CoolPix but Are they Great Pix?

 We must be in August because my hair looks more like this...

... than the usual "full bodied straw" look. 

When the humidity gets about about 45% (which actually it doesn't here for most of the year), my "Irish curls" (which are really waves, as curls actually spiral while my hair is just kind of scrunchy) become significantly more noticeable. The camera always flattens it out, but in reality, I look like an 80s glam rocker once the humidity hits about 55%.

FETCH ME THE AQUANET!

According to beauty influencers on top of the movement (and hairstylists in other sources) Irish curls-really-waves are a type of hair that tends to texture unevenly. The under layers and lower parts of the hair are much wavier while the top of the hair is relatively straight. It waves up when there's moisture and flattens out when its dry. Also, at least in my experience, if you so much as look at it funny, the whole thing gets really really straight until you add moisture at which point it crinkles up again. 

If I actually wanted to style it, many stylists have told me I need a "curl activator" with some manual scrunching or adding in a sea salt spray and letting it get really beachy. 

I take the shortcut of "leaving it alone for as long as humanly possible and letting it become much much crazier than it looks in pictures." 

Anyways, most of the time I can't help it and flatten it back down one way or another. 

This is how it looks after I've either brushed it or dared to exist in 40% humidity. Still unruly for "straight" styles, but a lot more temperate. Nonetheless, a great barometer for the weather of the day. 

We're now truly into August and all that insanity! Andrew celebrated by leaving for Eastern Washington until our visitor arrived. Hey, I don't like preparing for visitors either! But we survive!

Bring on the parties and whatnot!

To warm up for the whole shebang, last Saturday we attended a birthday party for some of the kids in Allan's homeschool group. It was listed at 1 - 3 pm.  A bit short for a birthday party, but brilliant in terms of wrapping up before anyone hit the overstimulated meltdown phase, so I supported it!

We made sure to be there in a timely fashion so as not to miss out on anything!

Spoiler alert, the party did not actually run from 1-3. We were, of course, the first people to arrive (surprisingly promptly at about 1:10 having apparently met very few of the typical transitional barriers that are typically encountered) and settled in just as the birthday family were bringing arm loads of activities and food for what appeared to be a bit more of a long-haul party than a two-hour quickie. 

There's a rhythm to most birthday parties. You have kind of a free play period in which food becomes increasingly available for the adults milling about and trying to balance granting independence and preventing mass casualties. About 30-45 minutes in, the grill yields fruit (or meat, really). Around an hour to 90 minutes in, there's some shenanigans with something sweet and frosted. A song or two. Maybe presents (depends on the family) and then people fairly rapidly start bailing after the first family gets up the gumption to leave. 

I knew we were in for it when the grill was still going after two hours!

In fairness, there was *a lot* for the roving gang of young 'uns to do. They started at the playground. Somehow ended up with balloon swords. Sat at the picnic table while adults loaded their plates with food. Ignored the food and ran off again waiving their balloon swords, splashing in the wading pond (no, no Allan didn't bring a bathing suit, despite many offers to help her pack it). Demanding a change of clothing and generally complaining about being wet. Complaining about the one kid (or kids) who won't stop splashing. 

General yelling... and later there were clay projects to be done and a pinata

I started suggesting we would want to go home "soon" at 3:30, as all of the kids were getting a bit wilder and closer to The Lord of the Flies making an appearance. But of course, there were many things that had to be done before we could leave. And it's just never ok to leave before the other kids leave. FOMO for realz!! 

Cupcakes did manifest while the children were splashing around in the wading pond. Then clay had to be played with. The clay didn't have blue and eventually the Steller's Jay sculpture got a little too smooshed, at which point I really thought maybe it was a good time to leave.  

Naturally, the pinata happened to get whacked open by somebody before the older kids got a turn. Allan had repeatedly begged to go earlier in the turn-taking because she was afraidshe wouldn't get a chance, so this was not received particularly well. 

Worse still, the candy was not exactly to her liking. I guess she likes Jolly Ranchers ok, but bazooka gum and tootsie rolls do not merit much esteem. The rest of the kids were pretty understanding, but sometimes you gotta take your losses and head out early. 

I would call it a generally successful party, but I will be kind of dead for the rest of the week. 

And of course we followed that up with a playdate with the same group on Monday. It was significantly ore chill. 

Apparently, we need buckets and shovels like ASAP because Allan has just discovered the joy of making "sand potions" and castles, so that's in the works... Anyways... 

Did I mention I mention the new camera rental? Yes, you're with me until the saga is fully completed at this point. 

This one is a bridge camera. It has some fancy schmancy technology that allows a much wider range of zoom, from very very zoomed out to very very zoomed in. And it's remarkably light compared to how it looks. Slightly lighter than the Sony Alpha. 

It does have quite the zoom. 

CoolPix

Compare and contrast with my Nikon... 

Nikon

In the first picture, the crow was perched on a light post many feet away, while in the second phoot, the crow was a few feet from me (waiting expectantly for me to offer peanuts). I probably could have zoomed in more on the Nikon and kept the full body in frame for preference, but the distance between the two is pretty impressive.

Here's another Nikon that got a little bit more of a zoom. This one was in a tree, but at a pretty near level to me and very definitely close by expecting to be fed. 

Nikon

Now the zoom part is impressive, but for me there's a way that the Nikon really brings the crows into focus that feels a little different.

I struggle to put a finger on it, but it's not a surprising thing, as the sensor of the CoolPix is smaller and I hear that can impact the crispness. 

The DSLR can give a lot of detail without it feeling over-processed. 

Nikon

I like how you can see the beads of moisture (it was a damp day). 

Nikon

And I appreciate the depth of field that really focuses the image on the crow itself. 

The Sony Alpha had a pretty similar quality to me... (I know I just shared these pictures, but I didn't have the camera very long!)

Sony Alpha

I took a series of these in mid-caw, ignoring my usual prohibition against auto-shutter. It navigated the movement really well, so that each picture was still pretty crisp. 

The Om meanwhile gave me some trouble figuring out the right settings, but undeniably caught a lushness pretty dramatically. 

Back to the CoolPix. There's nothing wrong with the images. They just feel a little different to me?

CoolPIx

 Another challenge with it is that when you are zoomed in, the small shakes involved in holding the camera are magnified enough that the autofocus can really struggle to keep hold on the image. I don't always love the Nikon as it can be fussy and have meltdowns, but the CoolPix is a whole 'nother level of constantly losing your image. Heaven forbid a bird actually moves! 

And it can grab some really "soft" looking photos.

CoolPix

For a slightly different comparison, I pulled the zoom back and bled out the color... 

Nikon DSLR

versus...

CoolPix

Maybe a bit more of a draw, although in larger size, I do like the Nikon DSLR picture better. 

But, also, there were more crows on the CoolPix visit so that never hurts... 

CoolPix

For contrast on the other side, this is with my Pixel 7a, which I have set on pretty low image size and resolution in order to save space. 

 I do give the CoolPix kudos for catching some level of flying better than I expected it to

CoolPix

Maybe a bit of a tie. I caught a little bit less with my Nikon a few weeks back, but I do like something about how the light bounces off the wings in both pictures. 

Nikon DSLR

So definitely not a terrible camera. It took some cool shots. It felt like more often than with the mirrorless or DSLRs the CoolPix was harder to keep focused and gave more fuzzy looking shots. But sometimes it took really "cool pix" and sometimes I take crappy photos with my DSLR, so definitely it's hard to landmark it. 

Still, the autofocus was by far the more annoying issue. It took a lot of work to get photos and - unlike the Sony and the Nikon - it just doesn't keep up with flying birds quite as easily. 

CoolPix

Caught a fairly cool finch, though, but again there was just a little squishy. I think I could tolerate that more if it wasn't so hard to luck into an actually focused picture!

And I do think this photo turned out pretty well

So perhaps it's more than sufficient for mid-zoom ranges and stationary objects. My bigger concern is that it doesn't seem to be exceptional at catching moving things and the focus definitely is less robust than the other cameras. 

At any rate, I wrapped up my opinions on the thing a few days ago and left it around for Andrew and Zach to investigate. Zach of course has been into photography for decades and has several specialized bodies and lenses of pretty much all type. So, I know Andrew was a bit curious Zach held it for a few minutes, and proclaimed it "a toy" and that's about that. 

At any rate. August has come fast and furious and I've gotten very little sleep, so I'm just riding for the coffee to finish brewing to maybe, just maybe function.