Pugwash

I asked elsewhere about how to calibrate an Asian 7750 (28800vph, B-model, new one, whatever) and was told to move the bits above the wheel closer together or further apart. I tried this, remembering that I thought one of them wasn't supposed to be moved, but enough people said it should work that it was worth a go. Having tried it, I found that the watch would then stop, as if it just didn't have the energy to swing the wheel round. What am I doing wrong? What am I supposed to be doing here? Is the bit with the two gold pins supposed to be moved or is it the piece above it? My IWC GST Chrono was about 5 minutes a day fast, now it's correct twice a day. Here's some eye-candy to make you happy.

It's another Noobmariner weekend as I'll be trying to calibrate the IWC. Please note; I'm using By-Tor's sequence of a Studio shot followed by a Live shot.

Precious Time has them for about 70 quid.

Er, I think you'll find that there is nothing AVERAGE about any watch owner of any brand. As soon as my 111h arrives, I'll be as much Al Bundy as I will any of the other real images. Besides, they're owners of real watches. The Replica owners are more like the projected image. Honest!

There's a reason I call them Palbundis. Thre're trading of their "Four touchdowns in one game, Peg" former glory.

To clarify: iPods, whether Nano or normal, can play MP3s of any kind. They can also play Windows WAV files and Windows WMA files as long as they have no DRM, or copy-protection. They can also play MPEG4 audio (known as AAC) either with or without copy-protection DRM. While you need to use iTunes to put the songs on the iPod, this in no way limits you to just using songs converted with iTunes or bought on the iTunes Music Store. iPods are more 'open' to other formats than any of the Windows players or the Sony ATRAC players. For a non-techie person, an iPod is by far the logical choice. For a techie, the choice is already made and is most likely iPod. They are the best selling MP3 player for a reason ... and it's not because of their price. (edited because I pressed the button too soon, danmed laptop keyboard)

Projected: Real:

What's wrong with a decent Mouton Cadet? Not too expensive, but very, very tasty. (stolen pic, not one of mine.)

Yeah, and then I tried to watch Family guy. I can't do it any more. South Park broke Family Guy for me and my missus.

Absolutely spot on. I took that pic in front of Notre Dame.

Milkshake May need Quicktime7 as I used h264 to compress it.

Poor imitation of "We like the moon" I'm afraid.

Very cheap. Very easy. I've ordered a proper light-tent as it's clear I'm going to be doing a lot more photography like this, but every single one of the photos you've seen up to today has been taken with a crappy home-made, makeshift device. I've gone through several designs, involving pillow cases, hanging paper, etc. They all work and I hope my pictures show you don't really need to spend any cash unless you want to.

I'm now going to assume that you've done the first two parts and are familiar with your camera and have taken a pile of photos, some of which you're secretly really proud of. If this is where you're at, I hate to say it, but that's it. You can now photograph watches. You're on your own, you don't need my help, you take perfectly good pictures and don't embarrass yourself when posting them to the replica forums. This was what we set out to do, right? Increase the average quality of photographs on the forums? Well we've done it, and for that I thank everyone that put the effort in. We're done. Carry on, you don't need me any more. Pardon? You want more? But you're taking pictures of watches. You understand about the importance of light and stability and you may even have bought a light-tent and tripod. What more can I do for you? Oh, okay, let's see what we can do. At this point, we're no longer in the crappy camera and pillowcase phase. If you don't have a tripod and a light-box, you should go and get them, even if that means a desk tripod and making a light-box out of translucent folders like I did. This, however, will be the last tutorial for the cheaper cameras. After this, you'll need a camera that can take filters as we're going to use the miracle that is the Polarising filter. That's for the next lesson, though. Today, we're doing the last lesson on basic setup that will allow you to take perfectly lit pictures. We're going to discuss White Balance. Go get your camera manual and check how to set the white balance on your particular camera, as you'll need to know how to do this to avoid this kind of picture: That picture was taken with default white balance settings and indoor lighting. You can fix that in software, as described in my basic Picasa tutorial, as I have done here, although I used iPhoto on the Mac. Obviously, if you used your camera's white balance setting beforehand to set it for indoor lighting (usually a picture of a light bulb) your pictures would be lit as follows: There you go, basic lighting explained. Read about how to set up your white balance. It's very important, and it's different for every camera, so you're on your own at this point. That's it for the simple stuff. You have it all. Here's a checklist of how to take a picture the Pugwash way: Clean the watch Light the scene Set the camera's white balance Make sure everything is in focus and framed Stabilise the camera Turn on the timer Press the button Stand well back click Import the picture into the computer Check the levels, colours, etc. Crop, scale and export If you follow this routine, you'll get useable pics every time. You'll be taking photographs, not snapshots. Thank you for taking part in these basic lessons. I hope some of you will be interested enough to go past this and start trying the hard stuff. If this is you, here's a sneak into the next lesson, just to keep you interested:

Do you mind if I ask who the seller is?

As I said in the wristcheck thread, this is an excellent camera, as phones go. It is ideal for the off-the-cuff shots like the wristchecks, and it excels at its huge advantage: always being in your pocket, but it's no replacement for a proper camera. I'm not putting your new phone down, as it's damned fine. I'd have one. No, really.

Not bad at all ... for a phone. Unfortunately, it's nowhere hear the quality of a modern crappy digital camera. I could go into detail why not, but don't want to hijack By-Tor's excellent weekly wrist-check. Needless to say, compare the size of a lens on a phone and on a camera and you'll see the most visible reason. Still, phone cameras are getting a lot better. Keep them pics coming, people!

Look below my signature and you'll see the links to my basic photography tutorial. It's helped one or two people here already. ps. Congrats on the Rolex.

At that point, I'd be better off shopping around for a gen. They can be found for a good price, apparently.

It just died after a week or so of the chrono acting up and PreciousTim replaced it. I'm now considering my options for a 7750@28 service, as it seems to be worth it. I now know I want to keep the watch for quite a while.

Mine would be the IWC GST Chrono. I just got mine back and it makes me all gooey and happy inside. Here are two pics from this week, one dark, one light.

What about these mentalist digitals? http://www.tokyoflash.com/watches1.html Mad as a sack of cats.

It's a heavily retouched composite.

If it were called "Member" you'd get more people paying out. I have no interest in VIP status here, but I'd pay for Member. I'd say calling it VIP may be more to blame than people's gimme-gimme-gimme-ness.