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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/10/2022 in all areas
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4 points
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Going to be hanging in the president’s box at our football home opener.3 points
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That was the beauty of the minidisc. You do have the slide the cover over to access the slit, but eventually you get experienced and it happens naturally when you insert it.2 points
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Camera (+lens) rant time There has been some talk about new vs old colours, which is also my problem, so I thought I'd just illustrate that with a candid portrait I shot last week. JPEG using one-click Auto settings on a free software, FastStone Image Viewer LR quick "edit" that I decided to stop after a few minutes: This is a near-ideal scenario regarding lighting, neither of them is perfect, but the way Lightroom renders skin tones is much worse, whatever profile I use. Tried other software and was similarly dissatisfied, Lightroom is at least is easy to use and they have added more controls, but difficult to figure out what to do, and I don't know how many years I still have to struggle until I figure out how to edit people images quickly (without people it can be abstract, so it may not matter much) and produce a satisfying result (with regards to colour specifically, with contrast I have figured out a bit, but curves affect colours, etc. it is difficult). If I saw the JPEG image (it pops up for a second when you open it, and it disappears just to troll you...and you might never get that colour back again) but I had the RAW flexibility, it would be perfect for me. I simply find this process unenjoyable and disappointing when compared against the JPEG image. I make the exposure good, in this case, I manage to nail perfect focus (very difficult on slightly a moving target and it takes away from your focus of trying to compose the image) and on the last stage it falls apart. In this instance, all I do is make it worse. Tried colour charts, etc. it still did not work. Maybe best for me to switch to JPEG whenever I can, and shoot it the best way I can in camera - and waste of a lot of performance that those massive 80MB+ DNG files are giving... I also don't understand why today's digital cameras can't adopt the way smartphones process images, more and more of them are producing nice, natural colours in a very wide range of lighting situations. I am not sure if I like using the SL2, but at least it is the only digital camera I have now, so I have to get used to it, maybe the image quality is growing on me. (not regarding ISO or dynamic range, but in-camera colour) Big and heavy, especially for old lenses, which are quite a bit lighter than what they make for the body, they are deliberately segmenting the product lines... But when I or whomever else looks at the screen or EVF, we all see some nice-looking images. If I was using a Sony or maybe to a lesser extent one the newer Canons, I would struggle even more. (Fuji anything but FF so I am not interested, sorry - but some of my lenses would work on medium format). I also appreciate how they have constantly tried to improve firmware, with the last one they have addressed vintage lens support even more (well, Panasonic cameras worked like that from the start...) I think I was most happy with the 5D Mark 1 or something more usable for me, the M Type 240 images and in daytime (a camera touted as not rendering colours as well as the M9 with a CCD) I think I could edit those pictures better as well as quicker (not a lot of latitude anyway...), and maybe I should go back to those just for that reason. But the SL2 shoots video as well with great IBIS (here the brick-like feel helps) which can be really useful, with L-Log the colour is half baked in, so I may work it out a bit better. Bonus: if you can figure out which lens was used from this picture, you are a gearhead like me, and we should all seek professional help. The reason why I made this terrible image is that after rambling incoherently in the Stax topic, I realised that I simply have way too much. (There are a few more somewhere...) But unlike with headphones, where at least I can have a preference for certain things, these are all great in their own right, so I would just like to use whatever is left and stick with it, although GAS is something that I will never ever get rid of because I started it from the wrong side. (And I have have two big repair bills coming both on the Canon and Leica lens and it is not all my fault, but it's ok, at least it also prompted me to think about this.) My best combo was the Leica M6TTL with the Summilux 35/1.4 ASPH Pre-FLE lens. It quickly made me very unhappy, that I sold both for way less than what they are worth now and maybe I should swallow all this, get rid of some unnecessary stuff and get back to it. I was talking to my sister the other day, and she told me how she really liked that picture - yes, it was shot on Delta 3200 film, no silly editing, just processed in a lab... The Praktica BX20s (yes it is the rarer version...) and its zoom lens really aren't worth that much last time I checked, so anyone interested in actually using them can have them for the cost of shipping. You just choose a film and you get the looked baked in (lenses render colour a bit differently, but it does not really matter if it is a cheap or an expensive film camera, film is film), it would be really nice to have Kodachrome, but and most of them are still just plain very nice and digital Leicas, Fujis, etc. do seem to have a little bit about that film mojo.2 points
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They are pretty easy to become fans of. Me: LongGone Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade 2022 https://album.link/i/1632077032 Example - live: Better recording on the album - but a bit more fun live. Redman - yes, Mehldau - yes, McBride - yes, Blade - yes. Powerhouse of a group, I hate that we only get them every two years or so. But worthy wait for goodness. I am glad that they all do solo and other projects to keep my ears happy.2 points
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Good Luck Nate. Sorry I couldn’t be there to help cheer you and your team on.1 point
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I haven’t seen the third episode yet (though like a Guardian review title of it “Less slow-motion horse riding please!”), but reasonably enjoyed the first two. It’s fun to be in a time where weekly you can jump back and forth between two shows tackling a similar fake English history, through very different lenses (though I worry fake white history is exactly what we don’t want to be feeding supremacists in the time of Trump). My non-fan status of the books and movies* may bar me from being a targeted audience (or as I’m enjoying this series so far more than the books and movies a clue to your question), but I’m also confused about that audience target. I know there’s always been a man-child component here, but is this thing a kids or adult show? I don’t mean to pigeonhole it, but to understand motivations, besides simply plot advancement (my biggest problem with films). For what it’s worth, I tend to watch the two shows late, and at the end of the House of the Dragon episodes I’ve been wide awake guessing what’s next and at the end of the first two Rings of Power the eyes are pretty tired, though that could be all the slo-mo. Like you I’ll probably give it another episode or two. And, c’mon, everyone watch The Bear! *But keep in mind I’m likely visiting the Northern California Renaissance Faire next weekend, so not immune to some charms of the genre.1 point
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So this Lord of the Rings show… three episodes in and I’m very confused. Who is the show for? Is it for lore-heads, for casuals? As someone in between (read the books, loved the Jackson trilogy) so far I can’t tell. They’ve got like 4 or 5 different storylines going and so far its hard to really care about any of them. I don’t know? Anyone else watching? Are you enjoying it so far? I’ll give it another week or two before deciding whether to cut bait or not.1 point
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Good luck Nate! I rode 28 miles without stopping this morning and although my muscles were fine the saddle sore/stiffness was real. I can't imagine it after 100 miles!1 point
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I think Doug is going to need to talk to his Analyst after reading the nail comment. It's OK Doug. Pretend you never read that.1 point
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So my local dealer some time ago had one of these and had a long listening session using the same set of CD's in pairs, one un-treated and one treated in front of us. We never saw which CD's he would put in first but there were 6 of us that picked out the shaved CD's with almost 80% consistency. We DID think there was something better to the sound..... Not truly scientific and true A/B testing, but we were very pleasantly surprised. The dealer offered to shave/treat CD's that anyone brought (I didn't) that night, and the 4 folks that DID bring them all took advantage.1 point
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In reality I think I'd glue it as is. Then add a spline/dowel/screw/etc for strength if necessary.1 point
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Heh, so if he's in the mood for some decent-ish cooking, my daughter and her boyfriend just moved to Ft. Collins last week. The BF is going to CSU (both left ERAU, which seems to be in fashion these days) and Zoe's going to a CC out there as she tries to figure things out (major change, life,etc.) Class of 25 for them, in theory, but who knows...1 point
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Oddly enough I am going to be in Texas for the first time in my life next week. Scenic Dallas -- lucky me!0 points