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Home energy Efficiency

Well all the DIY, new boiler, windows and doors have been worth it and we had are new EPC completed yesterday and we are now a a grade D.

This means we can now go ahead with the Solar PV installation, which should make us energy independent during the day.  If you have a grade D you can get more government help in the form of the feed in tariff to help pay for the installation, basically you get paid more for generating the electricity if your home is more efficient.

We had three local companies round and from those got four quotes, two basic systems and two more high tech systems which while costing more would produce more electricity.

The savings in fuel costs of the period more then off set the expense and with the feed in tariff you end up with a better return then if the money was sat in the bank.

 

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Books – Photographic inspiration – The Decisive Moment

Coffee ThoughtsIts getting closer to Caroline’s birthday so I have started to look at books and DVD’s that she might like.  As well as that I keep looking at a few books that may inspire me photographically.

Top of the list I keep coming back to is The Decisive Moment and also the Magnum Contact Sheets.  These are expensive books but very inspiring.  Its good to see that even the greats would shoot a roll of film and only one or two images would be potentials.

Often today we come back from a shoot, memory cards full and are disappointed when we only have one or two good shots, but often its that fleeting decisive moment that makes the shot.

20120521-214417.jpg

 

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Sorting the Car

Generally we holiday and commute on the motorcycles, and when the weather is dry commute on the bicycles.  The car gets used for the heavy lifting, and has been really abused over the last year while we get the house straight, so this Monday it was time to get the car sorted and give it a bit of TLC.

Caroline had washed it the day before and today we were dropping in to the local inderpendant VW dealer, to get a number of things sorted.

We bought it from the main Skoda dealer but were less then happy with the servicing and the local independent garage gives us far better service.  Its often worthwhile finding a local independent rather then the main official dealer as you tend to get a better deal.

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Friday the 13th – Time to stay in Bed

Actually I was planning having the day at home anyway as I am not superstitious, its the start of a week long holiday where we will be trying to get a number of key jobs done at home and to the car.

So typically I have come down with a cold, so no DIY, no photography and not really a holiday.  Hope this passes quickly.

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Apple Pay and Starbucks

Leica M8 & 50mm Summilux ASPH
Leica M8 & 50mm Summilux ASPH

It does seem like support for Apple pay is growing.  Its going to be interesting to see if it takes off in the UK.

Whilst I general try to frequent independent coffee shops, Lincoln’s Coffee Aroma and Norwich’s The Window being two of my favourites if you need a coffee then the big chains like Costa, Nero and Starbucks are always nearby, and if your a Starbucks iOS app user in the USA you can now use ApplePay with the Starbucks app.

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Nikon D810a DSLR

So after the other announcements, it was time for Nikon.  Most the announcements did not interest me but the additional version of the D810 did interest me.

Whilst I have no intention of buying the camera its nice to see a niche like astrophotography being filled with a camera as good as this.

Apart from changes to shutter speed range the big change is in the filtration to allow infrared light to be recorded.

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Canon 5Ds 5Ds R – 50 Megapixels Good?

Canon 5DIts seems we have had a bit of pause in the megapixel race, the high end cameras have not moved much.

Now we have the the new Canon and I think its time to remind people that with an increase in megapixels comes and increase in issues you have to overcome in getting good quality images.

A modern 16 megapixel, micro four thirds or DX sensor gives very good image quality, but if you want to print big then the more megapixels the better.  There is a reason why fashion photographers and landscape photographers who want to fill an advertising hoarding use medium format.

But cameras like the Nikon D800, the Sony A7R and now the new Canon 5Ds can get close to this kind of quality, at least for resolution if not dynamic range.

The issue with cameras with such high resolution is that your lens and technique has to be flawless.  Nikon produce a list of recommended lens, a consumer kit lens is not going to cut it.  Along with the best glass, you need a quality tripod, cable release, and mirror lockup.

So if your going to print big and have the patience to use correct technique high megapixels cameras can produce stunning images but for most of us, its over kill and you are likely to end up with worse looking images.

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New cameras from Canon and Olympus

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk II FrontThis week saw new cameras announced from both Canon and Olympus.

In the high megapixel race Canon and Nikon have been playing leap frog for many years.  After many years of Canon leading the race, since the Nikon D3x and the D800 range, Nikon have been top of the high megapixel race for Digital SLR’s.  Now Canon take the lead again with the new Canon 5Ds at 50 MP its knocking on the door of medium format for resolution if not dynamic range.

For me though the more interesting camera released this week is the new Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II Digital Camera Body.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk II top

Hasselblad have a shift mode in some of there cameras allowing you to get better resolution with less megapixels.  The new Olympus can do the same trick, so while on paper a very good 16 MP micro four thirds sensor, it can when shooting a static subject and on a tripod rival a cameras of 40 MP or more.

The old model was great camera, but the build quality compared to the OM-D E-M1 and E-M10 was not in the same league, I expect this to be close to the great M1.

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Nikon service announcement for series 1 10-30mm lens

Nikon announce service advisory for original 10-30mm series 1 lens.  Check out the details here.

Issue
When the 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 lens is used for an extended period of time, or zoom operations are frequently repeated, proper communication with the camera may not occur, which may cause an error message to be displayed in the camera monitor, and the lens may not function properly.

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‘Mirrorless to outsell SLR’s in three years’ – Says report

http://www.sansmirror.com/newsviews/how-internet-news-distorts.html

As in the report above, I keep seeing people saying that mirrorlesss will take over in the next year.  At some point this will be true but its going to be Canon and Nikon that drive this I suspect.

I get asked by a few budding amateur photographers quite regularly what camera they should buy, and they are only interested in the SLR options as thats what they think a ‘professional’ uses.  To be honest when you can pick up a new Canon or Nikon with a kit zoom to start you off for £350, its hard to justify them spending £500 – £1500 on a mirrorless solution.