The Photo Camper

Years ago the photo camper had an easy time. A selenium cell light meter or just plain old exposure calculation charts that were frequently memorized, a few rolls of film and a mechanical camera. Though heavier, mechanical cameras never suffered from the cold. Indeed the Leica M4 could work down to -20F (-29C). 

These days the worry is always of battery depletion. Running out of film now is highly unlikely since memory cards are so small, light and easy to pack. Whereas a film photographer with a mechanical camera could shoot until she ran out of film, the digital photographer does not have this luxury. Typically with a compact digital camera such as an Olympus PM1 (cited as I own one), the battery will last maybe 300 photos. That means carrying multiple batteries and of course multiple memory cards and hoping that they will remain charged.

There is, however, another option. While a film photographer could carry a bag containing fifty rolls of film or 2,000 exposures, the digital photographer can carry a lightweight solar panel. The two below are both 10W flexible solar panels. The one on the left can be found on Aliexpress sold as a 20W solar panel and the one on the right can be found on eBay sold as a 20W/30W/50W/60W solar panel. Don't believe the figures - they're both really 10W. 

Of course, solar panels on their own are no good to man nor beast. To go with them since both have USB fittings on the back, you'd need a USB cable. In fact I'd recommend several since the micro USB connectors seem to be particularly fragile.

Many phones, cameras and laptops or tablets can be charged straight off USB. That's good on the down days when one is just sitting around camp doing laundry etc. For the go getting photographer I do recommend another approach. 

This is a nifty little charger that will run off a USB charging source. It charges just about any battery in common usage including 18650 lithium batteries. It will charge NiMh, NiCad and LIon batteries in a wide variety of sizes.  It also has another trick up its sleeve - it can also be used as a power bank. Taking the micro USB end of the cable out of the micro USB socket and putting the standard USB end into the standard USB socket on the back, the micro USB end can be used to charge devices.

With all the batteries for the photographer's devices charged, the solar panel can be left in the sun charging 18650 batteries so when the photographer gets back to camp at the end of a long gruelling day the 18650s are charged and it's possible to charge camera, phone, etc. 

Speaking of camera battery charging there is another option. There are plenty USB powered camera battery chargers. Apologies for the lack of clarity and focus on the photos of the camera battery charger. I took these with my interim cell phone. More on that, later.

So, everything a photographer needs to carry can be charged from a simple lightweight solar panel. The caveat is that there has to be sufficient sun and that the solar panel cannot be damaged. 

Now, a quick calculation. I got 11W out of that panel at midday on a good day with no clouds. How much will that generate on an average day? Assuming 50% capacity over 8 hours then that's going to be 80WH or about 6AH. So there should be plenty to charge one camera battery in a day or all four 18650 cells or a cell phone or a compact laptop/tablet. To be a real power hog, more panels would be needed but they're not expensive.

Typically a 10W flexible solar panel is mis-sold as a 20W/30W/50W/60W and it absolutely is not. Go for the lowest priced flexible panel and it'll likely be 10W. The tell-tale sign is the photo of the back of the panel which will demonstrate clearly that it has no sticker.

As can be seen, neither panel has a sticker advising the capacity or any other technical details. Once the panel is purchased and the capacity verified as being less than advertised, it's possible to take out a claim against the seller on eBay or AliExpress and get a refund. It'll cost the seller more to get the panel shipped back on top of the refund so basically, that's how to get a free solar panel. Both of those were free because the seller lied about capacity. If one buys something and it is not as advertised, under law one deserves redress. The Aliexpress panel I had to chase through the bank for a chargeback as AliExpress seems to be crooked. I don't advise AliExpress. eBay is much more straightforward. I've heard some pretty rough things about BangGood too but haven't used them so can't give an opinion.

As for the AliExpress and eBay sellers, I urge everybody to buy mis-advertised solar panels and then to make a claim against the seller via AliExpress and eBay. That was the bad actors can be wiped off the face of the planet. There is no room in this world for dishonesty and if you get a free solar panel out of it, that's a sheer bonus. For myself, I have two flexible 10W panels that really aren't that much use for anything bar camping which is an activity I don't pursue. Sold used, I'd probably not get as much money as it would cost to post them to a buyer so they're sitting taking up not very much space in my attic.

Now, why the blurry images of the camera battery charger? Well, for a long time, Straight Talk was the carrier of choice for my phone. It became pretty darned good. It was possible to use Verizon or AT&T or any of the other also-ran networks. Thus my phone was on Verizon through Straight Talk. At the beginning $45 got 3GB data plus the phone could be used as a hotspot. That in fact is exactly what I used the phone for and the only reason I had a phone. Then the service improved to 4GB and $45 then 5GB and $45 then in came a lower priced plan $35 for 4GB then $35 for 5GB. Then suddenly the use of my phone as a hotspot was blocked. I paid for my data and didn't use it all every month yet the hotspot feature was blocked. That led to an investigation when I discovered that I'd been paying for a service that I was not getting. Clearly no amount of arguing against a mindless corporate entity would have any effect on a commercial decision affecting not just me but others too. I voted with my feet and went for a straight AT&T prepay phone. Currently that's 2GB data for $35 but a new plan is coming with 8GB a month for a $99 payment that covers 3 months. Effectively that's 3GB more data per month than Straight Talk for $2 less per month. 

The most annoying thing about changing providers like that was that I'd not long bought an iPhone on Straight Talk. I liked my iPhone but could not put up with zero service. So, I have an interim phone that works well enough but takes lousy pictures. That was the route chosen just in case AT&T didn't work out. It seems to be working out so perhaps the next step will be to get a better Android or an iPhone.

 

Olympus has fallen

Today there was news that Olympus was going out of cameras (again). For those of us with memories longer than 3 minutes, they did this before then returned to cameras.

Back in the 1980s or 1990s, a friend of mine had an Olympus OM4ti. It was a lovely camera that could be used to take some spectacular photos. The lens was good enough to render exceptionally sharp images when paired with the right film. When the world went autofocus, Olympus did not commit the money into R&D then found that their market had dropped and basically got out of film photography.

A few years later and digital photography became popular. Olympus moved back into photography and developed some really quite good digital cameras. I had one and it was excellent. Then the mobile phone market exploded with some really good cameras on the phones. That was when Olympus's compact camera market began to die.

Meanwhile Olympus had developed their four thirds digital SLR which did really well. That was then redeveloped into micro four thirds and the lens mount shared with Panasonic. I think they did this because they knew they were likely to abandon the camera market at some point.

Today we hear that Olympus is selling its camera division and getting out of consumer photography. They cite the loss of market to phone cameras. While I will agree that phone cameras are really good and convenient, that argument is old hat. I rather suspect Coronavirus has put a big dent in sales and that lack of R&D has had the division floundering for a while.

The big problem with most camera companies is their business model has changed. In the old days of film cameras, a new camera would come out every few years. With the digital world they're bringing out a new camera every 6 months. That's utterly ridiculous! They're spending all their money on developing and marketing newer cameras without realising the market they're selling to is getting slowly smaller.

Where Olympus went wrong... Instead of following the model of almost all the other manufacturers they should have developed a new camera every few years rather than every 6 months. Who cares what the megapixel size of the camera is anyway. Seriously - show me the difference between a 45 megapixel image and a 14 megapixel image on a Facebook page. There isn't any! Olympus believed its own bullshit about megapixels being important which is largely why they had to follow the new standard of a new camera every 6 months.

OK. Let's look at who buys cameras....
Mom and Pop - they just use their smartphone. They don't want to have to lug a camera bag or even a camera around. They just want to enjoy life.
Kids - they just use their smartphone and likely cheap smarphones because they're rough on things.
The rest - well only a minority will want to use a "proper" camera because to most, the image from a smartphone is good enough.

So, we have a very small camera market. Now let's try to sell a new camera with more megapixels to the same person every 6 months. Nope - not happening! I regard myself as a typical digital camera owner..

I use an elderly Olympus micro four thirds camera. I'm not even sure how many megapixels it has. I could look it up but can't be bothered. That tells you how much interest I have in megapixels. I also have an even more elderly Canon digital SLR. Near 15 years ago, that was new and I paid something like $800 for it. Now, XTs regularly go for about $20 on eBay. The only reason I don't use the XT much is because of the size and weight. In fact the XT I keep for sentimental reasons though I sold everything else that I had with it. That was an 8 megapixel camera.

So, my Olympus I paid $75 for secondhand. I have two lenses with it and can do pretty much any photography that my heart desires. I do use the Olympus but not that often. I use my smartphone most days for photos.

What camera companies are fighting a losing battle against is that nobody now much cares about cameras. Image quality is good enough on just about any camera whether from a smartphone of anything else. Lenses, sensors and software have combined to render the difference between a $2,000 camera and a $20 smartphone camera moot. The sole difference between a smartphone camera and an independent camera is versatility. I can add longer lenses or take longer exposures on an independent camera.

Another thing that really does demolish camera companies is the sheer quantity of free images available. Why should I buy a spiffy camera to shoot photos of Machu Pichu when I can go there, have a good time and just download pics from the internet later of exactly where I've been?

In the old days, if somebody went somewhere exotic, the photos would be taken and then put into a big album that guests would be subjected to. That was why people didn't visit each other - nobody wanted to be subjected to the accursed photo album. Now they just stick it on Facebook and their friends just click "like" on the whole album without looking at the pictures and everybody is happy. As I've said before, great megapixel counts are not needed for online publication.

Camera companies need to realise that they can't survive any more by selling new cameras all the time. They need to go back to their roots where they sold new cameras occasionally but survived by selling lenses and other accessories. Camera companies lens selections are just awful. Nikon used to have a hundred different lenses. Now, barely 20. Updating lenses every couple of years is just a scam too. It's pretty much spitting on their customers because if somebody buys V1 of the lens then they come out with V2, the owner of the V1 won't be able to sell it for as much as if there wasn't a V2. That leads to the owner just buying minimal lenses and keeping it like that or just buying secondhand and keeping the kit minimal or just going over to smarphones.

Where the micro four thirds line really lacks is longer lenses. There just aren't that many affordable long lenses. Nikon manages to produce a compact camera with a 24-3000mm zoom. That is just about every lens range ever needed by anybody. That compact is horribly overpriced at $1,000 but offers everything the Olympuses can offer including a long lens that Olympus doesn't offer.

So, Olympus produced good stuff. They rested on their laurels, followed the wrong path and now decide to leave the room. Bye, bye Olympus - don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Maybe see you back in a few years (again).

A month later

Covid is still present and enough idiots are walking around without masks and sufficient idiots have ganged up on governments that governments have bowed to pressure to let people go back to work. All the medical experts are forecasting a second, more deadly wave of Coronavirus in the autumn. I agree. This is exactly what happened with Spanish Flu in 1918.

So this leaves me stuck at home most of the time. I've been doing a lot of those maintenance projects that just got put to one side while I was working full time. I've also been working on growing vegetables. Sure - vegetables are not expensive but they're a lot cheaper grown yourself. A packet of seeds is about a dollar and a half. The potting soil was used last year and is still good. The water comes from a well. What's there to cost money?

So here are two pictures. The first is corn planted as seed, 3 days earlier. The second is the same corn a day later. Quite impressive progress!

Yes, both of those photos were taken with an iPhone. I'm afraid that's as exciting as my photography gets these days. I have no intention of going out unless I absolutely have to due to the risk of catching Covid-19. Sure, I wear a mask and it's a better quality mask than most have but even so there's still a chance of catching the virus.

It will be so nice to be able to go out again to take photos in nice places. The fact is though that because people are not wearing masks and are not social distancing (staying 6 feet or 2 meters apart) the virus is going to keep spreading. There will be a second wave of it in the autumn, just like 1918.

There are certainly photographers out and about. I have noticed though that most are now using cellphones for their pictures and that news TV broadcasters are also using cheaper cameras. The times of plenty are well and truly over. Look at YouTube as an example of that - is it possible to tell the difference between a video shot on a cellphone and one shot on a professional camera? Even the so-called professionals use amateur designated cameras. There has been such a blurring of the lines with equipment quality that it's not really possible to distinguish between the cameras now.

With the low bar to producing high quality output, the difference between professional and amateur is just in sales skills. I have no interest - zero - zilch - nada - in selling photographs professionally as it's a mugs market. Who's going to buy a perfect photo of something when they can download a perfectly adequate version or something similar off the internet? Who's going to hire a photographer when they can take a perfectly usable photo with their phone? We all know where photos end up these days. Not on walls or in galleries but online in costly web albums nobody views or on social media.

Speaking of social media, this blog is my only social media outlet. I used to have automated Twitter bots broadcasting this blog to the Twitterverse. I'd had my Twitter accounts and had never ever managed to have any conversations, just getting ignored or receiving foul mouthed responses. In the end I automated the Twitter accounts. Seriously - if people aren't going to respond to Tweets, there's no point whatsoever in bothering.

I have tried the main social media outlets - Twitter, LinekedIn, Facebook and found them all to be pretty dismal. Twitter just seemed to get no response. LinkedIn after about 12 months demands I send them a copy of my ID and I have zero desire to do that. Who exactly is LinkedIn anyway? I have no financial business with them so their request for a copy of my ID is like some dodgy looking dude knocking on my door at midnight and shouting through my mailbox that he needs a copy of my ID while filling the house with a combination of halitosis and marijuana vapors. Who care anyway? It's just as easy to set up a new account. As for "professional development", pull the other one - the internet's for messing about and not for "professional" anything.

Facebook is the same story as LinkedIn. They're another dodgy dude knocking on the door at midnight asking for information they have no right to have. In fact Facebook is a much nastier proposition. If you have their app on your phone, tablet or computer, it'll be snitching on you to advertisers, targeting you in a very sinister way with advertising. Just about the best thing you can do with Mr Zuckerburg's SnitchBook is press DELETE. I deleted SnitchBook years ago. In fact I can almost name a date. I know it was some time in very early 2011 or very late 2010. I have not missed it.

LinkedIn I tried more recently and just didn't feel like creating a brand new account. For what it's allegedly intended, it's utterly valueless. Like Twitter and Facebook, advertising and harvesting relationships, locations and habits has taken over and become everything the site is about. One day I'll probably even delete my blogs as anonymity is more prized to me now than ever before.