My 50 Cents

31 Oct 2011

What Camera Should I Buy?

If I had a dollar for everytime I've heard someone ask this question... I'd be buying the camera FOR you, pal :)

Here's a quick run-down of my standard answer to this question.

1. What's the job? What do you want to take pix of? See, the job decides the tool. Too many folks want to rush out and buy gear, without having a clear thought of what they want to use it for. You wouldn't think much of a workman who rushed out to buy a saw, because he hadn't asked about the job, and came back with a big, shiny mofo of a saw, to find the job, was hammering nails, now would you? Nope. If you know the answer and can verbalise it, we can move onto the next step. If not, the next paragraph is for you.

Relax... "I don't know." is a perfectly acceptable, relevant answer. It just means that you still have to find out. You do this by taking lots (THOUSANDS) of pictures with whatever crap camera you already have (without hemorraging $$). If you're committed, and curious, and have a double digit IQ, then, on the other side of THOUSANDS of pics, you'll KNOW what the pictures are, that you want to take. And we can move onto the next step.

2. This is the next step. More awkward-ness. You don't buy a camera to take certain kinds of pics. You buy a lens to take certain types of pics. If seascapes or landscapes with huge sweeping skies are your thing, an ultra-wide 10-20mm will do the job. Desperately want to shoot birds and wildlife? That 150-500 is looking REAL good. Weddings, barmies and such-like? 24-70 f2.8 is the ticket. Some hot models on infinity white? 70-200 f2.8 coming right up. Need versatility, cos you love sport, portrait, landscape? There's an 18-250 in your future. Here's where the "take THOUSANDS of photo's" comes in handy. Again. You will have seen thousands of other photo's in the same time, and wondered how they were made, and what lens the photog used. And you would have asked, and peeked at the EXIF, and compared. So these lens numbers will not look like hieroglyphics to you. They'll be like old friends. Bob can fix cars, but Jane can knit. George fixes my computer, but Sue is a dentist. Understand? Good. Moving on....

3. Here it is. The last bit. The camera. I'm going to tell you which camera to buy... Really? It actually matters SO much less than you think. Anything on the market today is pretty damn awesome, and you've got that REALLY important bit in your hand already, the lens. So, buy the least camera that you can hang of the back of that beautiful glass, that has anything more than 6 megapixels, doesn't offend your hand everytime you pick it up, and can get the job done.

That's my advice. That's my 50 cents... :)

23 Jul 2011

Really simple Italian Country Vegetable soup

I used to love this as a child, but then I somehow managed to never have it for waaaaay too many years. Couple weeks back, at a Content Strategy talk (with dinner, obvs...), it came into my life again. Started making it for myself. It is TEH AWESOME. And last night when I bought veggies to make it, they (Spar) only had a butternut/sweet potato mix. So I figured, live dangerously, right? What a treat, came out all smokey and lekka. Here's the deal, it's dead simple, takes about an hour. Little extra if you have it, doesn't hurt at all :)

600g Soup chopped veg mix (this time it was Butternut/Sweet Potato, but normally I use the Carrot/Celery standard one.

Tin of chopped tomatos (Pick n Pay NoName brand)

Two stock cubes (I use about a 3-litre pot, I think)

Salt and Pepper

Bit of Olive Oil

Water (duh)

Heat pot a little, add oil.

Toss in the veg and stir fry a little.

Add tomato's and crush the stock cubes into the pot

Add enough hot tap water to pretty much fill the pot.

Add Salt and Pepper to taste (I add ALOT of salt, but that's how I like it. And my blood pressure is 120/70, so...)

Cover and let it bubble away for an hour to 90 mins.

Top up with boiling water if needed.

Serve with rustic bread, or even that Cheese and Onion bread that Spar makes

Lekka eet, nê :)

18 Jul 2011

So. I tried Windows Phone 7.

I've been excited by WP7 since I first saw it. In my opinion, it's the first REALLY innovative UI since the original iPhone. And recently, I saw the Windows 8 demo video, which really perked me up. This is some sexy thinking from Microsoft, yo.

I tried 2 different ROM's, the first being a 7.392 version of NoDo, by a chef named YukiXDA, and then the second, the official Dark Forces Green Mango 7.592 version. Both installed and ran perfectly.

Huge downside, was, cos they're both hacked ROM's, the activation process didn't go smoothly. To access the and use the MarketPlace (cos you want to try Mo Tweets etc) and Zune, you'll need to login with your Windows Live ID. No problem. Um, no. The ID is cool, but there was some obscure problem and you'll need to call phone support and get a 25-digit code and yada, yada. All good, I get it. Socially engineer a MS Support Tech. Sport, right? So, quick, Google the number for Microsoft Phone support in South Africa. Yeah, Not.So.Easy, eh? Choose any one of the multitude of numbers/options/possibles/probables, deal with the 75-option (of which none REALLY apply) IVR, and then wait 45 minutes, listen to how busy they are. FTS. I'll do Twitter on the mobile site.

All of this would have been less galling, if the XDA forums hadn't been quite as full of people saying, "Yeah, when they finally speak to you, they'll give you a code, that works, no problem, no questions." So, it's not even a real barrier to people hacking the OS, it's just a fuck-around. Security theatre. Actually, Microsoft (with lessons learnt from the Kinnect saga, no doubt) is quite cool (on the down-low, anyway) with the hacking community. I don't think this stupidity with phone support is malicious, I just think it's cultural. They don't have a culture of moving stuff out of their customer's way.

So, having used WP7 as a daily runner for just over a week, what do I think?

I think if anyone else had come up with this UI, say a year, two years ago? The boys at Apple and Google would be having shit-fits, and losing market-share hand.over.fist. It is SLICK and SMART. And pretty. No wait, make that elegant. Stylish. You've seen the difference between Google Reader and Helvetireader? That.

As a developer (and as a user), I absolutely LOVE the elegant simplicity of the carousel construct (with as many facets to the carousel as you need), which is at the heart of the Hub idea. Swipe, swipe, swipe. Wrap-around. Vari-rate title scolling. Responsive. Beautiful. I love the tiles. Feedback about what's behind the tile. Regular. Consistent. No crazed-12-year-old-crackhead-with-crayons art.

Gmail that actually looks Gwyneth Paltrow, not Britney. Sophisticated. A great off-the-shelf keyboard. Apple, get over here, look at this! The people Hub, that smoothly shows contact list (with alpha dividers, and a search, but sadly, sans a sane way to zip through a long list), new photos from contacts (Facebook, Google) and status updates from friends (Facebook). But it doesn't feel like Facebook, and has MINIMAL branding. It's smooth and slick, and gorgeous.

Those ads? "Get in, get out, get on with your life!"... Those. That. Yes, please.

Such a pity. Such a waste. Cos, despite how much I actually like the product, and I do, (Confession: If I could get around the issues with the activation, and the camera: worst pic-quality ever. Hacked from another handset and camera hardware, bygones, this OS would still be on my HD2) I have absolutely no doubt it will fail. It's a day late, not a dollar short, but it's carrying the Windows Mobile/Microsoft monolith baggage. It's a Ferrari 599, with a roof-rack full of poor-people luggage, and a back-seat full of the ugly sisters. With chickens. And PC from the Apple ads.

And that's a tragedy. That's my 50 cents.

15 Jun 2011

Shooting a lunar eclipse

This is probably too little, too late, but here goes anyway..

Here are a couple of things I've learned from a gazillion attempts at shooting the moon with a consumer-grade DSLR

1. Tripod. Make sure it's solid. Hang a bag from the bottom center to help it. I like to lower the tripod a little and use a chair. Makes it more solid, and it's going to be a while.

2. Use as much glass as you have. 300 will do, 400, 500 all better. If you have a 2x converter, get it out, and clean it up.

3. Shoot in shutter priority. Keep the shutter speed up. The moon moves surprisingly fast, across a multi-megapixel sensor. The maths would take a while to dredge up, but stay above 1/125, you'll be ok.

4. Shoot at the natural ISO of the sensor. Most Nikons are 200, most Canon's are 100. No need for noise reduction. Do that in post.

5. Adjust for exposure using the exposure compensation. The moon is very bright, and it'll change a lot, so you'll need to tweak ... You'll want to underexpose the moon quite a lot to be able to see the detail. If you run out of light during the dark part of the eclipse, adjust ISO up rather than shutter speed.

6. Use auto-focus, but get it focussed before each shot, and then switch to manual (little lever, foot of lens right) so it doesn't try to focus again when you press the button. Use single point (center) focus point, and move off center so that the upper or lower limb bisects the focus rectangle. Remember to switch back to AF between shots.

7. Use the 10sec shutter timer to shoot, so the rig has time to steady after you press the shutter release.

I think that's about 50 cents worth. Good luck!

23 May 2011

Chicks dig the Nook?

This is very, very interesting.

Not sure the players have it ALL straight yet (explain that inamo) but this may be the tip of the understanding iceberg, that all the old-media giants have been thrashing about searching for. See, Rodale (and Barnes & Noble and NYT) is selling this as a "Women » Nook colour" tie-up, but I think they missed the bigger point.This is "Need » Solution" tie-up.

The fact that the people with the need, are women, is not the important bit. That Rodale has stumbled upon a body of readers, invested in their content is important. It's a sub-section of online and/or tech-savvy users, that has a want/need to read the content, and enough green-conscience/awareness, not to want to do it on dead-trees. Yes?

That they (B&N, Rodale) have managed (surprising themselves, apparently) to stumble on a solution for this demographic, is important. Sales better than the iPad? YES! Half the price, half the weight, half the complexity.

SHE WANTS TO READ, NOT POSE WITH A TECH GADGET!

This is a crumb (or at least the start of a bread-crumb trail) of how this stuff works.

ARE YOU LISTENING, RUPERT?

Just my 50 cents.

22 May 2011

Retweet != Endorsement != True

I've heard some (smart) folks say this a couple times now, and also seen a couple Twitter-debates on the subject.

"When I re-tweet something, it doesn't necessarily mean that I endorse/like/agree/<insert own definition here> what is said. People need to get to know me, or ask, or change their implied rules around this construct, for me."

Um, no. See, it doesn't matter what *you* want. This is a social construct and so what the g̶r̶e̶a̶t̶ u̶n̶w̶a̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ majority of people understand around it's usage, *is* what you get to deal with. What is understood, is what is heard. You can start choosing to call green items, blue, until you're well, blue in the face. People aren't going to create a special set of rules for you, and remember to apply them when you utter forth. Note I'm not saying you can't *do* it. That, of course, is your good right. Just that you should not expect any kind of success with the venture.

Gorrit? Re-tweet it, with no annotation, and we'll think you like it/agree with it/want us to look, cos it's cool.

Just as "of course", is the fact that it's easy to fix:

RT "blah-blah-blah" « This is crap/batshit insane/interesting/best thing since sliced bread

Simple, eh?

That's my 50 cents.

18 May 2011

The Microsoft and Skype thang

If you asked me last week what I thought, I would have simply said:
"With Facebook and Google sniffing around, they couldn't afford NOT to buy Skype. The cost in lost relevancy was simply too high. And compared to *that*, $8.5 billion was a good deal."
(and did, more than once...)

That's still true, in my head anyway, but I've seen some thinking this week, that suggests that Team Balmer are "quietly preparing for war with mobile carriers."
Fits nicely together, yeah? But, for me anyway, I can't help but think, that there's a credibility gap. I can't actually believe they have the game to have made this go-to-the-head-of-the-class leap right now. I honestly think they're being led by circumstance, rather than brilliantly and quietly orchestrating this game-changing coup.

We'll see.

18 Mar 2011

The evil which is Adobe Flash

"More choice is not better if all your choices are shit, and it can even have negative value if all those choices block the development of alternatives. Flash video is a good example. It needs to die ASAP, since it has no function *whatsoever* besides allowing to layer some DRM on a video stream, but it *does* run like crap on many devices that are perfectly capable of playing perfectly smooth 720p video. As long as people keep defending Flash video as if it were a good thing, and hating on better alternatives, we will never get rid of the stupidity of playing video through a terribly inefficient plugin developed by a company that can't keep up with all the developments in hardware and OS's. Simple as that."

~ d_range

What he said.

The original comment is here.

13 Feb 2011

Camera for sale.

I have a very nice condition Nikon F65 35mm film DSLR and some lenses for sale:

Here's a link to the product page on the Nikon USA site, and here's a link to a review by one of the most respected Nikon experts around. No, NOT Ken Rockwell... :)

The camera comes the original old-style Nikon strap (grey rather than the new black), and two rolls of Fujicolor Superia ISO 200, 24-exposure film.

There are two lenses. A Nikkor 28-100mm f3.5-5.6 G-series, with Kenko UV filter and original lenscap, and a Nikkor 70-300mm f4-5.6 G-series, with Hoya UV filter and original lenscap. Both lenses are clean and clear and bright.

No reasonable offer with be ridiculed. Reasonable, supervised try-before-you-buy can be arranged. (bring your film, shoot a couple, you get film developed, decide).

Hit me up on Twitter or at andre@andreinafrica.com. Ta.

5 Feb 2011

Bubba. Shopperhelper extraordinaire.

I see the parking-guard paradigm is spreading to other areas of my life. Y'know, the scenario, where you've been driving (licensed) for over 30 years, but you need some hobo without a license, directing you to park in a simple drive-in-drive-out bay. OK, I'm not stupid. I get that it's legalised (kinda) begging. Still irks the crap out of me.

Now I see it's spreading to my local bottle-store. Walk in and some BEEEG shopperhelperassistantgangstarappa, instantly falls into step with me, sporting a huge, cheesy, dumbass grin. Bubba. Jailcell. Getting my picture? The exchange goes like this:

"Mornings, mornings...Can I helps you, sir?"

"Um, no, that's cool thanks. It's a bottle-store. I have it figured out."

Straight up? I'm still deciding what I want to take to drink at @pinkhairgirl's #koos shindig. I want to kinda browse and let my fancy decide. Can't do that if Bubba's hovering. And by hover, I mean TOWER. Big sukkah. And he's not taking no for an answer.

I give the beer-fridge the tiniest of glances, and dude's IN there.

"What would you like???"

"Oh hell, I don't know, Let me think about it..." and I step firmly away.

Surprise. He has bigger steps. And seems to be able to compute exactly which bottle and shelf I'm looking at, by staring intently at my face and eyes. Creeping-me-the-fuck-out.

We dance for a second or two, and it dawns on me. Not-going-to-win-here.Cut-losses.Strategic-withdrawal-best-option. which I do.

"Six-pack of Heineken, thanks..."

Takes him a moment or two, to GPS reference my chosen refreshing beverage, and I wonder how the if-then-else goes in his head, between cans or dumpies... Whatever. He makes the right branch in the 50/50 lotto, and carries my goodies to the till, with me trotting in tow.

"Will that be all?"

I nearly burst out laughing at the obvious scripted line, but it's difficult with your head tilted back to max elevation for the towering height differential. Probably a good thing. I'm guessing not many folks laugh to Bubba's face. Not twice, anyway.

"No. Thanks. I'm good."

You'd think that would cue poignant goodbyes and a step away, yes? Nope. Up-close-and-personal.

Nervously, I pony up for the beer, grab same and get-the-fuck-outta-dodge.

So, all I have to ask is: Seriously, mister/madam bottle-store ownermanager? Seriously?

I'm voting with my feet and my ronts. Good luck with Bubba.