If heavy duty means “lets you carry more weight in your bed and tow more” do not do it unless you actually have weight in your bed or tow a lot. To do this, the springs have a higher spring rate which makes the ride very hard unless you’re loaded.
DSLRs all have optical viewfinders, since the SLR bit basically means “uses a mirror and a pentaprism for the viewfinder”.
Most digital interchangeable lens digital that I know of use proprietary form factor lithium batteries. Lithium is a lot more energy dense than an alkaline battery and are rechargeable. They also offer much more stable voltage as the battery discharges, which probably makes them more attractive to camera OEMs.
Why shy away from lithium packs? Even for my ancient D40 I can still get new, but aftermarket, batteries.
Most newer cameras can charge the battery in the body without removing it. Some even support USB-PD and can be externally powered indefinitely.
A number of newer cameras also support USB-PD. I’m sure there’s some devil in the detail here, but you should be able to run them connected to a PD rated power bank indefinitely.
You’ve discovered cold brew!
If you have the time there’s no harm, but you’re probably going to want to disassemble the steps to repair it halfway well.
Depending on the weight of the person/people who will be be using it, you might want to rethink the design or make the steps out of something thicker/beefier. Since the two treads are essentially cantilevers, the riser and torque is all that’s prevent the far end of either step from collapsing. I don’t think a butt joint is good enough here, even if it has a backer (as the pictures show). A finger joint between the treads and the riser, with many smaller fingers, is probably your best bet. You’ll probably want a table saw and a jig/slead to cut them, unless you’re familiar with a good alternative and/or have the skill and time to do it with hand tools.
Huh, any particular ABS brand(s)? I am tempted to grab a roll. I’ve been running polymaker’s ASA and other than warpage on big parts with my lower chamber temps (yay big printer with lots of enclosure surface area) it prints fairly well.
I run the filter inside an enclosed printer with an exhaust fan.
What zone and hemisphere are you in? I’m guessing Northern and somewhere it gets cold(er)? We’re zone 6a and I left our first year globe artichokes in the ground more or less as is. They’re not brown, but they don’t look that happy after a few hard frosts. I’m surprised to see what looks like new growth on yours combined with the brown.
You’re saying ABS is printing easier for you than ASA? That’s interesting. From my limited understanding, ASA has the reputation of being easier to print.
What brands/blends? I’ve been printing basically only ASA and PETG for a little while now. Haven’t tried ABS.
Yeah, I sent my A9 off for surgery - https://www.lifepixel.com/photography-gear/anti-aliasing-low-pass-filter-removal 😄
That’s pretty cool, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind previously. $350 seems a bit steep, but now I’m not going to be able to unsee this.
I think my initial “yuck” with the OM-1 was the 12-24 just taking bright landscape shots … everything looked, muddy.
I briefly shot the A9II and the OM-1 back to back again and sold the OM-1 to MPB :( Probably for the best long term, but it was a tough decision due to my lack of adoration for the A9II. I do greatly appreciate what it can do, I just don’t love it. The results do speak for themselves and the A9II’s tracking AF is just so easy to use.
And yes, with my 200-600G, monopod is a minimum, tripod if I know I’ll be stationary. Handheld is practically never, but I have in a pinch and with sufficient bracing, and for just one subject (before it flies or runs away typically), I can manage. And I’m only 44 😄 … hoping I can keep using it for another 10 years or so at least!
I’m 38 here, but even if you’re young and very athletic, holding 5-6 pounds in front of your face for an extended period of time still isn’t pleasant - especially if you’re not doing it frequently enough to build those muscles. What about the 200-600 puts you off, especially if you’re using a monopod?
I only use that for wildlife though … for the odd recital or what have you the boy has, I bring the 70-200G with the 2x TC.
No reticles or indoor sports here (yet?), but the 70-200GM does look like a very nice lens! So far I’ve been stubbornly sticking with primes for days I’m not doing sports photography, but the idea of a zoom with a touch more reach is kind of appealing. I’ve been circling the 70-200 F2.8 along with the F4 and F4 ii (quasi macro!) and Tamron’s 28-200. For whatever reason, a normal zoom doesn’t really appeal to me - I’m totally happy using my feet and know to bring a 35 with me if I’m going to be in a tighter space.
100% agreed about “the one you’re carrying”, which is why I haven’t actually put much money into anything lately - I do about 90% on my Xiaomi 13 Ultra, with a 1" sensor like was in my FZ-1000. I find I only use my big expensive gear when I actually go out to “do photography”, which is pretty rare these days. My son is 14 now too, so there’s way less recitals and games and events and such for me to shoot.
I guess I’m lucky in that my kids are younger and we are fortunate enough to be able to afford to be members at a couple of local attractions. Between visiting those places and going to parks, I’m out with the camera most weekends.
Groggy day today here for me, so a slightly rambley and discombobulated response, but, as I’ve typed it, I’d might as well post it now :-)
All good, I also tend to be a bit verbose so cheers!
Should your car ever wind up submerged in water a hammer could come in handy. Make sure it’s a “break glass” type hammer, which has a point. Thick tempered glass is surprisingly strong.
I sold the OM-1 today :( it was hard to pack up the two lenses especially, they feel very nice on hand. The A7III and A9II are not always responsive, especially when turning on, but man are they easier for me to chase my kids around with. I also sold the A7III. The A9II with a compact prime like Sigma’s i series is actually more compact than the OM-1 with one of the 1.2 pros.
If you’re willing to give Sony a shot, the OG A9 is worth a look. The A9II has the same sensor and the A9 has had a ton of firmware updates that put its AF performance on par with the A9II. The biggest differences I remember are the buttons (they feel slightly nicer on the A9II) and the addition of an Ethernet port.
The perfect bag can be a never-ending quest. Good luck!
It will decompose, but only it a hot compost pile.
To some extent, this means large scale composting, but you could theoretically do it at home if you live somewhere with four seasons (specifically fall) and have trees that drop leaves on your property or nearby. Let your grass get a bit taller as the trees start turning and mulch/bag the grass and leaf mixture. Bonus points if you have a ratio of 30 carbon (brown stuff) to 1 nitrogen (green stuff) by weight. “Normal” composting into. This is why big piles of fresh mulch get pretty warm and stream in the middle.
I don’t know what it would take to break down PLA in compost, but suspect it would take more time than a typical home pile if you manage to get it hot. It would probably be benefit from shredding to speed things up, as would the rest of the stuff in a typical compost pile. Amusingly, your PLA is probably ripe for getting whacked with a hammer, or a hammer mill.
It’s great that you’re trying to carry your camera more often, presumably so you can use it. The only thing to keep in mind is that a buried camera will be hard to get your hands on. It might be worth considering a multi-chamber backpack at some point in the future.
Examples include Lowpro’s fast pack and a whole bunch of Amazon brands.
IMO there’s little need to buy new in the computer world unless you want to do something silly like have a snapdragon x laptop or have the disposable funds to go the gaming rig route.
My desktop is a retired business workstation, a HP Z420. I bought it for $250, installed a smaller SSD ($100 new) for the OS + apps, upgeaded to the “best” Xenon that fit the socket ($150 used), upgraded to 64 GB RAM ($107 used, yay ECC memory being dirt cheap on the used market), and a 1070TI ($225 used, purchased just before covid).
It’s more than fast enough for my needs still.
This was all about 4-5 years ago, so you could probably do even better with more modern hardware.
Do you live in a warmer climate and/or have radiator heat? From what I’ve read, carneverous plants like higher humidity and Midwest winters + forced air make for a pretty dry house.
Also, be careful with bottled water. They all have some level of minerals in them to get their flavor profile. That said, if you’ve been doing this for any period of time carry on!
That looks like under-extrusion to me.
Here’s the quick “tune your extruder” arc:
After you get #1, never touch it again unless you change things like your extruder gears. #2/#3 are a good idea whenever you start a new roll of filament, although I personally don’t bother unless I’m trying a new material, brand, or color.
If you’re “squashing” the camera on the hot shoe and base plate, you’re probably fine. Especially given that your backpack probably won’t be able to fit that much stuff besides the camera cube and your laptop.
Just keep weight off the lens/lens mount. It will be a lever and you don’t want to tweak anything.
The PWM signal once it starts getting jittery is basically only 0 or 100% and corresponds pretty well to the swings in temperature.
I’ve moved the head hot and cold by hand and haven’t gotten any weird behavior. Normally when I have a wire break there’s a very specific location that will reliably fail. That’s not the case this time.
I am not aware of any USB-PD power banks that take AA’s. The idea behind my comment was “you don’t have to worry too much about availability of OE batteries”.