Too Early for Summerfolk?

I'm planning to post old sumemrfolk photos (1997 -2010) online before the 3rd weekend in August. After collecting Summerfolk photos from old folders on old hard drives & copying them all to one location it was time to start sorting.

Sorting out 97-99 into individual years is going to be somewhere between difficult & impossible. I may end up dividing them in  some other way other than chronologically. 

It's fun to see some of the old pics and how things (& people) have changed, but it's amazing how little some things have stayed the same.

So far I've gotten through about 500 & there's still more to get through & then the daunting task of sorting out those early years.

Once there all sorted & ready to go I'll make another post & then the photos will be posted to Flickr in small (ish) batches each day leading up to this years summerfolk.

The Season has Ended

or                   

A dreamy reminder of the past vs a starker version of the present.

In actual fact it's not nearly as dramatic as it sounds. Now that I've sufficiently buried the lead, 
Pumpkin Ale is no longer available at Taps (until the Fall).

To the chagrin (I wish i could that word more often) of many regulars, their most popular seasonal brew has expired. Maybe expired is a bit dramatic, but the current supply of pumpkin has come to an end. Many consider pumpkin their 'go to' beer at taps.  I am part of a different group. We enjoy pumpkin (almost) as must as the pumpkin monobrewists (the beer version of mono theists) , but we don't drink it exclusively. We drink it occasionally or (as I prefer) in an alchemical mixture with other beers. (see: Sinister Pumpkin  )

The current incarnation of pumpkin has ended, but hopefully it clears the way for a new summer brew. No one knows what taps, phil & the beer gods have in store for the summer, but I suspect we will enjoy it.

P.S. a new batch of pumpkin traditionally appears in September or very early October, so for those dedicated to pumpkin, it's really not that long til it's return.

Sidenote: If you have noticed that the photos in today's blog look ' a bit off' it could be that I've been playing around with a new/old lens.  the photos where taken with a canon FD (read old film) lens adapted to my EOS550D. Please, don't be too harshly. It's early days with this arrangement.  The 1st image is sort of 'as is' & the second has a bit more colour & contrast added, which is more common with modern lenses.  not sure which I'd go with in the future, but it's still early days with this combo. 

Survive the Zombie Appocolypes by Eating Brains.

But your ancestors had to start generations ago.

Here's the quick run down.

The Fore People of Papua New Guinea ate there dead for generations.  This custom assisted the spread of "kuru" a degenerative brain disease caused by Prions.  Eating the brains of people with communicable disease was killing about 2% of the population each year, until the practice was outlawed.

Now it has been found that some Fore people have a unique resistance to prion diseases. They  have an amino acid called Valine where everyone else has Glycine. This prevents the prions from producing disease causing forms of the protein.

In tests with mice the mice with the Valine where show to be resistant to 18 forms of prion disease, and there is hope that further research could provide eventually lead to treatments of other degenerative brain disorders like Alzheimer & Parkinson.

 for a more detailed article go to  www.washingtonpost.com

To hear how this will affect the zombie apocalypsesgo to zombieresearchsociety.com.
(It's not bad and has lots of links to more serious articles.)

T5 vs T5i OR 1200D vs 700D

Someone (new to DSLRs) asked me about the difference between the canon 1200D (t5) and the 700D (t5i). I put together some info & sent it off to them, then thought "this might be of interest to other people"  so I turned it into a blog post. 

 

 

Basics & Recommendation

The 1220D (t5) will take perfectly good photos and not bad video.

But you'll have to work harder and take more to get the shots you want & you might be look for an upgrade a bit sooner.

The 700D(5ti) will take great photos and good video and make it easier to get the shots you want.  It's got more flexibility in how you use it, & a bit more you can do as you learn. It can also get some shots that the other just can't get, especially with low light, fast, bursts and videos.

As far as I'm concerned, if you can afford it the 700D(t5i) is definitely worth the extra money.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Explanation

T5 is one class lower than the other.

t5 & t5i are sort of marketing names for them. 
the real model names are 1200 D (5t) & 700D (t5i) with canon model numbers , lower is better.*

They have a lot of the same stuff so I 'll just list what the700D (t5i) has that the other doesn't or when it has improved versions of the same stuff.

700D (t5i) has:

- better screen resolution (almost double the pixels)

- swivel screen (doen't sound like much til you try to get shots from interesting angles. it's much easier to twist the screen towards you than twisting yourself to see the screen.

- Touchscreen.  you can use the menus by touch , you can also focus by touching the screen

- better auto focus. has more and better focus points than 1200d and an entirely different & better auto focus system making it faster & more accurate.

- auto focus during video (with the right lenses)

- better processor.  helps with the higher shooting speeds etc.

- higher FPS.  shoots more photos (frames) per second. 3fps for 1200, 4.8 fps for 700d

-Higher ISO. (25600 vs 12800)  which means it can take photos in much less light. theoretically it should be able to take see stuff in 1/2 the light of the other one. In practice , if you push them to their limits the phots will be grainy & pretty ugly, but you have the extra ISO what would have been an grainy shot that pushed the 1200d, could be a usable shot with the 700d, because it's not at it's limit. - has mic jack.  internal mics are pretty bad so being able to add a mic means you can make a video that people can listen too without cringing.

- better kit lens 18-55 STM (takes advantage of new auto focus system & can do auto focus in video.

Details

Links to canon for more info
1200D
700D


*Over view of model numbers
4 digit model (called XX00 ie 1200)  are 'consumer' models for basic snapshots & for your own social media.

3 digit models (XX0 ie 700D) are 'pro-sumer' models for people who want a step up from basic or for people becoming pros or starting out small. like selling photos to other people for their social media,  portraits etc.

2 digit models (X0 ie 80D) are solid pro models. better than the lower models but not as rugged  as the higher end models. sometimes new features are released here 1st to make sure they are dependable enough for the high end models.

single digit models (7d, 6d, 5d, 1d) are higher end pro-models for he big kids.  they have top of the line specs and are very dependable.

Cyanamid

A while back Jen & I went for a walk along a new section of walking path in Niagara Falls. The new path follows along the hydro canal finishing near the former site of the Cyanamid Plant.

Slightly off the beaten path we found a few remnants of the old chemical plant.

First we spotted a square concrete column (photo on the right) broken into 2 pieces. It's appears to be the stone pillar/lamp post that stood by the guard house at the entrance gate.  Vintage photos can be seen here & here for comparison.



The second thing we found was much more definitive, the stone Bar  B Que that was in the picnic area. It was/is in remarkably  good condition. Once we got home we searched for a vintage photo online. A piece of the Bar B Que can just barely be seen in this photo. I'm sure we found at least one clear shot the  Bar B Que,  but I can't seem to find it again.


To see the rest of the photo's from our walk you can go to this Flickr group

New FERT Commercial

New Commercial for next months Handicapping contest.

:)