Just another lighthouse pic…?

I have worked out that the Umhlanga (can you pronounce it correctly?) lighthouse is the most photographed in South Africa. That conclusion comes from looking for photos of various SA lighthouses on Flickr and the North Durban one being by far the most plentiful in the search window.

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Yes, many lighthouses are iconic landmarks, but not all of them are quite so photogenic and convenient for a nearby conurbation. Joburg has no lighthouses. Cape Town has the Green Point lighthouse, but it’s more of a red and white Minecraft block than an actual tower. And Cape Town has so much more stuff to look at too. Cape Agulhas is certainly iconic, and geographically important, but it’s a long way from anywhere big. So in many ways, Umhlanga is the perfect balance of large local population, tower, and not too much other stuff to look at (don’t @ me).

I’ve never been to Griffiths Island in Victoria, Australia, nor do I have any desire to go there, but someone on Flickr did go there and they took this photograph:

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Google tells me that Griffiths Island is near the legendary Port Fairy, where men are men and have ever such delicate wings. I don’t ever have to go there because someone went and took this beautiful image. I’m looking forward to test driving the new camera down at Agulhas this weekend, hopefully (in the nicest possible way) preventing anyone from having to go there ever again, as well.

4K ISS TV

This looks good:

NASA TV is launching a dedicated 4K channel

Here’s the skinner:

NASA has announced that it will launch a new 4K television channel dedicated to showing UHD footage on November 1st.

The space agency is working with a company called Harmonic, a video delivery infrastructure company, to launch the channel. NASA is calling it “the first ever non-commercial consumer ultra-high definition channel in North America.” Harmonic is providing NASA Television with the ability to deliver the 4K (2160p at 60 frames per second) video. NASA’s 4K channel will primarily feature the UHD footage that the agency has been filming on the International Space Station over the past few months, as well as 4K time-lapses created from images taken aboard the ISS.

Which sounds like something that would be right up my street. And super educational for the kids as well. Also, can you imaging one of those 4K time-lapses on the big screen at a party or something? Magic. But hang on…

You will be able to access it on the internet on most devices, provided you have access to a connection of 13 Mbps or higher.

And that’s going to instantly rule out 99.9% of South Africa. Even if you’re going to use your 3G HSDPA or LTE mobile connection (which would easily be fast enough), with that sort of download, you’re going to chow your monthly bandwidth allowance in about 1.4 seconds.

Not great.

Bug

I think I eluded to the fact that we’d got a new camera some time ago (yes, I did, here). I still haven’t got those photos up (nor am I going to be able to before the end of the month if I’m honest). However, I have got the cemera with me, and I’ve been pointing and shooting when I get the chance. I’m going to put whatever I get into my new, snappily-named Canon Test Shots Album.

You shouldn’t expect anything ever so spectacular in there, I’m just learning. As an example, here’s a bug on a double-glazed window.

Note those two reflections from the two panes of glass.

My old camera (and even my phone) can take decent shots like that. The difference comes when you start to zoom in. The clarity from the new beast is just incredible. And yes, I daresay that other cameras and other lenses are even better (this is a standard, rather than a specific macro lens).

But I don’t have those to compare this against, so I’m still more than happy.

Grand Canyon From The Stratosphere!

Indeed.

A team from Tuba City, Arizona (I love this story already) sent a GoPro camera up on a weather balloon. Long story short, it got lost.
Gone for good? No – it was found 2 years later and returned to them. When they looked at what was shot, they saw this:

Wow. I was amazed at the pictures (and the music* – who knew you’d be able to hear that at 98,000ft?). But seriously – wow.

The guys just down the road in Euphonium Town must be livid.

Music: Matt Corby – Brother (Kygo Remix)