Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/04/19

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Namibia - Sossusvlei
From: afirkin at afirkin.com (afirkin at afirkin.com)
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:05:52 -0400
References: <p2mee8fa51c1004190529j5efcedfbtb76522c7e04d51da@mail.gmail.com>

Wonderful story, wonderful images and a reminder that the sensor is not as
delicate as some would have you believe, BUT it is as expensive to replace
as they threaten, so wipe with care ;-)

Cheers

Alastair

> Everyone who goes to Namibia goes to Sossusvlei.  It has some of the
> largest and most impressive sand dunes anywhere in the world.  I
> normally avoid places like this like the plague, but we went along
> anyway.
>
> The dunes were really magnificent:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/freakscene/Africa+2009/Namibia/img368a.jpg.html
>
> Anything that dies just petrifies; it doesn't rot.  There is
> insufficient moisture 99% of the time for fungal growth or for the
> sorts of insects that break down flesh or wood in other environments:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/freakscene/Africa+2009/Namibia/img646a.jpg.html
>
> The wind blows the sand into amazing shapes:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/freakscene/Africa+2009/Namibia/img731a.jpg.html
>
> and the sky reciprocates with amazing cloudscapes:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/freakscene/Africa+2009/Namibia/img952a.jpg.html
>
> But if you think we were really alone in a wilderness:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/freakscene/Africa+2009/Namibia/img641a.jpg.html
> we were not.  To save the dunes, you're only allowed to clim (= wreck,
> really) one dune.  It was fairly uninteresting, being in a majestic
> place before dawn with several hundred other yabbering foreigners
> admiring the "majesty" of it all.  I could have stayed in Cape Town
> and felt that crowded.
>
> The sand here was very fine.  I took my M8 out once and afterwards the
> sensor looked like it was ice cream with sprinkles on it.  I hadn't
> changed the lens. The Arctic Butterfly does not do that great a job of
> removing fine particles of silica; they just don't charge up that
> well.  I carefully cleaned the sensor - somehow I managed to remove
> the vast majority of the very fine sand without scratching the sensor.
>  I cleaned the sensor frequently and with less overall concern after
> that.
>
> Comments etc welcome as always.
>
> More soon,
>
> Marty
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>




In reply to: Message from benedenia at gmail.com (Marty Deveney) ([Leica] Namibia - Sossusvlei)