Category Archives: Underwater

Animals, Art, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Equipment, Jaxon, Naima, Self-Portrait, Underwater, Video, Youth Group

The New New

May 16, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I have recently had a battle in my head and in my wallet. I knew I wanted to purchase a new camera that was something like an action cam, only so much more. It has the qualities of say a GoPro, but the image quality is vastly superior. The amount of control you have with the camera is like night and day.

The camera I’m talking about is the Sony RX0. I had it in my sights for several months. Then Sony went and released the Sony RX0 II. This put in something of a quandary. Three months ago, there was nothing wrong with the Sony RX0, but now there was a Sony RX0 II that was superior.

I had to make a decision. By the old and save a few bucks or pull the trigger on the new and lighten the wallet a bit.

Lucky for me, while I was wrestling with the decision, a bit of an unforeseen windfall landed in my lap and I decided to pull the trigger on the Sony RX0 II.

I’ve only had it since Tuesday, but I already love the little guy:

Happy birthday to me!

Here are a few of the first pictures I’ve taken with the RX0 II:

Here are some of the specifications of the camera:

Number of Pixels (Effective)Approx. 15.3 Megapixels
Lens Type ZEISS Tessar T Lens, 6 elements in 6 groups (6 aspheric elements)
F-Number (Maximum Aperture) F4.0
Focal Length 7.9mm
Focus Range (From the Front of the Lens)Approx. 0.66′ (20cm) to Infinity
Focus Area Wide (25 points [contrast-detection AF]), Center, Flexible Spot (S/M/L)Expanded Flexible Spot
ISO Sensitivity Auto (ISO125-12800, selectable with upper/lower limit)
125/160/200/250/320/400/500/640/800/1000/1250/1600/2000/2500/3200/4000/5000/6400/8000/10000/12800 (Extendable to ISO80/100)
White Balance Modes Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent
Fluor.: Warm White, Fluor.: Cool White, Fluor.: Day White, Fluor.: Daylight, Underwater Auto, C. Temp./Filter, Custom
Electronics Shutter 1/4″ – 1/32000
Continuous Shooting Speed Speed Priority Continuous Shooting: approx. 16fps, Continuous Shooting: approx. 3.5fps (Maximum) (With Max. Recording Pixels)
Waterproof Yes (IPX8 equivalent)
Dustproof Yes (IP6X equivalent)
Shockproo fYes (6.5′ (2.0m) (MIL-STD810G C1 Method516.7-Shock)
Crushproof Yes(200kgf/2000N/440lbf)

I made an unboxing video of it the RXO II for the YouTube Channel. It isn’t necessarily something I would recommend watching, unless you really like unboxing videos. It is in black & white, because I lazily didn’t check my camera settings before I started recording:

It isn’t the most watchable video in the world, but it allows me to practice my minimal video editing skills.

I’m going on a Birthday Road Trip on the morrow. I plan on using the RX0 II to do a vlog of the trip. I’m definitely not going to get in the habit of vlogging, but I wanted to test the RX0 II as a vlogging camera because some people say it is the greatest vlogging camera ever and some say it isn’t good for it at all.

One last thing, if you are a GAME OF THRONES fan, we will be watching the series finale at The Union Street Theater on Sunday night. You are invited! Jay might even be making cake. He also has a 20 year old surprise.

Animals, Naima, Nature, Underwater

Naima Underwater Test

November 14, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Naima likes to walk in water. Naima doesn’t swim, unless forced. She doesn’t enjoy it. But she loves tromping around in water.

I decided to try to grab a picture of her tromping around in water, from underwater.

It didn’t work out that well because the place we go so she can run around off her leash, has a muddy bottom. But here are some pictures from the test. This was back in May at Dickcissel Park.

You can actually see Naima in this picture.

The water around here has gotten pretty cold, so underwater photography is probably done for 2018. However, I have plans for purchasing a camera for next year that is going to be for underwater photography and slow motion photography. It is low on the priority list:

~~1. Pay off car.~~
2. Bank fraud refund.
3. New rear brakes.
4. Big 12 Championship Game Trip ????
5. Remaining Self-Directed Training Budget – $355.20
6. 2019 Calendars ????
7. Iowa State Bowl Trip ????
8. Subscribe to Des Moines Register
9. Hope to not get screwed over by the GOP Tax Scam.
10. DJI Mavic Pro 2
11. Sony RX0
12. Sony Alpah a7II

Although 11 and 12 can be switched around, depending on whether or not I come across a deal. And obviously, there are lots of question marks on the big board. But this is how I plan on blowing tons of money in the near to nearish future.

Animals, Black & White, Contests, Jesse, Kalista, Kelly, Nature, Photoshop, Portrait, Saydie, State Fair, Taylan, Underwater, Willy

The Howards: 2016 – Chapter 1

August 19, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

By the time this gets published, I’ll probably be making the trudge up Expo Hill towards the Cultural Building to pick up my photos from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon.

If you didn’t get a chance to duck into the Cultural Building to check out my photos, that is fine. That is dandy. Here are the 4 pictures I entered. 2 were accepted for display. 2 were not.

Not selected for display.

Selected for display.

2 pictures for display was a solid showing. You never know what the judges will like. I was surprised that Willy’s eye was selected for display. I thought of the 4, it had the worst chance to make it. I guess you never know.

A few statistics from the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon:

1018 Photographers Entered
3201 Photographs Entered
Photographers from 20 other states entered
863 Adults Entered
466 of adults who entered have at least one photograph on display
27% of the photos entered were exhibited

I should start planning for next year, but that hasn’t really been my style, yet.

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Starting on the 3rd to last photo shoot from 2016 to have the 2016 backlog cleared up.

This collection is from the Howard Family Photo Shoot:

I told all the people that missed Saydie Sundays that she would be back. For at least one more week after this, even!

Andy, Animals, Photo Journal, Underwater, WPC - Reminder

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 38

July 20, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This is your reminder that this week’s theme for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is NIGHT:

NIGHT!

A NIGHT photograph is literally any photo taken at NIGHT.

Happy photo harvesting!

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Back on Memorial Day I headed over to the Sharp residence to take a picture for Page 38 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:

Page 38 – Take a picture that only works in color.

Andy was a great assistant on this project. Not just because we used his dog and his pool. Although obviously his pool and his dog were very important to this project.

Only 1 picture can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL. However I took many more pictures during this session. Here are some of the others:

I do need to pick up the pace on THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT so I can move on to something else. Next time we visit THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will check-in with Page 115.

Photo Journal, Politics, Underwater

A PHOTO JOURNAL – HENRY CARROLL – PAGE 10

July 16, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Since I have a very large backlog currently, I’m going to post an entry to AN ARTIST’S NOTEBOOK on Sundays until that backlog gets cleaned up quite a bit.

This picture is the latest entry into the THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT.

This time there was no photo assistant. Just me and one of my cameras and Honey Creek.

Page 10 – Take a Political Picture of Nature

This underwater photo reminds me that I need to find a volunteer, somebody with long hair, to pose for another underwater photo. Interested parties may volunteer in the comments section of this here post.

Next time we take a look at THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT we will be looking at expressing feelings through light. Sounds like a hoot!

Animals, Black & White, Dad, Flowers, Joe, Micky, Mom, Nature, Underwater, WPC

Then I Wonder How Much I Can Spend

June 27, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

The final NATURE stop I made was to Lake Augstin. Here are those pictures:

Our run in with a snapping turtle reminds me of a story from my childhood.

One day a snapping turtle showed up in the driveway of my first boyhood home. In my mind it was tied down, but I’m not sure how you would do that. I apparently got very close to the turtle because, well turtles, despite being cowards, are awesome. This lead to a generalized freakout by my Mom.

But where did the turtle come from?

My Dad was riding home from work with a co-worker named Buzz Lee when they saw a snapping turtle crossing the road. They stopped. Picked it up and threw it in the trunk of Buzz Lee’s car. Eventually the turtle went to my Great Uncle Harold who cooked him up and we ate him for supper one night. While that turtle ended up as food, he did get his revenge. While in the trunk of Buzz’s car he at a bunch of the wiring to the car’s taillights. Everything had to be replaced.

I salute that turtle for not going down without a fight!