I gave away my cameras and lenses

Just a quickie announcement, for those who might be interested in why I haven't and won't be posting really good pics of coins of mine anymore.

I gave away my cameras, etc. that I had. I had a couple of nice camera bodies and an assortment of lenses, carry cases, and other accouterments of this type of interest and had been trying over the last decade to indulge myself in taking pics, not only of normal things people take pics of but also coin photography.

Unfortunately, things happen in life that interfere with a desired pursuit.

In my case it had been, first, an eye problem where I had a retinal detachment in one eye and though successful in getting that re-attached and decent cataract surgery afterwards, gave me a few problems with camera usage, but for the most part I was able to use various reading type glasses to get the focus ok.

Afterwards, though, I started having issues with what docs like to call 'essential tremor', which is a rhythmic shaking or tremor, and sometimes only in one part of the body. I had it in my left arm/hand so that impacted things, and for a time just making sure I took lots of images to choose from would give me a good one (in real good focus) or two. I now notice it in both hands and it really is a big impact in trying to hold a camera (or even a phone for it's camera) steady enough to take a pic.

But the tremor did increase to be more, and then back about 5 years ago, my other eye also started having a cataract. I had surgeries on it but for whatever reasons, the outcome was not as good as the first eye as far as being able to see through a camera and have the ability to get a good focused shot. Even with lots and lots of tries. Even with trying to remember to use the better eye to try that with and use varying strengths of reading glasses while I did so. I just could not get the image I saw in focus to translate to a photo in the camera that was also in focus.

In short, with a combination of an essential tremor and an inability to correct eyesight to obtain good focused images, and the last few years of less doing things outside, it came to pass that in one of my attempts to do some Swedish Death Cleaning at my house, I realized that my extensive camera stuff was just gathering dust and would never be used the way I had been able to before for me. My daughter had mentioned a few years previous how she would love to have my cameras and so, without telling her, I collected them all together and when she came over for Thanksgiving, I had them all packaged up for her to have. It was her extra birthday/Christmas/big hey, I love you, you can have what you want gift.

So she will have to carry on with what she likes to photograph. It is a good thing to pass on what you can at times and I am thrilled she will have that opportunity to express her own vision of photography now. She has never had the 'good' cameras or extra lenses, etc. at her disposal before.

I will continue, though, to watch others here be able to produce excellent images of their coins.

The one thing I did, though, is buy her new SD cards for her use, so she has none of the ones I had used. Which means at some point I may be going through all my images and seeing if there are some I want to keep and share. So if you see really nice ones from me, it's an older one. Aside from that, any images I now make for coins is likely to be off my phone camera and it isn't really bad but it's not really good. Acceptable.

 

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Sad to hear that. To help with using a phone camera, if you support it on a coffee mug, a can or similar you will not have the shaking to worry about. Set the timer for 2 seconds so you are not touching it when the phone camera exposes. This also gives you the use of your hands to adjust the lighting where required. Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

I'm sure your daughter will do you proud with the gift you have given her......I'm terribly sorry to hear of the issues you are experiencing.

 

It's all good for me. I wish the second eye had been treated at the same time as the first, they were A-quality people doing the first, but it is what it is and I have, luckily, other things I love to do also. The tremor is worse when I get anxious or nervous or stuff and then it can be an issue but most of the time, it's mostly just noticeable to me. The eyesight thing is an issue in that just plain reading at sitting distance (think curling up on a couch or chair with a book) is a problem for me, but I am ok with doing things on computer and for the most part stuff in normal life. I do hate the spidery stuff I see floating around in one eye, which the eye docs aren't able to zap away (I've had several zapping sessions and it is there all the time). For the most part that's ok but occasionally I see it as a surprise and jump because it might be a spider or something!!!! It seems that for some reason overall, focusing at a closer distance to read is much more stressful for my brain than the other reading distances. So now I am considering scanning books, etc. as I need to if I really want to read something that isn't already available in that sort of format. So, basically, I don't read for enjoyment much anymore like people do.

That and the real annoyance of not being able to see small things anymore without magnifying glasses. But here, coin collecting has held me in stead, and I have my loupes. Which are easy to carry. Score one for coin collecting!!!!

 

I will have to try that, thanks!

 

Books on tape (audio books) might be an option.......I think we extract much more in listening than in seeing.

 

I've really upped my use of the YouTube podcasts that show up. Many of them are excellent just to listen to.

 

Here's a pic from Sept 2015 where I took pics of surfers near the shore in Sagami Bay, as Typhoon Etau approached. I was sightseeing in a typhoon. Though it turned out that most of the stores were closed.

 

Merry Christmas and be assured my prayers go with you.

 

I was not the only sightseer in that typhoon, as others came to see the Great Buddha at Kamakura that day, too. The typhoon did hit up north of Tokyo pretty bad that day and the rain after this pic, by about maybe a half hour or so, was horrible. From a newspaper then" “Unprecedented rain in Japan unleashed heavy floods on Friday that tore houses from their foundations, uprooted trees, and forced more than 100,000 people from their homes,” according to Reuters. One person was missing after rivers burst their banks in cities north of Tokyo following days of heavy rain, caused by Typhoon Etau, pummeling Japan. " - https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/09/typhoon-etau-triggers-flooding-in-japan/404719/

 

This is a minor thing in life in so many ways. The eye issue is concerning of course, but the photography is less important. I accept that I can't escape the ravages of time, whatever it likes to throw out.

 

I think we all have things in our life we have to give up or not really pursue due to time. I think I might have mentioned somwehat recently about having a day of go-carting with the top of the line carts. Straightaway speeds at 70-80 mph, really fast. The G forces in the turns I could not take becoming nauseated and often on the verge of spilling my cookies. Needless to say my carting days will never even start. This is all due to some middle ear problems I have. I can live with it okay, I'm just glad I didn't get one before I found this out.

Very thoughtful for you to realize the situation and passing the equipment to your daughter. I have no doubt she will cherish your gifting her with this.

 

Different things happen to all of us, just in different ways at different ages.

 

I'm sorry that you're having to deal with this -- vision issues are especially annoying -- but I am glad your daughter will be able to put your equipment to continuing use.

For a while, I was in the "nothing beats a physical book/printout" camp. But screens have gotten so much better over the last twenty years or so that it's pretty much flipped for me. (That, and I don't need more shelf space for more books!)

If you find that focusing closer is more stressful for you... I'm assuming that you, like me, have reached an age where your eyes' lenses don't change focus, but you look through a different part of eyeglass lenses. But, of course, your eyes cross more to look at something close, and that can produce strain.

If that's the case, I wonder if displaying everything on a big TV a bit further away would be helpful?

One day, hopefully soon, we'll watch everything through our smart glasses/goggles, and "big screens" will seem quaint. Not yet, though.

 

Very possibly but I don't own a decent tv right now. At some point, I am looking to get one but it is very far down the I want to have list. I do have a scanner that is easy to use that if I really feel like I need to read a book that is not easy to read because it is a print one and my issues, I'm not afraid to copy the darn thing as I need to. Also, nowadays, with good copiers in the library and the ability to put the copies as pdfs, I can get portions of books there easy enough. The library I go to does not charge for the images to go to a thumb drive, just if you print them.

 

❤️

 

One should also keep in mind short wavelength blue light from the TV , sunlight, or the computer monitor. I bought a roll of thin yellow tinged window plastic with silver reflecting back outside. It does help if you are on inside devices more than a couple of hours a day. Or if that is too difficult , use a pair of yellow tinged welding glasses to block the blue. For me, 80 was when night driving got hard, modern car/trucks lights coming at you can be scary Jim

 

Yeah, it's not just you or your age -- headlights have changed in the last few years. My son complains about them, and he's 22.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems and hope your vision has stabilized. Eye docs won’t usually do an intraocular operation on both eyes at the same time unless it’s urgent. There are a couple of reasons. First, the unoperated eye usually has some functionality that can be used while the other eye recovers. Second, if the surgery didn’t work on the first eye, they can rethink the approach to the other eye … different surgery, wait, or no surgery.

Cal

 

Well, I guess I didn't mean at exactly the same time. But maybe within a year or so of the first one being good stabilized. Anyhow, it's all water under the bridge now.