Be Careful With SD Card Camera Adapters

Not really sure whether to blame the adapter or just its age. I'm not sure how old it was, as I think it came included with an older digital camera I bought a few years back. But yeah, a word of warning. Check the plastics of the adapter every now and then to ensure that it hasn't become loose / broken. Because that's exactly what just happened to mine. The plastic at the top where the connectors are has broken away and made the SD card adapter become stuck inside the camera. I tried to take it out but it would only budge enough to release itself from the spring clip that secures it inside the camera. So I pushed it back in hoping it would become unstuck, but it didn't do the trick. In the end I had to forcibly remove it from the slot.

The tops gone

The result: the camera is broken. The connector pins inside the SD card slot of the camera have been bent out of shape, and now the camera won't even turn on. With it being in such an enclosed space, there's not much chance of bending them perfectly back into shape and reconnecting them without opening the camera up. And even with opening the camera up, I don't think it will be easy and there's no guarantee of being able to repair it. I might try and fix it as some point though when I get some time. Shame really that it broke, because I liked this camera. The Samsung WB500 has served me well over the years. Was working just fine before this. Taken out by a dodgy SD adapter. 

Inside the cameras SD slot. All bent out of shape.

My own fault I guess. I should have checked it more thoroughly beforehand. Anyway, I'm just thankful that it was an adapter and not a normal SD card. At least I can easily take the smaller card out of the broken adapter and save all the images that were on there. If it would have been a normal card that had broken like this it would have been much more difficult to extract the pictures from the card. And normal cards, mostly the cheaper ones, do break exactly like this adapter did, so be careful.

What Is This Near The Moon

A week or so back I was outside at around 3am - 4am taking some pictures of the moon with my old 5 mega pixel Panasonic TZ1. I was messing about with it to see how close it could capture the moon. It wasn't very close. You can see that post here. Then, because I never used the digital zoom, only the optical, I wanted to take some pics again, but this time use the full 40x zoom - optical + digital combined. Turns out it was terrible. Very hard to hold still by hand and the results show no close up detail of the moon at all, which is no surprise. Anyway, it wasn't until I was looking through the photos that I noticed something weird near the moon, an object.

When I took the pictures I remember seeing an object near the moon, but at the time it just looked like a star, so I didn't think much of it. Upon viewing the images again one of them stood out. And ironically it was the one shot I kind of took by accident. It was a zoomed out shot. But it has ended up being the most interesting.

 

The Moon on a cloudy night with an unknown object overhead

It shows an object above the moon to the left. It looks like an orange arrow or squiggle. When enlarged it looks like it could be a UFO, or an energy source of some sort. Now, I'm not claiming this is an Alien UFO, as I have no idea what it is. But I was looking at some pictures of star formations to see what could be near the moon at the time I took the pictures, and its possible that it could be planet Venus, Mercury or the Arcturus star. Is that what it is? And my old camera is picking it up as some strange looking UFO / anomaly? Or could it be something else. This image is genuine, straight from the camera. It has not been faked or enhanced.

Nothing Unique

I will add. I have seen this type of "UFO" before, reported by other people. Some call them flying serpents. The colour and length varies. There is footage online. More info. I went outside again in the early hours and took some more shots with the same camera of the same object that I believe is more than likely a star or a planet. They all came out similar to this one. Whatever it is, with the Lumix TZ1 It shows up as an orange energy source. This star, planet, UFO, or whatever it might be is always there. So it must be something known to those who study the sky / space.

Update

When I have the time I'm going to take more photos of this thing with other cameras and compare the results. I did that last night with the Panasonic TZ3 and a Samsung WB500. The results were fairly similar. However some came out like white lines rather than orange. Conclusion: I believe its just the camera(s). The far zoom combined with a slowish shutter speed makes any slight of hand / movement pick some things up as lines and squiggles rather than their true form. Including stars and planets. What are your thoughts. Comment and let me know.

10x The Moon TZ1

I know I know. An old Panasonic Lumix 5 mega pixel point and shoot camera with a 10x optical zoom has no chance of getting a good close up picture of the Moon. But I've been looking at lots of Moon footage, pictures and video recently that has been taken with Nikon's and a Panasonic with excellent zooming capabilities, so its got me curious. I thought I'd see how close the Panasonic TZ1 could get. Just an experimental test. And the result. While laughable in comparison, it gives a little insight in to just how great the zooms are on the Panasonic FZ80 and Nikon big zoom bridge camera "P" series.

Picture: The Moon at full optical zoom, which is 10x. The Lumix TZ1 can go all the way to 40x zoom if digital is applied. But that wasn't used for this picture. Maybe next time when the sky Isn't so cloudy like it is tonight and there's a full moon I'll try. Digital zoom was off at the time of taking this pic, and it never even crossed my mind at the time to turn it on. It was late. The Moon @ 10x optical with the TZ1 just looks like a white ball of light. Hehe.

Nikon Coolpix P900 Lowest Prices

If you're looking to find lowest price possible for the Nikon P900 you will have to settle for a camera that is second hand or refurbished. There are some out there for sale that are used but in like new condition. Problem is, by all accounts the P900 has been discontinued, so unless you get lucky and find someone or an outlet selling one that's never been taken out the box, used it will have to be. But this can be a good thing because a brand new one being sold will have everyone after it anyway, so if the listing is open for bidding and not buy it now, chances are you won't get it for a low price. Anyway, I've looked around, especially on eBay, and this camera is no cheaper on there than it is on Amazon. The cheapest listing I found for this camera was here on Amazon. And it is cheap.

A beaver not impressed with how well the P900 can pick up his beady little eye

The P900 is certainly the model that you will find cheapest out of their super zoom cameras, but there are other models such as the P950 and P1000 that should definitely be considered. They are newer and more expensive, but both offer a further zoom length [125 x optical] than the P900 and more updated technology.

However, all of them are good for long range photography, and any of them will do you well for astrophotography, wildlife, birding, ship spotting, UFO hunting [although infrared can be an annoyance], and just about anything else that requires a far zoom range. Also worth mentioning about These Nikon's. Everyone always talks about how great the zoom is, but the macro ability with zero or minimal zoom applied is also very good on all three models. And if using something like a Raynox DCR-250 attachment, it takes the macro to a whole new level. There has been talk and rumours regarding an upgrade to the Nikon P line, called the P1100. Nothing has been confirmed yet, though, and no valid release date finalised. You can find out more information about its supposed specification here.

Fujifilm X-H2S Autofocus With Older Lenses

Fujifilm X-H2S is a great looking mirrorless high-end camera that was released in July 2022. It's made in China and has many features, including a 26 mega pixel X-trans CMOS 5 HS imaging sensor, 4K recording capabilities, IBIS [in body stabilization], full HD @ 240p, two memory card slots and continuous shooting @ 40fps. The specification is impressive, and the auto focus is very responsive. As you will see in the video. However, some reviewers and owners of this camera don't  agree with this and think the AF in this camera isn't very good. And that the camera itself is not worth the price tag. You'll have to come to your own conclusions to see which side of the fence you sit on.

The X-H2S is compatible with Fujifilm X - XF lenses. Some of the lenses used in the video: Viltrox 23mm f1.4, Viltrox 13mm f1.4, Fuji 18-55mm. Tamrons 24-70 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8 G2 and 15-30 f2.8. No multi mode test in the video though, which is what some people wanted to see when using older lenses. Some other highly rated lenses for this camera are the Fujifilm XF 23mm (35mm) F/1.4R, Fujifilm XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR, Fujinon XF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 R LM OIS WR and the Fujifilm XF 56mm (85mm) F/1.2.

Fujifilm X-H2S Sample Photos

For sample photos straight out the camera in JPEG, I would take a look at the following Flickr link [cameralabs.com]. I hate it when looking for sample images on absolutely any camera new or old, and they look really great, only to find out they have been edited. Not the case here. Some people are asking if this camera is good for vlogging. Well yes, I think it would be. But I wouldn't buy it as they are so many other choices available out there that come in at considerably less than half the price of the Fujifilm X-H2S. And for vlogging they are just as capable.