My choice of camera

Several times I have been asked in blog comments what type of camera I use so I thought for my second photography post I would explain which camera I use and why I choose to use it or in my case them.

I have two cameras that I use regularly. Both are Panasonic Lumix cameras so why two. The short answer is that each has an advantage over the other in certain areas. 

The camera that I mainly use at the allotment is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ72. This is the camera that I have had the longest and I was quite happy with it until Martyn bought a higher spec. version and I found it could do some things better than my camera

Then Martyn decided he wanted something that was better for video and suggested that I use his 'old' camera which is another Panasonic Lumix but this is a DMC-FZ1000.

Both, being bridge cameras, have just one multi purpose lens which suits me fine as I don't want to have to carry extra lenses about and I just know, whichever lens I had on the camera would be the wrong one at the time. Some things just won't wait for you to change lenses!

The FZ72 lens has a wider range than the FZ1000. It's lens has a range from a 20mm wide angle to a 600mm optical zoom for a sharp image. (If like me this doesn't mean much to you it zooms the image up by 60x). It will zoom up to 1200mm digital zoom but the image ends up less clear. The FZ1000 has a range from 25mm wide angle, up to 400mm on optical zoom for a sharp image and 750 mm digital zoom. I'll be posting on this later.

There are features of the FZ1000 that I like. Very sunny conditions cause a problem with the FZ72. It's difficult to see the image in the viewing screen and the view through the viewfinder isn't very good especially for someone with my eyesight.

The FZ1000 presents a larger image through the viewfinder and using it is generally more comfortable. You can also adjust the view to suit your eyesight.

The viewing window on the FZ72 is fixed but the one on the FZ1000 is mobile.

This means that not only can the viewfinder be adjusted away from direct sunlight but it is easier to take photos in awkward places.

Another advantage of the FZ1000 is that I use something called burst mode a lot when I am taking photos of wildlife or taking train photos for Martyn. (I'll get told off for calling them trains as he always refers to them as locos). I'll explain more about how I make use of burst in another post. On Auto mode the FZ72 takes three images and that is it until you press the shutter button again whereas the FZ1000 just keeps on going until you release the shutter button.

There is a disadvantage that these cameras have and that is that they don't look as impressive as those DSLR cameras with huge lenses but on the plus side I can actually hold one to take photos. I once tried using a DSLR with a telephoto lens that didn't zoom any more than my camera. The length of the lenses was incredible - it looked impressive but it weighed a ton. I would have had to use a tripod with it which is something that I find too restrictive. I found it incredible that this monster lens didn't magnify the image any more than my modest looking camera.

So generally I use the FZ72 on the plot and take the FZ1000 when we are out and about. That is I will unless Martyn asks for it back!

I know more and more people use their iPad or iPhone when taking photos but I haven't got into this. It would have been interesting to say the least  trying to take a photo from the top of the keep of Richmond castle with the strong winds. Holding up an iPad would have been a real challenge.

Martyn uses his phone to take photos when he hasn't a camera with him but I guess I am just an old fashioned girl who likes to hold a real camera. 

I know there are developments afoot that will potentially change the shape of the camera - such as this one. New technologies seem to be looking at combining the convenience of mobile devices with the functionality of 'traditional' cameras. Maybe one day I will be convinced. Has anyone used something like this and can persuade me that they are 'the way to go'?

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

The fruits of our labour 2016

We grow a lot of fruit on our plot. I guess you could say that the value of the fruit harvested more than covers our allotment rents. Having said that maybe it would be wrong to say that the fruit that we harvest saves us money. In truth we just would never buy the equivalent amount of fruit to that which we harvest so it would be more accurate to say that in growing our own fruit we eat more fruit than we otherwise would. 

The collage below shows just some of the fruit that we grow - I haven't included all the different varieties nor the fruit that didn't produce a crop this year - cherries, kiwi berries, figs and honeyberries. I haven't included the crops that although technically fruits we call vegetables or the fruits that we don't harvest such as medlars, cranberries and crab apples. Even so there is a surprising variety as I'd never considered the whole picture before.

This year's fruit harvest spans six months - that is if you count the rhubarb that technically isn't a fruit at all. 

Each year some fruits perform better than others so let's look at how our fruit has performed in 2016.

It hasn't been a good year for stone fruit.

Despite fruit setting we didn't harvest a single nectarine or cherry. The wood pigeons strip the leaves from the plot cherry every year. Next year we will make a concentrated effort to protect it earlier.

We harvested just one peach and two greengages. Both were a treat to eat but we hope for more next year,

The plum harvest was poor and about 25% of the fruits had been spoiled by plum moth larvae. Plums and greengages do tend to crop well every other year but why do they all chose the same year?

The star of stone fruit category is definitely the apricot that exceeded expectation.

Moving on to the hard fruit. Some of the varieties of apple are best guesses as they were harvested from our inherited apple hedge.

It's been a good year all round for hard fruit, although one apple - Fiesta is missing from the list having failed to produce a single fruit. Discovery was the most productive apple and Invincible was the top pear. We also had a larger proportion of large fruit in spite of our no thinning policy.

It was a bumper year for quince. There are even some fruit sill left on the tree as we just couldn't pick them all before the weather spoiled things.

On to the group that I am going to call the currant family. There are lots of unknown varieties here. The gooseberries mainly came from cuttings we were given and we inherited the red and white currants. When we bought the jostaberry it was just called a jostaberry as at that time I think there was only one type.

The redcurrants always seem to produce a good harvest. We only picked as much as we needed so the amount above could have been doubled.

The whitecurrant only produces very small currants so I am going to thin out the branches to see if that improves things.

Generally speaking I don't think the currant family have had a very impressive year.

Finally on to the berries.

We have been happy with our berry harvest. I posted a full review of our strawberries in an earlier post here. I don't intend to repeat myself, suffice is to say that we were more than happy with the harvest. The alpine strawberries were newly planted this year so I would expect a better harvest next year. After I had made the charts the alpine strawberries produced more fruit which I picked in November but there was no way that I was redoing the charts!

Our Glen Ample raspberry canes suddenly died and I dug up all the Joan J canes as the bed was infested with bindweed. Canes were split and replanted but will take at least until next year to recover. Fortunately Tulameen and All Gold did well. Glencoe never really produces a large harvest for us.

It was our best year for Japanese Wineberries - I posted about them here - and blueberries. The blueberries benefited from extra protection which meant we dared leave them on the bush to fully develop and ripen before picking them prematurely. The blackbirds were less impressed.

The Loch Ness blackberry is a prolific fruiter and we could have gone on picking berries for longer but we had more than enough and left the remaining berries for the birds.

You may have noticed that I haven't reported the rhubarb harvest. The reason is that we picked as much as we wanted but in effect this was only a small amount compared to that which was produced.

I wonder what sort of fruit harvest we will have in 2017. We are thinking of adding a few unusual new fruits, a black raspberry, a pink blueberry and a Chilean Guava. Has anyone any favourites that we should consider?

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

RSPB Old Moor

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett