Enjoy your trip! You really do everything to make us jealous

No problems. All of my battery chargers and the AC adaptor for my netbook can handle anything so I just need plug adaptors sometimes when I travel. So far everyplace has been fine with no need for adaptors except for one place that wouldn't accept the "newer" U.S. style that has one prong a bit wider than the other. I have an adaptor for that though since I also need it in Japan.

I brought 43.5 gb of memory cards with me and have used about 26 gb so far. Shooting A700 cRAW.

I remember seeing it when I was here last time. Not far away they had a new Hilton Hanoi too. Be sure you make it clear to the taxi driver you want the Hilton Hanoi and not the Hanoi Hilton when arriving.

Here is Country Joe McDonald with his Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die at Woodstock in 1969:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zdH09mWVF8

Leaving Hoi An today and heading to Hue.

I got to Hanoi a couple of days ago after spending a couple of nights at Halong Bay. I'm just hanging out here for my last few days. Leave on 10/20. I have a comfortable hotel in the Old Quarter very close to Hoan Kiem Lake and am happy to just chillax (chill + relax) for awhile. A New Zealand woman I met used that word all the time. Been wondering around with my camera for a few hours each day since getting here. Finally, the weather has turned a bit cooler and a bit less humid. Most of the month was so hot and humid.

Visited Hoa Lo Prison aka Hanoi Hilton in Hanoi a couple of days ago. I stopped by there when I was in Vietnam about 11 years ago too. Much of the prison is gone now, but they have preserved one large section and made it into a museum. By the way, mostly the prison documents the terrible treatment of Vietnamese political prisoners by the French imperialists. It isn't until the very end that they show a bit about its use to hold American POW terrorists and imperialists (such as John McCain). The POWs had such a wonderful life there I am amazed that any of them chose to go home.

Lots of communist propaganda everywhere you go.

Hi Bakubo,

Some history telling from Vietnam sounds interesting. Glad to know you're about to finalize the trip and safely too. Many such prisons that terrified criminals were indeed legendary and most are converted to hotel buildngs or especially museums if there was some 'untold' inhuman treatment of its prisoners...

Hope to see you back online ...

Yildiz

The biggest of such a prison was called Soviet Union...

In 1980 I remember reading a fair amount of The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -- couldn't get through the whole thing.



I leave Vietnam tomorrow and fly back to Hawaii. Got a long flight ahead of me and have a layover in Korea. I'll be glad to get back. I got out about 6:00 AM this morning to walk around the Old Quarter (where my hotel is located) to get some early morning shots. Then came back for some breakfast and went out again for a couple more hours of walking and shooting.

Except for the very, very annoying control wheel defect (which started only a few months after getting it and only 3,500 photos) of my A700 it is still going strong. It is 33 months old and has about 16,700 shutter actuations. Tech has moved on though so I am about ready for something new. Too bad Sony abandoned this level of camera...

I didn't want to remark on it while you were there Henry, you never know who is listening, but I bet they also didn't cover the huge communist controlled massacre of potential nonconformists, including western aid people, doctors and nurses, academics, gov officials, administrators etc. that took place in the city of Hue in accordance with a pre-prepared list when they 'liberated' it. I reckon those particular people (thousands) didn't feel very 'liberated' for long.
Greg

oops you're still there, I thought you'd left.

Greg, I leave tonight. Maybe after I get home I will post a few thoughts.

Warning, this is a Sony rant.

I guess I was feeling a bit charitable to my A700 yesterday because my comment didn't really reflect my true feelings. I HATE this POS. You can see an old thread I started a long time ago about the control wheel and quality control problems:

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=2535

Even though I went to a lot of trouble to get this problem fixed last year and Sony replaced a whole bunch of parts the problem returned in about 2 months. It has steadily gotten worse and worse with a couple of short, weird intervals where it behaved better. I really should have replaced it before this trip to Vietnam and wanted to, but Sony didn't have anything to replace it with and still doesn't.

I use EC for many, many shots and usually set it quickly as I bring the camera up to my eye. I am pretty good at reading a scene and seeing that the meter will probably be fooled. I often set -0.3/-0.7 or +0.3/+0.7 before the first shot. Of course, sometimes more EC, but that is usually after the first shot, if necessary. Pretty often I make a one click change (-0.3 or +0.3), but the camera will go crazy and change to -2.3 or +2.0 or something else. Since I often have to shoot quickly when I see something on the street I often don't realize the camera's mistake until after I have shot. Usually, it is too late to correct the EC and reshoot. It happened maybe a dozen times yesterday and this morning while walking around it happened 4-5 times. I have lost quite a few shots on this trip because of this or ended up with ones that may be somewhat salvageable. It also happens when I change aperture. I want to go from f5 to f5.6, but the camera may go to f13 or f3.5 -- yeah, it sometimes even jumps in the opposite direction!

When reviewing an image the camera often goes berserk too and will skip 3 or 8 or 15 photos ahead or behind in a random direction. Sometimes it really goes crazy and won't stop rapidly jumping around to various photos. I sometimes have to turn the damn camera off.

The A100 I got for my wife has had fewer problems, I think, but still more than any other camera I have owned (excepting the A700 and KM 7D, of course). I don't use it much and neither does she so there may be problems that I would discover with more use. The biggest thing I noticed was the stuck/sticky shutter button within a couple of months of buying it. I was able to sort of fix it with a needle back in 2007. I am not counting the well-known issues such as noise above ISO 400, lazy eye flash, etc.

I have owned many DSLRs, SLRs, and other cameras, but the only ones that have ever had any problems were the Sony and KM (7D also had problems) cameras.

Please, please, someone, anyone, if I EVER make noises about buying another Sony camera shoot me, stab me, hang me, burn me, do anything to keep me from doing it!!! Okay, maybe I am kidding and after I calm down a bit I may change my mind.

why wouldn't you have gotten the wheels fixed again before you took this trip? seems to me thins is the only problem you've had.. no ?

The entire top deck including the control wheels and a related data ribbon and insulation was replaced according to the job report I saw, so I'm now thinking it's a problem coming from somewhere else. The wheels may not be the primary problem at all.
Greg

What lens do you use mostly Henry? does it happen with all lenses? what happens if you change lenses while the problem is happening?
Greg

Henry, I feel for ya. It's bad enough when we blow a shot through our own fault, it's much worse when it's a problem with the gear. I know, I've had it happen.

Luckily for me, (knock wood) my 350 has been rock solid and I'd like to get my hands on a 580, since I can't afford the FF models.

Dusty