Overlord's Photo TR: 5/12/2006

[overlord]

Time: 4:30 - 10:00 PM

Group: Myself and Friends Later

Quote of the day: "Chiller is so much better then Nitro after that ride!"

So I get to the park at 4:30PM and directly head off towards Chiller. I see that BTC is running strong so I stand outside the queue and take a few pics of it going through the top hat. But then I had the incredible urge to just dive right onto it. So thats exactly what I did. I get in line for it and it was empty pretty much the whole time I was there. I shoot for 3rd row from the back. I get on with a 1 train wait. All Clear. Launch. No hands the whole time. Well except for the barrell roll when I grabbed the back of the head rest. We come back into the station. What an awesome ride. Specially with a few moments of airtime in the tophat. So I said to myself, go on it again. I did again for the same row. Same great ride. Another time for the same ride. Same result. So then my 4th time, I decide to vary it up. I wait in line for front row. I have never been on any of the Chiller's in the front. So I have a 4 train wait or so. I get on with another random person. I told him to put his water bottle over on the station and his glasses in his pocket. I didnt want another KK moment going on. We launch and what an incredible sensation in the front. Great speed with the wind rushing through your hair. After this ride, I decide to ride the back row. I get in line for it and a little boy offers me his seat with his friend so we could use up all the seats since he would move to another row with another friend. I get in and we launch. The station is all a blurr from the back row. What a great sensation of speed and whip going through the top hat. Overall I have 5 trips on Chiller Blue.

Rating: 10/10

So after this, I head over to Wok 'n' Roll to meet up with my friends. They were eating whatever food they got and I just sat there talking to them. It was about 5:45 now and we wanted to go to the concert. We head over there via the Sky Way. I got some nice pictures of El Toro going across the park. Check the link at the bottom of my post for pics.

We arrive at the station and see the line for the concert was VERY long. We decide to go on RMT since there was virtually no wait for it and we would kill time by doing it. I wait front row with one of the members of our group. No airtime what so ever if you sit in the front of this thing. But overall, it was a pretty smooth ride.

Rating: 7/10

So we head over onto the concert line and there was nobody in line now. We walk right into the stadium as Ashley Parker Angel is starting to sing. I got some pics of him on my gallery via the link at the bottom. He was ok but some of his singing concepts confused me. They broke for intermission to go to Frankie Jordan. So 3 members of our group including me left and decided to hit up Medusa.

We get in line and the line is about halfway down the stairs. So we ended up waiting 10 minutes for the back row. What a great ride Medusa is. It never looses its touch and is always fast and flowing. Gotta love the on-ride pictures to make funny faces in.

Rating: 9/10

We head back over into the concert area and meet up with the rest of our group. At this point, Ally and AJ were about to come on stage. However, right before the start of their show, an irate woman came busting out of the backstage area yelling at these kids in the front row. Security was called in to subdue her and escort her off the premises. She used from profane language and body motions infront of alot of little kids so I wonder how the park will respond to that.

After that weird incident, Ally and AJ come on stage and start playing. They have some goods song but I had no idea what the heck the words were. They play a mean guitar though. I got alot of pics of them since they were the main attraction and I figured out I could use my friend as a tripod to hold my camera still for the up close and personal shots.

After the concert, we decided to head over to GASM and get one last ride in since it was about 8 now. We arrive but the line is closed so we decide to leave the park. Me and another fellow wait outside for the rest of the group. We met up with them finally and we all went our seperate ways.

Overall, it was a great night. Not too many coasters but I had fun hanging out with my friends and just being stupid idiots like we usually are.

Overall Trip Rating: 7/10

Here is the link to all of my pictures. Hope you guys enjoy. Sorry that some are blurry. I didnt feel like sorting through and taking out all the bad ones. Sorry no nitro this time. Didnt get a chance to get on it.

[Cyclonic]

Nice report.  It is a shame some folks have to try and ruin things for others.  There really is nothing the park can do about that though.

I really like that angle you can get of Medusa from the arena.  I've never seen a concert in there, but I will have to go in sometime before they shut the ride down and get some shots from the top of the stands.

What kind of camera are you using?  Even the long shots seem a bit grainy.  I can see how the zoomed in shots would be blurry though, it is tough to get a good zoomed in shot without a tripod.

[overlord]

I'm using a Samsung Digimax 430. Now I noticed my lens have a little finger print on them, if i were to clean this, would it help the quality a little better? I only have a 4 MP camera.

[Cyclonic]

That would probably do the trick.  You should be getting nice clear photos with a 4MP camera.

[overlord]

Then I'll have to run down to CVS and get some len's cloths so I can clean it. Im still trying to figure out what setting will give me the best quality photo. You know, that level between image and a scene?

[PcMan]

The problem is your photos only show 800 x 600 which = a less then 1mp camera or setting
Make sure you have it on the best quality setting.
Also / or
The site you are hosting your pics on may only allow you 800 x 600   when other sites like www.smugmug.com offer full resolution.
here is a 5mp photo  yours should look about the same
http://www.darktipper.com/images/Kingda/moviecam.JPG

this is the reason why you should always use your highest quality click below
http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/media/flash/d/digtalimaging/demo2_v5.swf?h=504

[Cyclonic]

pcman; You using Smugmug?

[overlord]

My photos are originally 1024x768 or whatever it is. I just made them 800 x 600 for online purposes because they dont need to be cropped or anything. But in general, I feel the camera just doesnt want to take fine detail pictures. Ill clean the lense and see what happens from there.

[Cyclonic]

I would say, unless you are going to post them in the message forums, you should upload them at the highest resolution.  This gives you a lot more to work with.

Also, most cameras list their best resolution setting as their "Fine" resolution.  You should always shoot in the best resolution, because you can always scale down if you need to, but you can't scale up.

[stew560]

One of the great things about sites like SmugMug (What I use) and Flickr, is that they let you upload at the highest resolution and then offer links at lower resolutions. On my Smugmug, I upload full-size and then normally post on forums at Medium level. Plus I restrict users to only see Large, not Original. This saves my bandwidth and still offers a great pic!

btw - Overlord, Great TR and cool pics!

[overlord]

Ah Flickr, there is a free account that is pretty nice. I only uploaded them to webshots because it offered batch uploading which is better then having to pick out each individual pick like alot of sites have. Ill give Flickr a try and see what I can come up with next time I go to the park.

[rjholla2003]

Flickr Uploadr lets you upload a batch, and you don't even have to have your web browser open to do it.  Usually when I update my flickr account it's through that.

[overlord]

Yeah I saw that. Later tonight I will upload everything onto flickr in their original size. I still think my camera is the one at fault for having bad quality sometimes. I would take more photos at the park but I just feel my camera cant get enough quality to take good pics. Especially like SxyDan's photos on his smugmug.com.

[PcMan]

pcman; You using Smugmug?

Not for the picture I just posted.That is hosted on one of my sites
But I do use smugmug for my own personal photos
I have about 3000 + on the smugmug
I have a big family and it's a great way to share my pics in a orderly fashon.
Sking,parties.birthdays,beach camping,Holidays etc.
ALso smugmug is rated tops for photo printing at a great price.
BUT ALWAYS SHOOT AT THE HIGHEST DETAIL YOU CAN just like mentioned all above
you can always make a copy then make it smaller but always keep the original in it's orignal size.
I just picked me up a new 6mp HP for $129 I normally use my sony 3.2mp. The pic from my above post was from a Gateway 5mp I got on ebay about a year ago $50. I'm a gadget freak to many toys for this boy
I need to ebay and craigslist a few I have laying around  .
prices are falling like crazy.

[stew560]

Just be careful of the Free Flickr... It will only let you upload 20MB a month, but it gives you a good idea of the service.

I tried both, and for the extra $10 (after coupon) I preferred Smugmug...

[rjholla2003]

I never upload that much anyway, so that's no big deal for me.  You can only have three sets also on a free account.

[overlord]

Yeah I'm seeing that Flickr isnt too impressive in my opinion. Webshots is good enough for me right now. I want to find a place like smugmug that is either free or really really low priced. I dont want to pay $40 a year because honestly, I dont work that much to pay that much. (Well I do...Just a bad money spender sometimes). Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Cyclonic]

You have to pay for the service, but it is so very worth it.  You get 6gigs per month bandwidth, and unlimited storage space.  It allows you to easily post photos right in the forums as well.  Heck, even photos on my site are being hosted by Smugmug.  You just are not going to find a better service for the money.  Using my email address (Cyclonic07@aol.com) will get you $5 off.
Posted on: May 14, 2006, 02:08:04 am

pcman; You using Smugmug?

Not for the picture I just posted.That is hosted on one of my sites
But I do use smugmug for my own personal photos
I have about 3000 + on the smugmug
I have a big family and it's a great way to share my pics in a orderly fashon.
Sking,parties.birthdays,beach camping,Holidays etc.

Well, if you do host park photos on the site, we have created a Roller Coaster community that is growing.

http://www.smugmug.com/community/RollerCoasters

[overlord]

^It depends on whehter or not I take more photos over the next few months and what not. If I start to build up alot of photos, then I'll pull together the $40 from a few paychecks and have my dad charge it. Ive switched my default camera dimensions to 1600 x 1200. So on my 512 MB stick, I can take roughly 470 pictures with that size. It gives me alot more to work with I guess. I'm still trying to figure out all the right settings.

[PcMan]

I will give
http://www.smugmug.com/community/RollerCoasters
a try