Saturday, 10 December 2016

Can You Have Too Many Cameras

Several years ago my main camera was a Nikon D3200 with a Nikon 18-55mm lens. I was perfectly happy with this camera until my photographic requirements moved on.
Nikon D3200 18-55mm lens
I'd moved onto the Nikon D3200 from a simple point and shoot camera as well as moving more into digital photography. By this time I was uploading videos to YouTube and adding a few photos to Flickr! I was also giving much more thought to the photos that I was using in my blog posts. Any adjustments to images using image editing software was at an absolute minimum though. It wasn't too much different from having them developed except that now they came ready developed when they were downloaded from the camera and there was no waiting involved.
Dent Head Viaduct Nikon D3200 18-55mm lens
I'll blame the RSPB for a change in my requirements as we decided to join the Society and visit some of their reserves around the country. For general landscape photography my D3200 was fine and I'd no issues with the quality of the images I got from it. However, trying to photograph birds with a 55mm lens isn't going to work unless the birds are unusually close. I decided that a zoom lens was need and didn't give much thought to anything else other than needing a fairly high powered zoom lens.

I added a Sigma 50-500mm zoom lens.
Sigma 50-500mm zoom lens
It takes some good pictures if you can manage to hold the camera steady. The lens weighs in at a whopping 2.040kg or 4.5 lbs. I took it with me on any visits where I thought a 500mm lens would be useful.
RSPB Old Moor Nikon D3200  Sigma 50-500mm zoom lens
It wasn't something I carried about on the off chance of catching a suitable scenario. I looked around on the Internet and came across super zoom bridge cameras. One of these might be just what I was looking for. I was back to carrying around one camera that had a lens to suit all my requirements. The Panasonic FZ 1000 weighs in at 0.870kg (1.92 lbs) compared to 2.6kg (5.7 lbs) for the Nikon D3200 with its 50-500mm zoom lens attached.

My Panasonic FZ1000 and its zoom lens ranging from 25mm to 400mm, for me, covered all eventualities.
Panasonic Lumix FZ 1000 with 25-400mm zoom lens
Panasonic FZ 1000 - Harlow Carr July 2015
Panasonic FZ 1000 - Harlow Carr July 2015
I began to take more video and I began to look around to see if other cameras would be more suited to my needs.   I decided to upgrade if that's the correct term to a Panasonic GH4 mainly for its 4k and general video recording qualities. It doesn't get any rave reviews for its still image qualities but so far I've no complaints.
Panasonic GH4 with 14-140mm zoom lens
It came with a downside though. Unlike the FZ1000 the GH4 has an interchangeable lens and having discovered that the 14mm-140mm zoom didn't entirely meet my requirements I added a 100-300mm zoom lens to my kit. For comparison purposes my GH4 with 100-300mm zoom lens weighs in at 1.14kg or 2.5lbs not too bad for carrying around.
Panasonic GH4 with 100-300mm zoom lens
I had rather unwittingly returned to my old problem of which lens to use. I am now able to carry both GH4 lenses around with me but it's more a question of having the right one on the camera at the right time. If I'm walking around a nature reserve then more than likely I need to have my long zoom lens attached to the camera. I then might see a nice landscape view of the reserve which needs a wide angle lens and I have to stop and change over lenses.
Clumber Park Panasonic GH4 with 100-300mm zoom lens
Thorp Perrow Arboretum Panasonic GH4 with 14-140 mm zoom lens
Not too much hassle in summer but on a bitterly cold winter's day not ideal. I started to get around this problem by using my camera phone to take any landscape type shots. Camera phones can take pretty good images and I was happy with the results I was getting. I've now discovered that my Nikon D3200 with its 18-55mm lens will fit in my camera bag with my Panasonic GH4 and lenses. Perhaps I'll manage to carry them all around with me on some occasions but that mighty hefty 50-500mm lens will be staying at home.


Posted by Martyn at 09:48 4 comments

Balmy Weather

The very mild spell of weather for December continued on Thursday and Friday as, each day, the temperature made it into the low teens in Centigrade or low fifties in Fahrenheit terms each day. Not that either of them were particularly nice days as although it was mild it was dull and cloudy.

We did a little bit of local train chasing on Thursday. The dull weather didn't make ideal conditions for photography. Sue managed a couple of decent shots but I'm not sure what happened to my video. It was mostly blurred and grainy and consigned to the cutting room floor.
46233 The Duchess of Sutherland heads North to York with The York Yuletide Express
There's another couple of special trains heading to York over the weekend so I'm hoping to fit in another video attempt.

Posted by Martyn at 08:24 0 comments

Thursday, 8 December 2016

Almost Another Record

Wednesday was an unusual sort of a day. The milder weather that had been forecast arrived over the space of a few hours with the temperature rocketing upwards so to speak.
As I posted on Wednesday morning it looked like the highest temperature I've recorded in December was under threat. In the end it fell fractions of a degree short of the record set on 19 December 2015 when the temperature reached 15.8°C (60.4°F). Wednesday’s temperature fell just 0.2°C short reaching 15.6°C or 60.1°F.
It certainly made a nice change from the cold weather of the last week or so.

The garden now has a very sorry wintry look about it.

Posted by Martyn at 10:22 0 comments

Wednesday, 7 December 2016

Another Look at Our Potato Crop

Tuesday was another cold, damp and misty day. It wasn't as cold as Monday and the temperature was on the increase throughout the day and night into Wednesday morning.
The temperature has risen very quickly on Wednesday morning. The highest temperature I've recorded in December is 15.8°C (60.4°F) last year. Is it in danger?

As it was damp and miserable on Tuesday I was messing about with a little bit of video. The video itself was taken in May 2016 when last year's potato crops were growing. I've added onto the video the weights of the potatoes harvested from the plants shown.

Posted by Martyn at 09:36 1 comments

Tuesday, 6 December 2016

Coldest Day in 2016

Monday remained cold and foggy all day.
It gave us our coldest average daily temperature of 2016 with only 0.2°C (32.4°F) taking over the record set last Tuesday 29 November when the average temperature was 0.6°C or 33.1°F.
For the record the highest temperature for the day was 2.4°C (36.3°F) with a low of -1.7°C or 28.9°F.

The good news is the weather is set to get milder!

Posted by Martyn at 10:01 2 comments

Monday, 5 December 2016

Milder Weather to Arrive?

We've had about a week of milder weather with temperatures around or a little above average. We seemed to be in the minority on Sunday as we started the day mildish missing out on the keen overnight frost that affected most of the UK.
Temperature & Rainfall 29 November to 05 December 2016
Monday morning brought back the frost and mist as the low temperature fell to -1.7°C or 28.9°F.
The forecast is for milder weather to return by Wednesday and at the moment it looks like milder conditions might hang around for a while. We'll see.

Posted by Martyn at 13:01 3 comments

Sunday, 4 December 2016

Parsnip Surprise

I suppose Saturday was a fairly typical December day. It remained cloudy all day with the temperature a fraction below what we might expect in early December reaching a high of 6.5°C or 43.7°F.

In May when our parsnip seeds Gladiator were germinating we thought we were going to have a bad parsnip year. The germination was so poor and patchy that Sue sowed a few extra seeds in the big gaps hoping that we might at least get a few smaller parsnips from a late sowing.
Parsnips - Gladiator on 21 May 2016
Through summer and into autumn the parsnips that had germinated grew well and developed lots of lovely green leaves. I've been caught out before when parsnips with lots of lovely green tops have been very disappointing when lifted. Late in November when it came round to testing a few roots our parsnip bed looked like this.
Parsnips - Gladiator on 28 November 2016
We've lifted a few roots so far and I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality. Only one root has had a little bit of canker damage around the crown but as it was a large root there was still plenty of usable parsnip once the damaged part had been cut away.
Parsnips - Gladiator  Harvested on 02 December 2016
These three roots weighed in at 1.7kg or 3.7 lbs. If the rest of the crop are as good as this we should be okay for parsnips well into early spring when any roots left in the ground will be starting to grow again.

Posted by Martyn at 10:53 2 comments

Saturday, 3 December 2016

Allotment Black Gold

I'm not sure I remember seeing the forecast that suggested the first couple of days of December would be milder nor can I remember seeing the forecast that said it would rain on Friday.

We were in need of a few fresh root vegetables so we decided on a visit to the plot. I was a little bit concerned that the keen frost last week might have damaged our carrot crop which we leave in the ground over winter. It was very cloudy when we arrived and it was trying to rain. It seemed a good ides to dig up some vegetables first just in case the rain got heavier.
Carrots - Flyaway
Our carrots appear to have survived the frost. A few have split and allowed easy picking for slugs and other pests but most of the carrots are still in good condition even if some are a little bit misshapen. When I'd finished harvesting the vegetables it was still trying to rain but not really enough to put us off carrying on with a few jobs. One job that I needed to do was start emptying one of our compost bins. I'll admit that I'm rubbish at making compost but now and again I must do something right and I get some good stuff. This particular compost bin worked pretty well.
It's got a few twiggy bits in it that haven't completely broken down and the largest of them were removed and added to a compost heap in the making. I've managed to get four barrowfulls of good friable compost and am using it to mulch around our fruit bushes.
That was all I had time to do as it started to rain somewhat heavier and we decided to call it a day. I think I'll get another four barrowfulls of compost out of this bin which should be enough to finish mulching around our fruit trees and bushes.

I wish I was better at this compost making lark.

Posted by Martyn at 10:35 3 comments
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