Little Red Camera/Olympus Tough TG6

First an update on Sven.

I've taken a warm soapy washcloth in a baggy now each morning and have gently cleaned Sven's ears. He drinks his warmed water and stands quietly while I wash his ears.

So, who would have ever thought I'd be washing little elfin goat ears as part of my morning chores?

However, as we started our walk, I noticed that Sven would stop and shake his head. So I peered at his ears and the left ear was gooped up again. I cleaned it gently with my glove and then gently massaged it. More runny goop came out. It was not green or smelly. He shook his head again and loose goop flew. 

He then settled down to walking with me and browsing.

We ended up in the creek of course and the boys had some fun.

Apparently Charlie believes that Sven drops magic pellets of smart pills and I happened to catch him putting his nose up Sven's rear end.

That is part of the fun of having a pocket camera. You point and shoot and don't miss the goofy stuff.

We got to the frozen 'falls' and I thought I'd set up the toys that the boys from Missouri left me to hike with.  Every once in a while I take them on an 'adventure' and send the photos to the Doe Story page on FB so they can follow the adventures that their toys have in Wisconsin.
I thought this would make a nice Christmas Card for them.

Charlie ran over the ice and somehow made it to the leaves on the other side. Poor Sven, he tried to follow but ended up losing his footing and slid down this ice and into the creek bottom where he landed on his feet.

He stood up and shook his whole body then gave Charlie a look. I think the expression on Sven's face was 'YOU tricked me!'

I coaxed him to join us once more with a doggy biscuit. I had no idea that a goat would adore a dog biscuit so much! Good thing to know. Both Charlie and Sven love dog biscuits.

And then the two of them decided to help me rummage through my backpack.

I decided to do some experimenting with the Tough camera. Could I fool it into taking a 'longer' exposure? Indeed I could. I did this without a tripod, but it took me 3 tries. It is slightly harder to take a steady shot when a goat decides to taste test the straps on your backpack.

But I got the job done. I went to aperture mode bumped it up to f9 and lowered the ISO to 100 which gave me a shutter speed of 1/6th of a second. Just enough to get a little flow blur. If it hadn't been overcast, this wouldn't have worked.

I was happy with the result.

Then I tried out the macro modes.

Macro mode:

In camera focus stacking mode:

Pretty good considering I didn't have this on a tripod. And I am sure my hand moved. I'll have to really try this with a timer and a tripod to get a proper idea of how good it can be.

However, I did one last shot with Sven at my elbow.

I want to go back and try this one again...without a goat nibbling on my hat.
[Same mushrooms on 12-3!]

By the end of our walk, Sven's ears were clean. He was tired but more himself than he has been in a while.
I know he needs the walks just as much as Charlie and I do. He is such a character.

If I have to wash his ears daily in the winter, so be it.

He is a very sweet animal.

And there it is. A first outing with the tiny pocket camera. I did take a short video of Charlie running but it is nothing worth writing home about.

Now I need to get back to writing out some cards and searching high and low for my address book that I put in such a safe place that I cannot find it!

Well dang it...

I did it.

I purchased the 'Tough Camera'. Olympus Tough tg6.

And here are my first impressions with this camera.
The very first thing I did while turning it over in my hands was drop it.

Not on purpose, but because...well..., I just dropped it by accident.

I put the battery in and figured out how to charge it and got that immediately set up.

I put the Panasonic 'Lumnix' all weather camera next to it for comparison.
The Tough Camera has a lot more heft to it. Both cameras are weather sealed and pretty much impervious to snow and rain.

However the Tough camera has some exciting features that you normally do not find in point and shoot cameras.

Here is a photo of my Olympus OMD EM Mark iii, with a 14mm-150mm lens next to the Tough for size comparison.

The menus on both cameras are very similar so I will be right up to speed with the Tough camera.

The reviews said the Tough wasn't great in low light situations. My first shots were of some of my indoor decorations.

I let the camera pick the ISO in these shots and used P or Program mode to let the camera pick the f stop also.

These are straight from the camera with no adjustments.

Next I thought I'd try the 'Night Mode'. Olympus claims you can take a night shot hand held with a tiny bit of a longer exposure and NOT get a blurred photo.

Okay, they were not wrong.

I walked outside with Charlie and took a shot of the lights I put on the pine tree out front. The lights were too bright but then again, it was just and experiment. The shot was done with a 1/13th exposure.
I can easily see how I could get creative with this on a moonlit night with some snow!

I did another quick experiment with the macro mode. This camera has 4 macro modes. The white ring in the photo above helps light up what you are shooting in macro mode.
I only tried the basic macro.
There is a in camera focus stacking mode, a focus bracket mode, the plain macro mode [the one I used for the following photos], and a microscopic mode.

These are not touched up, but for the last two I laid nearly touched the flower petals with the lens. Normally that would cut out the light and the photos would be too dark. With the LED ring it lightens it up.

I'm sure I could have some fun with this and ice crystals in the creek!

One more macro shot.

This is a bead from a garland string. You can see the camera lens in the bead which is about the size of a large eraser. The white to the right is a white ribbon string which is reflected along with the other beads.

I'll bet you can't guess what I plan to do today!

Yep! Go for a hike! I'm just going to take this camera and see what I can pull off with it.
Can I take as good a photo as a full frame pricey camera? Nope. But I bet I can do some really cool things with it.

I'll experiment with the High Speed ... Slo Mo video feature along with some shots I'll do in the RAW mode with this.
The weather looks cold and dreary.

Perfect I think for taking a hike after all my morning chores are done.

Decisions .... Decisions...

Afternoon light in the creek. Taken with my aged Olympus DSLR.

Just tiny stuff I found yesterday afternoon while Charlie and I were hiking.

My first digital camera was an Olympus Stylus which hooked me on taking photos of very tiny things.

Here are some samples:

This tiny camera went literally everywhere with me. In a pocket or in my cargo pants pocket. I'd hike with Morris or ride Badger and find neat things large and small to photograph. In fact, this tiny camera produced more than one cover to Mules and More Magazine back in the day.

2004:

I do love hiking. But I don't like carrying a lot of 'stuff' while hiking. My current little point and shoot just doesn't measure up to most of what I'd like to do. It doesn't take very good macros, and it's sunsets literally are flat. However, since it is 'weather/water resistant' I take it out during snow storms while skiing cross country or snowshoeing.

And it is handy to have a good solid weather proof camera when out doing chores in the worst of weather. So much to see!

The saying is ... "The best camera you have is the one with you." That rings true with cell phones [I don't dare take mine out in the rain/snow/sleet and freezing cold] and with pocket cameras.

After the first Olympus Stylus, I went through a couple of Pentax Optio cameras, which I promptly destroyed after a year or so. Drops and just over use. I've always tried to keep a pocket camera around that was weather proof and took great macro shots.

I haven't been able to find a decent one until just lately when I was looking at the new all weather resistant Olympus OMD EM5 Mark iii. I have an old OMD EM5 that was weather resistant and I am still using it but it is wearing out. I can use it for both infrared and regular. I rarely take the Nikon out any longer. It hates cold and humid conditions. I only use it on 'nice' days and this past year have only used it to take family photos.
The Nikon is like carrying a few concrete bricks compared to the Olympus which is lightweight and compact.

The new Oly OMD EM5 Mark iii, is what I want with so many features. But I can't justify the expense until my aged one makes its last gasp. But. I love the new features it has. The new camera is pricey. I could get the older model for much less.

Enter the next best thing.

This tiny pocket camera IS waterproof. It has 4 different macro modes. My heart BE still!
And it has all the features and the same processor as the high end Olympus cameras.

I could carry this with me all of the time. My back pack wouldn't be full of camera stuff. I could carry just snacks, water, and treats for Charlie. Hmmm. Perfect for those hikes that I want to just get out and go.

Decisions, decisions.

What to do?

I think Charlie should put one in one of my UnTree Boxes.

The old Pink Fugly Camera

Reflections in the small pond area

I stuck the old pink ugly camera in my pocket and fully intended not to use it.

However, it actually was more useful then my Nikon camera.

I thought this looked like claw marks

 Ice reflections

Sunset sky, taken while petting the red headed mule sisters.

After being dropped into the creek once by me in 2009, left in the woods, dropped into a drinking fountain once by the grand kids, and totally abused and mistreated for the past 8 yrs, this camera has outlasted all of my my more pricier pocket cameras and it isn't a freeze proof, water proof camera.

I paid all of $50 for it and it just keeps on snapping.

I wonder sometimes why I don't just leave the 'good' camera at home and take this like I used to!

Do you like snow?

I do, but not to drive in ... I walked up to check the mail and could not see the road this afternoon.  
It was as though it had disappeared.

 See that itty bit speck in the middle of the driveway at the top?  That is my husband trying to clear the driveway.

It took about 20 minutes for it to blow back in after he finished [at the top].

I walked up there earlier and couldn't see any indication of the road that is there.  My neighbor down the way [a way I travel to get to black top] said that the Slack corner was filled in.

All the farm animals did as farm animals do, they ate and put their backs to the winds.  

Rest assured, not one animal is cold.  Warm water and plenty of feed guarantee that.

Not only that, they do not care to go inside during this weather, much nicer to have snow baths.

Well, so much for going anywhere.

The Dexter Cattle were happy to see their hay coming this morning.  This evening the winds had switched and you could feel the cold coming in...

I could barely see the woods at one point!  Now the winds are churning and night has fallen.
The high tomorrow is going to be all of 6 degrees.

 
No matter, I'll take the choring slowly...face mask and snow goggles on..., hubby has an appt in Madison, so I'll handle the home stuff.

Just before sunset I took Morris and Dixie out for a quick walk in the meadow.  I kept to the areas that were protected from the wind.

Morris was his happy self...snow swimming.

 

They didn't seem to mind at all.   

 Now it is time to rest and let Mother Nature do her thing.  Just before dark descended, there was a break in the clouds and I was able to see the lovely pastels of a winter sunset.