John Kennekam

Is Lead SA causing motorists to break the law?

2011-01-01T15:53:00.000+02:00

Lead SA as sponsored by Cape Talk 567 and 702 are encouraging motorists to drive with their lights on during the day for read safety reasons.

I have two problems with this:

EXTRA POLLUTION
On a recent 7000km trip we started off with our lights on. After a few hours I could not touch the car radio or most of the switchgear. The thing is, when you switch the outside lights on, the inside lights also come on. After switching the main lights off, everything cooled down and the aircon coped much better. It was around 35c outside. This made me question how much extra energy and therefore fuel is needed by the alternator and aircon pump? How much extra emission polution is generated? If you multiply this by a few thousand vehicles, how much damage is the Lead SA campaign causing to the environment?

BREAKING THE LAW
I have noticed that many cars are not driving only with their normal lights on, but also with their brights or fog lights on. This is illegal, of course. For those who do not know, the road ordinance says that you may only use your fog lights when there is reduced visibiliy due to dust, fog or smoke. In trying to be extra visible, many motorists are in fact breaking the law. To what extent is Lead SA responsible for this?

Denon D-M38 micro system

2011-01-01T11:11:00.000+02:00

I have been looking at the Denon micro systems for a while as I need music in the study. When Soundlab was offering a 40% sale discount, I took the plunge and bought the D-M38 system.

What a pleasure the system is. At first I tried it with my Linn 5110 speakers as I had intended to use it with them. The sound was a bit boxy for my liking.

Then I tried the supplied Denon speakers. Much better, but a boomy. The speakers will have to stand on a bookshelf which is 30cm deep and 30cm high with books on each end. The Denon speakers are rear ported and need a bit of space.

Just for fun, I hooked the system up to my Thiel floorstanders. What a revelation! The music sounded great. Even better than with my Linn Classik. You have to boost the treble a bit, but that is all.

Now I am searching for a compact speaker system that will work on a crowded bookshelf. Any suggestions?

An Encounter With Lions

2009-03-20T15:16:00.004+02:00

I have just had a small knee op. That in itself is boring, but how it came about is not as it involves lions.

In January 2009 we were staying at Grootkolk near Union's End in the Northern Kgalagadi. The camp is unfenced and has a watering hole.It is known for its lions.

On the second day I was cleaning the filter on the car's aircon when Isak, the warden shouted 'Leeus!' There were three females and two cubs walking towards me. I sprinted to the gate of the hut we were staying in and myst have hurt the knee in the process.

Some pictures:

Union's End

Our hut at Grootkolk. The only protection is the gate and low wall

Isak at the water hole. Note the R1 rifle

Mother and cub

Cub trying to be grown-up

My search for a quality compact

2009-02-14T22:13:00.012+02:00

For some years I have been looking for a compact camera that takes great pictures. In the 90's I bought a Minolta Zoom 110 Mk II that handled perfectly as a mini SLR. The problem was that it used the 110 film and the image quality was poor.

Years later I bought a 35mm Pentax ESPIO 140 Zoom in Hong Kong for a trip into China. Took some great shots, but found it limiting creatively.

My first digital camera was an Olympus C-720UZ which was remarkably capable, but very slow.
In the mean time I had started using DSLRs like the D70 and D200, but I was still looking for something compact. A Pentax S4i was useful for parties and the like, but again the IQ was not up to it.

Back to film then with the purchase of some Leica stuff such as a IIIc, IIIf and M3. The quality was back, but the processing and scanning was a schelp. An M8 was on the cards, but the cards did not produce the money for it!

When the opportunity to get a Ricoh GX100 came up, I grabbed. Loved the feel and user interface to bits, but again the image quality and noise was not great. See samples here.

So now I have a used Sigma DP1. I took my first shots today. After using a manual Leica IIIf, the slowness does not worry me at all. This is the first image from the DP1.

Below are pictures of the cameras mentioned so far.

Update:
I have since tried the Canon G10 and loved the way it works and feels in the hand. The IQ was not what I was looking for so I sold it on to my sister-in-lay who is taking great shots with it.

I currently have the Leica D-Lux 4 which I use with the Sigma viewfider. It works well, but I need a bigger sensor.

Ariel Square Four

2008-11-29T21:56:00.007+02:00

Some pictures of a stunning Ariel Square Four shot at the Waterfront in Cape Town. These were shot with a Nikkor 24-120VR which everyone says is a soft lens. Not sure the pictures agree.

Searching for the 'trinity'

2008-11-14T21:03:00.006+02:00

I have recently bought a few lenses. Firstly because I had specific needs and secondly because the currency had moved from R8/$ to R12/$ and I was jumping in on old stock of lenses that I wanted while I could still afford them.

Nikkor 70-300VR
This one is for my wife to use with the D200. She currently has an 18-70 and a Sigma 50-500 but is struggling to get sharp shots hand held. The 70-300 has VR and is quite sharp. I bought it second hand in mint condition.

Nikkor 24-120VR
I bought this one as a walkabout for my D3 for occasions when the 27-70 is just too heavy. The front lens element has a small chip in it, but it does not show up on shots. It is in excellent condition otherwise and I paid just $150 for it.

Nikkor 14-24
This is one lens I really had to think about. I had a Sigma 12-24 which I seldom used. One of my long term plans was to get the Nikkor f/2.8 'trinity'. The price of this lens was going up by 30% and I had the opportunity to get the last one at the old price. I bought it with the idea that I will surely get my money back if I had to sell it in the near future. It is now fuelling a new found interest in landscape photography. I sold the Sigma 12-24.

Nikkor 70-200VR
I have been holding back on this one due to reports of problems with the D3. After speaking with some pros, I have decided to take the plunge on a slightly used one at a very good price.

I now have the f/2.8 'trinity' comprising the 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200VR!

USS Theodore Roosevelt

2008-10-18T17:17:00.005+02:00

The carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Cape Town early in October. She is too large to enter the harbour, so she moored in the bay. Because of the exclusion zone, it was impossible to get a good shot. Also the ocean mist made long lens shots difficult. This is my best shot:

Afrikaanse Taal Monument

2008-10-18T16:55:00.005+02:00

It was a rainy day when we popped in to the Afrikaanse Taal Monument near Paarl. As one of my forebears was responsible for publishing the first Afrikaans newspaper at Paarl in 1876, I thought it interesting to post some pics.

AAD 2008

2008-09-26T17:31:00.022+02:00

On Saturday the 20th September 2008 we attended the AAD 2008 airshow at the Ysterplaat base near Cape Town. We have been to a few shows at Ysterplaat and did not expect too much as there did not appear to any new on the program. We were wrong!

The normal highlights of the show are the vintage jets from Thunder City. The yellow Hunter and the black Buccaneer each made a brief appearance, but then we had and excellent display by a pair of Lightnings each breaking the sound barrier. There were so many complaints about this, that it was not repeated on Sunday.

The SAAF showed the Gripen, Hawk and Pilatus (Astra). The Hawk was in an awful colour scheme supposed to reflect the SA flag. The Silver Falcons now have a gaudy dark blue colour scheme. The SAAF museam was going to show a Mirage III, but it suffered a 3 bird strike at Cape Town International the day before. As a wing was damaged, it did not show.

There were also some great helicopter displays from the Augusta 109, Hind Mi24, Rooivalk, Lynx, Puma and Oryx.

The real stars of the show were the airliners! An Airbus A340 accompanied by 4 Astras made several flybys is perfect formation. A pair of Boeing 737s performed formation flying and breakaways fit for a fighter pair. Stunning.

There was also a simulated hijacking scene as well as parachute drops and armour drivebys.

Also some great arobatics:

The Zimbabwean Air Force displayed a Chinese K8 with a Brigadier in the back seat!

Over 100,000 people attended over the two days. A big problem this year was the mud. It had been raining for weeks and the water table was very high. The apron and tarred areas we used in the past were taken up by displays and hospitality tents, so were were forced to sit and stand in the muddy fields. Not fun.

To see more pictures, look here

Ricoh GX100 at Chinese Cultural Evening

2008-09-14T08:26:00.014+02:00

On the 6th of September 2008 we were kindly invited to a cultural evening at the Jameson Hall at UCT the celebrate the 10th anniversary of the formal SA/China trade relationship.

I took my GX100 along just in case I was allowed to use it. As almost everyone else was using a cellphone camera, I could have bought my Nikon D3 along! Its low light performance would have been ideal.

The low light and the fact that the acrobats were moving all the time, made it quite difficult to get sharp shots. These are some of my best results.

Memorial Service for Alan Pettit

2008-09-13T20:56:00.007+02:00

This is a video of the Memorial Service for Alan Pettit held in the Brooklyn Kingdom Hall on Saturday the 13th of September 2008.

The speaker was Selwyn Wilmot who Alan studied with. The concluding prayer was by Ernest Linder. The hall was packed. Noticeable was the number of young people who attended the service.

Note that the video file is about 47mb in size and might take a while to load. The video quality is compressed for the web. Please excuse the poor sound quality due to the sound system in the hall.

Ricoh GX100

2008-07-26T20:47:00.005+02:00

I have just bought a mint used Ricoh GX100. I was attracted by its design as a serious camera rather than just a point & shoot. Sort of a cheap digital Leica.

So far the results have been mixed. I am mostly struggling to get sharp shots. I had a suggestion that I should think differently; with such a small sensor shooting at f/10 does not help with DOF or sharpness. Rather shoot wide open. I have done so and the results are much better.

It also seems to be better shooting at arms length rather than using the VF1 electronic viewfinder.

Below are some test shots.

SAS Amatola

2008-03-15T23:51:00.005+02:00

At the beginning of March 2008 the German Navy was in town and the SA Navy had one of the new (German built) frigates, the Amatola, on show.

It appears to be a 'stealthy' design, but the hull panels seem a bit uneven.

At midday we were treated to a flyby of 4 Tornados followed by 4 Cheetahs. Unfortunately they came in too fast and my lens was too short to shoot them as well.

Here are some shots:

A great tool for digital photographers

2005-09-10T11:00:00.002+02:00

I have just discovered a great new tool for digital photographers. It is called DxO Optics and it is available from www.dxo.com.

As we all know, no camera or lens is perfect. Some combinations are better than others. What DxO does is to investigate the weaknesses of each camara/lens combo and then tries to correct them. It is extremely easy to use and works well as long as you shoot in RAW mode and use DxO before doing any other processing. Here are some examples:

This shot was taken with a Nikon D70 with the 18-70 kit lens:

Original

After using DxO

This shot was taken with a Nikon D70 with a Sigma 70-200 2.8 HSM DG lens

Original

After using DxO

Note the extra detail on the tail fin.

DxO fixes sharpness, exposure, colour, etc... There are no settings, it simply fixes what it considers to be a weakness with the lens and camera combination. You choose the pictures you want to 'fix' and hit the go button. It takes a while with RAW images, so have a cup of coffee while you wait.

A downside is the cost. The standard version is $159. The Elite version which is for 'pro' cameras and lenses, costs $249. In each case you are paying for only one camera and one lens. Extra lenses are between $39 and $79 each!!!! So for me with a Nikon D70, Nikon 18-70 and a Sigma 70-200 2.8 the cost will be $159 + $39 = $198. There is no support for my Sigma 50-500 as yet.

This looks like a lot of money, but if you consider how long it can take do sort out a couple of 1gb compact flash cards manually using Photoshop, DxO seems worth it.

What do you think?

A weekend at Kleinmond

2005-09-09T09:00:00.004+02:00

A few weeks ago we needed to getaway and ended up at the Beach House in Kleinmond about an hour up the east coast from Cape Town on the way to Hermanus. What a wonderful location.

Kleinmond lies at a small lagoon on the narrow coastal belt between fynbos-covered mountains and the Atlantic sea and forms part of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve, the first and only Biosphere in South Africa to be proclaimed by United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). This means that the whole Hangklip - Kleinmond area is to be managed according to international principles which aim to combine conservation, sustainable use of natural resources and wise development.

Kleinmond has been a favourite summer-holiday destination for many farmers since 1860. Farmers from Caledon and nearby areas began making this annual pilgrimage to camp near the Palmiet lagoon and the Klein Botriver mouth, near to where the Hotel stands today. Church services were held near the Kleinmond lagoon from as early as 1902. The tree which stands there has earned the name of 'die Preek Boom' (the sermon tree). Church services are still performed there during the festive season.

Of special interest are the wild horses, roaming free in the marshlands surrounding Kleinmond. Believed to be South Africa's only herd of wild horses in a wetland habitat, they roam the Bot River Lagoon area, next to Rooisands Nature Reserve.

Then there is the rare Strawberry Frog, the endangered Cape Plantanna and the micro frog. Whales are easily visible from May to December along the magnificent Hangklip - Kleinmond coast. Any inlet or small sheltered bay allows some of the best views.

The sea was a bit rough when we went, so not too many whales in sight. Below are some photos we took.

The coastal road to Kleinmond

The Beach House Hotel

Our room

View from the room

The Whale Crier blows a horn when whales are in sight

The lagoon

Leaden skies

An unusual sight over Cape Town

2005-09-08T00:15:00.002+02:00

Today I saw an unusual sight over Cape Town. As I had just taken delivery of my new Sigma 70-200 2.8 HSM DG lens, I decided to shoot myself a Zeppelin.

The German-built airship or Zeppelin arrived on Monday in South Africa where it has been chartered by diamond producer De Beers for use as a platform for diamond exploration in southern Africa.

Astonished onlookers noticed the vessel floating near Cape Town's landmark Table Mountain after it was unloaded at the city's dock and took off for the Ysterplaat military base about 30km away.

The airship, a prototype Zeppelin-NT of the Friederichshafen-based Luftschifftechnik GmbH and one of only three of its kind in the world, was flown from the factory near Lake Constance to Amsterdam and shipped to South Africa.

De Beers spokesperson Tom Tweedy confirmed on Monday that the company chartered the 75m long German airship that will be fitted with measuring equipment to enable the study of geological formations that indicated the presence of diamonds in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

The company plans to send the airship, named "Friedrichshafen" by its manufacturers, on its first mission in mid September.