This Green Scarab Beetle which I have not been able to identify was found the other day to Bisile. I used Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM with 24mm extender to get close to the beetle. If any of you know the id please let me know.

I saw this Yellow Spiny Daisy Machaeranthera gracilis was found in the side of busy National Highway 17 when I stopped to photograph the bus crwaling with creepers as featured in the post Recession. At the side of the dusty highway, in thre midst of workshop waste and garbage, glowing brightly were these bunch of daisies. They looked as perfect contrast to the picture of stagnant bus.

It’s Valentine’s Day. World is pink today to many. Some see it as Red. Other See it as Safron. Somee see Green too. I see today as Card marketing Day. We love to give cards, roses big hearts and what not on this day and forget our loved infatuated next day. So all the flower lovers oevr there here is my Yellow (don’t confuse this color with the color of present Journalism around us )

Valentine’s day is also called Singles Awareness Day. So have a Happy SAD Day

Wait and this ‘out of body’ experience is killing me!  I wish i had a genie like Aladdin to get me my 5D Mark II. I have booked 5D Mark II on 4th of December 2008 and today (9th Jan 2009) I heard from my dealer that he is sending the body via courier.  He says (I don’t know for sure) that I am one of the first four people to get 5D Mark II in India.

I am eagerly waiting. Meanwhile my 70-300mm lens sold, I purchased Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM lens which i could not test without camera body. If all the fall right I should have the 5D Mark II by Monday.

The black dot and the banding issue of 5D Mark II I mentioned in the last post seems to havre solved. Canon yesterday issued a firmware update (1.0.7) for 5D Mark II which corrects this issue. Here is the press release from Canon.

We have learned that some users of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR camera (with firmware version 1.0.6) have identified two types of image quality phenomena that appear under certain shooting conditions.

1. “Black dot” phenomenon (the right side of point light sources becomes black)
2. Vertical banding noise

Details of the phenomena and shooting conditions under which they are likely to occur (if the firmware is version 1.0.6) are as follows:

1. “Black dot” phenomenon (the right side of point light sources becomes black)
   When shooting night scenes, the right side of point light sources (such as lights from building windows) may become black. The phenomenon may become visible if the images are enlarged to 100% or above on a monitor or if extremely large prints of the images are made.
2. Vertical banding noise
   If the recording format is set to sRAW1, vertical banding noise may become visible depending on the camera settings, subject, and background.
   ▪ Vertical banding noise is not noticeable if the recording format is set to sRAW2.
   ▪ Vertical banding noise does not occur if the recording format is set to RAW or JPEG.
   ▪ Noise can be reduced if C.Fn II-3: Highlight tone priority is set to 0: Disable.

Firmware version 1.0.7. that addresses these phenomena is now available for downloading from the following Web site:

http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos5dmk2/firmware.html

When updating to firmware version 1.0.7, please also update the Digital Photo Professional and Picture Style Editor software. For details, please read the Firmware Q&A section on the firmware download page.

Until next time. See ya