Hey Caver! (the equipment comparing thread, with pics)

Started by Epic
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StaviZFingerZ said:
Oh...that's right.. but your Tammy isn't a Macro right?

I'm considering Tammy 28-300VC.. one lens that does it all.. just in case I can only take one lens. It's also a macro.
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Yup, no macro. It's just a 17-50. Think for most of those I just stopped it up as far as it goes (f/2.8).

I've considered the biggies, but surprisingly...carrying the lens variety hasn't been too much of a hassle for me. Strong shoulders! 😉 Only one I usually leave behind is the macro...
 
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MountainPharmD said:
Nope, still not sold on it. My bill last month was $200 and we ran the AC the last week of April. The window tint is the way to go.
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Yet your attic doesn't have windows and you'll have an attic that's a hot box filled with 150 degree air above your dwelling.

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StaviZFingerZ said:
Do both..not only did we run the AC...I got the pool going all year long!
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That is an impressive bill, especially with a pool. We will do the radiant barrier next year. The window tinting has made a huge difference already. The house feels cool all the time. I also figured out we have programable thermostats. I am hoping that will also save us some bucks.

We are trying to take advantage of the 30% tax credit for energy improvements. Radiant barrier is not eligible for the credit so we will do the things this year that are eligible.
 
MountainPharmD said:
That is an impressive bill, especially with a pool. We will do the radiant barrier next year. The window tinting has made a huge difference already. The house feels cool all the time. I also figured out we have programable thermostats. I am hoping that will also save us some bucks.

We are trying to take advantage of the 30% tax credit for energy improvements. Radiant barrier is not eligible for the credit so we will do the things this year that are eligible.
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Don't forget ceiling fans in every room of the house... my house is an open design... so.. family ceiling goes all the way to the attic. And 4,300 sq ft.
 
StaviZFingerZ said:
Don't forget ceiling fans in every room of the house... my house is an open design... so.. family ceiling goes all the way to the attic. And 4,300 sq ft.
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I have ceiling fans in all the main rooms and bedrooms. The questions is which way are they supposed to turn in the summer? I have read on the internet both ways. I always thought in the summer they rotated counterclockwise (backwards) in order to bring cool air from the floor up. Conversly you run them clockwise (forwards) in the winter to blow the hot air down to the floor.

Since all my vents are in the ceiling I figure the fans should run clockwise (forward) all the time. This will circulate the air from the ceiling vents more efficiently.

What say you?
 
MountainPharmD said:
I have ceiling fans in all the main rooms and bedrooms. The questions is which way are they supposed to turn in the summer? I have read on the internet both ways. I always thought in the summer they rotated counterclockwise (backwards) in order to bring cool air from the floor up. Conversly you run them clockwise (forwards) in the winter to blow the hot air down to the floor.

Since all my vents are in the ceiling I figure the fans should run clockwise (forward) all the time. This will circulate the air from the ceiling vents more efficiently.

What say you?
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fan air blows towards the floor during summer and air sucks up during winter.
 
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Think these are the last few shots I'll post from Japan.

Here are some Ema (wooden prayer tablets) that you see written outside the shrines.



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This is a shot of Shibuya...I read somewhere that it's the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world. It was absolutely NUTS! So funny to just stand and watch how they criss-cross through the intersection:



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[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXtOdSgf6Ic[/YOUTUBE]



The Kinkaku-ji Temple covered in gold leaf:

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Then this is the Torii Gate on Miyajima Island...the water recedes and you can walk right up to the base of it.



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Then you relax and wait for the tide to come back in so that it looks like it's floating on water...



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SpirivaSunrise said:
Think these are the last few shots I'll post from Japan.

The Kinkaku-ji Temple covered in gold leaf:

img8864.jpg




Then this is the Torii Gate on Miyajima Island...the water recedes and you can walk right up to the base of it. Then you relax and wait for the tide to come back in so that it looks like it's floating on water...



img8707f.jpg
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Amazing shots, Spiriva! And thanks for the interesting commentaries. 👍 I'm definitely putting Japan on my travel destination "wish list"! It's been too long since my last visit there. I don't remember the Kinkaku-ji being as resplendent as you've photographed it here ... must be because a) I lacked a decent camera; b) I lacked decent photography skills; or c) both of the above. 😳

I also enjoyed your Tokyo Tower and "ghost" shots in an earlier post - those were cool! (Btw, is that glass platform up at the Tower something new? I don't remember that)

Oh, and how was the 3G reception, if you used your blackberry to call/email back to the states?
 
PharmaSynergy said:
Amazing shots, Spiriva! And thanks for the interesting commentaries. 👍 I'm definitely putting Japan on my travel destination "wish list"! It's been too long since my last visit there. I don't remember the Kinkaku-ji being as resplendent as you've photographed it here ... must be because a) I lacked a decent camera; b) I lacked decent photography skills; or c) both of the above. 😳

I also enjoyed your Tokyo Tower and "ghost" shots in an earlier post - those were cool! (Btw, is that glass platform up at the Tower something new? I don't remember that)

Oh, and how was the 3G reception, if you used your blackberry to call/email back to the states?
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Synergy!!! Hiiii! We haven't heard from you in a while. Hope you're doing ok and classes are going well!

I have no idea how old the glass viewing platform is?? It was on the bottom of the two levels. For some reason, no one else would walk on it with me! I don't know, it just didn't bother me, and thought it would make a cool photo.

Oh! And my BlackBerry didn't get service (at least not with my T-mobile plan). I honestly have no idea if I could have activated it somehow, but didn't really bother. I was happy to have a two week vacation that was completely work free. As soon as I landed, 500+ emails poured in, and I know I would have tried to respond to some of them...
 
SpirivaSunrise said:
Synergy!!! Hiiii! We haven't heard from you in a while. Hope you're doing ok and classes are going well!

I have no idea how old the glass viewing platform is?? It was on the bottom of the two levels. For some reason, no one else would walk on it with me! I don't know, it just didn't bother me, and thought it would make a cool photo.

Oh! And my BlackBerry didn't get service (at least not with my T-mobile plan). I honestly have no idea if I could have activated it somehow, but didn't really bother. I was happy to have a two week vacation that was completely work free. As soon as I landed, 500+ emails poured in, and I know I would have tried to respond to some of them...
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Only 500 over 2 weeks? lightweight...

btw, nice pics.
 
SpirivaSunrise said:
Synergy!!! Hiiii! We haven't heard from you in a while. Hope you're doing ok and classes are going well!

I have no idea how old the glass viewing platform is?? It was on the bottom of the two levels. For some reason, no one else would walk on it with me! I don't know, it just didn't bother me, and thought it would make a cool photo.
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Hi Spiriva! All is well, thanks! I've been involved in a new business venture, hence the looooong absence. 😱 I do check into the forums from time to time, mainly to get a good laugh out of the amusing diatribes that surface every now and then. :laugh:

Ya, that glass viewing platform was a cool pic ... kinda reminds me of the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon.

Well I hope you might consider posting more pictures of your Japan trip when you get a chance! 😉
 
PharmDstudent said:
It's so nice to see you on the forum again. 😀

I hope Muffin is doing well! 🙂
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Thank you! 😀 Muffin's doing fine too. Maybe coughing up a few extra hairballs lately, but other than that, she's the usual laid-back Muffin. How's Tabby doing?
 
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PharmaSynergy said:
Thank you! 😀 Muffin's doing fine too. Maybe coughing up a few extra hairballs lately, but other than that, she's the usual laid-back Muffin. How's Tabby doing?
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That's great! 🙂

Tabby is doing really well! 👍 She's so cool... if she could be a bff, then she would be mine. 😉
 
I just decided to fool around with the world of HDR, and HO-LY COW!!!

This is too cool; I'm processing as we speak...should have some shots I got today done soon. Now I feel like I have to go through every photo I ever took, and see what would look good processed like this...😛
 
I am never going to know anything about photography nor do I want to. The last pictures you posted are they actual pictures you took and then you did something with them? I am assuming you do not use traditional film but are all digital. They look really cool especially if they are pictures you took.
 
MountainPharmD said:
I am never going to know anything about photography nor do I want to. The last pictures you posted are they actual pictures you took and then you did something with them? I am assuming you do not use traditional film but are all digital. They look really cool especially if they are pictures you took.
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Yup! They're all pictures I took. However each image you see is actually a compilation of 3 individual pictures of the same scene. You purposely take one that's way overexposed, one that looks normal, and one that's way dark. Then you smoosh them together, and get that!
 
SpirivaSunrise said:
Yup! They're all pictures I took. However each image you see is actually a compilation of 3 individual pictures of the same scene. You purposely take one that's way overexposed, one that looks normal, and one that's way dark. Then you smoosh them together, and get that!
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How interesting! Do you simply overlay the images on each other, and that's the end result? Or is it necessary to fine-tune the saturation and sharpness after "smooshing" them together? I think it looks very artistic, like a painting. 🙂
 
This is really nice..how many years of photographing made you this good?

SpirivaSunrise said:
So here it is! My first attempt at HDR. 🙂 Each image is a merge of 3 brackets (normal, -2 and +2), then tonemapped. Whatya think?

Mikey...I think you may like this style of processing? I'm going to try to do some urban HDR shoots in the future...

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Spiri,

Pretty cool...did you PS it? You didn't take 3 separate shots per se...but did you take a shot..then create a 3 different pics of different exposures??

I've never heard of HDR...
 
StaviZFingerZ said:
Spiri,

Pretty cool...did you PS it? You didn't take 3 separate shots per se...but did you take a shot..then create a 3 different pics of different exposures??

I've never heard of HDR...
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No, no...you do take 3 shots (actually...at least 3 shots of the same scene) to get this kind of look. So whether you want to do this manually, or have the camera autobracket (i.e. +2/-2 and normal). The main thing about HDR is basically to bring out the detail in both shadows and highlights that you usually miss with only 1 exposure. So once you've got a few images that capture this whole range, you merge them to create an HDR file, and then tone map. I used a program called Photomatix to do it...but you can use PS as well. From what I understand, PS is a far more complicated way to do it, and the results apparently aren't as great? I'm not sure though...haven't tried yet.

So basically:

hdrg.png


Anyways...it's this whole new world for me! It's a little extreme, but kind of refreshing since it's so surreal looking. I had read about it before and always wanted to try it. Actually on my Yosemite & Japan trips, I manually bracketed a lot of my photos (exposing for the foreground and sky, etc.). Mainly because I wanted to eventually try to mask/do some more advanced PS techniques with them. But now I'm thinking I want to go back and try to process some of them with this HDR-look! And it's kind of funny, walking around yesterday...you kind of look at you surroundings with this processing technique in mind, and shoot differently. 😛
 
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SpirivaSunrise said:
Goodness, I'm really not that good!

I've had a digital SLR for about 1 year now. Grew up fooling around and "learning" photography with film using my Dad's old camera. Oh! And I took a photography class in HS as a freshman.
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Wow - Those HDR (whatever you call them) shots are ridiculous... Very nice. I was certain it was some twisted photoshop trick w/filters. Surreal.
 
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