[Kubernetes]

Wine-collecting. Yet another expensive hobby, but one which my wife enthusiastically supports.

 

[Tuberoller]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio&Me unless maybe I decide to become a Seal??

I hope your recuiter is being straight with you.SEALs are a strange breed.I have seen two entire BUD/S classes wash out in a row.I love and respect SEALs but I wouldn't want to go into combat before or after them.You must understand that ALL SEALs see combat duty of some sort.They are a hit and run team and serve that purpose well.I can tell you from experience that I would much rather have a Marine Scout Sniper watching my back.You would be amazed at the devastating, unbelievable damage that can be done by a Sniper and his spotter,armed with only a bolt action M40A1 rifle.The psychological effect that a sniper can have on both sides of the battlefield cannot be put to words.Don't take my word for it,ask your recuiter(you have his home phone number,right?),or any Marine,combat vet or not.

 

[Audio-Me]

If I were to even pass the BUDS course, I'd most definately become a sniper, I'm a sharpshooter at heart and have had my fair share of ¼" groups. My recruiter doesn't ******** me (I take it I'm lucky here?), I've done the research. Hell I'm the one who called him to join.

Imagine that, it'd be freaking cool and downright frightening at the same time. I'm ready for it.

Although I doub't I'll devote myself to that lifestyle. I also don't think I'll be chasing my dream of becoming a fighter pilot, I would have to compromise too many things in life.

 

[Tuberoller]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio&Me My recruiter doesn't ******** me (I take it I'm lucky here?)

Yes you are.I have only encountered two SEAL Snipers and and both were really good,but they are an assualt team and don't do many defensive manuvers.If you qualify well on the range in BASIC you probably will be asked by your CO to take a pre BUD/S screening,although some officers are really stingy with their best guys.Snipers are also a strange breed,but I will buy any sniper any meal he wants at any time,they are the best.BTW,do you know that some ******* stole my license plates off my car?I had Marine Corps plates with Desert Storm Vet insignia on them.It took almost a year for me to get them from the state and they were on my first new car.I am really pissed.This just happened this weekend at the Chicago autoshow.I didn't even know until I was pulled over by a cop.

 

[Audio-Me]

Man, what kind of a low life would steal a veterans plate.

So, when ever I am in Chicago, you're gonna buy me ribs?

 

[mc whak]

I just got started with the whole saltwater aquarium/reef tank thing about a month ago. I've only put about $250-$300 into it so far (and this is just a small 6 gallon due to lack of space).

 

[Douglas256]

I was a photo nut long before I started on headphones. Heck, I've spent more on my camera system then I made last year. I'm not sure which I love more, the Nikkor 400/f2.8 AF-S or the HD-600s

.

Quote:

What do you need a flash in day light for?

There are a couple of reasons (in my opinion): shadow fill (contrast control), color temperature correction, added stop-action, and an artistic tool.

I'm not sure how much detail your photo class got into, but it all comes down to the difference between how film sees things and how we see things. Film has a much smaller range of what it considers pure white and pure black when compared to your eyes (7-10 stops for most print film and 5 stops for slides).

Say your subject has their back to the sun, so their entire face is in shadow. You do exactly what your meter says, develop your roll of black and white, and go to make a print. After doing your test strip, you realize that the correct exposure for the background is not the same as the subject. So, to have your cake and eat it too, you dodge the face and burn the background. This is fine and dandy, unless you've exceed the range of your film. This isn't an issue with print film, but is a serious concern when using slides. (For instance, even if I wanted more detail in the ospray picture below, there isn't any more detail to be had.) Alternatively, you could have used a flash to throw enough light on your subject so their exposure is the same as the background's. Some camera/flash combo's will do this automatically, otherwise you have to dust-off an old incident-light meter (don't worry, you can wait a couple years for this one).

Another concern with your subject in the shadows, in-direct sunlight is a different color than direct sunlight. So, a flash can be used to clean up the blue-cast from the in-direct sunlight (a flash would have easily removed the blue cast on the osprey). But, so long as you stick with black and white, you will never have to worry.

Although architectual photography has little use for it, Russ showed some amazing examples of how flash can be used to stop things in motion. Something I haven't gotten into, but I'm sure I will one of these days.

Finally, there is virtually no end to what you can do with a flash on a sync. cord and a bit of imagination.

 

[raymondlin]

Douglas, thanks for the tip. I am still thinking of buying a flash, either a 420Ex or 550Ex but I can wait. At the moment I am trying out all kinds of film to see which one I like best, got myself some Fuji NPS 160, NPH, Reala, Kodak Portra, T-maxx 100 & 400 and Iford Pan F 50.

As to your question, "I am not sure what I love more" Well, I love my Canon EOS30 more a the moment then my HD600 definitly. Oh, have you been to www.photo.net yet? and do you another photography related website as good as that one?

 

[Douglas256]

Yeah, I think the flash can wait. My flash rarely leaves my camera, but that's only because of the photojournalism I do (not my primary job, but it pays for my headphones). Just as with headphones, I think there is an order in which components should be purchased:
a) entry-level body, 50 mm prime lens;
b) more lens
- a wide angle lens (20 mm)
- a good telephoto zoom (80-200/f2.8)
c) a good tripod with a ball-head
d) a flash
e) a pro-body (or two)
f) even more lens
- super-telephoto lens + a larger tripod to mount it on
- super-wide angle lens
g) studio strobes
h) medium/large format
Well, at least this is the order I got my equipment (I just got done with step g). However, the list could change depending on your needs. For instance, you might think about a large-format camera if you are interested in architectural photography (since, that's what every professional architectural photographer I've ever met uses).

As for film, I fell in love with Fuji a long time ago. Fuji Velvia is all I shoot my wild life photography with these days. And, I can't forget the vivid-color and grain-size of my 400 and 800 ISO Fuji press packs. Oh well, don't mind me . . . I love my film a little too much

.

As for photo.net, I used to frequent it quite a lot but haven't for quite a while. When I first started getting really into photography, I spent two to three fold as much time on photo.net as I did doing my homework. I can't think of any other websites that even begins to compare with photo.net (except perhaps the nature photography section of photo.net . . . but, nature and sports photography are my two main photo-fetishs).

 

[raymondlin]

I am at step A right now, a Canon EOS 30 with a 50/f1.8 (middle of the range-ish, so I've read) and searching for a cheap good condition 28-105mm USM lens, and that'll be my lens for a while until I get 70-300mm may be.

And tripod wise, which one do you recommend? I've seen a photographer taking pictures in a hifi show today with a Nikon with a tripod. It was a very solid tripod but no ball, a chap in the class I am taking has a ball-head tripod but he uses a medium camera. I think I'll stick to 35mm for the moment as I am planning to get a tilt shift lens when I have the money, and medium cameras don't have those. The one I have at the moment is way too light, no ball and I think it's **** (to say the least). The camera is probably heavier! and when all the legs are stretched out, the top isn't level!

www.photo.net is great, they answers your queries very quickly in the general forum (non archived.) Film wise, I think I'll experiment with my new batch and decide after. As to getting a second body, I probably get into digital SLR by then and the EOS 30 will be the second body.

 

[Audio-Me]

These are the films I use:
Color - Kodak Gold 200, Fuji NPH 400
Black & white - Agfa APX 400, Kodak Tri-X 400 & Plus-X 200

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by raymondlin Oh, have you been to www.photo.net yet? and do you another photography related website as good as that one?

Hey, thanks for that link, that site is amazing. Uh sorry guys, i'll be hanging out there more than here now

 

[raymondlin]

gloco - I know! www.photo.net is amazing! everything a beginner needs to know is right there, all the basics from choosing a camera, a lens, a film to tips on nature photography, portraits, you name it! And the people there are just as enthusiastic about photography as we are about out headphones and audio!

The good thing about photogrpahy is that you can publish you own work on there for others to see and crit. so eveyone can learn from each other, very good idea!

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by raymondlin gloco - I know! www.photo.net is amazing! everything a beginner needs to know is right there, all the basics from choosing a camera, a lens, a film to tips on nature photography, portraits, you name it! And the people there are just as enthusiastic about photography as we are about out headphones and audio! The good thing about photogrpahy is that you can publish you own work on there for others to see and crit. so eveyone can learn from each other, very good idea!

Yep, i plan on joining up and posting some pics of...Headphones!
I have a Mavica MVC-CD200 digicam (it takes 3" cdr or cdrw's...i have a stack of cdrw's). I'm just getting to learn how to actually use it with all its different snapping options (besides the typical point and shoot) on the jog dial. I noticed this is the only way to actually get good close up shots (although the framerate looks choppy on the LCD). The only problem i have is that i don't have a tripod and it's tough to get a good, clean still shot. Even if i move slightly the picture comes out blurry. Still learning, i took some great close up shots of my Grado's a few days ago (i used my knee as a anchor to hold steady). Very crisp and detailed! If you want i can email you some good shots of my Grado 100's. I'm actually getting excited to use the cam again (i've owned it since last Summer).

 

[ai0tron]

I used to fly airplanes, and I have to say that it wasn't all I hoped it would be. It bored me very much. Of course I never flew anything except Cessnas, but still, it's not like you can just get a plane, take off and start having fun with it. You have to obey all kinds of flight patterns and radio the tower everytime you cross commercial airspace. There is some free airspace away from urban areas but it's not enough. I am very disagreeable to the sensation of being monitored while I am flying. I know there is a reason for it and I agree with it but as a pilot I do not enjoy it. Despite all that I saw some amazing sights while i was up there. Once back when I had this nutty instructor I went flying as a large storm was kind of moving in, I found this frightening but he was all about it... Anyhow, we flew up to about 3000 feet and you could see the cummulonimbus towering up with lightning coming out of it, it was damn cool. When we landed it was so windy the instructor had to take over, in order to stay over the runway he had to turn the plane up to about 45 degrees using lots of tail rudder to keep us straight and at the last second as I thought the right wing might wack the runway he dropped it level and set her down "nice and easy". Nice and easy in a Cessna is kind of like driving over a speedbump at 50 miles an hour.

Once we were out in the country doing maneuvers, which basically consists of flying in circles and stalling and recovering and other repetitive dehumanizing tasks. when He says, hey look.. sheep. I looked, and thought cool and kept doing my s turns. He said here let me take over and he immediately sent the plane diving down after the sheep, which was all of maybe 80 or 90 miles an hour... so we buzzed the sheep, that was kind of fun. other than that, flying was boring. My new instructor when I moved was like 'mister rules first' and fun was 8th on his list I think. So it got really monotonous and boring. pretty soon i started half assing my pre flight in hopes that I would have to try and recover form some kind of aerial disaster, but it never happened. So I just hung up the ole flight goggles and started playing with computers.

I have few hobbies now since i started with computers. About the only thing that i really do outside of audio and computers is try to get women. I used to go fishing. I might get a dog and take her to dog shows. I used to show a great pyrenean mountain dog when I lived in San Antonio. Damn I loved that dog, you could teach her anything and she had more personality than i have ever seen in a dog since. its the only dog that I have seen have a very defineable sense of guilt at doing something she knew was wrong. But she wouldnt act like she was beaten, she would just act guilty in a sort of smiling kind of way.

i dig legos too, but there arent many good ones out there these days. Luckily they did the star wars models, the fullsize x-wing and tie fighter are awesome. I havent seen much else that was noteworthy lately. Most of its just ****ty. I might get into the programmable legos, but I always liked to build things and let em sit. If i programmed one to do some stupid task like drive down the hallway and turn around when it hit a wall I might have to shoot myself for thinking that would be cool afterwards. I mean, i just dont see the point, although i understand the specific repurcussions for the future of technology, its just not something im interested in. i can drive down a hallway and turn around when i hit a wall. yay, i made a machine that does what I do. "When you make a machine to do the work of a man, you take away something form the man." Star Treck is were i heard that first.

Besides those I'm interested in fusion power and artificial intelligence. I have been studying both for awhile now, maybe someday ill make use of that info, maybe not. The funny thing is, even advanced "ai" is a total farce. Unless human intelligence is also a farce. Which im starting to think is highly probable. Some of the coolest things are evolutionary equations. Basically an equation which you give a set of variables which define its "world" (or give it rules to follow), then you give the equation a specific task and through experimentation it determines the optimal result. Scientists used evolutionary equations to create artificial lifeforms. The goal of the equation was to take specific shapes, boxes of varying sizes, and connect them within a world in order to create a form of locomotion. Its very scary how real the equations ended up becoming, how very like our world the equations ended up becoming. They made frogs, and centipedes, and snakes and weird things that looked like crazy machinery. (They werent literal frogs but the locomotion was froglike.) Its incredible stuff. I spend some time reading about that stuff.

Which reminds me one of my favorite hobbies is reading, bu tI havent finished a book since I re-read the first 3 books of the dune series almost a year ago.

yeah those are my hobbies, they are pretty cheap.