This camera! I’m telling ya!

I’ve had a chance to play with my camera on the HTC Incredible, and I have to say – I’ve been pretty impressed with it.  The autofocus feature is great.  Below is a pair of pictures I took at work.  I focused the first pic in the foreground, and the second pic in the background.  All I did was touch the area of the screen where I wanted the camera to focus, and it did the rest.

Pretty amazing for a point-and-click camera.

I’ve had awesome, crisp photos in daylight settings, and I’ve been able to use the white balance to correct for incandescent and fluorescent indoor settings. 

I like all of the options for setting the on-screen review period, the resolution and ISO settings.  This camera has every option (and then some) that my traditional compact camera has. 

I also like the digital slider bars that control contrast/sharpness/saturation, brightness and the zoom, although I did find the zoom to be a little restrictive, i.e., I want to zoom more than the settings allow. 

Downsides to the HTC Incredible camera:

The laser roller button took a little getting used to, especially learning how to snap a photo without shaking the phone and ruining the picture.

No macro mode 😦  But, the camera does do a good job with maintaining the focus for close-up pictures.

I’m a bit worried about the unprotected glass lens.  Glass doesn’t scratch as easily as say, plastic, but still  I wonder how long it will be before I manage to scuff the lens.  Photo source 

I don’t have any photography training, so excuse my mealy-mouth description of this – the pictures are sometimes too…saturated?  The colors are a bit unbelievable, sometimes, in some situations. 

The flash is very, very bright, and I haven’t yet figured out if there is a way to modulate the brightness.  Below, in the indoor low-light picture of my tomato plant, everything is washed out and blue.  I also haven’t been able to make good use of the flash in outdoor, shade situations.  And fugedaboutit with shiny/reflective surfaces – I washed out every glossy-cover book that I tried to shoot with flash, from every angle.  But I’m guessing that some fiddling around with different light/dark photos will help me hone my skill with this not-quite user-friendly flash. 

I found a nice review of the HTC phone at Mobility Digest that includes a lot of screen shots.

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Tomato Plant Update

We had a cold snap this past week in Minneapolis – well, not a snap so much as the temperature has plummeted and hasn’t come back up yet.  I went out one morning and found my poor tomato plant bent over at the base – the main stem had weakened in the cold.  I brought my three planters back inside and commandeered a corner in one of the apartment stairwells.  I bolstered the tomato plant stem by resting the top of the plant against the wall and waited to see what would happen.  It did bounce back, and is actually flowering, but I’m getting worried about the lack of direct sunlight.  Ugh – cold, rainy, cloudy weather.  Enough, already!

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And finally, Happy 50th Anniversary of the Pill! 

photo source

I found a great column in the NYTimes via Skepchick called What Every Girl Should Know.  The article was written by Gail Collins and it outlines a few of the outrageous ways women used to try to prevent pregnancy.  It includes a snippet from The Pill, sung by Loretta Lynn, and a few stories about Margaret Sanger and the melodramatic villan-esque Anthony Comstock. 

And speaking of Loretta Lynn:  Woman sang herself a song with The Pill!

Loretta Lynn: The Pill lyrics (source) – 1975
You wined me and dined me
When I was your girl
Promised if I’d be your wife
You’d show me the world
But all I’ve seen of this old world
Is a bed and a doctor bill
I’m tearin’ down your brooder house
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill

All these years I’ve stayed at home
While you had all your fun
And every year thats gone by
Another babys come
There’s a gonna be some changes made
Right here on nursery hill
You’ve set this chicken your last time
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill

This old maternity dress I’ve got
Is goin’ in the garbage
The clothes I’m wearin’ from now on
Won’t take up so much yardage
Miniskirts, hot pants and a few little fancy frills
Yeah I’m makin’ up for all those years
Since I’ve got the pill

I’m tired of all your crowin’
How you and your hens play
While holdin’ a couple in my arms
Another’s on the way
This chicken’s done tore up her nest
And I’m ready to make a deal
And ya can’t afford to turn it down
‘Cause you know I’ve got the pill

This incubator is overused
Because you’ve kept it filled
The feelin’ good comes easy now
Since I’ve got the pill
It’s gettin’ dark it’s roostin’ time
Tonight’s too good to be real
Oh but daddy don’t you worry none
‘Cause mama’s got the pill

Oh daddy don’t you worry none
‘Cause mama’s got the pill

Tags: Garden, Reproductive Health, Technology, Women & Pro-Choice