Scooter boy(s)

[chrisk]

so, this doesnt really fit anywhere but here i guess.

ive been pestering lucas to ride a bike for at least a year, he's just not interested in bikes at all, it seems this generation has an obsession with scooters. so to humor me on the weekend we went down to some netball courts with lots of room and i said righto, thats it you;re gonna learn how to ride a bike today. i said, its gonna take uyou a few weeks to get it but your 5, you need to learn to ride a bike and thats that. so i hold onto the back of the bike, he gets on, he sayds "righto, let go now." and that was that...he learnt to ride a bike in around 30seconds. 15 minutes later the little smart ass rides up, stops and says..."ok, you happy now dad ?" he then promply got off and got back on his scooter, the fleeting interest in his bike, apparently suffered only to make his old man happy, all but gone.

now as a dad and an old fart by todays standards, i took offence. a bike was a BIG DEAL to me growing up. i thought scooters were for babies and bikes were for big kids. i remember nmy first bike clearly, i remember be taught how to ride a bike by my old man. it was an epic moment of my young life. havign a bike meant i had come of age...i was practically a grown up ! then it hit me..."happy now dad ?" i didnt want him to ride a bike for anyone else but me. **sigh** being a dad is bloody hard work.

then of course he proceeded to completely fuckin terrify us with scooter stunts. he was flying down these ramps at what was insane speeds. now maybe my memory of being his age is pretty blurry but i get teh feeling that kids nowadays are far more reckless than we were. i couldnt watch half the time.

riding a bike in <30 seconds.


full concentration, (and a bit of fear i reckon !), approaching the 3rd ramp...by this time he was MOVING ! i love this expression of intensity.


Untitled by .Chris.K, on Flickr

down he goes !

Untitled by .Chris.K, on Flickr

to the victor go the spoils !! he was so proud of himself. his little brother was pretty chuffed too.


very proud of himself by .Chris.K, on Flickr

maybe not so chuffed here....right before impact.


Point of Impact by .Chris.K, on Flickr

didnt deter the little blighter though. he loves speed and scooting too. lucas shot this with the D4 incidentally and its a real family favourite.


Untitled by .Chris.K, on Flickr

anyway...just a pretty proud old man sharing a story.

and can i just say...d800e...farrrkkkkk !!!

[biggerry]

lol, classic stuff Chris. I love the super low POV.

**sigh** being a dad is bloody hard work

then of course he proceeded to completely fuckin terrify us with scooter stunts. he was flying down these ramps at what was insane speeds. now maybe my memory of being his age is pretty blurry but i get teh feeling that kids nowadays are far more reckless than we were. i couldnt watch half the time.

nah your just old

don't you remember all the bruises, cuts and possibly broken bones!

I reckon if ya get thru childhood in one piece ya doing pretty well

[sirhc55]

Great story in pictures and words. Begs the question, where are the knee and elbow pads?

Oh how times do change - my first scooter was made entirely of wood and if you went any faster than 5 feet and hour it would fall apart from the fatigue

[chrisk]

Shame I couldn't get a much slower shutter speed. Would have been good to capture the movement. I suck at sports.

[aim54x]

Great story there Chris! Funnily enough I was never allowed a bike and to this day I have not learnt how to ride. The funny things about growing up in an Asian family (a not-so-normal one at that).

[Reschsmooth]

Chris, I can relate pretty easily with this. I took Alex (5) to the local netball courts a few weeks back and expected him to take some time to learn to both balance and pedal. As soon as I let go of the bike, he was pedalling by himself.

Seeing the boys (Thommy - 3) on their scooters and such makes you realise how little fear they have. Tommy has taken to riding the scooter one-handed.

Alex's interest really peaked when I got my bike a couple of months ago - we jumped on websites and of course he picks out the most expensive, multi-geared kids bike, with full face helmet ($300) and the balance of the gear.

Kids, eh?

[Remorhaz]

a bike was a BIG DEAL to me growing up. i thought scooters were for babies and bikes were for big kids. i remember nmy first bike clearly... now maybe my memory of being his age is pretty blurry but i get teh feeling that kids nowadays are far more reckless than we were

Nah - I don't remember scooters existing when I was growing up - home made billy carts and bikes (and eventually motor bikes)

I also remember some pretty insane crap we did with friends on bikes tho - building enormous ramps (on the road mind you) out of planks of wood, boxes, milk crates, barrels and whatever we could get our hands on and do stupid evil kenevil crap (like jumping over people, etc). None of this protective gear and crap either...

it only got worse when we moved onto motorbikes and when I got a motorcross bike... I can't believe I wasn't killed or even badly injured given some of the crazy stacks I've had and close calls. I've never even broken a bone if you can believe it? I certainly can't fathom it. At least when I rode motorbikes I actually wore helmet, boots and leathers.

... oh yes the images . It's a great set Chris - I think I like the two mono's the best - I reckon a few slow pans with a dragged shutter might have been the go as well - with a child on a relatively slow bike/scooter it would have been even easier - I'd suggest on the inside of a nice curved bend would be the go.

With my own daughters I tried teaching them to ride (the older two about 5 years ago) and they have bikes - they just NEVER ride them - not interested - I guess they just mustn't be popular anymore (hardly see any kids riding bikes these days). And yes my girls all do have scooters . Plus I guess it's not like when we were young and you could just go out and ride anywhere (I lived in the country) - nowadays no-one really lets their kids just ride on the roads...

[ozimax]

My dream vehicle as a kid in Budgewoi was a pump-up scooter, but alas it was a no-go for my poor widowed mother to buy, so I had to settle for an old, second-hand Malvern star pushie that did me well for many years.

Some great pics here Roozy.

[chrisk]

thanks all for looking. can i also get a few things out there about the d800e.

firstly, some truths...
4fps will feel painfully slow. yes, it does.

the detail of the shots is mindblowing. yes, they are. i can and have done a 100% crop and print an 8x12 and its as if it came out of my d700 for detail. the resolving power of those MP's is insane.
the lack of a thumbgrip is uncomfortable. absolutely true, for me anyway. i find it uncomfortable to hold for long periods with one hand. this is unquestionabley a design flaw. i cant think of anyone who would NOT want to have a better grip of the camera to hold. its bloody stupid. the mkiii felt SOOOOOOOOO much better in the hand.
the DR is amazing. absolutely. this is a massive drawcard for me, you can get huge amounts of light gradients in one frame, this is not something the mkiii could come close to.
LV AF is useable. finally !!! yes its very useable. not as good as the mkiii mind you but easily used.

some myths:

the AF is much improved over the d700. BULLSHIT. its identical with one exception. in super low light the camera nails focus bang on every time. and im talking like its bloody dark. for all other purposes, its exactly the same and lags behind the mkiii signficantly in speed of aquisition. where it did seem betetr was in the accuracy of the shots. i noticed piles of mkiii shots that were not in focus although at the time i thought they were nailed. i put alot of this down to user error on my part as i dont know the canon system well enuf to make the most of it.
you have to have some perfect zen like technique all of a sudden to get any decent images.
you need a super heavy duty tripod and have it mounted to get good results.
you need a computer built by nasa to be able to process the images
you need as much storage as a goldman sachs executivess cayman islands back account
no way you'll be able to process using nx2, it will take 30 seconds just to load an image
the AF lever is a big improvement. now i get this is subjective, but i have to disagree, i prefer the switch of the d700 over the new design. the switch was quicker and easier to access.

all complete and utter crud. the internet is a strange place.

a partial truth...the dreaded green tint.

there is definately a green tint on occasion and i poicked this up in the d4 aswell, but this is not a screen issue perse. this is a WB issue. the d800/d4 AWB system sucks arse in mixed light. it gives a green tint when its confused. at first i thought it was the screen of the d4 when i first rented it. butthen i noticed the green tint occured in exactly the same place at exactly the same time with my d800e. it never occurs in full sun, or full shade or anything like that, its only mixed light...in this case mixed sunlight and incandescent with quite a few shadows from the afternoon sun in our living room. so i put a grey card in the room, did a custom WB and BOOM..green cast gone.

i dont have any AF issues at all, but am aware that they have been common place in eariler batches so cant comment.

anyway...just needed to get that written down and i'll update it as i get more impressions.