(click image to enlarge)
Zurich Niederdorf, 2012-11-24, from Lindenhof.
With Panasonic G2 and Olympus 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 at 9 mm.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
The Niederdorf
(click image to enlarge)
Zurich Niederdorf, 2012-11-24, from Lindenhof.
With Panasonic G2 and Olympus 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 at 9 mm.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Vierwaldstädtersee
A view on the Vierwaldstädtersee after an Off-Site event on Friday 2012-11-09 on the way down from Stoos. On the right bottom there would be Brunnen, top on the green area in the middle is Bürgenstock, and in the background is the Pilatus mountain.
With Sony Nex-5 and Nikkor 55mm f/1.2.
View Larger Map
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Open Opera
Open Day at the Zurich Opera House, 2012-09-22.
Sony Nex 5 with Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI, exposure time of 10 seconds.
Sony Nex 5 with Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI, exposure time of 10 seconds.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Manual Mode Autumn Tree
Autumn tree near Tonhalle Zurich
2012-09-19
Shutter speed set manually to 1/800th, measured the exposure before at the street and near by shadows of the building, plus manual focus + aperture, rest electronically/digitally done by Sony... (with Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 and Sony Nex 5).
The actual idea is that once the exposure is fixed and set up, you can pan around with the camera at will and still get a nice contrast in each picture and without any fluttering exposure changes getting in between the action.
Thanks to Marcel G. for the tip.
2012-09-19
Shutter speed set manually to 1/800th, measured the exposure before at the street and near by shadows of the building, plus manual focus + aperture, rest electronically/digitally done by Sony... (with Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 and Sony Nex 5).
The actual idea is that once the exposure is fixed and set up, you can pan around with the camera at will and still get a nice contrast in each picture and without any fluttering exposure changes getting in between the action.
Thanks to Marcel G. for the tip.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Pinball Wizard
The Pinball Wizard (Elton John) looses against the blind Tommy (The Who lead singer)...
Pinball Wizard
Ever since I was a young boy
I've played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton
I must have played them all
But I ain't seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
He stands like a statue
Becomes part of the machine
Feeling all the bumpers
Always playing clean
Plays by intuition
The digit counters fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
He's a pinball wizard
There has to be a twist
A pinball wizard
He's got such a supple wrist
How do you think he does it?
(I don't know)
What makes him so good?
Ain't got no distractions
Can't hear no buzzers and bells
Don't see no lights are flashin'
Plays by sense of smell
Always gets a replay
Never seen him fall
That deaf dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
I thought I was
The Bally table king
But I just handed
My pinball crown to him
Even on my favorite table
He can beat my best
His disciples lead him in
And he just does the rest
He's got crazy flipper fingers
Never seen him fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
Tommy - the movie.
Lyrics from elyrics.net, via IKN's Otto Rock.
Pinball Wizard
Ever since I was a young boy
I've played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton
I must have played them all
But I ain't seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
He stands like a statue
Becomes part of the machine
Feeling all the bumpers
Always playing clean
Plays by intuition
The digit counters fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
He's a pinball wizard
There has to be a twist
A pinball wizard
He's got such a supple wrist
How do you think he does it?
(I don't know)
What makes him so good?
Ain't got no distractions
Can't hear no buzzers and bells
Don't see no lights are flashin'
Plays by sense of smell
Always gets a replay
Never seen him fall
That deaf dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
I thought I was
The Bally table king
But I just handed
My pinball crown to him
Even on my favorite table
He can beat my best
His disciples lead him in
And he just does the rest
He's got crazy flipper fingers
Never seen him fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
Tommy - the movie.
Lyrics from elyrics.net, via IKN's Otto Rock.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Moon Movie
The Moon Movie
2012-08-27, the moon on the move.
A surprisingly sharp el cheapo lens I still had from the 80s (I can't remember a single photo I made with it back then), a used 2x tele converter that I got with a bunch of other manual focus lenses, and a Micro Four Third camera with a crop factor of 2 which all results in a 1° 10' picture angle or 40 times magnification compared to a normal lens.
However, it rested all on an extra Manfrotto 293 tripod collar/lens support on top of a new (for me) used old heavy stable nice comfortable:) Gitzo tripod head on the Manfrotto 0190xprob tripod.
2012-08-27, the moon on the move.
A surprisingly sharp el cheapo lens I still had from the 80s (I can't remember a single photo I made with it back then), a used 2x tele converter that I got with a bunch of other manual focus lenses, and a Micro Four Third camera with a crop factor of 2 which all results in a 1° 10' picture angle or 40 times magnification compared to a normal lens.
However, it rested all on an extra Manfrotto 293 tripod collar/lens support on top of a new (for me) used old heavy stable nice comfortable:) Gitzo tripod head on the Manfrotto 0190xprob tripod.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Nikkor-S 55mm f/1.2
Nikkor-S Kogaku 55mm f/1.2
This is the Nikkon flagship lens from the sixties! Nikon is famous for using the same mount from back then all through til today's DSLRs.
However, the sales person hesitated today to sell me a used Nikon D60 out of fear, it would destroy the electronic contacts inside the camera. Well, I trusted google, that it is one of only four models that can hold this lens without any modification (they are all low end models, as they don't have something that would collide with something in all the other models' hardware - don't ask me what).
So it worked, thought Nikon disabled the light metering functionality (for no reason but to discourage using old manual focus lenses or to sell more high end cameras - ironically it would work using a Canon DSLR with a Nikon adapter!).
So here is a picture with the Nikon lens, the Minolta 35-135mm zoom used for the three photos above, oh, this photo is made with aperture f/4 thought.
But the bigger problem is actually using the lens full open with aperture f/1.2 and getting the focus right. Actually it is difficult to see the final effect without any magnification before making a shot.
Well, I will work on that.
This is the Nikkon flagship lens from the sixties! Nikon is famous for using the same mount from back then all through til today's DSLRs.
However, the sales person hesitated today to sell me a used Nikon D60 out of fear, it would destroy the electronic contacts inside the camera. Well, I trusted google, that it is one of only four models that can hold this lens without any modification (they are all low end models, as they don't have something that would collide with something in all the other models' hardware - don't ask me what).
So it worked, thought Nikon disabled the light metering functionality (for no reason but to discourage using old manual focus lenses or to sell more high end cameras - ironically it would work using a Canon DSLR with a Nikon adapter!).
So here is a picture with the Nikon lens, the Minolta 35-135mm zoom used for the three photos above, oh, this photo is made with aperture f/4 thought.
But the bigger problem is actually using the lens full open with aperture f/1.2 and getting the focus right. Actually it is difficult to see the final effect without any magnification before making a shot.
Well, I will work on that.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Freeplane
After using the FreeMind mind mapping software for many years, navigation had become sluggish with a single mega map keeping my ever growing notes... Looking for some tips how to best split up the data map or if other people have similar problems and maybe someone is working on making the software faster or smarter, found out one or two of the core developers forked the project and created Freeplane based on FreeMind.
Loading the 2010 stable version 1.1.3 (FreeMind 0.9 is from early 2011) the sluggishness just disappeared. Good job!
Only thing is I had to configure Freeplane under Preferences to always save the folding information!
BTW, nowadays I use this Mind Mapping tool 99.99 percent as a kind of knowledge base or How To list. It is very quick to navigate (now again ;-), and when copy pasting things into a Unix terminal each line gets copied with a line ending, so before something gets ironed out in a little program shell script I can just keep some commands in FreeMine/Freeplane for later copy and paste usage.
For ToDo lists however I use and need something with a calendar, not for planning when to do what (that never worked for me as things always take their own time and everything else has been just wishful thinking on my side), but to pop up when I have to be reminded to focus or start with something (or to push something back).
OK, here are the links in case Google's servers are down today:
Freeplane
FreeMind
Loading the 2010 stable version 1.1.3 (FreeMind 0.9 is from early 2011) the sluggishness just disappeared. Good job!
Only thing is I had to configure Freeplane under Preferences to always save the folding information!
BTW, nowadays I use this Mind Mapping tool 99.99 percent as a kind of knowledge base or How To list. It is very quick to navigate (now again ;-), and when copy pasting things into a Unix terminal each line gets copied with a line ending, so before something gets ironed out in a little program shell script I can just keep some commands in FreeMine/Freeplane for later copy and paste usage.
For ToDo lists however I use and need something with a calendar, not for planning when to do what (that never worked for me as things always take their own time and everything else has been just wishful thinking on my side), but to pop up when I have to be reminded to focus or start with something (or to push something back).
OK, here are the links in case Google's servers are down today:
Freeplane
FreeMind
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Practice Map
A personal selection, overview, and reference of some (life) practice material by Ken McLeod (and maybe related teachings by other teachers as well):
2012-06-17
Purpose, Method, Effects, and Results
Why People Practice
Progression
How to simplify your life
Willingness, Know-How, Capacity [2012-08-21]
Attention
- Breath
- Power, Ecstasy, Insight, Compassion
Working with Pain and Difficult Emotions
- Five Step Practice [2012-08-11]
Mind Training
Death and Impermanence
Reactive Emotions and Patterns
Six Realms
- Hell
- Hungry Ghost
- Animal
- Human
- Titan
- God
. Real Life Examples (from Monsters Under the Bed Retreat) [2012-07-22]
Five Elements / Five Dakinis
- Earth
- Fire
- Water
- Air
- Void
The Four Immeasurables
Verses and Exercise
Transcript and Podcast [2012-06-23]
- Equanimity
. What is Equanimity? by Shenzen Young [2012-06-23]
- Loving Kindness
- Compassion
- Joy
Taking and Sending
Relationships
Conflict
Grief
Depression
PTSD
Emotions
Happiness
Materializing Things
Making Things Happen
What Do I Do Now?
Who Am I?
2012-06-17
Purpose, Method, Effects, and Results
Why People Practice
Progression
How to simplify your life
Willingness, Know-How, Capacity [2012-08-21]
Attention
- Breath
- Power, Ecstasy, Insight, Compassion
Working with Pain and Difficult Emotions
- Five Step Practice [2012-08-11]
Mind Training
Death and Impermanence
Reactive Emotions and Patterns
Six Realms
- Hell
- Hungry Ghost
- Animal
- Human
- Titan
- God
. Real Life Examples (from Monsters Under the Bed Retreat) [2012-07-22]
Five Elements / Five Dakinis
- Earth
- Fire
- Water
- Air
- Void
The Four Immeasurables
Verses and Exercise
Transcript and Podcast [2012-06-23]
- Equanimity
. What is Equanimity? by Shenzen Young [2012-06-23]
- Loving Kindness
- Compassion
- Joy
Taking and Sending
Relationships
Conflict
Grief
Depression
PTSD
Emotions
Happiness
Materializing Things
Making Things Happen
What Do I Do Now?
Who Am I?
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Minolta MD 100-300mm f/5.6
2012-04-22
Saw similar pictures taken with this legacy lens on Flickr on Micro Four Third cameras and liked them very much. Now got a nice examplar of it for myself:). On a Micro Four Third system this lens has an effective focal length of an equivalent 200-600mm lens on a 35mm camera.
Back when I was 14 and got into photography with a Minolta X-700, MD 50mm 1.7, MD 28mm 2.8, and some no name 70-210mm (Soligor? thought I also liked it), a Minolta MD 70-210mm was kind of a dream, did not even dare to think much about this one. However the 100-300mm is quite bulky and with 700 g and without a collar doesn't really hold very well on a tripod attached the comparatively small Panasonic G2. For nice weather walkabouts, so to speak.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Friday, March 02, 2012
Ant Bots
Google Artificial Intelligence Challenge Competition
A 21 year old German student has programmed the best fighting ant colony bot, here is the German Spiegel article about him:
Der Spiegel: Der Ameisenkönig
Final Rankings
[Update 2012-03-04: The winner gives a detailed run down of his thought process and algorithms. Available is also the source code (less then 2000 lines of code for the main strategy class.]
Following is a list of different interesting games you can replay online...
Different styles, a bit chaotic
Smaller map, but very impressive fighting taktic by Xathis.
Very interesting, without the Xathis favorite, but GreanTea takes the win.
Xathis turns it around. Smaller map.
Big map, big fight
My favorite, thought Komaki makes a big mistake in the end leaving the flank to Xathis wide open...
Small game, GreanTea wins against Xathis
Ants, ants, ants (Xathis loses)
medusa vs Xathis. Xathis loses a hill early on, still wins in the end.
Tight fight, Xathis wins, but not clearly.
Interesting water structures, GreanThea.
Xathis, GreanThea, almost 1on1. The Final? Interesting retreating/frontier pattern.
protocolon beats Xathis and GreanTea. GreanTea makes a big mistake in the beginning. Also Xathis loses the home base early on to carlos.guia, but then protocolon has already grown very much.
Big armies, fun to watch
A 21 year old German student has programmed the best fighting ant colony bot, here is the German Spiegel article about him:
Der Spiegel: Der Ameisenkönig
Final Rankings
[Update 2012-03-04: The winner gives a detailed run down of his thought process and algorithms. Available is also the source code (less then 2000 lines of code for the main strategy class.]
Following is a list of different interesting games you can replay online...
Different styles, a bit chaotic
Smaller map, but very impressive fighting taktic by Xathis.
Very interesting, without the Xathis favorite, but GreanTea takes the win.
Xathis turns it around. Smaller map.
Big map, big fight
My favorite, thought Komaki makes a big mistake in the end leaving the flank to Xathis wide open...
Small game, GreanTea wins against Xathis
Ants, ants, ants (Xathis loses)
medusa vs Xathis. Xathis loses a hill early on, still wins in the end.
Tight fight, Xathis wins, but not clearly.
Interesting water structures, GreanThea.
Xathis, GreanThea, almost 1on1. The Final? Interesting retreating/frontier pattern.
protocolon beats Xathis and GreanTea. GreanTea makes a big mistake in the beginning. Also Xathis loses the home base early on to carlos.guia, but then protocolon has already grown very much.
Big armies, fun to watch
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