Nikon D5600

The Nikon D5600 is a crop-sensor dSLR camera.

Crop sensor means a sensor that is two thirds the size of a full frame sensor.

SLR is an abbreviation for single lens reflex. Light enters the camera through the lens. It is reflected by mirrors and a prism up and into the viewfinder. When the photographer takes the shot the mirror has to get out of the way of the light. So the mirror housing springs up and then down again. That’s the ‘reflex’ in single lens reflex.

I used a Nikon D5600 on the trip to Budapest in 2018. I took the photo in the previous post with that camera.

Higher end mirror-less cameras have a rear screen and a viewfinder.

Mirror-less cameras don’t have a prism and mirror arrangement. The viewfinder doesn’t see the scene optically. Instead it sees a digital representation of the scene.

The camera will have a rear screen as well as a viewfinder., So one view is in the rear screen and the other in the viewfinder.

I have been using mirror-less cameras for a while. Yet I have a hankering to get back to seeing the scene optically.

And the Nikon D5600 is a crop-sensor digital SLR camera. And I have a hankering to see a full-frame dSLR in action..

Why? Because the image quality will be better than a crop sensor image.

Full frame dSLRs were expensive when they were new. Now they are good value because everyone wants mirror=less. So if you are looking to swim against the tide – this is a possibility.

Dohány

This is the Dohány Street synagogue in Budapest. ‘Dohány’ means tobacco. When the synagogue was constructed (1854-59) there was a cigar factory further down the street and they used the name.

Inside there is a balcony and upper balcony, very light and airy, built in iron. Building in iron was a new technique at the time. It’s much like the museum in Edinburgh and Crystal Palace in London, also keen to using this new building technique,

The architect of the synagogue was not Jewish and put in some Catholic features that suited the assimilated community. For example, the bima where readers stand is not in the centre of the room. Instead it is near the front behind a low grill. And there are pulpits and an organ.

The minaret-looking towers are the reason the building is still standing. When the Germans were retreating they destroyed everything. But not the synagogue because they were using the towers as aerials for radio communication.

After the Germans left, the Hungarian Arrow Cross fascists shot Jews out of hand on the streets of Budapest.. After the war 2,281 victims were gathered and buried at the side of the synagogue in mass graves.

No One Wants To Be On The Red List

Puffins On The Isle Of May
Puffins On The Isle Of May

Tamara drew my attention to an article by the Royal Society For the Protection of Birds that describes new birds on the Red List.

In the UK every six years or so, conservation organisations get together to estimate the numbers of native bird species in the UK.

From that they put the birds on a list – Green, Amber, or Red List. Those on the Red List are the most in danger.

More of the UK’s seabird species are declining faster, with five new species – the Arctic Tern, Leach’s Petrel, Common Gull, Great Black-backed Gull and Great Skua are now on the Red List.

It’s crazy – the Black-backed Gull in danger of disappearing?

Puffins are already on the Red List. Rising global temperatures have caused sand eels to move north to lower sea temperatures. So puffins have to fly further north off the coasts of the UK to find sand eels, and so more fail to reach land again in time to feed their young.

On the positive side, the Department for Agriculture and Fisheries published its decision to permanently close all sand eel fisheries in English waters in the North Sea from 26 March 2024, before the start of the next fishing season that started on. 6 Jun 2024.

The Scottish Government under its devolved legislative powers brought in The Sandeel (Prohibition Of Fishing) (Scotland) Order 2024, which mirrors the legislation relating to English waters.

This takes the pressure off the sand eel

But the root of the problem, rising sea temperatures is beyond the wit or will of man to attempt to affect in any dramatic way.

Britain is a world leader in coming off fossil fuels, but it is a pipsqueak in the global picture. China and the US can influence excess global warming the most and they are making huge efforts to come off fossil fuels. China reached peak coal use in 2023.

By the way, did you notice that the Scots spell sand eels as one word?

Tamara and I photographed puffins in the Forth estuary on the Isle of May on a couple of trips some years ago..

This is a puffin with a mouth full of sand eels. I forget what the record is for the greatest number of sand eels recorded in a puffin’s mouth, but a quick google says it’s 83.