Pachinko

NOTE: somehow this post got lost - I wrote it about a year and a half-ago (back in 2010), but forgot to click the "publish" button.
For my birthday this year, my sister and brother-in-law gave me a vintage pachinko machine which they had discovered at a yard sale.



If you don't know what pachinko is, you can read more about it on Wikipedia.

Although I've been to Japan twice and I have seen lots of pachinko parlors from the outside, I had never actually ventured into one and I had never seen an actual pachinko machine until now. It's a pretty interesting mechanical device.

It's totally "gravity powered", meaning it requires no batteries. A series of levers, ramps, and pressure plates are all that control the inner workings of the machine. It does have two lights that can be battery powered (one for signaling the machine is out of balls and one which turns on during a payout), but the lights are totally optional as far as actual gameplay.



The machine I have was manufactured by Nishijin, in Tokyo, Japan in the early 1970s. Nishijin manufactured many different style machines, and this one is known as a model A, or recycler model. It had a unique feature of "recycling" the losing balls into the payout pool so the machine didn't have to be refilled with balls as frequently as other models.

In order to give you an idea of how the machine works, here a few videos of it in operation.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Bats!

The past few nights I've seen a large number of bats flying around at dusk. A friend asked me if I took any pictures of them, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Given the low lighting, it proved to be a bit challenging. I initially tried using autofocus, but that proved impossible.





I then tried setting a fixed focus point and guess when the bats were in the right place. This gave slightly better results, but still the low light just gave a blurry result.



I then opted for a flash, along with manually focused at a fixed point, and this gave somewhat decent results. They're not going to win any awards, but you can at least tell they're bats.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Cardinals

(You can click on image for a larger view)

Random Eye Dull Photo: Golden-Crowned Kinglet

Caught this little guy digging in the snow looking for seeds. (You can click on the image for a larger view).

Random Eye Dull Photo: Faucet Drip

It's a cold rainy day - what better time to take pictures of a dripping faucet?

Random Eye Dull Photo: Eye-closeup

I bought another new (used) lens for my camera, this time one for macro photography. It's the Nikon AF Micro Nikkor 105mm 2.8 D.

This being late fall, there's not really any flowers or insects to photograph outside, so I've been experimenting with the camera indoors. Again, Hiro was the test subject. He will generally sit fairly still while I put a camera lens very close to his face.

Took me a few tries to get his iris in focus... Coincidentally, you can also see my other dog Bodhi reflected in his pupil.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Hiro

I bought a new (used) lens for my camera, and was testing its ability to shoot wildlife in low-light outdoor conditions. Since there wasn't any actual wildlife in the area, one of my dogs had to play the role.

The lens is an old Nikon AF-D 80-200mm f2.8 ED. It's not as nice as the new Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens, but at about 1/4 the price, it'll do the job well enough.

The above photos aren't super sharp, but the sun was setting, I was in the woods, and I don't have the steadiest hand, so given all that, I was happy with the result.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Greenwich Bay

A picture taken with my iPhone last weekend

Random Eye Dull Photo: Fledgling Blue Jay

Who you calling ugly?

I've been seeing a lot of young birds that appear to have recently left the nest - tufted titmice, cardinals, grackles, and now blue jays.

Random Eye Dull Photo: Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Not the best of pictures, but I managed to snap a picture of the visiting rose breasted grosbeak. It's a first time sighting of this type of bird for me. Growing up, I used to see plenty of evening grosbeaks but no other types.