FX01, A Retrospective Look

It’s really too bad that there is no way to know how a camera or other electronic device will work out until you’ve long since bought it. But now and then one gets lucky. The subject of this post, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01, is a case in point. The FX01 was given to me by my wife Lisa, as I was preparing to ride my motorcycle across the continent and back in August 2006.

In the photo above is the Kodak DC 3400 on the right, and the camera that replaced it, the FX01. Note the size difference between the two cameras. The Kodak was a 2MP digital camera, and built like a brick to take abuse. It also handled like a brick. And there was no way to consider it a “pocket” camera. But it fit in the glove compartment of the truck and in the saddlebag. The FX01 was truly a pocket camera. It easily fit into a jacket pocket, and weighed nearly nothing, so it was rarely out of my reach. I have captured over 26,000 frames with it without major problems of any kind. I recently found “ghosts” on the photos and thought the sensor might be going south. It turned out to be a dirty lens – the first time I’ve had to clean it in four years.

The Menu system (shown above) is simple. My two grandchildren mastered the menus (and all other controls) on this camera between the ages of 2 and 4 years. The secret to that was simple. I let them take photos with it, and only showed them features when asked. This is not a testament to the beating it took at the hands of toddlers, since both children were oddly careful with the camera. But it did take a beating in my pockets, in my backback, and in the motorcycle's saddlebags.

There was little control with this 6MP consumer point-and-shoot camera, but a tripod helped. Also helpful was the exposure compensation control shown in the photo above.

In all, the FX01 I have is still running strong (and with a cleaner lens) after several succeeding generations of digital pocket cameras have passed it by technologically. And it can still capture a good image. Now that’s something. My experience with the longevity of digital cameras has been good, so far. It is quite unlike my experience with CD/DVD players, which seem to need to be replaced as often as boxes of Kleenex...

Out West

Recently, Steve Vaughn commented about living "out west". I know what he meant (it doesn't hurt that I met Steve when I was 4 years old and entering the public school system). He and his wife Darryl moved to Richland, WA from the East Coast last year. He is an avid fly fisherman, and in a good location to explore the many rivers in Washington and Oregon. While he is here, working in Richland, and living out west there is so much to see.


I like to keep track of the Vaughn's near-epic move to Washington and how they are settling in, etc., on Steve's blog, Nomads at http://nomadslvaughn.blogspot.com/.


"Out West" is the way I thought of it when I was young, since I lived in the northeast. It was towns like Durango, Cortez, Cheyenne, Sundance, Tucson, and Santa Fe. It was Conestoga wagons and Apaches, Winchester rifles and Lakotas, cattle drives and Dodge City, gold rushes and railroad booms.


 My vision of the world is centered in the West, now. "Back East" is where I grew up. I first realized that when I rode my Road Star to Long Island and back in 2006. On the ride home when I crossed over the border between Kansas and Colorado, I suddenly thought, "I'm home, I'm back in the West".


But though I've been here since 1971, I have an idea similar to Steve's about being here in the West: There simply isn't enough time to see everything...  


The photo below was captured on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 in August 2006. The view is east from Ghost Rocks in Utah, just off Interstate 70. There is no mistaking this for anything other than a view of the West. 

Constant Gardener

California Poppies I'm not sure what happened. I bought several varieties of flower seeds last fall; California Poppies, Vinca, Phlox, and Cosmos. Thought I'd get a jump on the spring and planted a large seed bed. The poppies did well, though they've now generally died back. But they grew nearly twice their average height. The Cosmos are now over four feet tall.

Cosmo Lisa brought home 3 miniature Mums last fall. I planted them in the front flowerbed, along with the Vinca, Phlox, and Geraniums, figuring they wouldn't grow much taller than their neighbors. But they are quite large plants now, each with at least 50 blooms.  There must be something in the soil. Something that doubles plant size. Even the Phlox and Vinca are twice their usual size. The mutations have ruined my landscaping plan, though - I had everything laid out according to relative maximum heights...

Zinnia The Constant Gardener part:  Everything is way too overgrown now. I spent six hours today thinning out, weeding, potting the mutant "miniature" Mums, and replacing thinned plants with new Vinca and Zinnias. The Vinca does well in this climate. Maybe this planting will last through to Fall... About The Photographs The digital photos in this post were made with a Nikon D200. Photos were resized for Web display. The other particulars are listed below. California Poppies - Nikon manual Series E 28mm 1:2.8, 1/200, f/8, ISO 200. Cosmo - Nikon AF VR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 G,  1/640, f/5.6, ISO 400.  Zinnia - Nikon AF VR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 G, 1/100, f/14, ISO 400.

Mill Creek Canyon

The photos in this post were made in Mill Creek Canyon at the edge of the San Bernardino Mountains near Mountain Home Village in Southern California.

Mill Creek is fed by numerous creeks flowing from the mountains through the village of Forest Falls. The water rolls through Mill Creek Canyon and onto the floodplain north of Mentone, where it joins the Santa Ana River.

Aero

Photos from a classic automobile show in Riverside, CA. Nikon D200, Nikon AF VR 18-105mm f3.5-5.6.

Olympus Trip

I don’t recall when this camera showed up. Really. One day many vaguely recalled years ago, it suddenly appeared in my office. I thought it was something Lisa had brought home (she didn't), so I let it rest on my desk for a short time, moved it to a drawer, then transferred it to yet another drawer years later.  A couple weeks ago I pulled it out of the drawer and set it on the corner of the desk. I looked at it occasionally every day. Though it obviously wouldn’t replace the Nikon N90s, it had to have some function, I thought. Otherwise, why did I have it? The Olympus Trip XB40 AF is a decade-old point-and-shoot camera. It has a 27mm lens and an Autofocus capability of sorts. To engage the autofocus, press the shutter button down halfway. Press the shutter button all the way down to take the photo.

It was a somewhat interesting design. For a brick. Well, a plastic brick with a sliding lens cover. But in operation it is quite like so many millions of other point-and-shoot cameras. I finally loaded the camera with two AA batteries and a roll of Kodak Gold 200. The film loaded easily. After pulling the leader out to the take-up spool, shut the rear camera door, turn on the camera, press the shutter button once, then the camera loads the film. The camera back is equipped with a programmable date/time stamp function.  These artifacts must be everywhere… And I’ll bet that this particular camera has a real value of about $3.00, just a bit less than the film I loaded in it.

The camera is about as simple as these types of cameras got – until the disposable cameras came along. I put the camera in Lisa’s car – in the same place where she keeps a disposable camera. I’m wondering how the camera works in its intended role of cheap snapshot camera. After all, that’s what it was designed for. I’ll update this story when I know if the camera worked and how the film looks in general. This could be the jump-off point to write in favor of not using the disposable cameras. Put less plastic in waste bins and trash cans by using old point-and-shoot cameras like the Olympus Trip. You know the dance. Fortunately, this post is not about that. I'm just interested to see if the camera has a function, and if it performs it adequately...Stay tuned. For a different viewpoint (and better photo) of this camera, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/artysmokes/4326527484/

The Green Desert

Making use of our yearlong National Parks Pass, I was through the southern gate at Joshua Tree around 6:40 this morning. I haven't been to Joshua Tree since winter, and though there was plenty of rainfall in the past few months, I didn't expect as much green in the arid landscape this late in the year. Usually by mid-June the shrubbery is dry and brown.

The shrubbery was so green that it looked much like farmland in the distance.

Smoke Tree Wash. Smoke trees are found in desert washes. The washes have deep moisture reserves, but more importantly, flash floods spread the tree's seeds.

Some plants are still blooming.

The ocotillo in bloom above, adds a peppering of red blooms against the blue sky.

Closer view of an ocotillo. The leaves sprout on the trunk and the plant blooms only after adequate rainfall. Blooming is not seasonal.

Honeybees were noisily engaged with these flowers.

More color.

Grand Teton - Yellowstone Trip

It was a very loose plan.

We’d pack up the Subaru Forester at the end of May and head toward the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks in northwestern Wyoming. There were a number of parks, monuments, preserves and wilderness areas that we could pass through, particularly in Utah. I’d do the majority of the driving while Lisa handled the maps and we’d stop for the night when we wanted. Loose plans are the best plans on a road trip. 

Digital photos of the trip are shown below.  

Zion National Park, Utah

Zion National Park, Utah

Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Capitol Reef National Park

Irrigation equipment near Torrey, Utah

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

California Poppies

The photograph below is really of orange shapes with a semi-blurred background. The orange shapes are California Poppies, which grow wild across the state. On a whim, I planted the wildflower from Burpee seeds in January. The poppies have done well so far in our flowerbeds, though the coming summer heat may change that.

The semi-blurred background was intentional. I wanted focus on all five blossoms, so I stopped down to f/8 and focused where I judged the near 1/3rd point of the grouping to be. This smaller aperture doesn't produce the bokeh of f/2.8, but there is a mild blur that draws the eye back to the blossoms. Shutter speed was 1/250. 28mm Nikon manual focus lens.

Grand Teton - Yellowstone Film

I shot eight rolls of film on the Grand Teton-Yellowstone road trip. It was largely a matter of the way it feels to shoot analog. Good, that is. The N90s feels good in my hands, and looks right through the 28mm lens. It is particularly well balanced when the stock battery cartridge is used with the relatively lightweight fixed focal legnth lens.


Seven days of shooting film was a relief of sorts, since I wasn't putting any particular pressure on the photos. It was experimental. A way of spending time with the camera. I have to say that after a few hundred frames, I like the film camera as well as the digital.


The big surprise was getting the film developed. I shot Fuji Superia 400 print film, then took it to Costco for development, prints and digital files. The online reviews of Costco are generally good when development and printing are analyzed. I was very happy with the quality of negatives and prints. The digital files are poor from the Costco I used (the large amount of heavy grain in the digital example shown below does not exist in the neg or print). But with the masters (negatives) and prints in good shape, it doesn't matter much to me.