justthings

<p>Just as a cautionary note, you should take the time/trouble it takes to go through the settings for privacy in Windows 10 and make sure you set things the way you want, Win10 is very hungry for your personal information, but it gives you a way to limit what it is collecting from and about you. At least this feels like you have some control over such things.</p>

<p>I've been attending a conference in San Diego over the weekend and into this week, lots to take pictures of simply along the walk between my hotel and the convention center, this is such a photogenic place. All shot with my Sony A6000 and either the Sigma 30mm f/2.8 or Sony 55-210.<br> Under the Midway (USS)<br> <a title="Under the Midway (USS)" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/27829302212/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7381/27829302212_1e3a8d18b6_z.jpg" alt="Under the Midway (USS)" width="640" height="428" /></a><br> Masthead for the Star of India sailing ship<br> <a title="Masthead of the Star of India" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/27896491116/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7441/27896491116_b725964664_z.jpg" alt="Masthead of the Star of India" width="640" height="428" /></a><br> A colorful dinghy<br> <a title="Another dinghy" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/27853855421/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7615/27853855421_3ed994e160_z.jpg" alt="Another dinghy" width="640" height="428" /></a></p>

<p>Attending a conference in San Diego over the weekend, this gull decided he'd pose nicely for me.</p> <p><a title="2016-06-27_01-27-31" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/27318518924/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7418/27318518924_aea25fca63_z.jpg" alt="2016-06-27_01-27-31" width="640" height="473" /></a></p>

<p>@ Andrew Gosden, thanks for the ID both to gender and suborder! </p>

<p>From an outing a week or so ago, this guy was kind enough to pose for me.</p> <p><a title="DragonFly_2" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/27529602531/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7514/27529602531_e17597fe4d_z.jpg" alt="DragonFly_2" width="640" height="640" /></a></p>

<p>Taken while out walking along the James River near Richmond, VA. Both shots using Sony a6000 and 55-210 OSS.<br> Old Man Turtle<br> <a title="OldManTurtle" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/27568452826/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7293/27568452826_82314a6f1a_z.jpg" alt="OldManTurtle" width="640" height="499" /></a><br> Dragon fly (or its kin)<br> <a title="DragonFly_1" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/27529602961/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7380/27529602961_500fe28669_z.jpg" alt="DragonFly_1" width="640" height="640" /></a></p>

<p>Late entry tonight, but its still Monday! Encountered this fellow along a trail where I was hiking near Richmond, VA. You could see where he had been burrowing or grubbing around near by.</p> <p><a title="OldManTurtle" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/27568452826/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7293/27568452826_82314a6f1a_z.jpg" alt="OldManTurtle" width="640" height="499" /></a></p>

Interesting perspective, I really like his comment about not needing the best camera, just good enough for what you want to do... http://petapixel.com/2016/05/27/worlds-smallest-photo-office/

<p>Some turtles and a skink that came to visit me while was taking pictures of the turtles...</p> <p>a veritable herd of turtles...<br> <a title="A herd of turtles" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/26946056691/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7466/26946056691_1803058c71_z.jpg" alt="A herd of turtles" width="640" height="355" /></a><br> A loner turtle<br> <a title="Lone turtle" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/26408801574/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7721/26408801574_d9752ebc1e_z.jpg" alt="Lone turtle" width="640" height="473" /></a><br> and a skink came to visit<br> <a title="A skink came to visit me" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/26945878691/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/26945878691_2086155a28_z.jpg" alt="A skink came to visit me" width="603" height="640" /></a></p>

<p>Out for a walk over the weekend and came across an area where there were dozens of turtles languishing on logs in the water. This was just one of them.</p> <p><a title="Lone turtle" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/26408801574/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7721/26408801574_d9752ebc1e_z.jpg" alt="Lone turtle" width="640" height="473" /></a></p>

<p>Recently I've started using the unlimited storage for photos i have available (via amazon prime) on the amazon cloud drive, using this as a backup to what is on my HDD. Unfortunately, there is no option to automatically sync specified folders - either you have to manually upload individual folders or pictures or you have to delete the old folder and replace in its entirety. Neither is a good approach to doing something you want to do regularly. I'm wondering if anyone is using any of the 3rd party synchronization tools that seem to offer solutions to this problem. A couple I've seen are odrive and GoodSync, I'm sure there are others. What is your experience?</p>

<p>Richmond has a Great Blue Heron rookery on the James River that has been active since about 2008. A unique hiking trail along the river opposite the little island that is home to about 40 herons affords lots of opportunities for viewing.<br> <strong>Great Blue Heron with its prey</strong><br> <a title="HeronPrey" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/26598715106/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1614/26598715106_83206dfdbc_z.jpg" alt="HeronPrey" width="607" height="640" /></a></p>

<p>From along the James River, a view of a couple different kinds of river life. A6000, the first two shot with the Sony 55-210, the last with the sigma 30mm f/28.<br> Heron stalking<br> <a title="HeronStalking" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/26598714456/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1652/26598714456_fb6d16b713_z.jpg" alt="HeronStalking" width="498" height="640" /></a><br> Heron with its prey<br> <a title="HeronPrey" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/26598715106/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1614/26598715106_83206dfdbc_z.jpg" alt="HeronPrey" width="607" height="640" /></a><br> White water canoeist<br> <a title="WWcanoe2" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/26598713906/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1659/26598713906_f2640b71ea_z.jpg" alt="WWcanoe2" width="640" height="456" /></a></p>

<p>Keep in mind that even though a monitor uses an IPS panel that by itself isn't going to mean its a good screen for photo editing, i think you have to look at other factors like color gamut and other attributes that other's can attest to. Sure an IPS panel is going to be better than its non-IPS kindred but that is only part of the equation. For instance, I have an AOC 27" monitor, it is ok for general work, surfing the web, gaming etc. but it when calibrated, its gamut barely covers sRGB which is far from 'good' for a photo editing monitor. Yours will probably get you by for the moment but the more technical you get with editing I suspect that monitor will become a limitation pretty quickly.</p>

Thanks for the responses. Searches suggest others experience this same issue with little to no useful intervention from Adobe support staff, but I will still bark up that tree. I wonder if Adobe somehow throttles uploads to minimize impact to their systems. As for totally disavowing the utility of a cloud based storage solution, that is simply ridiculous and it is unclear to me what the risks are. I guess I would challenge the this notion by asking for empirical evidence demonstrating "system failure and total data loss", otherwise this is simply unfounded paranoia.

If you are primarily editing photos you may not see a huge benefit from an i7 versus a less expensive i5 processor so that is an area you could shave some money off your budget. Some of that may depend on the file sizes you work with too. Buy all the RAM you can afford and install, and definitely get an ssd for the OS, possibly a second for a lightroom catalog if you go that route eventually. The i7 probably starts to give more benefit when doing video though. Also, you might think about using a second, higher quality monitor rather than the laptop monitor if you have the space for it. Also don't worry about future proofing your computer, you simply can't really do that effectively.

<p>I decided to take advantage of the photo storage i have access to through an amazon prime account. I have about 2gb of images to backup to the cloud, which is not a lot of storage in as far as this sort of thing goes. I am finding that the upload operation seems to timeout, logging me completely out of my account on a frequent basis. I had hoped to simply upload and let it go until it was done however this seems to need constant monitoring. Does anyone know how to make this work? I can't believe this is working as intended.</p>

<p>and last.. </p><div></div>

<p>and another...</p><div></div>

<p>Nice shots today, mine are a bit later than I usually like but better late than never! All taken with Sony A6000 and the 55-200 zoom.</p> <div></div>

<p>Bit of a late entry, this from a day out by the river yesterday.</p> <div></div>

<p>Received a new lens while i was away on vacation (go figure) and ran out to play with it a bit once I returned home. Its most definitely spring and I am enjoying seeing all the new foliage starting to appear and take shape.<br> <a title="Spring Color" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/25780362460/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1450/25780362460_3778a0e037_z.jpg" alt="Spring Color" width="640" height="640" /></a></p>

<p>Shots from a trip to DC over spring break last week, all with the a6000<br> DC Metro<br> <a title="DC Metro in B&W" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/25783223950/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1654/25783223950_0773b1da58_z.jpg" alt="DC Metro in B&W" width="427" height="640" /></a><br> Cherry Blossoms and the Jefferson Monument<br> <a title="Cherry Blossoms" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/25963132422/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1708/25963132422_873f34a392_z.jpg" alt="Cherry Blossoms" width="640" height="409" /></a><br> Kite in flight with Washington Monument as the backdrop<br> <a title="Kite" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/25782807140/in/dateposted-public/" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1536/25782807140_47272e31d9_z.jpg" alt="Kite" width="640" height="640" /></a></p>

<p>Arthur - thanks for pointing me at his blog - i hadn't got that far. I think a lot of this falls into the same category of arguments I see about Leica lenses that have a 'glow' that other optics don't, and that seems to all about contrast. I think there are some interesting, possibly even useful things here, but the approach seems psuedo-scientific with a lot of faith built in. Like Mike, I am skeptical about the line of realism thing. I'm not sure how that is established or how the author goes about placing lenses in his graph, its certainly not through any sort of measurement that I can see. Unless it is simply about counting number of elements. I'm not sure you can know how many is too many, and does it matter how they are grouped? I'm not going to run out and buy myself a lot of low-element count lenses or anything. One thing that occurs to me is that it is mostly among large and medium format photographer's where i hear discussions about lens designs (tessar, planar, distogon,etc.) - why does this not arise so much among 35mm photographers?</p>

<p>I found this article that is essentially a rant about modern lens design and found it interesting. However, one of the things I am noticing is there are no 'head to head' comparisons between the different lens designs the author is talking about and the images used to illustrate his points seem to vary significantly at least by the lighting that is involved. I'm wondering if there are any other discussions of legacy/contemporary lens designs that do a/b type comparisons - same subject, lighting, other conditions but with different lenses.<br> http://petapixel.com/2016/03/14/problem-modern-lenses/</p>