[Curious]

i heard the “prime lens” thing but didn’t know what it meant. thanks for clearing that up.

and you’re quite right about F16 and up. mine showed up below that.

while i agree with him that pretty much anyone can clean their cameras i’m a bit concerned about over cleaning. every time you do a clean, especially with the swabs, you run a small risk of messing something up. i’d guess the vast majority of us don’t need weekly cleaning.

[Curious]

that’s fine if you use the swabs. the store i went to had this kit http://www.pictureline.com/products/12846/Green_Clean_Sensor_Cleaning_Kit/ but they wanted 90 bucks for it. i passed.

got this instead. http://www.adraycamera.com/browseproducts/PROMASTER-SUPER-GIANT-BLOWER.html for 15 bucks + tax. works like the one in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-axEBXW-g_8&mode=related&search= the blower there is the “rocket” based on the design of the base. it will stand on those tail fin things. for the dust i had just using the blower worked great.

from watching the video you linked and a few of the others plus a couple of articles i’m inclined to think folks must be changing lenses in sand storms. i’ve had this camera 10 months and what’s in my linked photos is the worst dust encountered so far. that guy in your link was talking about having to wipe his sensor every week and getting dust each time. perhaps he should be changing lenses in the back of his “truck”.

and i truly hate people who refer to their SUVs as trucks.

[Curious]

bought a super deluxe blower yesterday to clean my sensor. shot these two pictures one on the way to the camera store and one after getting home and using the blower. it looks like it worked just fine.

these pictures are 1024 pixels wide. the dust is just right and above center. the first cleaning (see my feb 11 post) worked ok but as you can see when there is too much sky the spots showed.

before http://farm1.static.flickr.com/243/522201778_4e1a80fe3a_b.jpg

after http://farm1.static.flickr.com/248/522201792_fa58bc9fac_b.jpg

[Curious]

i do mine manually but others may not. it’s a holiday weekend and several of the regulars have mentioned being out of pocket until tuesday. be patient if you don’t get a reply you can use right away.

[Curious]

OK, threadjack. Headline Search kicks butt. It is written to use KinoSearch, which is based on Apache Lucene, which I had a very small part in developing back in ’03 or so.

I’m so cool.

(actually, from a karma POV, it is pretty cool)

millera9, no one thinks you’re dumb.

ok i’ll agree with the cool part and what you said about millera9 but your KinoSearch and Apache Lucene stuff makes me feel dumb. 🙂

and for the second time tonight i’m thinking of changing my login from curious to dilettante.

[Curious]

Lovesandwich the FSM is here http://www.schneeworld.com/fsm/ and is the Farktography Statistics Manager. an invaluable resource created and maintained by schnee. there is a link in the upper left under Menu. one of the features that i like is the ability to see not only where i placed in various contests but there are cached thumbnails of the actual images.

[Curious]

Bostitch Stapler
Patented 1924-1926
Boston Wire Stitcher Co.
East Greenwich, RI

and a picture http://www.officemuseum.com/IMagesWWW/1924_1926_Bostitch_Pat_Nos._1506073_1584788_1591986.JPG

some of you need to get out more. i’m looking at you anneb

[Curious]

another vote for marvelous. to me it makes the theme more challenging.

[Curious]

i get a little salty when a not-so-great picture finishes ahead of me (blurry, off-theme, just plain crappy, etc.) but other than that…..

i could care less.

oh wait that means i do care. and i do but not about the FSM, it’s far too late to worry about rankings. or averages unless i’m shooting for the bottom third. and from the results you would think i was literally shooting for that.

there are times i don’t take the best shot possible simply because, overall, my photos don’t get many votes. it then becomes a self fulfilling circle. my black stairs against the white wall was one i was really happy with and thought it would do well. it finished 75th behind my other two that finished 42nd and 47th. none were strictly grab shots but a lot more thought went into the black on white one.

and sadly both my first place finish and my second place finish weren’t shot for a contest but images from the archives that fit the theme for the week.

so in summary i shot for me and if there is something i like for a particular week it will get entered. if there’s nothing, or nothing but crap, then i’ll stay out. frankly if there was an option of “voting is nice but the AWing is the reason” it would have been checked.

[Curious]

nope….but that’s just me, apparently.

actually your one of three. and i’m one and it looks like RcMacStudent is one but they are now undecided due to the FSM thing.

[Curious]

quality here but that encompasses adherence to the theme. and like a photoshop vote i’ll vote for funny even if it isn’t a great photo.

there are folks whose photos i look for but they don’t always get a vote. there were a lot of good photos this week. ones that would stand alone if seen in another setting. that is w/o the theme to explain them. can’t say that about some of the contests.

[Curious]

well i shot my stairs today. and they are literally stairs, not some interpretation of waaaaaasup. and they are beautiful. technically brilliant and artsy as all hell. the voters will hate them.

well that certainly was prophetic.

oh well, it’s not about the votes but having fun.

yeah that’s the ticket.

it was fun taking them regardless.

[Curious]

the one thing i miss about my new camera and lens outfit is that the lenses (being cheap) don’t have a true macro. nor even a half life size macro.

[Curious]

that you could get shots that close to ants or that you were in you pajamas?

hi, nice to see again.

[Curious]

XenPix, don’t take the things you read on this board too seriously.

what he said. there has been some good natured kidding re what are steps and what are stairs as it relates to tonights contest.

and millera9 my minimum number is three but that shot may not make the cut.

[Author]

Posts