Shooty goodness

Here's the "secret" I alluded to in the last post: I 'bit the bullet' so to speak. Since I was going to get one after I got back anyway, and given the predictable price jump between now and then, I bought an AR-15. I have officially joined the "Evil Black Rifle" club. Not that I really care about what someone else thinks of it. I think it's a good rifle, and would have been handy in AZ for use as a coyote gun (four and two legged!). And of course I've got to post pictures to prove the thing's for real...














It's a S&W M&P15, 6-position adjustable stock, 16" barrel, and a flip down rear sight. Pretty sure it's illegal in CA, but that's by no means a bad thing.

In other news, I've met all of our team guys except our maneuver guy, who is currently in limbo (1st got orders recinded, 2nd isn't coming 'cause he just got back. . .) and it looks like we're going to have a pretty good team. I'm actually sitting with one of the guys here in a coffee shop in Manhattan using the free wi-fi. Being the intel bubba for the team, I know about all the OPSEC rules and will pretty much remain mute about training. I'll still post about the 'funny in an anecdotal sense' stuff, and hopefully will be able to organize my thoughts instead of doing this incessant stream of consciousness drivel as I get more comfortable with writing on a regular basis. As far as that goes, I kicked Sprint to the curb WRT wireless broadband, as they don't have an EVDO tower here, and their service sucks. Ended up going with T-mobile, and bought one of their new phones that's broadband capable outright, just so I don't have to extend my contract. Thus, I'll be able to post much more easily from the barracks, and once we move into the bays as well.

In leaving, I'll add a couple of photos taken at Thanksgiving:



























And finally, this is why you should never leave your camera out where your actor brother can pick it up and mess with it:

Canon gets 'some' points back.

The new SD850 doesn't have the 'door opens if you look at it funny' problem of the first one, so I apparently got an assembly line reject. Don't know how that happened, but it is about par for the course when it comes to me and buying nice stuff. Anywho, I'd rate the door on the new one at about 4/10, so it's still not great, but it's no longer a showstopping bewilderment.

I still need to get some outdoor images with it, as all the shots I've taken thus far have been indoors. That said, it's a bit grainy w/o the flash on, even as low as ISO 250, which is a bit weird. It does take painfully long to take shots with the flash and image stabilization turned on, but then again it is a point-and-shoot so I can't be too picky. I need to start carrying it absolutely everywhere, as I intend to do in country, as I've already missed 2 occasions where having the camera would have been cool. One with about 70+ birds sitting on some power lines, and another which will remain secret for now (pictures will follow when I get back to the to remain nameless location).

The controls are not immediately intuitive to repeat Canon owners (such as myself), as some of them have been moved / modified fairly significantly. The functions remain available, but how you get to them has changed. There isn't a selection dial position for 'sports', 'portrait', 'night-time', etc, these have been replaced by a single SCN selection, within which the mode is selected via the FUNC SET button on the back of the camera. It does remember which mode you last picked, so you've basically got Auto, Manual, SCN, and Video as selectable modes, with each selection's setting being remembered between wheel switch events. Like I said, not as intuitive as before, but still not too bad. Video quality is good, however the size of video files is pretty large, meaning I'll have to run pretty much everything through Windows Movie Maker to get the file sizes manageable.

Overall, the experience has been fair to middling, and highlights my perpetual inability to remain emotionally uninvolved in these things. Sample photo uploads to come soon, after I get back where I have a reasonable upload speed.

Camera fiasco, take two:

Best Buy says they've got 9 more of the SD850s due in tonight, so they'll be out in the morning. After getting the sales associate to take the display model off the anti-theft stand, I checked the battery door, and Duh Duh Duhh!!! It doesn't suck. Apparently I got the assembly line reject.

My Luck.


Well round two takes off tomorrow, and I may have to redact a lot of the stuff I said in the previous post. What was interesting however is the overwhelming (as in really annoying and pushy) 'help' I got from the myriad of Best Buy employees. No fewer than 10 different floor reps came by and asked if I was finding everything okay. Thanks, I know you care, back off.

Snippy these days, aren't I?

Anywho, we'll see how the second camera does. Before I leave the store. It does speak volumes for the camera I picked out that there was literally no replacement I could find for it. Smooth design so it doesn't snag getting it out or putting it away, telescoping lens (no blur due to l-shaped lens design), image stabilization, and a viewfinder. No other camera had this conglomeration of features, at any price point. I checked them all again, and had to ask to see the display model off the stand to check the 'flaw' so I could confirm my choice to hit up the same well again. More to follow.

Don't buy this camera...

I did all my research. I compared sample images. I pored over review after review after review. I compared it to all it's competition, and thought I had found exactly what I was looking for. The SD850 IS (which stands for Image Stabilization! ooh!). And I had... except...


Dear Canon,

Why would you produce a wonderful camera, with a huge LCD backpanel AND a viewfinder should the sun be too bright to use the LCD? With a 4x optical zoom and a relatively noise-free images all the way up to ISO 1600? Why would you do all this so as to make me buy the camera, and not include a latch on the battery door????

Sincerely,

Jim Markham
A pissed off customer


Seriously though, I spent almost a month doing my homework on this. I was looking at an Olympus that is supposed to be pretty much 'everything-proof', but after seeing multiple sample images that had excessive lack of focus away from the center of the frame for both near-field and telephoto, I went back to the drawing board. I found glowing reviews about the SD850, and only 1 negative comment about the battery door which was, and I quote: "Battery/SD Card Door can slide out and pop open easily." Can pop open easily? Try this on for size as a better statement of the above: "You may find it difficult to handle the camera, i.e. take the camera out of a camera case, without 'inadvertently' opening the over-sprung, under-latched battery /SD card door." Complete showstopper. Every other Canon camera I've used, and as a matter of completeness, EVERY camera I've operated in say the last 10 years, has either a two stage latch, or a very tightly fitted slide latch. Either push a button/switch/slider one direction then pull the battery door in a perpendicular direction to open it, Or hold the camera tightly and press on the battery door while sliding it to open it.

Exhibit A: Video of the battery-door in operation


Why is this bad? Here's why: I bought the camera to go to Iraq with me. Its intended use is to be a camera I carry everywhere, shoot lots of photos with, and generally abuse for the 12+ months I'm going to be there. This sort of function is unacceptable for a point and shoot camera I'd throw in my pocket here in the States, but for something I'm planning to use under conditions inconceivable here it is a showstopper. I'm not going to be all melodramatic and say it could get me killed, but I will say it would definetly make me miss some shots I'll never again in my lifetime have an opportunity to take. Fumbling for the battery door in the dark, in a Humvee, with gloves on... you get the picture. Or not.

Back to BestBuy with this one, and back to the drawing board...

Fair Notice:

To those that read these presents, greetings. Let it be known that you, the punk f*ckers who broke into my garage are hereby put on notice. If ever your identities become known to me or mine, consider your (collective) ass forfeit. This warning is not to be construed as a death threat, but as a promise of an asswhipping to within an inch of death. I will track you to the ends of the earth, and yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for I am the baddest M**-F*er in the valley, and carry a big, big stick. Tread lightly, you who have desecrated that most hallowed of male domains, my garage. For, if you are found out, you would rather beg for death than face me.


Note: The aforementioned, if not understood as such, is sarcasm. Furious though I may be, I would likely drag said hoodlums by their collective ears back to the house to make them apologize to my wife, then down to the courthouse to confess, on threat of severe bodily harm.

Little bastards tried to burn down my garage. Were I there in Dayton I would dig in for the long fight, but seeing as how I'm headed overseas, I'm washing my hands of that s**thole, and throwing in the towel. God bless the men and women of the Dayton PD, because they are fighting a losing battle, and have no judicial topcover.