Here is where I fill up my aging barrel and this is the boiler room for the shop...
Attachment 95243Attachment 95244Attachment 95245Attachment 95246Attachment 95247
Here are some pictures around my shop and some things related to fish and just to the business in general... As some of you may know, my family is in the HVAC Business... My Company is OSI Comfort Specialists and we have been in business over 80 years... My Brother in law and I are 4th generation... Some local people, Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, etc.. Will probably recognize our big green trucks as we have quite a few on the road...
Attachment 95233Attachment 95234Attachment 95235Attachment 95236Attachment 95237Attachment 95238Attachment 95239Attachment 95240Attachment 95241Attachment 95242
Here is where I fill up my aging barrel and this is the boiler room for the shop...
Attachment 95243Attachment 95244Attachment 95245Attachment 95246Attachment 95247
Alright, my first attempt without delving into the manual........
My fish room poses a few challenges to a novice like me. I have a lot of tanks in a relatively small room. As a result, lights from other tanks tend to cast glare on to the subject tank. Same can be said for the room lighting. Now, if I turn off all the lights with the exception of the subject tank, no matter how well lit, the camera seems to think it needs to use the flash. Maybe this is because it is taking it's light reading at the camera body and not the actual subject matter? At any rate, I kept looking for the "Just take the dam picture" button and could not find one.
Now, non-tank pictures are pretty easy......A few of my best friend patiently waiting for me to finish with the camera:
Ex-President-North American Discus Association-NADA
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Nice pics Rick for not being able to find the "take the damn picture" button. You could also try using the speedlight. You simply mount it on top of the camera, turn it on and point the speedlight towards the ceiling. The camera will handle the rest. If you point the speedlight towards the fish you get something like this which the fish do not care for.
Attachment 95553
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening
I tired the speed light, could not get it to fire. Maybe the batteries are dead. I hate what these digital cameras do with the onboard flash, that whole fire once/meter, fire again/meter and on the third try snap a pic. By the time the flash goes off the third time, the fish are doing about 90 mph....lol. I have the same problem with my Olympus lol.
Ex-President-North American Discus Association-NADA
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Ok got new batteries and played around with the speed flash. After I got the hang of how to position the flash, I found myself cursing a lot less
I think this pic is the best:
Now in these shots there is some meth blue in the tank so the color is a bit off:
And the rest
Ex-President-North American Discus Association-NADA
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Ok, With a paper towel diffuser. On some of these I actually used two layers of towel. I am no longer pointing the flash at the ceiling, rather right at the target. Neat trick, to all those amateurs like myself in line for this camera I highly recommend it.
Ex-President-North American Discus Association-NADA
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Just two more pics until I send this camera on it's way to Matt..........
Ex-President-North American Discus Association-NADA
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Only had the camera for about an hour now. My first impression was holy crap, this is so small and light. And then it honestly took me at least 3minutes to figure out how to turn it on. I know Al said don't compare it to what you are using today, but for me it's hard not to. Not as a side by side breakdown but more so a shock to the system type of thing. Really makes me appreciate what I have now tbh. Not that this isn't a good camera, I've actually found it may show better color range than my Canon (go figure, this 10 year old Pentax probably has more dynamic range than my Canon ). The little things pop to me, there is no scale in my viewfinder to tell me what my exposure is looking like so I can't just roll a wheel and watch a tick on a timeline, I actually have to shoot, adjust, shoot more than usual. Using the flash I feel like I need to go to my camera and try my flashes now because maybe I've been using them wrong for certain applications this whole time. If I have to pick it apart on the first day I'd say the auto focus is as slow as christmas and often misses faster fish like my clowns or things that may move especially when handheld. There is a good bit of noise as you raise fstops that you probably wouldn't see until double that number these days, but it takes pretty good pictures for being 10 years old. Am specifically impressed at how it holds pretty true color, especially in my SW tank under LEDs where I struggle to take pics with my own camera.
These are straight out, only resized.
Attachment 95687
Attachment 95688
Attachment 95689
Attachment 95690
Attachment 95691
I didn't lead with this because I didn't want to freak anyone out but want to show my reluctance to receive the camera. You know, after you do this at work today you are quite nervous picking up any other camera the rest of the day. Tripod leg gave out and over it went! But I reluctantly, very nervously, and carefully unwrapped the traveling camera without incident. Fun day...time will tell if the one below is ok. Will definitely need a new LCD...secretly I just wanted the company to upgrade.....
-Matt
It amazes me what kind of pictures I could pull out of this camera. Although many would call this camera outdated, it gave me a great refresher on getting out of the mentality that gear is everything. If I have learned nothing else from this experience it is that, and that alone has made the whole thing worth it for me. I had fun just walking around with the camera and not being paranoid about getting mugged or something, lol. Not that I wanted to get mugged with this camera, but this camera is far less intrusive and doesn't scream, TOP OF THE LINE! You decide for yourself, is this camera still capable of good pictures? Here's a teaser of the set I took with this camera. I am beat today and will try to edit some shots but tomorrow I should be able to knock them all out:
Shutters on the Beach and Casa Del Mar by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr
This was an 8 photo stitch. Only corrections I had to do was WB as the Daylight wasn't that true to the naked eye, and I had to clone out some sensor dust spots which are now gone btw, I cleaned it for you Al. All stitched in photoshop. Orientation had to be rotated a bit which was weird as that had never happened prior, but the horizon shift made the shot look more natural. Brought out some color via saturation, and there was enough information on the RAW file to pull out some really great colors. This was close to sunset and the light is almost 100% representative of how it looked.
Btw, the hotel on the left is actually my place of work . That is the infamous "Shutters on the Beach Hotel" and to the right of it is our sister hotel "Casa del Mar". The two most expensive hotels to stay at in Santa Monica for the night . My mother happens to work at Casa Del Mar and boy does she have some stories about this place. It is one of the oldest buildings in Santa Monica. It was built in 1903. It has been many things, one of which was a convalescence home, a mental institution, a rehab center, and opened as Hotel Casa Del Mar in 1999. Shutters on the Beach was opened in 1993, so although we are older in opening, the Casa building is much older overall.
Consider this the teaser, more to come!
Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread
Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread
http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
Cafepress.com
One more before I'm off to bed. The Santa Monica Pleasure pier Merry-go-round. Established circa 1922 . 3 photo stitch
Santa Monica Merr-Go-Round by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr
Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread
Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread
http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
Cafepress.com
Nicely done my friend! you took an old camera and created a beautiful new Picture!
excellent!it gave me a great refresher on getting out of the mentality that gear is everything. If I have learned nothing else from this experience it is that, and that alone has made the whole thing worth it for me. I had fun just walking around with the camera
al
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
You guys are probably tired of Pano's, but this is the last one, I promise. This was 7 stitch. This is my exact view every day when I go on my lunch break.
Santa Monica Pier Pano by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr
Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread
Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread
http://i3.cpcache.com/product/162117...ht=75&width=75
Want to look like Al did at his ACA talk with his white Simply Polo shirt?(You can catch Al's awesome Discus talk HERE)
You can get this and many more items such as T-shirts/Polos/hoodies/cups from our merchandise shop:
Cafepress.com