Knuckledragger

I haven't posted any photos in this thread in ages. I have an, uh, large-ish backlog, but I don't have time to get in to that now. I mentioned briefly in passing that I bought an IR-modded EOS 5D. Kind of a strange purchase, but the price was too good to pass up. In early 2009 I bought an IR-modified PowerShot G2. Some time later I bought a Sunpak Nocto400 infrared flash. The Nocto400 is based on a mid-80s Sunpak "hammerhead" meant for medium and large format film cameras. It's output power is just a little bit more than digital point & shoot that can only stop down to F/8 can handle (inverse square law or no inverse square law). My experiments with the IR G2 and the Nocto400 did not go particularly well. Now with the IR 5D, which is an aging but full featured (and full frame) camera, the Nocto400 is proving itself to be a valuable tool. In the incandescent era, there were a lot of infrared photons flying through the interiors of most buildings. (Compact) fluorescent lights have really changed that. All the blinkenlights I use at clubs now are LED, which emit virtually no IR. Available light is my preferred method of photography, as I dislike the look of all but the most sophisticated flash setups. My objections are less significant in the near-infrared spectrum, where everything is so weird that harsh light from a strobe is kind of irrelevant. Last night I was up way too late after attending the local goth night's halloween party. Afterward I went to the diner I used to frequent regularly and harassed a friend of mine who was working the overnight shift. I chased her around like the paparazzi with my giant 5D/Nocto400 rig and took a few dozen frames. She asked why the flash wasn't going off and I told her it was so she wouldn't blink </lie>. The Nocto400 doesn't have much in the way of output controls, just "lo" and "hi". The former is still too bright much of the time, so I end up shooting in full manual and continually adjusting the aperture to compensate for exposure. It's like shooting with a 1970s film camera, with the immediate feedback of a digital body. The above shot is probably the best of the night, interms of framing, exposure and the subject's expression. I showed it to Marie today and she said she looked crazed. I suppose I will have to explain to her that it's an IR shot at some point...

Fires burn in Lavallette in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on the New Jersey coast. Taxi Rank, Hoboken

The East River meets an underground parking lot. Military vehicles on Lexington Ave btwn 24th & 27th in Manhattan today.

Necroing this thread to say, dayum does this little DAC deliver. I've been listening to some ambient albums I've not heard since the 1990s and I'm amazed how much more I'm getting out of them. I'm using a decidedly consumer grade receiver driving a pair of NS1000s that are not placed in the room particularly well. In spite of that, the sound is fantastic. Either that I have tin ears.

Apropos to nothing, I know a Russian psydub DJ named Ilya Dubov. His DJ name is "Ill Dub."

Emma Roberts dresses up as her Pretty Woman aunt Julia for Halloween. Hitler inspects "Die Kompensator"

Sorta NFSW, but too funny not to post. Are those tube amps behind him? video of that .GIF I posted earlier.

Just signed up for a Google AdSense account. The Goog now knows even more about me than it did before. Soon that mad fat ad cash will begin rolling (not really).

I'm not suggesting you watch the entire episode, but the opening song is hilarious.

The Double Secret Life Of ChapStick Lip Balm

Ruh roh. Things happen around 3:00 in.

Magician sneezes off head in Halloween stunt