We were out at Hanauma Bay yesterday so I took a few photos. It is a very popular place for snorkelers.





I was using the E-M5 + 9-18mm lens for the first two photos. The lens takes 52mm filters and I had a 55mm polarizer with 55mm-to-52mm stepdown ring. I had assumed there would be no vignetting, but I was wrong. I got some in the upper corners. The polarizer is not a very thin one, but since it was a larger diameter I figured it would be okay. I also have a 62mm polarizer so I guess I will see about getting a 62mm-to-52mm stepdown ring.

When we were about to leave I saw these interesting parking lot lights. They are powered by solar cells above and wind turbines below. The wind was blowing so the wind turbines were spinning. A real belt and suspenders approach. Actually, I suspect they also can get power from normal electrical lines in case there is no sun or wind. Has anyone seen this sort of thing before?

Beautiful looking place Henry, the vignetting wasn’t visible in the VF? I’m guessing that the street light is LED which don’t draw as much power, I actually found an image of that exact one mixed in with all the other solar/wind powered lights but couldn’t find link to the origin of the light itself, and no I haven’t noticed any around here but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any.
Greg

Yeah, I could see it, but since I was already there it was too late to go home, order a 62-52mm stepdown ring, wait for it to arrive, attach it to the 62mm polarizer, and return to Hanauma Bay so I just shot with what I had with me. In the VF it didn't look so bad, but when I looked at them at home I wished that I had just zoomed in a millimeter or two to get rid of it. With a couple of minutes of cloning though I can fix it since it is in the sky. One of the disadvantages of LR is that there are certain things that I sometimes want to do that it can't do or can't do well. PSE could do it easily. I can send the file to PSE to do it, but LR makes me get a little lazy in these cases sometimes. Also, it creates a new tiff file that is much larger than the raw file that I have to keep. Of course, if I was going to make a print or make a larger jpeg version I would do it.

I suppose these lights are more expensive than the regular lights. I wonder how long it takes for them to pay for the extra expense? Hawaii has the most expensive electricity in the country so it would be faster than other places, I suppose.

Great photos Henry. Last time I was there I had my Dimage A2. I have seen the solar powered emergency light and phone systems in California.
Never I have seen solar and wind powered lights.

Sury

Great colour range in water, Henry.

Not surprised why it's so popular among the snorkelers... : )

I think I saw various types of those street lights in photos of some American cities where they were being tested locally to see how efficient they proved to be. (I was researching on solar energy and sustainable systems at the time)
The locals were displeased with the big solar panels but happy to see some improvement that unburdened the town's grid. The wind turbines are an interesting addition and logical ones too; either wind or the Sun.


Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

Yes, the sort of street lights powered by small solar panels are pretty common all over the U.S. for quite awhile, but this was the first time I had seen ones with little wind generators also. The winds are almost always blowing here in Hawaii though so those turbines are probably turning 24-hours a day.

The generators remind me of the ones we built in Brazil. Cut a barrel in half and and set them up like two (), only offset. That way, no matter which way the wind blows, you catch air. These appear to have 3 blades and may be more efficient, but it's a really cheap way of generation electricity!

Dusty

That reminds me of when I was in Vietnam in February 2000 way up in the north trekking in the Hilltribe areas. Sometimes we saw little, homemade hydroelectric generators in fast moving streams. They were made from coffee cans or other large food cans and were cut up in such a way that they had a part that would turn in the water current and a wire would go through the woods and up the hill to a wood and grass hut to provide enough power for a tiny electric light -- only about 8-15 watts light bulbs. I don't think I took a photo of any of them. There is a chance that I did, but it is on film and I don't have it here with me so I can't check. I am sure I have never scanned a photo of them though. I just did a Google search and I found this photo of a rather large setup in Vietnam that was taken about 9 months after I was in the country. My recollection is that most or all of the ones I saw were quite a bit smaller and for just one home:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nw_vietnam_hydro.jpg