Mediterranean VACATION in a bag
April 3, 2007
Category acquired things
1050 Parts Ordered
March 26, 2007
Well, it looks like the total cost to replace all the electrolytic caps in the Atari 1050 is about US$12. The 35V 6800μF caps were a little pricey at $3.02 each, but it should be worth it. Hopefully I’ll have all the parts and bits to connect things by the end of the week and I can image the floppies this weekend.
Wii!
February 11, 2007
Yay! Target over in Utica has Nintendo Wiis in stock. The person who rang up the sale informed me that they had around 75 of them in stock this morning. What I saw was a display case still completely full. So, excellent.
I also picked up both of the newest Skinny Puppy and The Streets discs. I’m not sure about the SP yet, and I haven’t listened to The Streets yet. Hopefully they both end up being good to me.
1280 x 1024 LCD
February 10, 2007
1280 x 1024 LCD for sale at Target
(Click for more moblog photos…)
I’m not sure why I find this so strange, but a 1280×1024 LCD seems really odd to me. It just seems really, really, really square. Then again, I guess 5:4 is… Maybe I’m just more familiar with 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10 displays.
bleep.com
February 9, 2007
Well, despite owning the actual thing, I finally got around to buying the Gescom Mini Disc from bleep.com in MP3 format. $9.99 for all 88 tracks in 320 kbps is rather nice. I must say, BLEEP sure does the online music buying / download thing right. And with a few dollars laying around in my PayPal account from someone buying something from me, it was even easier.
Hell, I think I’ll snag The Sounds Of Machines Our Parents Used next.
Dedicated EOS Mount for MS PELENG 3.5/8A
February 7, 2007
Dedicated EOS Mount fitted to a MS PELENG 3.5/8A fisheye lens.
(Click for more…)
After acquiring the MS PELENG 3.5/8A fisheye lens a few weeks ago I went in search of a dedicated EOS mount for one. The ‘B’ variant of the lens comes with them, but at almost $100 more than the ‘A’ variant (which typically just comes with an M42 to EOS adapter) I didn’t think they were worth it. Still, I wanted to try the dedicated mount. After sending $30 off via PayPal to a seller in Canada, one was en route to me.
Remember my complaining about the set screw which wasn’t threaded along the whole body? It’s not a set screw, but a stop, which is part of the EOS mount. So, in attempting to screw it in and damaging it I actually damaged the mounting bits of the adapter. Whoops. I realized this when the dedicated mount had a similar screw, and then I looked at my 24-78 f/2.8L (photo gallery retired) and saw a similar one on there. Ah well.
Second, as you can see above, the dedicated EOS mount is the same size as the focus ring. With the M42 mount and adapter the focus ring stands out from the lens body and is easy to find by feel. When the dedicated EOS mount is used it no longer stands out and I found myself inadvertantly attempting to turn the body of the lens to change the focus. That said, because I normally set the focus without the camera to my eye, this isn’t a problem. And with the differing textures of the dedicated mount and focus ring, I don’t see this actually being a problem.
So, I’d say that if you have a MS PELENG 3.5/8A with the M42 to EOS adapter, just stick with that. It’s not really worth picking up the dedicated EOS mount. It’s not a bad addition, and it makes the lens look a bit more tailored to the camera, but it’s definitely not really needed.
1394B!
February 7, 2007
Macally PHR-100ACB
At the end of last week I ordered two 320GB hard disks and a Macally PHR-100AF FireWire 400 (1394a) disk enclosure so that I could handle all of my backups straight through my PowerMac G5. Well, today I received the parts and while the outer box had the right labeling on it, the inside was the PHR-100ACB, a combination USB 2.0 / FireWire 800 (1394b) enclosure, along with all appropriate cables. Seems like there was a mix-up somewhere. Whoops!
I don’t mind, I just hope that this doesn’t mean that there is a mixed up package elsewhere and someone else will inadvertently receive an enclosure which is a bit less than they had hoped for.
Glossy Laptop Screens
January 31, 2007
Do any of you have an opinion regarding glossy screens on laptops? My dad’s Dell has a glossy screen, while mine has the normal matte screen. I may be purchasing a laptop soon, and I’m still torn as to which I like more.
What about you? Which do you like? Why? What do you primarily use it for? (eg: Desktop Usage, Coding, Photo Work, Games, etc.)
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
January 29, 2007
Adobe has officially announced Adobe Photoshop Lightroom with an introductory price of $199 ($299 after 30-April).
I guess I know what my next software purchase will be. Hopefully both OS X and Windows versions will ship in the same box.
Peleng Info
January 14, 2007
MS PELENG 3.5/8A (8mm f/3.5 fisheye) with M42 to EOS Adapter
(Click for more photos…)
Hmm, it looks like there is actually a version of the Peleng lens which comes with a dedicated EOS mount, not the M42 to EOS like ours have. I think this is both a good and bad thing. Good because then these lenses can easily be used on any other camera for which an M42 adapter is available. Bad because it’s not as dedicated and perfect as it could be.
If you are curious, this auction has one of the dedicated EOS mount Peleng 8mm lenses for sale. The price is also quite a bit more than we paid, though. Looking at the English side of the Peleng 8mm box one can see that there are two variants available. It appears ours are the Variant 1.
I might try and acquire some of the proper EOS mounts, although I’m not sure how possible that will be. I also don’t know if there really is a reason to, as the M42 adapter (barring the set screw issue) works just fine.
UPDATE: I emailed an eBay seller asking if they have the dedicated EOS mounts for Peleng lenses available. Hopefully they do, and they aren’t too expensive. I think at $15/each I’d probably snag one. Not for any particular reason, more just to be a completest.