3028/3030

Yes, this is a complete set-up. It's a self-timer shot.

This is also the first time the Panasonic TS3 has made an appearance in over five hundred photos. It was an extremely windy and rough day, and I wasn't about to risk the S100 by perching it on some precarious rocks. Besides, the Canon had done its little trick with the battery meter where it reads full when I'm at home and then flashes red when I take my next photo with it.

After becoming used to the S100's image quality, seeing the TS3 again was a bit of a shock. Now I remember why I used the 'effects' modes so much.

2446/2455

Experimenting with long exposures. The only option is to use the "starry sky" mode, with a minimum shutter speed of fifteen seconds, and no other control options.

But I do like this photo, and can't be too hard on the TS3. Later in the night it toppled forward and slid face-down along a granite boulder on its way to a two-foot fall to the frozen ground. The front handgrip has some small scratches that are deep enough to show silver metal through the orange colour coat, and the lens bezel has a few new nicks, but otherwise the camera is just fine.

2408/2408

This is part of my bike route to work. It's an interesting spot because I need to dodge to the left to avoid turning cars, swing back to the right to cross a complicated set of streetcar tracks, and then move back to the left on some really bad pavement to avoid the cars, trucks, and taxis that are invariably parked at the curb.

One morning when traffic was light I was able to spare enough attention to look around a bit. I always assumed that this was a designated loading zone, and I was wrong. No stopping and tow-away signs are attached to every available post.

In other news, the committee that advises Toronto City Council has proposed increasing fines for illegal parking during rush hour, or blocking bike lanes at any time, to $150 from $60. However, there's also a stipulation that no additional efforts will be taken to enforce the laws that are consistently being broken.

Did I mention that this spot is almost within sight of the Toronto Police headquarters?

2348/2348

This is one of my favourite ads right now.

First of all, these days it's rare to see a company so blatantly saying "Think for yourself! Don't buy what they want you to, buy what we want you to!" It argues against the eternal idea that consumers are more sophisticated these days, and niftily defeats its own message for anyone who's actually in their desired self-aware counter-corporate demographic.

But that's all beside the point. How is that computer staying on her legs? And if she stood up, how tall would she be?

2003/2004

A chicken walks into a library, looks at the librarian, and loudly clucks: "Book!"

The librarian, not knowing what else to do, gives the chicken a book. The chicken takes it and leaves.

The next day the chicken comes back. "BookBook!"

The librarian gives the chicken two books. The chicken takes them and leaves.

The next day the chicken comes back again. "Book! BookBook!"

The librarian gives the chicken three books. The chicken takes them and leaves.

The next day the chicken comes back again. "BookBook! Book! Book!"

The librarian gives the chicken four books. The chicken takes them and leaves.

The next day the chicken comes back again. "BookBook! Book! BookBook!"

The librarian gives the chicken five books. The chicken, staggering a little under their weight, takes them and leaves.

The librarian, curious about where the chicken is taking these books, decides to follow the chicken. Along the sidewalk, down the street, out of the village: the chicken walks down a little path to a pond.

At the pond the chicken starts handing the books to a frog:

"Readit. Readit. Readit. Readit…"

I wish I could remember how old I was when my brother told me that joke. It was long enough ago that I was young enough for it to be funny, so that's really saying something.

I often take photos for reviews with my TS3. This one is exactly what it looked like straight out of the camera. It was lit with my Zebralight Floody flashlight, which I've used a few times before because it has a really nice light colour and falloff.

And I knew as soon as I saw this "BookBook" case that I would review it as it sat on the book "Letterletter". 'This iconoclastic collection of essays on typography, writing and life is the work of calligrapher, type designer and teacher of lettering and design, Gerrit Noordzij.'

And yes, breaking the 2000 photo barrier is cool. Only 2996 more photos to go.

1997/1998

This is the van that blew past me to make a left-hand turn through the red light that I was stopping for. This photo was taken ten minutes later, when I waited for the van to catch up to me for a second time. A bike in a bike lane is still faster than a van in heavy traffic, no matter how important the idiot driving thinks he is.

1916/1922

I took this photo to show that I was overcharged for a couple of organic cucumbers. I only wanted to save the woman at the "Customer Service" desk some walking, but she was so infuriated that I had dared to take a photo in her store that I decided that I might as well post it.

1914/1914

This is one of the many photos that I've taken with my TS3 for a review. While it doesn't have the best image quality, and the eye-fi card I use in it is often a nuisance, it's still the most convenient combination to use for quick work.

I edit all of my TS3 photos on my laptop, and now I can go for days without bothering to use my desktop computer at all.

1900/1905

This photo just wouldn't be the same without the penguin.

1843/1843

This is a companion to a photo that I took with my Olympus XA.

1516/1516

An American A-10 warplane, nicknamed either Thunderbolt II or Warthog, depending on who you ask, flies over Toronto. A two-seat version of this slow but rugged twin-engine is exactly the plane that Canada should be buying for arctic and maritime patrol – much better than a cold-war style figher jet that costs over $75 million each. Stealthy planes that can carry just a handful of air-to-air missiles as they break the sound barrier while flying straight up just aren't all that important any more.

Use the savings from not having the cutting-edge jets to keep a reduced fleet of fast CF-188's in service, and buy a bunch more C-130 Hercules as well – unlike all of these other planes, those ones are actually useful.

1432/1432

I often use my TS3 to take product photos. This is the image straight out of the camera, exposed at +1ev and lit with my trusty Zebralight; the finished version can be seen with my Vector review. Naturally, I've also reviewed the TS3 – twice, in fact.

1200/1203

That would be Rob Ford, Mayor of Etobicoke North, with only incidental responsibility for the rest of the two and a half million people in Toronto.

1176/1177

This sign could be dismissed as a quirk of grammar – beware v. be aware - but it's on the driveway of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club.

These recent monochrome photos have been taken with the "Film Grain" mode, typically with exposure compensation increased by 2/3 to a full stop. This one also had the flash forced on.

1170/1172

Late update with the results:

879/1021

That's Canada on the left. Happy birthday.

507/507

This is my fortieth photo post, and the gallery has just broken 500 photos. At the current average of 12.675 photos per day, I can expect this project to last another 355 days, completing the run to 5000 photos in 13 months.

That's faster than I had expected.

But I also don't upload every photo that I take with my TS3. The camera's actual total exposures is currently 834: I don't add the ones that are too redundant, complete duds, or personal. By the time the gallery reaches 5000 photos, the camera counter will be over 8200.

That's more than I expected.

What's happened is that I use my digital camera like a digital camera, taking several tries for each composition. I had anticipated using it more like a film camera, where I take a single photo and move on. That may not have been a sensible expectation, but I do use my D700 like a film camera, because I know it well and can trust its results. The TS3 takes a few more tries before I get it right – although many of the photos that I've been posting here have been nothing more than happy accidents.

Contented accidents, at least.


This photo is the jacket that I sometimes wear while biking. I didn't go anywhere photogenic, but it needed to dry after I got caught in the rain.