Samsung Galaxy S7 vs. Samsung Galaxy S5 Camera

I recently upgraded to a Samsung S7 phone from a Samsung S5 phone.  My S5 was getting a little long in the tooth - falling apart, I changed the body once, the screen twice, and the camera lens cover, the back battery cover several times and the accelerometer died on it recently as well so taking landscape photos I would have to manually rotate them.  It was time.
There has been high praise for the S7 camera, most people saying that it is one of the bast, if not the best cameras on a cell phone as of today, and this was really the major contributor in me wanting to get a new phone.  I really wanted the S7 active and not a regular S7, since it has 33% larger battery, some built in protection for dropping, but for some reason Samsung decided to make it not only a carrier specific phone (AT&T, but a country specific phone, meaning it it not available in Canada.  This wouldn't be a big deal - I could buy one off of ebay and unlock it, but the cost is prohibitive.  A new one is about 700-800 dollars due to the CAD horrible exchange rate for a new-ish phoine, and because of Ebays lame Global Shipping program, it meant I'd pay another 150 dollars or more for duty, shipping, etc.
I found a barely used S7 on Kijiji for 450 dollars and jumped at the chance.

The camera simply blows me away.  It is eons beyond my two and a half year old Samsung Galaxy S5.  Gone are the days of grainy out of focus photos almost all cell phones were plagued with 5 years ago, even in good light.  In good light all cell phone cameras take good photos, but low light has always been a challenge.

 Low Light Performance
The Samsung S5 is a decent performing camera in bright light,   Low light left something to be desired.   Even in moderately lit situations such as a pub, the photos are grainy and the camera need to be held completely still.  With the dual pixel camera, and F1.7 lens in the S7 just amazes me in low light. The live view of the camera can actually see brighter than my eyes can - it's always been the other way around.  Compare these two photos and the difference is obvious.

















S7                                                                                                                                                        S5

Autofocus
Autofocus is slow on the S5 and it has a hard time with macro focus, not being able to focus on some things that are a foot or two away.  The S7 does not have any problems.  The autofocus is lightning fast on the S7 compared to the S5. 

Pro Mode

This is my first cell phone, and also one of the first available that you can manually control the ISO, shutter speed and focus if you wish to do so in Pro Mode.  It also shows you the autofocus points in the frame.  And, as well, it has the option to save as a RAW file!  Photographers know that RAW mode gives you more control in post editing, especially when it comes to white balance adjustment. 

Wider Angle
I sometimes struggle to get subjects in view with the S5, especially tight indoor scenes and landscapes, but the S7 has a much wider view. See above photos for comparison.

Ease of Access to Camera
Another plus on the S7 camera is the speed it takes to get to the camera taking mode.  Just a double tap on the home key brings up the camera.  I've missed many good opportunities with my S5 in the time it takes to access the camera, even with the swipe to open camera option on it.

Fast Charging
This phone charges ridiculously fast..  another great plus.  Many times I was just about to run out of the house with my S5 but found the battery wasn't charged, and the charging on this phone takes significantly longer than the S7.  Just plug the S7 into a fast charger for a quick top up in a few minutes and it is good to go.


Other Things and some Negatives
The processor speed is very noticeable quicker on the S7 which is great.
There are a few other funky features that I have yet to play with such as motion photo which captures video before you take a photo, slow mo, hyperlapse that the S5 does not have.

 But, everything isn't all roses with the S7.. there are some negative things I don't like about it.
I do not really like the glass back cover on this thing - it's just looking to get broken.  This is an overreaction by Samsung to the whiners complaining of the plastic on the S5, so they went overboard on trying to make the phone feel like a premium phone.  I don't really like putting my phone in a case to make it more bulky and collect dust - typically I only put a glass screen protector on it to save the real screen from scratches.
The S7 is also horrible for repairability compared to the S5.  I changed a screen and the body myself on the S5 and I don't think I'll be trying that on the S7 - to do repair anything, you have to heat the back cover up to soften the adhesive and pull the back off with a suction cup and use guitar picks to pry it off.   It would be nice to be able to change the battery, since 2 years from now, the battery capacity will have degraded enough to be noticeable, as all batteries do.  On the S5, I simply swapped the battery.

Summary
Some great upgrades with just the camera itself make this phone a must-have upgrade in my books if you like photography, along with the speed of the new processor and memory, but be careful with it!

Mountain Hardwear Ghost 2 Sky Tent Review

I totally have to give Mountain Hardwear props for their great customer service and standing by their products with their limited lifetime warranty.  I'm on my third tent which has been replaced twice for free under their warranty.  This tent is my lightweight backcountry 2 person tent I have been using on many of my adventures.  I bought my first tent in 2004 or 2005 - it was an Airjet 2.  This was a single wall lightweight tent that I liked quite a bit.  I had it for 3 or 4 years and the seams started to degrade and fall apart - something to do with the chemicals in the material or taped seams breaking down.  I sent it in for warranty at the time and they replaced this tent with a Skyledge 2.1 tent for free, as the Airjet was discontinued. The Skyledge was a standard two wall tent with two entrances and two vestibules, which gave lots of real estate for stashing gear and easy entrances if you happen to have towo people in the tent (I only did once and it was cramped).

Now the Skyledge 2.1 I have had for the last 8 years and it served me well those 8 years.  I was car camping just a month ago with it and noticed the bottom side of the fly getting sticky when it has never been sticky... along with the taped seams flaking.  At one point while just zipping up the fly, one of the taped seams just peeled off with little force.  Seems like a degradation issue again, but this time the tent lasted much longer.  I contacted Mountain Hardwear and they told me to send it in for assessment. I didn't really expect much from them. After all, 8 years for a tent is quite enough already.  There's certainly not much other pieces of gear, especially ones containing some kind of fabric that you would expect to last much longer than that.

Mountain Hardwear Ghost Sky 2 Tent

Mountain Hardwear/Columbia Sportswear (they are the same company) called me after receiving the tent to say they would replace my tent for free under warranty!  Great stuff.  They even gave the the option of either getting the newer model Ghost Sky 2 tent or the Ghost UL2 tent.  I chose the Ghost Sky 2 tent.  Although the Ghost 2 is slightly heavier than the Ghost UL 2 tent (4lb 1 oz vs 2lb 9 oz),The Ghost Sky 2 is just is much more practical - with a square footprint instead of a trapezoidal footprint, 2 entrances and 2 useful vestibules instead of the 1 not-so-useful (as reports say) vestibule of the UL 2 tent. For super ultralight expeditions I could also use my Hennessey Hammock, so I chose the Ghost Sky 2 tent.

The Ghost 2 tent is really a newer version of my  older Skyledge 2.1 tent.  It amazes me that tents continue to evolve so much.  The improvements on the Ghost Sky 2 tent are noticeable andd welcome.  The two main poles have a connector in the center.  This makes for much quicker setup and breakdown, as you can do both poles at the same time, and justclip the center of the tent to the attachment point instead of having to thread the poles through the c-clip on the Skyledge.  the shorter crossbar for the doors just clips into the top and attaches at the sides with a ball joint clip.  Fancy stuff and so easy to set up.  There are 12 pole clips that are quick and easy to clip to the poles as well.

The inner tent is almost all mesh, perfect for gazing at the stars flyless on non-rainy nights.  The two teardrop shaped entrance ports are large enough to enter with ease.  Inside, there's 4 pockets for storing gear and loop provisions in the upper part for a gear loft if that's desired.  The fly is easy to put on with some toggles that attach to the pole attachments on the 4 corners and velcro ties to the poles in the 4 corners as well, halfway up. 

I used this tent car camping, kayak camping and backpacking in Algonquin Park recently and it's a great tent, I would recommend it to anyone, for it's features, well thought out design, qucikness and ease of pitching, and it's light weight.

And again, props to Mountain Hardwear/Columbia for replacing this tent free under warranty with no hassles.  I'm sure i'll get a lot of use out of this tent in my future adventures.

Thermarest MondoKing 3D Review - Car Camping Sleeping Bliss!

I'm on the fence on what to think about the whole glamping movement.  On one hand I hate people for wanting/needing every single amenity from their house including the kitchen sink while camping.  Also a little bit selfishly is the more comfortable camping is, the more people will be camping and Ontario's Parks are already overcrowded and difficult enough to get a reservation for nowadays.
On the other hand, there are a few things I do appreciate.  One of them is the elusive perfect sleeping mat/mattress for car camping. So really I shouldn't complain.
I do a lot of backcountry camping so I have all the ultralight stuff, but let's be honest - sleeping on a NeoAir mattress or most camping mats isn't exactly a dreamy sleep.  It's just a compromise from lying on the hard ground while trying to get some shuteye.
In the past couple years I have used a blow up Coleman type of queen sized bed.  They're very popular at the Canadian Tire/Walmart type of camping sections because they are cheap on sale. But, even if you get a good one, the seem to ALWAYS leak sooner or later, which drives me nuts when I wake up in the morning with my ass on the ground and have to blow it up every night.  All that, and they are cold...  even in a temperate camping climate, you loose so much heat out of the mattress that I always put a blanket down on top of the mattress.
In any case, due to these shortcomings, I picked up a brand new XXL size Thermarest MondoKing 3D mattress to get rid of these issues. It is quite expensive, costing me 215 dollars at Mountain Equipment Coop.  It is quite large, coming in a bag about the size of a medium car camping tent.  The XXL sized mattress itself when blown up is about the size of a twin bed - a glorious 30x80 inches, and a full 4 inches thick.  Very comfortably long and wide for my 6'2" tall 180 pound frame.  Inflation is similar to any old old school foam Thermarest- open the valves.  Yes valves - there are two.. both leading to the same space, just to make self inflation quicker.  After half hour or so then I close one off and blow maybe twenty times to get it firm, then close off the second valve.  The mattress is extremely comfortable and supple, similar to memory foam.  I have used it twice in a Lean-To so far, and I am so glad I had this at the end of my recent 43km Adirondack hike to rest my sore and weary bones.  As well, it is the warmest Thermarest ever, with an R rating of 11.4 compared to around 3 for your standard NeoAir mattress.  Comfy sleep... ZZZZZZ.  This will also come in handy for winter car camping..  it's too large to be dragging around the backcountry.
Deflating is somewhat simple and painless.  Open the two valves, fold over itself a couple times and sit on it to get rid of most of the air, then lay out and roll, squeezing any remaining air out with your knees, then close both valves when rolled.  It comes with a handy stuffsack/carry bag with a strap on it.  The only thing I wish is that it came with a mini pump instead of having to huff and puff your way to the correct firmness.
I am super happy with this so far, and it is so nice to have a great sleep uninterrupted by pressure points as many camping mats have, or coldness and leaks as air mattresses have.  I am looking forward to great sleeps with this in the many years to come.

Thermarest MondoKing 3D

Big Agnes Tensleep Station 4 Tent

I wanted a new car camping tent, so I picked this tent up for $425 at MEC.

I recently bought this tent because it has some unique features, and most of all it has more height for the size footprint it has compared to other tents with the same square footage.  I was looking for a roomy feeling yet compact footprint tent that is easy to set up and has nice features for car camping to very comfortably sleep two people, and I got that with this tent.  The front and rear vestibules adds some good features that other similar tents don’t have too.  This design has many elements that I do like, but unfortunately it does have what I consider some design flaws that I am surprised the manufacturer did not pick up on before going to production.
To make this short and sweet, here's a list of Pros and Cons I found about the tent.

Pros:
1)    Intuitive, easy set up with four poles. I only needed instructions the first time.
2)    High tent height and near vertical walls give it a very roomy feeling for its footprint.  It fits a queen size inflatable mattress easily.
3)    Front and rear large entrances for flexibility
4)    Many gear pockets to stash stuff in
5)    Vestibules give ample room to keep gear dry
6)    I really like the organized and easy to use folder/stuffsack/backpack/carry bag the tent stores in.  It’s very easy to pack up and gives options for carrying different ways.
 
Cons:
1)    Front door of the tent is mesh only – should be double door nylon and mesh to give the option for ventilation or privacy/rain protection.  With the way it is, if you want privacy and to protect from splashes when raining, the vestibule door has to be closed, and there’s not much ventilation when it’s like that.
2)    Rear door has a similar issue, it’s nylon only no mesh – it should at least have a portion that could unzip for a meshed window for improved ventilation.
3)    Way, way too many guy lines for the fly…   really, is it necessary to have 10 of them?  Even though they are nicely reflective, anyone walking near the vicinity of your tent other than the entrances at night is going to trip.  Trust me.
4)    All three main tent poles bent permanently in middle with the first use.  I didn’t abuse/force anything, excessively tie anything down and it wasn’t in high winds at all.  The material the poles are made of simply is not suitable for this design and should be made from a higher strength aluminum or fiberglass - period.  I have not used this tent in anything more than light-medium winds, but I would suspect there would be much more bending going on if there was more wind, especially due to the high tent profile.
5)    It’s a little heavy for anything other than car camping.  Possibly can be used for canoe camping without many portages.
Despite these shortcomings, some of which I think should have been obvious and addressed by the manufacturer, I still would recommend this tent.  It would be an awesome tent if Big Agnes fixed these problems.

Ontario Knife Company 6420 Kukri

I just got an Ontario Knife Company 6420 Kukri I wanted for chopping and more specifically delimbing of smaller branches less than 1" dia.  I normally use a saw for processing wood for the most part, but it would be good to have a thin bladed chopper for cutting off small branches so I got a Kukri, it was $70 from Amazon Canada.  

This is my first impression review summary:

Pros:
- 1095 Steel
- solid construction
- good handle design

Cons:
- Blade isn't forged, just cut out of plate steel and ground down
- personally not a fan of the powder coating on the blade, would have preferred conversion coating or titanium nitride
- sheath not very good
- spine isn't ground with sharp edges, no good for using with a firesteel
 

- factory ground edge is a rough, needs sharpening/polishing when you get it

 

In summary, it's a good value for a practical chopping small machete, but certainly not a work of art and could be improved upon.  I will review again once I get around to using it a bit in the field.

Sony HDR-AS30V Action Cam GPS Kinda Sucks Part I

I took a ride last Sunday with my new HDR-AS30V last Sunday to test the camera and mount itelf out.  The shakiness from the mount and also from the camera rattling around inside the case itself aside, the GPS’s accuracy doesn’t seem to be all that great.  It appears to lose it’s position sometimes, makes assumptions and then draws the wrong track.  This video clearly shows that the GPS isn’t following where I am riding.  By looking at the track, you would think I was looping back, doing tight 180 turns and crossing back on the path I had already ridden where that isn’t the case at all. 

What’s the point of having a GPS enabled action camera and recording the track if the track it generates isn’t accurate at all?  My suspicion is that the GPS receiver and antenna are low cost to keep the cost of the camera down, and probably low accuracy as well making it kind of pointless.  I’d recommend not paying the extra $100 for the GPS enabled HDR-AS30 and stick with the lower cost HDR-AS15 if you are looking to pick up a Sony Action Cam.

 

Um, no, this isn't anything close to accurate, we didn't cross the road at any point.

Sony VCT-HM1 Action Cam Handlebar Mount Review

I'll let the video speak for itself for the most part, but here's a summary:
     I just got a Sony Action Cam HDR-AS30V last week and took it for a spin today on my cross country mountain bike with Sony's VCT-HM1 handlebar mount accessory.  To cut to the chase, the handlebar mount is horrible.  It exaggerates and induces much more shake than if it was firmly fixed to the mountain bike, due to the articulation joint and the flexible plastic.  Not only that, it adds noise from the plastic parts shaking..  and it costs $30 to boot.  For that price, it should be rock solid and perform stellar, but it doesn't.
     I suggest you stay away from this mount at all costs  It's like throwing your money away.  I don't think I will ever be using this mount again.

Thule 579XT Canoe Carrier Review

     It really pains me to purchase Thule products, as they have insane markups, for a few pieces of simple tubing, steel brackets, molded plastic parts and straps, although they don’t have much competition – Yakima racks are the only so-called competition, but it’s really more of a duopoly, since they both have insane markups.  I have half a mind to design my own roof rack accessories and sell them, there’s ridiculous margins in it, and they are simple parts to manufacture.  Not only that, the few and far between distributors in Canada seem to think marking up the already high US cost an additional 50% for US MSRPis deserved, just because Canadians are used to paying higher retail prices fr everything without any real reason for it.

   Despite my griping, I did purchase a Thule 579XT kit off of eBay in the US for a somewhat decent price of around $80 last year.  Most people transporting canoes seem to use those foam blocks that sit on your roof and dual tiedowns on the front and the back to secure the canoe, but it just seems a little weird to me to not secure the canoe itself to the roof.  As well, you have to put the blocks in the right places, they scratch your roof, and if they are positioned not quite right and slide of pop out of position, you all of a sudden have a canoe that isn’t really secured all that well.

     I already had a Thule rack, so I found the 579XT and liked the design of it, over other more conventional canoe racks.  The 579XT is an accessory kit, which means you already have to have the base rack mounted to your car, and it’s just the bits and pieces to securing the canoe.  The kit comes with four dual shot plastic molded brackets with a softer grip surface on top where it contacts the canoe gunwales.  The brackets also have wingnut type knobs to prevent the brackets from sliding around and underneath each bracket there is a notch intended for you to route the straps through.  It comes with two of the standard tiedown straps which also have silicone protectors around the buckles.  I must admit is a nice touch and a good feature to have as you need to throw the buckle over the canoe to reach it from the other side when securing it.  There is one catch though, the protectors have to be slid down around the buckle for it to protect your canoe, they slide up the strap in order for you to reach the strap release lever.

     Along with the brackets and the straps, the 579XT comes with two hooks, ropes and two nylon straps with loop ends intended for wrapping around the carry handles on the canoe before hooking the loops with the rope (phew), one on each end.  I personally don’t use all of that, and just hook the front carry handle directly with the hooks on the ratchet buckle, one on each side which reduces the side to side movement of the canoe in high crosswinds.  The two straps on the middle section, looping under the bar on each side allow you to easily tighten the straps very securely and not have to worry about the canoe sliding, foam pads getting loose, etc.  Another thing with this rack system that is a good bonus is that the canoe rides up at least 6 inches higher than using foam blocks.  It also depends on the canoe design itself, some canoes will hang down in front of your windshield quite a bit and obscure a significant amount of your view, some to the point where I wonder if it’s legal to drive the vehicle, but my canoe and rack system with the 579XT doesn’t obstruct my view at all.

   I’d recommend the 579XT as a canoe carrier, if you already own a Thule rack.  I have a dual system on my car that has a single kayak cradle in the middle and the canoe carrier on the sides.  Sometimes I install a Thule Peloton bike rack to one of the sides of the kayak rack as well.  It makes for a strange looking rack but it’s multifunctional.

Mora Bushcraft Black Knife

                I’ve been looking for a proper Bushcrafty type of knife and doing a lot of reading about them recently.  The Leatherman and Swiss Army knives I have are nice and light for backpacking, good for making lunch and maybe cutting rope, doing some light whittling for a marshmallow stick but that’s about all.  Doing any heavy duty woodwork isn’t just frustrating, it’s also a bit dangerous with those thin blades. 

                After all of the research I have done, I’ve found that a real bushcraft knife isn’t one that looks like a Rambo knife, or one that looks like a crooked machete, or any other weird looking knife.  The best all purpose one is one that has a blade around 4” long.  The blade needs to be thick to be robust, reducing the likelihood of breaking.  The back spine is flat and preferably has sharp edges in order to use it with a firesteel.  Ideally it has a full tang as well – that means the blade goes all the way through the handle.  This reduces the possibility of the blade separating from the handle.  It also provides a spot to hammer the knife if you ever need to do so.  The general consensus for a blade material is that a very high carbon steel is preferable to stainless.  The high carbon blade is better for sharpening and edge retention, although some new specialty stainless steels can do so as well.  The handle has to be very ergonomic and protect you from sliding your fingers into the blade as well.

                With all of these properties in mind, I was looking for a knife.  There seems to be many high priced bushcraft knives out there with a lot of exotic handles or blade materials, but I just want function, plain and simple.  As usual, I think form should follow the function.  I was contemplating the Swedish Fallkniven F1 knife, although it is quite expensive – around $150 for the standard blade (carbon steel laminated to outer stainless), or even more expensive G3 material at a whopping $250 for a knife.  But then I came across Mora Knives or Morakniv, also a Swedish knife maker.  The knives they make are no nonsense straight up knives.  Made for their functionality, and not to pretend they are some kind of work of art or something.  The range I was looking at are the Bushcraft range of knives that Mora makes.  In fact they come in many different colors, blade types and sheaths.  Even though they generally look the same, they aren’t created equal.  Bushcrafters online love their knives, but older comments lament the fact that the blades are thin.  The older Mora Bushcraft knives are 2.5mm thick stainless steel. 

     The new Mora Bushcraft black is a high carbon steel bade, that is a burly 3.2mm thick instead of the thinner 2.5mm.   It is made out of high carbon steel instead of stainless, and the blade is coated with a black finish, hence the Bushcraft Black.  The coating is tungsten DLC coating, a very hard material that also aids in friction, and the blade has some gold colored laser etching near the handle on the right side.  Along with the lower friction and corrosion resistance the coating offers, the black color is also to keep with the tactical look trend, for those who like to pretend they are navy seals stalking someone to knife them.  I do admit the knife does look pretty cool, but as far as functionality goes, I would prefer a shiny blade to use as a signaling device in a survival situation, although I do prefer the carbon steel over the stainless for the edge qualities.  The spine of the knife is nicely ground with sharp edges like a newly sharpened skate, and it throws off much better sparks from my firesteel than the little stamped steel scraper that comes with my Light My Fire firesteel.  It did leave a couple small burrs on the edge of the spine after I used my fire steel with it a dozen times or so.  I figure this is just normal, as any steel on steel would do that kind of thing.  I’ll see what it looks like after a year or two of use.  The blade, as I hear is typical with all Mora blades, came razor sharp.  I shaved my arm a little with the blade to test it out..yeah I think it’ll do.

  As with everything else on this knife, the handle is very simple, but functional.  It is nicely ergonomic, the girth is very comfortable for my medium to large size hand and the outer material on the handle is made of a nicely sticky rubber like material (TPU?) on the outside.  The inside of the handle is made of a harder plastic of an olive drab color which can be seen at the hilt and also where the handle transitions to the blade.  The handle has some ridge band features near the hilt on the top and also near the blade to provide extra traction and a tactile feel to let you know you are at the end of the handle.   It’s all about function and ergonomics and not about some fancy looking handles like the Bark River knives.  The handle has a downturn in the front bottom at the blade to prevent (or reduce the likelihood) your hand from slipping onto the blade, but it does not have a solid guard, in order to make full use of the knife and not get in the way.

  The sheath is very no-nonsense as well, and also black colored to keep with the theme.  It is a decent molded sheath, made of a plastic material but some won’t appreciate it simply because it’s not leather.  I prefer the synthetic sheaths myself due to zero maintenance requirements.  The retention is excellent and exposes about half of the handle, so the likelihood of the knife  being drawn unintentionally or falling out is very low.  My biggest gripe is the belt loop.  It’s great if you actually wear a proper belt, but not very useful if you don’t.  Most of my outdoor convertible pants I wear have a built in belt which wouldn’t work with this and I would prefer a clip so it could clip onto the top of my pants.  

 The Survival Bushcraft Black sheath version has a firesteel holder, complete with firesteel and sharpening stone, but mine was the straight up version.  On a whim I ordered a custom Grizzly Outdoors sheath.  This sheath has a firesteel holder as well and milled slots for attachments and/or some paracord storage..the downside is that the sheath actually costs much more than the knife itself.  I’ll do a writeip on that as well for comparison with the stock sheath when it gets in.

                In any case, the Mora Bushcraft Black looks like one helluva capable bushcraft knife, and low cost to boot.  I’m certainly looking forward to getting some use out of it this season.