Monday, January 23, 2012

Trying out the new camera

I've been meaning to get a few more photos up on the blog, but the extreme cold we've been having so far this year has kind of killed that idea. I don't like the idea of bring sensitive electronics outside when the temperature is below -30C, which is what we've been getting almost every days for three weeks. Hell, by the time you throw in windchill most days have been hovering around -45C, which doesn't make it easy to manipulate electronics outside. Go ahead, take your gloves off for a few minutes while trying to push buttons. See how they'll feel at the end of it.

It's also mildly annoying because I got a new camera over the holidays. Alas, the Pentax K10 I got several years ago and I never really meshed. My fault, really. I thought I wanted a camera with a bit of weight because I like the feel of it. The problem, of course, is that you then have to drag along a camera with a lot of weight. Also, most of the photos we take are on vacation, so dragging a heavy camera and a bunch of lenses is a real nuisance.

So I decided, to hell with it, did a bunch of research and went with a Luminix FZ150 - it's one of the mega-zoom models of digitals. I'm pretty happy with it so far. The weather in Iqaluit actually "warmed up" on Saturday to around -22C, so here are a few pictures I snapped. These were all taken around 1:30 to 2 pm, for those of you wondering about daylight.

A komatik at sunset...

A quick shot up the bay. I included this one because I also wanted to show off the lens. See the little tower on the island...

This is what it looks like when I up on the zoom. Not bad...

A rare sighting of the majestic snow beast of the North....ie Boo.

Been hard to take the little guy outside much this year, with the cold. So he enjoyed the chance to romp outside for about 15 minutes before it got too cold...

Last Five
1. Like a hurricane - Neil Young
2. Radioactive - Kings of Leon
3. Old enough - The Raconteurs
4. Closing time (live) - Leonard Cohen*
5. Within your reach - The Replacements

4 comments:

The Perfect Storm said...

Northern lights photos please! We hear that you are getting spectacular skys right now with the solar flares hitting the Earth.

Regards
etc.

towniebastard said...

The combination of extreme cold - -45C with windchill - plus cloud cover makes that kind of difficult. But the solar activity is supposed to continue into tomorrow, so I'll see what I can do...

The Perfect Storm said...

Many thanks if you can manage it without freezing to death. Make sure Boo is on guard just in case you look like a snack to a polar bear!

Love the soft lighting in the photos. The remote feeling comes right through.

Regards
etc.

Anonymous said...

iYour pics are lovely. Agree with most of your review of the first three DOYLE episodes, also can't stand the thought of Chummy coming back next week. However, we love Des. So there. Regards, S.P.