NOT ANOTHER ONE. (21/08/14)

It really rained in Ullapool last night and right through up to about eight o’clock when it reverted back to showers. The A835 from Ullapool to Inverness is a grand bit of road and it seems to take no time at all as for the vast majority of it I can maintain a steady fifty five or sixty miles per hour. I have got unused to travelling at such immense velocities. I had to divert through Muir of Ord to get dog food. I found the place with no trouble and then noted that the quickest way to Inverness was through Beauly. I got through Beauly with no trouble but then realised I was not a hundred yards from Ffordes the camera dealers. I steeled myself and drove past the turn to Balblair where they are. Over the bridge I went and I hadn’t gone a mile when I turned round and went back. It is a wonderful shop, they have a vast stock of used and new gear. The downside to it is that they don’t encourage browsing and are to a man a miserable load of sods. They always keep me waiting whilst they gaze into their computer monitors making little effort to finish the game of solitaire or battleships they are engrossed in. I’m used to Harrison Cameras, they are always up for a chat and have a vast wealth of knowledge to impart. I don’t help myself as I can’t resist winding them up.  This time I asked if he thought old Canon FD lenses mounted on the 1Ds would reduce exposure flicker on Time lapse videos. He knew and said.

“Yes.”

I was impressed, it could speak!

I got him to find me a 50mm FD lens. Ten minutes later he wandered back with a handful and popped them on the counter. I took my time perusing them whilst he hopped from one leg to the other. I said I’m in no real rush, if you would like to make yourself comfortable then feel free, we don’t want an accident do we. I took my time and eventually settled on this old but mint 50mm f1.8. It will make a good set with the 28mm I have had for most of the summer. It was £49.00p I did point out it was a good ten pounds too expensive. After much gazing at the ceiling he reduced the price by two pounds. I paid him, he gave me a receipt in case it was faulty and scuttled back to his computer and Teen Nubiles or whatever was occupying him before I rudely wandered into his space.

I met another old man in the shop who had obviously been listening. He also does time lapse and has the flickering problem. He said how do you get FD lenses to fit on EOS cameras. I told him that SRB do reasonable adapters for forty pounds then in a louder voice I said I use a monkey wrench and a small hammer. Not a twitch from the Neanderthal behind the screen.

We got chatting in the foyer. He has virtually solved flicker  by duplicating the frames and running them on a different video layer but staggered by 0.1s. I’ll give that a go. A frame on video at 25fps is 0.4s. I have heard of folk staggering by a full frame but never thought to reduce the time bit. I have the chaps e-mail and he has mine. Between us we may be able to get them silky smooth.

     Here it is, welcome to the new member of the family. I’ll give it a whirl if the rain stops for an hour.

On we wandered, the light between the showers was wonderful as I looked north over the Beauly Firth. I eventually found a layby and pulled in. It was raining again.   Beauly Firth and the Kessock Bridge. Summer is over, the harvest is in and the Hogweed are dead. It will soon be my favourite time of year. I love autumn, winter is interesting and spring is exciting. I don’t get many thrills out of summer. One thrill I did get was from Phil at CABINET OF CURIOSITIES.

  I arrived at Foyers having stopped for Adrian food and camp site shop food in Inverness.

I took the dogs a walk by Loch Ness. I remembered a post of Phil's. He popped a bit of bracken or fern on a sheet of paper and took it’s picture. I thought that looks a smart idea I'll do that myself sometime. It’s not that easy. You have to find ferns that are producing spores and half the devils I looked at weren’t. Then when you have the fern on a bit of paper you mustn't open the door to chat to Lyn as the dogs jump about and cause a hell of a draft and the spoors blow away. I have had two goes today…..

       A bit of fern.

        Fern Spoors……not very exciting.

        That’s because most of it’s reproductive bits have gone rusty brown looking. I went out again in the drizzle and got two more bits that looked blacker underneath.

      This is the pattern I wanted. I’ll pop it in a box for a crystal clear print tomorrow. Thanks Phil I never new they did this. The dogs aren’t the slightest bit interested. I’ll never look at ferns in the same way again.

That’s all for today.