I like statistics. I like seeing how I act in an objective manner, it provides a certain distance and understanding that can come from looking on the outside in. So, when I decided that I wanted a new lens to replace the one I’ve had for nearly four years, I thought that having an understanding of how I use my equipment would be invaluable in deciding what next to purchase.

Before looking at numbers or usage, I decided whether I wanted to simply replace the unit I have or buy something else. As I am primarily purchasing a lens for travel, having one lens is still a must. As patient as Justine is when we’re out and I’m taking photos, I just couldn’t imagine adding the requirement of swapping out lenses to the mix. Ideally, I’d have two cameras and two lenses, but this is not a realistic proposition for me, at least right now.

I like the lens I have now, it gives me the ability to frame shots in camera (which many purists call lazy, but when you’re visiting somewhere once, I just want to be able to get the shot and get it right) and the long zoom range helps out with that foreground or background blur I so love. A wide aperture would also achieve that but since I need a lens with a wide range of focal lengths it’s not as viable. So, how do I use my “main” lens? Do I exclusively use it zoomed in to get the lovely bokeh — as all the cool kids call it — or do I only take wide shots? The numbers will obviously be skewed by a few factors, such as taking shots intended for use as panoramas (though if I had a wider lens, perhaps I would take fewer of those), as well as re-factoring and re-shooting with slightly different settings.

All the statistics were generated from my Lightroom database, using the free ImageReporter application to give me the numbers. I then plotted the data using Google Spreadsheet. Roughly 24,000 shots were used, with 15,000 of those being from holidays and the remainder other usage. I figured seeing all my usage, as well as holiday and non-holiday would give a good snapshot of how I use my lens. I only selected photos from my Canon ESO350D and the 18-200mm lens I use almost exclusively.

To start, I had a look at how I use the ISO settings. I figured this would give a good indication on whether the lens I use is fast enough or if I have to compromise at a higher ISO. Of course, if I carried a tripod that would also sort out frequent use of high ISO.

So, it seems in general, I tend to use ISO100 a large amount of time, stepping down to ISO400 and ISO1600 as needed. The stepping down is presumably due to light conditions and having a faster lens would probably compensate. I find it interesting I only step down in such large amounts though, so I’ll try to use the “middle” ISO settings when I can.Moving on to what I really wanted to see, we have each major focal length plotted against the percentage of time I use it.

From this chart, a few things are evident. When on holiday I actually use wide angles a lot more than I do when not on holiday. This is not something I expected. It is also interesting to not the sharp from after 130mm. I suspect this is because once above 130mm I would just use 200m. Whether the 200mm is mainly used for bokeh or for bringing the subject closer is a more difficult thing to assume. Excluding the 200mm range, it’s obvious that around 75% of the time — at least when on holiday — I am using the 20-100mm range, meaning that a shorter zoom lens could quite possibly be satisfactory. The benefit possibly being that with a shorter zoom range, the same amount of money may buy me a slightly better quality lens.The lens I had previously been intending to purchase — the Sigma 18-250mm Optically Stabilised HSM — still seems like it could be ideal. Adding in an HSM motor and optical stabilisation is of immediate benefit, and the longer range may possibly be useful while on holiday. Of course, given that I tend to use half of that means that a lens in the 17-120mm range would be perfect. Sigma sells an 18-125mm unit, but it seems to be exactly the same as the 18-250mm one I’ve been eyeing off as far as image quality is concerned. I think a 17-70mm lens (which both Sigma and Canon make) may be a little shorter than I would like, but close to 70% of the time I am using that range so perhaps it’s a good buy for me. Canon does a 24-105mm lens which may be a little expensive but in any case, the wide is not quite wide enough as is evidenced by the high usage at the wide end of the spectrum.

The moral of the story is that having made a decision then deciding to put some further analysis into the decision hasn’t really made much difference. What I want doesn’t exist — at least in my price range. The big decision right now is whether to get a 17-70mm lens or the 18-250mm lens. Will I regret not getting the longer focal range, given that I use it around 11-12% of the time while on holiday? Should I just get the 17-70mm and take two lenses.

At least I’ve got some pretty graphs to help my decision along.

For the third year in a row, we are both incredibly fortunate and lucky enough to be able to again travel to an overseas destination. This will bring our total time overseas to thirteen weeks in three years (2007-2009), or just over 8.3% of that time — it’s gone down from 9.6% in 2007-2008 and 13.4% in 2007.

This year, after to-ing and fro-ing between South America, Africa, Turkey, Hungary and a few other places, we finally agreed on visiting the USA. At first it certainly doesn’t seem as exotic a locale as any of the earlier suggestions — and, I suppose, it’s not really — but with fantastic destinations like New York (somewhere I have wanted to visit for longer than any of the places we’ve actually visited thus far), San Francisco and the visit-at-least-once-in-a-lifetime Las Vegas on our list we have a great few weeks ahead of us. It’s still over a month away but, as usual, we’ve been reading and scouring and planning for ages already.

Something I’m doing this time around is plotting the location of all of the activities, sights and other places we want to see using Google Maps. I’ve not done much of it yet but I’m hoping it will allow us to make better use of our time away by allowing us to see all of the things we want to see in a specific location rather than circling around aimlessly and revisiting locations when we don’t need to. Having lists of what we want to do has, in the past, made it possible to see a lot and not forget those things we might otherwise overlook while in a new and interesting place.

The trouble with such lists, though, is that it can prevent the thrill of discovering or doing something unexpectedly and that will definitely be a bit of a tightrope walk. However, we’ve done it pretty well in the past — usually we check off all of the things quickly and efficiently and then spend time aimlessly wandering. A combination I’ve enjoyed: how else do you end up at a fish massage joint?

We’ve also planned a few firsts into our trip. Neither of us have ever flown in a helicopter, and what better way to experience your first flight than flying over the Las Vegas strip, seeing the massive Hoover Dam and then landing at the bottom of the Grand Canyon?

Our previous technology setup of digital SLR, point-and-shoot cameras, along with a large portable hard disk (unfortunately, the card reader/hard disk packed it in last year) and — last time at least — a netbook has worked well and I don’t see much reason to change that.

However, if all goes well, I am hoping to take an iPhone or Android-based phone (the decision of which is beginning to loom heavily) along with the purchase of a US prepaid SIM allowing inexpensive data usage. Using a smartphone will allow for location-based activities such as finding public toilets (a must!), and other places such as nearby places to eat. And when you can use something as cool as Wikitude, why not use that too?

We fly out on September 4th, a date rapidly and ever-faster accelerating towards right now.

Over the weekend we watched the fantastic Shaun of the Dead for the first time in what turns out to have been a long while. It is a timely reminder of the inevitable zombie apocalypse, and how one needs to hone their skills in preparation for when the dead once again walk the Earth.

Many skills will be required in the post-apocalyptic world. Certainly, we may be able to train the zombies to perform menial tasks, but this will take time and many will lose their lives in this endeavour. In the meantime, we will have to make do with manpower, not zombiepower.

So how can I make myself useful in order to continue my own pathetic existence as the undead roam free? One has to start somewhere, and learning the skill of growing and harvesting food seems like an appropriate place to begin. I already know how to eat and digest food, so there’s part of the chain ready to be linked.

With this in mind, over the weekend we turned what was previously an overgrown garden bed into a vegetable patch. Or rather, nice-looking dirt with green protrusions. There are no vegetables to be seen at this early stage. Nor has the “vegetable” (read: dirt) patch been zombie-proofed. Those skills will have to wait until I have honed the creation of food.

If the people who live in a large White House in the US, and a larger Buckingham Palace in the UK can do it, with their legion of professionally-trained food growing people, I’m sure I can do it all on my own. Right? I know there will be a large learning curve but one needs to be prepared for Z-Day. Which music should I play to enhance photosynthesis, for example? Do I speak in English, French or Esperanto to encourage water to pass through the Vascular Rays?

That we had to get up before 5am, pay through the nose (though it’s still cheap compared to prices back home!) for a private car and spend 90 minutes driving here was all forgotten the moment we saw stepped foot onto the Great Wall.

It was compounded by the fact that we were the only ones here — in fact, the first ones here for the day — and could not see anyone in either direction. At least for a time.

We decided in Mutianyu as Badaling — the most popular spot — is always busy, no matter what. Simatai, the closest unrestored area, was a bit too far and even though it is “the real deal” it doesn’t have the look of the Great Wall. It’s more like walking on rubble so our choice in the end was probably the best compromise.

The day we visited was also the day I feel extremely ill; luckily though, I started feeling sick while in the car on the way back. I made it back to our hotel, barely, but since we’d assigned little else for the rest of the day nothing was lost. I thank my body for holding out long enough to avoid an extremely uncomfortable and embarrassing incident.

The colours in this series of shots I took are great — the pinky-orange of the sun hitting the bricks makes for beautiful colouring. Shots I took later, as buses of tourists began to arrive, are far duller as the sun began to hide behind clouds.

We really had everything working for us on this day. The ride up on the chairlift was brilliant — our feet skimmed along the treetops — and amazingly silent. We had the Great Wall all to ourselves (which, in China, is no easy task!) with an incredible sunrise. The ride down on the toboggan, which must have been at least two kilometres long, was great fun too. Perfect.

Guards approaching Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum for the changing of the guards. Hanoi, Vietnam.

Our first impression of Vietnam–thanks to the airport–was that we were walking into some sort of police state. Any sort of official in Hanoi is dressed in a military-style outfit. Traffic police, officials checking parking and so on are all made to appear like authority figures.

It’s most visible in places like the Ho Chi Minh park, where his mausoleum is located. Barriers herd visitors while guards stand watch, stern eyes follow your every move and smiles are hidden behind closed doors.

These were our first impressions of Vietnam. I will move on to our later impressions in later updates but if you want to spoil the surprise, let’s just say they were very different indeed.

Relaxing on a junk, watching the sun rise over Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.

This has to be a great memory of quite possibly one of the most relaxing mornings I’ve ever had. Partly because I had no choice–my destination was controlled by the ship’s captain–and partly because it’s such a relaxing way to start the day.

Besides the quiet rumble of the motor (and other nearby motors) it was nearly silent and everyone on deck was enjoying the sunrise. A really great morning.

Quite possibly the most delicious (though not most tender; it was rump) steak I have ever eaten. Grade 9 or 10 Wagyu; Rockpool Bar & Grill, Melbourne.

Normally we don’t eat such extravagant meals but I was given some money over Christmas and rather than just throw it away on useless junk we decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal out–usually we make excuses on why we shouldn’t do so.

My initial impressions of the steak were 1) that it was cooked more than I requested, which it wasn’t–it was exactly what I asked for and 2) that it’s taste wasn’t that great. Again, I realised later–about halfway through–that I was missing the point and that it did indeed taste amazing. The amazing flavour comes mostly from the marbled fat and there is a buttery, creamy character that lingers in the mouth. Not to say that it doesn’t taste “meaty”, because it does.

The bites became smaller as I began to understand the taste and attempted to savour it’s richness better. The red wine recommended by the sommelier complimented it well–as it should, this being their job–though I could have stood to have a slightly more full-bodied flavour.

So, yeah, not the sort of steak I could afford to eat regularly but it was certainly worth a one-off.