Tuesday, October 6, 2026

More Asylum Lake From the Canon PowerShot SX10is

 

Robin Wong

 
 Having fun with a camera, that is what I am hoping to show with the SX 10. 

 In the first post from Asylum Lake I forgot to caption the first image. It is the small lake just off of Parkview Ave.

I should have posted this image of the swans with the one showing them encircled.  Click to enlarge and see the swans better.

28mm, f5.6, 1/1000S, ISO/ASA 400, Auto

 

These are the swans zoomed at 560mm, f5.7, 1/1000 s, ISO/ASA 400, AUTO


 

Geese from shore closest to them shot at 250mm, f5.7, 1/1000, ISO ASA 400, AUTO

 

I wanted to capture the moss on the log.  No matter what setting for metering or focus, the SX 10 would not focus on the log.  



Another log where I wanted to show the moss and fungus.  No luck.  This camera will not focus on logs, different focal length, different ISO, different camera modes, nope, now way does this SX10 focus on logs.


The SX10 would not focus on this fungus in macro or normal mode.  This is the better image in normal focal mode.  The dark brown should be focused sharper.

The SX10 liked this one.

and this one.


I had to tweak the exposure for this one, but it focused fine.


I'll say good bye to the lake for now with this little feller, a black squirrel who just stayed there and left me take my time to capture his cute little face highlighted by sunlight on his shoulders.

I have 2 of these.  I thought they would be used for gifts during Type-ins.  Then we've not had any Type-in since.  Both are nice typers and need proper cleaning. Platens are hard, but I am not going to get them recovered.  One platen would be worth more than both typewriters combined.  The beige (Deluxe) one is an elite and the blue (regular) one is Pica yet both have the same Pica index on the bail.  both have fixed tab spacings.

What's different between a Corsair Deluxe and a Corsair?  The TAB key top.  The Deluxe space bar has Error Correct on the left end.  It's a gimmick because all it does in 1/2 space same as holding the space bar down on the Corsair (and many other typewriters) to make a correction.  Oh, and when new one paid extra for the Deluxe to get a nice aluminum trim name plate on the type bar / ribbon cover.

 


Sunday, October 4, 2026

From Typewriters to Cameras



 I got this idea from Ted Munk's blog.

 


 

This camera has a zoom lens that will cover 28mm to 560mm, 35mm equivalent.  This give me about 50mm longer zoom than my Olympus Stylus with the auxiliary lens, but less aperture. 


Olympus Stylus 1 replaced my Panasonic Lumix LF-1 soon after arriving in Kalamazoo. It has a constant maximum aperture of F2.8 which makes it a great birding camera when used with the T-con1.7x for 510mm at f2.8


I took the SX10 to one of my favorite places in the city, yes, this is in the city.

OK, at the edge of the city. 


Asylum Lake is a preserve of 274 acres owned and maintained by Western Michigan University.

Here is a link for more information: Asylum Lake 


I hesitated to encircle the swans, but I knew no other easy way to show where the swans were swimming and preening from my vantage point atop the stairs.

There are 2 paths around the lake from the small lake to the large lake.  A path encircles the lake and can be accessed by following the path from the small lake or taking the stairs.  I like the stairs just to be different.  From atop the stairs at the shore it is about 300 yards to the swans.  I did not have my rangefinder with me so it is a best guess.

 

This is from the same vantage point as the not zoomed image before the image of the stairs.  560mm +I think 20x digital zoom.

I noticed this swan just to the right of the group in the image above. It is not centered, but shot from the hip so to speak.  I really did not take time to properly frame the swan.


Some of the area around the lake



Since blogger is rearing its ugly head again and not letting me get rid of the Add caption on the typecast pages I will continue with a few more images

This little feller came out to greet me and stood for a few minutes letting me get a photo

And this fellow was rummaging around the ground cover plants

There'll be more photos and reports on the Canon SX-10 is.  It's a fun camera and cheap to acquire.  I got mine fully functional with a padded case for a whopping $20.13 shipped.

I've been playing with it in various situations and will post more later.

 

Best I can find is this was made about 1967 or 1968, all plastic, types fine.


 





Saturday, January 18, 2025

Another Typewriter Shop Biting the Dust

 I just read an article in The Milford Daily News that states Tom Furrier will be closing Cambridge Typewriter on March 31.  Sad to see the end of such a great shop.

Here's a link to the story.

 

Here's an interview with Tom on NPR