Me & My Cameras

I own lots of cameras. Lots. Let’s see…

Minolta X-700
Minolta 507si (650si)
Nikon F
Nikon AW10 (underwater)
Minolta Hi-matic G
Canon Canonet QL-17 (broken)
Olympus E-10
Canon S100 Digital Elph
Polaroid I-Zone
Canon 35mm point n shoot (can’t remember model)
Sony DSC F1 (dead)

Plus, I have lenses for the SLR’s, auto-winder grips, filters, etc. I really am addicted! Click here to see a small selection of my collection. But, for the past couple years, I have mainly been using the digital cameras. I carry the tiny digital elph in my bag, and we usually take the big Olympus with us on our weekend adventures. But I really miss my film cameras. I think I will start using my X-700 again. My favorite lens has to be my plain old MD 50mm f/1.2 because it is basic and fast. I have a nice 35-70mm zoom, but I find that I take better photos with a fixed focal lens. I have some film in my X-700 for way back when, but I can’t remember if it is color or black and white. All I know is that it is ISO400.

Battlestar Galactica

Was taking a walk down memory lane today by perusing the Battlestar Galactica site. What a show. My favorite character was Sheba. I thought she was so hot.

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Another bit of trivia. Did you know that Ed Begley Jr. was in the show? He was “Greenbean” and apparently starred alongside Charles Manson and the Six-million Dollar Man.

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Death of the Laptop?

On CNN today there is a story about how smart phones and PDA’s might make the laptop obsolete. The story talks about how the PDA has many of the same functions as a laptop, but in a much smaller (and more easily transportable) form factor.

As a user of both a Pocket PC PDA and a laptop, I do not think that the PDA will make laptops obsolete. Sure, you can check email, browse the Internet and listen to MP3’s using a PDA, but it is a royal pain in the butt to input a good deal of text. Until someone invents a really portable keyboard (a fabric keyboard would be awesome), I think the traditional laptop is here to stay. Plus, how are you going to load Photoshop on your smart phone? I’d have to say that the best solution right now is an ultra-portable laptop. Something around 2-3lbs with at least 40GB HD.

On the other hand, PDA’s are relatively cheap, so that’s a good choice as long as you know what you can and can’t do with it. I love to browse the web with it, but I won’t bother writing long emails with it.

Internet Radio

I was reading on Billy’s site Public Realm about his recommendations for iTunes and the radio stations there, so I decided to fire it up and check out some stations. I clicked into the Jazz section and found KKJZ Live, which is broadcasting out of CSULB. What a great find! I used to listen to KKGO when I lived in So. Cal. and now I can finally listen to some of the same DJ’s again. I always wondered whre Chuck Niles went to…

Kebab Palace

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I went to lunch with some friends at Kebab Palace, on Rutland. The food was really good. I had the “soccer sandwich” which was lamb meat, melted Dutch cheese and cucumber sauce on really great bread. The moussaka and goulash looked awesome too. The place was opened up by a young Java programmer Dejan Kostovski, who waited on us today, and the delicious food is prepared by his parents. I highly recommend trying it out! You can read a review of the restaurant from the Austin Chronicle here.