River Witham

Walking – River Witham

/ Lincolnshire, Walking / , , , , , ,

I could not get out yesterday, when it was sunny because of work and today it is overcast!

I took my usual route out of Branston, through Washingborough and out onto the Sustrans path along the River Witham. It was definitely not a spring day walk, it was overcast with a cold wind, which was a good test for my new coat, a drab olive M65 jacket but when I stopped I wish I had not taken the liner out and left it at home. Whilst walking though the jacket was comfortable and wind proof.

The jacket has a concealed hood in the collar but I was sceptical whether it was very waterproof so before using the coat I proofed it with some Nikwax Cotton Proof. It is never going to be completely waterproof but hopefully I have improved the water resistance.

The chest pockets were useful for my phone and iPod and secure well with metal press studs. The lower pockets also fasten down with studs and are a useful size. However I do miss a secure inside pocket.

Metal rabbit Washingborough

Field of oil seed rape - Lincolnshire

Stop for coffee near Washingborough Lincolnshire, Finnish Gas Mask bag and MSR titanium mug
A stop for coffee near Washingborough Lincolnshire, Finnish Gas Mask bag and MSR titanium mug

I really needed the foil windshield when I made my coffee, as the wind was strong and there was no shelter for the stove. The wind proof lighter was essential.

Chimney pot

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Something to Read on Holiday

/ General / , , ,

Bought an excellent book to read whilst on holiday – The Digital SLR Handbook by Michael Freeman.

I have a number of photo books by Michael Freeman that I used extensively when I was working in, and teaching photography. He writes really informative books on photography so when I decided I wanted something about digital photography he was the only choice for me.

Now for lots of good reasons I do not have a digital SLR but use a Canon Powershot S2 IS – an excellent bridge camera, quick to use, flexible, creative and light to carry when walking. Many things in the book were not applicable but it covered the things I want to get to grips with really well. Top of the list was histograms and exposure – and I have been working on that and have seen an improvement in the exposures. I also want to start to use Photoshop on my images and he has some good things to say about that.

The final thing I got from the book (so far as I have not read it all yet) is that my next camera is likely to be a Canon G9 so I can shoot in RAW. So out goes the idea of a Nikon P60 as a lightweight walking camera (lost interest in that when I found out it does not have live view of the exposure) and in comes the G3 – the only thing holding me back on that is that it uses battery packs not AA cells. Well I am not going to buy it tomorrow so by Christmas there may be something else on the market that does what I want in a compact digital format,

  • Compact size
  • Viewfinder (absolutely essential)
  • SD cards
  • AA cell power
  • Short zoom 5x optical at least
  • RAW and jpeg (now)
  • Image stabilisation
  • Live view
  • Manual exposure
  • Some useful modes – snow and foliage are two I use on my S2 all the time
  • Hot shoe (well it is a low priority)

Well it is “my” wish list.

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