6 comments on “Biking Again

  1. Poor Black and White Bear. I suspect he’s not very happy he missed biking over bamboo bridges. But then I suppose he wouldn’t like Cambodia very much anyway.

  2. Hi Jim and Mark. Just checking your blog for the first time in a while. What a wonderful adventure! The old French ruins you have been encountering are like some eerie commentary on the incredible folly of empire that has seemed to haunt this part of the world for so long.

    Jim, I loved this comment.

    “Apparently the secret to growing old is to just convert to metric.”

    Ja, ja. Words to live by.

    Some of your photos are amazing! That is great framing and a good eye, but I am also curious about what kind of camera you are using? (Asking because I’m looking at new cameras.)

    I think you’ve got a book in the making with this blog!

    All the best
    Michael

  3. Hi Mike,

    Thanks for checking in! Always great to hear from you.

    For years we had a big fancy DSLR camera. We would take it on trips but never feel like carrying it around. So we’d often end up with no pictures at all from a trip.

    A few years ago I bought a cheap little Samsung camera at an airport. Because I could just keep it in my pocket we started taking far more pictures.

    So the big camera got sold in our estate sale with most everything else, and we started this journey with the little Samsung. It did okay, but we often felt that we’d toerate a little more bulk for a better camera with better features. So we weren’t devastated when the Samsung died in Naples a couple months ago.

    So we shopped and found a good middle ground. It’s a Canon PowerShot SX 260 HS. It’s probably 40% bigger than the Samsung. It still fits in your pocket, but with a little more bulge. But we’re pretty happy with the bigger screen, better features, and overall quality.

    I sometimes feel a little pang of jealousy when I see someone working with their big solid DSLRs, but I just remind myself how often we used to just leave them in the hotel room. The truth is, whatever kind of camera I use, I think I get about the same range of results: Many pics turn out okay, some are just awful, and you get an occasional gem.

    • Thanks Mark.

      Your camera story is familiar! For a year, I had a Panasonic DSLR with a big honkin’ zoom lens, an enormous memory card, spare battery, fancy carrying case, lens filters, etc. You obviously know the drill. After the initial flush of excitement from the newness of having the damned thing wore off, I rarely used it because it was just such a pain in the butt to carry around. That is why more photos are now shot on cel phones than any other kind of camera.

      When I was in South America, I used a cheap little 7.2 megapixel pocket camera. It was convenient, but the image quality was not quite good enough. Now, there are a whole range of pocket cameras that do amazing things, including yours with the 20X zoom.

      I have my eye on the Sony RX100, version 2, a beautiful 20 megapixel pocket camera that is best in class. It is also outrageously expensive! Digital Photography reviews gave your camera a 76 rating and the Sony a 79. That tells you how little difference there is among high end pocket cameras now.

      The current crop of higher end pocket cameras are all good, so it comes down to having an eye for things. A lot of your photos are just terrific. I look forward to seeing many more.

      Best,
      Mike

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