience.
I travelled up to London with Sarah, another moonwalker with whom I did my practise walk the ‘Long One’. We arrived at Hyde Park Corner around 19:25 and queued up. The queue grew very quickly and that’s when it dawned on me there weren’t many chaps taking part – but I kind of hoped that would be the case. 😉
I was blown away on entering Playtex city, the tent was huge, big enough to house all 15,000 walkers. The central isle of the tent was flanked by coloured flags matching the four colours of the starting groups. There was a stage at one end featuring Tina May and Richard Sheldon accompanied by the BBC Big Band, and later on BLAKE, amongst others. Paul O’Grady made an appearance in a very fancy bra featuring sequencing LEDs – very cool! Paul and Sara Cox took part in the Half Moon. Walkers take on wither the Full Moon or Half Moon, full or half marathon. I did the Full Moon.
We were given a choice of a rice or pasta dish and a flapjack. I went for pasta before donning my outfit, the bra, the lights and ribbons. A constant stream of walkers entered the tent as we were getting ready, like an incoming tide of pink hats. A great deal of imagination had gone into some of the costumes and bras. Decorated bras everywhere, feathers, lights, you name it! The atmosphere was buzzing with anticipation.
At about 11pm a warm up act came on to get people ready for the off, yellow group first, followed by green , then orange (including me) and finally pink. Sarah made her way to the start with the Yellow group, leaving me behind to warm up some more, whilst waiting for Orange group to be called up. Orange group got going at 23:45 with me crossing the Start line at 23:48. It was a slow cosy shuffle to the start line and beyond for a while, until we hit the open (closed really) road around Hyde Park.
Walking in amongst so many people is bizarre. All the pink hats swaying from left to right created the illusion of a pink sea. Half Mooners wear white hats, and so I guess they were the white horses. The first mile or two was spent getting used to the idea that this is it and I was finally on my way, having spent some 3 hours waiting to start. I was complemented on my feathery bra, a theme that spanned the night and it was nice to be welcomed to what is a predominantly women’s event. Breast cancer affects men too, not to mention women close to us, so it’s great to have been given the opportunity to take part.
Around mile 3 I met Deborah, another lone walker. We got chatting and since we had a similar pace, stuck together for the rest of the way. I say similar pace, I was not quite as quick. I thought we were going quite fast, but not so, only 3 miles an hour to start with. This largely due to sheer number of walkers and crossing roads. Still she didn’t mind staying at my pace, something I’m very grateful for. To say Deborah was a lone walker was not true, she had a banana with her for quite sometime, slowly going blacker and blacker, until she finally consumed it, but I forget when.
We circled Hyde Park, before making our way down to Westminster, then along to Vauxhall Bridge, over and back on the South Bank, then beyond to Battersea Park, Chelsea, Westminster again then Hyde Park. My memory of the route is a little blurd, as staying awake through the night whilst walking a long way plays with the mind. I know we passed many iconic London landmarks such as The Houses of Parliament, The London Eye, The Globe, Tower Bridge, Battersea Park, The Mall, Horse Guards, Harrods, Kings Road. We passed many supporters along the way, including some bemused inebriated folk who were very complimentary and supportive.
Walking along way is hard enough, but staying awake through the night is really hard, especially for someone who likes his sleep! I swear my stomach went to sleep for a bit, as it felt rather nauseous for a while around 3am. So I munched through sports bars and chocolate to get me through.
I forget when, but dawn did arrive and it helped enormously, as you start to realise you’re half way. I wasn’t a big fan of the mile markers, as I prefer to not know how far I’ve walked. The reason being, I’m a bad estimator of distance and when I do find out, I’ve always walked further than I think. Deborah and I didn’t see the 14 mile marker, so when we saw 15miles, it was a very pleasant surprise!
As soon as we hit 20 miles the end seemed in sight. “Not far now”, I kept telling myself. I was growing tired, so much so, I got disorientated and thought we had to cross the river again to get back, which would have been odd, since we were already north side – the right side for Hyde Park.
The volunteers on the night are amazing stars and unsung heroes – they stayed up all night, constantly praising our efforts and cheering us on – vital work, as they make you smile, which seems to do more to fight pain than ibuprofen! I made a point of praising them too, as it’s no mean feat to do what they do.
Well done to all the organisers – you did a great job! It can’t be easy with all those walkers.
I’ve got some photos below, though not many, as it’s hard to concentrate on walking that far through the night. I know that sounds mad, but it’s true, you get drawn into focusing on finishing the walk.
To those who sponsored me – a BIG thank you – Your generosity ensured I hobbled to the very end, and it will go on to help in the fight against breast cancer.
I hope this gives some idea of what it’s like to do the Moonwalk, and maybe inspired you to join the next one, as there’s no knowing what it’s like until you’ve tried it. Well done if you too completed the walk, I’m sure you’ll be applying again – I know I will – see you next year!
Packed my Moonwalk bum bag full of chocolate and energy drink, had a quick kip and am now ready for the off! The bra masterpiece is all packed, appropriately in a pink plastic bag.
I’m Very happy to see the weather forecast change in our favour from rain to clear 😉
Managed to complete a trial walk, as per the Moonwalk training plan. I teamed up with another walker and we walked around Tunbridge Wells, thanks to Sarah for her planning the route! We missed the 20 mile target by 3, but feel it’s enough to build on before the big one!
I braved wearing the now completed Moonwalk bra to the office. Needless to say it put a smile on everyone’s face an worked a treat at kick starting sponsorship. Wearing it for a few hours around the office makes me think it might prove uncomfortable after some 7 hours of walking, but it’s for a good cause!
I’m rather pleased with the decoration, though I was only the artistic director, I owe many thanks to my capable seamstress – my wife.
Off out this weekend to do a practise 20 mile walk. Then next week, perfect the finishing touches of the outfit for the big night!
Whilst shopping on Saturday, my wife, son and I visited local sewing/ fabric shops and bought anything pink that you could stick to my Moonwalk bra. This evening, my wife turned a dining room chair into a dressmaker’s mannequin and started to pin the fluffy pink boa and sequins to the bra. That’s not all, I’ve got some LEDs too, to light up my night walk.
The Moonwalk booklet has a detailed training plan, and I thought I’d use this as a means to address the annual New Years resolution to get fit. Well, needless to say, I’ve been sufficiently distracted and expert at finding excuses to have not followed it. I have done some walking, and the other day, covered half the distance and still managed a bike ride the following day. So I’m hoping that a practise walk of 20 miles will be enough to prep me for the big night.
Two (current) concerns I still have, are:
How do I prep to make sure I stay awake through then night and don’t end up sleepwalking and wandering of course?
With what do I fill my bra with such that, wearing it over a 26 mile walk, it doesn’t rip my chest hair out?
Ok, back to the bra – hope to have it ready in next couple of days and use it as part of my fundraising campaign – so watch this space.
Finally got round to breaking the 10 mile barrier in training for the Playtex Moonwalk in my home town of Tunbridge Wells (UK) and covered 12 miles and that’s after a day’s shopping, which I didn’t track, so guess about 14 miles in total.
The thing is, I thought I’d make a point of turning left or right into roads or footpaths I haven’t taken before and it’s amazing how little of my own town is new to the eye.
The sun was shining and it turned out to be pleasant day wandering streets and parks new to me, which of course made the time and miles pass by!
So if you’re reading this and taking on the Playtex Moonwalk, or any other similar walking/ running event, train locally and just zig-zag all over where you live and you’ll be amazed at how much you didn’t know was there!
It’s getting closer!!! My parcel arrived with the Bra, the Hat and T-shirt. Note I’ve not modelled the bra yet, as I’m waiting until I’ve decorated it.
Despite wanting to use this event as an opportunity to train, train, train, I’ve adopted the same attitude I applied to a previous event of 40 miles. How hard can it be? It’s only walking… Mmmmm I’ll have to wait and see, as no training = payback after the event.
Still, I’ve bought some new trainers, so they should help!
I’ve just opened my own on-line sponsor me page on Justgiving.com for those of you who would like to sponsor me for taking part in the 2009 London Moonwalk. By sponsoring me, you will be helping the charity WalkTheWalk and the fight against breast cancer.
See the widget to the right? My Totaliser! All you have to do is click the orange ‘Donate’ button and you will be routed to my sponsor page, else follow this link http://www.justgiving.com/simonreevemoonwalk.
Now it’s going to take me some 8 hours and unless I start training in ernest, I’m going to end up with very sore knees! I’ve got a step machine and am stepping away whilst watching TV, it’s a start..
There’s no turning back now! I’ve got my place in this years London Playtex Moonwalk.
Now I’m not one for running, so thought this might be my chance of doing a London Marthin without the agony, whilst raising funds for a more than worthy cause.
I’ve yet to read all the contents of the information pack, other than training starts real soon!
The event is on the 16th May 2009.. and I’ll keep you updated with my progress here…
Whilst visiting Ware, we visited Scott’s Grotto. A very unusual attraction as it’s entrance is very small and snuck between houses out of sight. It was built by the poet John Scott during the 18th Century.
We had no idea what to expect and were intrigued why we had to bring a torch. When we got there we climbed down some steps to a frontage that resembled a small house, shed, temple, all rolled into one. built out of flint with the back disappearing into the ground. Once a ‘folly’ within large ground of Scott’s house, it is now surrounded by modern housing and thankfully saved from being developed for us to enjoy now.
We have recently had the pleasure of visiting Ware in Hertfordshire in South East England, whilst staying at the Hanbury Manor, a Marriott hotel. Initially we had no idea or plan of what to do or expect, other than to have a weekend away from it all.
So it’s nearly been a few months now, so here’s what’s not so good with my Olympus e620.
I recently had the opportunity to volunteer making 
Listening to KMFM the other day brought to my attention a site with some photos of the old and disused Ritz Cinema in the heart of Tunbridge Wells.
I’ve just opened my own on-line sponsor me page on Justgiving.com for those of you who would like to sponsor me for taking part in the 2009 London Moonwalk. By sponsoring me, you will be helping the charity 
Whilst visiting Ware, we visited Scott’s Grotto. A very unusual attraction as it’s entrance is very small and snuck between houses out of sight. It was built by the poet John Scott during the 18th Century.