eMarkLee

There are two cameras I would consider if you want to spend less than my previous blog on what point and shoot I would buy AND you want a sub-compact camera.

Two cameras came up as potential cameras to buy in my search with price considered.

Canon SD1000 for $209

Canon SD1000 on Amazon

Casio Exilim Z600SLV for $149 with free case!

Casio Z600 on Buy.com

Image quality is going to be higher on the Canon and you get an extra megapixel in every picture, which pretty amounts to nothing.
If I were to buy a P&S camera right now for my Mom, it would probably be the Casio Exilim with a nice bright 2.7 inch screen and pretty good images, all in a very nice small case. On top of that, you get a case for free! I think I paid $20 for the leather case for my Canon SD400 and a ton more money for the camera.

There is one trick that is the best thing you can do for your health at work:
Drink lots of water.

To do so, keep a large cup of it at your desk. Fill it up in the morning along with your coffee or whatever and leave it there as you get through your boring day in a cubicle.

Benefits:

1. It forces you to take breaks physically. You WILL need to hit the bathroom all the time.
2. It flushes your system. Health experts always contend that drinking more water is one of the best things you can do for your body.
3. When you run out of water, you have to walk to refill it, forcing you to take breaks in the day to get the blood flowing. You can also hear all about what happened to who after the company party at the water cooler.

I use one of those big cups that you get from the stadium. I have a Giants cup in support of the The Clear and its ability to shatter records. Go Barry!

My friend Curtan recently asked me this question and so I reviewed the field to see what Point and Shoot cameras I would buy with my money. I had done such a review back in January but since then my eyes have been opened to a a different camera on the field by Panasonic!! Yes, the company that makes your microwave and nose-hair trimmer.

It basically came down to two cameras:

1. PowerShot SD800 IS

Canon SD800 IS full frontal

Back of SD800

I’ve always been a fan of Canon Point and Shoots as they always take excellent pictures with a fair amount of manual control. The problem is that they are expensive and limited in what they give you comparative to its competitors.

The SD800 gives you the equivalent of a 28-105mm focal length on film cameras. This is actually pretty good on the wide end(28mm), which allows you to “back up” and get more into your picture. It also has Image Stabilization, which is pretty much crucial for low light and action shots. All in all this is a great camera that takes great pictures…albeit more expensive for what you get.

2. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3

Panasonic makes my battery, my DVD player, my TV, my microwave, my toilet paper holder, and my electric foot massager(it hurts so good). I’ve never considered Panasonic as a player in the digital camera space…until my friend Jeah introduced me to his Lumix a couple of months ago. The feature set is amazing: IS, 10x Zoom!, 3 inch display (size isn’t everything), and a 28 - 280 mm equivalent lens. At first look you notice the big and radical 3-inch display. When you combine that with the 10x zoom and 848 x 480 (16:9) video with the 28mm wide angle, this is really the ultimate in terms of features. All in a relatively small body. You’ll look like you’re happy to see Girls Gone Wild if you actually put it in a pocket, but it’s small enough.

Which one?
All things said, the Canon is a safe choice. I have not thoroughly reviewed the picture quality and compared them but the feature set on the Panasonic is just absolutely fantastic (Brit talk). The Canon would probably take slightly better pictures with better exposure, controls, and saturation. The Panasonic would give you more flexibility and a bigger screen.

I am hereby declaring my departure from my viewpoint to stick with Canon point and shoot cameras and recommending the Panasonic Lumix for its value! Oh, and you should also get their nose-hair trimmer for proper personal hair management.

There is no real good reason for any photographer to use a backpack. Sure, if you have a $5000 telephoto lens and are on the hunt to get a nude shot of Lindsey Lohan, you will want to carry your gear and be able to run with it before people come beat up the paparazzi. But for the rest of us, the bag is really just a means to carry & protect your camera and take quick pictures when you want. The latter purpose is where most bags I’ve tested falls short. Sure you can zip up your backpack and pack your camera and lenses in a nice packaged area, but what happens when you want to take a picture? The 3 minutes it takes you to put the camera bag on the dirt, unzip your bag in such a way where your lenses don’t fall out, then zip everything back up…well…by that time, your subject is long gone.

[Taken in Santa Cruz, California] Speed is everything….

I’ve always been a fan of shoulder bags and messenger bags because of the quick access(no jokes, please). You can swing the bag to one side and be able to whip out your camera without putting anything on the ground. The problem, of course, is that it hurts your shoulder after a while. You can’t really go on a hike with a shoulder bag without feeling the pain on your shoulder and the humilation of asking your girlfriend to carry you bag for a bit.

So on my hunt for the perfect bag, I read through thousands of reviews and specs before settling on the specs of the LowePro Slingshot AW200. After trying one on with DJ at Koah’s wedding, I knew this is what I was looking for.

Specs:

Capacity: SLR with attached compact zoom lens; 3-4 extra lenses or flash unit
Size (Interior): 8.7W x 5.9D x 11.8H in. / 22 x 15 x 30 cm
Outer fabric: water-resistant micro fiber, ripstop nylon and 600D TXP

Company Line:

Perfect for photojournalists, the SlingShot 200 AW uses a unique sling design to go from “carry mode” to “ready mode” in just seconds. Carried comfortably on the back, it easily rotates to the front so you can get to your camera quickly. The SlingShot 200 AW holds an SLR with mid-range zoom lens attached 3-4 extra lenses, cables and accessories and has a full access lid to make loading it a snap. This feature-rich bag also includes a built-in memory card pouch, micro fiber LCD cloth and two generous organizer pockets. It’s certain to surprise even the most demanding photojournalists.

So how did this bag perform?
As the Brits would say….lovely!

Full Frontal

Build: This baby is built the way camera bags are supposed to be built. Quality is high. Things are well thought out for photographers. For example, there is one pocket for memory cards when you open the flap. There are customisable velcro dividers to adjust according to your flash units, lenses, etc. Everything is built for easy access to your camera when you need it. The only drawback might be not enough pockets for people like me who like gadgets and little homemade camera effects. While having less in the bag keeps the bag lighter, I kind of wish there were more than 2 pockets. Also, while the Slingshot AW200 supports LowePro SlipLock attachments where they have bottle holders and such (sort of a Marketing upsell channel), I wish it had a place where I can put a water bottle. All in all, however, the bag is fab.

Shot of the inside

Comfort: This bag is surprisingly comfortable. I have been able to walk around London for 10 hours at a time without major discomfort. Of course, after a while, you do have to shift the weight a bit, but all in all it’s very comfortable. You can’t do that with a shoulder bag. I wouldn’t necesarily say it’s more comfortable than a big padded backpack, but with the right amount of weight and distance you won’t have a problem. I always use it when I do my London tours and I haven’t had a problem.

What it looks like on. What?!?! Why would I be flexing?

Bonuses: Aside from being a basic bag, the bag comes with some radical bonuses:

1. A built in rainguard. If you live in California you will not need it. I live in London and have used it about 6824 times already…yes, all in the one summertime. FDAT. The rainguard is brilliantly designed, folding away in a velcro-closed compartment. Brilliant!

Slingshot with rainguard on. This is excellent.

2. A built in microfiber lens cloth. I didn’t really find this until last week. I thought it was just another pocket for stuff but when I folded it out, I realized it was a built in microfiber lens cloth. This is totally Brilliant! CRICKEY!!!!

The Built in Micro-fiber cleaning and protective cloth. This is hot!

Conclusion: This bag is as good of a bag for photography as I’ve ever tried. While it could use more pockets and perhaps a bottle holder, there is nothing like it on the market. Believe me, I’ve looked. I can have my camera out and snapping away in less than 10 seconds. That is what you should look for in a camera bag.

You can get it online for about $90 w/ free shipping. Or you can go to Frys and try it out. It might retail at $99. Totally worth it.

It allows you to capture moments like this before scaring the bird away with your fugliness:

Bird in Santa Cruz

Brilliant!

There are some bad jobs on Popular Science’s Worst Jobs in Science 2007 list . These include whale feces researcher and a Hazmat Diver described here:

The worst was at a factory pig farm,” says Steven M. Barsky, the author of Diving in High-Risk Environments, the industry bible for hazardous-materials divers. “A guy had driven his truck into the waste lagoon and drowned. Not only was it full of urine and liquid pig feces, the farmer had dumped all the needles used to inject the pigs with antibiotics and hormones in there.” Someone had to recover the body, and the task fell to commercial hazmat divers.

Outfitted with fully encapsulating drysuits, these Jacques Cousteaus of the sewers swim into clouds of waste, inside nuclear reactors and through toxic spills on America’s coasts and inland waterways. When the Environmental Protection Agency identifies pollutants, it contracts with a hazmat team to clean things up. That means using giant vacuums to suck up a polluted lakebed, hoisting leaking barrels to the surface, or diving into the heart of an oil spill or into a sewer to fix a clog. It’s dangerous work—one breach in the drysuit, and a whole stew of bacteria and toxins can fill ’er up. Jesse Hutton, of Ballard Salvage and Diving in Seattle, has seen his share of close calls. “I’ve been on jobs where suits have been breached by rough steel or something sharp,” he says, pointing out that divers must keep their shots up to date.

Wow. I think I will stick with the Internet sector for my profession. I don’t mind rough steel breaching my leg, but I can’t be seen wearing a funny suit. That’s not acceptable to me. It probably isn’t even a earth-tone color. fdat.

I’ve heard some bad band names, as pointed out by Cracked, but this is my list of the worst ones:

5. The The
4. Toad the Wet Sprocket
3. Hoobastank
2. Butthole Surfers? (Not sure if this is top five or bottom five)
1. !!! (I agree with Cracked)

My favorite band name of all time?
1. Butt Trumpet, with classics such as the song Who Lit the Fuse on Cinder’s Tampon?

Apparently, your pee is yellow not because of gold, gold-plating, or californium-252. Dude, your piss is yellow because of urochrome and the degradation products of bilirubin and urobilin. Duh.

Speaking of pee, you should drink your own golden shower. I’m totally serious. Seriously demented, that is…but regardless you should take heed of this crazy phenomenon of making a cocktail out of your cock trail. Thank you, Thank you, I’m here all week.

Here’s a more detailed explanation of Urine Therapy without my interjections:

…vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes, hormones, antibodies, and amino acids — estimated to be thousands of compounds in all. For example, urine, which is also the primary component of amniotic fluid, contains DHEA (the wonder steroid heralded with anti-aging, anti-cancer, and other benefits), allantoin (added to creams and ointments to promote wound healing), factor S (used to naturally induce sleep), gastric secretory depressants (combats ulcer growth), urokinase (an enzyme known to dissolve blood clots), and of course, urea (a key constituent in many antibacterial substances). Some scientists even suggest that uric acid, the most touted property of urine, may be one of the things allowing humans to live longer than most other mammals. (Blake More, “Drink To Your Health”, Yoga Journal)
…
Popularized in the works of John W. Armstrong (The Water of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy ) and Dr. Beatrice Bartnett (Urine-Therapy: It May Save Your Life), the urine cure has attracted a broad spectrum of individuals seeking relief from illnesses that failed to respond adequately to conventional medicine. Sufferers with everything from HIV to cancer, gout, Brights disease, gangrene, heart disease, malaria, bladder ailments, and asthma have found themselves willing to try anything that might help — no matter how seemingly absurd or repugnant. And to their astonishment, many of them have found incredible success.

There it is….stop wasting your own life nectar. Next time you take a leak, think of all the vital minerals and vitamins you are throwing away. It’s like throwing dollar(or Pounds Sterling) bills down the toilet, you wasteful bastard.

Someone made a pretty cool video highlighting the demise of the cassette player as it relates to the Transformers, which is apparently breaking all kinds of records. F the iPod.

Get off the couch, Ravage.

My boy Watty sent me a video that I think I watched like 10 times for a number of reasons:

1. The song was pretty radical.
2. The dance was off da hook.
3. The broadband connection in my hotel is kinda slow.
4. Reminds me of Muppets NWA.
5. Reminds me of Voltron getting served.

But mostly because they were able to overlay the music so well…I wonder what other songs you could put in there at around 80 BPM.

If you want to catch the original Gwen Verdon - Mexican Breakfast just to see it, it’s not all that great. Instead you should just walk it out, son.