I’ve always loved my Digital Buchineko (white version of the Digital Harinezumi) and when the recent Digital Harinezumi 2 was launched (not long after I bought the Buchineko!), I thought I’d be safe and be able to resist the temptation. It was all well until I dropped by ThirtySix (a cool local toy camera store) with a six-pack of beer. Met up with the owner, gulped some cold beer … he let me ‘have a feel’ of the Harinezumi 2. That’s when trouble began!
One ‘problem’ I’ve always had with the earlier version of this camera was the closeup mode. It does have a closeup/macro mode but the minimum focusing distance was not enough for me. I wanted to go nearer. The Harinezumi 2 answered my prayer (or did I even pray for it?) and now I can go as close as 3cm! The other ‘problem’ was that the earlier version I had (Buchineko) was using a newer version of firmware that doesn’t allow me to (by using some ‘hack’) to shoot in black & white mode … and the Harinezumi 2 comes with an option to switch to black & white mode shooting (both photo and video).
Needless to say … after groping the demo unit of the camera for a while … there goes more money into buying another ‘toy’. The money in my wallet was originally meant to be spent on a 2TB external harddisk!!! Damn! So I went home last night with an empty wallet and a new Harinezumi 2. Too bad I’ve to work today and only be able to take some test shots around my office during lunch hour.
See how close it can get? Yay!
Overall … I am pretty happy with the camera. Like some of those who has played with both the versions of the Harinezumi … I also feel that this new one performs better in black & white mode. Somehow the colors produced by this version seems a little different from the earlier one. I’ll try take some color photos soon to make a 1 to 1 comparison. For now … all I have are some sample test shots in black & white mode.
The ‘trick’ to enable ‘live view’ during shooting is gone in the Harinezumi 2. So you either shoot blindly like most of us using toy cams would, or just compose the photo in video mode and press the ‘ok’ button to switch back to photo mode before pressing the shutter.
Move a little while shooting and you’ll get sometimes some weird ‘effect’. Hahaha! Don’t try this on portraits or you might get slapped by the ‘model’.
Took me a while to figure out how to switch it to black & white mode. Surprisingly there isn’t an option in the menu to directly switch from color to black & white mode! You will have to press the ‘Menu’ button 4 times (after entering the menu mode) and then the ‘Ok’ button twice. I couldn’t find any instruction in the manual for this too. Perhaps it’s one of those ‘hidden’ features? But then … if it was not meant to be a ‘standard feature’ of this new version … then the only new features of this new version are better closeup capability, sound recording in video mode and also a new ‘filter’ in front of the lens which I was told will prevent getting a dark spot when shooting scenes with the sun right in the frame. The increase in megapixels wasn’t at all of any interest to me though.
I woke up this morning to realise that I still need the external hard disk and had to dig out the last dime from my account to get one. Duh. There goes my beer money for December. Anyone buying me beer for Christmas? 😀
The colors from the Harinezumi 2 seems a little different. Not sure if it is my eyes but the photos seem way saturated and contrast seems much higher.
Oh … I forgot to mention that I picked up two rechargable CR2 batteries from ThirtySix too. These batteries just came in and are not on the shelves there yet but I managed to get the boss to sell them to me … while offering to help test out the performance. I saw these on eBay some time ago while I was hunting for rechargable CR2 batteries. To be honest … the blue (and some in green) batteries does look very scary (and ugly). They look like some little explosives to me. Hahaha. Anyway, I’ve popped in one of them into my Harinezumi 2 and it’s still going strong. I’ll write my findings later when I’ve drained out the charge and recharge them (the 2 batteries come with a charger). No instructions nor box. I don’t even know how long the charging will require. Hahaha. I just hope they won’t explode. 😐 I definitely hope they will be great because the little Harinezumi cameras seem to be big battery suckers!
Note : No Photoshopping were done on all these test shots except resizing.
love you new layout brother! great bw shots too!
@Mijonju : Thanks. Haha. I just thought I could change the colors etc … since the Xmas and holidays are coming. Looking forward to the launch of your ‘poison’ website. 😉
LOL! Now i understand ur title – He can He drink (six pack) He bought!! … Nice photos, good intro … are you selling your Digital Buchineko by any chance?
@Nglia : Well I didn’t finish the entire 6pax … coz I shared it with Jim there. Hahaha. I won’t be selling the Buchineko because I’m using it for color photos/videos. I still prefer the colors from it.
I see, thats very prompt response. Anyway …. i like everything in your blog!! … Hoping to absorb ‘inspiration’ so i can take nice photos too …
@Nglia : Thanks 😉
Duh! I am on my own with the bank robbery now, since you’ve got yours…
@Ta : Nooooo! Wait for me!!! I still need $ for my beer!!!
ndroo, what plugin are you using for your photos?
I am starting to have a go with WordPress..not going very far.
Thank you
Ta
@Ta : I am using NextGen gallery.
i think i understand your title, your, you went to jimmy’s you guys drank and chat.. then you brought the camera?
Nice micro shots there!
Nice new background!
luv the BW !!!
Nice! The Macro/Close-Up mode looks really cool. I’d like a more contrasty black and white mode though.
@everyone : Thanks
@Darcy : I guess it’s individual preference. I like it just the way it is. 😀
Should we present you with the Best Customer of the Year award? 😉
@cyanwater : You better do! And … buy me a few pints of beer! I’m broke. Very broke!
Can you recommend what brand of rechargeable battery is good for digi hari 2?
Thanks
@j : The only rechargables I find online are those in blue or green, with some of them labelled ‘sure fire’ or something like that. I’ve got 2 recently but one of them seem to not hold charge well and goes flat quite fast. If you are getting some, maybe you can try getting the higher capacity ones which I guess will last longer. Mine are the 600mah ones which I think are the lowest capacity versions.
But any brand specific?
coz currently i’m using non-rechargeable panasonic battery
@j : There ain’t any particular brand I know of. Those I see online (eg eBay) are either without any brand or has some name like SureFire printed on them. Are you from Singapore? If you are, you can check out ThirtySix at Sunshine Plaza. They’ve brought some of these in.
Thanks for your help
Hi there just to check with you I read a review saying for digihari 2, the pictures with bright colours are not so good as compared to digihari 1. i saw on flickr pictures with bright colors n etc…i like to take pics like those…so im confused …is the bright colours in digihari 2 is dat bad?? Thank you.
@J : Hahaha. Well it is up to individuals. Some of us like the less saturated … a little faded looking colors and thus we like the Harimezumi 1 for color shots better. If you like bright colors … go for Harinezumi 2. At least it has the b&w mode too.
thanks for your advise
Will definitely check ur blog often
@J : U r most welcome. 🙂 Thanks for droppping by.
How much are the cr2 rechargeble bateries with the batteries at thirty six???
@unwritten92 : Sorry I’ve no idea how much they are (yet). They’ve not started selling them and I got mine from them by bugging the boss to let me have a set to try out. Hahaha. Of course I’ll have to pay them when the pricing is out. You might wanna call them to find out.
hi there..i just bought one. but how to change to b&W mode from the camera?i can’t figure it out
and i changed to macro view to snap photo but the photo still so blur..
can you guide me?
@buzz : Congrats on your new toy. The switching to b&w mode is not in the manual. Quite a pain in the ass to get to it though. Haha. Here’s how …
1. Switch on the camera
2. Press MENU button 5 times. It will go through all the menus and return to the READY screen
3. Press OK button 3 times. It will go from video to photo and back to video mode
By now the video should be in b&w mode. You can switch to photo mode by pressing the OK once again.
Do note that the mode is not saved when the camera is powered off. You will have to do these all over again. That’s why I said that it’s quite a pain to switch between the modes. I wished they could make this simple. Duh.
Have fun!
@buzz : As for the macro mode, how far were you from the subject? On the Harinezumi 2, you need to be quite close to the subject to get it to focus properly. Try estimating the focus distance in video mode. Once you can see the subject focused, switch to photo mode and snap. Hope this helps.
wow..thanks for your details..
i will try it.
u r so good at all toys
@buzz : Nah. I’m just like everyone else who like these ‘toys’. 😀
@ndroo, @mijonju: Hey guys, i got my digi hari 2 and totally love it, but was wondering if you guys got any buggy issues at all?
Recently, when i turn it on, it stays on a black screen and nothing works, the only way to turn it off is to open the battery cover. If i try turning it on with no memory card, it turns on fine, says “No Card” and turns off as though it works properly. Any suggestions as to what the problem is or how i can get it to work? I have tried different memory cards and tried reformatting my cards but nothing seems to work.
Is there a way i can update firmware or something? I noticed if you turn it on whilst holding the shutter it says “Updating” but obviously nothing is happening as i do not have any files for it.
Please, any help would be greatly appreciated. I bought my digi hari 2 in Hong Kong and now I am in Sydney, so if i had to get it fixed with warranty, im not really sure what the best way to go about it is…
Thanks in advance for everything!
@spjkey : So far I don’t face any problem with the H2. You mean you don’t see anything when you turn on the camera? Not even those text? If you press the Menu button, does the menu appear? Not sure if you know this but the H2 doesn’t give you a live view when you are in photo mode. This means you can’t compose your photos like in any other digital camera. The live view only works in video mode. Just ignore my question if you do know this … I’m just trying to find out more about your problem. There isn’t any new firmware (as far as I know of). Do let us know more about the problem.
erm.. I cant seem to “activate” my black and white shots after 4 times pressing on menu and twice on OK
pls advice
thanks 🙂
oh .. I figured it out..thanks
@May : That’s great!
Is DH1 able to set to b&w mode?
I have just gotten this toy. Still figuring out how to take interesting photo… 🙂
@Beam : The DH1 has no b&w mode. The earlier batches allows tweaking of colors and that’s just about all. No b&w. Congrats on your new toy and hope you have lots of fun with it.
Thanks…
The output from my new toy looks weird somehow? Feel free to comment. Here’s the link to the outputs… http://picasaweb.google.com/vonvon83/DigitalHarinezumi#
They seems kinda noisy and the contrast seems dull n blur? Or maybe it’s just me or the display from my lappy. Hmm…
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