Posts from — November 2003

Autumn colors in Kyoto (click for BIG 1280 X 960 desktop background image)
Looking down from wall of Nijo Castle. Built in 1603 by the Tokugawa Shoguns, this is the place where the last Shogun relinquished control of the nation back to Emperor Meiji in 1867, and the next year the capital moved to Tokyo.

I’m coming to like this camera more and more.

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Mist clinging to Mt. Hiei behind my neigborhood. I finally get a day off, and I get non-stop rain.

More Lumix FZ10 photos

Futtari yandari shite imasu (It’s raining off and on), and I’m getting used to my new Lumix. All these pictures are taken with high contrast and saturation settings.

The top two are 1024 X 768 background size



Getting better at wielding this new toy, I mean, instrument. My biggest wish so far is that I could toggle between spot metering and matrix metering as fast as I can change the exposure comp and flash comp, but it’s not bad. The panning shot at the bottom is easy in panning mode, that was my second try. The burst mode is really fast. I fired off like 6 full-size shots in less than two seconds, so the next time I go to uma kurabe (horse racing) at Kamigamo Jinja, a 1,000-year-old event, I won’t have to settle for the poor shots I got last spring. The camera is starting to feel natural in my hands, using the hood to steady it. The OIS is great, the AF works well in the light, the zoomed shots are as good as you could expect.
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You can buy a temple passport, a little book with folding blank pages at most larger temples.

The idea is to get them stamped and decorated with calligraphy (300 yen here) at the famous sites you visit. Some places have stamps you can apply free, calligraphy costs.

(photo taken with Sony P-71)

In addition to meeting Tom Cruise, Yoshiko waited first in line to get tickets to Saturday’s sneak preview in Kyoto of The Last Samurai, in advance of the December 6 (in Japan) wide release of the movie. We had the best seats in the house

My review:

Postmodern society has equipped us with a refined ability to preemptively dismiss everything as a contemptible sham, in case it turns out to be embarrassingly unpopular or embarrassingly popular; once you realize that there are only 36 possible movie plots, it’s easy to snicker at any movie and call it hack or formulaic.

Tom Cruise as the hero in a samurai movie?

Line up on the left to pick up your tomatoes, on the right for sarcastic insults. Or if, perchance, for just a moment you can let down your fortified walls of ironic self-awareness,

GO SEE THIS FREAKIN’ MOVIE!
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I found a diamond ring with a gold band on the ground Monday evening (a national holiday) at 5:30 at the intersection of Shijo and Kawaramachi streets, the busiest intersection in Kyoto. It seems to be a wedding ring, stamped with a year beginning 18XX, and has other distinguishing features. Spread the word if you know anyone visiting or living in Kyoto who may have lost one. The Kyoto Police department has it. I’m going to try to get the word out to local neighborhoods. I imagine there is a heartbroken old lady somewhere who wants it back, and I’d like to get it to her.

I bought this camera last night after much study of various makes and models. I really considered almost everything, but it came down to the new Fuji S7000, Canon 300D, Nikon 5700, Sony V1, Sony F828 (if it ever appears) and Canon G5. Without consideration of price among these, the Panasonic Lumix FZ10 with its Leica 35-420mm F2.8 zoom lens and optical (that is, not digital, it runs on gyroscopes) image stabilization won me, because I think it will fit my style of shooting best, so don’t take my word for anything.

I got your OIS right here (click for original image, 1600×1200, BIG download):

That’s available light, ISO 50, f2.8 1/4 second, my first test shot with OIS. if you’re a Windows user, I apologize for the darkness of this picture. I didn’t adjust it. It looks deep and shadowy on Mac, as I like some garden shots.
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When my wife puts her mind to something, watch out, brother. After spending a few days last November following leads and trying to track down Tom Cruise who was shooting part of “The Last Samurai” in Kyoto, Yoshiko and her best friend since elementary school Michiyo made plans to do it again this year for the movie’s premiere. I heard some of their telephone conversations as they considered likely locations to encounter Tom. I was having a good time snickering at their teenybopper enthusiasm while Yoshiko was getting serious, sort of. She made this poster last night with Tom’s catch phrase from his breakthrough hit, Risky Business.
Today (Friday) was the big day, and Michiyo was all over town before breakfast, literally. She went to Nijo Castle, she went to the hilltop heliport where Tom’s helicopter comes in and out of town (Kyoto doesn’t have an airport). She scoured likely hotels, then she got serious, too. She shook down a cabbie and got the lowdown: 1 p.m. at the heliport. Yoshiko caught up with her and they headed for the top of the hill.

Jackpot!

photos by Yoshiko Ferry
Not only did Tom see the sign, he came over and taked with them for a while. Michiyo got the whole thing on video and showed it to me later. I have to figure out how to edit with iMovie and upload it. They talked for longer than I would have believed if it wasn’t on tape.

Thanks for making two schoolgirls happy, Tom.

Autograph

A place to pray.