a rant

[fluffybunny]

OK… late next month we return to the Adirondacks, and each campsite has its own mini-beach, so I don’t have to worry so much about the proverbial cop. If the weather holds out I’ll try both approaches. Last year I think I had too open an f-stop as a 30-minute exposure looked like a day-time shot with really smooth water and stars dotting the sky. Given that we’ll be there 10 days, if the skies cooperate, I’ll be able to practice both kinds.

The one issue is charging battery as we have no power or water. I always feel kinda creepy hanging around the bathroom/shower waiting for the batteries to charge. That’s also the reason I probably won’t be staying on a mountain-top for night shots on my 4+ High Peak Overnight Adventure.*

*I’m planning on climbing all 4 peaks in the Seward Range east of Tupper Lake, and I’m staying overnight. If I do the 4 in one day, Santononi and a couple other High Peaks are near enough for me to give the old college try. With the Marcy hike planned with my niece, I might, if all goes well, knock off 8 or more of 46 High Peaks. I will at least be bagging 6 this summer.

My answer to the long exposure / battery charge problem is to use a “jump starter” (12 volt dc gel cell in a pretty package with a cigarette lighter socket) coupled with a dc adapter for my camera. Hook it all up and you can keep the shutter open all night, recharge your normal camera battery (with a 12vdc compatible charger), run/charge a laptop, run a telescope and so on. Makes for a great field power source if you have 12vdc appliances. This if you’re car is not conveniently close of course.

[Yugoboy]

Well, my wife’s truck has a “normal” socket I can plug the battery charger into, but the truck has to be running. The only time I’m really worried about is the overnight. If I don’t beat up on the battery by staying on a mountaintop and doing 30 minute exposures, the two I’ve got will last the two days I need them to. If I decide to beat up on the batteries, carrying anything extra on this trip is unappetizing. I haven’t done a real hike with a real pack for real distance and time in a long time. I love hiking mountains in the Adirondacks, but until this year, almost all hikes have been one-day jobs where carrying enough fluids were the major issue. Last time I did anything remotely similar was about 30 years ago. I’m going to try to keep it light this time. If I don’t declare this to be the last time I do anything like this, I’ll be looking at more equipment.

I totally understand the rant this thread was based on, however. My personal laptop’s screen has finally quit for good. If it weren’t for the laptop the school gave me, I’d already be at the store picking out a new one. Because I’ve got my laptop plugged into a monitor I had stashed in the attic, and I have this thing I’m using right now for portability, I can afford to be patient and really shop for the best deal. While I really want a tablet-style laptop with touchscreen that lies flat, I figure if I can hold out until near end of summer I can probably pick up a decent back-to-school deal. For the moment, the one I want is about $1K, but it’s got solid state memory, and thus less storage. I’d hate to be desperate right now.

FWIW – does anybody else hate Win8? I tried helping a student with some laptop issues (she didn’t have MSOffice, and I was helping her find Wordpad and explaining what OpenOffice is), and Win8 is really clunky to use, especially if you’re not using a touch screen. Finding anything was a bitch. It’s a case of fixing what ain’t broken to address issues that don’t exist on all platforms. Bleah. I’m hoping there will be a setting where I can make it look like “regular” windows…

[CauseISaidSo]

FWIW – does anybody else hate Win8? I tried helping a student with some laptop issues (she didn’t have MSOffice, and I was helping her find Wordpad and explaining what OpenOffice is), and Win8 is really clunky to use, especially if you’re not using a touch screen. Finding anything was a bitch. It’s a case of fixing what ain’t broken to address issues that don’t exist on all platforms. Bleah. I’m hoping there will be a setting where I can make it look like “regular” windows…

I bought my wife a Surface recently and you’re right, the Metro interface of Win8 does take some getting used to. It isn’t quite as bad on a touchscreen, though.

You’re not alone in your complaint, and from what I’ve heard, the new release of Win8 (8.1 or Windows Blue I think they call it) supports switching to the “classic” interface.

[Curious]

for reason not worth mentioning we are going to win8 at work. my boss likes it and the rest of the people he has made use it hate it. even in classic mode.

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