Testing My Field Tech On Some New Matrix--Redonian

[mikecable]

Coco was fascinated by some otoliths in some of my pics of Whiskey Bridge material. I didn't know an otolith from my elbow. But we ended up trading some micro matrix.

In Coco's words--

French Lower Pliocene matrix with little shells. The exact age is "Redonien", but it is a local naming because there are very few deposits of this age. We find there only (I believe) in the West of France, thus in my region.

Her English is far better than my French. Or my Spanish. Heck, her English is probably better than my English at times.

But that's besides the point. I decided to test my new Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro phone camera on the macro setting. I poured a teaspoon of her matrix in a standard petri dish. Set the phone to macro--hand-held, no tripod or mount. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I think this phone will work for field work.

And Redonien matrix is very nice. Thanks Coco.

Edited August 1, 2013 by mikecable

[Coco]

Coco

[mikecable]

The Redonien matrix is superb. I sieved approximately 1 ounce/25 grams to between 2 and 5 mm. The above pics are the results of searching that small sample for about an hour using a 2.75X Optivisor. The sample was 90% fossiliferous, with numerous unbroken specimens.

I used the Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro 5 megapixel camera again, on the macro setting. I steadied it with small box that held the lens 4 cm above the specimens. I edited in the cloud using Google + software. I get better results with my FujiFilm FinePix SL300 on the macro setting, but these pics aren't bad. I don't like carrying the expensive camera in the field--mud and dust don't treat cameras well. The smartphone is definitely my go to field camera from now on.

[Coco]

Hi,

Hey, good job !

Perhaps pics made with a scanner could give a good result too.

Coco