Camera Snapping

What's this?

I try to have an eye for intersting photos to take with the cameras at our disposal.  We had four cameras available, one each on our mobile phones and two "proper" cameras.

Our oldest is one of the first really good digital cameras - and Olympus Mju 300 which was a classic point and shot camera of its time. However, while it still works it really does not take the quality of photos that are possible.  That became very obvious to us at a recent wedding when some people with good quality digital SLR cameras  were turning out some far superior photos.

So we looked at buying a digital SLR - and came close to it.  However when travelling on a motorbike carring space is a premium and once you buy a Digital SLR then you commit possibly to buying several lenses, never mind the camera, as well as a camera bag and possibly even a tripod. In the end we were saved by a recommendation by my brother to buy a Panasonic Lumix. This is, I guess the modern equivalent of the Olympus camera in the sense it is a very easy to use camera with a terrific zoom facility.  So most of the photos on this website are taken with this camera.

We also have have the cameras on our Nokia phones, which also tend to to be used as backups.  That said they do have their advantages.  For instance the Nokia 6210 Navigator has one brilliant feature and that is the ability to automatically stitch together a panoramic picture.  Here are just two pictures taking in the full circle of the remembrance garden of the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge.

Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge

A great advantage of the camera on my Nokia 5800 ExpressMusic is that it is quite unobtrusive.  This is very important feature: it means I can take photos of people and they do not feel embarrased.  I tend to use my Nokia to take videos which (using QIK) I can upload to the web with incredible ease.  I didn't use this particularly on this holiday, instead I experimented with the video facility on the Panasonic Lumix. Sadly I do not feel particularly happy with my results thus far. Work in progress, I guess.

1. Waves Crashing

2. Waves Crashing

The third under-performing aspect of the Lumix is its poor feature to take a set of photos over time.  Yes it can take a, I think, up to 3 snaps in quick succession.  As an example, here is surf landing on the rocks of the Ard in Talmine near Tongue.  What I actually want of a camera is to simply continue to take more snaps whilst I hold the camera button down.  The Lumix (or at least this Lumix) does not do that.

However there is no doubt though that the Panasonic Lumix is a great camera for much of our still photography needs.  It is one you can have a lot of fun with..  Now to show the power of the zoom consider the first image in this blog, entitled "what's this?"  Well it is sand on the beach.  Here is the same photo without zoom.

This is what this is!

Review: Motorcycle Touring Made Easy

The website Motorcycle Touring Made Easy has take a very comprehensive look at touring on motorbikes.  It includes a guide to installing a headset in your helmet, unfortunately I don't find the images and instructions detailed enough for my taste.  Otherwise the website is definitely worth a detailed read.  I am glad to see, for instance that it accords with my experience of Satellite Navigation systems - that they are generally good, but on a motorbike you need to trust your gut feeling more.  Follow what you intuitively feel is correct and you will avoid those SatNav moments when it instructs you to drive up the wrong way.

Review: MaxMoto on Touring

Whilst looking for information on motorcycle touring one very useful website was MaxMoto's touring pages.  This takes a comprehensive look at touring and should be mandatory reading for any motorbiker interested in the subject.  As yet it does not take in notions of satellite navigation yet it does make some very useful points, for instance the suggestion to pack your soft clothes in volume reducer bags is quite excellent.  We can all nit-pick at individual choices, for example, if you are going to take a cooker, then I would take a Trangia.  But that is part of the fun of motorbike touring - each person is different.  The site includes a thorough checklist, and this stimulates me to update my own, which I guess cannot be a bad thing!

The Bikes

Suzuki GSX650F

We ride out on a bike each.  My wife's bike is a gorgeous flame red Suzuki GSX650F.  She has only bought it recently and, in my opinion, has made a good selection.  The key choice for her is getting a bike for a small person - she is only five foot short.  So in particular I will talk about how we kitted this out to help her touch the ground.
Another criteria, is that older bikes tend to not have automatic choke, and since this one powers up reliably in all weathers that is a great feature.
The obvious starting point was to get a Suzuki lowering kit fitted.  One consequence of that was that the standard side stand was now too long.  We obtained spare one from Ebay (again!) and had a welder adjust the length.  He did this by cutting out a short length out near the foot.  He then reattached the foot and, for added protection, strengthened the joint with a short plate on one side.
We have also had an immobilizer and alarm fitted.  This was the standard Suzuki one. The device automatically disables the bike if the keys are more than three metres away, which is a useful security feature at petrol stations!
The final major adjustment was the fitting of a Scottoiler to keep the chain lubricated with minimum fuss.  Fitting the Scottoiler on this bike was made more difficult due to the lowering kit.
One thing that surprised me is the wing mirrors are so easy to move.  This is compared to my Honda where adjusting wing mirrors seems to take a superhuman effort.  I was worried the Suzuki mirrors would go out of alignment when travelling, particularly over any rough roads.  They don't.
And now to my bike.

My son on my Honda

This Honda CBF600S is my first "big" bike, and right now it suits me just fine.  I have had it for over a year.  Last year I took it to near Bordeaux and back, a round trip of about the same dimensions as this one to Scotland.  The main difference is that that was not a touring holiday.  Instead it was a drive to a villa, stay for a couple of weeks and then return.
I learnt much on that trip, mostly that my biking gear was simply not up to the mark for hot climates.  I also learnt much about planning and strategy for bike trips.  So when this trip arrived I knew planning was key.
In preparation the main thing was to ensure the bike was serviced.
For the Bordeaux trip I had bought original Honda panniers, top box and fittings.  The panniers I obtained from Ebay, complete with some scratches.  Scratches are fine by me - this is a working bike, not a showroom piece.  I tried to get a top box similarly from Ebay, but none were available at the time of looking.
As with  Les' bike I have a Scottoiler fitted.

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Touring Day Packs

by Post Box
As part and parcel of touring each evening we would, over food & drink congratulate ourselves on where we had been, and more importantly think about the next day's journey.  When travelling on a motorbike being organised is critical.  What I did was have an document pack for each day.  This contains:

• Front sheet with summary details, especially destination details,
• Full planned route instructions,
• Summary route instructions for insertion into Tank Bag,
• Printouts / photocopies of maps relevant for that day,
• Details, when relevant, of possible petrol stations, service areas and so forth,
• Tickets for any ferries or other booked events and
• Information sheets about the historical monuments and distilleries.

Each day pack is put into a clear folder.

OviMaps challenges

OviMaps on
Nokia 5800 XM

There are some challenges with OviMaps, both on the website and on the phone... What are these problems, and are there any workarounds.  Firstly here is the list of problems with OviMaps on the Nokia phone:

1. Voice instructions come too late to be reliable, and certainly on a motorbike you need them earlier rather than later
2. Voice instructions can be wrong at roundabouts, though screen is always correct
3. Sometimes the route navigation seems to do stupid routing - not often but it can happen. Always make sure you have a rough idea of your journey ahead.
4. While going along the route it would be most reassuring if the OviMaps application told you exactly which destination point is was actually heading for.  What I mean by this is, from where you are at a given moment, if you have two similar destinations then how do you know to which destination OviMaps is heading?   If it has in fact selected the wrong next destination, then OviMaps is definitely doing the wrong thing.
5. OviMaps should be able to use locations from my Nokia's address book, and consider then as favourite places.  This would be a big bonus.
6. To be able to mark off, on the phone, route points visited as "done" would be a great bonus.

There are also problems with the OviMaps website:

1. When you have more than, say seven route points (depending on screen size, I guess) no scroll bar appears to scroll up and down your route.  Click in one place on your route and then tab and shift-tab work just fine.
2. When adding a new point on the map OviMaps insists on calculating too often.  It would be much better to have a manual mode with a "calculate" button.
3. Zooming does not seem reliable. 
4. The website cannot be used from a phone, Nokia or any other phone.  This is a big disadvantage because it means you cannot amend your route plans.  And while touring part of an evening's recuperation is reviewing and possibly adjusting the next day's touring.

(If you  know of any other issues please add comment).

See Also:

• OviMaps website

Starting OviMaps on Nokia to Drive along a Planned Route

The following is a walk through on a Nokia 5800 ExpressMusic to start the phone running the OviMaps application to start driving.

1 Home Screen

1. We start by launching OviMaps application's.  From here we click on the Favourites icon.  For favourites to work it assumes you have already planned a route on the OviMaps website.  Also before you can use this you need to ensure that your on-line account is registered in OviMaps application.

2 Favourites

2. From here we now, at least once, need to synchronise your phone to pick up your latest routes, with any modifications.

3 Synchronising

3. Click on Synchronise to actually synch your phone.  Once synch is completed, click OK.

4 Choose Route

4.  We now click on the route we want to execute. 

6 Route Overview

5. Once clicked, depending on route complexity, it may take a bit of time to calculate the route, perhaps a minute or so just be patient.

6. Eventually you will find your entire route displayed on an overview screen.

7 Start Driving

7. From here click on the menu but and select Start Driving.

8 Waiting for GPS

8. And finally the Nokia phone starts searching for GPS and can be placed onto the motorbike in the handlebar mount.