This pic is Erin in her Jolly Jumper.  I must say I am a big fan of the Jolly Jumpers, it also helps that the Cubs are as well. The one tip I would give anyway is always put a rug underneath the child.  If it isn’t vomit from bouncing there will be litres of drool that soak into the floor.

The advantage of twins is that you can put them both in the jumpers they do amuse each other.  This gives parents 30 min or so to run around and get some chores done. An added bonus it that they are still where you left them and at the same time wears them out (ready for  a nap) like nothing else yet.

Oh yeah and they are cute too boot as well.

The video from the trip up suffered from the usual technical problems ( this time a blown power inverter half way up ).. but with a new inverter onboard I finally got a clean video run for the trip home.

This shows the trip from Edgeworth ( Newcastle ) to Melbourne down the F3, around Sydney and down the Hume, stopping overnight in Jugiong then on to Melbourne. ( Approx 1100km in distance )
The video is also availble in 720p HD as well, just watch it on youtube

( and yes that is me at 2:09 taking photos )

(as far as the map is concerned, please ignore the error that Google Maps has that refuses to let you drive down the Hume near Holbrook )

View Larger Map

The car in reflection of a truck hub on the trip home.

Metro really shouldn’t have outsourced track maintenance to birds…

Gardenvale Train Station, Melbourne

Melbourne had a very impressive line of thunderstorms move through on Friday (12 Nov. 2010) evening, so as a weather “nut”, I’ve got the radar on the computer, and the camera ready to go. When a squall hit at home, I switched from stills to a quick 1 minute video.

Perchance on Saturday night, (TV in the kitchen while cooking tea) I happen to catch the Melbourne 9 news story about the weather. And whilst still being grumpy about calling something a mini tornado, which there is no such thing as, I see a glimpse of a bit of footage, and think, hey that looks familiar…

Today, I checked the NineMSN website for the story, with that nagging feeling still present… and guess what… it WAS my footage. 2 seconds or 10 seconds doesn’t matter to me. It was my footage, I did not give permission, was not asked for consent, was given no recognition, and certainly I was not TOLD.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?videoid=1cdb6005-75d8-4622-9ba0-c81aae430307 ( scroll to 1:22 )  ( Can someone identify the second piece of footage? )

If I had been asked, the chances are I would have said yes, but that really is beside the point. If someone from Channel 9 is surfing YouTube for content, how hard would it be to leave a comment saying, “great footage, can we use it”, or even, “great footage, we used a few seconds of it on the news”. It is about recognition, not theft!

Guessing what 3 seconds of footage on primetime news costs, I think if channel 9 buy me a new Nikon D7000, I’ll take that as payment for services rendered.

Really, come on media, lift your game.

My footage ( watch on youtube for the 720 version, video recorded on my Nikon D90)

and one of my still shots…

Update:

——–

COPYRIGHT ACT 1968 – SECT 42

Fair dealing for purpose of reporting news

(1)  A fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, or with an adaptation of a literary, dramatic or musical work, does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the work if:

(a)  it is for the purpose of, or is associated with, the reporting of news in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical and a sufficient acknowledgement of the work is made; or

(b)  it is for the purpose of, or is associated with, the reporting of news by means of a communication or in a cinematograph film.

——–

I’m guessing option b is what their defence would be, but still, my point of being TOLD, is not covered.  Someone from Channel 9 was on Youtube, took MY copyrighted content, for “news” value and couldn’t even be arsed to leave a comment saying that they had?

I guess it falls into the you wouldn’t steal a car, you wouldn’t steal a handbag, don’t steal a movie, unless it has news value, and you don’t want to even notify the owner of the video you have “stolen” it.

Unless as per Section 6 par C of the Youtube TOS http://www.youtube.com/t/terms Channel 9 have a licensing deal with Youtube for content.   Personally I’d like to know if Channel 9 do have a deal with YouTube, and certainly if they haven’t does the Copyright Act trump the TOS of Youtube and Google? ( I’ll leave the lawyers for the respective parties to argue that one )

Perhaps it is time the Copyright Act was dramatically updated to include fair use of social media.  A clause of attribution and notification on the source of the content seems reasonable to me.

These are the major features where the D7000 trumps the D90.

(Source of Table:  DP Review and Nikon- if I have missed out something let me know.)

As you can see this camera leaves the D90 in the dust.  Low light and fast photography have all been ramped up incredibly.  And for a RRP or around the $1200 USD mark it gives the non professional shooter a great camera with many Pro and Semi Pro features at what I think is a great price.

A few other thoughts….

The extra mega pixels can ensure larger printers ( although the prints I have got from my D90 at A3 are stunning), but it also gives you a bit more crop room.  You can cut that little bit more of the edges of your image that don’t quite line up and still get the same print size.  Further (somewhat reduced by the D7000 having a virtual horizon) is that you can rotate your images to straighten them as well and still get a full size print.

The extra 4% in the view finder may not seem much, yet having a 100% Viewfinder means that nothing unexpected will creep into the side of your image. I’ve got used to always checking on my D90 that I’ve got the whole shot and nothing extra, but having the 100% Viewfinder is something that just makes your life in post processing much easier.

I’d love to get my hand on the camera just for the Shutter Speed as well.  1/8000th of a second will freeze just about anything.  Perfect for insects in flight, water in motion e.t.c. The extra 2 FPS on the body is also fantastic as well, letting you burn through action.

The other great feature is the “weather-resistant” body.  There have been times I’ve had to stop shooting with just a few drops of rain on the D90, the D7000 lets you get a bit more extreme with your shooting, without having to worry about dust and a few drops of rain.

The Video feature has been dramatically expanded as well.  One thing is I am glad that Nikon have moved to H264 .mov files.  This has become the standard for video these days and opens up a lot more options for cleaning editing as well over the motion jpeg format. ( But this is something for others to comment on.  I’ve never really used the video feature on my D90, and I’d suspect that the same would be true for the D7000.

Overall, whilst the D90 maybe around for awhile yet, I’d have to say just on the specs and the initial reviews your better of getting the D7000.

Note sure on Australian released date… but US date is October… so should be sometime next month.

P.S

Please now buy some of my art work…. So I can afford it….

Some More from around the Web:

Nikon Rumors
Nikon D7000: Camera Road Test With Chase Jarvis
D7000 dpreview hands-on
Offical Nikon D7000 Site

And hands on video care of Engadget.

and a Nikon promo video….

I caught most of the talks Kim Stanley Robinson did…. here is just one of them. Talking about Climate Change, Science and the politics of denial.

(from the Aussie Con Programme )

“Climate change and utopia. – In the last thirty years utopia has gone from a nice idea to a survival strategy. In the coming era of climate change we will not be able to muddle through in our current system, because the bio-physical base of our existence will not support it. Social change is therefore inevitable; and the work of all the sciences together now suggest an emerging plan for change in a positive direction, and a resulting sustainable civilization. Enacting that plan will be both the history of the twenty-first century and the best utopia yet. The talk will explicate this argument. “

(Sorry in advance for the couple of times my phone hunted for signal)

For my photos from Aussie Con 4 visit the flickr set here…

These are just the low res versions, watch on youtube or choose HD for the better views…

Great Ocean Road – Geelong to Apollo Bay (Dur 3:45)

Detailed Blog Post

Warrnambool to Kingston SE (Dur 4:38)

Detailed Blog Post

Kingston SE to Adelaide (Dur 4:11)

Detailed Blog Post

Old Coorong Road (Dur 2:25) (This is a subset of the above video)

Detailed Blog Post

Adelaide to Melbourne (Dur 7:02)

Detailed Blog Post

(this is HD Video… best watched full screen, or just choose the 480 version from the video controls )

The Route: 350km Approx

View Larger Map

(this is HD Video… best watched full screen, or just choose the 480 version from the video controls )

The Route – Approx: 416 km

View Larger Map

The Route
41.3 km – about 1 hour 39 mins

View Larger Map