Yet another camera problem...

[I meant to finish this post up in Korea, but I neglected to do it. So here it is. I have a follow-up to it which I'll get up in a few days.]

When I was going through some of my pictures on Tuesday, I noticed that about 10 of the images from the end of the session have vertical lines through them like you see in the 100% crop above.

The whole trip I was shooting JPEG, so it is unlikely it is a CF problem or file problem. Most likely, I believe it is a sensor problem. I expect it would be relatively easy to fix the images using PSP XI, but the bigger question is whether I'll need to get the camera fixed (thank goodness for the SquareTrade warranty). It hasn't happened again though, so it could have just been a random malfunction in the Jeju humidity.

I did a quick Google search on the issue and turned up a few good links. Consensus seems to be that this sort of problem indicates a sensor connection issue although most links weren't exactly the same problem I'm having. Apparently these types of issues are relatively common on the 20D.

Did I mention I was glad for the SquareTrade warranty? More and more, I think it is well-worth it to warranty cameras because of their inherent complexity and chances of breaking in a very expensive way. Especially used/refurbished cameras. Lenses aren't as important to warranty, in my opinion, since they are much simpler pieces of equipment and don't break as easily.

Helpful Hints From Jeju, South Korea...

Wow, over two weeks has elapsed since my last post. Luckily, I'm in Jeju, South Korea for a conference and I've had lots to point my camera at. Expect a bunch of pictures in the near future.

For now, some helpful hints for the next time you are on the Hawaii of Korea:

Helpful Hint #1: In a warm and humid climate, your lens will fog up when you leave an air-conditioned room and go outside. This morning it took half an hour for my camera lens to defog when I went to the beach, and I missed a bunch of photos.

Helpful Hint #2: Sometimes it is just better to go to the hotel restaurant and point to what you want when ordering room service instead of getting nowhere on the phone. Edit: The ox-tail soup I ordered is pictured at left.

Helpful Hint #3: Bring an umbrella. And lots of clean underwear and shirts. Coming from the desert that is the Bay Area, I was shocked how quickly I could soak a shirt with sweat, even when it wasn't raining.

Back to the Future

Here's a memory for you:

I'm cruising to school in my decade-old stickshift, blasting Pearl Jam on the radio with the windows down, wind whipping around me... Sure, the car was a piece of crap, but I could still get that thrill of speed as I moved through the gears, rev'd it up a bit, and enjoyed that special freedom which came with MY OWN CAR.

Of course, I'm actually talking about last Wednesday.

You know, most guys with a mid-life crisis get to sleep with younger women, drive a fast sports car, or start doing all the daring stuff they wanted to do when they were younger but didn't have the resources. Me, I have a mid-life regression. I'm still in school, I'm around high school kids constantly, I'm still married, and now I'm driving a car with so many problems I can remember them all. But I'm enjoying life :)

Although the fantasy burst when I realized I couldn't get the piece of %&*# radio to eject the CD. I swear, the dealer must of sent in a few UPC symbols from a cereal box to get the thing; I didn't technology this bad was still out there. Reliving my youth is cool (and I still like Pearl Jam), but always driving around in a '98 Honda listening to Pearl Jam?

Definitely uncool.


Speaking of cool, since my Honda isn't much to look at, the images in this post are all of cars that... aren't mine. I took them at the Palo Alto Concours D'Elegance in late June. In order of appearance:

1. A DeLorean, the only production car with stainless steel body panels. Apparently the DMC isn't dead though.
2. A 2001 Lamborghini Diablo 6.0 from the last year of the Diablo. Yeah, a $250,000+ car. Really.
3. A 2007 Tesla Roadster Roadster, the first electric supercar. A woman in my lab is doing an internship with them, I'm pretty jealous. For the low, low price of $98,000, you too can pre-order a car that can go toe-to-toe with a Lamborghini Murcielago in acceleration (0-60 in 4 seconds), hit 130+ mph, go 200 miles on a single charge, yet get an equivalent of 135 mpg. I'm not a car guy, but I love what the Tesla stands for: more efficient, yet better performance. I really hope electric/hybrid cars go in this direction.
   
4. No idea what this is, but it looks really cool.