Peter James Batty

Ladybird

Thursday, 9. July 2009, 09:49:38

Fuji S5 Pro + Nikkor 50mm at f/4, 1/90s ISO 100

Yes, I'm still around, but I've quite a lot of things going on at the moment including moving to a new house. However, I'll always find time to get outside with the camera.

2 Comments

If you come into some money...

Friday, 19. June 2009, 17:59:55

I'll have one of these please

Very nice idea from Olympus and hopefully I'll get chance to play with one soon. Not so sure I'll sell many at £600, but who knows?

I have some other things to talk about over the weekend, but for now here's a photo:

Fuji S5 Pro + Nikkor 50mm at f/8, 1/90s and ISO 100

2 Comments

Still here

Friday, 5. June 2009, 18:29:10

spotify

Another month flies by and I've been thinking that I should post something here.

New things: Opera 10 beta is very good and worth downloading for those who like something bleeding edge.

Also just discovered Spotify, which is currently only available to use in the UK at the moment, but it's very similar to Last FM. If you've never used Last FM, essentially it's an internet radio player where you select an artist and then it plays a random track followed by related artists. That way you can get to know unfamiliar artists that you might like. In my view that was the weak point because there's a lot of dross out there. Where Spotify excels is firstly the excellent audio quality (close to CD) and the fact that you can listen to whole albums for free. The catch is short audio adverts every 5 tracks or so, but nothing terrible.

If you have a party or something coming up, you can pay 99p and get no adverts for a whole 24 hours or 10 quid for a month. Seems pretty good value to me.

Just thought I'd spread the word about something very nicely executed.

Hopefully some new photos at the weekend.

TTFN

2 Comments

Dear Rose

Sunday, 3. May 2009, 08:38:18

You looked so happy that day, but today your leaves have turned yellow. Perhaps a trip outside to soak up the rays of the sun would be in order.

This little rose gifts us one flower at a time, but there does seem to be another on the way. It's an easy photographic subject for when the weather is bad, or I don't have the time/inclination to go elsewhere.

2 Comments

Joanna Wang

Saturday, 2. May 2009, 20:42:56

video, music, Joanna Wang

Just recently I heard some music tracks by Taiwanese singer-songwriter Joanna Wang. For somebody so young, she has an amazingly mature voice. Reminds me of Norah Jones, but with more depth and certainly more potential.

As far as I know, she's virtually unknown in the western world despite her first album being in English and Mandarin. Well worth a listen to the debut entitled Start From Here and Yes Asia ships worldwide. To give you an idea, here's a link to YouTube, that paragon of the now: here. Sorry, there's no embedded option so you'll have to follow the link through.

Secondly, there's a really nice channel with 'homemade' videos by Joanna here. Mostly covers of other works, but very well done considering they were recorded on a webcam. Watch/listen to 'Santa Baby' in particular, to which I think is remarkably good and doubly so with only 6000 views so far. Definately underrated as an artist and it amazes me how Sony BMG who publish her album haven't made more of it.

I welcome any thoughts from you as usual. Cheers and have a nice bank holiday weekend.

5 Comments

Lost in translation

Monday, 27. April 2009, 18:33:09

I've been mentally storing up things that people ask me in the shop I work in and the misheard names that people use.

Luminex = Lumix, a digital camera from Panasonic. I think they're confused by Moulinex, a kitchen appliance manufacturer. Easy mistake to make I suppose.
Scan Disk = SanDisk, a world-leading digital storage manufacturer. Not quite sure where they get this from, but maybe the disk checking utility in Windows or maybe they just can't read labels. Some people insist that we sell them 'Scan Disk' even though we blatantly only have the plain old SanDisk.
Unicross = Uniross, a battery manufacturer. I don't know, perhaps reading is a harder skill than I give credit for.
Memory chip = Ok, I'm being mean here since I know what they mean, but still.
Sim card = memory card, which is a device commonly used for storing digital information. The former is used primarily in mobile (cell) phones. Usually because one does not have any need for a Subscriber Identity Module in their digital camera.

Ok, I've got those common annoyances out of the way, but wait, there are more!

Q: How many photos can I store on X memory card?

Me: (Picks a number greater than 500 out of the air and adds 100) "Oh, at least 500, but probably more."

Honestly, I have no idea exactly how many photos you'll get on one card. How many miles do you get out of your car? How many glasses of orange juice can you get from your Tropicana carton?

Q: How long does the battery last?

Me: (mentally rolls eyes) "At least 300 shots depending on how you use it."

How long's a piece of string? I get asked this question daily and nobody seems to question the fairly arbitrary number I give them.

There you go, just some of the delights of working with the general public, God love 'em.

2 Comments