Month: February 2024

A dwagon went to see a boat

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February 21, 2024

8:20 pm

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musing

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Hello everyone,

Actually – lots of boats. Found a dwagon there too …

Picture. We're looking at a collection of carved wooden objects, resting on a blue carpet. In the background is a large white and lime green speed boat. There are a couple of tables behind the wooden objects, the closest of which is a small horned wooden dragon, sitting on his haunches.

Gosh, it’s been over a week again since the last post. I do need to keep posting more often, although that’s tempered by what my own state can support. So last week, I was getting affected by a certain amount of brain fog. Maybe I’d picked up a cold again, more likely it’s that seasonal affective thing where people don’t do so well with cold weather and lack of sunlight.

Not sure there, I was doing ok with that kind of conditions on the cruise, where going North meant the days got really short and the outside temperatures were pretty cold. Mind you, I always had the option to retreat inside to the warm where the coffee was on tap, the cookies were available. That might be part of the difference between cruise and now.

Here and now – the responsibilities are there and to be honest, my current chair is pretty bad. It was a good idea at the time to get that one but a seat with bucket seat type bolsters is not healthy. You learn :-D. I can disappear into the games as well, although that’s also tempered by physical condition where I’m currently having trouble with the arms again. And that means no space piloting for a bit and I’m holding off on going back into games like Skyrim, Bannerlord and a replay of Deus Ex Mankind Divided.

Back on the cruise – it was a curious state where I completely set aside my usual stimulation of keeping up with the social media (except the Discord communities). I didn’t put the music on in the cabin either. I was attempting to watch streams in the evenings, but that’s mostly about the communities there. The streams I’m usually in are wonderful for the communities.

(aside – currently tapping this out while Caustic Phoenix is doing a work stream in the background – HI CAUSTIC)

The cruise swapped one set of stimulation for another and it was a wonderful thing to be learning so much about Norway, as well as seeing new parts of the country every day as the ship moved from location to location.

Picture. We're looking at a table set for one diner. There is a rectangular plate in front of us with very tasty chips and a slide of orange topped salmon waiting for us. There is a milkshake streaked with chocolate behind the plate.

Oh and I was greatly enjoying the food and the milkshakes.

Back to littler boats ?

Picture. We're looking at a long thin barge. The top half is a blue, with silver porthole windows and white edging. The lower half is black. We're looking at the front right of the barge. There is a collection of people to the back (left of shot).

Talking of dinner, I should put mine on. That boat in the picture is a 60 foot narrowboat. It’s probably the most common type of barge on the British inland waterways. In there is a self contained package of kitchen galley, fully featured bath/shower room, I think that’s a 4 berth as well (possibly 6) and there will be the saloon area for chilling out in. Oh and there’s also a little engine at the back. These boats don’t go too quick, anything more than about 6 knots is bad for the canals. The wake causes damage to the banks if the barge goes too fast. So it’s a chilled out way of getting around.

I’ve got another link for you there, one of the youtube channels I’ve found recently is The Mindful Narrowboat. The lady who runs that channel is absolutely lovely, has a keen eye for the nature by the canals and a wise head for poetry. The artwork is wonderful too. Check out the channel, it’s one where I’m going to go back to the start to see all of the waterway adventure.

Picture. We're looking at another barge, this time at the front left side. The lower half is black again, the top half is a creamy white with black detail and the round portholes again. We're in an exhibition hall and there is a series of chairs (with people) alongside the barge.

That’s the other type of canal barge. It’s a widebeam by Collingwood boat builders. While the narrowboats are a bit too cosy (i.e. tight) for me, widebeams have a lot more room inside. But … that also limits how much access they have to the canal network, as the canals around Birmingham in the centre of the UK aren’t navigable by the widebeam barges.

As for the show, I don’t think I’ll be back next year. It was worth going there again but … apart from the barges, it doesn’t really feel a useful show at the moment. The dominant vessel type there is the tender, with a small number of liveaboard capable boats.

Picture. We're looking at a little boat in the foreground, with more boats behind. It's a small white boat with black trim, it's about wide enough for 3 people and there is a sitting area in front.

That’s your typical tender. They’re smaller boats, intended to allow crew or owners of larger boats the ability to do a quick run ashore to pick up supplies or do other things you’d want to do ashore. (Like dining out etc).

That kind of boat isn’t any use to me (unless I win the lottery big – the ticket is in again). Even the smaller boat shaped boats aren’t too good, because the living area isn’t suitable for … living in. The show this year seemed mostly about these little boats, either outright tenders or bigger boats that also would not be suitable as a living place. They were more for going at outrageous speed on the water or for showing off.

Oh well, it was good getting out and about again and it gave me the chance to do a few other things like go to the place on the motorway with the great snacks. We like snacks.

I have an events list as well now … it’s because there’s likely to be a few things colliding in the summer and there won’t be enough time to do it all. Let’s see : next up is Mother’s Day, it’s March in the UK. Insomnia gaming festival #72 is at the end of March, I haven’t been to one of these yet and it should be really good. Last year, covid intervened and I don’t think I was healthy for the second half of the year either.

Interservices T20 is in May this year, I want to get my new camera well before then and that’ll be a good chance to give it a good day out. I’m pretty much settled on the Canon R50. It’s a mirrorless camera that’s a step up from what I was first looking at, that’s the choice because there is better tech built in. It’s worth going up to that step, anything more is too expensive.

MCM London is at the end of May. That’s a maybe … We’ll see who’s going to that. Then it’s into the great 24 hour motor races at Nurburgring (1-2 June) and Le Mans (15-16 June). Le Mans clashes with a very promising cruise to south Scandinavia from 13-27 June. I don’t think I’m doing that one because it’s too close to Twitch Con EU in Rotterdam on 29-30 June. But I think I do have the cruise bug now and definitely want to make time for another one this year.

I’m hoping for another Creator North as well, that was a fun cosy event last year run and set up by wonderful people.

Ok, time to put the dinner on and hit the post button. One question before I go, it’s from Caustic Phoenix’s stream earlier. What would be your walk in song to accompany you if you were walking up to a stage ? I just thought of one for me … Here’s a bit of KT Tunstall singing Still A Weirdo to close out the post with.

Nite all, have a great rest of the week.

PS Ok maybe not as a walk in song but it’s still a fantastic song.

Where I let the geek out with cameras

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February 9, 2024

6:20 pm

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technology

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Hang on, I haven’t done anything rash with money … yet …

Picture. Meme. We're looking at a cat, with paw held up to their mouth in a thoughtful looking pose. The caption is "What if that red dot is both particle and a wave?"

We might hit that as we go into what I’m about to launch into … Hopefully not that deep but let’s see how far it goes.

One thing wasn’t making sense to me yesterday with the camera specifications. If a lower f number for the aperture is better, what’s the advantage of getting a mirrorless camera with a lens that goes down to f4.0 over a mobile phone camera that was taking pictures at f1.7 aperture and the little Ixus that was going to f3.6 aperture. Lower number better right ?

And then I realised that I wasn’t talking like for like. The phone camera is the smallest, the Ixus camera is in the middle and the mirrorless camera is a bit of a whopper. Time to look at numbers :

Pixel 4 has 2 main cameras. Camera 1 is 12.2 megapixels with aperture f1.7 and the metadata told me it was a focal length of 4mm with a 35mm number of 27mm (I think they compare everything to a 35mm camera standard). Camera 2 is 16 MP over a 50mm telephoto sensor with aperture f2.4 and a 2x optical zoom. The Northern Light pic would have been with the Camera 1. Oh and the resolution is 96 dots per inch with each pixel being 1 micrometer (0.000001m) so the sensor will be 4mm across.

(note to geeky tendency readers – run a check over numbers as you do them to see if they make sense. A 27mm sensor in a phone doesn’t feel right, a 4mm sensor feels right)

The Ixus 265 has a 15.2MP sensor with 180 dots per inch resolution. The focal length is quoted as 4.5mm to 54mm (the lens comes in and out on a motor) for 35mm numbers of 25-300mm. The f numbers for the aperture go from f3.6 to f7.0. It does actually have 2.5 stop image stabilisation … (Spec sheet link) The sensor is 1/2.3 inches which is apparently 6.16mm across making it 50% bigger than the phone sensor. (Dunno about the sums there, feels about right again).

Let’s see what the chonky camera has …

Canon EOS R100 has a 24MP effective pixel sensor that’s 22.3mm by 14.9mm. So that’s 5.5 times the size of the phone camera. Peek back at yesterday and the focal length is 18-45mm for a 35mm equivalent of 29-72mm. The f numbers on the lens go from f4.5 to f6.3.

Picture. Meme. A very confused looking little grey cat with a white chest is looking at us. The captions are "What did the confused cat say?" and "I'm purr-plexed"

What do all those numbers really mean though ? Let’s look at the sensor first. The bigger the sensor, the more light can hit it in a set amount of time. So the mirrorless would bring in over 5 times the light information in a given amount of time, compared to the Pixel 4 camera. The little Ixus sensor brings in 1.5 times the information of the Pixel 4 sensor but …

The Pixel 4 won with the Northern Lights pictures because the Pixel could be set for a far longer exposure time. Yesterday’s picture was over a 16 second exposure, the best I could get from the Ixus was a surprisingly short 1 second. Let’s invent a unit called the Light Wibbly, the Ixus pulled in 6 LWsecs (Light Wibbly Seconds), the Pixel 4 pulled in 16LWsecs with the 4 second exposure pictures. Result, you can see Northern Lights in one camera and can’t in the other. The EOS R100 can do shutter speeds as fast as 1/4000 seconds up to an exposure of 30 seconds. So, bigger sensor, more light getting in per second, much bigger range of how long it’ll take the light in for. The R100s would pull in 22LWsecs with a 1 second exposure, which is how people can get those time lapse videos of the Northern Lights.

And that all adds up to me looking at future Google searches for “star seeing viewpoints Bristol” :-D. The Pixel was just starting to pick up galaxy background pictures … I really, really want to see those. But I’d need to be somewhere relatively remote with minimal light pollution and those areas are tough to find in the UK.

On to the focal length – a big number means that distant objects can be brought much closer. That’s how I get the really zoomed in pictures of the cricketers at Lords, the camera is operating at a really high zoom level. I’m curious as to how the 25-300mm numbers of the Ixus 265 compare to what could be gotten out of the starter 29-72mm lens of the R100 pack. But … that’s one other reason you get the cameras with interchangeable lenses. There’s a lens that goes to 800mm for being able to read the road signs in London from Bristol but that’s also £1100 so maybe not. There’s also a more affordable high aperture one for low light photography which I might have to check out (£200).

Oh gosh. Big yawn. It’s Friday afternoon / early evening and I’m going to be catching up on sleep all weekend. Time for a sum up ? First another link for some optics theories, it’ll help peeking here (linky).

Mobile phone camera – they’re doing an AMAZING job with these. They only have a tiny amount of real estate to work with in terms of space for the sensor and the depth to turn the picture from light into 1’s and 0’s. As you’ll see from the Visual Education link above, cameras benefit from having a lot of depth to focus up the image. Mobiles do a fantastic job with the space they have available and the software is incredible at making the great pictures happen. Cost is minimal because they come with the smart phone you likely have already.

Compact digital camera – they do the best they can with the package available and the little Ixus is a really flexible device. It has massive zoom capability and it fits inside a small pocket. Portability is a wonderful thing but … you have to be really careful about keeping the camera steady and it’s almost useless in minimal light conditions. The latest Ixus 285 is £270 but it looks like they’re being phased out for Powershot cameras.

Mirrorless / DSLR modular camera – they have the size and versatility to get professional level amazing photography but … they’re also way more expensive. I’m still going to get one though because I do enjoy taking pictures of Stuff and sharing them with people. The pack I’m looking at is currently £650 or you could win the lottery and get the R3 camera body for £5500 and multipurpose RF28-70mm f2L lens for £3400.

No I’m not going to be spending nearly £10k on a camera system :-D. That’s actually double what you could get a Rolls-Royce for. (True statement ! Autotrader has a 1976 Silver Shadow for £4,675) I’d actually save a few pennies more for the pretty Mk3 Spitfire going for £16k.

Oh there I go dreaming again. I wouldn’t actually want to drive a Triumph Spitfire (horrifically dangerous suspension set up) but they are a very pretty old car.

Picture meme. A red squirrel is standing on their back legs, reaching their front paws to the sky. The captions are "Stop Typing" "Stop Typing" (there was a repeat)

Ok ! have a great weekend everyone.

Insuring Pictures

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February 8, 2024

10:28 pm

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technology

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Hello everyone,

It’s been a Week again … Mostly about stuff at work where we’re trying to do lots in a very short time, without enough in the way of resources. So, situation normal there then. It means we focus in on what we can do and defer plans for what we can’t. But getting there can be pretty exhausting, so I’ve been hitting the napping hard after the work laptop gets closed up.

Picture. We're looking at the white armour of a Star Wars Stormtrooper. They're holding up a phone in their right hand and a bag in their left. The captions are "Buys iPhone" "Because couldn't find the droid he was looking for."

Enough about work though. I’ve got some purchases / upgrades coming up. Let’s get the rant out of the way first 😀

So it came round to car insurance renewal time and it looks like the insurance company (Axa – don’t go to them) has decided to get in on the 2020s trend with hiking prices. For my 2018 Lexus CT (aka Posh Prius), they upped the premium from £350 to just over £600. Wowser. The reasoning when I gave them one of those unhappy emails “How did we do” “I will never do business with you again” was :

A rise in the claims for this type of car – I have over 20 years of no claims, how other people drive is up to them.

A rise in the cost of parts for cars – it’s a 2018 car that only just went out of manufacture.

An increase in the amount of technology in cars – it’s a 2018 car that has the same amount of technology in it as it did last year. (Although I have considered getting a dashcam)

An increase in injury compensation and medical costs – I have over 20 years of no claims and have no intention of getting involved in other people’s injury claims.

Incidentally, Axa had good financial results last year with steady growth (I checked them out), decent profits and I think dividends for the shareholders too. It’s not a savage raise in charges because they’re short of money, it’s pure greed.

So … another of those customer disservice emails that acts clever but the only thing it achieves is to lodge a last impression memory in an ex customer who will remember that the next time it comes to do any business that might involve them. In short, it’s one of those emails that should never have escaped the company, like when Novotel nickel and dimed me on a hotel last year. (Incidentally, Novotel denied me access to the car that weekend, the locked secure garage was also locked to me due to me not being provided with the code until check out)

I’m with eSure this year thanks to the meerkats for £360 again. Disclosure note – I went to them, I’ve never had approaches from insurance companies apart from where I’ve had to check a “yes you can contact me” as part of the normal business with them.

Picture. A cute puppy dog is sitting to the right, with jaws firmly clamped around a laptop computer to the left. The caption is "When your laptop is running low on space But your pupper helps by giving it a megabite"

Next up is phone – I should be doing the mobile phone update soon. The one I have is a Pixel 4, which has done well over the last 4 years. It’s paid off now though, so I can go for the upgrade with not much cost. Highlights are the camera, which brought those Northern Lights pictures, battery life has been good and it’s blissfully free of the spyware and annoyanceware garbage that was on my Galaxy S7. So I’ll go for a Pixel 8 “soon”. I could hold on to the Pixel 4 but it’s been showing odd behaviour on failed incoming calls and there’s awkwardness on using its hotspot for my second work laptop.

Picture. A lady is lying down on grass dotted with yellow flowers. She's holding a camera with a long lens, pointing to the right. She's looking down and to her right where there's a fluffy grey wolf. There is a baby deer standing on her back. The caption is "A photographer is approached by a baby deer and baby wolf while out in the field."

I’m looking more seriously at cameras … I don’t think I’ll have it before Boat Life 2024 in just over a week but I’ll definitely have it for the Lords cricket in May. What am I looking at getting ?

The Canon Ixus has done well, although it has its flaws in poor image stabilisation. The upgrade would be a Canon EOS R100 mirrorless camera. These are a new type, where the mirror that sends part of the image light up to a viewfinder isn’t included in the camera. Means more light goes to the sensor but you lose the optical viewfinder. Which is fine because I haven’t used a camera viewfinder in decades, I just take the pictures using the rear display.

Here come the links ! This one is for Canon’s page with the camera, memory card, lens and bag. (Linky) Disclosure note again – I’ll go Canon because the little Ixus 265 has done very well (except needing to keep it really steady) with excellent battery life and reliability. I’ve not had any approaches from any camera makers. (Us content people have to put these disclosure notes in so we’re not hiding an inducement or ad)

The specifications on the cameras look very much of a muchness. That’s the cheaper Canon mirrorless camera, which means cheaper plastic materials used to put it together. The sensor looks like it’s the same. The trick seems to be in the lens and one thing impressing me about Canon is that they put that little bit of extra effort in to make it easier to spend your money with them. Things like a guide to what all the letters and numbers in the lens mean. (Linky again for the full how to read those numbers guide). I need to get my knowledge up to speed on why all these matter but here goes for the numpty view :

Canon RF-S lens – this is the attachment type, means it’s designed for the mirrorless cameras.

18-45mm – this is the focal length. Two numbers mean you can zoom in and out. Lower number means everything is smaller. Bigger number happens for when you zoom in. (The linky above has pictures included in the guide, well worth a peek)

F4.5-6.3 – this is the aperture size. A smaller number means a bigger aperture, which lets more light in.

IS – this is for Image Stabilisation, so the camera should still get fairly sharp pictures if you’re moving it around. This one has a 4 step image stabiliser.

STM – this stands for Stepping Motor Technology. Most motors will be designed to keep spinning. Stepper motors are designed to go direct to a position and hold there until they need to move again.

Pulling something out of the Northern Lights set :

Picture. We're looking at a dark scene. We can see some vague people shapes in the lower segment. The scene is dominated by a sky full of the eerie green and some red glow from the Northern Lights.

That’s one of the ones from the Pixel 4. It’s taken from the ship flight deck, looking out aft. You’ll be able to see some light lines to the lower left and in the stars, where the exposure time has combined with a bit of ship movement. For partially sighted readers who depend on the alt-text being read out, the light lines are perhaps about 1cm as I see them on the editing screen, going horizontally and they’re curiously only visible on a small number of the visible stars.

Good to see stars in there too. The ISO level isn’t actually too high in this one. ISO being the exposure sensitivity. The file metadata is telling me the Pixel 4 chose settings of focal length 4mm (so it’s looking at the sky as intended), F1.7 for the aperture, a whopping 16 seconds of exposure time and ISO 695. The phone was on the tripod at the time. Looks like the little Ixus was able to get down to F3.6 aperture and I got a maximum of 1s exposure time out of it.

Being able to get into the detailed settings helps a lot and the little Ixus couldn’t really give those options.

I’d add a remote trigger, for the camera being on a tripod, and a spare battery to that camera, lens, memory card and backpack package.

One thing I’d say though – if you’re doing a big purchase, like a phone, or a camera, or something bigger like a car or a house, be an Intelligent Customer. Research what you’re buying before you commit any money. Sometimes the people with the products make it easy to find out what you’re buying. Sometimes they’ll hide why their product is cheaper than the alternatives.

But the thing to take away is that it’s Your Money you’re spending. It’s only the sales person’s when they’ve done a good enough job of parting you with the money.

And enjoy what you buy ! See you next time folks 🙂