Well, spring is fast approaching up here and I got these whilst SWWTBO was off with a four-legged companion.

C&C welcome...














Bret

been out again today - testing the theory "DON'T TOUCH THE BRAKES" when edging slowly down slippery roads - works very well. They really are slippery, too - compacted snow that's started to melt on the outside and then been refrozen over night by the heavy frost, only to be rethawed tomorrow.... nom nom, I nearly fell over at least twice.

Bret

networks are slow for moving data and USB isn't much better.

I've just moved the better part of 1.2 TB of data around this week and the most painless way has been eSATA onto the new 2TB disk. That runs at around 50MB/ session and two sessions concurrently is possible over gigabit and another eSATA drive. From USB it's 30MB/sec and from another server it's 10MB/sec. That's a huge difference in time taken for a terabyte....

From this disk it's going onto a RAID5 (or 6) server and that will be replicated onto a multi-terabyte software-raided multi-disk box on my desk via rsync and ssh. I can bring that box home for filling and the rest of the time it's also an off-site backup.

I also thought disks these days were pretty reliable.... until the new WD studio kept losing permissions and gave us a serious scare, the 750GB was killed by an idiot, a 500GB is "on its last legs" (you can hear the clicking) and I'm running on way too many single copies for my liking.

Anyways. Don't assume just because you've got another copy that everything is OK. Store it elsewhere, and check periodically that what you think is there really is there - and functional.

Bret

UFRaw and then GIMP for the rest of the sharpening and borders. UFRaw-Batch works well, but after using RAW+, I can already review before loading anything in UFRaw.

And yes, the latest version does now support the K5.

Bret

fastpacks have two straps, slingshots only have 1.

200 fits: k10D with grip and 24-70/2.8, 50-200, D-FA50/2.8, 10-24 and an EF-500 (i.e external flash). The front pocket is big enough for P sized (85mm) Cokins and holders and rings.
The top is then big enough for another flash, tripod feet, cables and still have some room left over.

Only difference between a 200 and 250 is the laptop space on a 250, and I presume the 300 is a tick bigger. If it was 1-2cm deeper, the 80-400 would fit in upright (but that's known to be tiny for its range) and you could then probably also fit that and another couple of lenses instead of the flash.

Bret

just been out into the sleet and picked up some dodgy marinated pork chops. They're now in teh oven for half an hour or so.

As for the rest? Syncing video and audio is a real pain

Bret

hmm.. it's sharp as all hell (I didn't think the K10 was bad, but these are much better); and the camera seriously helped to get these:










I wouldn't have tried this on the K10. I think the ISO is also "out" in that they're pushed in PP, in some cases several stops. I would never have dreamed of these with the K10. OK, the 80-400 helps The faster AF also works a treat on AF-S as does the machine-gunning capability.

I'll put up some more of the dark stuff later, if I've brought the correct disk home.....

Bret

I can't live without a grip - if I did, it would be because there's a second body doing nothing but video.

Bret

I'm stunned by this set. I have some more to come, but here a taster. Yes, they are processed with curves, blackpoints etc and were lit with an off-cam flash.








- Bret

works. Excellent. Now to process Sunday's haul.....

Bret