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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 28th, 2023

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  • When we switch to DST, we "Fall Back. ". We set the clocks one hour back, at 2:00am Sunday, so basically we get an extra hour of sleep just on that night. Then we lose one when we set the clocks forward in the spring.

    To be fair, I don’t think that extra hour, once in the Fall, is used as a reason for Daylight Savings in any debates.




  • A BTU (British thermal unit) is the energy required to raise 1lb of water 1 degree Fahrenheit…which may actually be even dumber, since it’s temperature sensitive to begin with. Dumbest of all, the Brits don’t use that unit very often. The US, and, I assume, Liberia use it all the time.



  • The counter argument, and I’m not saying this is correct, is that we had electric cars over a hundred years ago:

    “Over the next few years, electric vehicles from different automakers began popping up across the U.S. New York City even had a fleet of more than 60 electric taxis. By 1900, electric cars were at their heyday, accounting for around a third of all vehicles on the road. During the next 10 years, they continued to show strong sales.”

    https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car

    If we had pursued the electric car at the same rate we pursued advances in ICE engines, perhaps they would have been better by now. They made resurgences in the 70s and 80s during the energy crisis in the west.

    Clearly burning hyrdo-carbon rich fuels was easier, but it’s hard to say how much the pursuit of fossil fuel driven vehicles and machinery was influenced by both momentum, and the manipulation and interference of the fossil fuel industry. It’s possible that we could have had electric cars and still all the of the traffic, infrastructure and urban societal issues that we do today.



  • That’s a really interesting photo. I like the way you captured some dramatic light and played with focus planes. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have over the years. This is an interest that will actually take you places and make you try things you never thought you’d do before. Have a great time finding beauty in the world and sharing it with people.





  • Sorry, all my measurements are without conversion. So yeah I’m shooting between 450-600. Mostly towards the lower end but occasionally all the way. I also think the150-500 would be a nice move but I have no experience with the Tamron as far as focus speed and stability.

    Ditto on the Sony G-master or whatever, when I see birders with one, I always wonder if they worked up to it or just bought the highest end lens they could. It has to be super hard to use that range without a gimble mount.


  • I actually took it to one MLB game and a couple farm games more to experiment and learn than anything else.

    I’m guessing as far as range, the farm stadium setup would be a decent approximation of what you’re doing. And if I wanted to get the very cool shot of a pitcher mid throw with sweat coming off the face, and the ball leaving the hand from say the waist up… yeah I would have to use pretty close to 400. But most action shots, like a slide, or home plate tag… No, more like you said, 300 ish, maybe less.

    You talked about future proofing, I don’t know if this is relevant but I can say the larger stadium makes a significant difference, but also because they don’t let me hang out with the actual press on the field.

    I do also have a feeling that at least on my APS-C , anything longer would absolutely require a monopod at least, even with the stabilization on the lens. (The 6400 doesn’t have IBIS). I don’t know if that would be practical for your purposes or setup.

    Those shots are from years ago on a HDD somewhere. I’ll see if can find any to give you an example.


  • Yeah, I hope I didn’t come off as like I was talking down, I was trying to keep the numbers and concerns in my head, and I see your first paragraph makes it clear you already understand all that.

    I have used it for sports, not as a pro, and not often, I thought it did an admirable job. I mostly use it for birds, but it really handles fast panning well in my opinion, which think translates reasonably from birds to sports.

    Now one thing I’m not necessarily trying for is the blurred background panning to give a sense of speed and motion. At least I’m not making that priority, so can’t speak to that kind of performance. But I think it should be as easily doable as most of the lenses you mentioned.


  • I assume you know this, but I believe the d5300 has a crop sensor of 1.5. So if you shoot at say 300 regularly with that you would need to shoot 450 with an a9 to get the same FOV/zoom.

    I have the Sigma 100-400 DX for my a6400 so I’m getting an equivalent FOV of 600mm. The lens is still rock solid with image stabilization, even fully hand-held. The auto focus motors are lickety-fast. It’s ~$900, and I’m thrilled with it.

    It sound like you really liked the a9, which is cool, get a body you like and are comfortable with, but you may still get more use from an APS-C than a full frame for less money. You said everything is outdoor day, and now the upscaling in PS, or Capture One, etc are so good prints from the smaller sensor don’t have to suffer.

    Well, that’s two of my particular cents, but I also would be curious what others would have to say.





  • I like cinnamon raisin bagels…with scallion and herb cream cheese. It’s sweet and savory and the contrast is as good as a super hot shower with an ice cold drink.

    Breugger’s bagels, may they rest in peace, used to have a bacon/scallion cream cheese. That was divine on cinnamon raisin bagels. I don’t know what upset people more, the scallion on a sweet substrate, or the bacon on a bagel. It doesn’t matter, if this is goy, I don’t want to be kosher.