Re: USB cable

[Anders Hultman]

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005, Scott Loveless wrote:

> According to Pentax, the interface is USB 1.1.  This is a standard and
> shouldn't need a Pentax branded camera.

It's standard USB at the computer end, but I wasn't sure that it was
standard at the camera end as well. All those different "B" connectors...

> Try both cables on both computers.  If the new cable doesn't work on
> either and the Pentax cable works on both,

Yes, that's the case.

> you've probably got a bad cable.  Take it back for an exchange.

Ok, I'll do that. Just wanted to check first if I've missed something.

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

USB cable

[Anders Hultman]

Is there anything special about the USB cable that comes with the *istD?
I have bought a second cable from a third party source, to use with a
second computer, but the camera and the computer never recognize each
other. Do I have to get a Pentax brand cable?

This is the cable I bought: http://www.deltaco.se/images/usb-503.jpg

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: PAW PESO - Becky Organizing Files

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005, Shel Belinkoff wrote:

> > > Putting the files in alphabetical order seems to work pretty well ... 
> >
> > Sort by colour, is my suggestion.
> 
> Color of what?

"Sort by colour" is my standard suggestion whenever people ask how they
should sort their record collection, their book shelf or whatever. What
they usually want by asking that question is to get some firm guidance on
how to divide their stuff into genres, but I find such a thing silly since
they'll always end up with items that fall into several (or no)
categories. One person's "folk rock" may be another person's "country".
"Enya may be rave to me," as a famous Swedish tv commercial puts it.

The most rational way is alphabetical of course, but that isn't as clear
cut as you may think either, since several artists (like Enya for example)  
use their first name as their artist name. Should they be filed under
that, while everyone else is filed under last name? Even if the last name
is widely known? (Brennan, in this case. Or "Ni Bhraonáin" if you follow
the Irish spelling).

However you sort it, there will always be hard-to-solve cases like that.
So you may as well sort by the colour of the edge of the sleeve.

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Photoshop .jpg Color Shifts

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005, Tom C wrote:

> Recently I've noticed substantial (by that I mean someone as careless as 
> myself can notice and do a double take) color shifts when I save images as 
> .jpgs using the 'Save for Web' feature.  I don't see the color shifts when I 
> create a .jpg using 'Save As'.   I've also seen changes in tonality when 
> saving gray scale images with 'Save for Web'.
> 
> I'm wondering if anyone knows the reason why.  I don't ever recall seeing 
> this happen prior to this version.

I have noticed it in earlier versions as well, and I suppose it's
something intrinsic to the "save for web" function. Embedding of some
colour profile may be one answer (since this colour shift appears
different in different web browsers) or it may just be that the function
tries to remap colours to make the jpeg compression more efficient or
something. I never use the function myself, and don't see any reason to.
What does it give me that an ordinary "save" doesn't?

Last month, I bought some illustrations to a web site I work on. The
background of the site is a very light blue, and I wanted the
illustrations to have the same background colour. But since the artist
used "save for web," the background colour was slightly different on
different computers (Win2000, WinXP, MacOSX, MacOS9). He had so re-save
using the ordinary "save" in order to make the background colour correct.

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: PAW PESO - Becky Organizing Files

[Anders Hultman]

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005, Shel Belinkoff wrote:

> Putting the files in alphabetical order seems to work pretty well ... 

Sort by colour, is my suggestion.

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: On-the-Go Storage, it works!

[Anders Hultman]

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005, Mark Cassino wrote:

> The only problem with the X's Drive is the battery - after a year's use my 
> X's Drive II can't hold a charge long enough to dump a 1 gig card. I 
> contacted the place where I bought the drive, who basically said they 
> recommended sending the drive in for replacement (I guess it's more than 
> just an open it up and pop in a new battery deal) and wanted too much for 
> the service and the battery.
> 
> I wound up going to the local battery store and getting fixed up with a 
> video cam 12v 2.3 Ah lead acid battery, a cigarette lighter adapter for it, 
> and a charger - all for about $25.

The place where I bought my X's drive have a replacement battery in stock.
Costs SEK 230.00 / USD 32.20 / EUR 25.30 including local sales tax.

Web page in Swedish:
  http://www.zebramedia.com/butik/show_one.asp?ID=3076

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: OT - Computer nerds unite! I have a networking problem...

[Anders Hultman]

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005, John Francis wrote:

> Doesn't fit the symptoms.
> 
>  1)  She doesn't have a router
> 
>  2)  The cable modem is working just fine, as she can
>  get to the internet on her primary (desktop) machine.

Ok, but how is the laptop connected to the Internet then? Is it connected
at the same time as the desktop machine, and if so, how? Or does she
disconnect one to connect the other?

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Change File Attributes

[Anders Hultman]

Michael Heim:
Does anybody of you know a program (or some lines of DOS-Code) to change
file attributes of picture files (like the title or the author of a
picture)?
I often have lots of files with only the exif-information an need to set
some attibutes when giving the files to our image editor. It's boring to
do the same clicks and pastes 50 times. There should be a batch-way to
do this.
I'm not really sure of what you mean by "file attributes" here, but 
if you want to insert a comment text string into a JPEG file, then 
maybe the command line program "jhead" is what you need: 
http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Which flash?

[Anders Hultman]

I'm considering bying a flash for my *istD. Which one is best of the 500
and the 360? It seems to me that both have functions that the other do
not. Which functions are more useful, and which functions are less
important?

Advantages of the AF 500 FTZ 
  * more powerful (higher GN)
  * possible to turn in two directions
  * faster flash time
  * can be used as slave

Advantages of the AF 360 FGZ 
  * P-TTL
  * wireless TTL
  * can zoom out more
  * EV compensation 
  * automatic mode (does the 500 really lack this???)
  * contrast control with 4 units (2 more than the 500)
  * lighter

The 500 cost more but I can get it used at the same cost as a new 360, so
price is not (that) important.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: Over to the Dark side.. ist D vs 20D brief comparison

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004, Haynes, Grady (PPC) wrote:

> At the risk of starting a heated discussion (really really please that's
> not what I want!!), it seems to me that most people on this list that
> talk about going to the "dark side" use that phrase to mean "switch to
> Canon".  Is there any particular reason that there's not as much
> discussion about going to Nikon?

Probably because Canon is the largest company with the strongest brand
recognition. Nikon is the second largest in this particular market
segment, hence considered somewhat an underdog. Even though Canon has a
model called "rebel" it's never rebellious to join the market leader.

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: *ist D Anomalies

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004, Peter Loveday wrote:

> As another note, every time I've had my *istD do something odd, (...)
> Half the time, re-inserting the same batteries will fix it

Yesterday my *istD did a quite odd thing. It got stuck. The display
continued to show what it previuosly was showing, even if I turned it off
or rotated the mode dial. Quite fresh batteries. Taking them out and
re-inserting tehm solved it.

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: White Pitbull (an hommage to Elliott Erwitt)

[Anders Hultman]

Bob W:
 5) Don't disturb a dog at it's mealtime.
6) In Romania, carry a big stick.
There sure are some scary dogs roaming the streets of Bucarest. And 
we didn't exactly got less scared of our guide's "reassuring" words 
that "only quite few of them has rabies..."

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Sony Cybershot (was Re: Anyone interested in doing a Generic poll...)

[Anders Hultman]

On Mon, 1 Nov 2004, Jim Apilado wrote:

> >> 2-Have you previously owned other digital cameras,either P&S or DSLR
> > 
> > Yes, a little tiny Sony U30.
>
> I have a Sony U60.  You can operate this one with just one hand, unlike the
> U30.

What? I operate my U30 with one hand most of the time, actually. It's only
when I need extra steady, shake-free support that I use both hands.

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: Anyone interested in doing a Generic poll regarding *istD and its owners

[Anders Hultman]

1-Why did you buy a Pentax *istD.
I had a long time wanted to have a digital SLR compatible with my old 
lenses, but when the *istD came I hesitated. High cost and I wasn't 
sure of the quality, this being Pentax' fist model and all. But when 
I borrowed a Canon 10D to shoot some seals I realized what a 
fantastic thing a DSLR is, so I decided that I wanted one regardless.

And here are the seals:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/album/al/safari-20040430
2-Have you previously owned other digital cameras,either P&S or DSLR
Yes, a little tiny Sony U30.
2A-Did you try or purchase other brands of DSLRS prior toor since
buying the *istD
I used the Canon 10D for one day.
3-Did you compare printed quality of the D to scanned images before and or
after the purchase.
No
4-What problems have you had with the D. Was service satisfactory.(asking
this to see if the camera has constant faults of one nature or another)
In some difficult conditions the AF is acting up. If that happens I go manual.
5-What do you like about the images printed from the camera.
I haven't printed for my own use, but I have done copies for my 
parents and they looked very fine.

6-What DON’T you like about the images printed from the camera.
--
7-What lenses, Pentax or other, do you find work well with your
camera/shooting style.(sharpness etc)
Pentax SMC 50/1.7 for portraits.
The same lens with a Novoflex bellows for macros.
Tokina SZ-X 28-200/3.5-5.3 for general outdoor photos.
Soligor 19-35/3.5-4.5 for general outdoor and indoor photos.
Vivitar 400/5.6 for extreme telephoto and pictures of the moon and the sun.
Cosinon-T 135/3.5 for concert pictures.
Tamron 200/3.5 for various telephoto stuff.
7a- What lenses, Pentax or other, do you find DO NOT work well with your
camera/shooting style.(sharpness etc
Sigma 15/2.8 diagonal fisheye (for obvious reasons).
8-Has digital taken the place of 35mm film shooting for you
Oh, yes. When I only had the P&S I still used film in parallel. But 
after I got the *istD I haven't shot a single frame on film.

9-Do you still shoot film, if so what format(s)
I haven't yet, but there are some things I can't do digitally, so if 
i should feel the need for it I *could* use my non-digital equipment 
-- or borrow someones digital stuff:

 * ultra-wide
 * fisheye
 * infra red
 * under water
10-How do you post process.(PS, Corel etc)
Often no post processing, unless I have special needs which are then 
filled with different older PS versions, or ImageMagick.

11-Do you shoot RAW or JPEG or what is needed for the job at hand.
Only JPEG so far.
11a-How big have you printed with quality you are happy with.
I have yet only printed 10x15 cm.
12-How do you rate flash shooting.
I have yet not used flash seriously.
13-If a Pentax rep stopped by your house, what would you like to tell
him/her to fix or change or add.
AE for K and M lenses.
Faster framerate and bigger buffer (but that has been adressed with the *istDs)
14-What do you use the D for mostly ie: Portraits, sports, weddings etc.
Portraits, holiday snaps, web images, publicity shots for the tv 
shows I work with.

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Lunar Eclipse under way!

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004, Graywolf wrote:

> Surely the moon is at infinity. I can not even begin to see how you
> could have a focus problem. Autofocus problem yes, focus no.

Long lenses don't always are set to infinity at the end of the scale. If
getting the moon in focus only had required to turn the focusing ring
until it hits the end, it would be easy. But often infinity is a little,
little bit before the end. I once read why that is so, on this list, but
have forgotten the details. Something to do with temperature.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: state of the art 35mm DSLR

[Anders Hultman]

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004, Tom C wrote:

> >A change from one shade to the next, say from level #240 to #241 is very 
> >small in percent, but if you go from shade #1 to #2 it's a 100 percent 
> >increase.
>
> Is this true? That a 256-grade grayscale is non-linear? I thought a 100% 
> change would be going from 0 to 255.

Ah, the classic percent confusion. You have to keep in mind what is
considered 100 percent. If you have 1 dollar and get another, you'd have
increased your fortune by 100 percent, leaving you with 2 dollars. But if
you have 240 dollars and get another, you'd only had your fortune
increased by 0.4 percent.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: state of the art 35mm DSLR

[Anders Hultman]

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004, Mark Roberts wrote:

> >A change from one shade to the next, say from level #240 to #241 is 
> >very small in percent, but if you go from shade #1 to #2 it's a 100 
> >percent increase.
> 
> Only if you're using a linear scale.

Yes, the exact values I quoted are based on a linear scale, but the
concept of quantisation noise exists regardless. Log or lin or something
else; you will still get smaller resolution for small signals, and
quantuum leaps for the very smallest.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Lunar Eclipse under way!

[Anders Hultman]

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004, Mark Roberts wrote:

> Absolutely clear skies and a great view of the moon from my bedroom
> window!
> ist-D, Sigma EX 300/2.8 and 2x teleconverter in operation here. 
> :-)

This is from Stockholm, Sweden:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/dagens/041028-043855
*ist D, Vivitar 400/5.6

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: state of the art 35mm DSLR

[Anders Hultman]

Shel Belinkoff:
What are "quantization effects?"
The effect that comes from that you only have distinct levels to play 
with, and that subtle changes have to be either on or off.

Assume 8 bit gray scale. That means 256 distinct shades of gray from 
0 (full black) to 255 (full white).

A change from one shade to the next, say from level #240 to #241 is 
very small in percent, but if you go from shade #1 to #2 it's a 100 
percent increase.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: DS

[Anders Hultman]

Leon Altoff:
My wife brought home a digital camera from her work the other day.  A
Kodak DC-50.  It uses PCMCIA cards (still work), doesn't even manage 1
megapixel and has no preview screen.
Oh, I had one of those at my work back then. Not a pleasurable 
experience. a totally bizarre shutter lag of several seconds. I had 
no extra memory card, so I could take some seven pictures at a time 
using the built in memory. Unloaded via a serial connection. Only 
used it at my office, to take occasional portraits of employees.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: De-Lurking and Replacement Decision

[Anders Hultman]

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004, John Francis wrote:

> All the DSLRs I know retain the 3:2 aspect ratio of 35mm film,
> as do many of the P&S digitals.   The only 4:3 aspect ratio
> I've found has been on the low end, with the 640x480 cameras

All DSLRs Ive seen use 3:2 (Canon, Nikon, Pentax) but all other digital
cameras I've ever seen use 4:3 aspect ratio. Not only the low end 640x480
models. All kinds of cameras, both simple P&S's and quite advanced
digital rangefinders from 2 to 8 Mpix. Canon, Panasonic, Sony, Minolta,
Olympus... All have 4:3.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Minolta Maxxum wth BODY IS

[Anders Hultman]

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004, Rob Studdert wrote:

> when a disc is spinning at 52x (ie 52x500RPM on the outside edge)

52 x 200 rpm actually. 200 rpm is the slowest speed a standard audio CD
spins at (when reading the outermost track) and it is that speed that is
used when quoting modern day large speed figures -- not the top speed used
at the innermost track.

The disc itself won't sustain the forces that 52 x 500 rpm would result
in. The outer edge would travel at half the speed of sound, the force
would be equal to 1500 g, and the hub would feel a tangential pull of 45
N/mm2. The disc would shatter. 

This Swedish language web page describes a full scale test, where CD:s
were rotated at these speeds. When the disc breaked, the scrap almost
penetrated a 1 mm aluminium cover.
  http://www.qedata.se/js_n-cdrom.htm

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: *ist D image quality-_Was -Stupid Question #999

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004, Chris Stoddart wrote:

> > If you are a pro you just charge for post-production work. If you spend
> > 2 hours shooting a job, then 6 hours at the computer, and only charge
> > for 2 hours you  are a fool and deserve to be paid poorly.
> 
> Of course that's what any pro will do, but it begs the question, does it
> make you a photographer or a computer technician? 

And a non-digital photographer that spends those six hours in the
darkroom, is he/she a photofinisher rather than a photographer?

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: nondedicated, non-TTL flash: How difficult?

[Anders Hultman]

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004, Mishka wrote:

> Get an "auto" flash, and it will be as easy as TTL (esp. with
> aperture-priority: you set the aperture on the flash and just shoot).  
> Well, almost. Used Vivitars and Sunpaks are pretty cheap.

I have a Sunpak flash from 1990. Is it possible to use it with the *istD?
The extra connections in the hotshoe are designed for Minolta (I think).
How will the camera handle that? I have only used it on Pentax ME:s and a
ProgramA that ony have the center connector anyway.

anders
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http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: OT - Supercomputers

[Anders Hultman]

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004, John Francis wrote:

> That suggests 2048-bit keys should be secure for maybe the next 20 years.
> Adding two bits per year to the key length should more than keep up with
> the increases in processor speed, if you're really being paranoid.

Still, this whole discussion is based on the assumption that brute force
-- trying every possible combination -- is the only way to break the code,
and that there is no mathemathical shortcut. Think of what would happen if
one day, some seventeen year old math genious exclaims "yes, THAT'S the
way to do it".

It is also based on the assumption that you actually have to try all
possible combinations (or at least half of them) before finding the right
one, and that you don't get lucky and actually find the right combination
early on.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

The meaning of f

[Anders Hultman]

There have been a discussion on another list about what the "f" in the
aperture value means, like when one say "f2.8" or such.

Different theories have been put forward. Anyone here who has an
authoritive answer?

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Back - and stormy

[Anders Hultman]

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004, Peter J. Alling wrote:

> Could people please put Antonio's name in the subject if they respond to 
> him.  I'd like my filter to catch it so I don't have to even see his 
> spew.

You won't be able to make people comply with that. I'll give you another
tip, though. Most mail software already does something similar
automatically behind the scenes. Make your filter act on the contents of
the In-Reply-To header.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: istDs - what a great camera!

[Anders Hultman]

Ryan:
You'd be able to have so much fun with those sorta people!
"You have to eat the reindeer if not they eat you, really. Their teeth are
much sharper in real life.."
Another friend of mine used to tell "those sorta people" that she 
attended not only the car wash but also the reindeer wash when she 
worked at a gas station in the northernmost part of Sweden.
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: istDs - what a great camera!

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004, Graywolf wrote:

> reindeer meat? Humm...? Me thinks you have your tribal lore mixed.

Tribal lore? Over here you can buy reindeer meat at the supermarket.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Use of Green Button (was Re: istDs - what a great camera!)

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004, Shel Belinkoff wrote:

> Once the exposure has been set and the aperture chosen, is it
> necessary to use the green button for subsequent exposures if they are
> all going to be at the same aperture and exp value?

No.

A press on the green button does a light metering that takes the aperture
setting on the lens into account, and sets the camera to a suitable
shutter time. That shutter time remains set until you a) press the green
button again or b) change the shutter time manually with the Tv wheel.

The shutter time does not change if you change the aperture.

The shutter time does not change if the light conditions change.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: PESO-Unique captured flash

[Anders Hultman]

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004, frank theriault wrote:

> > I have never captured the flash of another camera before.  This was
> > an istD DA16-45 at 40mm 1/45 at f4 existing light.
> > http://www.cmstringer.com/peso/annette_anne.jpg
> > 
> > Odd enough to be supernatural(?) or a sign, (christening, mother's
> > best friend, similarity in names, September 11...)  my grandchild BTW.
> 
> Weird.
> 
> But kinda cool.  Geez, with flash durations measured in the 1000th of
> seconds, what are the chances?

Remember that the limiting factor is not the flash duration. The camera
was open for 1/45 second and the flash "just" have to happen somewhere
during that time frame. Still a wild coincidence, but not *that* wild. 
It has happened for me once too. A friend of mine took this photo:

  http://anders.hultman.nu/pickup/DSC_0518.JPG

It's me, outside the window, with a Sony U30. The picture is taken with
a Nikon D100 at 1/30 second.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Semi OT: Cradle/Docking Station

[Anders Hultman]

graywolf:
there is no direct requirement that a cradle connect the camera to
anything more than a battery charger. Docking Station definately
implies a connection to the computer.
...but not nessecarily to a charger, right?
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: Amazing Discovery (was: IST D and Pentax-F 1.7x AF adapter)

[Anders Hultman]

Shel Belinkoff:
What, BTW, is the difference between software and firmware?
Firmware is software in an embedded system, placed so "far inside" a 
gadget so you need some kind of "tool" to remove or replace it. Every 
time you switch the gadget on, the firmware is there, and there is 
room inside for only one program to be installed at a time: the 
firmware. Not like the volatile programs of general purpose computers 
that you load and unload all the time.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: problems posting

[Anders Hultman]

Don Sanderson:
Hey Frank, how did you sign up for gmail?
When I try it says it's only in a test phase, no way to sign up.
You'd have to get an invitation from another user. People with gmail 
accounts occasionally get invitations that they can hand out. I 
currently have two unused. Mail me if you want one.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Fotolabo Film

[Anders Hultman]

> Anders Hultman wrote:

> > Turned out good for 9x13 and 9x15 cm prints.

Correction: 10x13 and 10x15 cm prints. The former from my Sony P&S with
4:3 ratio and the latter from my *istD with 3:2 ratio. Fotolabo has a
special upload application where you can choose a paper format that fits
the original image.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Fotolabo Film

[Anders Hultman]

Toralf Lund:
 They give decent results on prints, though. I have twice ordered prints
 from digital cameras, transfered them via the Internet and gotten them
 in the mail.
Do you know anything about their film development service?
Nope. The only contact I have had with them is "remote" printing of 
digipics. Hadn't even heard of them until my mum gave me a news paper 
ad that she had torn out. She wants paper copies of some of photos I 
take, and suggested I'd try them. Turned out good for 9x13 and 9x15 
cm prints.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: A3 prints from *istD

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004, Don Sanderson wrote:

> Jostein what's the size in MM (or inches) of A2/A3?

A4210 x 297 mm 8.3 x 11.7 in
A3297 x 420 mm11.7 x 16.5 in
A2420 x 594 mm16.5 x 23.4 in

A4 is the standard sheet of writing, copy etc paper in this part of the
world. A3 is the double size and A2 is the double of that.

The A paper system is defined so that A0 is exactly one square meter with
the height/witdh ratio of one to the square root of two. Fold an A0 in
half and you get A1, fold an A1 in half and you get A2 etc.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Ilford in trouble? and digi snappers

[Anders Hultman]

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004, frank theriault wrote:

> Can't afford it.  For what I'd get for my film stuff,
> I'd not be able to afford the DSLR and peripheral
> equipment, plus the computer and peripheral upgrades
> I'd need.  I think someone here said to expect to
> spend at least what you spent on your DSLR on computer
> upgrades to have the ability to do decent digital
> workflow.

I'm not so sure of that. Depends on what you want to do with the pictures
in this "digital workflow", and how old a coputer you have to begin with,
but I haven't upgraded my computer at all to be able to use digital
cameras. The computer I use for my pictures is one I bought used in 2002
for the equivalent of USD 260.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: black and white

[Anders Hultman]

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004, frank theriault wrote:

> I've always liked the French term for "reversal"
> films:  Diapositif.

In Swedish we usually call it "dia" but "diapositiv" is understood too.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Prosumer vs. DSLR (was Re: two new digicams...)

[Anders Hultman]

Rob Studdert:
I suspect people don't realize just how low resolution video (even HD) is
compared to even the most basic digicams.
American TV: 0,3 Mpix.
European TV: 0,4 Mpix.
I think HDTV is somewhere about 2 Mpix, but I'm not sure of that.
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: Prosumer vs. DSLR (was Re: two new digicams...)

[Anders Hultman]

ERN:
 >Didn't some of the prosumer Olympus digitals (SLR-style but with 
permanently
 >attached lenses) have optical viewfinders?

 Yes, the 2020 and the 5060 both have it that way.
Are those SLR-like models? I was thinking E-10, E-20, but only what I remember
reading about them as I've never handled them.
Depends on how "like" is like. They look more like SLR:s than your 
typical P&S camera, and they can be set fully manual. But there 
probably are cameras that are more SLR-like than them.
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: Prosumer vs. DSLR (was Re: two new digicams...)

[Anders Hultman]

Rob Brigham:
Does the CRT display its data from the sensor, or does it read back what
has been written to the tape/media?
It has to be data from the sensor, or else the tape player must have 
separate playback heads after the record heads. I don't think that is 
the case in either Betacam SP or DVCAM. I've never seen a switch for 
it at least, like reel-to-reel audio players have. In Digital Betacam 
the order is the other way around, playback first and record after, 
to be able to process the playback signal and record the processed 
version back to the same frame.

However, studio cameras have a switch so the operator can see either 
his/her own camera or which image the producer has chosen in the 
mixer at the moment. But this is after mix only, it's still not after 
tape.
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Letter to the priincipal

[Anders Hultman]

Kevin Waterson:
Of course, every time an "improvement" has come along, picture
quality has suffered,
Some think this is the case, some think not, so I don't really think 
you should say "of course" here.


there is further savings here also. There is an increasing amount of image
editting
Typo here.
software available freely, the best of these being The GIMP (GNU
Image Manipulation Program). This is comparable with the high priced Adobe
Photoshop and has excellent histogram rendering.
I have never used The GIMP but from what I've heard it can not match 
Photoshop. This is what even otherwise quite pushy Linux/Open Source 
advocates say.

incorporating the concept of histograms.And as far as the exposure is
Missing space here.
Does the use of digigal  mean the consumer gets a better product?
Typo here.
I is important a student has an "understanding* of a subject
Typo here.
see the final print, and how thier perseption of that print
Two typos here.
I believe the ideal digital solution would be to equip students with the
eqivalent of the Pentax *istDs and K series lenses. This combination would
be akin giving them the K1000 of the digital world.
Is "the K1000" well known enough to say such a thing?
"educated consumers only", that is,  music listeners.Some would become activly
A missing space and a space too much here.
(point and shooters with a labtop).
Typo here.
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: Prosumer vs. DSLR (was Re: two new digicams...)

[Anders Hultman]

ERN:
 >Now that would be an interesting discussion. For the moment they're about
 >same price same size, with the "prosumers" having fixed lens and high
 >sensor noise as main disadvantages. But there's a conceptual difference
 >there. Electronic viewfinders vs. optical with mirror and pentaprism. ...
Didn't some of the prosumer Olympus digitals (SLR-style but with permanently
attached lenses) have optical viewfinders?
Yes, the 2020 and the 5060 both have it that way.
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Stupid digicam question

[Anders Hultman]

 Is there a button cell inside the camera that keeps the clock
 working ?
This is the way it works on the *istD.
There's even a special battery lid for this cell.
It's possible.  However, it's also quite possible that there's a
capacitor that stores enough of a charge to keep the clock working
(even though it wouldn't have enough "juice" to power any of the
actual photographic electronics).  Just a hunch...
This is how it works on my Sony U30.
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: 50 or 100 mm

[Anders Hultman]

Rob Studdert:
In order to show the visible (but sometimes subtle) differences that 
FL makes I
set up a semi-scientific macro test (2:1) using 50, 125 and 200 macro lenses.
 (...)
The easiest way to compare the images is to DL them and use an image browser
with sync capabilities like ThumbsPlus, then you can pan around in the images
synchronously.
Thank you for the information and the comparison pictures. I'm going 
away for a short trip now, but I've downloaded and saved the pictures 
and will have a thorough look at them when I get back!

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: 50 or 100 mm

[Anders Hultman]

William Robb:
Through the magic of thread drift, we have lost track of one of the
original poster's parameters, which was maximum magnification on a
bellows.
For this, the 50 will be the better choice, since it will give more
magnification than the 100 at any given extension.
You mean if I both use the built-in macro capabilities *and* a bellows too?
Mostly, 1:1 is what I want, actually, or else many things I shoot 
won't fit in the frame anymore, but it's good to have the option to 
magnify more. With my current setup I can go to slightly less than 
3:1.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: 50 or 100 mm

[Anders Hultman]

J. C. O'Connell:
I think the question was 50 or 100mm. Go go the 100 if you can afford it
the working distance for the same results makes all the difference in
the world... Vic
It will not give the same results as the 50mm, it is a 100mm after all
now isnt it? Once you get near 1:1 the 100mm has same AOV of a 200mm
at infinity which is very narrow to say the least compared to a "normal"
lens. Bottom line is they are very different lenses so the 100mm is
not better than a 50mm, just different.
Ok, the reason I asked was to learn more before I eventually buy one 
of the two new Pentax lenses. I still really haven't fathomed what 
the practical difference would be between the two.

If you look at some macro shots I've done with a regular 50 mm lens 
and a bellows, could you say in which way these pictures would be 
different if I had used either of the two new lenses instead?

  http://anders.hultman.nu/album/al/makro
This is flowers, berries, insects and ticks at approx 1:1 
magnification, and a distance from front lens to subject of about 75 
mm. The first six pictures are taken last year with an ME, the last 
eight are taken with the *istD.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: 50 or 100 mm

[Anders Hultman]

Mark Roberts:
Exciting with the new lenses. Could someone please explain what the
difference in focal length will mean for macro shots? I fully
understand what difference it makes in regular shooting conditions,
but wouldn't "life size" 1:1 magnification become 1:1 regardless?
What difference does it make then?
The only difference is that fills the whole frame of an ist-D at 1:1
wouldn't fill the frame of a film SLR at 1:1. They'd both have the same
magnification ratio (1:1 of course!) but on the film camera there'd be
more empty area around the subject.
I meant what the difference would be between 50 and 100 mm, not between
film and digital :-)
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: 50 or 100 mm

[Anders Hultman]

alex wetmore:
100mm gives you a longer working distance, but reduced depth of field.
The longer working distance can be really helpful when you are trying
to get enough light on the subject (so that the camera or your head
isn't shading it).  Depth of field is always a challenge with macro
photography though, so the little increase from a 50 could probably
help.
But the picture framing would be more or less the same?
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: 50 or 100 mm

[Anders Hultman]

J. C. O'Connell:
Focal length differences are the same for macro as
for regular shooting: a 100mm is going to give only
half the angle of view as a 50mm, but there is one
thing you have to keep in mind though and that is
the effective focal length DOUBLES by the time you
get to 1:1 vs. infinity, so a 50mm at 1:1 gives same angle of view
as a 100mm at infinity. The other thing that focal length
affects is the working distance. A 100mm lens at 1:1 will
give you 400mm from subject to film plane while a 50mm
will only give you 200mm from subject to film plane
at 1:1.
I'm not sure that I follow you here. How will it affect the picture 
if I use the 50mm or the 100mm lens? Will I get the same thing but 
from different distances?

For comparison, the way I do macro shots now is that I have this bellows:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/kamera/makro-b.jpeg
When I connect a 50mm lens, it gives approx. 1:1 on the stort end and 
about 3:1 on the long end. It gives me sharp image at 75mm and 50mm 
from the front lens, respectively.

When I connect a 200mm lens, I have to back out quite long to get 
sharp images. More than half a meter. With the bellows on the short 
end and the lens focused the closest possible, the distance from 
front lens to subject is 600mm. The magnification don't get anywhere 
near 1:1, though. Rather approx. 1:2.3.

So, my question really is which of the two new Pentax macro lenses I 
should get if I wanted the largest possible magnification. They're 
both 1:1 but is it "the same 1:1" so to speak? I'm only used to using 
the bellows, and with that it really is a difference between a 50mm 
lens and a longer one.

With the bellows, the magnification setting effectively determines 
the working distance. The DOF is extremely short, and I have to focus 
by moving the whole camera back and forth.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

50 or 100 mm

[Anders Hultman]

Exciting with the new lenses. Could someone please explain what the 
difference in focal length will mean for macro shots? I fully 
understand what difference it makes in regular shooting conditions, 
but wouldn't "life size" 1:1 magnification become 1:1 regardless? 
What difference does it make then?

And another thing about macro; when objects become larger than life 
size, someone said that it is called micro rather than macro. Is that 
true?

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Pentax Zx-D in Korea

[Anders Hultman]

http://www.chalkak.co.kr/board1/view.html?bID=Breview&number=433
Is this a joke?
The "zxD" logo seems very photoshopped to me.
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: *ist-D owners: help wanted finding lens codes

[Anders Hultman]

John Francis:
I'm back to my occasional hobby of peering into the Pentax
digital image file format.  My latest discovery has been to
identify where Pentax hide the code to identify the lens
(which isn't available in the standard EXIF information).
This is interesting. I just wrote a program to remove te MakerNote 
when publishing pictures on the web, but I also am interested in what 
info this section really contains.

[If anybody cares, it's a two-byte code in subtag 63]
At what offset is it? Either from the start of the file, from the 
TIFF Header, or from the start of the MakerNote itself. Tell and I'll 
check with a binary editor.

If anybody has an image taken with an autofocus lens not on
the above list I'd appreciate any help you'd care to give.
I have taken a lot of pictures with a Soligor 19-35mm AF f/3.5-4.5 
that's not on either your list or the extensive list just posted by 
Michel Carrère-Gée.

Apart from examining the MakerNote, there also is some extra 
information in the Exif SubIFD proper as well. Nine tags all starting 
with A40x that I can't really sort out what they're for. I think that 
A408 records the contrast setting, A409 the colour saturation setting 
and A40A the sharpness setting, with 1 being low, 0 being mid and 2 
being high. A403 may have to do with white balance. The rest are 
still mysteries to me, though.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Remove MakerNote and save 55K!

[Anders Hultman]

So after some days of hacking, I now present my own MakerNote removal tool:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/data/makernote/
I found and corrected a coding error yesterday, so now there is a new 
version on the above page. In the old version (0.9.0) I didn't adjust 
the offset value to the thumbnail image properly, so programs that 
show you the in-file 160x120 pixel image couldn't find it even though 
it was there. This is fixed in 0.9.1.

Next thing to examine is why it crashes on Olympus camera images.
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Mike Johnston's latest...

[Anders Hultman]

graywolf:
How often do you use a 200? Oh, then why would you want to carry the thing
around all the time?
I use 200 all the time. Outdoors I constantly change between wide 
angle to get the big picture and long tele to get detail. So for me, 
a 28-200 makes a very suitable "walk around" lens as Don Sanderson 
put it.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: Mike Johnston's latest...

[Anders Hultman]

Don Sanderson:
In that article Mike says:

All-purpose 28-200mm zoom lenses:
Bad snapshots. Also great for making five rolls of
film last a whole year. All-purpose = no purpose

Do you folks agree or disagree with this?
I've been thinking this range would make a good
event/party/gathering/group/portrait/head-shot/etc lens.
Anyone tried one? What did you think?
I have Tokina 28-200 and have put it to hard use during the last 14 
years or so. It's not that useful at parties or gatherings, and 
practically useless indoors, since it has it's closest focus at 2,5 
meters. It also is quite slow (f/3.5 at 28 and f/5.6 at 200) so I 
don't use it at dusk or dawn either, but I often bring it as the only 
lens on outdoor excursions in bright daylight.

Most often I use it on either the short or the long end, though, so 
one could argue that I'd rather should use a 28 and a 200 prime. If 
sharpness was the only thing to consider I may do that, but the 
possibility to go from one focal length to the other in under a 
second is worth a lot of sacrifices. I actually have a 28 prime and a 
200 prime as well, but seldom use them.

I also disagree with "no known use" for 1200. Wouldn't it bee useful 
for astrophotography?

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Remove MakerNote and save 55K!

[Anders Hultman]

Joseph Tainter:
Great, Anders.
However, I haven't worked with raw code in nearly 30 years. Please,
some instructions on how to put this to use.
The program is written in Perl. Maybe not the best choice, but it's 
the only programming language that I know well enough to accomplish 
such a thing.

To run the program you'll need a Perl interpreter installed on the 
computer. If you're using MacOSX, Unix or Linux you probably have 
Perl already. Otherwise, you'll have to get it separately.

I run the program in a shell account on a Solaris box, but I know 
people that successfully run Perl on Windows boxes as well. Hope that 
helps, otherwise you can ask again :-)

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Remove MakerNote and save 55K!

[Anders Hultman]

When I publish pictures on my web site I usually scale them down to 
500 pixels in width. The files typically become 20 to 60 kbytes each. 
When I started to publish pictures from my *istD i noticed that they 
were significantly larger, often in excess of 100 kbytes. After a 
while I found out that the reason for this is a special MakerNote 
section within the Exif data.

Now, I want to keep the ordinary Exif data fields, like aperture and 
shutter values and stuff, but keeping an extra 55,296 bytes (as it 
turned out to be) of metadata in the file just seem silly when the 
image itself may be smaller than that.

Pentax probably stores some of the more esoteric camera settings in 
the MakerNote, things that don't have a standardized place among the 
usual Exif fields, but since my web page visitors can't read them 
anyway I want to delete the MakerNote from the files -- and thus 
cutting download times in half.

So after some days of hacking, I now present my own MakerNote removal tool:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/data/makernote/
Enjoy!
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Orientation information (EXIF) & auto lossless rotation

[Anders Hultman]

Ryan Lee:
Anyone have a good software, which reads camera orientation info in EXIF
tags and does an automatic, lossless batch rotation, to recommend? A friend
of mine was telling me about his C***n ixus s400 having an orientation
sensor, which I thought was pretty spiffy. He also mentioned Photoshop
(anyone know if Paintshop does it?) might do it, but I've been a bit too
busy to explore.
Anyway, he's looking for a preferably non-bloated application. Just
something for the task.
There is a command line program called "jhead" that's good at reading 
EXIF info and a command line tool is as non-bloated as it's gonna 
get, right?

jhead can work in pair with jpegtran, also a command line program, 
where jhead identifies which images to rotate and jpegtran does the 
lossless rotation.

Here is jhead:
  http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/
For pointers how to fins jpegtran, look at the bottom of this page:
  http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/usage.html
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

MakerNote

[Anders Hultman]

On examining the JPEG files that the *istD produce, I have found that 
they contain an unusually large entry in the EXIF data called 
"MakerNote". This entry is in excess of 50 Kbytes. Does anyone know 
what kind of data it contains?

It feels quite silly to keep it in the file when I have resized the 
file for web viewing down to 30--50K as it would make the pictures 
twice as large as they otherwise would be. Still, I don't want to 
erase the EXIF data entierly since I want to keep the exposure data 
etc.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: apologetic

[Anders Hultman]

Henri:
Specifically, in Sweden a pastor was recently sentenced to 30 days in
jail for simiply reading Bible passages which dealt with a Christian
view of homosexuality.
What's more fascinating is that I haven't heard of this said pastor.
And I _live_ in Sweden.
The story is true, and have gotten some press 
coverage as well. It's a 63 year old pastor from 
a Pentecostal church in the island of Öland.

However, it is not true that he just read the 
Bible; he held a sermon full of hate speech where 
he claimed that homosexuality is a sin originated 
from Evil Powers, that homosexuals more often 
than straight people have sex with animals and 
are paedophiles, and that it's the homosexuals' 
fault that there is AIDS. Ad nauseam. The same 
old story.

For a lot of Swedish language web pages about 
this, I googled "pastor öland hets homosexuella". 
Interesting enough, the first link is to a 
Swedish neo-nazi page giving the pastor full 
support...
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: civil discourse (was Re: PAW: Temptation of Eve, the three shot series)

[Anders Hultman]

Tom C:
2. Morals have declined significantly in the past 100 or so years.
I don't agree. Morals have changed, for certain, but I'd say that 
most of these changes have been for the better. My assessment is that 
people on average are more happy now than a hundred years ago, and 
that is partly due to more liberal morals.

4. The basic building block of civilization is the 'nuclear' family.
Man/Woman/Child.  When commonly accepted standards of morality breaks
down, families breakdown, civilization breaks down.  Hence the decay
we see today in society as a whole.
I don't agree with this either. Despite the big changes in what is 
considered acceptable behaviour etc, people still form families. Of 
course they do. I don't think there is any imminent threat to society 
or the family as a concept. And I don't think that people gradually 
will behave less ethical either.

How does this relate to sexual images?  Sexual images on the whole do
not encourage loyalty to one's mate or family. Many, if not most, are
designed to appeal to one's selfish prurient interests and desires.
I can't possibly see how you make that connection.
5. Can't we have a forum for disussion about photography where we don't
bombard each other with sexual images? Is that to much to ask?
Maybe, maybe not. Since we all have very different definitions of 
"bombardment" and what acually is a "sexual image" it may be hard to 
draw that line. For example, I wouldn't call the pictures in question 
sexual.

Also consider that nude human bodies during all times have been one 
of the major motives for all kinds of art. Sculptures, paintings, 
drawings... and photography. Not everyone agrees that nudity is the 
limit to enforce.
--
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: OT: Non-Microsoft browsers are most secure choice

[Anders Hultman]

Antonio Aparicio:
So, is anyone gonna let me in on what the rules are? I have asked before
but they seem to be some sort of secret or something as nothing then
materialized. From my experience so far with this group, the rules seem
to change depending on who is involved and how long you have been
subscribing to the list.
My impression of what the rules are is:
 * Be nice.
 * Don't be boring.
 * Don't make OT threads too long.
The sum of this is that one has to be ready to stop posting in an OT 
thread as soon as others complains, beacuse it's not nice to behave 
in a way that the group at large disapproves of, and if people 
complain that the subject is boring, the OT thread *has* gone on for 
too long. That includes re-starting an old discussion in a new thread.

Basically, the same rules as on most other lists. Several other lists 
have harder rules, not so many have softer. The key to understanding 
this is that a list is a social entity. Joining a list is much like 
walking into a pub or a private party. Different social groups have 
different rules, but I'll have to follow them when I am there, or 
people will dislike me.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Lens compatibility questions

[Anders Hultman]

 This M lens, however, kinda does work, but not really as expected:
Cosinon-T 135/3.5
 Metering with the green button works, but only at full aperture. The
 lens don't ever stop down, not at metering nor exposure.
alex wetmore:
Look to see if there is anything unusual on the mount around where the
* contact goes:
Jostein:
Sometimes the aperture lever can be slightly bent so that the camera doesn't
catch it. In my experience, the newer cameras are more prone to this 
than older
cameras. Compare the distance between the aperture lever and the 
bayonet flange
with another lens. It's safe to bend it back into position with your fingers.
After examinination I found out that the stop down mechanism inside 
the lens must be broken. It actually never stops down, even when 
disconnected from the camera. The stop-down indicator follows the 
aperture ring, but the aperture blades doesn't move.

This means that my ME:s and Program A will overexpose with this lens 
set to anything else than full aperture, since they read the 
stop-down indicator and increase the shutter time accordingly, but 
the *istD that doesn't read the stop-down indicator will do a correct 
exposure. Funny.

And funny that I didn't notice earlier. On the rare occasions that I 
have used this lens I have to had used it at full aperture. Or maybe 
I have had some ruined shots that I didn't connect to the lens being 
faulty. I acquired it (plus the Tamron 200/3.5) by acting as courier 
between two friends in different cities, but when I was to deliver 
them, it turned out that the reciever had another camera brand and 
couldn't use them, so I got to keep them. They have mostly been 
sitting in a drawer since then, as I alreday had a favourite zoom 
that covered that range.

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: Windows Scob virus collects passwords, financial data; Macintosh unaffected

[Anders Hultman]

Mark Roberts:
There are plenty of (poorly designed) web sites that won't work if you
have scripting (JavaScript) turned off, but I can't remember ever
finding one that wouldn't work because I had Active-X turned off.
Some webmail systems.
anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

RE: My website has moved...

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 1 Jul 2004 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Er det ønskelig med flere språk nå, eller blir det bare sært med
> norske bokstaver?

De norska tecknen ser helt okej ut härifrån, men jag är kanske partisk :-)

anders
-
http://anders.hultman.nu/
med dagens bild och allt!

Re: PAW - Man Getting a Shoe Shine

[Anders Hultman]

On Mon, 28 Jun 2004, frank theriault wrote:

> I hate Hotmail.  I guess ya gets what ya pays for, eh?

I can recommend Gmail, Google's new web mail service.
Makes mailing lists very easy to follow, too.

anders
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RE: FA* 80-200/2.8 discontinued?

[Anders Hultman]

> Completely disagree. There are time I like to shoot very chose to the 
> subject for some interesting effect. The background will appear very 
> out-of-focus.

Like this one, for example:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/album/en/pride-2003?13

anders
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OT: Terminals (was SpaceShipOne)

[Anders Hultman]

Malcolm Smith:
Now come on, every one likes flying - it's crashing that people don't like.
What other form of travel could bang on about how safe it is and insist that
people depart from something called a 'terminal'?
Bus terminals, ferry terminals and even train terminals have already 
been mentioned. May I remind you that the telecom industry calls the 
cell phones we carry around "terminals" as well. The socket where you 
connect the speaker cables to your ampifier are called terminals, and 
some of us computer users sit in front of terminals, too.

anders
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Re: *istD firmware wishlist (open letter?)

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004, keller.schaefer wrote:

> > 1.6K and 3.2K still are four symbols, but 1K6 and 3K2 may fit. If the
> > display isn't figures only, and actually can show a "K" at all...
>
> 16h and 32h would work fine for me...

Ah. Excellent solution! Three symbols and possible to show on a 7-segment
figure display. I tend to forget those non 1000 based prefixes :-)

anders
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Re: *istD firmware wishlist (open letter?)

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004, Frantisek Vlcek wrote:

> ND> Actually, I was right the first time because ISO goes to 3200 (4 digits) and
> ND> remaining number recordable images display only has 3 digits - so it can't
> ND> be done.
> 
> Ugh Ogh. How about 1.6K or 3.2K ? Is it too hard to understand ? ;-)
> Or similar...

1.6K and 3.2K still are four symbols, but 1K6 and 3K2 may fit. If the
display isn't figures only, and actually can show a "K" at all...

anders
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Re: *ist D remote (was Pentax Cable Switch F question)

[Anders Hultman]

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004, Michel Carrère-Gée wrote:

> >> Does the cable remote have some additional functions that
> >> warrant purchasing it rather than the wireless one?
>
> Remote IR is only operable from front of the body !

I suppose that cable generally is more reliable than IR, especially in
bright sunlight. It may also be faster.

anders
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Re: Pentax advertising slogans - Was: Pentax Mid-term Management Plan

[Anders Hultman]

Tom C:
I realize everything you said... I know there's no official internet
organization...  PENTAX did not say there is... they are simply using
this slogan like any other advertiser...
But if they don't say that there is an official internet 
organization, who appointed them then? If they are aware that no-one 
can appoint them to "official" status, they either must have did it 
themselves or else have some random person to do it. Either way, it's 
a silly thing to claim since it cannot possibly be true.

The point is, you can actually become official whatever of the Winter 
Olympics, but you can't become anything official of the Internet. I 
don't know about the laws in the countries where they use that 
slogan, but over here it's illegal to say things that are not true in 
advertisements.

anders
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Re: Pentax advertising slogans - Was: Pentax Mid-term Management Plan

[Anders Hultman]

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004, Tom C wrote:

> I think it's stupid but no more than any other "Official this or that".  
> M&M's the offical candy of the WInter Olympics.  I could have that slightly 
> wrong but the same for Coca-Cola, Subaru, you name it.

Yes, but the thing is that M&M have been appointed that "offical candy"
status by the organization that runs the Winter Olympics, right? Probably
after paying a lot of money for it.

But who have appointed Pentax this "official" status? And who may Pentax
have paid for it? "The Internet" at large? There simply isn't such an
organization that have that kind of authority over the Internet at all.

The Internet is no company, no organization. It's just the sum of all
private networks arount the globe that have chosen to connect to each
other, as peers. It's like claiming to be the official this-or-that of 
all the highways and city streets in the world.

anders
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Re: Vivitar 400mm 5.6, K-mount (MF)

[Anders Hultman]

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004, Jens Bladt wrote:

> Vivitar 400mm 5.6, K-mount (MF)
> Anyone know this lens?

I have one. What do you want to know?
It's a Vivitar 400mm f/5.6 with a K-mount, at least.
Not sure of what you mean by "(MF)" though.

anders
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RE: Traveller's questions

[Anders Hultman]

On Wed, 16 Jun 2004, Tanya Mayer Photography wrote:

> BTW, it totally sucks shooting on commercial airline.  The windows are two
> layers, and made of this plasticky stuff.  There is usually fingerprints and
> scratches and stuff all over them.

The figerprints and scratches would be so totally out of focus that they
don't disturb much. Maybe they add some hazyness but most often the images
get quite hazy anyway at those heights.

Compare for instance these shots out of the window of an airliner...
  http://anders.hultman.nu/album/al/flygfoto-20010221
...with these shots with no window in between:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/album/al/ballonghopp-19990913
  http://anders.hultman.nu/album/al/ballonghopp-20010508
The ground and the horizon is pretty much alike in hazyness.

anders
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Re: Traveller's questions

[Anders Hultman]

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004, Bob W wrote:

> > 1. Is photography officially allowed inside the airport buildings?
> 
> That varies from country to country. (...)
> 
> > 2. Is photography officially allowed on the planes?
> 
> I have never had any problems with this.

That would probably also vary from contry to country. Up until about ten
years ago you were requred to have a special permit for air photography
here in Sweden. A friend of mine got one of those, and some authority got
to check his picture after each flight and removed pitures where you could
see military or otherwise strategic installations. But since then they
have abaondoned that rule and it is now free to photo anything from the
air here.

anders
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Re: Public photography was - RE: Future PUG idea?

[Anders Hultman]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004, Cesar Matamoros II wrote:

>> Graffiti in the Stockholm Underground:
>>   http://anders.hultman.nu/pickup/DSC04321_(031127)_.JPG
> 
> Your first photo brings to mind the proposed ban on photography in the New
> York City subway system.  I read where about 100 photographers protested by
> boarding trains and taking shots of each other.

Here the rules are that you can photograph from anywhere where the public
is allowed to be (i.e. no walking on the tracks or such) and that you
can't use flash because of the risk of disturbing the drivers.

There was a ban on tripods before, but that is now changed to the more
general rule that you're not allowed to be an obstacle to the other
passengers.

To do bigger events (movie shots, fashion photography etc) that require
areas to be closed off you'd need a parmit of course.

anders
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RE: reagan cortege - E-Dope Slap

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004, Shawn K. wrote:

> "PLONK" (whatever the hell that means)

http://www.clueless.com/jargon3.0.0/plonk.html

anders
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Re: Future PUG idea?

[Anders Hultman]

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004, William M Kane wrote:

> Idea is this.  Everyone posts there x-numbered picture from their *ist 
> D . . . say maybe their 4321st picture?  The number shouldn't be too 
> high to start with, since some people don't have THAT many pictures . . 

With my Sony P&S I have rolled over from  to  once already, so I
actually have two pictures number 4321:

Graffiti in the Stockholm Underground:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/pickup/DSC04321_(031127)_.JPG

Finnish micromusic artist Huoratron plays his Game Boys:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/pickup/DSC04321_(040506)_.JPG

anders
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Re: Transit of Venus

[Anders Hultman]

On Tue, 8 Jun 2004, Henri Toivonen wrote:

> >I managed to see it too, after all. Took one roll of b/w and one roll of
> >color neg film with a 400mm lens.
>
> Damn, we had a really cloudy day up here in Haparanda. Was it nice?

It was raining heavily in Stockholm so at 6:30 it was time to think of a
new plan. According to the weather charts on TV it should be clear skies
some 200 km away in both Southwest, West and Northwest, and with the rain
clouds slowly drifting East so that it may be clear in Stockholm at 14:00
right after the event should be over.

Me and my astronomer friend Rasmus decided to take the E18 westbound and
drive until we met the sun so to speak, and by the time we came to
Västerås we found it. Then two hours had passed of the six hour event. So
we set up the camera at the Johannisberg airfield and stayed there for
about an hour.

It looked more or less like expected. A little black spot on the surface
of the sun. Clearly visible without magnification, but with a filter to
look through. Without aid of any kind it looked just like the sun on an
ordinary day.

By the time we came back to Stockholm it was clear there too. Those who
stayed could see the last 20 minutes or so of the whole thing.

anders
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Re: Transit of Venus

[Anders Hultman]

On Tue, 8 Jun 2004, Kevin Waterson wrote:

> > Will anyone here try to photograph the Transit of Venus that will take
> > place in some eight hours? (05:19 to 11:22 GMT)
> 
> I was curious as to what methods people are using to photograph
> the sun like this. My 1,000,000X ND filter is missing.

I have a filter made of aluminized mylar film that's originally designed
to fit a telescope. Not totally ND, it gives a colour cast, but I suppose
it's somewhere around 1,000,000 X though :-)

This is how it looks like:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/kamera/solfilter.jpeg
  http://anders.hultman.nu/dagens/040608-092939

Here are some pictures from previous celestial events:
  http://anders.hultman.nu/album/al/eclipse-bucuresti
  http://anders.hultman.nu/album/al/eclipse-2003

anders
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Re: Transit of Venus

[Anders Hultman]

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004, Steve Sharpe wrote:

> I'm going to try through my Celestron 5...though it is raining here 
> right now...

It's raining here too, but I have just gotten access to a fast car and a
driver, and will soon ride some 100 miles west to try to catch it there.

anders
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Transit of Venus

[Anders Hultman]

Will anyone here try to photograph the Transit of Venus that will take
place in some eight hours? (05:19 to 11:22 GMT)

The weather forecast here in Stockholm doesn't look to good, so I may well
miss it, but if the sky is clear tomorrow, I will set up a tripod and a
400 mm lens with proper protection.

No person alive has ever seen one, since the last time was in 1882.
Next chance will be in 2012 and the time after that will be in 2117.

anders
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Re: photography vs cameras

[Anders Hultman]

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004, Tom C wrote:

> No, not intending to debate the chicken or egg.  It's obvious the chicken 
> came first.

If you accept the evolution theory, the answer would actually be that the
egg came first. It was laid by an animal that was nearly, but not quite, a
hen.

anders
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Re: Hasselblad gives notice to 50

[Anders Hultman]

Steve Jolly:
 Lars Pappila talks about a dramatic change that gives extra effect
 for the production side, since digital cameras don't require the
 same amount of manufacturing work as the old film technology.
Huh?
Well I don't know. That's what the managing director says in the 
newspaper anyway. Maybe a digital camera has less moving parts or 
something.

anders
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Hasselblad gives notice to 50

[Anders Hultman]

Classic MF camera maker Hasselblad has been taken by surprise by the 
quick shift from film to digital. Half a year ago they let 25 
employees go, and now they've given notice to another 50 -- of 
currently 180.

"The market is weak, especially in Europe," says managing director 
Lars Pappila. "The whole business is shrinking with 30--50 percent, 
and our decrease is at about 15 percent."

Hasselblad is developing on a new digital camera line and hope to get 
it to market during 2004. Lars Pappila talks about a dramatic change 
that gives extra efect for the production side, since digital cameras 
don't require the same amount of manufacturing work as the old film 
technology.

Papilla still claims that film offers the best quality but admits 
that digital cameras now gives good enough results for more and more 
customers.

During 2003 Hasselblad had a turnover of about $78 million.
anders -- quoting swedish daily newspaper dn
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RE: Truncated links (was Re: eBay Listings)

[Anders Hultman]

J. C. O'Connell:
there is a web site called tinyurl.com that converts long links
into little ones, havent tried it but I have seen and used the
tinyurl redirection links.
Competitor "shorl.com" makes even shorter links.
It's also run by a couple of friends of mine :-)
anders
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Truncated links (was Re: eBay Listings)

[Anders Hultman]

Shaun Canning:
Check out the auctions at:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=scann
i01&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50
Sorry if the link truncatees. I can't set my page width any higher.
A handy tip is to place long links between < and > marks. Several 
e-mail programs then will recognize that it's one continuing URL even 
if it's broken over two or more lines.

Compare this:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=scann
i01&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50

Note that there is a line break at the end of line one in both cases.
You could even do like this:

anders
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Re: Why can't they just... was Re: Anyone still using windows ME

[Anders Hultman]

On Fri, 21 May 2004, Henri Toivonen wrote:

> > I wasn't allowed to, during my brief encouter with the Swedish 
> > military. I'd have to register my camera with the higher officers and 
> > have every picture approved for security reasons.
> 
> Was it a while ago?

Yes, it was in 1990. Fourteen years ago.
The S3 regiment in Boden, not too far from where you live, right?

> Cuz things certainly has changed. I'm hosting a website for a friend of 
> mine and his friends from the army, "lumpenpics" as they call it.
> It's like thousands of pics from their time in the military, shot with a 
> dozen digicams.

anders
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RE: Future Practicality of Film

[Anders Hultman]

On Wed, 19 May 2004, frank theriault wrote:

> Rob,
> I know you meant well, but now you've gone and ruined it.  I had no idea 
> that Badger is a phone company, and they just want to get me to buy one.

A phone company? From here it looks like the badgerphone.co.uk web site is
a personal web site run by a 19 year old that attends some school where he
learns to do Flash animations.

My guess is that he took the original site and used it as raw material in
his experiments with the software. With or without the consent of the
original creators of the "badgerbadgerbadger" animation. Probably
without, given how ugly the "banana phone" animation is.

> When I saw the one that Anders sent, I thought it was just a funny 
> animation.
>
> Now that I know what it is, well, it just isn't the same...

The original creators have much much more here:
  http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/

On that page, I like the "Kenya" animation the most:
  http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/29/

After you've seen that, also check out the "live version" at
  http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/34/

anders
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RE: Future Practicality of Film

[Anders Hultman]

On Tue, 18 May 2004, Yefei He wrote:

> I live in Iowa too and I don't raise hogs or corn. I do run
> over badgers from time to time:-)

http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/

anders
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Re: Trolls

[Anders Hultman]

On Tue, 18 May 2004 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> You really want to get into an argument about whether people should eat beef 
> at all? Because cattle are laying waste to large areas of land with their 
> grazing? 

Oh, the cattle are laying waste to large areas of land with their grazing?
Good thing we kill them, then.
And when they are already dead, we might as well eat them.

And by the way, all this talk about coal power polluting the air and
nuclear power being dangerous and hydropower not being enough... Can't
everyone just use electricity instead?

anders
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Re: Reply, antwort, svar etc

[Anders Hultman]

On Fri, 14 May 2004, Ryan Lee wrote:

> What about Åland?

Autonomous part of Finland, with mostly Swedish-speaking population.

anders
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Re: Pentax High End DSLR

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 13 May 2004, Frantisek Vlcek wrote:

> I am curious, does any maker of the image tanks give important
> information like the make of the hdd inside (some cheap crap or
> what?), vibration/impact it can stand (normalised for peak impact and
> long vibration, both in standby and operation) and number of data it
> can download before the batteries run out?

Here is all the information that is supplied with the X-drive:
  http://www.xs-drive.com/

Don't know if you find it sufficient or not. I can't see ant figures for
impact/vibration resistance there but I saw some figure elsewhere -- or if
it was for another drive. It was ridicuosly high, anyway. Several tens of
G:s which I'd never put a HDD through.

As for the make of the HDD, if you prefer some special brand, you can
always get the empty version and install your own. I got myself one with a
40 GB drive already installed and have not checked out the HDD brand.

I can give you a report next week on how the unit have stood up. A friend
is using it to unload her pictures during a three week diving trip in
South East Asia, and I suspect that she has put it through some rough
conditions. I anticipate some good underwater pics too!

> Most units I saw so far looked like some cheap chinese crap.

This one looks like that too. That doesn't mean it isn't usable.

anders
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Re: 50/1.4 and 135/2.5

[Anders Hultman]

On Thu, 13 May 2004, Ryan Lee wrote:

> German users, what's the difference between AntWort and Svar?

"Antwort" means "answer" in German.
"Svar" means "answer" in Danish and Swedish.
"Svar" is, as far as I know, not a German word at all.

However, it is very silly of Microsoft to have translated the "Re: " into
local languages, since so many mail programs depend on "Re: " being the
standard. On the mailing lists I manage I have installed this nifty
server filter to force mail into standard compliance:
  http://x42.com/software/mail/

anders
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Re: Monday evening (in Switzerland) survey - have you ever made self portraits

[Anders Hultman]

> 1 have you ever made self portraits ? 

Yes, several times.
 
> 2 If yes , serious ore funny ones, did you choose a theme ?

Both serious and funny. And once in a while even a theme.

> 3 If no, why not?
> 4 How did you do it, with a remote control or the build in self timer ?

 * the built in self timer (camera on a tripod or a flat surface)
 * aiming at myself in a mirror
 * holding the camera on an outstretched arm and trying to aim it

My small Sony P&S camera even has a mirror beside the lens to make the
last method easier. If you see yourself in the mirror, then you're more or
less in the frame. 

anders
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Re: Way OT re: Moire

[Anders Hultman]

 What does "strumpbyxor"? Sounds interesting.
 Stretch tights; panty hose.
It sounds much more "interesting" in English than it is...
I checked my dictionary; I didn't know the word "strumpet" before, 
actually. But now I see what you mean.

However, in Swedish, "strump-" doesn't bring up those thoughts at 
all. "Strumpa" simply means "stocking, sock, hose, hosiery".

"Byxor" is trousers or pants.

anders
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Re: Way OT re: Moire

[Anders Hultman]

John Forbes:

What does "strumpbyxor"? Sounds interesting.
Stretch tights; panty hose.

She has two pairs on at the same time.

anders
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