Kerobian Time

Category: Photography

  • The Revival Of Old Relic

    I’ve been passively following this trend of people revisiting their old point and shoot cameras.

    Initially, I wasn’t that interested in the topic, but I stumbled upon someone mentioning this great software called CHDK which would give their old Canon point and shoot a whole new set of tricks to play with.

    I happened to have my very own old Canon PowerShot A480 point and shoot that by itself has very limited features. Being a true point and shoot, it doesn’t even offer any control modes like aperture or shutter priority.

    About a year or so ago, I gave it to my kids, so that they can get a glimpse of photography outside of phone cameras, but they quickly lost their interest in it.

    Since it has been lying around, and gathering dust for a few months now, I decided to poke it, and see if anything comes out.

    Luckily, I found a version of CHDK for Canon A480 on their website, loaded it onto the SD Card, and it worked!

    The most important functionality gain for me was the ability to save RAW files, and the live histogram when shooting.
    Other than that, unfortunately there was no way for me to control the aperture, or shutter speed. I believe there should be a plugin that would resolve that issue, but I didn’t have enough time to dig deep into it just yet.

    The software, by default, has a lot more to offer though, like the zebra screen, file manager, even games.

    So far, I took it to a short walk with me to Jrvezh State Park, which is one of my favorite places, and the results are quite satisfying, despite some of the shots coming out soft (which may or may not be because of a smudged lens 🫣).

    Compared to the RAW photos that I get from my phone’s camera when shooting with Open Camera app, these have very little noise when shot in bright daylight, a ton of dynamic range to work with, and much better colors straight out of camera.

    I will certainly start using this camera more from now on, and I am grateful to the people behind CHDK project that prevent old, but still capable cameras from going into junkyard.

    Below are some of the photos I took that day. These are slightly edited in darktable.

  • Pilgrimage to Mount Ara

    There is a small cave shrine called Tsaghkevank (flower monastery) dedicated to Saint Barbara on the southern slopes of Mount Ara. The cave has a small spring in it, which waters according to numerous accounts are revered as healing.

    The road leading to the mountain is decent for the most part. But, It gets gradually worse when you reach the foot of the mountain, and from there on, it’s pretty much non-existent.

    Some entrepreneurial locals from the nearby village offer off-road vehicle services with their Russian UAZ’s right before the road turns into a carnival ride.
    Considering that I nearly bottomed out my car several times during the ascent, I will most likely use their services next time we visit the place.

    We went there on a hot afternoon, on the first day of July. Coming from the city, the fresh mountain air was very refreshing.
    I wish there was a practical way of bringing some of it back with us to the city.

    Fortunately, however, there is a convenient way to bring back views of the place, and I didn’t forget to grab my camera. So, here are some of the shots I managed to take.


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  • An Afternoon In the Mountains

    One of our favourite getaways in Armenia’s Aragatsotn province, is the area around Astvatsankal monastery which was built and extended from 4th to 13th centuries.

    A bit further below of the monastery, there is a well maintained camping spot in the gorge, right at the banks of the Kasagh river.

    The photos below were taken from around the monastery. The altitude is around 1790m / 5873ft in the area.


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  • A Cloudy Night Sky

    On one of my evening walks I stumbled upon this lamp post. The branches of the tree had graciously grown around it.

    The whole surrounding looked to me like a cloudy night sky with full moon.


  • A Calm Evening With A View

    Located near Yerevan, in front of the village Voghjaberd, there is a monument dedicated to the Armenian poet Eghishe Charents called Charents’ Arch.

    It opens a breathtaking view to the biblical mount Ararat, the symbol of Armenians and Armenia which unfortunatley currently resides within the borders of Turkey.

    From the same location, just to the right of the montain, one can see a partial panorama of Yerevan.

    Here’s a snapshot of the view from when I went there on July 19.

  • A Visit To The Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex

    On April 24, 1915, by the orders of the Ottoman Minister of Interior Talaat Pasha, the police of Constantinople arrested and deported approximately 300 Armenian intellectuals, signifying the beginning of the thoroughly planned and executed stage of the Armenian Genocide. Within the span of two years, an estimated 1,500,000 Armenians were systematically killed, marched into their deaths in Syrian deserts, or deported from their homeland.

    Today, 110 years later, the wounds from these atrocities remain open in the collective minds of the Armenians, as despite countless evidences, the Turkish government to this day denies it as genocide and fails to accept responsibility.

    To commemorate the victims of the genocide, every year on April 24, hundreds of thousands of Armenians from around the world visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in Yerevan and lay flowers at the eternal flame.

    The monument was constructed between 1966 and 1967 and includes a 44-meter stela symbolizing rebirth as well as an eternal flame dedicated to the victims. It is located at the center of twelve stone slabs, which are arranged in a circular fashion and represent the twelve lost provinces. In 1995, a museum-institute was built nearby with the goal of studying and preventing genocides.

    Below are some photos I took during my visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex on April 27.

  • Playing With a New Camera

    TLDR: I bought Sony a6700, it is awesome, but I have some nitpicks about ergonomics.

    At this point, I’ve had my good old Canon 850D for over two years now, and it has served me quite well. I bought it to re-learn the basics, re-ignite the passion for photography, and get myself an extra-work activity that I truly love.

    Given the intention, the 850D has done its job brilliantly! It offered (well, it still does, I still have it) all a beginner could want and much more. So much so, that I slowly came up with a list of features that I’d like to have on my next long-term camera.

    Some must have features from the list are an IBIS, more megapixels, cause I often re-compose in post, better and faster autofocus, a joystick, etc.

    For the past year or so I’ve been primarily looking into full frame mirrorless cameras. Mostly older models ranging from Nikon Z6ii to Sony A7 III, you know, cause I cannot justify a $4k+ sticker price of a new camera for the life of me (plus my wife would kill me if I ever dared to make the purchase 😅).

    So, at some point, I came across Petapixel’s review of Sony a6700, and boy did it send me down the rabbit hole. I’ve probably checked out every single review of the camera that’s out there.

    Now, obviously it did not offer a full coverage for my feature list, it has an APS-C sensor, smaller resolution, etc, but, It felt like a good compromise between price and features.
    So, after sitting on that thought for a couple of weeks, I bought it, with the 18-135 kit lens.

    At this point, I took it to a couple of walks with me, as you can see from the photos below, and I have to say, that, functionality wise, it does everything I wanted it to do.

    Compared to my 850D, it has one additional control knob, which I use for exposure compensation, and it has been a game-changer so far.
    Because it has superior subject tracking, I don’t even feel the need for an autofocus joystick anymore. I simply put the focus square on the subject and re-compose. As expected, it does a wonderful job at it.
    As for the “lack” of megapixels, I made a vow to take a slower approach and do a better job at composing in-camera, to not have to do it in post later on.

    Have some nitpicks regarding ergonomics though. For instance, I think the grip could be improved a bit. My pinky constantly folds underneath the camera as there’s not enough room for it on the grip.
    The AF button would’ve been so much easier to use if it was placed just a bit to the right, you know, something similar to what canon does.
    These are certainly not dealbreakers, and I think I’ll get used to it after some time.

    Overall, I think I’ve made a good choice, and I quite like my new camera. With me being a one camera one lens type of person, I hope it’ll serve me well for the upcoming years, and looking forward to taking it out for various trips soon.

  • A Lazy Winter Afternoon By the River Bank

    Yesterday, my daughter was invited to her friend’s birthday party. They were celebrating it in a children’s café near the Hrazdan river, which flows in a gorge though Yerevan.

    After dropping her off, I had a few hours to spare. The weather was quite pleasing for this time of the year, so I decided to take a stroll across the river bank till it’s time to pick her back up.

    Here are a couple of photos that are worth sharing.

  • A Walk In the Park

    One of my favorite spots for evening walks in Yerevan is the WWII victory park. It was built in 1950 on a hill that was then situated right on the city limit.

    Today, the city has grown far beyond it. The surrounding forests that were once planted to make summers in the downtown more bearable and less dusty have been cut down and replaced with houses of wealthy individuals and random residential buildings.

    Despite recent developments in the area, the view of the downtown and surrounding districts from the park remains as magical as I’ve been told it once was.

    Here’s a gallery of some of the photos I managed to capture when I was there on 8 November 2024.

  • A Week In Italy – November 2024

    Last year, at the end of November, we decided to celebrate my wife’s birthday in Italy. Just the two of us, without kids.

    This was actually our second visit to the country, and going back to the same places, Rome and Florence.

    The reason is that on our previous trip, despite the fact that we had only walked from one place to another so we could soak up as much of the local atmosphere and culture, we felt that we barely scratched the surface (obviously).

    Following our urge to experience random discoveries, we would easily cover anywhere from 10 to 15 kilometers on foot every single day, and manage to close the remaining gaps from our previous trip.

    Ironically, I got robbed by very skilled pickpockets on the one occasion when we decided to use the metro 😅.

    That incident, of course, did not taint our overall impressions, and I can truly say that I once again fell in love with the country, the wonderful people, and the Italian culture.

    Here are some of the photos from the trip that I managed to process due to my busy daily schedule.