Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Know your equipment! 知識

I was just thinking about a hike I took up one of the peaks in the Japan Alps with some friends last new years. We hiked a few hours up the snow covered mountain, to get about 10 to 15 minutes of fun riding down a sweet gully, and a further hour or so back out down to the top of the resort we had hiked out of. It a was tough hike up for me without any snowshoes, and with a board strapped to my back I was fairly knackered by the time we reached the top. I had packed my dslr into my pack and planned to take some pics, but when we finally got to the top, my camera wouldn't work. I kept getting the Error signal. Shit! It was bloody cold up there at that point, and all I could think of was that the cold was shutting my dslr down (I had had this happen with a smaller point-and-shoot camera). So I grudgingly packed the camera away and came back with no shots of the scenery or the riding action. I was bummed. Anyway, back at my mate's lodge, I pulled the camera out, just to find the same error. After a few minutes of fiddling (and worrying) I realized that the lense had been unlocked slightly and was no longer set to the auto f-stop position. Maybe the cold affected my thinking up on the mountain, but I sure won't make that mistake and miss a chance for some great shots again...

去年、友達とバックカントリースキーを楽しむために雪山ハイキングに行った。3時間のハイキングの末、ようやく目的地に到着。意気揚々とカメラを取り出したが、ハプニング発生!!カメラが動かない。。。エラーの表示。。。寒さのせいか???結局、原因は、寒さとは関係なくレンズが基本の位置から少しだけズレていただけだった。バックカントリースキーは、とても楽しかったが、写真が1枚も撮れなかったのは、今でもすこし悔いが残る。。。

Here is a pic I snapped from my mobile phone before we hit the gully. Checking the snow layers for avalanche risk. かろうじて携帯で撮れた1枚「なだれを防ぐためのチェック」

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