Remembering PRESTAGS

Problem solving for the home handyman

There were going to be photos with this post but I can't get them to load ...

Wednesday the dishwasher didn't drain completely. Cleaned the sieve trap and screen (which were not really grotty at all).
Did a clean on hot cycle yesterday - still some water remaining.
Fiddled around in the water, found the outlet hole, didn't seem to be blocked.
Did a shot hot wash empty. Still water remaining above the normal level.
Recourse to Dr Google for potential causes and to try to find a manual for the model online. Both searches moderately successful.
Easiest thing to test was the outlet hose.
This morning had a go at trying to check that - which meant pulling nearly everything out from under the sink to find the power point.
Then to get the bracket screws holding it to the cabinetry walls out (not sure how the installer got them in!)
Then feeding hoses back from under the sink to allow the dishwasher to move.

Slight diversion, when I go the dishwasher out far enough to see in the recess there was a mostly desiccated mouse ... (photo). If he could get in, not sure why he couldn't get out? Maybe success of rat bait stations - apparently the tend to go off somewhere out of the way to die.

 

Anyway, back to the hose, 'voila!' the hose had a fair kink in it behind the dishwasher. The kink probably there from when it was in stalled 8 or 9 years ago (never needed servicing). 
Managed to get some gunk and water out of the hose, indicating it probably was blocked.

OK, then 'how to address the kink in the hose?'.  Pressing around it pretty much returned it to norm shape but it would be liable to kink in the same place again. 
Thought about a replacement hose but further Dr Google and YouTubes indicated I would have to take various covers off the bottom of the dishwasher to access where it attaches to the pump. I wanted to avoid that if possible.

I thought 'maybe if I wrap something stiff around the kink site ...
Then, what if I can find something cylindrical about the same diameter as the hose? A 'sleeve' to support the kinked area.
I tried to type of drink bottle lid - standard soft drink bottle, and the blue outside bit of a juice popper.
Cut off the lids with a hacksaw, then split one side with the hacksaw.
The Popper lid was too wide and it was liable to crack.
With the help of some boiling water to soften the soft drink lid plastic I got it over the kink.

Next problem - how to hold it in place, and if possible make it a tighter fit?
Tried a plastic coated wire tie (like comes in toy packaging) first - wasn't strong enough.

Then thought - hose clamp. Found my stash of those in the shed (minor miracle?), and got one on and tightened over the sleeve.
Now to put it all back in place and see if the draining problem is resolved.
Quite happy with my simple fix.

 

'The Principles of War' - interesting website

The Principles of War website - https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ 

Australian content and contributions

 

Fix Worked And The Beast Roared

Brilliant, option A did the trick.

An unexpected visitor

yesterday I had the back door open, and was working in the lounge room at the computer.

suddenly there was a flutter of wings, and a silvery eye alighted on the windowsill, presumably having thought he could fly out the wide window. Luckily he didn't crash headfirst into the window.

Lexi had a half hearted lunge at him as he flew into the curtain corner and thankfully she came away when I called her.

I deposited her outside, took one quick shot with the venerable D60 which was right at hand.

It was clear he was going to stay put against the window so I then went and shut all the other internal doors and opened and wedged the front door & its screen door.

Came back and moved quietly and thankfully he let me grasp him without freaking out.

Then out to the door, and he was on the wing and gone hardly before I had let go of him.

2 shots - as shot for scale of how small they are, and then a pretty big crop.

I generally only see them around here in the Spring and early Summer, so they must migrate in then.

Peacock spider (Maratus pavonis ?), seen as a result of other opportunistic macro

iNaturalist suggests it is Maratus pavonis, the common peacock spider.

The lead up story - saw a little jumping spider on/under the handle on the shed door. Got the camera ...

here's a crop of one of those shots

as I was getting ready to take the gear back inside I quickly scanned the back wall of the house, and spied a little spider.

On a close look, it was a PEACOCK SPIDER !!!! It was such a thrill to see one in the flesh and to get to photograph him. A joy in the Creator's creation.

Here are few shots, all crops except the first one (for scale, beside the mortar line between bricks).

 

 

First Jumper (photos) of the season

I had just got back from a ride and sitting on the front steps espied a little jumping spider on the wall of the house ... Quickly inside to collect camera, minitripod and flash.  These are all cropped a fair bit.

Here is the setup - the little tripod allows me to brace against the wall and avoid camera shake.

some flies from today

Hoverfly

pseudo macro of hoverflies outside the backdoor. 8-10mm long. (70-300 AF-P lens but cropped a fair bit)

my one good 'hovering' shot - they wouldn't stay in stationary hover! (both crops)

 

 

Light rain, jewels on plum flowers

New toys. Food. Old toy. Birds.

NEW TOY

So I got a poor man's RX100 - a used Canon S120 (for $120 incl post) with the teeny 1/1.7 inch sensor.

I'm pretty impressed. Solid build - metal top and bottom. Lot to learn to drive it though.

Should be good for quick photos.

Dinner last night.

Carl: spring rolls, chicken things, wedges


Thygo - stir fry / satay + kanga bangas

Packet cake made by Carl & Thygo last night, iced today, tastes good.

Lexi enjoying the sun

selfie of Grumpy old Man

 

Another NEW TOY - old binoculars (Gumtree special, $30)- object d'art

image quality good and much more comfortable to hold than the new-bought Olympus.  Both 8x40. Dad had/has a pair like these older ones when I was young.

thi

 

OLD TOY - D7500 + (stellar little) AF-P 70-300 DX VR - Crested pigeons from the clothes line. No cropping.

PRESTAGS Gold Medal

Many thanks to my fine friends who celebrated my birthday with me on Zoom.

Chinese food and Charddy was compulsory.

A PRESTAGS gold medal goes to Python for the best Charddy quaff.

Wargame Counters and Food

I did a search of images for wargame counters and food, trying to blend Python's two favourite kinds of posts.

What came up was the Prestags card!

When you think of what the card is used for this was actually a very accurate search result.

Camping in lockdown, kitchen floorball

we put the tent up in the back yard. Lexi joined us as well.

the weather is very mild - 'Indian summer'.

wide angle courtesy of Tokina 11-20, lighting from SB400 flash. However it was evident that in order for the camera to focus pre-shot you still need SOME light ... (a torch helped for this)

amazingly wifi extended to the backyard so thygo was able to provide Spetz his ATGE breakfast [which as of the time of writing he has not touched ...]

CPAP machine run courtesy of heavy duty power cord from the shed [all the mod cons]

Lexi curled up for sleep

roofscape

kitchen floorball [I am so bald now]

 

 

Easter Day dinner Peter & Carl

Peter & Carl had a nice Easter dinner, with Carl driving the camera remote.

BBQ lamb chops (and Kanga Bangas too)

roast vegies

Carl food [sigh]

at the table [note Prestags Grand Tour shirt, and Lexi nuzzling in hope of a hand out ...]

cheers! [Sparkling red & creaming soda]

Carl decided it should be by candlelight

Carl's egg/bunny haul

 

Mystery spider

Thought he/she was a dead insect in a daddy longlegs web in the corner of the ceiling in the loo at Dad's house in Toowoomba.

Then I noticed it had moved position, and then noticed it move ever so slightly and indeed a spider - 8 legs visible. Probably body about 1.5 - 2 cm long so not very big.

Took some pics on the last day there, and upon internet searching it is a rufous net-casting spider - Deinopis subrufa.

These images are only of the top view of the spider so the characteristic 'dual headlights' big front eyes were not visible.

crop of shot above. the very front of the body you can see the 2 curves of the 2 front eyes.

Boxing Day jumper

Looking for something near the back door with a torch as preparations for the northward trek continued.

Noticed a spot on the wall, and thought 'what insect, or spider, is this?'

Well it was both. Jumping spider with, relative to her size, a big fly, still flapping a bit so I guess capture was only a tens of seconds before. Quick, quick find the camera, macro, flash. A couple of hand held shots, she didn't seem to be going anywhere, so quick get the little tripod.

This is one of the better captures. Together with its final flappings she kept turning it over so the aspect kept changing. I was a bit surprised to see this is in the night, as I thought jumpers were diurnal. 

size as shot, exposure adjusted (+0.5ev), sharpened a little.

cropped

on the radio last night there was an interview about a spider exhibition at the QLD museum - I might have to see if I can go while I am up there. https://spiders.qm.qld.gov.au/

Hoverflies

Took a rec day today to try to sort some stuff, including tax. Minor distraction in the morning - lots of hoverflies around a bush. Lile so many tiny little attack helicopters, as their name implies, just hovering in mid air. Creation is amazing.

Thought I will quickly (sic.) try to take a few shots.

Here a couple of better ones. Started with the Macro lens but it was having real trouble focusing quickly enough (especially in flight), and not focusing on the background. Using a tripod. Then tried the Tamron 70-200, focus speed better but it has a long minimum focus distance. Then tried the little Nikon 70-300 AF-P, and at this point remembered to go AF-C (moving targets) rather than AF-S (stationary) focus mode. Still elusive little blighters to catch. Out of camera jpegs with some sharpening and brightness/contrast adjustment and some cropping.

I expect if I tried processing the RAW images I could get them better - reduce noise, improve colour and exposure. A job for another day.

85mm

as shot (only shot uploaded that is not a crop), can you see him?

crop of above

not a hover fly ... (crop)

70-200

70-300 AF-P DX

that little 70-300 is a great little lens !

I could have kept playing for ages longer but didn't.

Molongolo Gorge

Uncle Paul had a flying visit to Kanbra and had a nice jaunt with Bastard, Carl & Lexi to Molongolo Gorge. First time I have been there, despite it being so close.

Weather was a bit so-so - very windy, and intermittent cloud/sun and the odd spit of (trying to) rain. The path was a bit rugged, playing havoc with Paul's knee. Sadly the ACT BBQs weren't functioning for our planned lunch.

departing:

Crows and currawong were investigating someone's rubbish. The currawong was less scared than the crows:

before the rocks

looking upstream towards Queanbeyan

Captain Paul (now with Gandalf staff)

Father's Day Treat for Dad

Breakfast, but not too much because need to keep room for special lunch.

Preparations for Dad's favourite meal - Roast Lamb.

The feast arrives. Spoilt and Contented Dad.

Star photography - part 2 - stars, kit, moon

one of the first ones, 15mm, complete with airplane or chopper ... Note that this is not what my eye saw - these are long exposures between 10 and 30 seconds. The trees are all fuzzy because it was quite windy and they were flapping about.

shot settings: manual focus (preset before dark), manual exposure - f2.8 & between 10 and 30 seconds, ISO between 2000 and 3200.

11mm showing the ingress light from the late arrival campers ...

20mm, after moving a bit further up the hill. Can you see the Southern Cross?

There are a few more. I was reasonably pleased with this for a first go.  Here is the set up as shot by my phone

Off to bed reasonably early but didn't sleep so well. Very windy through the night. Got up at 3am for a call of nature ...
and lo, the waning moon was evident. 300mm and cropped a lot. manual exposure about 1/500 sec and f8, ISO 400 (from memory)

 

next time I think I will search for a spot with a rocky outcrop in the foreground. Orroral valley would be great but I think it is shut off at night.

Toad-in-the-Hole

Number 3 Daughter offered to cook dinner. She wanted the meal to be a surprised but said we could name a nation, and she would pick a recipe.

We eat a lot of Chinese and Italian, and I wanted something different, so I said "England". I was probably also influenced by watching lots of one of my favourite TV shows, Midsomer Murders.

What we were treated to was a wonderful English classic, Toad-in-the-Hole.

It looked fabulous and tasted fabulous. Pork sausages in yorkshire pudding, with onion gravy and beans. #3 Daughter even did her own decorations.

I wondered where the name of this dish came from. I obtained the following from theculturetrip website:

Of GAS Attacks And G-Shocks

GAS = Gear Acquisition Sydnrome.

A potentially serious disorder, common in PRESTAGS era males, and can be contagious.

Over the last six months I have managed to completely tame my field recording equipment GAS attacks, and much moderated my photography equipment GAS attacks.

Last week's purchase of a Panasonic Lumix DC-TZ90 was a relapse, and I blame Thygo because he is always tempting me with photography GAS ideas.

My new TZ90 is currently charging, ready for a test run sometime soon.

Nevertheless G-Shock GAS attacks have continued unabated, and I am expecting the arrival of another one this week. Bad Boy.

However, there are some G-Shocks that are beyond the reach of a GAS attack.

Unfortunately.

There is the 18 karat pure gold (as in real gold) G-Shock, model G-D5000-9JR (2019). Only 35 were made.

And there is the G-Shock MRGG1000HT (2016) "Hammer Tone".

This one was hand crafted using the tsuiki technique. Only 300 were made.

And there is the G-Shock MRG-G2000GA-1A (2019) hand-finished by Japanese swordsmith Sadanobu Gassan. Only 300 to be made.

But the one that I like the most, is the G-Shock MRG-G1000RT-1A (2015). This one is made from Titanium 64 alloy which is seven times harder than pure titanium.

Only 100 made.

Just dreaming.

I haven't forgotten, Python will want a G-Shock with a special background.

I think a white G-Shock in a white fridge next to a white Napoleon is pretty special.

 

Which Is My Favourite G-Shock?

This is a very hard question.

The starting place will have to be which is my favourite G-Shock model?

It is the GA-800 model (also GA-810 model).

A strong and clear three-hand analog watch face, with combination digital. The distinctive G-Shock design but with a smaller and cleaner look. Easy to read. Lots of built in functions, especially dual time which is an essential. 5 alarms. Super illuminator double LED light, and hand shift function. Tough as. Light in weight.

The G-Shock website describes this model as "the ultimate in timekeeping convenience" and it is.

Here are the specs:

Yes, this is currently my favourite model.

But which particular watch? I have eight of the GA-800 / GA-810.

These are all wonderful watches, and the each have particular associations and memories, including:

So which one is my favourite.

They are all awesome, but by a narrow margin it is the Black - Gold. Officially this is the G-Shock GA-810B-1A9 gold accent. It really is all class.

Here is an official Casio G-Shock shot, and a photo of mine.

Will I stop at 8 of this model. I don't know, because there are more to be had:

Python will whinge because he wants G-Shocks with backgrounds. So I have made two for him with my favourite watch.

 

G-Shocks and Hexes

Silly Python.

He wants hexes in posts about G-Shocks.

There is something he obviously doesn't realise.

<sigh>

Lots of G-Shocks come in hexagon shaped tins!

And there is a reason for this.

Look closely at the G-Shock. It is basically a round clock face in a ruggedised hexagon frame.

G-Shocks ARE hexes!!

 

My Favourite World Time Watch

I love my Casio G-Shocks and I love my Casio world time watches.

I have already shown off my nice little retro world timer.

Of course one is not enough. 

A similar layout but in a round and funkier design is the Casio AE1000W.

This is my version with an orange strap:

I have another very interesting world timer.

My Casio AE300W. I think its currently my favourite world time watch. It enables the time to be shown in three cities simultaneously, and it has a cool globe with the time zone being used in the main display.

My AE300W has the home time set to Sydney (lowest section), with Rome time (middle section) and Singapore time (upper section). Strong illuminator for dark and the famous 10 year battery life.

You have to remember this is ancient liquid crystal digital technology, now decades old. 

But accurate. Robust. And massive battery life.

And I have discovered difficult to photograph. The display needs to be at the right angle for the best shot, which can compete with the reflection off the resin glass display depending where the surrounding light is.

 

More on Kikuo Ibe and the Invention of the G-Shock (and my old GD-350)

I shuffled around in my drawers looking for one of my older G-Shocks.

Unfortunately I didn't keep any of my 1980s Casio watches (although I still have my 1970s calculator) and not even my 1990s G-Shocks.

I did find the fully digital GD-350 which I think I was wearing about six years ago. The fact that I could use this watch without my glasses shows how much my eyesight has deteriorated. 

The watch has the signs of lots of wear but battery still running and only lost a few minutes time after years at the bottom of the drawer.

Finding this 'older' watch has inspired me to post some more about Casio's legendary Kikuo Ibe and the invention of the G-Shock watch.

From Jack Forster at Hodinkee:

Mr. Kikuo Ibe never expected to be world famous, but famous he is: he's the man who invented the Casio G-Shock. At first, he hardly seems like the sort of person who could develop the world's toughest watch. He's slightly built, slim, soft-spoken, and bespectacled, which seems a little incongruous until you remember that G-Shock is as much an engineering achievement as a horological one, and Mr. Ibe is very much an engineer.  

The history of the G-Shock is full of interesting stories (as you'd expect of a family of watches designed to tolerate just about any sort of abuse imaginable) and in a recent conversation with Ibe, at Casio's offices in New York, I had a chance to dig back a bit into those stories and to find out what's apocryphal, what's legend, and what's true. Many of the highlights in the story of G-Shock are familiar to hardcore G-Shock fans (and yes, there is a worldwide community of G-Shock collectors as serious about their watches as any gaggle of vintage Patek or Rolex collectors), but hearing them from the man who started it all over 30 years ago is a reminder of how much persistence it took to bring G-Shock to life.

First of all, yes, it's absolutely true that Ibe got the idea for G-Shock after a beloved mechanical watch broke. The watch was a gift from his father, and one day, while walking down the street (he'd been with Casio for several years already when the accident happened) another pedestrian bumped into him hard enough to break the band of his watch and knock it to the pavement (Ibe says he tried to catch it, but missed). The watch broke in pretty much every way a watch can break: the hands were dislodged, the caseback came off, and the band broke. What Ibe won't tell, however, is what brand and model watch it was. He says he's been asked many times, but prefers not to say, beyond acknowledging that it was mechanical, a Japanese-made domestic model, and not a Casio.

The testing process didn't really get off the ground until Ibe, seeing a girl bouncing a ball in a playground, got the idea of putting the movement inside a resilient structure that would isolate it from shocks. It's also absolutely true that the prototypes were tested by being thrown out of an upper floor bathroom window at Casio's research and development center: specifically, the third floor men's room window. The distance to the pavement below was ten meters, and Ibe's goal was to make a watch capable of surviving a ten meter fall, with a ten year battery life, and ten bar (100 meter) water resistance. The very first G-Shock model, DW-5000, came out in 1983, with 200m water resistance and, needless to say, the ability to survive a ten meter fall. Ibe says he tested the production prototypes in every way he could think of, including running them over with a car.

Ibe began working on prototypes for a shock-proof watch in 1981. At the time, he says, the main goal in quartz watchmaking was to make very thin watches, so he started by trying to make housings for LCD quartz movements that would allow them to tolerate severe impacts. In 1982 he'd made enough progress for the development of G-Shock to become an official Casio project, with eight engineers assigned. The initial prototypes were proof-of-concept models and not especially wearable.

The original prototypes are now the rarest G-Shocks of all.

Back to the 2013 G-Shock GD-350.

I notice it was famous for its super precise countdown function and the vibration alarm. Not something I used liked many of the other functionalities. But just having it there makes you feel good!

More Great 80s Tech - The Legendary G-Shock

More great 1980s tech.

Casio did not only invent the tremendous world time digital watches.

In 1983 Casio engineer Kikuo Ibe inventented the now legendary G-Shock watch. Virtually indestructable watches.

Some history from G-Central:

A favorite of outdoor enthusiasts, military personnel, extreme athletes, gadget freaks, and fashion trendsetters, the G-Shock watch has a long and storied history that goes back over thirty years. When Casio lead designer Kikuo Ibe dropped a watch given to him by his father and saw it shatter to pieces, he vowed to create an unbreakable watch that could withstand major drops and impacts.

[I fit into the "Gadget freak" category!]

In 1981, the three-member Project Team Tough set out to make Ibe’s vision a reality. The team sought to develop a watch based on the “Triple 10” concept including shock resistance to withstand a 10 meter drop, 10-bar water resistance, and a 10-year battery life. To achieve this, Ibe came up with the “floating module” concept that suspended the module with a few points of contact and provided efficient shock protection without the need for excessive shock absorbing material. After going through over 200 prototypes and rigorous testing, the final result was the G-Shock DW-5000C, launched in April 1983.

The G-Shock would eventually gain a reputation as the world’s toughest watch, featuring a protective case and an extreme level of shock resistance that had never been seen before. It also featured 200-meter water resistance, a 10-year battery, and had the digital functions that remain an integral part of G-Shock watches today: stopwatch, countdown timer, 12/24 hour mode, alarm, and light. Though the G-Shock watch filled an untapped niche, initial sales in Japan were sluggish and there was concern about it being discontinued. In 1984, Casio released the G-Shock DW-5200 which was featured in a widely-seen commercial being used like a hockey puck. The DW-5200 sold well in America, especially with athletes like skateboarders and surfers, and the “Hero” model is credited with popularizing and saving the brand. The DW-5000 would eventually evolve into the DW-5600C in 1987 and live on spiritually as the various “square” models that are still produced today.

The original looked like this:

With the success of the 5000 line, Casio did not rest on its laurels and continued to innovate, consistently introducing new G-Shock models and features.

In 1989, the first analog G-Shock AW-500 was launched. 1992 saw the first sensor-equipped watch: the DW-6100 with a thermometer. 1993 saw the introduction of the Frogman DW-6300, an oversized, asymmetrical diving watch. The Frogman was the first G-Shock to be ISO-certified and would become one of the most significant models in G-Shock history as well as a collector’s favorite.

G-Shock experienced a golden age in the 1990s and found the brand gaining mainstream acceptance and a newfound image as an innovator of streetwear fashion. G-Shock’s many limited edition collaboration releases with popular streetwear and lifestyle brands would prove to be extremely popular and continues to be a major part of its operations.

With the success of their resin watches, Kikuo Ibe and a team of eight young Casio engineers set out on a new mission to create a metal G-Shock that could be worn for both casual and dress occasions. The result was the MR-G series which launched in 1996. Analog models joined the MR-G series in 1997 and laid the foundation for the high-end G-Shock watches of today.

The first solar powered Raysman DW-9300 was released in 1998 and this was the beginning of the now popular Tough Solar feature. 2000 saw the introduction of radio time calibration with the GW-100, later to evolve and currently be known as Multi-Band 6.

After seeing sales peak in the 1990s, G-Shock began to focus more on analog models in the 2010s but also continued to develop digital models like the best-selling GW-9400 Rangeman with the Triple Sensor. In the late 2010s, Casio started focusing heavily on the Bluetooth mobile link feature as well as expanding the features of its signature lines like the Frogman and Rangeman. G-Shock has sold over 100 million units worldwide and has seen a resurgence after the brand’s 30th anniversary and Casio’s ongoing promotional efforts, including events and collaborations with athletes, artists, musicians, and fashion designers.

Over the years my socks draw has filled up with many G-Shocks. 

My favourites are the analog and digital combinations. I like analog including a moving second hand, but I also like a bit of digital to remind me of the 80s. These days I need a big clear analog face so I can read the time without putting on my glasses.

This is one of my old favourites. The GG1000-1A Mudmaster. Big. Chunky. Indestructable. Clear Analog. Nice digital for day, date and month.

THIS is a watch!

 

Fabulous 1980s Tech

Back in the 80s I had Casio digitals. It was the latest thing, and lots and lots of memories.

Casio came up with the world time watch, which had all the world's time zones. You could move from your home time to any other zone and check out or change the time.

This is the 1980s A300U, now a collector's item.

This watch has been so popular, they are STILL making digital world time watches that look very  similar. 

I suspect blokes of my 'vintage' are buying them, for sentimental reasons. Plus retro is cool.

I picked up one recently. The Casio AE1200WH. It is amazingly thin.

There is one area where this 1980s technology absolutely pisses on the smart watches of today.

Battery life.

No need to charge this Casio every night. It has a 10 year battery. Yes, TEN YEARS.

Fabulous. Awesome.

 

Autumn shooting

A sample of pics

from today - opportunistic shots at Weston Park. Nice afternoon light.

I love Gang-gangs - I was trying to get close as I only had the 17-50 with me. These are cropped pretty heavily.

early this month - ornamental pears (?) in the neighbour's front yard. About as big as a small grape. Nice afternoon light.

Tree in my front yard.

and one of the moon, also cropped a lot, some sharpening. 70-300 AF-P DX VR

 

 

Old and Fat but Happy

I wonder why?

I had a fantastic birthday.

Super fast delivery of GAS (little tripod - wall macro tool)

I ordered a little tiny tripod over the weekend and amazingly it arrived today.

The idea is to have something I can brace against the wall for shooting jumping spiders. Thought about a gorillapod but heard they are prone to squish down under weight/pressure, and, perhaps more importantly, if they get left in a hot car the joints are cactus.

So this little guy arrived:

It has two leg settings. The yellow I added for testing against the brick wall to avoid scratching it in the first 5 mins.

The macro set up. The ball head is from a monopod I had already. The rig can screw directly into the camera but then there is no movement possible.

and the results. providentially I spied a jumping spider when I was doing soccer practice with Carl (I expected them all to be gone but it hasn't really got cold yet).

These are straight out of camera jpegs, cropped (a fair bit) and downsized for the web - no post processing. The tripod works well I think, and I was impressed with the results - I think it gave the bracing / stability I was hoping for.

note the spinerets - they don't weave webs but play out a safety line behind them. He/she is sitting in the groove of mortar between two bricks which give an indication of scale.

Most Awesome & Brilliant Actor Ever - John Noble

John Noble - brilliant actor and really nice guy.

My two favourites roles:

Denethor - Lord of the Rings.

Walter Bishop - Fringe.

 

Handy man thygo

Changed the outside tap today, eventually.

Not without a few moments of consternation and misgiving. Thought I might damage the copper pipe behind it from tortional forces ... despite holding on tight with another spanner on the outlet nut.

It was soooooooooooooooo tight, and I ended up stripping one of the hex faces when the spanner slipped.

Poured some hot water over it, then applied WD-40 liberally.

It was still tight but did yield.

New tap attached and not leaking - YAY !! (I think this was making my water bill bad, bad, bad).

New - bright and shiny

leaky old bastard (metaphor?)

(to) Coonabarabran - a day of big clouds

but first, on the back of the shed door, female Latrodectus hasseltii (soon after sent to the here after ...)

cropped image, handheld macro with flash.

first stop Boorowa

beautiful church

clouds on the way - all along the way there were billowing storm cells around us

facing behind

several hours further along - opposite the Warumbungles

Warumbungles off to the left

through the windscreen

 

The Great Escape

Patrick was home sick yesterday but had done some training with Lexi. Chooks and ducks in their extended enclosure.

When I got home from work, I didn't go outside but started up my laptop.

Then I heard a 'sqwarky' noise from one of the chooks - didn't sound right, so I stood up to have a look out the window.

Lo and behold, Lexi is in the chookyard, standing watching the fowls. 

But the gate is still shut.

On closer inspection, she has dug her way under the outer fence ... No idea how long she was in there. No dead fowls (thankfully).

She got in again a little while later and I think she wants to play with them.

here is her tunnel INTO Stalag Chook

Roulettes from Red Hill

all these shots cropped to some degree.

 

Peasant food

dinner Monday night.

 

not for drinking but nice colourful label ...

Sharp

so sharp this little 70-300 af-p ...

A Great Feature of the D7200 - Bracketing for High Dynamic Range Photography

What is High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography?

There is a very succinct summary on the Digital Trends website, which I reproduce here.

This is the link to the Digital Trends Article

The good news is that the Nikon D7200 is well equipped for HDR photography.

The D7200 includes a setting for taking HDR shots and processing the photograph in camera. This produces somewhat more vibrant shots but it has limitations.

The proper method is to use the bracketing feature and take a range of shots at different exposures, and then merge the images using HDR software. 

I've always wanted to create these dramatic photographs I've seen on the net, but I never realised before they were created using HDR and I didn't realise my very own D7200 could do this.

I had to try it out.

My limitation was no tripod (new one will arrive this week) and boring shots around the house. I decided to take a corner of the messy backyard because there was somewhere to rest the camera at the right height for the shots. I chose to do 5 photographs at different exposures. 

First, a normal shot taken just using Auto (not a true comparison because I only remembered 40 minutes later that I'd forgotten to take a normal shot, and the light had changed a bit):

A pretty ordinary and dark photograph. 

Next, the five shots at different exposures:

Now for the fun.

Into some HDR software, in this case using Photomatix Essentials 4. There are many settings and types of images that can be produced using HDR, from normal (in HDR terms and close to what the eye sees) to various vibrant and artistic options.

This one was HDR normal:

A massive improvement on the single shot taken on Auto.

I wanted a more dramatic and vibrant look, and this was HDR Vibrant:

Another nice look, HDR Painterly 2:

This is HDR Grunge:

And just to see what it looked like, I also ramped it up to HDR Surreal:

What next.

Obviously I need a subject more interesting than a messy backyard corner. I'm thinking a landscape that involves dusk so plenty of oranges in the colours. Using the D7200 bracketing you can vary the number of shots and the amount of difference in the exposure settings so there is lots to explore.

Thygo is a better photographer than me, and I'd love to see what he can do with his D7200 and HDR.

 

Crested pigeon on my roof

Crested pigeon, Ocyphaps lophotes, sitting on the crest of my roof this afternoon. They come to get a drink from the duck pond and normally nervous, flighty birds even on the roof, but this one stayed put for me.

So impressed with the 70-300 AF-P.

as shot

cropped

cropped some more

another perspective as shot

cropped

cropped some more