So, off to visit Paul and Becca last weekend in Reading. Turned out to be a very relaxing weekend and I successfully took Paul's life away from him and Becca by reintroducing him to the joys of Football Manager 2007. After meeting him, we took a nice wander around Reading before entering the "Hobgoblin" pub, complete with Wychwood Hobgoblin picture on the sign outside and bottles of the delicious ale in the fridge. The bar seemed to only serve cask ales and cider/perry on tap, the ceiling was covered with beer mats and we sat in an enclosed booth with the sign "Warning: If it rains, this booth may flood." I have pictures to post soon, (i.e. once properly processed from original RAW images. If heaven was a pub, I have a feeling it would be something like this one for me.
On the subject of RAW, I bought the Canon 400D and despite my limited experience, I am generally pleased with it. It is by far the most comfortable camera I have ever owned and yields the best results. I would of course expect this for the money, but you never know at times whether or not you are just buying into something and will eventually end up disappointed. I have largely been using it on manual settings and have imported some of the images into Aperture and started to explore settings, but not in great depth. Once I have, I will post more on the subject here. My intention will be first to take some pictures in different conditions and try and get post-processing on them to really get an idea what I can and can't do after taking the photos. learn my limits.
Friday, 9 March 2007
Sunday, 25 February 2007
Camera and Insurance issues
Right, so what's been happening of late? So many things i could post, but for now let's dive back into the here and now. My camera got damaged a while back and it took us god knows how long to get around to claiming. Laziness tends to run in my family, so it's no surprise actually, but I need to change my attitudes to working and such.
So, we rang Barclays and put in a claim. They collected the camera, along with a cheque for £50 for the excess. The camera was purchased originally 5 years ago for £479 I found out. I think I got my hopes up too high for what I could get back from them, but since my track record of buying cameras tended to be buying ones that ended up falling short of expectations, I thought I'd go with my gut reaction rather than a compromise this time. I had been recommended the Canon EOS 400D several times by keen amateurs and semi-pros that I had spoken to, mainly on Mac forums and at Mac Expo. For example:
Exhibitor: "Do you shoot RAW at the moment"
Me: "No. I don't have a camera at the moment that supports it, but I'm looking into the possibility"
Exhibitor: "Well if you're looking at the moment, you can't go far wrong with the Canon 400D"
Me: "I'll consider it. Thanks for the software"
Pete: "You know you're buy an SLR. You might as well soon"
And so Stevie succumbs, finds out the old camera was £479 and the Canon is £499. The choice is made.
However, the insurance company valuators suggest the replacement model, (which they are obliged to do), as the Fuji F30 at £149. Since mine was a F601, it is fairly close to the specification, but I don't want it. I won't be able to sell it on for £149 and they also valued the old camera a little above this, so I opt for the cheque, but am less than happy that after the excess I am only getting about £100. I am however hoping that it arrives after two working days as the website promises cheques will arrive within two working days of settlement or they give you £50, so we'll get the excess back. The call operator I agreed to take the money from quoted 3-5 working days. Either way, I will get the Canon, but after staff discount and the insurance money, it will cost me around another £340.
We'll see.
So, we rang Barclays and put in a claim. They collected the camera, along with a cheque for £50 for the excess. The camera was purchased originally 5 years ago for £479 I found out. I think I got my hopes up too high for what I could get back from them, but since my track record of buying cameras tended to be buying ones that ended up falling short of expectations, I thought I'd go with my gut reaction rather than a compromise this time. I had been recommended the Canon EOS 400D several times by keen amateurs and semi-pros that I had spoken to, mainly on Mac forums and at Mac Expo. For example:
Exhibitor: "Do you shoot RAW at the moment"
Me: "No. I don't have a camera at the moment that supports it, but I'm looking into the possibility"
Exhibitor: "Well if you're looking at the moment, you can't go far wrong with the Canon 400D"
Me: "I'll consider it. Thanks for the software"
Pete: "You know you're buy an SLR. You might as well soon"
And so Stevie succumbs, finds out the old camera was £479 and the Canon is £499. The choice is made.
However, the insurance company valuators suggest the replacement model, (which they are obliged to do), as the Fuji F30 at £149. Since mine was a F601, it is fairly close to the specification, but I don't want it. I won't be able to sell it on for £149 and they also valued the old camera a little above this, so I opt for the cheque, but am less than happy that after the excess I am only getting about £100. I am however hoping that it arrives after two working days as the website promises cheques will arrive within two working days of settlement or they give you £50, so we'll get the excess back. The call operator I agreed to take the money from quoted 3-5 working days. Either way, I will get the Canon, but after staff discount and the insurance money, it will cost me around another £340.
We'll see.
Okay, back to blogger
Okay then, I tried blogger, I posted infrequently. I tried again, I posted far too infrequently again. I then moved onto multiply and slowly began to post a lot more often. Then, after a break, I went back to rearrange a few things and the layout became screwed up.
That's why I will now post both here and also try and sort out multiply and start posting there again, (duplicates probably, we'll see). I will slowly also try and add the photos and blog posting from multiply here and change the date stamp so they correspond to when the original posting was.
Anyway, back to the actual business of posting what is my relatively boring life for now.
That's why I will now post both here and also try and sort out multiply and start posting there again, (duplicates probably, we'll see). I will slowly also try and add the photos and blog posting from multiply here and change the date stamp so they correspond to when the original posting was.
Anyway, back to the actual business of posting what is my relatively boring life for now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
