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Saturday, January 7, 2012

New SPOT on the way

Plagiomnium insigne or Badge Moss is my best guess, the first moss I have identified

OK I ordered it from Amazon.com instead of a mystery drop shipper this time and did not have to pay for shipping or sales tax due to some sort of loophole.  The drop shipper said they will give me a full refund and gave me a code to get a 5% discount if I order something from them in the future.

 While I was on the Amazon site I also ordered a waterproof camera that excels at macro photography.  I hope to have lots of fun taking pictures of moss with it this quarter.  It will be a relief to not have to worry about getting my camera wet and it will be a relief to not have to lug my huge expensive DSLR around all the time.  

This new camera is not rated as well as other waterproof cameras for landscapes and such but that's OK because I don't generally do landscapes in the rain.  When it's raining macro photography is where it's at for me.  This camera comes with a lighted lens and ring can focus on things just 1/2 inch away, that is going to be so much fun for taking pictures of moss and fungi... 
Pentax Optio WG-1 Adventure Series 14 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Wide-Angle Optical Zoom (Purple) is what I've ordered.

My prime lens on my D-90 has to be 1.5 feet away from something to focus on it and that can be a problem when taking pictures of the undersides of mushrooms!  My other lens is the kit 18-105 DX VR lens  (Nikons softest lens in the corners boo hoo..)    and the lens is physically taller than most mushrooms so getting it under mushroom is pretty much impossible unless the mushroom is on a tree or on a steep slope.
For a little more money I could have gotten a dedicated macro lens for my Nikon D-90 but I really wanted a waterproof pocket camera that I can have on me at all times.  I don't presently own a pocket camera.  I own a d-90 and a Kodak Z612.  I pretty much ruined my Z612 taking pictures of myself on the summit of Mount Rose during a windstorm of snow and rain.  I knew it was not good for my camera but I was just having way too much fun up there that day.  Ever since I did that my Z612 has been prone to randomly going through all the menu options or other totally random stuff when I press the shutter button.  The only fix is to turn it off and then back on and hope it behaves better.  I miss a lot of shots due to that problem.   While the Z612 is a point and shoot, it is not a pocket camera.  I took the photo at the top of this page with the Kodak Z612 in manual mode, with a timer and a bean bag.  I think it's a horwort.  My pet Pilophorus acicularis is growing on top of the rock in the back ground.

What ever it is I'm keeping it and I just happened to waypoint it and remember quite well where it was growing so it's going to be my first bryophyte to try to ID.  I sure hope my ID books get here soon, I ordered them weeks ago.

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