Princeton

I’m afraid today’s post will be pretty boring. Mostly I took advantage of being in an area with standard retail and technical services to take care of some tasks.

My first stop this morning was New Jersey Camera , the shop I found that advertised short turn-around times for sensor cleaning. It was only a few miles away, but that was long enough to experience some classing NJ driving. A light turned yellow as I was approaching and, as I had enough time to stop, I did. When I took driver’s ed 50 years ago, I learned that if you can safely stop for a yellow, do so; only continue through the intersection if it would be more dangerous to stop. However the lady behind me in the Tesla apparently didn’t agree and started honking at me. After the very short stop, she careened around me to my right and I realized that the reason she had trouble stopping was that she was going probably 80 mph I’m a 55 mph zone. Obviously she was not using the self-driving feature. I was grateful she did not rear end me.

I left my camera at the shop with Doug and went off to do a couple of other errands while the tech (really the store owner) took a look at it. I also left a lens for him to look at as it looked to me like there was dust inside the lens as well. Fortunately both Whole Foods and REI were within a few miles of the camera store on the same business district road. I was able to complete my grocery shopping, however, REI inexplicably decided to open two hours late be

cause of the bad air quality. That made no sense to me, but whatever.

Most of you, except for the true technical die hards, may wish to skip the next few of paragraphs.

Fortunately, I received the call to return to the camera shop to pick up my camera and lens just as I had finished my grocery shopping. Leon explained that he was able to mostly clean the sensor. It was - as I knew - very dirty. However, there was one small spot that was behind the sensor and the IR filter that he could not get to with a simple cleaning. He confirmed that there was in fact dust inside the lens, and that it could not be cleaned without taking it apart. However, he professed that the dust would not likely affect image quality. He thought that most of the artifacts I was seeing were from the dirty sensor. His testing showed only the one small spot remaining on the back of the sensor.

Once I returned to my hotel - via a stop at a now open REI to acquire a few additional summer hiking shirts - I placed a call to Canon to discuss my options. At that point I was considering whether it was worth sending the camera and/or lens in for cleaning. Normally this is not a problem, but my nomadic existence and daily use of the camera makes things more difficult. After I spoke to one tech, I was considering sending in both the camera and lens. They do have a very quick turn-around and there was also the possibility of a loaner if they needed more time. That would only be an issue for the lens as I do have a back-up camera body.

I realized I had a few more questions and made a follow-up call to Canon. This time I lucked out and got Norris on the phone. He was incredibly knowledgeable and helped me think through the situation in a reasonable manner. First, he agreed with Leon at the camera store, that the dust inside the lens should not affect image quality and it was not worth sending back for cleaning. This would actually be considered a repair as the lens would need to be disassembled, so a pretty big deal. So that decision helped a lot. Really, the same would be true for the camera as it would need to be disassembled to get to the spot behind the sensor and IR filter.

He then gave me some options for faster and more comprehensive service. This would required upgrading my status with Canon to a paid service plan, but the fee was quite reasonable for the coverage and comes with a lot of perks. Even if I decide not to send anything in while I am traveling, I will certainly send all of my equipment in for cleaning and maintenance when I return, and everything would be covered, including shipping. The cost for all of that would like exceed the fee for the upgraded plan. Norris was also interested in my journey and encouraged me to ask for him personally next time I had any questions. That alone was worth the call.

In the end, we decided that I would do some testing with the set-up as it is, as possibly the sensor cleaning would have taken care of most or all of the visible issues. And I can always decide to switch to my back-up camera at any time. Stay tuned for those results.

OK to start reading again for the civilians.

Fortunately, I was able to multi-task and had my laundry load going while making the phone calls. Still, it was past 3 PM before I got out to actually take a hike. I drove the short distance to Institute Woods , a piece of property owned by The Institute for Advanced Study. Although it sits adjacent to the Princeton University Campus, it is not associated with that institution. Rather, is a postdoctoral research campus founded in 1930 by Louis Bamberger and Caroline Bamberger Fuld, with Albert Einstein as one of its first professors. According to the web site, the surrounding lands were acquired in the early 1900s and conceived as a “refuge for ideas and wildlife.” The institute became the steward for the preservation of the woods in 1997 as part of an easement with the state’s Green Acres program to develop and enhance interconnected open spaces.

It really is a beautiful site. The woods are dense, with a network of trails meandering through them, and a stream borders one side. I had a lovely calming walk while looking for birds. I heard many birds, saw some, and captured exactly no images. I actually spent far more time than I intended and had to hustle to get out before the woods got dark.

Tomorrow I plan to drive a longer distance to visit The Big Swamp. Hopefully it will be a more productive day than today.