Oideyasu! Please take off your shoes.
Autumn colors in Kyoto (click for BIG 1280 X 960 desktop background image)
Looking down from wall of Nijo Castle. Built in 1603 by the Tokugawa Shoguns, this is the place where the last Shogun relinquished control of the nation back to Emperor Meiji in 1867, and the next year the capital moved to Tokyo.
I'm coming to like this camera more and more.
Here's a picture of the sunset this evening over Kokusaikaikan, the Kyoto International Conference Hall.
despite the rain, the full size shot at maximum resolution looked good, as I had it set at ISO 50. this is important. I filled a 256MB card today, and had fun doing it. I used exposure bracketing, which worked just as it should. I had 3 clearly different shots to choose the best from. I used spot metering on back-lit objects against the sky, and it also worked just as it should.
Mist clinging to Mt. Hiei behind my neigborhood. I finally get a day off, and I get non-stop rain.
More Lumix FZ10 photos
Futtari yandari shite imasu (It's raining off and on), and I'm getting used to my new Lumix. All these pictures are taken with high contrast and saturation settings.
The top two are 1024 X 768 background size
Getting better at wielding this new toy, I mean, instrument. My biggest wish so far is that I could toggle between spot metering and matrix metering as fast as I can change the exposure comp and flash comp, but it's not bad. The panning shot at the bottom is easy in panning mode, that was my second try. The burst mode is really fast. I fired off like 6 full-size shots in less than two seconds, so the next time I go to uma kurabe (horse racing) at Kamigamo Jinja, a 1,000-year-old event, I won't have to settle for the poor shots I got last spring. The camera is starting to feel natural in my hands, using the hood to steady it. The OIS is great, the AF works well in the light, the zoomed shots are as good as you could expect.
I grew up idolizing Leica lenses, and they deserve it, but just because it's Leica doesn't mean they can defy the laws of physics. When you crank that lens (so to speak) you are shooting through a lot of atmosphere, not empty space, ONTO A DIGITAL SENSOR that is a clumsy substitute for a glorious square of 35mm film emulsion, so you can't expect as much detail as a shot taken close up, just because you are filling the frame. THIS IS NOT A DEFECT.
This lens is trying to be all things to all people. From 35mm to 420mm at F2.8 is a whole crazy lot of range. Something's gotta give. In this case, it's barrel distortion at close up. Not bad barrel distortion, just average. Leica can do better, but not on an all-purpose lens like this. A 420mm Leica??? A long lens for them would be a 135mm portrait lens, right?
The comments about noise are right. You should try to keep the ISO down as much as possible, but since I shoot almost only for web, reducing the size of the image takes care of the noise for me. Your mileage may vary depending on your purpose
This camera is good, and fun, I'm having fun with it.
You can buy a temple passport, a little book with folding blank pages at most larger temples.
The idea is to get them stamped and decorated with calligraphy (300 yen here) at the famous sites you visit. Some places have stamps you can apply free, calligraphy costs.
(photo taken with Sony P-71)
In addition to meeting Tom Cruise, Yoshiko waited first in line to get tickets to Saturday's sneak preview in Kyoto of The Last Samurai, in advance of the December 6 (in Japan) wide release of the movie. We had the best seats in the house
My review:
Postmodern society has equipped us with a refined ability to preemptively dismiss everything as a contemptible sham, in case it turns out to be embarrassingly unpopular or embarrassingly popular; once you realize that there are only 36 possible movie plots, it's easy to snicker at any movie and call it hack or formulaic.
Tom Cruise as the hero in a samurai movie?
Line up on the left to pick up your tomatoes, on the right for sarcastic insults. Or if, perchance, for just a moment you can let down your fortified walls of ironic self-awareness,
GO SEE THIS FREAKIN' MOVIE!
Cruise plays a veteran of the Civil War and Indian campaigns, Nathan Algren, trying to drink away his nightmares of slaughtering natives. He is offered a job training the new Western-style army of emeror Meiji, so they will buy plenty of American armaments.
"If you want to pay me to kill Jappos, I'll kill Jappos. Pay me to kill the enemies of Jappos, and I'll kill the enemies of Jappos."
The enemies, it turns out, are the samurai. Fierce warriors, loyal to the emperor, ironically they are now an anachronistic embarrassment and need to be finished off as Japan modernizes. Algren leads his first batch of raw recruits against the samurai, toting their new rifles, and they get massacred. The American is captured, taken to the samurai's village, and slowly he heals and comes to know them, especially Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) and Ujio (Hiroyuki Sanada). The embers of his warrior spirit are fanned as he finds they have something in common: Algren and the samurai have been discarded.
You don't need to know much more than that about the story, but the cinematography, the cosutmes, the acting, it all works in this movie.
In my experience, very few Japanese people under 40 have seen a Kurosawa samurai movie, but here they were to see this one, and there was a buzz in the theater when it was over. Everyone enjoyed it.
I found a diamond ring with a gold band on the ground Monday evening (a national holiday) at 5:30 at the intersection of Shijo and Kawaramachi streets, the busiest intersection in Kyoto. It seems to be a wedding ring, stamped with a year beginning 18XX, and has other distinguishing features. Spread the word if you know anyone visiting or living in Kyoto who may have lost one. The Kyoto Police department has it. I'm going to try to get the word out to local neighborhoods. I imagine there is a heartbroken old lady somewhere who wants it back, and I'd like to get it to her.
I bought this camera last night after much study of various makes and models. I really considered almost everything, but it came down to the new Fuji S7000, Canon 300D, Nikon 5700, Sony V1, Sony F828 (if it ever appears) and Canon G5. Without consideration of price among these, the Panasonic Lumix FZ10 with its Leica 35-420mm F2.8 zoom lens and optical (that is, not digital, it runs on gyroscopes) image stabilization won me, because I think it will fit my style of shooting best, so don't take my word for anything.
I got your OIS right here (click for original image, 1600x1200, BIG download):
That's available light, ISO 50, f2.8 1/4 second, my first test shot with OIS. if you're a Windows user, I apologize for the darkness of this picture. I didn't adjust it. It looks deep and shadowy on Mac, as I like some garden shots.
Uh-oh. Click and look what happens when I use the built in flash with the lens at full wide angle with the included lens hood in place. There is a shadow at the bottom of the photo. I tried out my old swivelhead strobe from my Nikon SLR and it works well, and of course doesn't have this problem, which is due to the size of the lens.
(Click for 1600 X 1200)
Again with the OIS. Its a winner. I can't wait for the next festival. In Kyoto, you don't have to wait long for a festival. I'm going to be getting long shots and close-ups handheld without changing lenses. That's basically why I ended up going with this camera. And then an omen appeared. Five minutes after I left Naniwa Camera, I found a gold and diamond ring, it just appeared at my feet as I waited to cross the busiest intersection in Kyoto, Shijo-Kawaramachi. (It's already with the police, BTW, my fantasies lasted less than a minute.)
wide, 5X zoom, 12X zoom
ERGONOMICS: This camera is rather blocky, so I am going to have to adjust to it, there's no way it's going to adjust to me. However, I don't think I'm going to have the tilting problem I had with the little Cybershot instamatic. I ruined many pictures by holding it slantwise, because it's not shaped like a camera. The lens hood provides a stable handhold for my big hands. An EVF is something new for me, so I'm not really ready to comment on it, I'll probably be using the LCD for awhile.
CONTROLS: the zoom control is not in a very good place, again I'll have to get used to it. This camera has fewer buttons than most. I think more controls could have been put on the outside of the camera, but instead you have to navigate menus a bit. They have tried to make the most important ones easy to reach. I'm already getting fast at the exposure comp, which is important. Just tap the 4-way button up once, then right or left for plus or minus. Easy and fast.
So far the OIS and lens seem good, and that's what I hope is going to make me glad I chose the Lumix. We'll see.
When my wife puts her mind to something, watch out, brother. After spending a few days last November following leads and trying to track down Tom Cruise who was shooting part of "The Last Samurai" in Kyoto, Yoshiko and her best friend since elementary school Michiyo made plans to do it again this year for the movie's premiere. I heard some of their telephone conversations as they considered likely locations to encounter Tom. I was having a good time snickering at their teenybopper enthusiasm while Yoshiko was getting serious, sort of. She made this poster last night with Tom's catch phrase from his breakthrough hit, Risky Business.
Today (Friday) was the big day, and Michiyo was all over town before breakfast, literally. She went to Nijo Castle, she went to the hilltop heliport where Tom's helicopter comes in and out of town (Kyoto doesn't have an airport). She scoured likely hotels, then she got serious, too. She shook down a cabbie and got the lowdown: 1 p.m. at the heliport. Yoshiko caught up with her and they headed for the top of the hill.
Jackpot!
photos by Yoshiko Ferry
Not only did Tom see the sign, he came over and taked with them for a while. Michiyo got the whole thing on video and showed it to me later. I have to figure out how to edit with iMovie and upload it. They talked for longer than I would have believed if it wasn't on tape.
Thanks for making two schoolgirls happy, Tom.
Autograph
To~mu, To~mu! Tom Cruise was in Kyoto filming scenes for "The Last Samurai" at Chion-in temple in November last year, and my wife and her friend had fun stalking him. This year they are conniving to get into the showbiz premiere on Friday at Nijo Castle, and they are back on his trail, scouring web bulletin boards, chatting up taxi drivers, roaming all over town. Just for fun.
Just for fun, here's a frame frab from the Last Samurai trailer, showing the steps at Chion-in. Next to it is real thing. Notice any computer enhancements?
Closer view of steps.
It is the biggest temple gate in Japan, by the way. Chion-in is a really beautiful temple.
Get some green coffee. The whole point is that green coffee is good for months, roasted coffee for only days. Look in hidden corners of shops where you buy coffee.
Close doors leading in and out of kitchen, turn on fan. There will be smoke at the end. Put a small saucepan over a low to medium flame, get it good and evenly hot. Dump in coffee and keep it moving.
Put a timer on so you get to know the roasting profile in your kitchen with your equipment.
Keep stirring, watch the colors change, and listen to the crack. Smoke will increase toward the end.
When it almost reaches the color you want (10-20 minutes, depending on amount of coffee, pan and heat), dump it out to cool into a metal colander over the sink, as some chaff will fall through. Better in the sink than on the floor. Go outside and stir the coffee in the colander to cool it until it's only warm, stirring and blowing to release more chaff. It's OK, your neighbors already think you're a freak.
Keep it in an open container for the next 4-12 hours to release carbon dioxide, then seal it up as with any other coffee and grind before use. Your espresso will have crema as good as if an Italian pulled it.
It grew, so Yoshiko picked it yesterday. Only 2 of 5 bolls opened. Next year, Monsanto genetically modified mutant SUPERCOTTON!
My old Nikon saw daylight yesterday for the first time in four years or so. Most of the flowers painted by Mom were worn off of this stalwart camera, which served me well for several years. I bought it when I was still working at the newspaper in San Clemente.
I can't sell the camera because Mom is gone now and can't paint anything else for me. (Anyone wanna try an eMac? It's huge and solid white.) I can't sell the lenses because you're an idiot if you have a camera without lenses. They aren't worth so much anyway, but the 135mm portrait lens is great.
Now I'm agonizing over which 5+MP camera is going to replace my Sony P-71 (3.2MP) digicam. I keep going around in circles, finding faults with all the candidates:
Sony DSC-V1 [small enough to carry all the time (important) but feels like an cheap instamatic, which means my shots may not be level (my curtent problem]
Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel (Kiss in Japan) [great sensor chip, but will I carry it all the time?]
Fuji Finepix S7000 [feels like SLR, but many criticize the new sensor]
Sony F828 [Don't like looks, will it ever arrive]
Any suggestions?
I was doing some cleaning this evening, and this came out of the closet. Factory fresh, never used, has been wrapped in plastic since 1995 (they sent me two by mistake). Free if I knwo you, I'll send it COD. The price is one million dollars or best offer if I don't know you.
The National Anthem of Japan is a brief poem called a "tanka" set to music. The poem is quite old, but as set to music in the 19th Century. It pays homage to the emperor, so it has been a bone of contention for some who want to eliminate references to emperor worship that recall WWII militarism.
Here's a translation from this page:
Thousands of years of happy reign be thine;
Rule on, my lord, till what are pebbles now
By age united to mighty rocks shall grow
Who's venerable sides the moss doth line.
That's the whole thing, although it's repeated in the anthem. Anyway, the rock is in my hood. Here's a picture of the rock, the one made of many pebbles. It's at Shimogamo Shrine
Here's another translation:
May the reign of the Emperor continue for a thousand, nay, eight thousand generations and for the eternity that it takes for small pebbles to grow into a great rock and become covered with moss.
I have this unused domain, j-blog.com. A year ago it seemed like a cool idea to start a Japan-specific weblog with open membership and different for different aspects of Japanese culture. Now, eh.
Any ideas?
1 GB of RAM should be enough for anything. Sorry about the lack of posting and all the porn spam.
An ancient sento (bath house) in Nishijin, Kyoto's SoHo, converted into a cafe. We ate on the men's side of the wall. o-share~.
