Ross Brown dot net

Oh, hai. It’s me again. I know, I know, there’s no excuse for it really, I have been very bad at keeping this blog up to date. The trouble is, there’s almost too much to post about and I have difficulty deciding what deserves to be blogged about and what doesn’t… and then I end up not posting anything at all (because it’s easier).

But I am going to make amends. I am going to post here more, because I can and should. You should stop by every once in a while to check it out, it’s going to be fun and interesting.

Disclaimer: this post may or may not have something to do with my impending Birthday (and obligatory mid-life crisis)

There’s nothing like a panoramic photo to capture beautiful scenery (unless you count actually being there, of course). I’ve been taking panoramic pictures for a couple of years now and I thought I would share them with you, as well as some tips.

Here’s the first panorama I took, from the bank of the River Thames in Wallingford (UK).

(Click for a larger version)

I was fairly happy with it, for a first attempt. I used the Canon Photostitch software which came free with my Canon 350D camera. It’s done a fair job of stitching the photos together, but there’s some noticeable lines where the joins have been made. Also, I let the camera take care of the exposure setting, so the sky changes colour across the scene.

I was a bit disappointed with the end result, so I did what everybody does when they want to learn how to do something - I Googled it. I got some useful tips:

Turn Auto-exposure OFF

Turn Auto White Balance OFF

Turn the Flash OFF

Use one Focal Length for all shots in the sequence (manual focus, not AF)

Use one Size/Quality for all shots in the sequence

Use a tripod whenever possible – especially when objects are near to the camera

If a tripod is not available, lock elbows and pivot on one spot – keep camera level.

Use 25%-50% overlap for each shot

Use reference points on the landscape when moving the camera.

Go beyond 360 degrees when shooting for 360 degrees panoramas – mark your tripod with a piece of tape

Create time-based groups – wait no more than 40 seconds between shots

Insert visual dividers (black shots, or a shot of the ground / your hand) between sequences

Be aware that an object in motion may cause problems when stitching

Be aware that scenes without much detail (cloudless sky over flat sea) are more difficult to stitch

Armed with this information, I was certain my next panoramic photos would be better. (more…)

So, I have already blogged about this elsewhere, but since it’s such momentous news (and I don’t post here often) I feel like I should post it here too - today we had our offer on a house accepted.

Subject to a ‘clean’ builder’s report, the house will be ours in 2 weeks and we can move in. No more renting for us, yay!

I had to miss my first NZ work social event tonight because the paperwork needed to be signed etc. It was a shame, I was looking forward to going, but it had to be done. I will just have to make sure I go to the next one.

No doubt there will be plenty of work on the new house to come, but we are both so excited about finally owning our own home together that we are prepared to do anything to make it work.

Keep checking back here and our NZ emigration blog for updates.

So, if you haven’t already heard - we are moving to New Zealand. I have just one more week of work here in the UK and then that’s it until I start my new job in Wellington. Exciting times!

There’s heaps of things to organise, but it’s all coming together. Our view has been to have a massive clear out as it’s long overdue (we still had unopened boxes from when we moved 18 months ago), then we don’t have to ship so much over. Shipping is expensive and your stuff takes around 3-4 months to arrive, so if it’s something vaguely useful you will need to buy it out there anyway. We’ve sold loads of stuff and given away more. There’s just a few bits to sort through, but we are nearly there.

Keep any eye on our NZ blog (thebrownz.wordpress.com) for news and updates!

We’ve just come back from a 3 week holiday in NZ. While we were over there, we kept a blog - The Brown Family Visits New Zealand. Have a read, the entries start at the bottom,

They say that you can never predict when a baby will arrive, they just come when they are ready. Last Thursday we had an amazing surprise when our baby daughter was born 5 weeks premature. She shows no signs of ill health and weighed in at 7lb 4oz, which is a pretty decent weight for any baby, especially a premature one. We think she just got tired of waiting and wanted to meet us!
Our fears about not making it to the hopital on time turned out to be nothing to worry about, Mum was admitted in plenty of time (17 hours early, in fact!) and I was able to stay with her throughout most of the labour. She was incredibly brave and only had 2 paracetamol to dull the pain
They are both home from hospital now and I am making the most of my 2 weeks paternity leave. In no time at all I will be back at work, so it is important to me to make the most of this time we have together. So far, I am loving every minute of Fatherhood.

So, say hello to Sophie Grace Brown. I have uploaded some pics to my gallery so I can show her off in true ‘proud Dad’ style!

Click here for the pics or go straight to the slideshow.

Oooh, has it really been six months since my last post? Blimey. Just goes to show how your priorities can change, I suppose! What’s new…. oh yeah, I am going to be a Dad! The due date is towards the end of July - maternity (and paternity) leave is signed off…not long to go now… we are surprisingly prepared - we’ve bought everything we can think of that’s baby related and even the hospital bag is packed and ready to go. Where we live is an equal distance from 2 hospitals - I’m hoping it’s not a quick labour otherwise we may not make it!

My first post of 2006! Happy New Year!

We had a great Xmas down with my parents, it was good to see all the family again. During the time off I managed to take some more pictures with my new camera, like the one above. I’m still learning how to use it but it’s cool. I’m also going to get a polarising filter this week.

In an unrelated newsflash, it seems that the long-anticipated Video On Demand (VOD) revolution has finally arrived here in the UK…Well, almost. I remember doing a paper on VOD back in college many years ago and we were definitely expecting it to have arrived sooner than 2006…So anyway I found out that Sky TV have recently launched Sky By Broadband and gave it a go. They’re offering a fairly good selection of sports clips and movies and the best bit is, all of this is available for no extra charge (if you are a subscriber to all Sky Movies / Sports channels. Incidentally, they are currently doing a 1/2 price offer, see sky.com).

Picture quality is pretty good, although I ended up using Windows Media Player to play the downloaded files because for some bizarre reason the Sky player won’t let you watch in fullscreen mode. So, it’s not a perfect viewing experience and the selection could be better but overall it’s not bad and I’m glad Sky are doing it.

My lovely new Canon 350D digital SLR camera has arrived (still no sign of the memory card though - damn you, Pixmania! I had to buy one from somewhere else in the meantime)

The weather was fantastic today for the time of year, so we went for a walk down the River Thames to test it out. The banner picture right at the top of this page is one of mine from today (what do you think?). I have put the rest of the shots online in a gallery too, feel free to have a look. They’re not that impressive (I was getting used to the camera) but you should get the idea - it was a really nice peaceful time down by the river.

I also blogged about how Google Earth now has updated UK map data, the last picture on that page shows the spot we were taking pictures of the Leatherne Bottel from today.

I thought I had found a megadeal when I ordered my Canon 350D from Pixmania, for £556. They still haven’t shipped it (over a fortnight later) so today I cancelled my order. Turns out now I can buy it from Jessops down the road for just £20 more (after taking shipping charges into account) and actually have it in my hands the same day. I think this is the first negative online buying experience I have had, but I suppose I have been lucky before now (and my experience pales in comparison with the abusive tactics employed by one NY camera retailer).

If you were thinking of using Pixmania, be warned that they don’t always honour their “ship within 24hrs” claim.

[edit] Well, I tried to cancel the order, but would you believe they had just shipped it before they processed my cancellation request, so I ended up receiving the package yesterday. When I opened it up there were three problems; 1. No CompactFlash card (I guess they shipped it separately, but it still hasn’t arrived) 2. European mains plug (not a huge problem since they gave me an adapter, but it looks rubbish) 3. NO ENGLISH MANUAL!

Aside from the fact that it took them two weeks to deliver a stock item (despite their 24hr delivery claim… hahaha) I am pretty unhappy with the service I received.

I’ve done a bit of digging on their site and if you read the small print, they do say the manual is provided in French, German & Italian and they give a link to a Canon site where you can download an English version…. but I still think it’s poor show on their part and personally I’d rather have a properly-produced paper book than a stapled-together A4 version.

How I wish I had read some customer reviews first! Have a look at the Pricerunner users’ experiences with Pixmania. It seems I am not the only one who has experienced a long delay and poor customer service.

I really wish I had just bought it from Jessops in the local high street, since the price difference is negligable but I’ll chalk it down to experience. All I can do is pass on my negative experience and hope that if you were thinking of buying from Pixmania you will do a bit of research on them first. Try giving their customer service line a ring on 0870 118 117 and see how long it takes them to answer your call (I gave up after 25 minutes). If you manage to speak to someone, ask them how long delivery will be before ordering and ensure you get an English manual - I had to pay £13 from Canon for mine, making the total saving £7 vs Jessops and I still don’t have my memory card!