revjim.net

We leave for New Orleans around 10am. I haven't even started packing. I have a load of laundry in the washer, but I think I need to do another after this one. I was going to use my backpack as a suitcase, like I usually do when I pack light, but Toby peed all over it the last time he was mad at me, and, even though I washed it out and put it outside to dry, it still kinda stinks. I need to wash it again and maybe add a little Febreeze.

It turns out I'm driving, which is good, I love driving places. I hope Lisa and Mike bring maps and stuff, because I don't even know what hotel we're staying at, let alone how to get there. In fact, this trip represents the trip in my life in which I was LEAST involved in the planning. It's kind of fun that way, but, for a guy who's always trying to be in control and understand what is going on, it's also making me a bit anxious.

Lisa and Mike will be here in two hours or so, and then we'll leave. I have three sets of charged batteries, and I'm bringing the charger so I can replenish them every night if needed. I have a small camera bag with everything I need in it. I'm not bringing my film camera, for the first time ever, so we'll see how this works out.

I think I have a pretty good grasp on how to do the essential things on this camera. I left the manual on my desk at work, so hopefully I understand enough of it to get by. And hopefully, it really is my card that's bad, and not the camera. That way, by using Brad's card, all the pictures I take will still be pictures when I get them home.

The one nice thing about digital is I don't have to worry about development. I have at least 30 or 40 rolls of undeveloped film sitting in a box. Some very old. PIctures I took in California when I went for my 21st birthday or the Los Angeles Crest, and the barrio in which I used to live, complete with graffiti, over-grown lawns, and broken down fences. I have pictures of the time I spent in Chicago, and pictures of San Francisco. This time, I wont have ANY undeveloped film, because it'll be as easy as taking them off a card reader.

I'm not sure what image size I should use, as digital and I have only had a fleeting romance. I'd like them to be big enough to make prints should I desire to do so. The guy at my digital photo lab said 5MB is about the minimum required for a good looking 8×10″. I think he's on crack though. The "RAW" Minolta format actually produces a file about 25% smaller than the same sized TIFF. A 2560×1920 JPEG in "Fine" mode (which equates to some level of JPEG compression that is undisclosed, as best as I can tell) results in a file just under 2MB in size (given an average of three fairly detailed images). At that rate, I can get about 64 images on Brad's card, or about 2 rolls of my favorite conventional film. I'd normally shoot much more than two rolls in a weekend but, I can delete the ones I don't like, and don't have to bother with bracketing in tough situations, as the LCD is pretty accurate as displaying the image as it will be in the end. Plus, since I can review the image after taking it, I can delete it if it is no good. If it gets even close to getting full, I'll buy a car reader and load them off onto my laptop (unless Mike brings his Windows laptop, in which case I'll use my current, unsupported card reader, and load them onto his).

While I'm thinking about it, the Minolta uses a color space other than sRGB. This presents a complication. The Minolta image viewing software converts images from the Minolta color space to sRGB, producing nicer looking images (more saturation, and very accurate color… better than a Coolpix 995). However, if you don't convert the image, while still acceptable (especially when upping the Saturation by +2 or so) and accurate, not nearly saturated enough. I need a batch image conversion program for Unix/Linux that will convert from one ICC profile to sRGB. Anyone know of something like this? I found a plug-in for The Gimp that does this on an image by image basis (which isn't great, but would be okay) except that I can't get it to compile. I believe the sources are for Gimp 1.1, and I run 1.2. I'm not quite sure why the author didn't revamp the code when The Gimp hit the stable 1.2 version, but he didn't. I think ImageMagick might do this, but I'm not sure.

I've got to get an oil change this morning. My truck's manual says I can go 7500 miles in between oil changes, but I usually get them at 3000 anyway. This time, I'm running around 8000 miles, and that isn't good. Especially if I am driving to New Orleans.

I should get a move on. If you don't hear from me for a few days, you know why.