Feedback to Nikon UK - what we all want to see in dSLRs

Hi there. I've been a Nikon user for some 10-15 years, though I keep tabs on Canon, Pentax and Sony despite having a lot of Nikkor glass.

A few things in these cameras have caught my eye and I really hope Nikon are exploring these. I speak to a fair few other photographers via twitter/forums and most seem to agree these are important tools. Even the likes of Philip Bloom seems to be calling for them in his articles/videos.

These are:

- Interval modes across ALL dSLRs. It will save on cables and weather-sealing issues.
- An infinity mode on the interval menu. Separate like a check box in the menu that overides the counter.
- Video modes HAVE to be improved to allow manual aperture change WHILST recording
- Video modes desperately need a higher quality bitrate to compete.

- And video modes desperately need a RAW video function (as third party Canon software is now proving) - the Nikon dSLRs have great dynamic range and this could be exploited to great advantage over the competition.

- Add in a "plug in" mode - like VST but in-camera for photos and video to improve sharpness, contrast, effects etc.

- Assemble-as-video mode - join jpegs/raw files into a composite video setting the frame rate

- Decent in-camera RAW editing to adjust exposure, contrast and white-balance that can also save to a new RAW file

- 16:9 video dimension aspect ration. Not 1080p but 4K-compatible for future film

- Lastly work towards the new range of super-HD like the 4K format.

I know its a big ask but this is how cameras appear to be moving. Many thanks for years of fun!

What exactly DO parents teach their kids?

Cycling - even though its been stunted in growth for the past 30 years ....and let us all face facts here - the only reason its carried on is down to the commitment and hard work of volunteers, a handful of cycling organisations, and the curious and stubborn who adopt the bike. Even through all of this - people still give their children bicycles.

The bicycle is wonderful when you are young. However there is a section of society who seem to give their children a bike, push Junior out on the road and seem to think everything will be fine. Parents NEED to be more involved than that.

Today is a prime example of this cultural quagmire. The road I am riding down passes a school of teenage youths. Most of them are sensible, however I dislike riding that way due to a fraction of these kids who step out without looking. I and many others have witnessed buses grind to a halt, or bike riders having to swerve. Today's example was cycling related - two young men riding around a blind bend, cars parked on both sides the centre of the  road is narrow. One lad decides to ride towards me.

I'm not sure if it was deliberate to see if I would move, or if he was attempting to chat to his friend and ended up wider than he'd anticipated. The truth probably is that he didn't think.

I've had a hard day's graft.I'm tired, my back hurts. I've had to deal with shit all day because the company I work for wont repair any machinery and we've hemorrhaged customers as standards slipped.

"Are you French?!" I ask him. His reply was something along the lines of ancient Gaelic, so I guess so. Lots of F words and C words back at me. And yes, I did tell him off. I hope he tells his parents as I will tell them the same - if he does not follow the rules and laws of the road he will end up injured or dead.

This isn't the first time Southampton's Children have been an issue. Friday afternoon a number of us on the route down the Itchen Bridge witnessed a lad of around 15 giving everyone the finger. He stuck it up at a car going past - the driver had gone wider. He stuck it up at the bus driver who was waiting to turn in the central reservation near the toll booths. He stuck it up at the children in the back seat of the car passing from his right that had been heading around a roundabout.

So as I caught up with him I used my best grown-up voice "Have you a problem there, son? Or do you want to put that finger away now?!" He seemed to poo his pants and rode off in a different direction.

Now the issue is this. Everyone saw these kids, they also saw that they were cycling. Does anybody think they'll take a "boys will be boys" attitude, or will they put it down to the "arrogance of cyclists"? The negative experiences always linger in the memory longer than the positive - it is the way we are all built - in days gone by something dangerous might have been a big risk to us. These days we're usually more protected from risk but our brain cannot help make the link, and unless one of two things happens - either we reprogram ourselves to recognise the good, legal and safe; or children are given stricter rules to abide by from their parents - these things will continue to flag up that "all teens are rude little shits" or "all cyclists scofflaws".

Look deeper.

Last week I was one of many who sent a reply letter to Pamela Hibbert on her prejudiced views on cycling. Here is my reply.

Today in the Independent on Sunday a reply was published in response to Pamela Hibbert's view on cyclists. 

Jonathan Dumbell shares my own view that timed-segregation is a valid and sensible option for making cycling safer. He also shares my view that the more politicians who cycle, the more they will understand the issues which affect us, and which scare many from two wheels into other options.

Here is my reply. Slightly more forthright than Mr Dumbell's - and for good reason - they were convicted therefore we would expect justice to be served:

Dear Sir, Pamela Hibbert seems to be exonerating dangerous driving in her letter (28th April 2013). Let us not forget that these drivers have been convicted under a court of law and found guilty by a jury of their peers. These cyclists were not flying through red lights or riding unlit or the driver would have never been charged.

We should also remember very strongly that other deaths cause by other actions do lead to hefty sentences. For example if a landlord does not keep a property in a legal state of repair, or an engineer fails to service machinery in accordance to health and safety law. Is it not time we sent a message that justice would finally be served instead of constantly playing the blame game with unrelated hyperbole and guilt by association? The only association being that she saw someone else misbehaving on a bicycle.

I think its a shame that the Independent seem to have withdrawn from the cycle safety debate other than publishing one or two letters every couple of months. Cycling can help the people, it is beneficial to the people and the society in which we live. This is why I signed The Times' Cyclesafe petition. People like Mrs Hibbert need to understand that the answers to her questions have already been answered - MANY times over!

I urge everyone to sign the petition. It doesn't matter that you might not be a cyclist - this affects all of us. Obesity is on the rise, as is pollution, we can all do a part by asking that our streets are made more livable and socially responsible places. More investment means more cyclists, it also means a reduction in road traffic casualties (as proven in countries like The Netherlands and Germany). It will also mean many more people understand cycling and will be less prone to fits of rage in the letters pages of newspapers.

The old "Wife Beater" pinhole camera

I started reading about pinhole cameras and their resurgence in popularity around 2002. A number of photographic publications started covering guys and girls who would labour over four or five hour exposures with laser cut equipment.

I suppose the thing that attracted me was the aperture. Normal glass lenses typically have variable apertures made from blades. Most photographers learn this VERY early in their hobby or career. These lenses have shallow depths of field at one end, and get sharper through to the higher numbered f stops. Thats it simply put at least.

With pinhole cameras the hole for the light to pass through is so small that so little light actually enters. The f stop number can be as high as the two hundreds. There are a range of brass etched pinhole lenses where they go to f230 but I fancied making my own. Looking on various forums, blogs and videos at the time I figured all I really needed were these:

- some aluminium plate - I used an old beer can (a brand my friend always called "Wife Beater" for some reason)
- some kind of box - decided to construct my own for ease
- some way of mounting it on a tripod - an old iron mongers sold me some glue-in tripod sockets via mail order

The shallower the box the wider angle the image. The smaller the hole mixed with the large the imaging surface then the sharper the image - this is why I went with a few centimeters deep with a 5x4 film holder strapped on the back.

Oh and in case you're wondering - the paint is "fire engine red" enamel. Actually used for painting toy fire engines! You cant get it anymore as far as I am aware.

I did take a few images on Ilford 400 and 50 iso mono film just after construction. Actually I made 2 duplicates! But the scans have been lost to the sands of time, as have the negatives. I used some bluetak to seal the hole when not taking a photo. The lens was made sharper and smaller by filling the hole with black acrylic paint and then poking a hole with a fine needle. This was allowed to dry before using a slightly more dilute paint to cover the hole and I then blew through it to clear the centre.

I'd like to play with these again at some point, but to be honest DSLRs have their own allure.

                     

I had to laugh...

This morning was slightly colder so I wore a raincoat. Only a light pocket rocket by Altura, but it works great as a windstopper. A Gillet would be fine but I find my arms tend to get a little cold too. The forecast said "rain" but none actually came anywhere near me.

On my way into work I ride up a local bridge called the Itchen Bridge because it heads over the river Itchen. Imaginative, I know. Its usually a good ride over - on a clear day you can see far, see the boats and the water. The new houses also hold a nice view from up there. I like it.

What I don't like is the pavement cyclists. There is a cycle lane on the bridge, ideally there is no need to ride on the pavement - I have discussed issues with the cycle lane there a few times in the past, but pavement riding or pedallestrianism causes other problems. I personally have seen one or two people clipped by bike handlebars from the riders that do it. Other people have told me they've been hit (including my now elderly Aunt).

This morning the bridge was quite empty. It was early, but there were pedestrians on the bridge. Its actually far easier in this circumstance to ride on the lane. One young lad, I'd guess about seventeen, and riding a clown bike (BMX) was riding up behind  an elderly couple walking in the same direction. As I rode past I lowered and amplified my voice:

"YOU should be riding HERE in the road, mate!!"

He made no attempt to move over. However my voice carried. The elderly couple, probably sick of little buggers like this, looked back, saw me - saw a clown on a bike approaching. Then they did something quite funny. They spread out across the path with their hands held. There was no way he was going to get through,  and clearly even he must have thought "no way am I riding into an old couple!" as the next thing he did was join behind me in the road.

Having said that I only saw one other pavement rider this morning. I saw three or four this afternoon. Most riders had the sense to use the road though and I don't think any of us would begrudge the Police giving lads like that a fine.

Got to love teenagers. They bumble about, speaking the opposite to what they mean.

So there I am today, riding hard to shed some cobwebs and I ride into Woolston. I have to make a sharp right and then an immediate left. Its hot, really hot. I'm sweating, and this is despite being in a short sleeved cycling jersey. This is the first week I have seen where it has warmed up, we've had an extended winter right into April and we're all glad its now decided to fuck off.

I've ridden something like 10 miles in 45 minutes. Which is hard to do when the road surface bumps you around like a bronco. Its also hard when you've done a shift of manual labour and basically had to do the job  the automated machinery usually does - but these past couple of months every machine I have at work has broken down.

Cycling relieves the stress.

When I was a lad I also used to kill stress by whacking the hell out of a homemade boxing bag. I'd punch it, elbow it, kick it. Fun. Also good for the cardiovascular as by the end of a 30 minute session of unco-ordinated battering I'd be caked in sweat.

Riding through Millbrook I approached some strikers. People usually only strike in this day and age when something is wrong with their employment. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to read the leaflet they gave me as someone in this household immediately threw the bloody thing in the bin 1 hour after I got home. Bah!

So there I am in Woolston as I'm making the left turn I see two young men. No older than 15 or 16. One of them looks up at me, gasps, and said aloud "You wouldn't catch me in a skin tight catsuit like that!!!" I laughed my arse off. For one thing I wasn't wearing a catsuit, just shorts and the jersey.

Freudian slip?

Once again Youtube shows that it is not on the side of justice... it isnt just about kittens playing pianos on there you know... there has to be scope for citizen journalism!

A youtuber known as Black Country Bikecam recently uploaded a video where a man in a van tailgated him, overtook closely before slamming the brakes on and getting out to confront the cyclist. It isn't entirely clear why the driver would have wanted to do such a thing as the riding seemed OK to a number of us.

The rider then rode away, as many a person probably would - not wanting to get into a fight with a stranger, the driver's body language clearly being one of "I will batter you!" A few more seconds of riding follow, the rider scanning behind himself and then making a sharp righthand turn before the driver reappearing and then visibly attacking the rider.

Lots of shouting. Lots of hitting sounds.

The video went up on youtube and recently reappeared after the rider stated that he had not been offered justice. The Police failed to arrest, they simply talked to the driver (who it appears lied several times until his own solicitor intervened) and then offered the driver a chance to write a letter of apology.

We as a society have to ask why the Police chose this route? Any other assault - be it race related, or upon a woman, would not garner such a response in this age. There was clearly strong evidence (and for reasons of which I will explain shortly the video has been mirrored several times, so you can see for yourself). Had someone been caught on camera assaulting an ethnic minority, a woman or child, this would have gone to court.

So today a number of us logged into youtube to find said video has been removed by the website under a breach of "Shocking and Disgusting content". Now firstly it is not the youtuber who generated the content - the driver is the cause of those events seen - after all he could have driven by and ignored whatever the hell it was that "irritated" him. Secondly, when an individual has not received the legal justice they should have they clearly need every help in reaching the rungs of the ladder to climb up and expose said events to the world.

Fair enough, put an age restriction on this. Unlike some content that remains unchanged on youtube it is not gratuitous for the sake of it, it is merely  a document of factual events. Plenty of videos have been allowed to pass through youtube without a blink of their eyes - the videos demeaning women (eg one titled "Hot rape scene"), the happy-slapping videos filmed by thugs themselves, the extremist christian videos that seem to float around denouncing science...

A video that highlights a wrong in the world needs to stay up. For youtube to remove said video makes them  complicit. As a  result said video is now being mirrored left, right and centre by around 30 different accounts and on two different websites at last check. All the removal will do is highlight more strongly the injustice and encourage others to utilise cameras (not just cyclists, we get emails and private messages from drivers, motorcyclists and even pedestrians on ways to record issues on the road).

So Youtube. Please do the right thing, please be consistent and please help the victims rather than the aggressor.

19:24 update - more evidence from photographic websites seems to suggest that Youtube is also removing videos of altercations caused by overzealous security guards.