Robert Jones Posted October 16, 2010 Report Posted October 16, 2010 I believe it was Mike O that originally posted about this camera. Well, I broke down and bought one. Today was the first day using it. I am going to like the close up pics that are available. Here a couple that I was able to take. This was with no zoom. I was surprised the subject stayed still. Camera is the Pentax Optio W90. Click to Enlarge 42.13 KB Click to Enlarge 35.51 KB
Jim Katen Posted October 16, 2010 Report Posted October 16, 2010 I bet you can get closer that that. What is it with the spiders this year? I can't inspect the outside of a house without walking through a dozen or more webs this fall.
Robert Jones Posted October 16, 2010 Author Report Posted October 16, 2010 I agree Jim on both points. Yesterday was my maiden voyage with this camera. Will get some better shots soon enough.
hausdok Posted October 16, 2010 Report Posted October 16, 2010 Jeez, I'm so friggin' jealous. Try it in the super duper macro mode Robert and tell us what you think. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike
Robert Jones Posted October 17, 2010 Author Report Posted October 17, 2010 Mike, I have updated the pics with oa couple of a Modoc Major. It was on the siding of a home I inspected today. Still messing around with the lighting a bit, but, it gets damn close.
Erby Posted October 17, 2010 Report Posted October 17, 2010 EDIT: Geeze, been trying to get this in here since last night. FINALLY! I got one too! Close-ups with Macro are pretty good (when I can hold it still). IF I was doing the macros and zooms for a reason other than dinking around, I'd get a tripod with a release. Click to Enlarge 27.78 KB Click to Enlarge 49.5 KB Click to Enlarge 31.33 KB Click to Enlarge 30.41 KB Zoom is pretty sharp (when I can hold the camera still) These guys are about 500 yards away out on the lake. The rocks in the background are a good 3/4 - 1 mile away across the lake. Click to Enlarge 56.36 KB This gives you a better idea of how far away the rocks are. Click to Enlarge 57.31 KB These guys were "way out there" in the early morning fog. They were just as spot on the water to the naked eye. I zoomed as far as it would go. Click to Enlarge 38.4 KB The "stitch three pictures together" feature worked pretty intuitively with a decent result. Click to Enlarge 40.48 KB Click to Enlarge 40.02 KB And the "just snapshots" come out pretty good too! Click to Enlarge 87.68 KB Dutch Oven Biscuits for breakfast! Click to Enlarge 54.6 KB Click to Enlarge 49.38 KB Battery life is good but I make sure I've got a spare battery. Holds more photos than I'll ever take at two or three inspections. I like the fact that the zoom works without the lens extending out of the body. That's what usually killed my other cameras, when dust got in the telephoto mechanism. Easy handling. I doubt that I'll actually be sticking it under water to test the water proof feature, but I like it REALLY WELL!
Nolan Kienitz Posted October 17, 2010 Report Posted October 17, 2010 How is the LCD display in the sunlight? That is what is a killer for me on my Canon A630 ... but it is an older unit.
Scottpat Posted October 17, 2010 Report Posted October 17, 2010 How does the W90 do in a dark attic/crawl space? Do you need to light the subject for it to focus?
Erby Posted October 17, 2010 Report Posted October 17, 2010 No, Scott. It's got that little orange autofocus beam. In attics or crawl spaces or other dark places, I don't even look at the view finder until after I take the picture. I just point that little orange beam (just like I would a flashlight beam) and snap the picture. Click to Enlarge 56.76 KB Click to Enlarge 52.41 KB Click to Enlarge 51.59 KB Click to Enlarge 72.05 KB Click to Enlarge 51.26 KB With all my cameras that have the little orange auto focus beam, I've found it best to turn my flashlight away or off, point the orange beam, shoot the picture with the flash. That's what I did on the above "dark space" photos.
Scottpat Posted October 17, 2010 Report Posted October 17, 2010 No, Scott. It's got that little orange autofocus beam. In attics or crawl spaces or other dark places, I don't even look at the view finder until after I take the picture. I just point that little orange beam (just like I would a flashlight beam) and snap the picture. Well this might be the camera I need to look at! My trusty Cannon Power Shot A410 finally bit the dust on Friday after 6 years of use and 9326 pictures. Erby, what do you use to place your logo on the photos?
Erby Posted October 17, 2010 Report Posted October 17, 2010 Fast Stone Photo Resizer. http://www.faststone.org/FSResizerDetail.htm I take large photos, 3 or 4 megabytes, (in case I need to blow them up and look real close when writing the report). I use fast stone to resize all photos to 640x480 at one shot for report inclusion, though I don't include all photos. It's just easier to resize all of them at once instead of picking and choosing. During the resize, I use the Advanced Options "add watermark feature" to add the watermark (logo) and decide where to place it. I used to use the bottom right setting but since I started adding the date and time to them, it covered the time. So I switched to using the bottom left setting. The logo itself is just a document I made up Word, used the "snipping tool" to grab a screen capture, saved it as a JPG and resized, using faststone AND maintaining porportions, to 146 x 78. Had to play with that several times to get it exactly what I wanted. Need help with it, give me a call. 502-570-4054 I got an extra battery with it. Went to Wal-Mart and bought an 8 gigabyte flash card for it. I carry it, (as I did all my cameras after the first three broke from being dropped six times each) in an overlarge belt pouch with a large flap with a "BIG" piece of velcro on it. I also have it attached to a neck strap that reaches to the pouch. Keeps me from dropping it when I'm handling it but the pouch keeps it out of the way when I'm not actually using it. -
Erby Posted October 17, 2010 Report Posted October 17, 2010 I doubt that 9236 pictures. 6 years - 300 inspections a year would only equal about five photos per inspection. I don't know if your's used the same conventions my older cameras have, but my older ones (and I think this new one) typically number pictures up to 9999 and then start over at 0001 and go around and around with those numbers. My favorite about this one so far (over the old ones I've had) is that the telephoto function doesn't extend outside the waterproof body. Reduces greatly the chance that dust in dirty places will goof up the mechanisms. -
Scottpat Posted October 17, 2010 Report Posted October 17, 2010 I doubt that 9236 pictures. 6 years - 300 inspections a year would only equal about five photos per inspection. I don't know if your's used the same conventions my older cameras have, but my older ones (and I think this new one) typically number pictures up to 9999 and then start over at 0001 and go around and around with those numbers. My favorite about this one so far (over the old ones I've had) is that the telephoto function doesn't extend outside the waterproof body. Reduces greatly the chance that dust in dirty places will goof up the mechanisms. - Ya know, I didn't think about the number resetting. I just looked back at a picture file from four years ago and the picture numbers were in the 8,000 range. I bet it did reset and I never paid any attention to it.
Erby Posted October 18, 2010 Report Posted October 18, 2010 Probably reset several times over six years. Good luck on getting a new camera and the logo thingy.
Nolan Kienitz Posted October 18, 2010 Report Posted October 18, 2010 Scott, Erby's direction for the 'logo watermark' in the images is very good. I've been using it over the past few weeks without fail. Click to Enlarge 69.9 KB
Erby Posted October 18, 2010 Report Posted October 18, 2010 Glad to hear it's working for you Nolan. Might want to consider putting your contat information on the logo too! i.e., website and phone number. -
kurt Posted October 18, 2010 Report Posted October 18, 2010 I signed up for the faststone; that's a slick little resizer. Thanx for the tip.
Scottpat Posted October 18, 2010 Report Posted October 18, 2010 I signed up for the faststone; that's a slick little resizer. Thanx for the tip. Yes! Thank you for the link... It is one of the best resizers I have seen or found.
Erby Posted October 19, 2010 Report Posted October 19, 2010 You're welcome, but thanks are due to the person that tunred me on to it. I used to use the Microsoft Powertoys Resizer in XP, but it didn't work when I switched to Vista and now Windows 7. (EDIT: Oops, as Mike O points out below, ReSizer apparently works with Windows 7.) Someone on here or one of the other inspector boards turned me on to FastStone! Does so much more than the old one. Watermarks, Batch Resize, Batch Rename, Flip rotate, add text, change dpi. Lot's more I haven't played with. AND, it's FREEE! I primarily use the Batch Resize and Add Watermark. Yeah, I'm limited. But with the Pentax W90 and FastStone, I'm a pig in heaven. Click to Enlarge 70.54 KB All of which reminds me, THANK YOU MIKE O FOR THE TIP ON THE PENTAX W90. YOU have made my life easier with that one tip. I appreciate it. -
hausdok Posted October 19, 2010 Report Posted October 19, 2010 Powertoys resizer doesn't work with Windows 7? Since when? I just got 7 a couple of weeks ago, went right over to the powertoys site, uploaded the resizer, installed it and it works fine. This is your photo resized. Click to Enlarge 70.23 KB
Erby Posted October 19, 2010 Report Posted October 19, 2010 Mike, It didn't work with Vista. When I switched to Windows 7 a few months ago, I never bothered to check because FastStone does so much more for me. My bad. But I'm sticking with the FastStone. THANK YOU again for the tip on the camera! By golly, I notice that you saved 31/100 of a KiloByte on that resize
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