USPA National Skydiving Championship

Went out Saturday to the USPA National Skydiving Championship held at Skydive Spaceland in Rosharon Tx. It was a beautiful day, blue skies, mild temps, and a vibrant crowd.  The size and scope of this event, held in little ole Rosharon, was astounding. Even more surprising than the size of  the competition was the sheer number of first time jumpers that were constantly going up and coming down. It’s great to see an adventure business right in our own back yard doing such a good job.

Here are a few pics from the Saturday afternoon activities:

Surfside Surf Report

There has been a couple of low pressure systems hovering around Texas and with all the rain we have been having over the past few days it was a nice break yesterday to have some mostly sunny conditions. I was out visiting a friend at Bastrop Bayou where I store my kayaks and decided it was a good idea to throw a yak into the back of the truck and shoot down to the shore. I keep a close eye on the surf charts and I knew there had been enough surf  to make the ride out to Follets Beach worth it. I have been jonesing for several weeks as all we’ve had is flat surf conditions. Typical summer conditions, I know, but come on. Where are all the tropical systems caused by global warming when you need them? I was really counting on surfing some tropical waves this summer.

Coming over the Surfside bridge I could see the water was beautiful; blue and green with tiny flecks of white caps interspersed as far as the eye could see–a result of the stiff SW breeze blowing at15-20 knots. Yes there were several kiteboarders out too.

I was in the water by about 2:30 and surfed for about an hour and fifteen minutes before tiring out. With such a stiff breeze you have to paddle constantly or you will quickly be a few miles from your truck.  It’s best to have someone follow you in a vehicle so you can expend your energy on surfing and not so much on fighting the wind and current to stay in the vicinity of your ride.  I can usually paddle for quite a bit longer but the lack of any surf over the past 8 weeks has  me out of ocean kayaking shape.

There were some rideable waves ; nothing too big but past the 3rd sandbar on the  outer sand banks you could catch a nice wave if you were patient and got lucky. There was  almost enough punch in the waves to get you to the reform, but  not quite. If you can get on a wave on the outer banks and stay on it to the 3rd sandbar, stay upright through the breakers and  catch a reform on the 2nd sandbar… let’s just say you will be out of breath, literally and figuratively. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a hell of a ride.

Wait for your wave and get on it!

Buying consumer electronics

Man, what a scam. You will literally drive yourself crazy trying to feature shop and then price shop for an electronic gadget that you don’t happen to be an expert at.  Computer gear, no problem; video, audio, cameras and lenses is another matter. If you are researching several items for purchase at once, you may need medication. And when it is all said and done with you still don’t really know if you are buying the best kit for your money.

In my case I need a couple of lenses to compliment the Nikkor 70-300mm zoom I bought with my new Nikon D90. I have been taking my time to decide on exactly which lenses to buy since it is a one time shot to buy this stuff. If you are on a tight budget, like me, then your lens purchase represents a significant long-term commitment. There is no oh if I don’t like it I’ll just get another one.

To do the same range of photography with the D90 that I was able to do with an all-in-one like the Lumix FZ50, I need four lenses: I need a wide angle, a true macro, a mid-range zoom, and a telephoto zoom for which the 70-300 will have to suffice for the foreseeable future. If you have plenty of dough to spend the purchasing decision isn’t so difficult as there are excellent Nikkor lenses for every focal range. Excellent and expensive.

If you are trying to make a dollar stretch and are looking for the most value for your dollar, considering 3rd party lenses from Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina –  which cost about half of what the Nikkor glass will cost you — is a must and those added choices make the decision mind boggling.

Since I could still use my Panasonic Lumix FZ50 for the focal range not covered by the D90 with the zoom, I didn’t need to rush into a decision. I’ve spent the last several weeks perusing the literature. But the Lumix fell into Bastrop Bayou after the boat parade and now except for taking closeups with the D90 I am out of the picture taking business. I’ve been jonesing for about a week now to take some wide angle photos and some spider closeups.

The drowning of the Lumix was a complete freak accident. The night’s boat related events were at a conclusion and as I was deboarding with my gear the usually very secure velcro flap ripped open, loosing the Lumix. The camera bounced twice on the dock and splashed into the murky bayou water. I scooped it out with a net, retrieved the SD card and placed the Lumix on the shelf in its place amongst the lineage of image taking devices I have acquired over the years.

Since I was also using the Lumix for making video, I am also out of the video making business until I get another video camera.  As much as I didn’t care for the Lumix FZ50, it sure was versatile and useful and I sure do miss it.

As confusing as the SLR camera lens market is, the camcorder market is even worse. To get all the features you want on a non-professional device is impossible. If you find one that has about everything you want it will be lacking in some other key area.

One big problem for me is that I want an eyepiece to shoot through for when it is inconvenient to flip open the damn video screen and the majority of the new flash memory based cameras have done away with the eyepiece altogether in favor of smaller size.  And the trend towards putting the camera controls on the flip out screen or as touch screens is troubling. If you are out taking video of a fishing trip I imagine the smudges on the screen could get quite nasty. Or the tiny controls may be next to impossible to manipulate if you are wearing cold-weather gloves. Just doesn’t seem like a good idea.

I am also concerned as to how prevalent the Blu-ray hi-def format is going to be. Is anything less than hi-def, even if very good quality, going to be obsolete next year? Considering how much video is consumed over the Internet, probably not. And even if the AVCHD format does dominate, the $800 dollar cameras today will be $350 cameras tomorrow.  I am leaning towards the high quality recording of a 3ccd sensor but non hi-def, which is a bit more than just hi-def. Hi-def with a 3ccd sensor would be nice but that is way out of my price unless I would settle for recording to the MiniDV tape format, which I can’t do. No way, no how. No tape. Never.

The only other item I need to buy that could be considered big ticket is a ball head for my carry-around tripod. I have a big tripod for normal use and a small, light, yet very sturdy tripod that I use to carry my camera on through the woods. The proper ball-head for the setup  provides a whole nuther set of mind-boggling choices. You would think that ball head technology can’t be such a big deal. You’d be wrong. And ballheads can be quite pricey, too. Must do your homework before buying.

Here is a couple of things I’ve learned over the past few years to help get through the online shopping ordeal:

• When you first start your search make a list and put each product you look at on it so you can remember the items you have already reviewed. You will be surprised how after a day or two all the confusing product names begin to sound similar.  Or just more confusing. The marketers do that on purpose to keep consumers from comparing apples to apples. And to confuse them. All the crappy products have to be sold too.
• Trust yourself. Once you have ticked a particular product off the candidate list, do not let any future consideration override the decision. After a few days you may not remember exactly why the item was removed from the list so trust that you ticked it off for a good reason. The only exception to allow an override is a hands-on review.
• Be very careful of the shills on the consumer review sections. A lot of people are trying to make a living by writing reviews on line.
• Remember that many of the people posting these reviews are complete noobs and don’t know Shinola from you know what.
• Be careful of biased reviews by large media outlets who live and die by advertising. For example Microsoft spends a ton of money on advertising and there are plenty of people out there who will tell you to this day that Windows Vista is a good product.
• If you lack hands-on experience with a particular type of technology, don’t over spend on your initial acquisition under the assumption that a higher price equals the best performance. You can not know what features will be important to you and which ones are nothing but hype until you have some experience with the technology in the field. While I believe in the old saw that you get what you pay for, I think it applies more when trying to buy cheap than it does with paying too much.

Merry Christmas and Happy Shopping!