Light Capturing, etc.

2008-03-06T10:26:00.001-07:00

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.

TEST

2008-03-06T09:52:00.001-07:00

Here is the beginning of my post.

And here is the rest of it.

Free photo tips

2007-09-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

9/10/2007:
Adorama just launched a new photo tip series, named 100 in 100, 100 tips in 100 days, I suppose.

Click on the title above to reach the article. Check it out.

New links

2007-08-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

I am adding a new link to my favorite photo blogs.

Epic Edits, run by Brian Auer, very interesting site with a lot of useful information, and links to other photo related articles.
http://blog.epicedits.com/

Second, I want highlight Strobist. If you are interesting in lighting, check this site out. Everything about off camera flash and more. The techniques are more budget oriented, but the results are fantastic, and used by Pros! Check it out.
http://strobist.blogspot.com/

How creative can you get?

2007-08-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Check out this link that I "stumbled upon".

It's one of those "why didn't I think of that" site. Except, I am not even close to his creativity!

Well done!

2007-08-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

From our recent trip to Napa area. This is by our bed and breakfast we stayed at. Got up around 6:30 to take some pictures. The fog was thick, air was cool, and I saw this typical tree, fog, and fence shot that I just had to take it, :).

I really liked Napa area, sure is a different life style, and close to one of my favorite cities, San Francisco.

We were ambitious, planned on hitting as many wineries as we can, in reality, I think we can only handle a maximum of 4 a day, I can only drink so much before I am wined out. Other couples at the B&B were hitting 8 or so, don't know how they do it.

Pina was one of our favorite one on this trip. This is a winery that only make cabernet. Expensive, but boy, what an experience. Only one of their wine was bottled, the others were still in barrels ready for the futures. They were serving us straight out of the barrels! It was really fun. Oh, Pina is on the Silverado Trail. If you like cabernet, you have to stop here.

Next time, we will stay close to highway 29. Tons of wineries and nice restaurants on that road. We were close to Santa Rosa, which is closer to Russian River Valley, the pinot region.

It was a 12 hour drive from Flag to Napa, it really wasn't too bad. I am really surprised at how rough the road is in California. Maybe so many cars there just tear up the roads before they can repair them..

Oh, our Prius did good. Averaged 46 mpg for the round trip. Lots of mountain road the entire trip, so the little engine probably didn't like it too much. I guess if we're still in Florida, we'd be getting some outrageous high mpgs. It was actually a very comfortable car for this long trip. We LIKE IT!!

Rest area outside of Kingman, AZ.

2007-08-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

Catholic Church by downtown Flagstaff.

Finally, a clear day after a few days of monsoon. Oh, I am not complaining about the rain, we really needed it. But it is nice to have some good lighting. The sky was deep blue.

Had to return a couple of library books, so I thought I'd grab my camera and take some pictures while I am close to downtown.
Very interesting building, I have not see church with gargoyles for decoration. I have taken a few pictures of this church, but always in the afternoon. I walked around a little, and saw this shot.

West side of the church.

East side of the church. I wasn't sure if this will turn out or not, since this side was shaded. Not too bad.

Shot with Pentax *ist-DL, 28mm at f8, raw.

2007-08-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

Summer storm over Grand Canyon - photo taken by the Desert View, East Rim. I think I like to drive up from East Rim to the South Rim better. It is not as crowded.

I have been a little frustrated with landscape pictures. I am just having a great deal of problem "getting the right look".

I am going to try a little experiment: I will start to use prime lens at 28mm, 50mm, and 135mm for different outings, and see how they turn out. Also, I am thinking about getting more of old buildings. I find that interesting.

Taken with:
Nikon D70, 18mm, 1/500 second; adjusted with Picasa 2.

2007-08-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

Road side, wild flowers. Is it sunflower? Don't really know.

It's been raining, and it really makes a big difference to this dry location. The plans are really coming alive with this boost of H2O. The weather has been really nice also.

Taken with Pentax *istDL, with 28mm Sears (Ricoh?) screw mount lens, at F8, back lit by the sun, lens shade would be nice.

2007-07-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

I heard from my photo club that there's a big gathering of elk at Mormon Lake, south of Flagstaff. We went to check it out at around 6:30 PM. It was a little far from the road, but yup, there they were, grazing lazily.

It was quite impressive. I guess they were feeding on the green grass, which probably sprung up from recent rain.

The "lake" looked pathetic, not much of a lake, since we didn't see much water in this area. I hope we get more rain to fill the lake, it would be nice.

2007-07-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

July 12th, we picked up our '07 Seaside Blue Touring Prius, with option package #2. We traded in our '05 S2000 with 14,000 miles on it. Are we crazy? Well, not really. S2000 is a really nice car, but we're looking for something more practical, ie, good gas mileage with storage space. At 6'1", driving the S2000 over 200 miles usually means a very sore back for me. Winter here at Flagstaff, if it snows, usually means keep the S2000 in the garage. OK, I think I have justified our action enough, :).

We took the new car out to Phoenix on Saturday, this is about a 150 mile trek to the Chinese cultural center from Flagstaff. From 7000 ft to about 1500 ft. On the drive down, I think we averaged 47.2 mpg. On the way up, without reseting the computer, we ended up with 42 mpg. I kept the car running at 75 mph. We had about 60 miles on the odometer before the trip, so that probably had a little effect on the average mpg.

With the car being new, I didn't want to push the car too much. Several times, with major climbing, the car struggled a little. In reality, I don't think it did too bad for a car like this. We rented a Chevy HHR (PT clone) before, and it also struggled going over the same mountain road. Performance wise, well, its no S2000, but it cruises at 75 miles effortlessly (with light climing), I am fairly happy with the acceleration.

The car is very comfortable, but I wish there's more adjustment with the seat, with only 2 adjustment with the driver seat, I wish I could adjust the thigh support, but one thing for sure, I didn't have back pain after we get home, :). Our other car is a Honda Pilot, which usually means 6 gal each way, now we can use that amount round trip, I like it!

On Sunday, we ran to Prescott to pick buy a notebook computer. On the way home, we took 89A through Jerome, Sedona. The car handled the switch back without any problem, but my wife turned a little pale on those winding roads, ;). Now the average is at around 44 mpg, pretty much what everyone is averaging. On the way home, we had a mini convoy of Prius, a dust, and a silver (from North Carolina), that was cool.

We have a major trip coming to California, that's 800 miles one way. We will see how it handle the drive, and we can't wait to see what kind of mpg we will get, with a few cases of wine in the cabin, I'd like to see the difference in gas mileage.

2007-07-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

After we put up the hummingbird feeder, we have enjoyed several species of hummingbird visiting this feeder.

The earliest visitors were the ruby throat, and they are not very shy, they have fed on the feeder while I was 2 feet away!

Lately, a different type has been hovering around. It has more orange to its plummage, and I think I have found it on the internet, it's called "Rufous". Also called Feisty, and I believe feisty is a correct name. It is much shyer than ruby throat, so I can't get close enough to take good pictures, but the other issue is it will stand guard in a nearby tree, and keep others from feeding from this feeder.

The hummingbird territory war rages on...

2007-07-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

After months of rainless days, finally, we are getting close to some moisture from mother nature. Monsoon season is finally getting close, and I for one, is looking forward to a good soaking to the yard to green up the grass.

The temperature has been high also; we were hitting 90s during the day, which is high for this area. But I am sure it is nothing like 115 Phoenix has been getting.

Random photo site - First entry

2007-06-22T15:23:00.001-07:00

I use Stumbleupon, set it to seek out photo sites, and came up to this site by a very creative photographer.

Check it out:
http://haha.nu/creative/creative-photos-by-chema-madoz

My Lomo-look attempt, :)

2007-05-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Original picture

I saw an article at a blog site about how he converted his digital picture to look more like a picture taken from a Lomo camera. It was interesting, but I didn't think anything of it.

It was a cloudy day today (hopefully it will rain, we need it!), and I was near the golf course, so I took some pictures, and adjust it using Picasa (just the "I'm feeling lucky" button). Anyways, it actually made it look like a picture taken from Lomo, :).

Attempt #1 - Feeling lucky

I made another attempt with Picasa, this time, just manual adjustment, actually kind of neat. Really no instructions on how I did it (anyone can click buttons, right?), this is all for fun.

Attempt #2, some manual adjustment.

dave

Toronto

2007-05-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

Yonge Street

Visited Toronto for work recently. This time, I stayed in the downtown area, just walked around alot. Toronto is similar to New York City, but in a way, it has plenty of its own charms.

Tons of Tim Horton coffee shops, like every 2 blocks or something like that; that was good, because of time difference, I have to get up equivalent of 4 AM (AZ time, 7 AM Eastern Time) to get ready to be with our client at 8 AM Eastern Time.

One thing I did notice, and discussed with the client about it too, is the number of homeless people in the streets. I am really surprised, since my last few trips to NYC, that is not really a big problem. I guess that's not much of a problem, except I have seen women getting harassed walking on the street. Also, while I was there, 21st murder of the year occured. She was a homeless person.

I have viewed other sites about street photography, I don't know, I don't mind taking photos of building, streets, etc, but to point at people, or be snicky about it, I am just not comfortable. I do carry a small P&S (Canon SD400), so most people are not intimidated by it. But still, I think it is intrusive to shoot people, intentionally.

Eaton Center

dave

New blog links

2007-05-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

I have added some of my favorite photography blog sites to my blog links.

I found myself visiting blog sites more and more recently, I find the articles are usually very informative, although most of these are personal view points. I still visit camera/photography web sites, but mostly for product announcement and review only. I used to browse the forums on these sites, but more and more, just people whining and bitching, kind of sad.

I am still searching for new sites, so I am sure I'll update the links periodically.

Enjoy.

dave

Flags area quick trips - Lomaki

2007-03-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

Lomaki Ruins is located just north of the Sunset Crater National Monument, which is about a 30 minute drive from city of Flagstaff, AZ.

Driving direction:
From downtown Flagtaff, take US-66 (yep, Route-66) East, which is also known as 89. Stay on 89 (pass the Flagstaff Mall) continue North, you will see NF545 (I guess that's National Forest-545) on right, or the Sunset Crater entrance. Or, you can just continue North, until you see the other end of the NF-545, where you should see the Wupatki National Monument sign for your entrance. Its about a 30 minute - 45 minute drive, one way. NF-545 is paved, some parts are nice and smooth, while some parts are slightly bumpy. On nice sunny days, look out for cyclists, usually in large groups.

Just click here to see map of the area.

The Lomaki ruins is a smaller area, compared to Wupatki ruins. It is not manned by park rangers, but does have picnic tables and restroom facility. Paved parking space is available, including space for tour buses. The rangers do stop by sometimes to make their rounds.

Close by the Lomaki ruins, is the Citadel. It is another ruin sitting on top of a hill. You won't miss this ruins, since it is next to the NF-545. Take a tour of this ruin, climb the small hill, you will be amazed at the view you can see on top. On a nice clear day, you can see the Painted Desert, depending on the light, you will see multitude of colors of this desert. Good luck taking pictures of the desert, I have not be able to duplicate what I saw in pictures yet.

What's so different in this area is the differences in type of trees growing here. Just around the Flagstaff area, you see tons of Ponderosa pines, down in this area, you can see Junipers, no pines. There are plenty of other vegetations, but usually the shorter, slow growing types. It is much more arid on this side of the mountain.

We continued on NF-545, going back towards Sunset Craters. On your way, you will go past the Wupatki National Monument, check it out if you can. Before you reach Wupatki, there's the Doney Craters, about 3 million years old. It has 2 small trails, but it do you have to climb a little. It is well worth the effort. The view of the desert is just wonderful. Unfortunately, it was little cloudy when we took this trip, so the deset doesn't look as dramatic.

http://picasaweb.google.com/david.photowork/LomakiRuins/photo#5033102706482396098

The new Y2K

2007-03-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

It's been rough at work, following up with the 2007 daylight saving time change, has been keeping us pretty busy.

I guess the preparation is quite different from different computer companies, since the information regarding this change was first made official back in 2005. We have over 250 clients to support, running on IBM pSeries platform, so we have been busy updating AIX and Java on their machines.

With 4 days left, we are in really good shape.

Why did they have to adjust the DST anyways?

Follow-up with the car purchase.

2007-01-31T19:35:00.000-07:00

More on the purchase experience:

Wifey had her eyes on the Subaru B9 Tribeca, I was kind of skeptical; I thought the price was high, looked a little small, have to use premium gas (that's a big turn off). We went for a test drive, and the verdict was - too small, not enough power. I think the 3rd row seating is kind of like a marketing idea, it is pretty much unusable, what made it bad is that it cut into the space for the second row seating. Which is a shame. I think the car has some nice touches, but size was an issue for us.

At the same car dealership, we checked out an '06 Murano. I always like the Murano, the looks, the nice V6 (Maxima fame), big discount for last year's model. The inside was spacious, the material is not as bad as some of the other Nissan models (hard plastic dash, etc), but overall, I think the consumer report's numbers (overall reliability) kept us out of that car.

Toyotas - We test drove the 4Runner, V6 model. It was a nice car. Sitting up high, tow package, powerful V6, good 4 wheel drive performance, very good ground clearance, more rugged in the off road performance area. The trunk storage looks a little smaller (which is surprising) than our older 4Runner. Overall, this was on our list.

The Highlander is also a good candidate. It drove more like a car, very smooth ride; nice engine, too. The gas mileage was good. The dealer only had a maxed out Limited version, a little too fancy that what we needed. Side note - I took a trip to the East coast, the rental company gave me a free upgrade, guess what - an AWD Limited model! It had 8000 miles on it, but it drives real nice. It also has a Magellen GPS, it was fun to use. I would recommend this car to others.

Honda Pilot - well, this car was high on my list - Good CR rating, Car and Driver car of the year for 5 years straight, spacious, 3 row seating - usable 3rd (for tiny tots, but adults in a pinch) row seating. It is very car like also, but sitting up high, straight forward and no non-sense car. Wifey took a test drive, and it was a surprise for her, but she liked it immediately. She was a little concerned that it might not be as rugged in the off-road arena, but since we don't plan on doing the Baja 5000, I think we will be fine with the dirt road we will be traveling on. On top of that, the dealership was fairly aggresive with the price, so we bought it!

We took it out to a run in the snow covered coutry road, and it did really well! It had no problem going over about a foot of snow, some sliding around, but it might have more to do with the tires. We did pull into an unpaved parking space, where it had over a foot of new snow. We pulled in, tried to backup, but the tires was spinning, pushed the 4WD button, put in reverse, it spinned again, but put it in first, it pulled right out. I have to wonder why it didn't go in reverse, but I have to say the snow was really deep, since the parking space was unpaved, maybe there was a rock or small pot hole.

No sooner we bought this car, we had more snow. There was about a foot of snow on the drive way. We put it right to use. My wife is now very confident with the Pilot on her side. That's the whole reason we bought this car, to be safer. I think we made the right purchase.

When we bought our '02 4Runner, we had planned to keep it for the long haul. But moving to Flagstaff changed things a bit. We're sad to let it go, because it has been a very reliable vehicle, a true work horse. With the pilot, we're having the same attitude, so far, we are very happy with our purchase.

Now, I did say purchases on my last title - the other purchase, which is still in shipment, is a neat little GPS by Garmin, the Nuvi 350. I can't wait to check it out. Based on what we have read on-line, I think we will like it. Stay tuned.

New year - new purchases!

2007-01-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

Well, after the Holidays, we received a few more snow falls. The new snow fall has now forced (yes, forced) us to make a big purchase.

Our trusty '02 4Runner, has been a very reliable vehicle. However, it is rear wheel drive, not a problem in Florida, but in hilly Flagstaff, with a sheet of packed snow, will make it impossible to get to work, or, home!

After days of research, even signed up with Consumer Reports, our decision came down to:
Honda Pilot - EX
Honda CR-V
Nissan Murano S
Subaru B9 Tribeca
Subaru Forrester
Toyota 4Runner
Toyota Highlander

What we are replacing:
1. We decided to trade in the 4Runner, and keep our toy car - '05 S2000: S2000 is a car that we can't drive much in the Winter time, but, the Summer is so nice here, we decided to keep it.

2. Cargo space - we like the versatility of the 4Runner, and we decided that large cargo space is a requirement. We purchased office cabinetry from IKEA the other day, with the 4Runner, it was not a problem, this is important.

3. Seating comfort - has to be able to seat 5 adults comfortably, front and second row of seating must have realistic leg rooms.

4. Good visibility - to sit up high in an SUV is nice, offers a very nice view of your surroundings.

5. Gas mileage - well, I think we are dreaming here, but 16 city, and 22 highway is what we are looking for, but this is SUV we are talking about, so, we have to be realistic.

Quick rule-outs:
Honda CR-V: Very neat looking car on pictures, specification doesn't look too bad. But once we see it in person, it is a different story - it is just way too small for us. The cargo space we were looking for just isn't there. The rear passenger leg room were surprisingly large.

Subaru Forrester: I like the reviews, the price is right, gas mileage is real good, the AWD system offered by Subura has been time tested, and, they are everywhere here in Flagstaff! Cargo space is pretty decent, but a little on the short side when you include the back seat is folded down. But rear leg room space is just too small.

-To be continued-

2006-12-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken around Dec. 3rd. I went to AZ Snow Bowl while my wife was Christmas shopping.

I adjusted the contrast a little using Picasa2, that's about it. I find the aspens very interesting subject. The white bark on this tree is really neat looking. In summer time, the green leaves actually shimmers when the wind is blowing on them. In fall, the colors are super dramatic. I really like them when they are in a cluster.

I missed most of the Fall season, so I can't wait for next season to get here. I wonder what it looks like in Spring?

2006-12-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

It was pretty chilly last week, the pond/lake around here froze over, I think it is about an inch thick. I tossed a couple of pebbles on it, didn't make a dent. These ducks were very hungry, so we fed them with some old bread. It was funny watching them trying to run on the ice. They were sliding around, and when they got closer to the lake bank, they couldn't stop, and crashed right to the bank! Luckily, they don't appear to be hurt. I am not sure what else they can eat when the lake is frozen. I am sure there are others who come out to feed them.

Photo management - Part 1: managing files.

2006-12-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

I take a lot of pictures, going back to locate the picture I want for a reprint, can be a little hard to do sometimes.

I tried a few things throughout the time, I think I have came up with a good system for me, it may not work for everyone, but I'd like to share it anyways.

First of all, things to consider.

1. Easy filing system.

2. Easy to look up specific picture, with some relevance for search criteria.

3. Easy archival mechanism.

Secondly, work with your photo management/viewing software. My favorite program is Picasa2, it is easy to use, easy to use editing options, and integrates well with the PicasaWeb photo sharing site. But there are many other nice programs out there, my recommendation is to learn how your favorite photo software works, and figure out a way that integrate your file folder and software to optimize your workflow.

Now, to my naming convention, I'll start off with with the few methods I have tried.

Life all started in a simple fashion. My first digital camera is an Olympus D490, only 2 megapixel, but it takes very nice picture. I was only taking occasional pictures, so it was fairly easy to manage the pictures, since there aren't that many. I was using the Windows Picture and Fax viewer, built into the Windoes XP. Eventually, the picture base grew, so I started to separate out pictures based on a what these pictures were for, it kind of made sense:

My pictures\Christmas Party 2003

My pictures\beach

My pictures\beach02

My pictures\party

Then I puchased an Olympus UZ750 (with high zoom capability), had it for a few weeks, but returned it after I was not happy with the result and performance, and bought a Minolta 7Hi; then a Nikon D70, Canon SD400, then the Pentax *istDL, I know, it is a sickness, :).

At first, I separated my folder based on camera model.

My pictures\Minolta

My pictures\Minolta\macro01

My pictures\Nikon

My pictures\Nikon\vacation 05

My pictures\Nikon\Phillippe Park-1

etc

This worked out for awhile, but then I found other issues, as the pictures grew, and I often revisit the places I have been, with different cameras, and the need to archive my pictures to the backup hard drive and backup to removable media (CD, then to DVD), I found the way I grouped the pictures is a little difficult to manage, so I came up with this -

My pictures\2005

My pictures\2005\Jan

My pictures\2005\Jan\1st\*pictures*

My pictures\2005\Jan\2nd\*pictures*

The *pictures* are the default filenames, I typically do not rename picture files, that's just too much work. It does not matter which camera I used to take the pictures, I just dump them into the proper dates these pictures were made, and voila.

One issue here is that it is hard to see what I did on Jan 1st, 2005, it really makes finding that specific picture difficult, so I am now naming them with some type of meaning:

My pictures\2005\Jan\1st SandKey\*pictures*

My pictures\2005\Jan\1st Camera Collection\*pictures*

My pictures\2005\Jan\2nd macro\*pictures*

This makes the folder a little more meaningful, so if I am using file folder to try to locate my pictures, it helps me to narrow down the search. Now, when I am ready to archive my photos, I can do this based on year and month, this will make it easier to accomplish and manage. When I burn my pictures to a DVD, I will label my DVD based on year/month. The other helpful thing you can do here is to rename the actual folder, sort of like marking it, so you know you have backed it up to.

My pictures\2005\Jan-BU

My pictures\2005\Feb-BU

My pictures\2005\Mar

So, for 2005, I have enough pictures to back up for Jan and Feb, while March is not full enough to waste the space on a DVD, so I will probably combine March, April, and maybe May, if they all fit onto one DVD.

How do I utilize Picasa2 in my photo management scheme? Well, Picasa2 has some useful features that are very helpful.

On the left hand column of Picasa2, it displays the folder names:

By double clickin on the folder name, it will pop up with a Folder Properties window. In this window, you can enter optional information, such as place taken, and description. What I do is to enter this information, and I can then use Picasa2's search function to perform keyword search, this allows me to narrow down the search, instead of trying to scan through each photo in all of the folders.

A word of caution, this folder properties option is only useful in Picasa2. Picasa2 build an index file to keep this information. Oh, if you renaming your folder in Windows, don't worry, Picasa2 will automatically adjust to new folder name, and retain the descriptions for that folder. You can actually use the folder properties function to rename your folder.

This is a work in progress, I can discover additional flaws as I work my way through.

Other useful hint(s):

I take more pictures than I print, sometimes it is hard to locate the pictures that I printed for a reprint. When you select a specific picture for printing, copy the picture to a separate folder called Printed, this way, if the printed copy is damaged, or someone ask for a copy, jump to this folder to locate the picture, much easier.

Yashica Electro 35 GSN

2006-12-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

A quick little write up (does not qualify as a review):

Found this little gem (actually 3- the others were G models), $25 for the GSN with auxiliary lenses, and $19 for the 2 G models.

I was reading about the Canon G-III QL cameras, and that camera was what I really wanted to add to my collection, but I was never able to find a decently priced Canon, and I just stumbled upon this Yashica. After researching it further, I believe I got pretty lucky that I purchased these cameras.

The GSN comes with a COLOR-Yashinon DX 1:1.7 lens at fixed 45mm; it also comes with a hot shoe that I can attach my Soligor MK-6A flash to it. I only shot 2 rolls of film through it, the result were not too bad. My issue with film is that I don't have a decent scanner to scan the pictures or negatives. One of the roll I did use Costco's CD production to get the pictures in JPEG, however, I was not very happy with the result, since it was not super high res (maybe about 2 Megapixel).

The camera is actually surprisingly big, doesn't weigh all that much, but I can get a little tired of carrying it around for awhile. The thin shoulder strap is really worthless, find a hippie strap if you can, it goes with the camera fairly well.

The shutter is very quite, hardly audible to me. Shutter speed - B, 30 - 1/500 seconds.

GSN and one of the G model are made in Hong Kong, the other G was made in Japan (supposedly more desirable), however, it had some problem with the shutter mechanism, so I gave it to the guy who fixes my cameras for free. He uses them as display, he was happy to get his hands on that one (hey, everyone's happy)!

Some issues with older cameras are:
1. Battery - Older cameras from this era usually have to use mercury batteries, which are banned nowadays. Luckily for these cameras, a replacement battery can be easily obtained from Radio Shack - 23-469A (Alkaline), but you do have to purchase a small battery kit (more like a jacket) from on-line source, since 23-469A is a little too small to properly fit into the battery compartment. Hey, voltage is more important in this case. The camera is aperture priority, therefore to fully utilize the built-in meter, it is necessary to have the battery in place.

2. Light Seal -after being in storage for some time, the light seal, which is made of some type of foamy material, usually disintegrates by now. Remember the camera repair guy I mentioned earlier? He replaced the light seal for me, also cleaned out the fungus that was in the auxiliary lenses that came with my GSN purchase.

3. Not the camera's fault, but my eye-sight is not as good as it used to be. Using the range finder to focus can be tricky for me. To focus correctly, proper lighting is a requirement. Even though the lens is f1.7, I can't imagine that I can properly focus in low light! I think I am also spoiled by the modern autofocus camera, :).

4. Fungus - Becareful with this one, when purchasing on Ebay, you'll never know. Luckily, I am now living in fairly dry region, so hopefully, fungus will not be a problem.

If I locate the pictures I took with this camera, I'll try to post some here.