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.

 

Fix Worked And The Beast Roared

Brilliant, option A did the trick.

Arghhh! My new Mega Beast does not run ATG

Spetz is king of the Mega Beasts. Personally I blame Charlie. Mi'Lord blames his children. Both are correct:

After installing ATG for the very first time, and you run it, you get a horrid error:

When the tears dry from your eyes, you recall that Vic, one of the designer of ATG, gave you a fix years ago. Of course, you did not save it. Of course you did not put it into a PRESTAGS post for future access. After all, the last one was the Mega Beast to end all Mega Beasts. You would never need another, or so you told your confessor/beloved.

In case Vic's post ever goes missing, here is the text:

(a) option A

What might be the case is that your system is missing 'MSVCR100.DLL'.

You could do a search (see magnifying glass on your taskbar) for this filename first.

It should be properly re-installed with this microsoft installer:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555
(restart computer afterwards)

(b) option B

What might be the case is that your system is missing 'VCRUNTIME140.DLL'.

You could do a search (see magnifying glass on your taskbar) for this filename first.

It should be properly re-installed with this microsoft installer:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52685
(chose the x86 version, and restart computer afterwards)

Macro adventures on a ladder

There was an arachnid visitor to the extended web of the black house spider at my front door today (top of the wall where the eave joins). A large huntsman (I suspect a huntswoman actually) - sheltering from the heavy rain? Seemingly uninterested in the house spider further down the wall. (I might call her a pet, as I leave her big messy web in place above the door knowing she won't bother anyone unless they bother her).

A challenge for shooting, as she was behind the web on the wall - autofocus was almost certainly going to focus on the web in front not the spider.

I tried a couple of strategies - first a monopod with the foot wedged against the wall, and camera pointing up. I tried manual focus with live view (zoomed in), and there was sort of success but not stunning. (my eyes just couldn't pick focus or not through the 'normal size' optical viewfinder, especially as I was 'perched' and an odd angle).

Got out a tripod but realised that wasn't going to be high enough either. Then I thought about an approach I had contemplated for jumping spiders - using my travel tripod as a horizontal brace against the wall. This allowed be to have the camera positioned opposite the target rather than underneath. I imagine it looked weird to anyone driving along the street ...

So the set up was small 2 step ladder, tripod with all 3 legs against the wall with me pressing inwards to keep it stable. flash, manual exposure to get shutter speed up a bit, and live view with zoom in then manual focus to get focus on the spider not the web. Moderately pleased with the results. Had a go for the house spider but the web around her is too think and she is in a corner making bracing tricky - in the 'as shot' pic below you can see where she is though.

monopod shot - web in focus

As shot (size wise, minor process tweeks)

cropped image

The house spider hidden in her web. I was trying to focus manually but it was hopeless. She seems to have abandoned the big web further out from the door (her mother's from 3 or so years ago) and stays in the corner.

Look what I found

a blast from the past (I also found the access codes too). I don't know where disk 1 is though.

I don't have a working computer that accepts these disks anymore ... 

An uncommon sight in Croydon

I am intrigued than when we moved house 17 years ago, we moved about 6 kilometres but completely changed our avian niche:

• Australian miners for Indian Mhynahs and wattle birds
• King parrots for rosellas
• Pluvers for mudkarks

But no replacement for Kookaburras. I saw this pair on a long walk - about 3 km from home in Enfield - and snapped because they are as rare to me now as a passenger jet.

Bugs that impact my ability to code

This fellow dropped in on my work day last week. I took him outside as there was no food for him.

You can see that I do not use the Nazgul keyboard often.

Fly sunning itself in the late afternoon

I've seen these big flies doing this in the early morning and late afternoon - presumably warming themselves up.

This was the first macro shot using the little manfrotto tripod that was in a camera bag I bought - really helps with bracing against the brick wall. I hope it will help shots when the jumping spiders emerge too. a little sharpening and exposure adjustment.

big crop

lesser crop

view as shot (it was more or less upside down)

Wonderful PRESTAGS Era Technology - Sony Earth-Orbiter CRF-5090

I picked up a wonderful old radio last week.

1972, made in Japan. That is almost half a century old.

Genuine PRESTAGS Era Technology. Would have been playing as the SPI classics came off the printing press.

It’s the Sony Earth-Orbiter CRF-5090. It really doesn’t get any cooler than a name like “Earth-Orbiter”. When it was released it must have been some pretty top notch kit.

It is big, heavy, and made of beautiful metal and chrome. Everything is rock solid unlike the junk made today. I bet most of today’s radios won’t be around in 48 years. And more to the point – it still works.

Here it is with the front cover closed, and then with the cover open next to my modern short wave radio, the Tecsun PL-880. I don’t think the modern one will be going strong in 48 years time.

It has a massive long aerial, and 9 bands including air band and marine band. The bands turn in an analogue cylinder with 3 bands showing at one time. Last night I was listening to the local AM and FM bands. I will need to play around with short wave.

I find it remarkable that it works so well. The circuitry must be primitive compared to the advanced circuitry now, and it obviously doesn’t have a PLL receiver or Digital Signal Processing and other features that enhance weak signals.

The sound is rich, crackles slightly until precisely tuned. It has a big shiny metal tuner with a fine tuner inside. Also a tuning meter. A little red light goes on inside the tuning band when a good signal is hit. All works fine. The main light works. The headphone jack works.

One great feature is that the front cover folds down, then slides in half way under the radio revealing a spectacular time zone map of the world, with a slider for calculating times. I love this map.

No power cord came with this radio but it did also originally hold batteries. Someone more technical than I has rigged up a pack inside the battery compartment than uses 10 x current AA batteries. This is the only post 1972 modification that I can see.

Why don’t we make solid beautiful equipment like this anymore instead of plastic junk with built in 3 or so years redundancy.

I found some history on radiomuseum.org.

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.

Editing rights?

I was going to edit my Tent post but doesn't seem possible once published on Prestags ...

IT IS POSSIBLE GRUMPY OLD MAN

was going to add that the Blue tent is advertised as '12 man' - I suppose it would be possible but it would be sardines with just sleeping bags, 4 per cubicle.

I imagine the other one might be rated at '9 man'.

once you start putting stretchers and other gear in it is harder to fit more people in. 

WELL WHAT DO YOU KNOW, IT WORKS

happy old man

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 Sunday Under Lockdown

Typepad Blog Clag - the culprit - in situ photo tools

I believe I found the reason my star shoot post wouldn't load.

The picture of the tripod (shot with phone) showed as on its side in Typepad (90 deg anti-clockwise to how shot). It appears normal in Windows Explorer.

So, I tried to use the Typepad tools to rotate it so it appears in correct orientation:

if I didn't try to fix the orientation 'publish' worked. If I adjusted the orientation in Typepad it would not publish.

weird.

some programmer somewhere should be smacked, hard.

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.

 

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.

Coleman Lakeside 4

the two lakeside 4 tents.

cream & blue

 

green and green

New Phone, Lexi & friends, Brisbane macro

So, with more frequent errors on my phone, yesterday I got a new one from the local Harvey Norman near my brother's house.

Nokia 7 plus on a good special. New learning curve about to commence.

Lexi is having fun with my brothers two dogs

Also went searching for jumping spiders on Thursday and was rewarded ... first time I have a shot of one with prey.

Steering Wheel Shake - the Movie

First multi-media post (2nd attempt cos I pushed the wrong button and lost my opus magnus and had to start again)

And I can't work out how to embed a video but hopefully the files are uploaded and you can download them.

so I know you guys think the shake in my White Camry's steering wheel is just in my head.

But swapping between cars, I am convinced it is real, and it leaves my fingers tingling.

Googling has given some possible causes but also indicated that such phenomena are not paranormal.

There is a field of academic study for it (see below)

From googling, my hypothesis is engine mount(s). I also found a neat way to provide a visualisation of the vibration - with the help of a bottle of water.

So this afternoon I did the experiment. Red Camry = control, White Camry = experiment.

 

 

A Frequency Weighting for the Evaluation of Steering Wheel Rotational Vibration J. Giacomin F et al https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/1440891.pdf 

Frequency dependence of perceived intensity of steering wheel vibration: effect of grip force https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4145150

Driver estimation of steering wheel vibration intensity: questionnaire-based survey http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.426.2931&rep=rep1&type=pdf 

PRESTAGS Era Technology

I found my old high school calculator.

The Sharp ELSI 8107. It came out in 1974. That's 44 years ago.

I remember my Dad buying it at the time, and it was top end because it had a square root function.

I found some specs for it:

Weird IT

down (up?) loaded photos from SD card (32GB genuine SanDisk card) using card reader.

Jpegs look fine in Windows viewer.

Open up the folder in Capture NX-D and most of them start showing coloured bands in the previews, and then the Windows explorer view also shows bands. However the actual image. tried downloading again and same thing. Images look fine on camera preview screen.

so, issue with the card?, the card reader?, the Nikon Capture NX-D software, something else?

Capture nx-d

windows explorer

Liking the new combo

Lots of dogs this afternoon at the fields where the junior soccer practice is. Light was ordinary - late in the day and very cloudy.

tried some shots of a couple of dogs running very fast at the far end of the fields - probably 200-250 metres away.

D7200 + 70-300 AF-P lens. Processed just a little (I can't drive Capture NX-D properly yet !! My old View NX-2 is no longer supported and won't recognise the D7200's RAW files)

2 shots both with field of view (zoom) as shot and then a close crop. I am amazed at the performance - the focus was good (on a high proportion (some out of focus shots but it was dim and focusing on a runnng black dog can be problematic because of lack of contrast) and the level of noise at ISO 4000 is acceptable (to me).

 

new firm black rubber

for the zoom ring on my 18-200 lens.

Finally got around to ordering this to replace the droopy old one. Had to order from USA and it came very very quickly.

Almost like a new lens again.

Hunter Gatherer

A couple of GumTree freebies, and an ebay catch.

 

after quite a bit of watching, found this manfrotto monopod and head with removable plate and ability to flip the camera 90 degrees. Tried it out for moon shot this evening too.

just a couple of pics, old & new tech

Moon shot with Nikon D3300 + 55-300. some sharpening and minor tweeks

uncropped

cropped

Autumn colour in front yard. Nikon D40x, 18-135 lens. some tweaks for colour and highlight protection

Accidental photo adventures, noise reduction

So, on the way home at sunset. Sort of racing to get to a vantage point.

Pull over at foot of Mt Taylor and head up the path, and I go through a little mob of kangaroos - seemed I could have almost reached out and touched one they were so quiet. Took some less than amazing sunset shots - too late.

On the way back down I tried to photo the roos - it is quite dark by now but trying to push the 50mm f1.8 and the D90's ISO to get a useable shutter speed. Focus was OK but digital noise was clearly visible.

So, had a play (blunder) around in Nikon's free Capture NX-D software.

first image here is side by side of full image - L after noise reduction, R before noise reduction (snip jpeg of the side by side window in Capture NX-D). Noise is not so evident at this magnification.

next is zoomed in of the side by side, also a snip jpeg. Not really sure what I am doing but I also did some sharpening as well as noise. L= post noise reduction, R= pre noise reduction - noise very evident at this magnification.

I am amazed at what this yielded.

 

 

Where have the Quelch Icy Poles gone? & observations on the 21st century.

Quelch freezable icy poles made by Berri have not been available at Woolies or Coles for a couple of weeks now. No signs on the shelves, just disappeared.

They are a 'staple' for Carl. They were the only ones made from fruit juice. The other options are about 15% sugar. Some of them are made in China (go figure!).

So I tried to find out what's going on online - nothing.

Sent emails to Coles and Woolies via there websites.

Found the website of the home company of Berri.

Guess what? Although they have a website, there is no online mechanism to contact the company - post and phone are the only options provided:

I find that hard to believe for a firm in Australia in the 21st century - surely if you have a web presence you have to be able to receive customer feedback via the web?

Just one more turn. Game or addiction?

So, Thygo is sitting here, checking his email, and checking it again, and again, and again.

"There are no new emails"

Now he's checking Steam to see if Python is online ...  'Offline for 12 hours'

Yes, Thygo is addicted to the internet, and PBEM games in particular.

And this is obviously not a unique situation judging by the number of images that came up on a search for 'just one more turn'.

Adventures in exposure

of digital sensors

I had occasion to have to walk to Kingston to get passport photos taken.

I took the camera with me, and took a few opportunistic shots on the way and return.

I played with shutter speed at the bridge over the creek, where there is a mini rapid as the water runs over steps.

SHUTTER SPEED First - fast shutter speed - brief exposure - freezing movement.

on the way back, supported by the bridge railing a slow shutter speed - long exposure

a crop of each shows the different effects - the fast shutter reveals individual water droplets, while the slow shutter speed makes a creamy image.

while waiting for the prints, I mucked around with the contrasty scene of the cafes. Red square is where the focus point was, rough red circle is where I pointed the camera first to get a light reading, and locked that reading in.

Matrix metering - camera is making a compromise based on all the light coming in. light sampling at the focus point - balanced over all

matrix metering again but I think with different metering point - in tree shadow - brighter over all

centre-weighted - camera uses light around chosen point but still takes account of the whole scene

first metering in the centre (running of memory, might even have been metering in the light?) - camera takes account of bright areas and reduces exposure

then centre weighted metering in the darker tree area before focusing on the centre - trees well exposed but not a white out in the light

then spot metering - the camera uses information from just that spot to calculate the overall exposure

first in centre - not bad balance but shadows are dark,

then metering in the tree shadow - trees exposed but white out elsewhere

Viewfinders - the good old days and the pluses and minuses of technological advance

Python asked about autofocus vs manual focus of the moon shot.

Old-school film SLRs tended to have fabulous, large, bright optical ('analogue') viewfinders - the bump on them is just for the prism. The bump on dSLRs also has a pop up flash crammed in there.

(The optical viewfinder is like a periscope that allows you to 'see' what the lens sees because of the mirror, which flips out of the way when the shot is taken. Other styles of cameras with optical viewfinders would view the scene but never in perfect alignment because the angle would almost certainly vary, even if ever so slightly.)

this pic shows the relative sizes (ie views) through different camera viewfinders. Generally for FX cameras - ie sensor the same size as a 35mm negative - the viewfinders are bigger. For DX cameras they are correspondingly smaller.

I was shocked when I did a side by side comparison of my then still in use Pentax ME-Super with my brand new Nikon D60 (DX) - the Pentax viewfinder was enormous by comparison. Basically giving 1:1 apparent view with the standard 50mm lens. I think the view on my Pentax is similar to that on the celebrated and venerable Olympus OM-1 (also film camera). The entry level Nikons (D3x00, 5x00) are smaller than the D90. Even the large brick top of the line FX Canons and Nikons still have smaller viewfinders than some of their old film predecessors.

 The new SLT and mirrorless cameras don't have an optical viewfinder but an eyepiece looking at a digital viewfinder. These are generally much larger, comparatively, even for small (DX and smaller) sensor sizes. The technology is improving and these now apparently are quite good, overcoming original problems of the processor keeping the image refreshed without jerking eg when following movement.

In the old days, before autofocus cameras (implemented on later film cameras, my Pentax is manual focus only), manual focus was aided by a split ring etched on the viewfinder prism.

when the image is in focus the hatching around the outside disappears and the internal halves should line up perfectly.

This works well if you have a long line to 'cut and join' or contrasting items. If you are trying to focus on something small it is still tricky.

Most dSLR lenses,especially zooms and even more expensive ones, are set up for AF and although they have focus rings they tend not to have a lot of fine adjustment. Prime lenses (single focal length) have more travel.

You can get replacement focussing screens for dSLRs with a split ring etched on them. 

I have toyed with getting one but I have wondered how well it will work given my poor vision and the already small viewfinder size of my cameras.

But that was part of the romantic attraction of the film SLR - 50mm lens only and split ring manual focus - to get composition and focus the shooter had to do it themself.

 

this post would not have been possible (practicable anyway) without the digital technology aids of Dr Google and the Snipping Tool.

Exposure and high contrast scenes

From a discussion I was having with Paul, I played around a little with high contrast scenes. He has some images where the straight out of camera jpeg has not brought up the detail in a dark area (eg a dark statue) against a strong back lit background.

On Nikon dSLRs, a setting called 'active D lighting' became available for application in shooting (as opposed to post processing, whether in camera or on downloaded files).

So, I was taking some shots of the fowls with the D40x - it doesn't have ADL option for shooting but it can be applied in camera after the shot. A couple are below, and it shows how powerful this (software) application is, and also illustrates the problems that any photographic medium has in capturing a whole scene the way our eyes see it, or more accurately as our brains post-process the incoming light to 'pull up' shadow detail.

So, below  a couple of comparison shots - / + ADL. I suspect that in Paul's Lumix FZ1000 there is a setting analagous to ADL, probably with different levels of application. [He might have to resort to reading the manual >:-o).

OK, the examples

but

The photo medium can only capture the light that is there. If you take the film medium, the sensitivity to light is uniform across the film negative - and adjusting exposure will affect the whole area uniformly. That is, a whole exposure adjustment can only be applied uniformly to the whole exposure - if the qualitative and quantitative difference in amount of light between to parts of a scene is too great, the physics per se doesn't allow for getting both parts perfectly exposed for detail.

But our brains do this all the time - segements of our field of view get post-processed to enable us to see both the full lit and the shadow with acuity. Computers can, thanks to clever programmers like Python, detect the contrast areas and locally adjust the exposure. In the old film days, you could do this in the dark room with simple physical tricks such as waving a piece of paper over an overexposed area as the negative was being processed ie between the light coming through the negative and the photographic paper being exposed to get the print.

 

 

Another way of getting at this is where you 'tell' the camera to 'meter' the light to inform the exposure it will apply - shutter speed, aperture (and with digital, ISO). The standard default is 'matrix' or 'averaged' metering - the light meter / software tries to balance all of the incoming light. Then there is 'centre weighted' - the light meter / software takes more account of the area where the light level is read (typically the focus point - I guess face recognition will have some priority - my dSLRs don't have it or I don't turn it on). Then there is 'spot' metering - the light meter / software meters just on the small focus area. Spot allows a small subject to be exposed 'correctly' even if the surrounding scene is very dark or very bright. But, as above, the metering is a physical adjustment affecting the amount of light hitting the sensor or film, not a software interpretation of the incoming light.

Yet another way is 'exposure compensation' - often has a dedicated button with a +/- decal on it - you can dial in how many 'stops' (more precisely electron volts, EV) more or less than the camera's meter thinks the 'correct' exposure is - how much light gets let in. Generally goes in 1/3 EV steps - eg +0.3, +0.7 etc.

On my cameras, choosing metering area and exposure compensation are NOT available in the AUTO modes - needs to be in Manual (I rarely use, except for moon shots), Aperture priority (I use most - set the 'f stop' - how wide open is the lens, how much light gets let in, also affects depth of field), Shutter priority (how long the shutter is open, I use when I want to ensure a fast shutter to freeze motion and/or avoid effects of camera shake), Program mode (I don't use this much but its a bit like A and S).

And having mentioned moon shots, this is a classic example of needing to balance a really bright object in a really dark background - if you don't meter on the moon you generally just get a 'white out'.

So, the moral of this story is:

Back to the future

the mega camera site Digital Photography Review https://www.dpreview.com/  has a feature called 'Throwback Thursday'

this week's was the venerable Nikon D40 https://www.dpreview.com/news/7683242978/throwback-thursday-nikon-d40 : the comment thread is quite interesting too.

I had the D60, 2nd successor - almost identical body but 10MP vs 6MP CCD sensors + a few little tools - sensor cleaning, active D lighting. Patrick has it now. I suspect I took some of my best pictures with that camera in the flush of youthful enthusiasm.

D40 had bigger pixels and was very well reputed. Typical Thygo buyer remorse - probably should have bought the D40 at the time. Cést la vie. The early dSLRs had CCD vs CMOS sensors and many contend these give different, and depending on your taste, preferable colour rendition. I suspect I agree.

I now have D90 and D3300. D3300 is a lineal descendent of the D40. Now with 24MP, up to 128000 ISO, video, other bits and pieces. I still reckon the D60 body was more comfortable and controls easier. I am still undecided whether I have an advance over the D90 with the D3300.

I am now seeing if I can pick up a D40 body at a good price (some people ask almost as much as a brand new D3300!) to have as a 'beater body' - walk around in daylight, rough and tumble.

Comparison picks below - probably just nostalgia but I still reckon the D40/40x/60 body design was very nice - uncluttered, clean lines. Nice feeling solid polycarbonate construction (the newer ones feel very light - probably as strong but doesn't feel the same).

 

 

 

More experiments in macro - hoverflies

Last weekend there were heaps of hoverflies hovering and feeding on a flowering bush outside the back door.

I tried with different lenses to try to capture them - both sitting on a flower and in hover mode. I wasn't that successful with the first and the second will require more practice and luck.

Interesting juxtapositions of reach, sharpness and autofocus capabilities of lenses: 55-300 has reach and pretty sharp but its AF is too slow (for this purpose), 18-105 is pretty sharp and AF pretty snappy but reach could be more, 18-200 (maligned by many for softness at the long end) however had good reach and very snappy AF. The 85mm macro lens was a real challenge because of the short depth of field and very slow AF - good for static targets but for things moving around, more difficult.

not my image, the sort of thing I would love to achieve:   

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Syrphidae_poster.jpg bottom right image

with the 85mm micro lens on D90 (sharpened, white balance and exposure adjust, cropped)

 

18-200 on D90 (sharpened, cropped)

blowfly (?) 85mm on D90 (sharpened, adjust contrast, brightness, shadow protection)

more to follow

Bachelor food

Kangaroo burgers, pasta with fried onion and garlic + parmesan cheese and pepper, fried cabbage and soy sauce, steamed brocolli and carrot.

Plus laptop. What else do you need?

Why am I angry? - Is Toxoplasma gondii - things to me?

So there is an article in today's Australian and on New Scientist

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2082105-explosive-road-rage-like-anger-linked-to-parasite-spread-by-cats/

I learned about this parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, at uni. It's life cycle is in the guts of cats (or other predators I guess) and the brains of prey (mice). Guess what? People get it too - in the brain.

It was well known that mice infected with it were risk takers, and the evolutionary explanation is that it makes them more likely to get predated.
So this is interesting research. I wonder if I have T. gondii sitting in my amygdala (bottom reptilian fight/flight brain)?

I have lived with cats on and off for many years, including cleaning up their messes.

Maybe I am the mouse that roars? Or am I just a viking trapped in the 21st century?

 

The sometime beserker in Eric the Viking

T. gondii life cycle

cyst full of T. gondii - who needs science fiction?

Brain scan - not mine, but is it the same?

 

Tough Little Bastard

This is a tough little bastard. No, not General Lee. He was tough, but not a bastard.

I mean the little USB Drive. This tiny drive holds 32 GB and includes an entire Court Book for one of my cases with over 37,000 pages of documents. I left it in my shirt pocket on Friday night, and ever diligent better half was up early on Saturday morning and did all the washing.

The USB Drive went through a full wash and spin cycle, and I must say it is shiny and clean.

I plugged this tough little bastard into my computer, and - voila - it is still working perfectly and all the data is fine.