test sailing the new camera

Out for a wonderful sail yesterday, a chance to try out the new camera.  Breezy and chilly at first, I was glad I wore my Ice Breaker Thermals and glad I could sail comfortably under just mizzen and jib.

I shot with the camera on automatic, using the zoom now and then to see how long lens images worked.  The pennant below was shot at the equivalent of 400mm's.

Color and detail seemed fine.  As the day went on the wind moderated and I raised a double reefed main.

This grab shot of a Navy helicopter going overhead seemed to indicate pretty good, pretty quick focus.

Eventually I raised the main with a single reef, then the full main went up in the beautiful afternoon.  Not a cloud in the sky.

A last long lens shot at 400 mm as a Staten Island ferry comes out of a dry dock on the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River.  Not too bad.  Not as good as a digital slr, but decent really.  I've got to remember it is not a "rugged" camera.  I was tossing it around like the Pentax Optio, which is built for rugged use.  This is a lightweight point and shoot, I'll be more careful with it.

One thing I found is that the camera eats batteries.  I ran down the batteries in one day of mild shooting, so I almost need to double my AA battery count for a long trip.  And I'll try using lithium batteries on the next day sail to see how they last.

A good day out on the water.

steve