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Orkney — cycling — any advice ?

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Bonzo the Cat B
Bonzo the Cat May 4, 2006 08:30:28
Replying to Trish

> do you have a super special camera or is it one that a mere mortal like > me could own/use?!

We like to keep it lightweight & very simple. For everything up to & including Orkney etc. we used our point&shoot Olympus µ [mju:]-II ZOOM 115 (http://www.photo.net/olympus/mjuII), mostly with 400ASA film. The Orkney etc. ones we had put immediately to cdr (all pics before that I scanned - exhausting).
As Orkney etc.'d had us come back with 14 rolls of film, for Knoydart we'd decided on digital, the Canon PowerShot S70, with a 1GB Extreme III CompactFlash SanDisk card. It's 7 megapixels and a spiffing machine! (http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/s70.html) It's point & shoot, but it has all the manual stuff to if you want it (so price-wise its a couple of steps up from the Olympus). It's on the heavy end of the lightweight ones, but it has a wide-angle lens, which is stellar for indoor shoots. But really, the detail you can get with that machine! Pity I have to reduce size on the web.

> it was a huge thrill being on the ferry as it drew close to Tarbert on
> Lewis... The whole journey had been shrouded in mist, then suddenly
> as we approached land it lifted, and Harris loomed out at us, it was
> really spooky, like something from the Lost Islands

I know exactly what you mean; wrote a thing about it here http://users.skynet.be/bert_saskia/travel/scotland/epilogue.htm

Enjoy your stay - I envy you!!!

-arf!!

B Bonzo the Cat
Bonzo the Cat May 4, 2006 08:55:00
Replying to Bonzo the Cat

hey trish, some illustrations of the CanonPowershotS70:

(these pics are pretty huge, so be patient)

wood (sub-maximum quality):
http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~betimmer/IMG_0557.JPG
my partents-in-law's cat, yawning (max quality):
http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~betimmer/IMG_0710.JPG
a friend's hands, black & white (max quality):
http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~betimmer/IMG_0207zwwgoed.jpg
an orchid (size seriously reduced to fit desktop):
http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~betimmer/orchidee_desktop.jpg

like I said, the thing's worth it!

T Trish
Trish May 4, 2006 09:16:39
Replying to Bonzo the Cat

by the way - I have an Olympus mjuII too ...

I got given one as a leaving pressie when I left a company a few years back. Great Camera... lost it in the carpark of the Quiraing last year!! (Drove off with it on the roof of the car... doh!)

I bought a replacement one from ebay cos its that good...

Digitally, I have a Samsung 4mp something or another. It eats batteries. Takes a good photo but the zoom in function is utter shite, should be called a 'blur in' function methinx.

will buy one of those s70's when I have some spare (ha!) funds.... looks fab!

cheers
t
xx

V Vicster
Vicster May 4, 2006 12:08:53
Replying to Bonzo the Cat

it was a huge thrill being on the ferry as it drew close to Tarbert on
> Lewis... The whole journey had been shrouded in mist, then suddenly
> as we approached land it lifted, and Harris loomed out at us, it was
> really spooky, like something from the Lost Islands


When we went from Skye to Harris, it wasn't quite so spectacular. The ferry was at some ungodly hour in the morning and so we spent the night before in the pub at the terminal - slept in the car for about 4 hours in a force 9 gale (or so it felt) and then crossed the water on a wild, windy morning. Could hardly see a thing as we entered Tarbet but I do remember watching a motor home attempt to drive up a very steep incline and then start rolling back down the hill when it failed! We then had a 1.5 hour journey up the island to our friend's house, navigaitng on those scary Hebridean roads in sleeting rain and howling wind - and this was in AUGUST!

It was well worth it though! In June we are going back but this time on the Ullapool - Stornoway route....can't wait!