freddy333

Nice work, Redwatch - you definitely know your classic valve amps.

Thanks, Jeff. This 1's for you

Good point, Ubi - I think the higher f-stop (smaller aperture) will widen the dof, which is the opposite of what I am usually after.

UPDATE - After a recharge, the camera came back to life. I may be new to dSLRs (though not to digital p&s's or SLRs), but it does not seem logical that a low battery should result in the camera disabling all functions including the power (leaving the operator no other option than to remove the battery to power the camera off). Could the Sandisk CF card or battery be defective? geo1 - Thanks for your observations & recommendations. Good points all. I should clarify a bit - My last p&s cameras all had full manual options & most of my dof pics were purposely taken the way they were. I assume the viewer's eye will (generally) set, initially, on the brightest point within an image & I then try to guide it from there. At least, that is what is on my mind as I am composing an image. Especially, with the newer pic above, I wanted as shallow dof as possible so as to both defocus the background detail & draw the viewer's eye to the handstack area of the dial. Here is a pic I took last week with the 400D/75-300. After a few hundred shots, this represents the best image I was able to get out of that combination Here is a pic I just took with the 400D/55-250 combo that, instead of being the best I could get, represents the norm with this combination (what a difference a lens can make)

Seems like Ebel week, but I am back to my Bond Sub

If you use the Search, you will find many threads about the GMTIIC. Click here for the best modern Daytona.

The watch is great (& I LOVE the picture), but I think it might be worthwhile to seek out a better bezel. The fonts look wonky on this 1, especially the too-widely spaced '110' (DW used to have more accurate steel bezels with the correct '110' spacing, but be careful because he also has some that have the badly skewed '90').

Chief, do you shoot professionally (for profit)? Many years ago, after taking a photo class with my Contax, I almost got talked into going full frame. But I just could not justify the significant expense since I was (& still am) taking pics strictly for fun. Yes, always a compromise between natural clarity & artificial over-processing. I always try to remain conscious of that. Thanks, Chief. Thanks Pug. I have a hardware problem/question - Minutes after taking the shot above, I started taking another set of indoor pics. As I clicked the shutter a few shots into the shoot, the LCD screen went black (as if my eye was still covering the sensor below the viewer) & none of the functions worked (including the shutter). Even the on/off switch failed to switch the camera off (even after sitting for nearly 30 minutes - so it could not have been a long exposure that was just taking time to finish). So, after pressing every function on the body, with no effect, I removed the battery. Then, I reinstalled the battery, switched the camera on & (in full auto mode) clicked the shutter again. Same thing happened. The shutter operated as usual, but then the LCD went black & I was unable to switch the camera off or get any response from any of the functions on the body. So I, again, pulled the battery & reinstalled it. This time, when I powered the camera on, I got a message that the battery needed recharging, so it is now recharging. My question is whether it is normal for a low battery to cause the camera to do the photographic equivalent of a Windows BSOD? Or, as I suspect, might the camera (or Sandisk Extreme III 8GB CF card) have a problem? Though, I guess I will find out once the battery is fully charged.

The Canon EF-S 55-250mm lens just arrived. So, finally, once again, I have a complete, working camera that does not require hand-holding a lens Compared to the SX10IS, what I lost in zoom-ability, the 400D/55-250 combo gains in producing significantly less noise & color fringing This may work.

Congratulations. All you need now is a 2nd job to pay for your new addiction.

Thanks to both. My watch, which came from Honpo (there are many threads about Honpo that you can find via the Search), is powered by an asymmetrically-pushered (automatic-wind) 7750 that I converted over to a (manual-wind) 7760 & then threw on a bunch of gen parts (crystal, crown/tube, bracelet, etc).

That & the tight dof, which I love. It was also fortuitous that I decided to take those shots because, as you can see above ROLEX, there was a bit of debris stuck under the hour hand that was slowly rubbing against the paint on the dial. It was only after I started viewing these pics that I saw it. Fortunately, after removing the grit below the hand & buffing the mark with a clean piece of Rodico, you cannot see it with the naked eye (though it is slightly visible through a loupe). Talking about dodging a bullet. Here is a new shot (taken with the Zeiss Planar lens held in front of the 400D) I am still not getting the full potential of the lens since the lens is not fixed to the camera body & I am unable to hold (& keep) everything together & aligned by hand. But I think it is clear, now, that once the new Canon lenses arrive, the camera should do just fine. Thanks Pug & All.

The power of the rose. For me, I decided against the Newman tonight & put out an SOS for this Have a good Saturday night everyone.

A couple of(hand-held) RAW shots with Zeiss Planar lens held in front of the 400D

Satur-day (I still think the rose Tudor is the most beautiful diver's watch in the world) Depending on what I end up doing, I may switch over to this for Satur-night

6239

Ditto that.

I do not know enough about how the GMT hand functions on the CHS version (which I also own, but never disassembled, per Ziggy's comments), but you might have the watch demagnetized. Generally, if a watch is running very fast (+hours/day), the coils of the hairspring are probably stuck together which greatly speeds-up its rotational movement, which, in turn, causes the watch to run very fast. Failing that, the only other thing I can recommend is to pull the stem out to the time-setting position & run it forward through a complete 24-hour cycle. Then, run the hour hand through a complete 24-hour cycle & see if the GMT hand then runs correctly.

Lovely car (I see alot of the current SLK design in the dash layout) except for the center console between the front seats. It looks like an amusement park water slide that was tacked on (with too many features) as an after-thought. 'Oh, we forgot to include this, so lets put it there. Oh & I see some empty space left there, so we should add a couple new gizmos to make it look more complicated.' Which is too bad, because the interior is well done otherwise.

Ford, possibly, but not a Jag. Whatever it is, it makes for a beautiful picture.

Ditto that.

Thanks for the tip, Ubi. I will give that a try when either of the 2 Canon lenses (100mm f2.8 macro & EF-S 55-250 f/4.5-6 IS zoom) arrives within the next week or 2 (since returning the 75-300 yesterday, I am photographically

Pug, even among your library of outstanding pics, these are stand-outs. Wow!!!!!! That engine pic is jaw-dropping (literally, my jaw dropped when I saw it) & exactly the quality I am after. Thanks.

Read the various posted tutorials/journals describing the construction of a DW (including mine), you will see that no 2 construction projects ever go the same. Because the parts are manufactured without any consistent quality standards, sizes & dimensions often vary from part to part. This means that each part may need to be modded to fit the rest of the parts, which is both labor intensive & time consuming (not to mention requiring alot of patience). Building a DW is a test of will & definitely separates the men from the boys.

Pug, your pics are inspiring. In fact, I was so inspired that I decided there just has to be a way to wrangle something better out of my 400D than what I have gotten so far. So I pulled the Planar f1.7/50 off this (this pic taken with the setup described below) & held it in the 400D's lens tunnel while I snapped a few pics around a parking lot. Between the ill-fitting Zeiss lens flopping around inside the Canon, not to mention the inevitable camera shake due to my having to aim & focus while holding everything together & snapping the shutter (all while remaining consciously aware of the need to keep the lens from banging into any of the 400D's delicate innards), I was hoping that 1 or 2 pics might at least equal the best shot I got from the Canon 75-300 zoom. But, WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!........when I downloaded the RAW shots onto my computer, I could not believe my eyes (except for downsizing & jpg-conversion, these uncropped/unprocessed images are exactly as they came from the very hand-held 400D) So, jeez........ If the kit lens from my 25 year old Contax, held in front of the 400D (in a not very elegant manner) & shooting pics by hand can produce images of this quality, while Canon's $300 zoom lens is unable to produce a single good image (anywhere in its range) out of 200-300 attempts (most shot with tripod & careful lighting/measurements), then there is something seriously wrong with Canon's picture (pun definitely intended). For the 1st time, finally, I am now starting to sense (1st-hand) some real potential with this camera & I can only imagine what I will be able to do with a proper (sharply focused) macro lens.