Camera On-Line

It was time to load some software after the raspberry jam was made. But which?

I got the disk out of the box and the booklet that came with it. Four applications to choose from. I couldn't decide. In the end I downloaded two of them just to get an idea of their look and feel. PhotoFunViewer will do almost everything I need. ArcSoft for when I start getting adventurous - the Panorama Maker could be fun. On first glance PFV looks easiest to use - at least it has a fairly comprehensive help function.

I was a little concerned when I first tried to download my test photographs using PFV - it was quite slow compared to my old software. I reread the help for both the camera and software - all was as should be and I tried again. Bingo!

I think the problem on first use was that it was trying to display all the folders I currently had in my Pictures directory - and there are a lot. Now I have successfully downloaded for the first time it has created a PFStudio folder, and now just loads that folder up on startup...

Not perfect photo of poppy in the high bank but my favourite of the test photographs (using zoom and auto Intelligence/macro) - the wind was blowing it around a lot so top not quite in shot. More practice needed...

My New Toy

My camera turned up early - yesterday afternoon. Luckily I was in.

Fought my way in to the rather large UPS box to retrieve much smaller camera box.

Checked all the bits it said I should have were there.

Attached camera strap.

Attached lens cap.

Set battery charging - 2 hours to fully charge.

Downloaded PDF user guide. Started reading. Decided there was no way I was going to work my way through the 173 pages, so just looked at the basics to get started.

Loaded charged battery and memory card.

Switched it on.

Set clock and time.

Took a photo of Jen to check date/time working.

Switched it off.

Made some more strawberry jam...

Took it over to Jean's this morning after she invited me over for coffee to try out the 'scenery' mode on the views from her back garden across the rolling Berwickshire countryside. Also tested out the macro function on her roses and clematises - really pleased with this.

After picking my gooseberries (a mega nine pounds this year) spent the rest of the afternoon skimming the manual and trying to work out what all the buttons and menu options are. Gave up again. I think I need to be more organised - determine the things I will want to do and get confident with those before blowing my mind with all the stuff it can do but I will probably never use.

Still need to download the software so no photos on the blog yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Talking of manana, still no sign of the builders...

Cows Found and Other Things

The cows have been found. They had made it all the way to a field in West Blanerne.

Redcurrant jelly has been made. It was almost a disaster. I was not convinced after pouring the first couple of ladlefuls that it had actually reached the setting point - normally the last few drops of the ladle go all gloopy but this didn't appear to be the case. I decided to pour it back into the pan and boil it up for another couple of minutes. The plan went awry when I dropped the jar into the pan. Panic. Took it off the heat, and with a spoon uprighted the jar so I could then pull it out with the aid of a tea towel. Anyway, I eventually ended up with about five pounds. Still not convinced yet that it will set, but signs are hopeful as the dregs in the jam pan have. Everything has been washed up ready for another batch of strawberries this evening as this is proving popular not only at home but with Margaret. Anne and Janet have also both been given a jar.

Sheila (solicitor) from up the road has photocopied and certified that I am who my driving licence says I am. Hopefully I can now open my savings account.

Camera is on its way. I can track the UPS shipment. It started in Los Angeles. Then went to Long Beach CA, Louiseville KY, Philadelphia PA, East Midlands Airport for the weekend, and arrived in Edinburgh this morning. Should make the one hour journey to here sometime tomorrow.

But still no sign of the builders...

Alone Again...

I drove Paul to the railway station yesterday afternoon. There is some dispute as to how long he is away. We are not in disagreement on the date of his return, just whether twelve days and a few hours is 'just over a week' (Paul) or nearly two weeks (me).

So I am now settling in to life with the dogs.

Paul always accuses me of picking the evenings it is raining to have a bath and miss the late night outing. Well, there was no avoiding it last night... come 11 p.m. and I could hear the rain pelting down outside. I got their coats and mine on. As expected Jen didn't care but I had to drag Poncho out the door. He was digging his paws in all the way to the road, then shuffling along in a state of misery refusing to do anything. We returned, drenched and unsuccessful.

At least the sound of the rain drowned out the noise of the bats in the eaves - at least I hope it is bats. They seem to be getting noisier and noisier, with their chittering. I may find them entrancing flying around outside but they are becoming a pain in the **** when I am trying to get to sleep. I am now imagining them as I lie awake in the dark flying around inside the loft, thousands of them. And then breaking out into our en-suite like something from a Stephen King novel...

I still have not got my new camera, although the extra memory for it (from somewhere else) arrived after a couple of days. I sent an email off on Wednesday to find out what was happening. I got a reply in the evening saying they had none currently in stock but were expecting a delivery in the coming week. I got another email last night telling me "Your order has been reviewed and processed and the warehouse is preparing the shipment". So, what would have happened if I'd paid for the express delivery? Or does this mean that someone else did and has got MY camera???

I got a letter today from new building society that I am trying to give some of my money to, telling me the proof of identity I sent was not adequate. So I wasted several hours today
(a) trying to find a suitable document from the Inland Revenue (P2 that was sent was not acceptable) or DVLC to avoid the need for a certified copy of my passport or driving license. I found a VLA from 2006 but apparently they will only accept the latest one.
(b) Failing (a) I then failed to get our Lexmark printer/scanner/photocopier to photocopy. I tracked down via Google that the laptop needed to be plugged in even to just photocopy but it made absolutely no difference.
It's all very well in these times of banks in trouble/credit crunch in trying to spread your assets around but it is not that easy!

Panasonic DMC-FZ18somethingorother

When I got my new laptop I discovered that Vista did not really support my camera software. I managed to sort of reinstal it and it sort of works when it feels like it. I need to 'run as administrator' and say 'yes' I really do want to run it! Then I get a load of error messages which I have to close down. Then sometimes it recognises that I have attached my camera and sometimes it doesn't. In the latter cases I have to shut down my laptop and start again. The latest pain is that when I get as far as 'photos on camera' window it doesn't actually show me the photos. I have to minimise and then reselect the window and the photos are displayed. It then doesn't highlight the ones I select to dowload unless I repeat the minimise/maximise routine...

The camera itself is fine. I bought it from work at about a third of the RRP in a staff sale and at the time it was top of the range - Canon PowerShot S30, 3.1 megapixels and 10x zoom. Now it is so last century. The time has come to upgrade. Watch out for it on FreeCycle in the near future - should be fine with older PCs/laptops...

So I spent last night surfing the net. I quickly decided on a panasonic. I got snared with an 18x optical zoom with 8.1 megapixels. Then I started looking at all the different sites promising me the best prices available anywhere. Then I got very confused.

Panasonic DMC-FZ18 black, silver, DMC-FZ18S, DMC-FM18K, DMC-FX18EBK... All at slightly different prices, with very similar but not quite the same descriptions. I noted a few of the sites and gave up for the night.

I dropped the bombshell on Paul when he got back from the bridge club. I didn't think it was a bombshell - I have been saying for ages that I want a new camera. He never picks up on hints for birthdays/Christmas either. He says I never tell him or drop hints!!!

So I resumed my investigation today. I decided to look on panasonic's own website. But it was down, being updated. Eventually it came back up. I think all those variations on the name actually boil down to one camera in a choice of silver or black.

Armed with this I went back to investigating prices. It was stunning the differences in price - Tesco Direct being the most expensive I found at a shocking £349.97 down to £194.00 at Bestpricedbrands including P&P. I placed an order. It should arrive next week...