jim_service

<p>Going up to Geyserville for a cousin's memorial service, so I'll cruise Canyon Road and West Dry Creek Road for some mid-winter wine country stuff. It's going to be pretty damp, so we'll see.</p>

<p>Long ago, I used to attempt tack sharp focus by zooming in, focusing on the subject, then zooming back out to the intended composition and shooting. I soon realized this resulted in fuzzy pictures. Would this be an effect of focus breathing?</p>

<p>Normal navigation through PN-2 was all screwed up, at least on my computer. I'm glad PN-1 is back. I had looked for discussion about the change and could find nothing.</p>

<p>Ahhh! The N90s, my favorite camera even now. Looking through the eyepiece was like sitting in front of a picture window.</p>

<p>As you are leaving on Monday and you have never cleaned a sensor before, leave it alone. When you get back, you can always use Photoshop or whatever you use the clone or healing brush tool to remove the spots.<br>

The self cleaning system in the camera will most likely have removed most of the dirt from the sensor before you return.</p>

<p>You can get a lot of space on an external hard drive for $100. I have a mirrored pair, one for backup.</p>

<p>The sneaky people at Microsoft dumped 10 on me against my wishes, but it's working okay, no s-w problems.<br>

So, to the question:<br>

If I click on a .jpg, it brings up the old Windows Photo Viewer which can then page forward or backward to see .jpg's, .CR2's, and .NEF's.<br>

If I first click on a .CR2 or .NEF, it brings up another viewer, that the Program Manager calls "Photo". It also displays everything, but doesn't zoom from the mouse wheel.<br>

Better hurry up on your upgrade. There's likely going to be a big traffic jam as it gets close to zero hour.</p>

<p>The 1907 steam tug Hercules is being brought back to life at San Francisco's Hyde Street Pier National Historic Site. For the first time in 20 years the public can see the main engine and the many auxiliary engines in operation on the boat.</p><div></div>

<p>Harry, I recently read "A Triumph of Genius, Edwin Land, Polaroid and the Kodak Patent War". Very interesting book. It described Kodak management as hidebound and pigheaded, quite happy to sit there and rake in money from film and developing. Generally, they limited their innovation to the development of the Instamatic, Pocket Instamatic and Disk film formats. Though they did some groundbreaking digital cameras for that time, management was never really going to commit to that effort because digital threatened their film business.</p>

<p>I was sooo close to pulling the trigger on a DCS-14, but I'm glad I didn't because the technology was improving so fast.<br>

But when the 5D2 came out, it was so compelling that I switched from Nikon.<br>

Hope you keep mending fast, JDM.</p>

<p>Perhaps a Flexbody with a digital back.</p>

<p>At a trade show long ago (80's?), I saw a single lens element made of diamond. It was about 1/2" in diameter.<br>

Probably very easy to clean, as you don't have to worry about scratching it.<br>

It was to go on a probe to Venus.<br>

BTW, I understand that due to its refractive index, diamond doesn't make a very good photographic lens.</p>

<p>Dug out my manual.. DHA/R is a memory card issue. Either wrong size or write protection is on.<br>

Page 125.</p>

<p>We will get up before dawn in the freezing cold, we will fly around the world, we will climb to dizzying heights dive to murky depths.. to get content for images.<br>

But when it comes to a photography forum, it's hard, if not impossible, to discuss the relative merits of content. It's either compelling, or it isn't. And agreement is far from universal, with no "right" or "wrong". So we argue (discuss) equipment instead. That's where most of the digital ink is used.<br>

But content is paramount.<br>

Well, you've flown to Cape Breton and all set up for sunrise and the image you've composed is terrific. So who is going to get the cigar, you, with the Argus C2, or the guy next to you with the Phase1 back on his Hassy?</p>

<p>I would recommend two apps, star walk and the photographers ephemeris.<br>

Include a bunch of images from home to share with people you meet.</p>

<p>try this one. Been there for years.<br>

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.815189,-113.8080851,373m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en</p>

<p>KEH has a couple of used 70-200 f4 L IS for sale for $500.</p>

<p>A couple nights ago up the block, a car caught fire in the early morning hours. This was taken from an upstairs window. Handheld, but braced on the window frame. Not bad for 1/15 sec. The VR on the Tamron 150-600 is pretty sweet. 5D2, 2000 ISO</p><div></div>

<p>Michael - I'm guessing you are talking about a M42 lens to EOS body adapter. I have one to use my old Pentax lenses and accessories on my Canon body.<br>

I take it you're asking whether to get the adapter with a hole in it for the auto-diaphragm pin.<br>

The auto-diaphragm was introduced over 50 years ago and it enabled photographers to make their exposure settings (shutter and aperture) and yet continue to work the composition and focus while at full aperture. That pin closed down the aperture when the shutter was released. This concept is on all SLR/DSLR's today, and the better cameras have a preview button so you can view the effect of your chosen depth of field.<br>

To answer your question I'm assuming that all M42 lenses with auto-diaphragm work like those from Takumar (Pentax), that is, the lens is wide open till that little pin is pushed. Then the diaphragm shuts down to the aperture you had set.<br>

If you're using this on an EOS body, there is no mechanism to push this pin, the EOS body does does this electrically, not mechanically. So the pin will stay out, the lens will stay wide open and you're stuck with a shallow depth of field always.<br>

My advice is to get the adapter w/out the hole. The pin will be depressed when the lens is screwed to the adapter. The diaphragm will follow the setting you make on the aperture ring ->all the time<-.<br>

The drill is: open wide to do your focusing and composing, stop down to choose the depth of field that suits your needs, then find the shutter speed that yields the right exposure.<br>

Welcome to the world of fully manual photography, just like Ansel and Henri and Eugene.<br>

Actually, the EOS body will do that last step (shutter speed) for you.</p>

<p>Climber: "Catch me, I'm falling!"<br>

Photographer: "Got it!"</p>

<p>In days past, I would do it in a heartbeat. But now I feel the use of gas is too much to justify it. So I look for additional objectives to add to the trip (another promising location or two, a friend to visit, some specialty store (like Fry's!), or one or more fellow photogs to come along.<br>

Years ago I drove all the way from San Francisco up to Salt Point because a flower forum said "the daffodils are really out". They were, all three of them. </p>

<p>My first thought is that there may be one or more defective blades in the diaphragm.</p>

<p>I recently used a Takumar 50mm 1.4 lens on my 5D2 using a screw mount to Canon adapter. It still takes lovely pictures and it's 50 years old.</p>

<p>I have never set up any specific test procedure, but with normal shooting, VC works very well.</p>

<p>And one thing more..<br>

After going through a string of "bad" card readers, I finally realized that all USB ports are not the same, especially on laptops. Some provide more power than others. Once you ensure you have the right sized card, try out all your ports.</p>