Doing her Best Obama Impression

Now that's change we can believe in.

photo credit: Cassy French

14.7 megapixels: What is Samsung compensating for?

Okay, I see the use for point and shoots, I've often wished for one for when carrying around an SLR just isn't as practical. They're smaller, more convenient, and the pictures they put out are usually pretty decent. There are drawbacks though.

Point and shoot cameras are smaller, which means there is less space for the sensor. Samsung just released specs for its new TL34HD. The thing has 14.7 megapixels. 14.7! Sounds impressive right? What they don't tell you is the size of the sensor.

The image sensor is the heart and soul of any camera. It's a small rectangle that is comprised of teeny tiny lenses that record brightness levels. What matters in image quality these days isn't so much how many teeny tiny lenses there are on the sensor, but how big they are. I'm no technician, but 14.7 megapixels in a point and shoot camera probably means those teeny tiny lenses are really teeny tiny, which means that they need more light in order to function properly. What happens when teeny tiny lenses don't get enough light? They fire off all funky-like and we get noise. Noise is probably a photographer's worst enemy. If I see excessive noise (more than a little in the dark areas) in a photo, its all I can look at.

It also made me angry to read about the camera's other features. Face detection? Smile Shot? 13 scene modes? Take control of your pictures people! We shouldn't allow the camera to think for us... but I digress.

Moral of the story? Don't be fooled by high megapixels. All the photos you see on this page were taken with an 8 megapixel camera, and they don't look so bad do they? Do they? That's what I thought.

Two Weeks Later

The sea air blistered the latex paint. Time takes its toll even on a beach resort.

Eaten' sum soop

Okay, a break from the old slides. This one needed to be shared. I am more and more in awe these days with what I can only call my child's development.
I don't want to be one of those parents who goes on and on about how smart, talented, beautiful or other wise superlative their child is. Don't get me wrong, my kid could mop the floor with your kid, but being one who values humility, I hesitate to jump to any delusions of grandeur (for both our sakes).
Our apartment is flooded with drawing after drawing. If I were organized enough, I could put them in chronological order and actually track her progress. I remember when her art first became "objective." Two dots and a line. Now she adds fingers, hair, whiskers, shoes, people looking out windows, I'm amazed.

I'll work on scanning some to share.

Action!

I'm excited for summer.

Pop and Pepper

And We're Back!

Amid internet access issues, and overall busy-ness, this blog has been down for quite some time now. While I can't promise any specific regularity in posts, I'd like to get back to posting at least every now and then (access problems ongoing). So, as a testament to the tenacity that runs deep in my bloodline, I bring you the following gem of a slide:



Look out world!

Old Slide Sunday 18

I haven't got a clue on this one.

Old Slide Sunday 17

This reminds me of a Stephen Shore photograph. Also Joe Koehl is smiling smugly right now.

Dr. Ron Paul

I have never been this motivated to vote for a candidate in my life. Ron Paul gives me hope that our country can return to sanity and order, can support itself financially, and all citizens can receive the protections and rights that the Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantees them.

Old Slide Sunday 16

It's close enough to Christmas by now, I figure. Again not sure of who these folks are, but it looks like they're having some good holiday fun. The young man in the corner must have had too many sugarplums. I'm excited for Christmas.

Old Slide Sunday 15

This picture had to come out eventually. It's the only picture I've ever seen of my dad or grandmother smoking. In fairness, this was when they "didn't know about the health effects." I don't see that as a very good excuse, personally. Either way though, they both quit a long time ago, so it's all gravy... mmmm gravy... Happy Thanksgiving.

Old Slide Sund- er, Tuesday 14

By special request, here's my aunt and uncle looking extra sharp for the camera. Sorry for the delay in posts, I've been super busy.

Old Slide Sunday 13

It's Goofy! I don't really have much to say about this one. It's late.

Out of Control Spam

I thought they passed legislation to control spam? It's fun to try and imagine the people who do this, and what their face would look like being punched. How can this still be profitable? Who clicks on these ads? And whats with the weird text at the bottom? I see it a lot in the spam that gets through to me. I might collect them and construct a poem.