So my friend Jeff (for whom I host http://gallery.tehlunix.com) for is an avid biker. As such, he has a lithium ion battery pack for the headlight on his bike. Well, it exploded when he was charging it. Click here or on the photo above for images of the damage.
Also, you can digg the story here: Lithium Ion Battery Pack Explodes.
Oh, when at Gibralter Trade Center’s ‘Computer Show’ (to get the aforementioned DB25 cable) I was walking past a table of $25 laptops (old Zeniths and such) I heard the guy there saying to someone else “…oh, then you need a RAID. R-A-I-D. It’s what companies use. Have you ever heard of it?”
Yeah, it’s that kind of place.
Today I…
– Watched a pair of T-38’s take off.
– Watched other aircraft fly about.
– Went to the dirt mall. It’s full of dirty, trashy, awful people.
– Drove through Algonac, East China, and all other routes along M-29 between New Baltimore and Port Huron.
– Poked around beneath the Blue Water Bridge, likely raising the ire of the DHS. I’m sure there were lots of cameras pointing at me.
– Gazed longingly at the land of the more free (aka Canada).
– Visited Kate and Ben in Lapeer.
– Found a local place to buy Yves veggie products: Kroger
– Became frustrated at the PIC programmer I am building, as it doesn’t appear to be behaving properly.
Now I’m wanting to sell my Canon EF-S 17-85 f4-5.6 IS lens and get this one instead. 28-80 f2.8 all the way across…
Only problems I can see is that it lacks IS, but it’s a lot faster. And a bit narrower range zoom-wise… I’d probably need something wide angle. And IS works all the time. With this lens I’d just have to open it up a bit, decreasing DOF….etc.
Hrm, decisions… decisions…
Cost is pretty much not an issue since I could sell one to pay for the other. But I did just get a circular polarizing filter for the Canon lens. I wouldn’t be able to re-use it, as the new lens would be 1cm larger. Hrm.
Oh, also, do any of you know a place where I could get some velvet? I could use white, black, and maybe red. Maybe… 4′ square pieces. I want something for the background when photographing things, but I want it to be non-reflective and not especially well defined.
So today I showered and shaved, applied sun block to my head, and headed out to Holland Ponds Park to test out the new lenses I received yesterday. In short, they seem really nice… But that’s not what this post about.
No, this post is about the animal pictured above, which I believe to be a coyote. I was walking quietly along a path when I saw something largeish in front of me, and I was only able to bring the camera up and fire off a few shots. Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to turn AF off, so focus is actually on the branch in front of the animal. Also, I only had it in single shot mode, so I wasn’t able to get more than three shots. That one there is the only decent one, I think.
Do any of you think that it might be something else? According to the Michigan DNR coyotes are found throughout Michigan, but I surely didn’t expect to find one in a park at ~1:30pm.
Also, turtles are very hard to photograph. They seem to notice if anyone is within 100′ of them, and then they dive right off of whatever log they happen to be on. I got a few decent shots of turtles — including one the size of a hard hat — but nothing I’d call great.
Wow, the lenses I mentioned the other day are excellent. The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is really… interesting. It’s amazingly light, takes really nice images, and seems to be a lot nicer than I expected. The focusing ring only moves about 1/4 turn which is great to operate with a fingertip. It also seems almost weightless, which makes me think I’ll keep it on the camera a lot. It’s also dirt cheap.
The Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X 100 PRO D Macro seems excellent as well. Despite the cheesy (and strangely Asian-looking) gold accents and lettering, it feels better made than any lens I’ve yet been able to use. It feels ridiculously solid, and it’s just a dream to use. It also focuses much faster than I expected. Also, a 100mm 1:1 lens just seems EXCELLENT. Focused at the closest, something just past the lens hood. Oh! And the lens hood can be stored on the lens hood reversed, which is just *great*. The Canons don’t do that.
Tonight I made a parallel port PIC programmer from the MIDIbox PIC Burner schematic. Except I left off the power supply (I’ll use my benchtop one (photo gallery retired)) and added a DIP18 socket for the PIC16F88.
I’m able to switch VPP, VDD, Data, and Clock on and off with the proper voltages coming out of them. Unfortunately the software isn’t recognizing the programmer nor is it able to identify which PIC has been inserted in it. Ah well, I think it’s a matter of parallel port settings, which I’ll mess with another night.
Oh, and I had to etch two PCBs for it, because I screwed up the first one. I also learned what was most wrong with the PCB for the Casio SK-1 MIDI Modification which I screwed up. I think I didn’t let the photoresist ‘develop’ for long enough. I’ve found that with a fairly warm lye solution (the bottle had been soaking in hot tap water for half an hour) it takes about 1:30. With a room temp / cold solution after 12 minutes things still aren’t right. And when a contrast-y image appears, there is still some photoresist left in some points, which makes for an unclean etch.
At least now I know. Now I can go to bed and stuff. Oh, but only after I wash the lead off of my hands.
Well, first off, both of my auctions sold via buy-it-now. This is good, especially as I purchased the lenses for less than they actually sold for. Not much less, but I didn’t lose any money.
Second, after talking a bunch with
What I ended up getting is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II which is an especially cheap 50mm lens which receives some great reviews. It’s less than $80 shipped, and almost every review I read of it says that it’s an excellent lens just to have around.
The second lens I ordered, which also receives excellent reviews, is the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X 100 PRO D Macro. It’ll do 1:1 (life-size) at 30cm, and seems to be pretty well made.
So, the end result is that for an additional ~$100 I’m getting a 100mm 1:1 macro, a 50mm walk-around / portrait / whatever lens, and protective filters for both. Also, the Tokina comes with a hood in the package….
Well, it looks like I’ve identified a problem with the SIDbox layout. Per this thread I shouldn’t be using a stand-alone oscillator for the SID. Whoops. That means any finally assembled boards will have a jumper running from where the oscillator goes over to pin 18 of the PIC. Not a big deal. Won’t break anything, it’ll just work around a potential problem.
Second, I asked the guy who writes and has designed the core of the MIDIbox stuff if he’d be all right with my selling these boards as kits. He had some suggestions, but he sounds pretty okay with it. I’m just not sure I wish to make the investment. The thread about that can be found here if you are interested.
So, I’m laying the board out again, and I’m going to be getting six prototype boards which should work well, but aren’t usable as kit boards.
I guess the question is whether or not I should attempt to put this together as a kit. I’m thinking an initial (or single?) run of 50 would work well… I just wonder if I can afford it. And I still can’t answer the question of why I want to do it. It just seems like something fun to do.
Well, I put my macro lens up for sale on eBay. Hopefully I’ll net just over $400 after I sell it.
On top of my grey market question from previously, is there any reason you all can see not to buy a refurb lens? I can get the lens in question (the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM) for $299 refurbished, $379 grey market, or $384 new. I’m really thinking I should go with the $299 refurb one, as that’s a huge savings. The lens hood will add another $27 or so, but that’s all right.
The auctions I’ve posted can be seen at the following two URLs, which will become active after 10:00pm EDT and 10:30pm EDT respectively:
Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro — LIKE NEW 50
Canon Life-Size Converter EF – Like New! Macro 50mm 50
If any of you would like to buy either of these pieces, please let me know before the auctions start so that I can cancel them.
