This is a short review of the Qudelix-5K headphone amp/bluetooth DAC. 1 I recently wrote in a profile that listenig to music is a hobby, and it really is. I like to think have decent ears, mostly from doing live sound in college. I also have spent more money than I care to admit on headphones and headphone amps. I’m here to say you don’t have to break the bank to get an amazing…
I’ve been shooting a Leica M for many years now. I appreciate a small setup, and that includes my camera bag. For a long time, my go to bag was the Lowepro Sliplock 50 AW ( archive.org ). Back in 2009, I tried to buy a second one but they had been discontinued. 1 At some point in the intervening 15 years, the plastic clip on mine broke and I had to retire it. I’ve been searching for a…
Sleeping Poot.
I have used Apple keyboards forever, going back to whatever came with the used Power Macintosh 7600 I started college with. 1 I generally used whatever came with the computer I had. A dual processor G4, some titanium PowerBooks, etc. I’ve been using the Apple Magic Keyboards (with the number pads) at home since they came out. I tried other keyboards here and there, but generally really like…
I recently upgraded my computer and decided it was time to upgrade my monitors as well. I have been using an old 24" NEC PA241W SpectraView 1 as my main high quality monitor and 2560x1440 (WQHD) HP Z25n for the other monitor. The NEC had some hours on it. The backshell of the calibrator fell off a while ago, but I could still use until around 2020, when the NEC software stopped supporting the old…
Been a long time since I’ve posted. What can I say, work has been very, very busy. About four years ago, I outfitted this site to interact with micro.blog . It took some work, but ultimately never found a community there. While I really admired the concept of hosting everything yourself and owning all your data, it ended up not be an engaging for me. Nothing wrong with it, just didn’t…
I’ve used BBEdit for years. I think I started with version 4 sometime in college. I’m sure I used ‘borrowed’ copies until I started grad school, when I purchased my own copy circa 2001. I learned Python in it, wrote both my undergraduate thesis and my graduate dissertation, both in LaTeX, which I also learned with BBEdit. Once OS X killed Eudora, I moved to Bare…
This post is a big update to topics discussed in Inverting raw scans and Thoughts on color negative scanning . For B&W, see the companion article B&W film scan processing . I no longer scan with my Nikon Coolscan V. I now use a Sony A7rII on a copy stand to make ‘camera’ scans. For processing the resulting photos, I use Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and Photoshop (PS). My PS actions are…
This post is somewhat of an update to Scanning B&W negatives with Vuescan . For color negatives, see the companion article Color film scan processing . I no longer scan with my Nikon Coolscan V. I now use a Sony A7rII on a copy stand to make ‘camera’ scans. For processing the resulting photos, I use Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and Photoshop (PS). My PS actions are available here . 1 Step 1…
This will be a shortish review of the Leica M 90mm Summicron, the pre-ASPH version, sometimes referred to as version III or the E55, model number 11136. 90mm is a classic portrait length, though it can be challenging to frame on a rangefinder (small frame lines) and focus at large aperture (rangefinder accuracy). It’s still a useful focal length to have around. This is big and heavy for an M…
My only ‘real’ tripod is the little Leica tabletop tripod . Not cheap, but consistently gets great reviews as one of the better table top tripods. The design has barely changed for decades, so one can pick it up relatively cheap used. I bought mine ten years ago, and as I also needed a small ballhead to level the camera, I also bought a little Novoflex ballhead. Leica makes one as…
About a year and a half ago, I finally broke down and purchased the Zeiss C Sonnar T* 1.5/50mm ZM . I don’t know why. I had been intrigued by it for years, but questioned how much I’d use it when I already had the wonderful Leica Summilux-M 50mm ASPH . I also have a classic Sonnar design in the Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-S 50/1.4 LTM lens, so why spend more money for a remake? Well, the…
I have a lot of music that I’ve ripped myself. Not the massive collection that some people have, but reasonably well organized and tagged music going way back to the initial versions of iTunes 1 . Right now, I’m at about 1,300 albums and 17,000 songs. I’ve never really had any issues with iTunes, and while I’ve had to do a few workarounds over the years to get my music to…
Pretty good tips on science writing, or any kind of writing. Novelist Cormac McCarthy’s tips on how to write a great science paper 125px permalink
Below is a listing of lenses that I’ve owned with links to photos that I’ve taken with them and uploaded on flickr. Lenses that I have written up also have links to the article. I do not currently own all of these lenses and will likely never write up my thoughts about all of them. Leica M mount Konica Hexanon 90mm f2.8 Leica Super-Elmar-M 21mm ASPH Leica Summicron-M 28mm ASPH (…