MAMA's Techno-Geek Thread

[Pamlico]

Quote: Originally Posted by blalor (original)

<big snip> I've outgrown the $4M Home, <little snip>

I've been looking to replace my present bag and it looks like one of the Crumplers might be the way to go. I have equipment similar to others, Canon dSLR, kit lens, SIgma APO 70-300 and the Sigma 10-20 ultrawide. The question is what might be the right size for that stuff plus all the assorted knickknacks, including a small point-and-shoot I throw in. I've only seen a couple of the smaller bags at a store and on line It looks like the $5M Home might be sized right, but can't really tell.

Thanks.

Not to sound like a shill for a store, but if anyone is looking to buy the Sigma 10-20, Norman Camera in Michigan is still selling it for about $50 less then any other reputable place including free shipping. I placed the order Sunday afternoon, it was shipped out this afternoon (Monday) and is scheduled for delivery in 2 days.


- dl

[blalor]

No idea who has Crumpler stuff in Ro-cha-cha; their website's pretty awful for finding actual information, unless you're into flinging poo at your monitor. I'll try to pop into one of the stores around here that carry their stuff and see what might fit; I'm basically trying to go the same route as you in terms of what to carry.

[Pamlico]

Quote: Originally Posted by blalor (original)

No idea who has Crumpler stuff in Ro-cha-cha; their website's pretty awful for finding actual information, unless you're into flinging poo at your monitor. I'll try to pop into one of the stores around here that carry their stuff and see what might fit; I'm basically trying to go the same route as you in terms of what to carry.

Thanks for checking the locals.

What to carry is always the problem. Perhaps a small red wagon pulled by Johnny the Monkey is the solution?

With Kodak being here (not to mention Rochester Institute of Tech which has a great photography school) you'd think there would be a number of decent camera stores in the area. Unfortunately, there seems to be only one. They have a good selection of things and are pretty knowledgeable, but tend to have an attitude problem that stems from the manager of the camera section which has cost them business from me as well as a number of others. This place is located near where I work so I may be able to drop in just to check if they sell Crumplers and get an idea of the sizes.

[GadgetGav]

Digital Grin is 'into' smugmug - they're run by the same people..! But I don't think that matters if you're happy with Flickr

Kata bags are nice too, but a bit more business like than the cool Crumpler ones.

I will say the non-USM motor on my IS lens is a bit slow and noisy and it will hunt on AF sometimes, but I put up with it for the IS function as I can't afford the L series lens I'd really like..!

[GadgetGav]

I don't know this guy at all, but those of you looking for a 75-300 IS lens for your Canon, might want to check out this thread on dgrin...

[Can] FS: Canon 75-300 IS USM f/4-5.6 - Digital Grin Photography Forum

[Aqualung]

Another reputable source for used cameras/lenses is KEH.

B&H is closed every weekend for the Sabbath as well. Adorama is another good NYC bricks & mortar/online shop. An interesting thing, I'm starting to shop around for a D200 and it's the same price at B&H and Adorama. But, Adorama is selling the Nikon extended warranty for quite a bit less, so it pays to compare.

If you want to check out how much bags will hold, check here

LowePro announced some new bags recently that look nice, the Vertex line.

Another nice bag that I'm prob gonna get is the lineup from ThinkTank. They too just announced a new line, called "Urban Disguise". Thom Haga has a nice review here

[blalor]

Quote:

The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a
surrogate father to start their family.

On the day the proxy father was due to arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife good-bye and said, "Well, I'm off now, the man should be here soon."

Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer
happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale.

Good morning, Ma'am", he said, "I've come to...''

Oh, no need to explain," Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, "I've been
expecting you."

"Have you really?" said the photographer. "Well, that's good. Did you
know babies are my specialty?"

"Well that's what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have a seat"

After a moment she asked, blushing, "Well, where do we start?"

"Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the
couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun. You can really spread out there."

"Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn't work out for Harry and I!"

"Well, Ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results."

"My, that's a lot!" gasped Mrs. Smith.

"Ma'am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I'd love to be in and out in five minutes, but I'm sure you'd be disappointed with that."

"Don't I know it," said Mrs. Smith quietly.

The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his baby pictures. "This was done on the top of a bus," he said.

"Oh my God!" Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat.

"And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider their mother was so difficult to work with."

"She was difficult?" asked Mrs. Smith.

"Yes, I'm afraid so I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good look"

"Four and five deep?" said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement.

"Yes", the photographer replied. "And for more than three hours, too. The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots.
Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it all in."

Mrs. Smith leaned forward. "Do you mean they actually chewed on your, uh...equipment?"

"It's true, Ma'am, yes.. Well, if you're ready, I'll set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away."

"Tripod?"

"Oh yes, Ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's much too big to be held in the hand - it's very long."

Mrs. Smith fainted.

Try saying *that* with a Nikon!

[m2smith]

And that's EXACTLY why my wife has a Nikon!

[kriation]

That's exactly why I have a Canon!

[rfinprc]

There's something here about point-and-shoot, but I'm laughing to hard to sort it our...

[kriation]

Those who use an RSS client to read their "news", what feeds do you subscribe to that you feel are worthwhile? I'm topic agnostic... so any data stream that you find interesting will do.

The ones that I currently have are the following:
Boston Globe
Google News
New York Times
Wall Street Journal
Debian Package of the Day
Linux.com
NewsForge
Planet Debian
Lifehacker
43 Folders
Engadget
Gizmodo
Slashdot
ExtremeTech
TechDirt

Any other worthwhile suggestions? They don't have to be technical, or based on current events. Like I said, topic agnostic, so any that interest you I'd be willing to try out.

Thanks!

[Aqualung]

Quote: Originally Posted by kriation (original)

Those who use an RSS client to read their "news", what feeds do you subscribe to that you feel are worthwhile? I'm topic agnostic... so any data stream that you find interesting will do.

The ones that I currently have are the following:
Boston Globe
Google News
New York Times
Wall Street Journal
Debian Package of the Day
Linux.com
NewsForge
Planet Debian
Lifehacker
43 Folders
Engadget
Gizmodo
Slashdot
ExtremeTech
TechDirt
DailyDeals (gotapex.com)
Dealcatcher

Any other worthwhile suggestions? They don't have to be technical, or based on current events. Like I said, topic agnostic, so any that interest you I'd be willing to try out.

Thanks!

Thanks for bringing us back :-)

try:

Techmeme
MobileWhack
Engadget Mobile
Autoblog
That's Fit
Reuters Photographers
Luxist
Pogue's Posts (NYT)
Nikonians News (if you're a Nikon guy)
Rob Galbraith (photographer)
Sportsshooter
Consumerist
DailyDeals (gotapex.com)
Dealcatcher


these are some of the ones I sub to.

[kriation]

Quote: Originally Posted by Aqualung (original)

Thanks for bringing us back :-)

try:

Techmeme
MobileWhack
Engadget Mobile
Autoblog
That's Fit
Reuters Photographers
Luxist
Pogue's Posts (NYT)
Nikonians News (if you're a Nikon guy)
Rob Galbraith (photographer)
Sportsshooter
Consumerist
DailyDeals (gotapex.com)
Dealcatcher


these are some of the ones I sub to.

Heh. Someone had to do it...

Thanks for the list!

[snid]

So, MINI / electrical geeks... help me fix this:

The light on the dash to indicate that either the boot or bonnet is open has been steadily lit on my car for the last few days. It did this before after I opened the bonnet to check the oil, and went off maybe a day later. The light was off when I got the car back from the body shop, but came on after I had the bonnet open the next day.

The switch in question is part 6 in this diagram:


the part up on the top of the picture is a metal spring / arm that is open when the bonnet it open, and closes in against a little metal "dot" on the main body of the piece when the bonnet is closed. The whole switch is very easy to remove (thankfully). If I had a second person handy, I could check to see if the switch does anything to the light, but right now I'm all alone.

If I disconnect the two terminal wiring harness from the switch, the light goes off (strange).

It appears to me that when the bonnet is open, so is the circuit. And closing the bonnet closes the circuit. Unless I'm greatly misunderstanding what's going on.

So, what would make the switch not open when it certainly looks like it is? I could understand the circuit not closing properly because of dirty contacts or something, but it appears as though the opposite is happening.

I'll probably pop the switch back out and clean it up and see if that fixes it. If not, I can't imagine the part is that expensive to replace.

I guess I'm more interested in either how I am misunderstanding how the switch works. I guess another possibility is that the "arm" that is made out of metal is in fact not metal because it will close the circuit, but because it makes a good spring. And the little metal "dot" on the main body that I am interpreting as the other part of the circuit is actually a moving button type thing. That would make more sense - a dirty / stuck button switch that won't pop up...

babble babble babble.

[GadgetGav]

Jason,
If the light goes off when you've disconnected the switch, that means the switch is a 'NC' or normally closed. Often those type of micro switches have three terminals and can be either normally closed or normally open, but let's not confuse things! The circuit would be open when the arm is down (bonnet down) and closed when the arm is up (bonnet up).
This makes sense becuase the circuit is only completed when the bonnet is open, i.e. not in the usual mode of operating the car.

You're right in thinking that the metal arm is not completing the circuit - it's just a lever. The switch is actually the little button in the main body. They're made like that because there are several styles of arm which can all go on one type of switch body. So, you're guess that the button is stuck could be right except that that should mean that the light doesn't come on. Unless it's so stuck that the arm is bending over it and not depressing it at all. Have you got a multi meter or some way of checking continuity (other than the bulb in the car)? If so you should be able to tell if the switch changes state when pressed.

Could the problem be in the switch location..? If the vertical height of the switch is wrong compared to whatever it touches on the closed bonnet, maybe the arm is still up even when the bonnet is closed. What did the body shop do..? If they moved the catch or had the bonnet off the car, that would be where I'd start looking.

edit
'Normal' in the sense of normally open or normally closed means when the arm is in it's natural position.