Monday 28 October 2013

Blurred Vision

I have managed to get photographing my layouts down to a fine art:
  • place them on the floor in a good light (by my patio doors)
  • stand over the page and zoom in slightly, squaring the shot with the viewfinder grid lines
  • edit the photo in Picasa (straighten, crop, adjust colour & contrast, retouch ...)
  • resize for the web with PixResizer
  • upload to my web storage
  • share on my blog/UKS gallery
However, just recently I've noticed a bit of fuzziness creeping in.  No matter how good the light, how still my hands, how clean the camera lens ... something is just not right.  And I *am* wearing my glasses.  Strangely, the macro shots are just fine!

Jimjams - Fuzzy page

My beloved Canon Powershot A700 is well used.  It has received a quite few knocks over the last seven years: there are two scratches on the lens that catch the sunlight sometimes; there's a chip in the housing near the battery compartment; most of the symbols on the back have worn away.  BUT, since its return from a month's sojourn in the rainforests of Costa Rica and the orphanages of Nicaragua, documenting Child No.3's summer expedition, it's struggling!

I finally made time to experiment and was amazed to find that the fuzzy area is only in one part of the photo.  Rotate the camera and the fuzzy area moves too!  I took a closer look at the camera:

Jimjams - Photo - Dented Canon Powershot A700

Hmmm - definitely an interesting shape to the lens housing.  And a new dent on the top corner by the flash.  That could explain a lot!

Staying on the subject of things that can blur the vision, here's a page made from my September Counterfeit Kit:

Jimjams - Layout - Alcohol Rules

Sweden has a state run chain of alcohol shops called Systembolaget which fascinated me when I worked there 30 years ago so I wanted Hubby to see one during our Scandinavian road trip.  In my day, you had to select each bottle of wine/beer/spirit from the current brochure, take your order to a counter and the assistant would fetch it from the storeroom for you.  Nowadays, once you have been allowed into the store by the security staff (over 20s only), you can fill your basket from the price-ordered shelves yourself, though there are still no multi-buy offers allowed. Better for the wallet that way to be honest!


You will notice that there is NO blurring of the layout photo.  Well that's because I treated myself to a replacement Canon.  As with computers, camera technology has moved on; so for much less money than my old A700, I have more than 3 times the zoom and twice the mega-pixels.  It helped that I was happy to settle for the SX240 HS which is the 2012 model and therefore ⅔ the price of this year's SX270 HS.  Just got to read the manual and work out what to do with all the other new features that have been introduced since 2006!  Happy Days :-D

13 comments:

Lesley G said...

Fabulous page Jemma, love the layout.
Enjoy your new camera and don't forget you can resize in picassa too :)

helena said...

that is some dent - enjoy your new camera

alexa said...

Such pretty pages despite any fuzziness! Sounds like a replacement camera was long overdue and hope you have many happy days with it :).

misteejay said...

Have lots of fun with the new camera.

Love the LOs.

Toni xx

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

Nice layouts! Congrats on the new camera!

Sian said...

Enjoy that new camera! (now I'm laughing at myself for even taking the time to type that. Of course you will!)

We were fascinated by the Tour Guide's explanation of the alcohol laws too. Now I know a bit more..it intrigues me because over here for years you couldn't buy alcohol in supermarkets. I used to travel to Sainsburys on holidays and be blown away by the choice!

furrypig said...

I am loving orange in LO's at the moment.... maybe because it is Autumn and pumpkins! Have fun practicing with the new camera xxx

Sandra said...

Enjoy your new camera, and I'm sure it will be going to exciting places with you :)

Alison said...

I'm wondering if I need a new camera myself...I think it may have been dropped one too many times!
Alison xx

Missus Wookie said...

I like the orange page - one of my favourite colours. Definitely a serious dent does that mean the camera gets handed back to the dentee? ;)

K said...

I'm impressed your camera lasts so long, mine tend to last a year - specifically from 1 summer to mid the next as Kai always seems to manage to get it wet in one form or another in the summer. Hope yours serves you well for another 6 years.

JulieJ said...

It came with a manual? In this day and age? I don't believe you!
My mother is looking for a compact camera with a view finder because she has trouble seeing the screen in sunlight. Don't suppose you came across one during your search for a new camera?
Like the stitching on your LO - I'm just too lazy for such things. And apart from the software I have the same LO photographing strategy.

Susanne said...

How fun to have a new camera - I take it that will be extra incentive for you to post more photos. Yay!! By the way, I don't know about that resizing program you are using, but did you know that you can export pictures right from Picasa picking the size and even adding a watermark at the same time? It still save the original photo too.