The ophthalmologist again

December 27, 2024

The alarm

My day begins at 6:00 sharp when the alarm on my iPad wakes me from a deep sleep. It’s a rude awakening, and a frustrating one. I almost never set the alarm, doing so only for can’t oversleep situations like early flight departures. And even when I have set one, it’s rare that it actually wakes me because I normally wake up on my own first anyway. I can hardly recall the last time I was actually awakened in this way.

It’s disorienting, and quite frustrating because it’s intentionally set to max volume and I’m in a rush to shut it down so it won’t keep disturbing Rachael, who has no need to get up so early today. I can’t shut it down though because it’s so dark I can’t see a thing. I have no trouble finding the iPad in the dark - I always place it in easy reach at night so I can check the time or use it to light the way if I need to fumble my way to the bathroom. Even with it in my hands though I can’t stop the alarm if I can’t open the case first, but I can’t find the one notch in the case where your finger can pull it open. I run my index finger along the entire perimeter on one side, then flip it over and do the same on the other. Failure. All the while the alarm continues beeping away, and Rachael’s wide awake now.

This lasts what, a half minute or more? That’s how long it takes me to finally figure out the problem. It’s completely dark because my eyes are both still shut tight. Amazing. I must have really been comatose when the alarm went off. I open them and there’s suddenly enough light that I can see the white label on one side that the hospital staff affixed so they could get it back to me after they recharged it. I’ve kept it on because it’s useful - it labels the right side of the pad for locating the access point, and points toward it in the lower right. It’s much more effective though with your eyes open, even if only one of the set makes a contribution.

Oh well, sure. Easy enough if you open your eyes!

The appointment

The alarm is set because today is an important one to The Team - the day of my one-week follow up with my new ophthalmologist down in Sunnyside, an appointment Bruce generously agreed to drive me down to again. To express my gratitude I offer to take him out to breakfast beforehand at Stepping Stone Cafe. The alarm is set early because the cafe normally starts filling fast by eight and a queue forms up outside waiting for a table, and we want to beat the rush. The plan is for Bruce to swing by the apartment at 7:30, we’ll drive over to Stepping Stone, and then we’ll drive south to Sunnyside in time for my 10 AM ophtho appointment.

The plan changes though, on a one-sided decision. Yesterday I took some time thinking ahead to this appointment and putting together my list of questions I wanted to remember to seek answers to. Sometime around 4 AM though I woke up and realized I hadn’t thought to remind myself of the appointment time, and that seemed pretty important. I’m famous for misremembering things I’m absolutely certain about. Rachael can supply evidence.

So I look it up: the appointment is at 10, with check in at 9:45. I rethink the timeline and mentally agree it all pencils out - as long as nothing goes wrong. And then I finally I realize this is really stupid. Things oft go awry, and this appointment is too important to take a chance with. The big breakfast can wait until Boof and Andrea bring the Raven home. I send him an email asking him to pick me up at Caffe Umbria at 7:30 instead, or to come earlier and join me for coffee. And then I go comatose for the next two hours until the alarm so rudely awakens me.

So my morning reverts to the now-ritual routine - first snack, then walk down to Umbria when it opens at 7. At 7:30 Bruce calls. He’s parked outside our apartment waiting for me to show up so we can head to breakfast. Bruce is different than me in this way - he doesn’t obsessively read his emails like I’m prone to do, and he missed the memo.

So breakfast at the Stepping Stone turns into a coffee date at Caffe Umbria, my treat. And it turns into a fantastic hour of discussing current events in both of our lives, interwoven with favorite stories from our past lives and travels. And though he doesn’t ever try to dominate the conversation or upstage me with some even better story than I’ve just shared, he wins as always because he really does have the best tales to tell. The story of his trip through Taroko Gorge he shared the other day is one of the best I’ve heard; but today’s story of a screech owl that got invoked when I show him my screech owl photo from yesterday is really just as good.

The alarm on my iPad goes off to remind us it’s time to go. I have no trouble shutting it off this time because my eyes are open, and a few minutes later we’re driving southeast on a route Bruce is uncertain about, me navigating from the front passenger seat and feeling pleased with myself that I can read well enough to follow the map and give directions. Rachael and I pride ourselves on being an unusually effective team, but actually Bruce and I do pretty well together too.

We make it to the appointment with plenty of time to spare. Bruce sits in the waiting area for the next hour while I’m subjected to the same two preliminary tests I took last week before finally meeting with the ophthalmologist. And then we drive back to the apartment.

While we’ve been doing this, Rachael’s grabbed a break in the weather to take another walk rather than spend the morning in the gym again. It doesn’t go quite as planned though. We ‘re still a few miles from home when she phones me to point out that it’s raining out so I shouldn’t count on getting my own walk in when I get home - but then Bruce and I already knew that because we were just commenting on the sudden and unexpected weather change when the phone rings.

We must be less than a mile away from her when she calls, so we offer to swing by and pick her up. She declines though, saying she’s close enough to the streetcar or bus line if it gets too wet. She may have had second thoughts though because she’s absolutely soaked when she opens the door about an hour later.

What do you think about that ride offer now, Rocky?

There’s actually quite a lot to say about the ophtho appointment itself, but let’s put that off for its own white space and pick up on the rest of the day.

The new phone

I’m luckier than Rachael today, and when a second two hour break in the weather comes I jump on it. It’s better to get a two hour walk than spend the whole rest of the day in our matchbox apartment, so I head to the river again for one more try at picking up another bird or two. Maybe this will be the day that those stupid scaups and scoters finally put in an appearance.

While I’m out though, I also take the opportunity to experiment with the camera on my new phone I just discovered yesterday. I test its other features today, so this section is really mostly a phone camera review.

In summary, the camera is awesome, with features that surprise and even startle me. One thing after another comes to mind that makes it more effective for me than the Lumix zoom cameras that have really been my only camera for probably a decade. By the time I’m done I come away realizing that it really outperforms on every aspect I can think of, including even the zoom feature. I come away thinking I’ll probably leave the Lumix home in the future, and maybe never use it again. It’s no wonder they’re not being manufactured any more. I thought they’d lost market share because everyone uses phones since they’re so convenient and have so many features, but I think it’s at least also because the best phone cameras are actually better now.

So here’s an itemization of features and qualities that I impressed me.

First, there’s obvious thing that I already knew. The Lumix super zooms are notoriously brittle cameras, prone to eventually failing for mechanical problems like stuck lens covers or broken zooms. I know a number of us have had these cameras become cranky or turn into bricks on them at the wrong time. If they’re the most effective tool you can find for the job though you want to replace them with the same one, if you can find one.

But you can’t, because they and all similar point and shoot super zooms were discontinued a year or so ago. In my case, I was lucky to find exactly one one in England last summer when I was starting to doubt my other one would make it through the last half of the tour. One of my plans this winter was to take three handicapped Lumixes I’ve kept in storage down to Tucson to see if a camera repair shop could do anything with one or more of them so I’d have a backup. In fact though, I think the new plan is to finally recycle them all, including the current one I’ve been using.

And even when you could buy a new one, they were reasonably priced but not cheap - maybe around $500 a pop. I’ve just been viewing it as one of the standard costs of touring, expecting to buy a new one every couple of years.

Phones aren’t cheap either of course, if you’re going to get a new top of the line one with a high quality camera. But they’re not that much more expensive than the Lumixes were if you shop around like Rachael does. She got my new Samsung S24 SE for about $550 unlocked, and its camera is brilliant. Plus of course it has all the other bells and whistles a modern phone comes with, like the ability to make a phone call.

And they don’t generally fail on you unless you drop them or lose them, which of course happens with Lumixes too. Some folks are particularly prone to this sort of thing, but you can’t blame the phone for that.

Plus, they don’t get obsoleted in quite the same way. Instead they get obsoleted by replacement with newer, better phones being steadily pushed out on a continuous improvement model. So that’s a clear win for the phone.

___________

Optics in general are another important consideration, and I was already aware of the fact that the newer cameras produce higher quality shots of ‘normal’ subjects than the Lumix - subjects like landscapes, street scenes, marketplace shots and so on. The super zooms aren’t optimized for this sort of thing - they’re optimized for the zoom feature, and the tradeoffs mean the lens quality isn’t up to the same standard. I’d already been gravitating toward grabbing one of the phones when I wanted to take some of these sorts of shots, especially in difficult or low light conditions such as inside a restaurant.

A better result for this one-shoed shot than the Lumix would have returned.

So I already knew that. What hadn’t occurred to me though is what a wider image it brings in, giving it more of a wide angle lens quality. I’m finally realizing I can bring back shots that I couldn’t take with the Lumix because I couldn’t fit the whole bridge or building or cathedral info the frame because I couldn’t find a spot far enough back for an open view of the whole subject I was trying to capture.

Or this one. And of course it wouldn’t have done as well with the lighting conditions either.

Or this one. I’ve taken several shots of this tower in our neighborhood in the past few years, but never one that showed the entire building like this.

Handling and responsiveness is another area where my new phone wins, hands down. One of the reasons I’ve always prized the Lumix is because it’s compact and fits into my jersey pocket, so I’ve pretty much always got it along. Like they say, the best camera is the one you’ve got with you. I don’t miss many shots because my camera isn’t at hand and reasonably quickly accessible.

But I do miss quite a fewshots with it because compared to a phone it’s slow dog on the draw. The phone is more of a whippet: slimmer and lither, it leaps out of your pocket faster without getting snagged on or whatever, so it’s in your hand much more quickly. After that though, there’s no comparison. With the Lumix you have to activate the camera, wait for the lens to open up, find the bird in the viewfinder, zoom in, hold it as still as possible, and focus. What, that takes maybe a half minute or more? Nine times out of ten the time the damn bird has flown by then.

The phone though is lightning quick by contrast. Whip it out, fast click the camera open, point, spread, shoot. Five to ten seconds total maybe? I think with the Lumix I’ve not even got it out in my hand by that time. There’s no doubt that I’ll pick up birds with the phone that I wouldn’t capture otherwise. And, I might be able to stay riding with Rachael longer. Over the last several years we’ve gotten used to me lagging further and further behind as I stop for one quick photo after another that leaves me another quarter mile behind.

So that brings us to what’s always been the selling point for the point and shoot super zooms - the super zoom. The Lumix has a 30X optical zoom, which really is pretty powerful for a small, low tech point and shoot camera. I’ve gotten some shots zoomed in enough that I’ve been quite pleased with, and I’ve been able to identify many birds that are too far away to pick up the identifying details I’d miss otherwise.

So let me show you something about the zoom on my new phone, which stunned me when I started playing around with it today. Here are a few sets of examples. The first one is of a small birch tree I wanted to come back to, because I saw a couple of birds near or around it when I was here exactly a week ago on my first outing after the first ophtho appointment. I could barely make out that the birds were even there because of the state of my vision a week ago, but I made note of the fact that it must be a tree that birds favor. Watch This Space I told myself, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve come back today.

It’s the birch tree! First off, I’m thrilled to be able to see it at this distance. In fact, with my glasses on it looks nearly as clear to me as in this shot.

And then for the first time I test out the zoom on the phone, curious to see if I can zoom in close enough to see any birds on the tree. If so, I’ll pull out the new camera, the Canon, and zoom in further. In effect I’m testing out whether I can use it as an initial spotter to find birds I can later zoom in on.

Shot from the same spot. Looks like it should work as a spotting tool. No birds today, but if there had been I think I’d be seeing them.

A few other examples.

Maybe five seconds later, from the same spot, I know it’s a Canadian rather than one of those cute cacklers. Really, this is at least as good or better than I’d have gotten from the fully zoomed Lumix.

Same story. An immature Californian I think, though I’d have to study the manuals to be sure.

So tell me again why I’d want to do anything further with the Lumixes than recycle them all? Seems pretty clear to me.

The vision thing

So there’s one more thing about the day that must be shared. I got my new bird for the day, but it’s not one I expected. First off, the main reason I’m here today at all really is to sort of baseline my progress one week after the first time out when I could hardly see any bird smaller than a crow. I was excited by the birch tree on that day because it’s the first time I saw any smaller birds at all - and then very briefly, and very poorly. The first I guessed was likely an English sparrow just because they’re so common and the size looked about right. I saw him when he was down on the ground maybe ten feet away from me, and I saw him only as a vague shape or outline moving close by - he startled me when I saw some streaked movement out of the corner of my eye, but within really just a few seconds I lost sight of him when he just disappeared into the background. And then right afterwards a second bird flew into the tree straight ahead, smaller but easier to recognize as even being a bird because of the sky background outlining it. He didn’t stay around long enough for my to even think of firing up a camera, but just based on size and behavior I guessed it was probably a chickadee. Just a guess though.

So what’s changed over the past week? First, there’s this little bit of embarrassment to share. I fell again. The waterfront walkway is an alternating mix of pavement and wooden planks or decks, and when they’re wet the wood surfaces can get slick. I wasn’t thinking about this, and suddenly found myself falling on a glassy surface. No harm done - the camera’s fine, the good eye’s fine, nothing’s broken. But after I resume walking I start noticing all the signs around, ones I can read clearly now but hadn’t even seen or noticed a week ago.

From where I stand I can read all three warning signs, including the farthest one out at the bottom of the ramp that you have to zoom in on. I can read them. I might as well heed them.

And finally, look at this shot. Focus on those close-in shrubs centered below the Steel Bridge, shrubs that were maybe fifty yards away when I first saw a bird fly in. He’s not there when this shot was taken and I didn’t think to take a photo from where I was standing when I saw him fly in, but I think it was from even further back than this photo shows.

So that is totally awesome. - I can spot some small birds at fifty yards; and everything else you see in the distance here is nearly as clear to me as you see it in the photo (close-ups are a different story though). But what is he? In fact, he’s not just a small bird. He’s a very small bird.

And if I hadn’t already got the rhythm down of point, spread, shoot, I’d have never believed it. Within five seconds I was zoomed in and had my shot - and if it been just an instant quicker I’d have gotten the shot with his unmistakeable bill turned sideways before he turned it away and buzzed off.

It’s a hummingbird. I can spot a hummingbird from fifty yards off. This has turned into one of the best weeks of my entire life.

#29: Anna’s hummingbird, the only possibility in this season in Portland.

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Steve Miller/GrampiesOn the one hand, your positive comments about photography with a smart phone accord with some awfully nice shots I've seen coming from our daughter's iPhone. Part of that could be the substitution of computing power for optical power. I don't know any details, but even the Lumix has that post focus feature (that I never use). Also, what we normally think of as not the best digital zoom can be improved by higher megapixel counts of the sensor. So if we read some of Samsung's ad copy:

"The Samsung Galaxy S series is synonymous with epic mobile cameras and the Galaxy S24 series is no different. With its remarkable camera resolution and advanced AI integration, it sets a new standard for smartphone imaging.

Boasting the highest resolution across all Samsung Galaxy phones, the Galaxy S24 Ultra pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with smartphone photography. The 200MP main camera captures what your eyes see in pin-sharp resolution and natural colours. Whether you’re spending the night at a game or gig, you can now capture all the action from afar without sacrificing detail or clarity. With the groundbreaking Quad-telephoto camera, you get 2x, 3x, 5x and 10x optical zoom thanks to the new 50MP telephoto lens. And if you need even more? The epic, AI-powered 100x Space Zoom intelligently processes information to capture clearer, brighter pictures, without compromising quality.

It's now possible to capture stunning landscapes, intricate low-light details, and vibrant colours with unparalleled precision. Whether you are a photography enthusiast or someone who wants to remember special family occasions, the Galaxy S24 series is your go-to for capturing life’s extraordinary moments."

So we see, they claim some magic that delivers 10x optical zoom from their little lenses. Could be true. On the other hand, in Costa Rica among the "real" bird photographers, there were no lenses under about 8-10" in actual physical length - and there has to be a reason!

Turning to the physical handling of the phone, and of the camera, first off my camera is on a lanyard, else it would long ago have been in a river, the sea, or under a train! Next, with the phone, taking a picture involves stopping the bike and balancing the bike between knees, if not getting off, because the phone camera requires (at least) two hands. The two hands then have to push the wake-up button on the side, swipe to remove the notifications page, rotate the phone to landscape position, find a place to grip on the lower left, awkwardly for me (and inaccurately) pinch to zoom and frame, balance the phone from that lower left hand grip and jab at the white take a picture circle with the right hand. To me, all very inconvenient, while with the Lumix I can pull it, turn on, zoom, and shoot all with one hand, and controversially, without getting off or even stopping the bike!

Just as I say there is a reason real photographers are not using smart phones, there is also a reason why the general public has abandoned point and shoot cameras. And yes, even with my $149 smart phone, sometimes the panoramic shot of lunch or of the scene from the hotel window looks awfully good! So I will call the jury still out on this one!
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2 weeks ago

Graham FinchGreat to read your sight has dramatically improved. Who would have though?
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2 weeks ago

Bill ShaneyfeltGlad to "see" you seeing better!
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2 weeks ago

Scott AndersonTo Graham FinchNeither of us thought anything like this was likely or even still possible. I’d always believed that at best there’d be some permanent loss on the left and hoping there’d be enough to be life-functional.

We’re very lucky, obviously More surprisingly though, we don’t seem to be done even now. Today it’s even better still, actually significantly better. Other than the loss of some peripheral vision on the right side and a somewhat narrower field of view, I’m running out of hope for much further improvement because there’s not much room for it left. It feels pretty close to being fully restored to what I remember it as from before this whole thing began. Quite unbelievable .
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2 weeks ago

Scott AndersonTo Bill ShaneyfeltOh, lord. I’d never thought this might be possible. I’m starting to believe in the possibility of another 300 bird year. Thanks for your encouragement.
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2 weeks ago

Ben ParkeI abandoned carrying a camera with me early on. Some of my favorite photos hung on the wall in my house were taken with an iPhone 5. Now I’m on a 12 or 13, don’t recall which. The photo quality is frankly better than what I would get with a digital camera because of the automatic post processing. The only photos I’ve found were better with a real camera were night photos, and the newest cameras even so pretty well with those these days.
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2 weeks ago

Karen PoretWe will all “see” you to the end of this, Scott 👍
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2 weeks ago

Scott AndersonTo Ben ParkeThanks for the insight, Ben. If it weren’t for the birds I’m sure I’d have made the leap myself at least several years ago. Velomobiles are a pretty easy shot with a phone camera. Wablers and bushtits are are a different breed though, and wouldn’t really work until the newest generations.

Coincidentally your name just came up less than an hour ago. A friend wanted reminding of who that crazy biker was that rode a Velomobile south across the Dolomites into Italy. It wasn’t hard to remember who it was, but I wasn’t sure of which bike. The cherry red one, was it? And how are those cats?
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2 weeks ago

Ben ParkeTo Scott AndersonYes. The earlier phone cameras wouldn’t have worked for small birds, but the tech now is pretty impressive as you have noted.

The ride up the Reschen Pass was this past summer with the white and red prototype Urban. The all red bike was the W9 I rode the previous summer. No passes with that one, but there was plenty of gravel and more than a few hills, including some that frankly were much worse than the Reschen or Brenner Passes. Next summer only the second day will be nasty when I ride from Füssen through The Allgäu to Lindau am Bodensee. The rest of the tour is along the Rhein and Main and down the Romantische Straße back to Augsburg.
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2 weeks ago