The strap is normally on the camera. I often take the camera with a kit lens when just running around.

If I am using a long lens, it will often be with a tripod, and in that case, I will frequently ditch the strap, or bundle it so that it is not as likely to catch something.

60 years ago, when I started this hobby, every camera had a leather case, and I was religious using them. Given the time, and use, I realized that I had few cameras with scratches or dents, if any. I also figured if I did get a dinged camera, I might have a good story to go with it. No cases anymore, and I don't have any exciting stories to tell.

Radium-226 as well as tritium (H-3) were both used as energy sources in watches and bomb sights. Unfortunately, Ra-226 has a half life of 1600 years, so my watch will be glowing after I am dead. Kodak detected the first tests prior to their general knowledge as the fallout fogged film made in Rochester, NY. Eventually, the US government paid Kodak money for degraded film, and Kodak kept the matter hush.

Sadly, prior to that, bomb sites were also made by Kodak, and the women who painted them would use their tongue to neaten the tip of the brush. Sadly when the war was over there were quite a few cancer cases.

Related a little bit, I have been in the reactor room which was in the basement of Kodak Research Labs, before the reactor was dismantled. That reactor was used to make select radioisotopes for some projects.

To effectively address the radioactive water, one has to know the contaminants, etc. and it is likely possible to reduce the waste footprint. I jokingly mentioned painting watch dials, because sometimes recycling radioactive materials is a means of recycling waste.

Someone could be making watch dials!

I wasn't looking. But I did not see it in your photo. Normally I can spot the ISS simply by movement, and most often by the distinctive shape, depending upon lighting. There are starfinder/tracking apps which also track the ISS. They might help you identify it.

One trick I have used to spot things is to take a time exposure with the camera on the tripod. When shooting the comet a couple of years ago, I could not identify it. So I shot the region of the sky, for 1 minute, then re-aimed the camera and shot again. A couple of iterations, and I had the framing just right for the final shots.

I will tell you a different story. I was a imaging scientist for the filmmaker in Rochester, NY, for 45 years, and since my youth I was taking photos. For example, in my high school yearbook I took about 50% 0f the candids. But I am far from great.

You have done this long enough with a cellphone camera, and I suggest that you examine your means and find a older digital SLR kit with a couple of lens. With that expanded equipment, you can better learn some of the technical methods which will help you improve your composition.

For example, depth of field. Or blur of subject or background. Modification of exposure. Perhaps some filters or macro lens (filter). Street night time shots. Nature shots needing control over focus, shutter or depth of field.

What I envision is $300 or less. I know because I have gifted similar kits to some people. For many, but not all, they experience a leap in their skills, with new tools, and many newer ways to see the world.

We only live a finite period of time. Photography has been fulfilling to you but it could be more so. Consider a hardware upgrade. Take your time looking, but it will be helpful if you can jump on the right deal. My bias is to a Nikon DX digital SLR. Make sure you have economical options for spare batteries. Recently I priced these for a friend considering selling his. When we found the price it would get on the market, he gifted it to an 11 year old relative.

Nice collection. Some very nice. IMO, for the beavers, I would try to get more contrast. Perhaps with the sun behind you. They are difficult because they swim mostly underwater, but when they get out there are other opportunities. Good luck, and keep shooting.

Without doing some research on what consumer photo tool, I cannot tell you exactly how to accomplish what I think you want, however this is a frame stacking class problem.

The implementation you need is a focus stacking one, which takes a stack of different focus points, and then optimizes for sharpness through the focus range of the stack.

This is commonly done for stills, and has been implemented at several motion picture facilities for control over enhanced DOF.

Using the same technique, you could make both bears sharp and the grass soft. Several frames would be necessary with the bears in focus, and the grass would remain out of focus. However, without segmentation of the image, other objects (including grass), which remained in the plane of focus of the bears would also be sharp. But that is usually manageable with manual or automated segmentation of the image.

Great tip!

A friend had a house he rented to people who did not clean up for a year and had multiple large dogs who dropped in the house. Because of all the dog food and pizza boxes etc there was a rodent infestation and cockroaches. Once the place was cleaned out he put window fans in the rooms to circulate the air and I brought in my collection of ozone generators. Four hours later the place smelled like a day in May without flowers and was littered with dead cockroaches and mice.

I just have held back on the ozone. Applied at the right level it breaks down proteins (allergy sources, virus, etc) and aromatic hydrocarbons. But it can also damage plastic and therefore my reluctance. But it may be the best option, and as it does not leave any residue behind.

Thanks. I have used baking soda and a week of being in a ziplock bag with 6oz of activated charcoal. No joy.

6 months ago I bought a used Nikon body which was in excellent condition, via eBay. All in all I am very happy.

The camera has an odor which could be cologne. Or cigar smoke. It is faint but my sense of smell is exceptionally sensitive.

Anyone have some good suggestions?

I have washed with detergent and a rag. I have used vinegar. I have used 70% EtOH. I have left it in the sun to gently encourage outgassing. My next effort will be to use a reasonably strong application of O3. It is very effective with smoke and tends to eliminate hand lotion odors which annoy me.

Thanks for any ideas.

Great rendering!

Very nice image!

A tangent, but an instructor in a Piper Dakota was with a student at Wellsville NY airport doing pattern work, when a turkey vulture broke the windshield. Now the Dakota has allot more power than the run of the mill training aircraft, but even at full power it was going down at 800 feet per minute. Blood and guts and wind all over the place, but the instructor took over and just barely managed to get the plane onto the runway. No serious injuries. A drone will do what a turkey vulture will do to an aircraft.

A few years ago, a seagull took out the engine on a corporate plane on takeoff at Rochester NY airport. The plane made it back and landed, which some say is no big deal, except in NYC a regional jet lost both engines and splashed in the Hudson.

It is not unheard of for jet engines to loose turbine buckets which are not contained, and pierce the fuselage and have killed passengers. None of us would want to be the owner of a drone that caused a turbine failure, which took out passengers.

So regulators worry about this kind of thing every day because the public relies on them to "assure things are safe." This results in more regulations and makes it harder to use a drone in many areas, and easier to use the Bell LongRanger for the low level shots. It just costs more, but you get a noisy ride.

(And the Bell LongRanger probably is in the end more risk exposure with 3000+ pounds and 743 pounds of jet fuel waiting to ignite on crash.)