CarlSeibert

My best friend from high school popped up out the blue. I got a Smugmug message from him. He passed though town on other business and we spent a few hours monopolizing a table at the Southport. I had kind of forgotten that it was from him that I got my, ahem, sense of humor. (although he claims it was the other way around). Which made me realize that it's been way too long since I've even lurked here. So I'm posting and promising to do better

We've only seen the first episode of Reacher and the actor hasn't quite yet locked onto the target. (First episodes are such a tricky business.) But already it's light years ahead of the blasphemy with ["the sawed-off runt"] Tom Cruise. The books are so much fun. I have hopes.

Thanks guys! So far, it has indeed been a great one.

Another great software deal. I don't know if it's Covid-related or just pimping their new cloud service, but hey a deal's a deal. ON1 Photo RAW is going for 50 bucks. Personally, I like ON1 way better than Lightroom or Capture One, FWIW. https://www.on1.com/products/on1-360/how-it-works/

Happy Birthday to my favorite person!!!

Thanks, guys. I'm truly touched.

Happy Birthday, birthday bud!!!

Happy coincident Birthday!!!!

You never seem to be around here nowadays.* But Happy Birthday anyway! *My attendance hasn't been so great lately either. So not judging.

I tried the Dekoni all-velour pads on my Utopias and my impression of the result was "a $4,000 HD650". Which sounds like a put-down, but to my mind, is not a bad thing at all. At the moment, I'm using Elear pads on the Utopias. Tyll liked that combination back at Inner Fidelity. I tried it once before, thought it very musical but lacking the "magic" Utopia transparency and went back to the Utopia pads. This time around, I'm pretty happy with the Elear pads. The hybrid Dekonis failed to impress a year ago, but given my Elear pad experience... who knows?

Hi All. Poping in from wherever the hell I've been. Posting in this thread because I'm mostly listening to the Uptopias these days and they're a bit of an odd load impedance-wise....... I've been threatening to try a solid-state amp for, well, years now. Without ever having done anything about it. A conversation over the weekend reanimated the idea. I'm seeking nominations for a SS amp that would work well with the Utopias - low Z out, quiet, don't need a ton of gain - that could be gotten for a small amount of money (<$1,000) since I have no idea if this is just a lark or not. And I suck at selling things, so said amp might be sitting in my rack, used or not, for quite some time. Doug's DSHA 3F is an/the obvious choice, but out of my experimental price range. It wouldn't hurt if the candidate amp had power to drive inefficient planars, as well. There is a Headamp GS-1 offered for sale elsewhere. The owner wants to bundle it with a pair of headphones that I need like I need to run a 3/8" Speedbor through my skull diagonally. If I can convince him to un-bundle, that seems at first blush like it might work. And Justin's work is beyond reproach. So there's that. Any thoughts?

If anybody wants a copy of ON1 RAW https://www.on1.com/landing/0719-photo-raw-bundle/?utm_campaign=RAW2019.5_7-19&utm_source=Master&utm_medium=email&utm_content=announce&=&= Bundled with something you probably don't want, but it's fifty bucks for the package. I paid half again that much for my first license and that was an upgrade deal. If we all live long enough, I'll have a HOWTO on working with metadata in the program on my channel.

I just got back in touch with my inner 500mm mirror lens. I've had a 500mm f/8 Reflex Nikkor since, basically, forever. For years, well decades, it rode around in my trunk. Eventually - like twenty, twenty-five years ago - the old mirror lens was supplanted by more "practical" long lenses, like a 400mm 3.5, and a 300mm 2.8, then a 500mm 4, 400mm 2.8, and a 600mm 4 when I needed it. You get the idea. The old mirror lens eventually moved from my trunk to the back of my camera cabinet at home. Which I am now trying to civilize. I'm selling old and stupid stuff, putting things in order, getting stuff repaired - the kind of thing you do every ten years or so, whether it's needed or not. And I pulled out the old mirror lens. So I marched outside to the creek with it and sat on the bank and photographed whatever happened by for five minutes and six seconds (according to the Exif data) And this thing is just so damned cool! It used to be that you had about three choices for exposure level for any given film speed (1/500th, 1/1000th, and 1/2000th. Well, and 1/250 most of the time.) Neutral density filters made the lens unfocusable. On a modern digital camera, you've got two more shutter speeds and four more instantly changeable ISOs. The lens fits in a bag, weighs nothing, and is hand holdable to an easy-ish 1/250th. Close focus is very reasonable. It's sharp and contrasty. Not 400 2.8 sharp, but 300 4.5 ED IF sharp, easily. It's "practical" all of a sudden! And now with everybody all about bokeh, those annular highlights are the bee's knees. I checked on eBay. You can grab these things for less than $300 (for the newer series no less) Mr ibis here was shot at 1/250th, handheld, at ISO 400. I don't know if anybody else will find this intriguing, but I'm all (re)excited.

Home Depot has these things for twenty bucks right now. They make a dandy bicycle tire pump. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-18-Volt-ONE-Cordless-Power-Inflator-Tool-Only-P737/206159256 And a proper Blackburn chuck fits perfectly. (Just use a little Teflon tape to get the collar over the sleeve without fraying it.)

Happy Birthday, John!!!! Wherever you might be....