A flick of the wrist and Abracadabra! Channel's changed.

Don't miss their website- its a hoot.

In case you don't feel like downloading the guide, topical excerpts are available on their website:

Read Tech Buyer's Guide For Netbooks
The PopSci Top Pick?  HP Mini 311-1000NR 11.6-Inch Black Netbook

Read Tech Buyer's Guide For Point-n-Shoot Cameras
The PopSci Top Pick?  Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD

Read Tech Buyer's Guide For Pocket Camcorders
The PopSci Top Pick? Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera

Read Tech Buyer's Guide For Entry-Level TVs
The PopSci Pick? LG 47LH50 47-Inch 1080p 120Hz Broadband LCD HDTV

We’re going to call this fixture a SPIDER, you’ll see why in just a moment.

Here is my original collection of parts.

A 3” clean-out plug serves as a hub for the sockets.  My original idea was to attach the clean out plug to a 3” bushing that would be attached to the front of the 2” tee fitting.  The power cord would run out the back of the tee and the light stand would attach to the base of the tee.

I measured and marked the clean-out plug and drilled it with a 5/16” bit.  I made a simple jig from scrap wood to hold the fitting in place.

Using a 2” lamp nipple and a pair of channel locks, I carefully cut the threads for the shorter nipples.  This is where the working characteristics of PVC came into play.  You can cut threads into PVC with a bolt and a little patience, instead of using a tap and die.  I chased the threads all the way through the side of the fitting.

Here is the clean-out plug with all of the lamp nipples fitted.  I chose a clean-out plug as opposed to a regular cap so that I could access the wires more easily.

Each socket was wired and the wires passed through the hole of the mounting bracket.  The design of the bracket and the lamp nipples allowed me to keep all of the wires hidden.

Above is the front of the SPIDER WITH the wiring in place.

Above is the back of the SPIDER with the wiring in place. The sockets were wired in pairs, then the pairs were wired together.  I used wire connectors instead of soldering so that a socket could easily be replaced if it failed.

LOOK; it works! 

At this point I realized that my original design was way too front-heavy.  I needed to move the center of gravity farther back.  So, I’m off to Home Depot yet again.

I found a 3”-3”-2” tee fitting that solved my problem of balance nicely.  I added a 3” to 2” reducer to the back of the tee fitting and a 2” to1.25” threaded reducer to that.  A 4” circle of plywood and a 1.25” male fitting is attached to the reducer and this holds the speedring to my Paul C Buff OCTOBOX™ firmly in place.  A 2” to .75” threaded reducer is mounted at the bottom of the tee for the light stand fitting.

Here’s the light inside the OCTOBOX™.  It throws a very even lighting pattern, even without the diffusion panel.  It’s well balanced and easy to handle in the studio.  I’m working on an improved version for my still photography.  Stay tuned…

Kirk Draut
Director of Design
Aarthun Performance Group, Ltd.
281.580.5705

Let’s get started:

16" mixing bowl

6 light sockets

2 ½" PVC tees

1 ½" PVC threaded tee

1 ½" PVC cross

5 ½" PVC 90-degree corners

½" PVC pipe

The total cost for materials was less than $35. CFL bulbs were another $18.

The PVC is assembled as shown. Short pieces of PVC pipe are used to join the fittings. The threads on the PVC match the threads on the light fixtures. The wires for the fixtures will run through the PVC.

The PVC assembly is test-fitted on the back of the bowl before any cuts are made.

The bowl is primed and marked for cutting. 

My trusty Dremel™ tool made short work of the bowl. I used a 1/4" drill bit to create pilot holes, then opened up the holes with the Dremel™.

Each light fixture is threaded through the hole in the reflector, into the PVC assembly. The fixtures have a lock washer at the base that allows them to be tightened in place.

The wires from the fixtures pass through the angled pipe. My original plan was to run all of them into the central tee fitting, but the pipe was too small. I drilled a 3/8" hole in the backs of the tee and cross fittings and ran them out the back of the assembly.

I used twist-on connectors to join the wires to a computer power cord that I had in my big Pile-o-Cables. Zip ties are used to secure the power cord and keep the wires from being pulled apart.

Each fixture gets a 23-watt CFL bulb. This gives me the equivalent of 600 watts of incandescent lighting for a quarter of the power and a lot less heat. I can also vary the color temperature by changing out bulbs. The light attaches to my light stand with a piece of SCH 80 pipe fitted with a thumbscrew. 

Stay tuned for part 2 when the CFL light gets a big brother…

So last night I decided to go on a scavenger hunt through my boxes of harvested components, parts, chunks of material, and found a suitable piece of aluminum. I post this here for you photobugs that have a Nikon P90 or any other camera that has the same problem. It’s easy to do if you have a bit of patience.

Problem: My nifty new Nikon P90 (which I love) has the battery and memory card behind a door I can’t open when the camera is on the tripod (which I don’t love.)

Solution: Machine a bracket to mount the camera about an inch over. I had a chunk of square aluminum with a round cut in the top that I could chuck up in the lathe, drill the center hole on the lathe, and tap it for 1/4×20 threads. I then clamped it into the drill press to cut the two holes for the screw, one for the threaded part, one larger to accept the screw head.

Works great, fits great, but skids a bit when it’s installed.  A quick search for something thin and grippy left me with a small square of rubber shelf paper. This keeps the camera from tilting on the screw axis, as it needed JUST a little more area to find purchase. Shelf paper solves the skidding problem.

I had to find a 1/4 x 20 screw and turn it down on the lathe short enough to fit the bracket and the camera.

About two hours in the garage, and I have something that works. It’s very stable, and allows me to get to my battery and memory card without removing the camera from the tripod, which seems to always happen when I get a shot set up.

Problem solved!

This past weekend my air conditioning AND my dvd player died. Within the span of 4 hours.

Possible reasons:

1. Power Surge. Maybe. Things haven’t been quite right since Hurricane Ike dropped by for a visit last September (2008).  The phone line for my dsl needed replacement.

However, the surge suppresor built into our electric box remains intact (the light would have turned red if something had happened electrically).

2. Retrograde Pluto transiting my 2nd House (Values & Possessions: The second house and its occupants tell us about the material circumstances, the acquisitive urge and how we deal with possessions and material means.)

The disappointment was crushing-  we were looking at being hot and unconfortable AND we would be unable to watch the DVDs received in the mail: Ricky Gervais: Out Of England and OSS 117: Le Caire Nid d’Espions .

I survived the boredom of Hurricane Ike watching bootleg dvds of The Middleman. I had no intention of allowing some wicked cosmic interference thwart my plans on this particular weekend. Unlike Ike, this time we had power. We were able to plug in my 22 in Acer AL2216W (Max Resolution 1680 x 1050; Max Sync Rate (V x H) 76 Hz x 82 kHz; Image Aspect Ratio16:10) monitor to the laptop using a single link DVI to VGA adapter.  We then plugged JBL Duet speakers into the headphone plug on the laptop and we were good to go. We didn’t suffer too much.

I decided that I no longer want a dvd player. I don’t see the advantage at this time. This particular LG dvd player is less than 6 months old. It was purchased to replace the Coby dvd player we loved. We had found the unlock codes for that particular model Coby so we were region-free- able to watch movies unreleased in the USA. Roof damage caused by Ike claimed that lovely hard-working and VERY cheap dvd player as a casualty. We mourned.

For this LG to have died after less than 6 months leaves me speechless on the subject.

I am planning to use my laptop as my dvd player until I decide that some technological DVD advance makes it imperative that I purchase a new one. I just have to figure out which connection and adapter I need to make this happen.

First, I have to determine what connections are available to me and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each. This is a small overview of what connections are available to connect a Monitor or TV to a computer. Below each image is the Wikipedia link to information page to each.
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD15

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_video

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_dvi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdmi

There are more BUT these are the ones that are directly related to my variables. I did not include references to mini-HDMI.

My Apple PowerBook G4 1GHz Laptop (Part #: M9008LL/A) has an s-Video and DVI-I (integrated, digital & analog) dual link.

Our Norcent PT-4246HD 42" Plasma TV has the following specs:
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 1024×768
Formats: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i
Ports: 1 x RF Antenna-in
Ports: 1 x Composite Video In Rear
Ports: 1 x Composite Video In Side
Ports: 1 x Composite Audio/Video Out
Ports: 2 x
Ports: 1 x S-Video In Rear
Ports: 1 x S-Video In Side
Ports: 1 x HDMI-HDCP Digital A/V In
Ports: Audio In
Ports: 1 x 15-pin D-Sub (HD-15) VGA-in
Ports: 4 x Stereo Audio Line In
Ports: SPDIF Audio Out
Ports: RS-232
Ports: Headphone Jack

If I can avoid using sVideo  or componentVideo, I will. We spent  a couple of years watching  this plasma TV using these connections and didn’t notice the difference until we got the LG dvd player with an HDMI out. Then we realized what we had been missing.

I was also going to the HD15 VGA connection- while I already have everything I would need to make that happen, I wasn’t too impressed with the quality fo the video we were getting on the 22in monitor . I didn’t realize that there was also a s-Video connection on the back of the monitor and I wonder, even though sVideo is considered poor quality,  if I would have had better luck with that. My main concern is whether the laptop can push that much data… am i just being paranoid?

Today I plan to order a female HDMI to male Dual Link DVI adapter. I will update this post with a comparison sVideo v. HDMI.

Cables Unlimited ADP-3780 DVI-D Male to HDMI Female Adapter

Another improvement over my Lensbaby 2.0 is the lens cap – the 2.0 shipped with a nice, heavy solid metal lens cap that screwed in place… unfortunately, it was kind of slippery and difficult to get off sometimes. The Composer ships with a new squeeze-type lens cap (the style that lets your fingers get inside a lens hood, hmm, what a handy accessory that would be?). Easy on and easy off, but not so easy that you can lose it. In fact, the lens cap is flush with the front of the lens only when focused at the closest possible distance, so the style of the lens cap has something to do with getting the cap on and off when the lens is focused at a further distance and the front element is recessed into the front of the lens housing. The size is compact, about the same physical length as my Nikkor 50mm lens.

The Composer I received fit nicely on my Nikon, but you can also order Canon EF, Sony Alpha / Minolta Maxxum, Pentax K or Olympus 4/3. That covers most of the current digital SLR’s… of course, you could mount the Nikon version on your trusty Nikon F from 1965, and mount the Canon version on any autofocus Canon body ever made, including those that shoot (shudder), film. Pentax K mount may have had more bodies and lenses manufactured for it than all others combined. On my Nikon D3, I found that the website is essentially correct in that you need to shoot in manual mode and check your exposure via the histogram. I found it easy to get my exposure set for a scene, and then I set the bracketing to 3 shots (first exposure normal, 2nd exposure one stop underexposed, and the 3rd exposure is one stop overexposed). Most of the time, the normal or one stop underexposed produced the best images.

The first weekend I had the Composer, I visited my mother and grandmother. I got my mom interested in photography in the early 1980’s, and she has shot Nikon film bodies for 25 years now. At my gentle prodding, this year she upgraded to a Nikon D200, which she is never without. I showed her the Composer, and let her put it on her body… I almost didn’t get it back. I had to promise to order her one that very night to get it off her camera.

My shooting was sporadic over the time I had the Composer, but I did get to try it on a variety of subjects. Things, landscapes, people. I shot over 1,000 images with the lens… in other words, I barely scratched the creative surface. Having used many of the possible configurations, I have a starting suggestion for you: start with the Composer. It is not a huge investment by the standards of lenses made by camera manufacturers. Please check the Lensbaby website for current pricing at   http://www.Lensbaby.com/shop/  — there are some special pricing options there if you buy the Composer and Optic Kit and/or Accessory Kit at the same time. All told, you can get the entire system for the Composer and all the optics and accessories for well under $500.

A new feature I noticed as this article goes to press is the photo gallery on the Lensbaby website. There are many images to view with captions to tell you which lens optic made the image  http://www.lensbaby.com/gallery-photo.php . Every time you refresh the page, new images come up.

But Britt, surely there has to be something not perfect with the Lensbaby? Are you selling out? Well, no, I am not selling out. There are a couple of picky little things. When Craig Strong first developed the Lensbaby, my understanding is that he did it to fill a niche for his digital SLR. When he was first doing this, there weren’t too many full-frame digital SLR’s in the world. Certainly, I didn’t have one. So my original Lensbaby 2.0 looked and felt like a 75mm lens on my Nikon D2X (still half the focal length of the Sima, which translated to a 150mm). Now I have the D3… with the Composer (I have not tested the Muse or Control Freak), it is possible to skew the image to the point of cutting off or vignetting the image circle. Once I saw this and realized what was happening, it was no big deal. There is plenty of movement available without vignetting. I didn’t see vignetting with the D200 or D2X, which are both 2/3 frame sensors. Second, I wish the directions for removing and replacing lens elements were a little more detailed. Maybe I’m just not too bright. Are either of my minor gripes deal breakers? Not even close. One accessory I would like to see is a lens hood made to screw into the lens threads, although it would be funny shaped or maybe not possible because of the way the lens optic group moves into the body as you focus to infinity.

So, the bottom-line? Get one. I didn’t test the Muse, but it is essentially the Lensbaby 2.0 upgraded to use the interchangeable optics. In my opinion the Muse is best for fast, on-the-go photography.  Or, step up to the Composer (my recommendation). To me this is the most versatile lens in the series. If you shoot little toy soldiers in dioramas or architectural elements and want the ultimate in precision control, go for the Control Freak. Get more detail on all of these lenses and accessories at  http://www.Lensbaby.com/ . Any prices noted are current as of the time this article goes to the webmistress, but check the website for current pricing and availability… the Composer is currently in stock and shipping in about 3 weeks. The one that I ordered for my mom arrived in about four weeks, which was early by two weeks of the estimated shipping time on the website at the time it was ordered.

Remember our fun with the Sima? The Lensbaby Composer (and all the Lensbaby line, since they use interchangeable elements) is 50mm in focal length compared with the Sima’s 100mm. That gets into the usable range for many landscape opportunities, and makes a decent average focal length for portraits and details. Need wider? They can do that… it’s that system concept I love so much. Offered as additional accessories are a 0.6x Wide Angle lens adapter and a 1.6x Telephoto lens adapter (in a set). That makes the 50mm equate to a 30mm or a 80mm lens via the front-threaded lenses. Yep, there is a macro kit as well, which would be really handy for those of us who shoot close details of things.

Instead of being happy with f/2, f/4 and f/5.6 with the Sima lens, we can now get down to f/22. Why would you want to shoot a "soft focus" image at f/22? Well, what the Sima didn’t do was skew the plane of focus… the Lensbaby skews the "sweet spot" of focus to the point you choose. Want the whole left side of the image to go completely out of focus? We can do that.

When the folks at Lensbaby shipped me the demo unit, I was very excited to open the box and find (first) a Lensbaby Composer (yes!) and a thoughtfully included set of lens elements. The Composer shipped with the double glass element in it, with the f/4 aperture. That seemed like a good starting point, so for the first several hundred shots I did with it, I left this configuration in place.

As I first handled the Composer, I was satisfied with the obvious build quality… it isn’t heavy, but feels solid. It is made of metal and composite materials, with a metal lens mount. The lens has a locking collar at the rear – if you want to lock the lens in position, simply turn the locking collar to lock it in place… since the lens doesn’t move easily on its own, I would think that most people would use the locking ring when on a tripod. Inside the lens optic, there is a magnetic arrangement that holds the f/stop apertures in place. With a little practice it is easy to drop the f/stop aperture in to the front of the lens, but if you have trouble, you can always use the handy magnetic tool provided for the task.

As previously noted, the Composer does away with the hard but flexible rubber bellows of the Lensbaby and Lensbaby 2.0. A composite ball-and-socket allows the front of the lens to move independently of the rear, creating changes in the plane of focus that the lens throws. This shifting of the plane of focus is what gives the Lensbaby its signature look.

Examples- Pt. 2

In 1977 while hanging out with some friends in Philly, I inadvertantly left my camera at an outdoor lunch joint near Second and South. Having shared a few bottles of Merlot (to wash down the double cheese steaks with onions and mushrooms) I hadn’t realized the camera was missing until later in the evening and by then, I figured I was out of luck. In those days, there was no craigslist on which to post lost & found, and I had no idea of the name of the place where we’d eaten lunch (see Merlot ref. above) so I couldn’t call them to find out if it was there.

That was then. The camera is history and as time goes on, the memories become soft and faded like an old pair of jeans. Fast forward thirty some years – timing is everything. What you lose today, has a good chance of showing up tomorrow, thanks to the internet and a few good people who still believe in reaching out.

In the summer of 2008 while hiking in New Hampshire, a man named Matt found a camera at the bottom of a river. The camera was completely rusted out and worthless. A kind and curious dude, Matt took the camera home and fiddled with it until he was able to retrieve the memory card from which, after a little more fiddling, he was able to extract over two hundred photos and movie clips.

Taking it one step further, he set up a blog (http://basinfoundcamera.blogspot.com/ ) and posted some of the photos there with hope that the owner of the camera would see them and he could reunite the two. Eight days later, that’s exactly what happened, giving rise to a great new site, aptly called: iFoundYourCamera. (http://ifoundyourcamera.blogspot.com )

Every Thursday the website is updated with photos sent in by people who have found cameras. Those who have lost a camera can browse through the photos and see if they belong to them. The two are then reunited.

The internet provides us with great opportunity, but people and ideas are what bring it to life. For those who look to reach out and perhaps further the greater good, even if it’s only one camera at a time, there is no chasm that can’t be crossed. All you have to do is picture it.

Organizational Tool Reviews by the Unorganized!
Okay so I found Evernote in my latest handy dandy copy of Real Simple- a magazine I subscribe to in hopes that one day I will be more organized than not. I am getting there. The article started of with a warning that these apps may become addictive. I had no idea they were serious.

On the web. On your desktop. On your phone.

I downloaded first my desktop version of Evernote onto my Imac and immediately started to document all the notes I had stuck to my computer, lying around my desk and in my notebook. After completing this task I felt rather proud of myself as I could once again see the shinny black desk beneath the piles of paper.

I also remembered that this article was originally written as a review for the Iphone so I proceeded to download that version as well and test out the ease of moving notes back and forth. It was fantastic. I could actually type my shopping list on my computer as the items ran across my mind throughout the day – shampoo, laundry detergent, batteries, check. Then at the end of the day all I had to do is hit sync at the bottom of the app window and they were sent to my online account easily accessible by the iphone plugin.

Now, because my Powerbook is not able to run Leopard (which is required by Evernote) I wasn’t able to download it there. However they have an online version that works perfect for when I am traveling with my laptop and need to pull down some notes. Just login to their website with the username and password you registered with and there is your info. Crazy shopping lists and all.

Capture what inspires you, find it when you want.

So lets talk a little bit about what this baby can do yo put a little ease into your life. After all we are all aware that “creatives” are not the most organized people on the planet. If we spent the time it took before these handy apps to keep everything organized then we wouldn’t have time left for our art, right? So here’s how Evernote can help you….

Here are some examples of things you can capture and store in Evernote:

• Shopping/To-Do Lists
• Notes and Project Research
• Webpages for bookmarking later
• Sketches
• Snapshots from your phone(very handy)
• Passwords that you will need remotely

and that is just to list a few…

My number one use for Evernote is to compile lists from client emails on particular projects that are on the calendar for a later date. It never fails when I start a new site for a client the first week after bid approval I will get a flood of content from them. However rather than it being in one email, it will be in several, sometimes 10 or 20 by week end. I am a little obsessed with having unread emails, so I copy the content from each email and make 1 note in Evernote containing all the info. Then I not only have it on my desktop, but phone and laptop if I need it for reference.

Another huge benefit to having the Iphone app is that if I am in a store somewhere and I come across something that inspires me (happens all the time) I can take a snapshot, send it to Evernote and have it for a rainy less inspired day. Evernote allows my memories to be available wherever I am.

My last most favorite feature is the easy pasting option. So, say you are online researching something and come across something totally irrelevant, but extremely interesting. You don’t want to forget that info, so copy the address, or page content then go to the handy Icon at the top right of your finder bar and choose the option to paste into Evernote. Then you can take a look at it again when you have more time or are not preoccupied with other things. This option also works when you are working in other applications, basically anything you can copy can be pasted into Evernote.

Requirements: Not Much!

There are two ways to do this the first requires no downloads and is all online and the second utilizes the desktop tools. I do a little of both….

1. No download required

• Evernote Web
• Web Clipper bookmarklet
• Evernote Mobile Web

2. Downloads

• Mac OS X Leopard
• Windows
• iPhone / iPod Touch
• Windows Mobile
• SanDisk U3

Getting your chaos organize with Evernote:

There are multiple options to getting your data organized with Evernote and here are a few…

CREATE - notes using desktop, web, and mobile versions of Evernote, synchronizing with all three once you create
SNAP – shots using your camera phone or webcam. Crazy, but there is even text recognition within the image.
CLIP - webpages, screenshots, PDFs or already existing images
DRAG N DROP – content into your desktop clients
EMAIL – notes directly into your account using your personal email address
SCAN – receipts, recipes, tags, brochures, and anything else into Evernote
RECORD – audio and listen to it whenever you want.

For a Quick Introduction to Evernote, visit http://www.evernote.com/ and click on the YouTube video at the bottom. Enjoy your new more organized clutter!!