| 4-H Junior Leaders photographing unique area barns for fund-raising calendar
Climbing into a hidden stone home at the back of a local property, Grant Kehl captured some pretty interesting features on his new digital camera. But he was even more excited as he negotiated the unreliable floors to the rear where he found the original log cabin attached.
And that wasn't even what brought him to the site. Peering through the openings, he saw the exposed-log barn nearby.As photographer for the Cole-Osage County 4-H Junior Leaders' barn calendar fund-raising project, Kehl has been impressed by the types of barns in Cole County.The 4-Hers still need a few more unique, local barns to complete the project, they hope to have available yet for this Christmas, said their leader Jane Beetem.Of the barns they've found so far, one is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and another dates to the 1850s.The square nails or hand-hewed beams marked by Roman numerals show the skills needed to construct these invaluable structures.But they are looking for variety - dairy barns, round barns, red or tin-covered.
Review: Olympus Mju 790 SW digital camera
Digital cameras are liable to fail when they attempt to be jacks-of-all-trades. Olympus’s new seven-megapixel 790 SW has a 3x zoom lens and is supposed to be drop-proof from 1.5m and waterproof to 3m. So could it be the camera to buck the trend? The first signs are good: there’s nothing about the shiny metal front of the camera, which feels reassuringly weighty in the palm, to suggest that compromises made to bring this camera to market for around £200. Sensitivity in low light (of up to ISO1600) is impressive and you get TV-quality video with sound. It’s also available in a range of colours, including the vibrant orange one that we looked at. However, the back of the Olympus Mju 790 SW contains a smallish 2.5in screen with which to compose and review photos, as well as small and obviously plastic controls, which are a disappointment.
Camera makers ready for high-end battle
Camera manufacturers are zooming in on mid- to top-range digital single-lens reflex models for the year-end shopping season. Industry officials expect baby boomers, who began reaching retirement age this year, to take up photography as a serious pastime. Advanced models carry fatter profit margins than entry-level products, which have led to the expansion of the digital SLR camera market. Targeted primarily at experienced amateurs, the cameras offer a resolution of more than 10 megapixels and typically sell for between 100,000 yen and 200,000 yen. Nikon Corp. will roll out the D300 high-end model on Nov. 23 at about 230,000 yen. It boasts a resolution of 12.3 megapixels, comparable to that of professional-use models. The camera can shoot up to eight frames per second and capture 100 sequential images thanks to a new image-processing system.
|
