08 February 2017

Cameras, keyboards, and sunsets

I'll be leaving for a short trip to the U.S. in just a few days. I'm trying to convince myself that it will be a good idea to take my newest digital camera on the trip. It's a camera I've used very little since I bought it 18 months ago. It's a Panasonic Lumix TZ60 compact, long-zoom model that's called the ZS 40 in the U.S. I'm trying to figure out the camera's settings and taking some photos with it to see if I can succeed as well with it as with my 5-year-old Lumix TZ18/ZS8.


We had a pretty afternoon yesterday, and a nice sunset.


The sunset lasted only about five minutes. I rushed to get the camera and tried taking shots using different settings.


I've adjusted these in Photoshop, as usual, but I wish the images right out of the camera required less tweaking.


While I'm in the U.S., I'll be getting a new laptop computer. My current one is already 7 years old. I want to buy a new one in the U.S. because... well, it'll be less expensive than in France... and it will have an American keyboard.

The French computer keyboard has a different layout, with very commonly used keys like the M, the comma, the period, the A, the Q, the W, and the Z in different locations compared to the U.S. keyboard. It also requires you to hold down the shift key to type numbers.

It's just too confusing for an old blogger and typist like me. When I was younger and lived in Paris for three years, I learned and became comfortable with the French keyboard layout (on a tiny manual typewriter) and then had to relearn the U.S. keyboard when I returned to the states in 1982. But not now...

26 comments:

  1. I read recently that the AZERTY keyboard is probably doomed. It's so clunky even French people don't like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think that is true. My experience of adapting my typing to the French AZERTY keyboard all those years ago taught me that it was not harder to use than the QWERTY keyboard... once you got used to it. I just don't have time or the energy or acuity now to learn those new habits. On tablets it's not an issue. And it is easy to get a U.K. keyboard or even a U.S. keyboard for your desktop computer here. It's only with a laptop that it becomes a big issue.

      Delete
  2. Ours is the QWERTY and I couldn't change now but I wish I could do a few other accents é á ó appear to be my limit!
    Look forward to photos of your trip from whichever camera.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a U.S. International keyboard that is very handy. It's a software package that you can install. It turns the single quote into an acute accent when you press quote and then the E, for example, either uppercase or lowercase. If you want the ' character you just press it and then press the spacebar to display it. Of course you know that there is no á or ó in French... I use the U.S. International software layout with the U.K. keyboard on my laptop. Works fine.

      Delete
    2. Google for alternative letters, Alt keys or alt codes. At least for a pc you can get anything, in pretty much any language. I don't know about Macs.

      Delete
  3. I may be perceived as anti American at times, but I am not anti American keyboard. It is the standard here and anything different causes mucho problem. I would have to check, but I think it matches our old typewriter keys layout.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know that there are Canadian and Belgian French keyboards that are not identical to the France French keyboard. I don't know if there are Canadian or Australian keyboards that are different from U.S. or U.K. models. The U.S. and U.K. key layouts are 99% the same. There is also a Spanish QWERTY keyboard. I looked at its layout on the web this morning and it is different enough from the U.S. QWERTY that it wouldn't be all that easy for me to use.

      Delete
  4. Very nice photos :) That first one, with the bright blue of the sky next to the deep green of the tree... very nice :)
    I look forward to hearing about what laptop you will get. One of the things that I like about my Mac Air, is that the key board is back-lighted -- my husband's Gateway laptop, and my brother-in-law's laptop (I forget the brand, but it's not Mac), don't have that, and it's a noticeable annoyance. I know that's one feature that my husband would have preferred to have (but we just didn't think of it!). Does your current laptop have that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not the old one, but the new one, yes. I'm not sure whether the backlit keyboard is something I will find useful. When I'm in a dark roon, I'm usually on my tablet, where the on-screen keyboard is obviously backlit. My desktop computer, my three tablet computers, and my new laptop cmputer are all Acer devices.

      Delete
  5. The first photo is great, but I still think the "old" Lumix is better. I can't explain exactly why, but it's how I see these photos. Extensive photoshopping should not be necessary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I keep trying to learn to love the newer camera. I'm not sure it makes sense to try to live in the past forever. I suppose some future digital camera will be better than either the now-obsolete CCD cameras or the current MOS models. We have to move with the times.

      Delete
    2. I've been using the "new" MOS-sensor TZ60 a lot recently, and also the "old" CCD-sensor TZ18. I wonder how obvious it really is when it comes to judging photos taken with one camera or another in a "blind" test. Who can see the difference?

      Delete
  6. I have a special fondness for sunset/sunrise/sky photos .. I have way too many of my own but still love to see them.
    Yours are lovely .. really really lovely.
    We/I have only had Apple (Mac OS X) computers for so long now, I don't know how hard it would be to get on an ordinary computer again .
    Especially with the photos, I have this nice big desktop and I have (my late husbands) laptop ... I am well-Appled lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. PS-
    Your photos especially appeal to me because I , too, love sky/sunset/cloud photos .. and it never seems that I catch it exactly .. so the result is that I have way too many photographs of skies and sunsets :)
    This is also one of the reasons that we have had Apple computers for so long, the photo shop etc is brilliant ..

    ReplyDelete
  8. I worked at Apple for six years but I never became a fan of their computers. Somehow, it always felt like Apple computers imposed their will on users rather than letting them be free to work as they wanted to work. I guess that kind of thing is why I'd rather drive a car with a stick shift than an automatic transmission.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had no preconceived ideas or thoughts on Computers when we got ours .. the first was a honkin big thing from Dell.
      Then we moved to Portland Oregon, taking along an Apple laptop and desktop .. and in Buenos Aires we bought a new desktop .. which I am still using .. at this very moment :)
      No problems so far. The worst problems here are the amount of scammers/crap that is constantly bombarding my/our computers every day .. I am so tired of "Computer Protection " ... or rather, the effing idiots who spend their time and lives trying to muck up other people's internet lives. grumble grumble

      Delete
  9. Ken, I have seen some spectacular sunrise photos coming out of Carteret County on my Facebook page the past few days. I think they are some of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. Hope you can catch a few while you are home!

    I have two Canons and two Panasonic Lumix cameras and I have mastered none!

    I have an Apple Mac Mini. I've threatened to throw it in the creek more than once! I love my iPads and iPod, but I will never buy another overpriced Apple computer again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Apple vs. Microsoft computers — it's probably a lot like US/UK keyboard layouts vs. the French keyboard layout. It's mostly about what you originally learned and got used to. I do think the Apple products are too expensive for what they are and do. I'm pretty happy with my Android tablets, which are highly customizable and give the user full access to the OS's file system. Since I started my computer life on DOS and UNIX, that's important to me.

      Delete
    2. BTW, I always thought Carteret Co. and eastern NC had some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets...

      And I have 1 Canon and 3 Panasonic Lumix cameras. I've had 2 other Canons and one other Lumix that I've passed on to family members and charities over the years.

      Delete
  10. My husband was a professional photographer, once upon a time , my first camera was a hand me down Nikon. So of course Nikons were my choice when buying a new one. I also have a Cannon which is a lovely little thing that goes on trips well :)
    Our first computer was a huge thing .. when we moved to Portland Oregon we visited the Apple Store after the husband did all the homework. We left for Argentina with one laptop and the / this desktop in the boxes headed for our new home in Buenos Aires.
    Where they have several great Apple Stores :) wherever you go, there you are ..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No Apple stores around here. If there's one in Tours, I'd be surprised. In Paris yes, but that's not an easy trip. In Saint-Aignan, we have a good shop for PC hardware and software. There's no close-by Apple support in a place like my home town in N.C. either, as far as I know.

      Delete
  11. Both cameras take nice photos. I hope your trip goes well and you get some good photos. Lewis, Lila, Cathy and I are flying to Dulles Friday to visit my nieces and maybe see the sights of DC if the weather cooperates.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope the weather does cooperate and that you have a really good time.

      Delete
  12. I used Apple support online and by phone since coming back from the US.
    They have directories of all the places where you can get help ... I think what I like best about them is the streamlined easiness ..
    They are complicated to use and they are fine .. flat screens and no huge machine sitting on the desk .. the photos are what make me so happy... it is so easy I always think I am doing things wrong :)
    A MacBook might be nice for you .. sometimes what works best is just what you are used to ..
    www.apple.com/retail/storelist/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to start proofreading.
      They are NOT complicated to use ..

      Delete
    2. You know, I worked at Apple during the lean years, in the early to mid-90s. I had a Mac that was nothing but trouble. And I was already pretty heavily invested in PC software and hardware, so I didn't want to incur the expense of changing over to Mac when the machine I had was less stable and usable than the PCs I had at home. The Mac Book, by the way, costs more than twice the price of the PC laptop I've ordered and, again, I'm pretty heavily invested in PC hardware and software. I really don't feel like learning a new operating system and new hardware devices at this point in my life.

      Delete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?