Posts Categorized: moleskine to mobile

The Tale of Two Cameras, Part I

Posted by & filed under art + photography, moleskine to mobile.

This was originally posted as Early Access at my Patreon account.

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Olympus Pen - The View From Palm Canyon

Feb. 12, 2018 – I am finding that the differences between the photos that my camera phone, the Lumia 950, and the new Olympus micro 4/3rds Pen E-PL8 mirrorless camera are both evident and very subtle.

As my previous post states, I had hoped to replace a camera phone photo practice with a very small mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses. The transition is coming along in fits and starts.

The immediate difference between the two example photos taken yesterday while on a hike to Palm Canyon in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge is the way that the cameras handle color. The Lumia 950 is rather famous for its yellow-tinted take on the world and the Olympus Pen E-PL8 for its lack of neon saturation.

My eyes have become so used to the vivid to neon saturation that most camera phones produce that the subtler colors and tones of the Olympus Pen appear almost desaturated (top photo) until I look at the Pen’s photo carefully – wherein a world of beautiful tones opens up – esp. at the dusty horizon.

Lumia 950 - The View From Palm Canyon

In the Lumia 950 photo (directly above), the sky, plants and rocks are much more cheerful in color and the horizon is just a few volcanic cones peeping up from the dusty, windy day.

For what the Lumia photo lacks in contrast and strong shadows, it makes up for in bright color. For what the Pen photo lacks in saturated color, it more than makes up for in mood, contrast, contour edges, and shadows.

What do you think?

Just When One Makes a Big Pronouncement On the Camera Phone Front…

Posted by & filed under art + photography, moleskine to mobile.

Just when one goes and makes a big pronouncement on the camera phone front, ASUS goes and makes a January 2016 release that makes the camera phone space interesting again.

Hello, ASUS Zenfone Zoom, you may be the size of a wheelbarrow, but that Hoya lens system of yours with optical zoom is intriguing. I will wait for Gavin to take lots of photos and write his review before I wonder much farther…

The Busker, or the last good photo from my Nokia Lumia 1020

Posted by & filed under moleskine to mobile, photos + text from the road.

The Busker

Sun 01.10.16 – Last night, after 2 years and some odd months of faithful service as my primary camera phone, my Nokia Lumia 1020 leapt out of my hand and on to the concrete floor committing screen harikari.

For a variety of reasons, of which I will blog about later this week, I am not going to rush to order a new LCD screen and install it, nor am I going to rush to use my AT&T upgrade to get the new Windows Lumia 950.

When the timing is right, I will get a new camera phone that will be smaller than the Lumia 1020, it will have a camera strap hook, and it will have a dedicated camera button. While most folks consider the Lumia 1020 to be small as smartphones go, for me it was more than a touch too wide and too deep, which is why my very small hands would lose grip on it.

Until which time I can buy a new phone, I will retire the spider webbed Nokia Lumia 1020 and return my beloved and faithful Nokia 808 back to daily, primary usage.

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A few Tweets on the subject:

Lumia Conversations Interviews Ms. Jen in ‘Out of this World’

Posted by & filed under art + photography, moleskine to mobile, news + events.

The Moon, as shot through my telescope using my Nokia Lumia 1020

Microsoft’s Lumia Conversations interviewed me this last week about my love of mobile photography and my quest to take photos of the Moon, planets, and some stars with my camera phone in an article entitled ‘Out of this world: Meet Jenifer Hanen, astrophotographer‘.

This upcoming week, Lumia Conversations will publish my camera phone astrophotography tutorial, so that you, too, with every little gear and some gumption can go out and take photos of the luminaries with your mobile phone.

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For folks who want a little data on how I shot the Moon photo above:
Telescope: Celestron Astromaster 130eq (who knows what year, my Dad bought it used)
Telescope eyepiece: Celestron 15mm
Nokia Lumia 1020’s Nokia Pro Camera app set to 200 ISO, 1/100th shutter speed, EV -1.0, WB to fluorescent, and focus set to infinity.

I took the photo about 30 minutes before sunset, as the moon would not be so luminous / glowing. It took about 12 test shots to get the camera settings and the angle of holding of the camera phone over the telescope’s eyepiece right. ;o)

How the Foursquare Pivot to Swarm Has Decreased my Mobile Usage, or Goodbye Foursquare – I loved You…

Posted by & filed under moleskine to mobile, tech + web dev.

One Star Review for Swarm

Over the summer, Foursquare pivoted from a fun, game based location mobile app to a location based restaurant review app with the aim to compete with Yelp. To throw a bone to loyal users who loved checking in, they created a second location based mobile check in app called Swarm*.

Swarm has a lovely new UI, they pick the location for you, most of my Foursquare friends are there, what I am supposed to do with it other than see where my friends are is unclear, and… Swarm is dull. As in boring.

I can still check in, sort of. I can still see what friends are up to around the world. But all the fun is gone. No points with quirky reasons for gaining points. No more competition with Juha Ristlainen, aka @Riussi, jockeying for position on the top of the leader board. No more bizarre user created location names. No more joy in using Foursquare/Swarm. No fun.

Yes, Swarm, I know that Jason, Annette, and Charlene are 30 miles away in LA. That’s nice. It was also nice to know that Lane was in LA 9 weeks ago. Thanks.

The fun of the old Foursquare was the reward of seeing how many quirky or mundane points that I would receive if I pulled out my phone constantly to check in. It was the reward of seeing what odd or outrageously named check spots people had created (25,000 cow farts for Harris Ranch or the local man cave in Seal Beach that I took great joy in stealing the mayorship of, etc. etc.).

With no more quirky points or named places, no more competition with friends in different time zones, and no mayorships to win or rest away/back my phone is staying in my purse or pocket unless I want to take a photo or specifically contact someone.

Gone is the Foursquare check in, gone is the laugh or groan at the points, gone is then the temptation to check Twitter or Instagram and then stay on those apps to view or chat, and then keeping my mobile in my hand wherever I am to then play with more apps.

Now with no reward or joy in pulling out my phone to check in on Foursquare everywhere I go, my Twitter and other mobile app usage has decreased to just a few times a day. And other than taking photos or complete a necessary communication, my mobile is now staying in my purse or pocket.

Who knew that the old Foursquare was such a gateway to more mobile usage all the way around? I didn’t until it was gone.

Goodbye Foursquare, I loved you, you were fun.

Now both you and Swarm are deleted/uninstalled.

* I got got an email from Swarm earlier this week which called Swarm the new Lifeblogging app. REALLY?!?!?!? 10 years too late on using that name for a mobile app. I will now slink off to my non-mancave to grumble in private.