I was sick today, and in addition to not getting any work done I didn't get any pictures done. I did, however, make an attempt at a time lapse movie. There are a few ideas I have for time lapses that I'd like to try, so I did a practice out of my window/door.

This exposure looks awful on a still with all of those blown highlights, but I came pretty close for video. There were some other problems with it, but I realized the biggest problem after I was done putting it together - I put over 1000 activations on a relatively low-end camera today. I checked the number after I was done and it now has about a bit over 10,000 - 9,000 in the first two years, 1,300 today.

If forced to guess, I would say the shutter might be rated for 10k. Maybe it's more like 50, but 40 one minute time lapses would burn through that right quick.

So my realization is that I should use my old SLR for timelapsing, if I'm going to do it. It definitely has the shutter activations to spare, and I don't use it for stills anymore anyway. But of course that requires me to buy another $15 intervalometer...oh well.

I also finally (thanks to waitingforgodot - see comment here) figured out how to use the rangefinder on a nice old German camera that has been gathering dust here since 2007. I think tomorrow I may find out how far I have to go to get a roll of HP5. It would be nice to give Cleveland's still-in-business black and white lab a little business. :)