xxloverxx

Nov 26 2009

Back to digital for the weekend

Well, tomorrow afternoon, I’m going to Guangzhou for the weekend…and I’m back Sunday evening.

I’m only taking the D50 and not the FM, incase the bastards operating the x-ray do anything to the film.

But somehow I feel so weighed down.  I haven’t even packed yet, fuck’s sake.  But this afternoon I made sure all 4 batteries were charged, the charger was there, the D50 with the 30 1.4, 50 1.8 and 75-200 3.8 were there.  All AF lenses.  All heavy, except for the 50 1.8.

And somehow I feel so unsafe.  So…dependent.  Not because I’m afraid the lenses are going to break if I drop them; not at all.

It’s more that I’m going to be relying on batteries for the camera.  And while I have no problem doing that for a day (as I did during focus week, as I did during both sports days), I do have a slight insecurity heading off to China relying on 4 batteries and a charger.

It’s been ages since I’ve relied on batteries for more than a day.  Fuck I rarely even rely on AF anymore, I’ve gotten so used to manual focus with the FM.

And manual focus isn’t a problem for me.  In fact, it’s a plus.  It’s silent, you don’t rely on any AF points to get the photo on focus (assuming you can focus without the split-image/microprism) and it doesn’t take any electricity.  Since I got the FM in summer, I’ve come to love it; it’s my favourite camera now.  At first I thought manual focus was going to be impossible to do all the time.  I was afraid I was going to miss shots because of it.

But actually, it’s only improved my shooting.  Because the FM has almost nothing.  A shutter speed dial, timer lever, aperture stop-down lever, film (re)winder, multi-exposure button and film counter.  That’s it.  Compared to most digital cameras with more menus than is necessary and buttons that share functions.

And this “lack” of functionality lets me concentrate more on shooting and not so much “discovering” new features - from the moment I picked up the FM I’d already discovered all it’s features. Nothing new; all the controls were so familiar already I could start using it right away.

And on the topic of “concentrating on shooting”, that also means not worrying about batteries.  The FM needs no batteries (you can put batteries in it for the centre-weighted meter, but that’s all it’s used for (I took mine out ages ago)); the shutter/mirror mechanism all rely on springs.

I guess I’m just lazy, not wanting to carry all this stuff with me.  But that’s the reason I’m getting a rangefinder this year (looking for a Kiev 4a to be precise) - light, sturdy, quiet and completely mechanical.  Honestly, I hate worrying about batteries.  Even more than that, I hate carrying them around.  I hate the time it takes to change a battery, especially in cold weather with cold fingers.  Even the bulk of one single D50 battery pisses me off.

Also, most AF lenses are a lot heavier than their MF equivalents - the only exception in my setup is the 50 1.4 Series E, which is a lot heavier than the 50 1.8 AF-D.  But it’s worth it, for that extra bit of speed and the build quality (50 1.8 is plastic.  50 1.4 is metal)

I remember on the 1st sports day this year (not the finals), I picked up the 50 1.8 that morning after having used the 50 1.4 for a few months.

I just thought “holy shit, this feels cheap”.  Of course it felt cheap compared to a full-metal+glass lens.  What did I expect?

One comfort this trip, however, will be that the 75-200 is a push-pull lens; the design that I’m so familiar with these days (and prefer so much over the twist-zoom, especialy on long, heavy lenses).  Also, that lens uses a metal barrel - that’s a big comfort in itself.

Oh well.  I’ll survive.  I’ll try and get great photos.  I’ll just keep telling myself that it’s the photographer, and not the equipment.

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I don’t want to pay for something that might not be what I want - can you make up a few working samples of my site and send me all the stuff for it? Then I can try them out and choose the one I like best.
— (via clientsfromhell)
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Nov 25 2009
kirstay:

ilovecharts:

peroty:

Important decisions! (Via co-worker’s IM)

kirstay:

ilovecharts:

peroty:

Important decisions! (Via co-worker’s IM)

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kirstay:

(via wasting)
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mliaverage:

Today, I tried replying to one of those “do not reply” e-mails. When I did, I got an e-mail back saying “We warned you, but we had to send the ninjas over to your house.” I couldn’t stop laughing. MLIA

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mliaverage:

Today, I was supposed to be defining vocabulary terms for English class, but, being lazy, I was simply googling them instead of using our textbook. When I got to the word “recursion”, the first link that appeared was “did you mean recursion?” Curious, I clicked the link several times, but I kept returning to the same page. I thought my internet was broken until I looked up the definition of recursion: apparently it means “to revert back to an original state”. Very funny, Google. MLIA

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mliaverage:

Today, me and my sister decided to text our home number, just to hear an automated voice try and pronounce made up words, say the batman theme, and speak in various accents. On the last one we sent and were listening to, there was a pause at the end, and then a sudden burst of maniacal laughter. We were terrified before realizing that this was the automated text-messaging service’s interpretation of “lol.” MLIA.

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mliaverage:

Today, I learned that the French word for watermelon is “Pastèque” which translates to “not steak”. Thank you France, for clearing my confusion about the difference between watermelon and steak.MLIA

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mliaverage:

Today, while pretending to listen in science I put my coloring book inside my notebook to make it look like I was takeing notes. When I wasn’t paying attention my teacher walked behind me, informed me that I had colored Hello Kitty’s bow the wrong color and then continued lecturing. MLIA

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mliaverage:

Today, I went to a concert at a small venue. About twenty minutes in, some guy in the first row tried to take a picture. The lead guitarist noticed, stopped playing in the middle of a song, and shouted “Hey Gary! Picture!!!” They all gathered together and posed for the camera, and picked up exactly where they left off as if nothing happened. In all my years of going to concert, I have never seen anything like it. MLIA

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It’s an ironic situation. For a long time the mobile operators thought of themselves as the future lords of data communication. All devices would have 3G connections, the thinking went, and the fixed-line data carriers such as Comcast and BT would fade away just like the fixed-line voice companies are doing.

Instead, the new consensus is that we’re moving to a world where the fixed-line vendors will be expected to carry most consumer data traffic for the foreseeable future.

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mliaverage:

Today my boyfriend set up an account on a game site. He decided to be funny and set his password as “penis”. The message that popped up said “Sorry, your password isn’t long enough”. I laughed. He didn’t. MLIA.

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thinkdrastic:

Firefox knows Twitter so well.

thinkdrastic:

Firefox knows Twitter so well.

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