Photography Chat

jrista

12:44 AM

ooh, finally got PhotoSE business cards.

They are NICE!

cabbey

@jrista pix?

jrista

yeah, I'll take some when I get a chance

wow...no nominees yet?

Tom Wijsman

1:32 AM

Stack Overflow Blog: Farewell

Posted by Joel Spolsky on February 6th, 2012

Stack Exchange co-founder Jeff Atwood announced that he is leaving the company to spend more time with his family, including his twin daughters Maisie Jane (5lb2oz) and June Adeline (5lb 7oz) who celebrated their 0th birthday (and joined Twitter) last Friday, to the great joy of their parents.

It has been a great honor for all of us to have worked with Jeff over the last four years as Stack Exchange grew from absolutely nothing to a world-changing resource with over 30 million monthly visitors.

When I first met Jeff, I told him that when Stack Overflow was built, it would become a standard part …

jrista

@TomWijsman wow...

Tom Wijsman

@jrista: Congrats on receiving business cards. :)

jrista

Thanks. :) They are really nice.

I've long thought about getting some of those half-height cards from moo...was never sure how the quality would be, though.

I am probably going to order some half-height ones soon, now that I know they'll be stellar.

ShutterBug

6:23 AM

@jrista may be I should apply ;)

though I have a very low rep :(

ShutterBug

6:40 AM

someones selling a 17-35mm f/2.8 L in about 470$... what do you think? worth it? Please note that this is 17-35mm/2.8 not the famous 16-35mm/2.8

jrista

@ShutterBug only need 300

dpollitt

2:57 PM

Nice jab at Photo.SE here: meta.smugmug.stackexchange.com/questions/61/…

@jrista Moo has some pretty awesome product. I've always been happy.

@jrista Aren't you going to throw your name in the hat? Or are you staying on? How about @mattdm? Where is he at!?

rfusca

3:12 PM

@jrista its for adding a mod, not replacing

@dpollitt well, to each their own

dpollitt

3:44 PM

yea true

EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM - Mouth watering....EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM ahhhh Im going to go broke.

rfusca

@dpollitt lol

nikon's D800 came out yesterday

dpollitt

blah

rfusca

its the same thing for a Canon user if the 5D III came out

dpollitt

a 28mm lens with IS

now THAT is exciting

it is just f/2.8.. but it is still pretty cool i think

I wish the 24-70 had IS

That would be killer

rfusca

lol

dpollitt

3:57 PM

36.3MP D800? really? Reall!?

rfusca

really

They're also selling a D800E without the AA filter

dpollitt

cant wait to see what that does to my storage solutions

that will be interesting

wonder what kind of lenses will actually matter enough not to need the filter

rfusca

shrug who knows

cabbey

@jrista ah, traditionals from moo...yeah, they're great cards.

jrista

6:26 PM

@rfusca yes, I know that. I was saying the reputation requirement was only 300.

@dpollitt hmm, I can't seem to get in, even though I was a committer. I can't find my email either.

rfusca

ic

jrista

what exactly did the smugmug guys say about us?

rfusca

@jrista I don't use the Photo SE as much as I used to (just haven't had the time to indulge that passion), but I do recall being very disappointed in the tone and content of the Photo SE early on, at least from a personal-interest perspective. – Robert Cartaino♦ yesterday

cabbey

@jrista need an invite?

Laura

6:42 PM

@rfusca @jrista All he was saying is that he felt like the questions were too basic/obvious, which is happening on the SmugMug site. Not that the people weren't great, and not that Photo.SE didn't get better. Don't read too much into it.

rfusca

@Laura ya, i wasn't :) no worries

Laura

:)

rfusca

besides, I have an issue with some of our content which is why I don't answer as much anymore lol

Laura

6:58 PM

yeah, I'm still trying to come up with ways to improve/expand the content...it's a shame that people weren't terribly motivated (or maybe even aware of) the weekly topic contests

I'll probably try those again at some point, but giving it a rest for now

rfusca

@Laura ya :(

chocolate week on cooking is going well

Laura

indeed! popular topic :)

jrista

@cabbey dunno

@Laura: Our community seems to be very "light weight" compared to other SEN sites.

The Picture of the Week Themes got some early interest, but only by a very few people. Using the theme during christmas seemed to limit participants, not encourage more.

There has so far been ZERO interest in the new moderator position as well.

I'm not really sure what that means about our community...but its something I've noticed for a while now...

Laura

Yeah...that's not necessarily a bad thing. The site is continuing to grow and gain momentum on its own, it just might mean the "community" feel/connections are a little more tenuous than some of the more niche sites.

People want to come here and get answers, then leave and return to whatever else they were doing

However, I do hope someone steps up for the mod role so that you have some help

:)

jrista

7:14 PM

@Laura me too. I hoped @mattdm would, but I guess he is not interested (despite the immense amount of work he currently puts into the site anyway.)

rfusca

if he doesn't and nobody that I think would be good for it does in a few days, I will

i would just much rather him have it than I, if he's at all interested

cabbey

cabbey tries to recall if there is precedent for nominating someone else in the elections

rfusca

well, its a commitment to do the work, so I can understand why there isn't

cabbey

yeah

Laura

"In the nomination phase, any community member in good standing with more than 300 reputation may nominate themselves to be a community moderator." No nominating other people.

Rowland Shaw

7:33 PM

Have we really had no nominations yet?

rfusca

@RowlandShaw nope

not a one

Rowland Shaw

Well, we could blame you :)

rfusca

@RowlandShaw me?

Rowland Shaw

No-one else here to blame :)

rfusca

ah, ic

well then, sure, i'm to blame

Rowland Shaw

7:47 PM

:)

You could always run

After all, you've done a lot for the site to date

@Laura What happens if no-one steps up to the plate?, so to speak

rfusca

@RowlandShaw I know

34 mins ago, by rfusca

if he doesn't and nobody that I think would be good for it does in a few days, I will

Rowland Shaw

@rfusca I think you'd be good at it

rfusca

thanks :)

Rowland Shaw

There are a couple of people I'd like to see nominate themselves

you're one of them :)

rfusca

i think i'd do fine, but I think the most deserving is mattdm. if he doesn't want to, I can understand that, and I'll step up. But if he is interested, I'd rather not run against him

Rowland Shaw

7:52 PM

I'm not sure matt gets as involved as yourself

that doesn't mean that I don't think he does a lot

rfusca

i think we're involved in different areas

Rowland Shaw

true

rfusca

he's really involved in the QA and editing. I'm more involved in the community aspect of it

Rowland Shaw

I think moderations is more about the community aspect of it; take Jon Skeet on SO, for example; he's all about the answers, and actively chooses not to be a full time mod

rfusca

@RowlandShaw perhaps, perhaps

Laura

8:03 PM

@RowlandShaw umm...not much? The election comes to a stop. It's not a great sign for the community, but there aren't a huge number of problems on this site that need moderator attention, either.

Our community team probably would poke you guys a little and see if there are other problems, but it just means nobody wants to moderate the site and we don't force people into that role

jrista

Moderation should be fairly well-rounded...covering community, quality, and maintaining order.

3

Rowland Shaw

@Laura Ow!

;)

Laura

@RowlandShaw Don't worry, they won't poke with a sharp stick. Just a gentle poke to make sure you guys are alive and well ;)

jrista

8:30 PM

@rfusca We would really appreciate that! :) I think you would be excellent for our community (Well, you already ARE, but being a moderator would just make you more effective. :)

3

rfusca

@jrista thanks :)

cabbey

@jrista /me is happy to say that "maintaining order" part got a LOT easier on the stack he wears a diamond on after we ejected a certain user.

rfusca

btw newegg.com/Product/…-9SIA0MC0851858--02072012

Rowland Shaw

Seems cheap

cabbey

newegg.com/1SaleADay

probably why

rfusca

8:40 PM

sure, but if you're on a budget, it wouldn't be the worst way to haul your stuff

cabbey

/me has not seen any 3rd party vendors in newegg's "marketplace" that are well reviewed

Sean

@rfusca Looks a lot like harborfreight.com/…

rfusca

@Sean it sure does

jrista

@cabbey ?

speaking of camera carriers

does anyone know of a good bag that can carry a 500mm or 600mm lens?

does such a thing even exist? (asking because I'm thinking about renting one of those for a couple weekends for bird photography.)

cabbey

@jrista on parenting.SE we had a really bad user that was causing all kinds of bad behavior, not only being a jerk himself, but inspiring bad behavior in others.

jrista

8:49 PM

aah, yeah...gotta be careful with those types (who, ironically, are often the types who needed better parenting as a kid to start with! :o ;)

I think MathSE had a similar problem

rfusca

apparently early last year, a cooking.se high rep user just went absolutely bonkers one day

jrista

lol

cabbey

the 4th time we banned him they asked how long we could set it for... it's still ticking at the max value the db allowed

@rfusca the one that went on a delete spree of all his posts?

rfusca

@cabbey i think so

cabbey

if so, then as one of the folks he trashed my response was "don't let the door hit your arrogant arse on the way out."

rfusca

8:52 PM

lol

cabbey

hmm... one of my questions on cooking.SE is missing. :(

jrista

9:13 PM

?

dpollitt

Rista do you want an invite to the smugmug SE?

Laura

@cabbey which question was it?

Rowland Shaw

@cabbey We had one of those, too

@dpollitt Thought it was out of private beta already? Apparently not...

Laura

@RowlandShaw private beta got extended because they had some identity issues

you can still invite though

the more, the merrier :)

cabbey

@Laura I had one on browning tofu that had brought out the worst in another user, the one that went delete happy as far as I know

Rowland Shaw

9:25 PM

I've been doing my bit by voting plenty :)

jrista

@dpollitt sure

dpollitt

@jrista email?

jrista

1D X ISO Samples: web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/samples/eos1dx

dpollitt

hehe done

jrista

hah, close :P

dpollitt

9:29 PM

i dont blame you

jrista

I have to say

after comparing the D800 ISO 640 shot to the 1DX ISO 1600 shot, I'm really impressed with the 1D X.

dpollitt

yea we could use some participants that are familiar with moderation on SE - over at the smugmug beta.

jrista

Its kind of a bad shot...focus error or something, but the noise is pretty damn good at that level.

@dpollitt sure, I can offer some insight for sure

dpollitt

I am disappointed they only give examples to ISO 1600(and only 1)

Laura

@cabbey hmm...did you ask a separate tofu browning question after daniel's comment on this other question? cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/14811/…

cabbey

9:31 PM

hmm... i thought I had, but maybe that was the one

ah yeah, there's the edit comment

Rowland Shaw

@dpollitt It appears that a few people don't get the purpose

dpollitt

Yea it is rough. I don't think anyone is clear on the purpose!

cabbey

@RowlandShaw there was some... bad interpretation.. of private-beta early on.

Rowland Shaw

I saw the thread on meta re: seeding

dpollitt

It is interesting to see robert get lit up lol

I chuckle

jrista

9:34 PM

@dpollitt same...I think its a game between Canon and Nikon....Nikon only released up to ISO 640 for the D800.

dpollitt

ha nice

jrista

I think Canon is holding onto their cards, and will only play with a slight one-up in response to Nikon's moves. If Nikon releases some ISO 3200-6400 images, Canon will probably release ISO 12800-51200 images.

dpollitt

Do you have a 24-70mm right now? Are you looking at the new one?

jrista

me?

dpollitt

yes

jrista

9:36 PM

no, I don't own one. I've considered it on many occasions...

I guess I was holding out for IS

but with the Mk II now "official" without IS, I dunno

Its not necessary at 24mm, but it would be useful at 70mm

I think both Nikon and Tamron have IS versions

sometimes Canon seems confusing with their moves...outside of improved optics and closer focus, not sure what the new 24-70 really offers

dpollitt

Yea I think most people were hoping for IS

They made it in a smaller body, with a larger filter thread

What do you use as a general purpose?

Rowland Shaw

I need to get out more with my camera

Then I can justify new glass :)

dpollitt

24-105mm? 16-35 + something?

ha, that is the crux

have to actually take pictures :)

Rowland Shaw

would be excessive to just go and get the 16-40/2.8 "for a chuckle"

dpollitt

nothing is excessive :)

I keep trying to decide if I even want to keep investing in DSLRs or move to micro four thirds

It is nearly adequate for my needs

jrista

9:46 PM

@dpollitt hmm...general purpose...what is that? ;)

I guess my most-used lens is my 100-400

I shoot the moon, wildlife, and birds more than anything, and the 100-400 is pretty much always attached.

Now that I have two cameras, I tend to use the 450D for landscape with the 16-35, but I am hoping to get the 5D III when it comes out for that purpose

Rowland Shaw

I want to get a darkroom going :)

jrista

you moving back to film?

does anyone have any idea what those new super high speed CF cards will cost?

looking at some of the 90mb/s CF cards, they cost a ton...like $230 for a 32gb, $440 for a 64gb.

It scares me to think about how expensive a 300mb/s card might cost at a mere 16gb

Rowland Shaw

@jrista might be a chuckle

jrista

do you have film gear?

dpollitt

10:02 PM

You guys might like this book: amzn.com/0321812808

jrista

nothing ever dies ;)

I find it immensely humorous that people think anything ever actually does.

Like some recent questions about whether mirrorless will end DSLR, or whether Nikon's move to remove the AA filter from the D800 will end the use of AA filters everywhere, etc.

dpollitt

If you think someone using the expression "film is dead, DSLR's are dead" etc - means that they are implying it will cease to exist... we are the ones laughing at you :)

it is an implied exaggeration that the technology is past it's prime, and not mainstream any longer

jrista

well, some people literally seem to think that DSLR will be entirely replaced by mirrorless, that no one likes DSLR they are just stuck with it, and that everyone wants a super tiny, super light weight micro camera that serves all purposes.

And in general, I don't think DSLR will ever not be mainstream...it solves certain problems extremely well.

dpollitt

... coming from the one who carries around a 100-400mm as a general purpose!

I am looking at a Sun Dog outside my office window right now, pretty awesome!

jrista

@dpollitt never said it was general purpose...just my most-used lens. Nice shot, btw.

dpollitt

10:21 PM

ha, through dirty glass with my camera phone

jrista

I don't think I've ever seen a sundog in colorado.

dpollitt

Really?

I see them quite often in the winter here in Minnesota

Especially on brisk days where a bit of snow is flying around but the sun is out of course.

jrista

10:38 PM

yeah, its a high altitude ice thing, right?

we have some pretty strong jetstream flows and winds off the rockies

not sure if that changes the nature of the atmosphere or what

dpollitt

Yea I'm not sure

jrista

plus, I think sundogs are best when they are at a certain altitude above the horizon....they could probably happen in the morning here, but with the mountains, that might make them less likely around sunset

yeah

"Sundogs are made commonly of plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals in high and cold cirrus clouds or, during very cold weather, by ice crystals called diamond dust drifting in the air at low levels. These crystals act as prisms, bending the light rays passing through them with a minimum deflection of 22°. "

dpollitt

yea I usually see them at sunrise not set

ok i'm out! later

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