Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO2000 “Halftime Performance” Cedar Park, 2019
It’s true that high school football is a big deal in Texas (just look how big the stadium is), but also true is that high school marching band is huge. Koa’s high school goes all-in on the band, with long hours of practice to give them a great chance to do well in the competitions. Last year, they won the UIL state championship, which was the first time ever for the school! This year’s show is another high-concept piece, and I’m hoping they do great. Not sure if they can top last year, but I’m just hoping Koa enjoys this season as much as last.
On a related note, the football team has started the season undefeated at 2-0 which is a pleasant surprise. Last season they won only two games the whole year, so I’m sure these kids are pretty stoked.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec, ISO2500 “Kick Off” Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO1250 “Goodies from Japan” Cedar Park, 2019
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today’s photos is of the omiyage that Mariko brought for me from her visit to her hometown of Osaka. It’s a bit of a mix this time, with a wash-cloth that I’ve been mentioning for a few months now, the big bottle of shochu that we’ll enjoy together, and the unexpected darumas (very cool style!).
But the pièce de résistance has to be the ukulele songbook of Ghibli tunes. It’s awesome! The first part of the book is finger-style solos, and the second part is chords and lyrics. I can’t sing, so you might think the second part is not useful, but to the contrary, having the chords right there will be great for referencing when I practice the finger-style versions. And speaking of the finger-style versions, they are the right level for me. The arrangement is not too simple and not too complex. However, I think there will be room to embellish a bit which is why the chords in the second half of the book will be useful. The songbook also includes a CD for reference. I’ve already started on ひこうき雲, which is the heart-breaking (lyrics) 1973 song from Arai Yumi and used as the ending song in The Wind Rises. It’s kind of perfect for the movie. 😭
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO5000 “Kuru Toga” Cedar Park, 2019
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Koa was moving his pens and pencils to a new pencil bag and decided that he didn’t want his Kuru Toga pencils anymore. He prefers writing with wooden pencils over mechanical (plus the mechanical pencils poke holes in the pencil bag) so he gave me the Kuru Togas. Score!
The Kuru Toga pencils are so cool because the lead automatically rotates a tiny bit every time you lift the pencil from the page. That way, the lead maintains a a consistent edge. It’s kind of amazing how it works, and also how they actually thought it was a worthwhile feature to develop. Innovation!
I saw these lovely Seikos in the case at Macy’s today. The blue watch in the front is kind of my dream watch. It’s a new “Save the Ocean” turtle. I love it! Maybe someday… but for now, I’ll continue to enjoy my SKX007. Speaking of the SKX, the big news is that Seiko has discontinued the model. It’s had a very long run, being introduced in 1996, but it’s finally time to move on. The replacement seems to be the new Seiko 5 Sports series of watches. The cases look just like the SKX, but they come in a variety of colors. However, they do not have the dive specification so they are a little less capable, but still not many actually take the dive watches scuba diving (dive computers are more useful).
If you haven’t seen it yet, I made a little time-lapse of my watches. 😆 Enjoy!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/2, 1/320 sec, ISO640 “Crazy Rich Library” Cedar Park, 2019
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Recently, I’ve been enjoying Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians book trilogy, whose first book was the basis for the hit movie by the same name. I thought the book was great, so after finishing it I put a library hold on the second one, China Rich Girlfriend, and flew through it in just a few days. Immediately after finishing that, I put the third and final book, Rich People Problems on hold, and within the hour, it was available! I could continue the story without delay, which is perfect since it’s a long holiday weekend. It’s a true Crazy Rich Asians reading-fest. 😆
The books are super fun, and although the constant brand-name fashion references can seem a bit tedious at first, I soon enjoyed the over-the-topness of even those descriptions. The story is great and I love the characters, but what really makes it an exceptional series for me are the descriptions of all the delicious foods. The books make me so hungry!
I also like the fact that I can relate to the story through some of the settings (and dare I say brands?). In fact, one of the chapters in the first book is named Conduit Road, which is a street in Hong Kong. And a good friend of mine’s family has a flat there, which is where I stayed when I visited twice in the 90s. That kind of blew me away. The scenes in Shanghai also were familiar to me since we visited the city just last year. There are even some luxury brand watch references which I thought were great.
On the flip side, reading about Singapore, a city I have not yet traveled to, has given me a serious case of wanderlust! I’m definitely not alone in the fact that Crazy Rich Asians has really piqued my curiosity.
I am halfway through the final book and I am looking forward to seeing how it all concludes. By the way, the books are much better than the movie, IMHO.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/1000 sec, ISO200 “Evening Clouds” Cedar Park, 2019
Today I spent a bit of time refining the time-lapse process on the Fujifilm X100T. With each one I create, I notice some tweaks that would make it better. I think I’m close to finalizing on my settings! 😊
For this video, I noticed there is a lot of flickering which I’ve determined is caused by the X100T’s built-in ND filter. It’s similar to the flickering that is caused by the variance in exposure when the aperture rings step down. In that case, even though the aperture might be set to the same f/5.6 for all the photos, the blades will not go to the exact same position each exposure. This causes the flickering in the final video. The solution to this on the X100T is to shoot wide open at f/2, so that the aperture blades don’t move. If you have a camera where you can force the blades to not move for each exposure, that is perfect! Or perhaps switch to a manual-lens with an aperture ring.
Anyways, the X100T’s ND filter will move into place for every exposure, so there is a slight variance in the amount of light that it blocks, and that causes the flickering effect. If you do need to reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor, I’d use a regular old ND filter screwed onto the lens, or take advantage of the extreme high shutter-speeds that the electronic shutter enables.
Speaking of the electronic shutter I suggest making sure you are using it for another reason: eliminating any moving parts during the image sequence capture. This means less wear and tear on the camera. Even at f/2, the X100T will activate the aperture blades. 🤷♂️
So, if you hear any noise whatsoever (assuming you have camera beeps turned off), then check your aperture, focus-type, ND filter, and shutter-type. It should be dead silent!
There’s is a lot to remember when making these time-lapse sequences, so I made a checklist of settings. These are specific for shooting JPG on the Fujifilm X100T, but might be helpful for other cameras as well:
Set ISO manually
Set white-balance manually
Set shutter speed manually
Turn off built-in ND filter
Set aperture to f/2
Make sure of external power source
Make sure the DR is not Auto
Set the shutter type to Electronic
That’s it!
The Fujifilm X100T is a nice little camera to create the time-lapse sequences. The only things that would make it better would be the ability to manually stop down the lens, and to remove the 999 exposure limit on interval shooting.
I hope you had a nice day.
またね～
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