PhotoPlus Expo 2018

some dude with the D5 and 800mm

seems like i can just upload HEIC file format, wonder if Google just changed it to JPEG or not.  Oh well it "works"

Another year, another PhotoPlus Expo.

The show just got a little smaller each year.  It's is gradual but you can feel it.

Nikon this year gave out its Z launch T-shirt.  I went on the third day and L was gone.  I got an XL but sadly I dropped it.  So in the end I just got a medium.

Nikon, Canon and SONY pretty much took up all the space.

Nikon took a page from Apple resale.  The cameras and lens were just on a bench maned on one or two Nikon staffers.  Gone were the "treasure island" kind of setup where cameras and lenses were behind and under the counter and manned by a team of staffers and were made available upon request.

I got to play with some Z camera and the 24-70 f/4.  Overall I wasn't too excited.  I hand-held a 300mm f/2.8 which was like exceptionally heavy.  This is the kind of lens that I don't think it's practical for how and what I shoot even I have the money.  If I don't need to walk around then maybe it works.  I also played with the D5 and 800mm, that's right 800mm.  For what I have and shoot, I still prefer the SLR kind of cameras.  Between a D5 or D850 and a Z7, I have no doubt want a D5 or D850.  All of my AF-D lenses or older would become manual focus.  And I wonder if my AI or AIS lenses can do matrix metering or not on the Z body.  I think some people may prefer to use native Z lenses anyway.  I am a hoarder and I like my old lenses.  I have not sold any one of my old lenses.

I briefly played with some SONY model and used the eye focusing.  It was pretty good.

I also quite liked the Fuji XT-3 with the motor drive or sorry the grip.  It was really a nice compact camera.  I got to try it with the 200mm f/2.

Kapkur Anamorphic

I have only knew three anamorphic phone adapters until yesterday.  They are from Moondog labs, Beastgrip Pro and Moment.  Moondog labs should be the first one who made those and consistently stocked them,  with accessories like filter adapters no less.  Moment and Kapkur use a dedicated case for attaching the lens.  Moondog provides different models for different phones and a version with 37mm thread, and another with 12.5mm thread to attach to a phone case for newer phones.  Beastgrip provides a version with 37mm that attaches to the Beastgrip pro.  The question is which method provides the best alignment consistently, or does it matter.  I tend to think the custom case provides the best attachment and alignment consistently.  Once the phone is dressed in the case you just need to screw on the anamorphic adapter, i.e. the lens.  There is no guesswork to any vertical or horizontal alignment to play with.

I was at the PhotoPlus Expo yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised to see Kapkur offers anamorphic adapter.  I tried it on for 8 seconds.  I guess it's not bad.

I have no reference of course and I am surprised there isn't any comparison out there among these four adapters.

With phones coming out with twin cameras and whatnot, it seems there is a trend to make a dedicated phone case to attach the lens.  And then in turn, one could just shoot like so or mount the whole setup onto another rig like a Beastgrip to further add shooting features to the setup.

Apple Broadcom BCM94360CD 802.11ac mini PCI-E WiFi WLAN Bluetooth 4.0 Card

This is the board, together with the adapter, I got to upgrade my Mac Pro 2008.  An eBay find from a seller called miraclelove, what a name.  It takes more than a week to reach here all the way from China.  But the items seem good quality.  The guy could use a box to better protect the item but mine survived the long distance odyssey just fine.  The cards appear brand new and in protective plastic bag, probably static proof or something.  It seems like miraclelove is a decent seller who wrote me right away when he shipped the item and emphasized in case something something happened, contact the him or the seller first.  I always appreciate an eBayer who is open to communication.

This has WiFi and BlueTooth together.

In my old 2008 Mac Pro (MacPro3,1) there are four antennae with paper flag marked 1 to 3 and one marked BT which has been attached with the BT module that came with the Mac Pro 2008 system.  I removed the old BT module and set free the antenna for later use on the new module.  I read somewhere regarding the antenna placement it says the BT antenna should be placed on the 3 position and the 3 antenna should go to the 0 position on the board.  I guess something  must have changed or this wire attachment simply is not for this card.  So the first time I did it,   the BT wasn't working.  It wasn't working at all.  It was like it didn't exist.  WiFi was great though.

The second time, I just followed what the Broadcom card says and attached the antenna accordingly with the BT antenna attached to the 0 position on the board, and bang, it worked.

WiFi is very strong, it's the AC standard.  BlueTooth I can't really tell as my attached devices aren't all that new.  The BT magic keyboard is the second iteration that uses two AA batteries.

I have to say with poor eyesight it's a miracle that I can attach the four antennae, it's just very very difficult to feel your way to the connector.  Using the wireless magic keyboard is such a breeze.  Got to pay attention not to let any battery leak to the battery compartment though.

iPhone Non Excitement

I think since iPhone 6 the excitement has been so much subdued.  And with every new iPhone coming out of the pipeline there are following reports saying the sales are faltering.  I can't say I am surprised.

I long for the day there was only one or two models of the iPhones.  I just now went to Apple's site, where I picked see all the iPhone models; there are all together thirteen ranging from iPhone SE to iPhone Xs Max.  Though Apple and at least T-Mobile online stores only carry from iPhone 7 and up, that's eight models with different color, memory size to choose from.  The choices are confusing.

If you don't have any eye problem like presbyopia, I wouldn't choose the Plus models (unless it weight almost the same as the iPhone 6).  From my experience with the 8 Plus I find the model just too heavy.  I like the iPhone SE but then the screen is just too small.  The iPhone 6 seems to be a good compromise between screen size and weight; and it's much lighter in my hand than the 8 Plus.  I wonder if all the Plus models are that heavy.  I suspect that's part of the reason I got all these shoulder and neck pains.

MacBook Pro 2012

Once upon a time I owned a 12" iBook but then the screen died and I felt like I got burned.

Then in October 2014, I ordered a refurbished 2012 15" MBP directly from Apple.  My research says that that is the last MBP model that allows user upgrades.  My experience is I upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 16GB and have removed the SuperDrive for another hard drive storage.  For the boot drive, I upgraded the stock 500GB 5400rpm hard drive to a SSD.  I have since then upgraded the SSD from 240GB to 480GB and have swapped in new harddrive when the existing one was full a few times.

It's not retina display but I am OK with that.  It can drive an external display at 2560x1080 at the same time.

The keyboard gives me no problem and neither is the trackpad.  I like the keyboard and the trackpad right where they are.  I mean the trackpad is right there I don't like to move my hand to grab the mouse for a walk.  For a desktop I opt for the keyboard and trackpad combo as well.  I never like the mouse that much.

Fast forward to the current 2018 MacBook or MBP.  I am somewhat leery of their butterfly keyboard.  Even the latest third iteration of that design.  Apple just started selling the 2018 models refurbished.

Officially, the 2012 MBP is the last MBP hardware that Mojave supports, anything older is not supported.  So my 2012 lives another year or two.

Levi's Trucker x Filson Jacket

I own one of them.
I always find it unbreathable and smell a bit funny as it's made of waxed tin cloth.  If you live in a dry locale with low humidity it would be comfortable.  I am always partial to pure breathable cotton.  No matter what the tag says on those high tag fabrics, or this low tech waxed fabrics, I always find them somewhat waterproof but definitely not breathable.  And I hate it.  I think one better off just wearing the good old wool.  The only celebrities I saw or left an indelible impression with this piece of garment is the late Anthony Bourdain and the very much alive Jake Gallenhaal.

iPhone 6 DIY fixed

The iPhone 6 has been broken for more than a year.  I didn't get the chance to fix it or I didn't feel compelled to fix it until just a few days ago.

There are no shortage of information out there teaching you how to fix the screen or whatever that ails your phone.

I think the number one most often fix is the screen.  By screen it means the front facing glass or the top shell.  As the top shell is more than just a piece of glass.  Although as a consumer and when you talk to the repair shop, you'd like to say it's just a shattered screen of glass as if . . . .  No, it's not just a piece of glass.

I was going to spend from $15 to $70 just for the top shell.  The takeaway is you got what you paid for and fortunately there are some good parts out there just as there are some that deviate quite substantially from Apple's specifications.  You just have to manage your expectation accordingly hoping that the vendor gives the right information.  If the vendor is selling an aftermarket part at $15, an aftermarket premium at $20 and an OEM part for $50 for example, you better believe the aftermarket $15 is just passable, the color maybe off, the touch response is not so great and the shell can barely put back in.

In the end, I got something like $31 for the shell glass and digitizer included it's rated S+, the vendor's way of saying very very good; I have to transfer the small little parts from the broken shell to the new one, mainly the fingerprint biometric home button at the bottom, the little front camera, proximity sensor ...  Buying just the glass is cheaper but then you have to really clean up the shattered shards of glass from the old one before you have to glue the new one back on.  Most of the video I watched didn't take that route.  So to recap, you have about three options, just change the glass; change with a new assembly but transfer old small parts from old shell; or buy a full assembly including small parts.  Note that the old original biometric home button works only with that phone any new home button won't do the fingerprint authentication--that's why you need to transfer the home button from the old to the new if you want fingerprint authentication to work.  Any new non original home button you bought would only act as home button but can't do the fingerprint biometrics authentication.

Having the right tools is crucial.  I can't tell you how many times I stripped the screws before I bit the bullet and bought something just a bit better.

With presbyopia it's very hard for me to see and handle those 00 Philips screws and ribbon connectors.

It took me two goes of take apart and put back together to get everything work.  The first time the headphone jack was not working.  Then later I found out neither was the earpiece at the top of the shell, that's no sound coming out.  I you Google that, you will find all the usual so called fix, clean the lint and dirt out of that headphone jack which didn't help in my case, or use an original Apple headphone.  Or worse case scenario, buy the headphone jack replacement which would have set me back at least another week or so.  I decided it's probably some bad connection, it's just a blind faith on the parts and no faith on my eyesight and assembly skill.  I tend to blame myself if something doesn't work.

My hunch was right.  The second time around the headphone jack works and so is the earpiece at the top.

The battery removal was a pain.  The glue was super strong.

All said and done, I waited for three days and spent close to $60 for parts: top assembly, new battery, and two sticky strips.  If a repair shop asked for $100 or less for the same repair, just give the money to them.

Solovair, Dr Martens and Lifestyle

Lifestyle is just a dirty word, it has no credibility.  It's a turn-off.  Please remove any lifestyle collection, there shouldn't be such a thing called lifestyle.

A chance encounter on old men hangout that's FB, I came across Solovair.

Just don't go to the site that's run for the US market.

The British one is better for at least one reason.  It gives the lengths of different lasts that are used to make the shoes and boots.  I have never seen something like that.  I think this is something painfully obvious but nobody is doing it.

Again, giving the size of the last doesn't guarantee a good fit but it's indefinitely better than just a number or conversion from UK sizing to US sizing.

iPhone 6 resurrection

I have an iPhone 6 which is not functioning well.  Mainly two issues.
The screen is cracked.  It cracked lengthwise.
It doesn't charge that well or hold a charge that well.

My solution:
Order a display and a battery replacement.

I ordered the S+ rated display replacement which supposedly is very close to the OEM from Apple but I will be the judge.  I hope the new battery will fix any battery charging issue it has.

2012 15" MacBook Pro Power Button and Keyboard malfunction.

I opened and closed, not the lid, the 2012 15" MacBook Pro half a dozen times to change out the RAM modules and to add and replace the harddrives.  I thought I am experienced not to mess anything up

Long story short, this time around when I close everything, both the keyboard the the power button acted funny, very iffy and some of the keys don't work or work intermittently and they work or don't work the next time I reboot or open and close the back cover.

I went to panic mode as this is my beloved MBP, I spent countless hours and take pride in upgrading it--quote possibility the last MBP that can be upgraded or fixed by the users.

In the end thanks to YouTube, I finally figured out what I did wrong inadvertently.

Instead of removing the battery connection like I should be before any operation, I messed up the keyboard connection.  Even the keyboard connection is protected with a metal guard with two screws.  When I finally figured that out I realized the lock lever was in the open position instead of the locked position and hence the iffy performance of the keyboard,  I locked it down and bingo all the keys work and so is the power button.

I thought it was messed up by some magnet as I also for a few seconds left the ifixit tool kit on the logic board . . . even I don't believe that's the cause but then you never know for sure.  Then I thought maybe I messed up some of the cables, but they are actually cables for the harddrive or CD-ROM (thought I changed it to another harddrive anyway), or for the keyboard backlight.

I did so many Google searches in the end, I just I found a tear down on Youtube so I know exactly which and where is the keyboard connector.  And bingo, that was the one I messed up when I initially tried to detach the battery connector.

https://youtu.be/xAHtxNVOXZI

Best Offer and Bid

Usually Best Offer comes with Buy it Now.  Yesterday was the only time I saw Bid and Best Offer but without Buy it Now.  With Buy it Now, I know what the seller wants price wise then I "low ball" an offer to test the water as I have three offers anyway.

It's a first for me to see that Bid and Best Offer only.  With Bid you know that's the threshold price for the item.  The seller would jump off the roof and just seethe in anger if you were to offer a price even lower than the initial starting bid, actually I wonder if eBay even allows that.  I know eBay would remind you if your offer is lower than the recent sold items or something like that.  As a potential buyer you always want something for nothing or realistically for the minimum relatively speaking.  As a buyer, I look for accurate, precise detailed description of an item.  If the seller is too lazy to take a picture of the actual item, instead he just uses generic pictures and description, what does it tell about the seller, would the seller bother to resolve any issues you may have when the sales don't come through as expected?  Say for example for an Apple Magic Keyboard, there are at least four iterations of the keyboard which one are you selling?  If the seller is ignorant or too lazy or both to find out then what does it tell you about the seller.  That being said if the item price is low enough then it may not matter after all.

I don't use any software to bid and I bid the highest I would ever pay and don't regret it, OK sometimes I do but that's just life.  And I never bid early or bid often; I bid the last five or ten seconds.

MacBook Pro Trackpad Handwriting

Prior to macOS Mojave, the trackpad handwriting would never stick around for long.  It simply disappears after sleep or whenever it decides to disappear.

I have the macOS Mojave installed for two weeks and the trackpad handwriting still sits neatly on the there so in my book Mojave is a great success, it finally fixes something not a lot of people care.  I mean the fix could be incidental but hey I will take it.  Before Mojave I have seen a few threads mentioning about this annoyance on the Apple discussion forums but there aren't really
any real solution to it.  Trackpad Handwriting isn't exactly great great but I like to have that option always sitting there when I want to use it.  I prefer to use the iOS handwriting.

Lining

All my Schott jackets have some lining which are not cotton or wool.  I am not talking about the zip out linings.  The zip-out linings of my 141 are faux fur type.

What I am trying to say is for jacket lining I much prefer a smooth material, like silk or acetate type that facilitates easy putting on and off and in general all kinds of movements.  So I don't know what Schott or other manufacturers are thinking when they make jackets with cotton or wool lining.  It's not exactly a show stopper but I personally would much prefer a smooth lining.

AF-S 80-200 f/2.8

I've never owned or used this lens before.  Instead I have the AF-D version.  The AF-S is supposed to be faster.  Nikon discontinued this lens and replaced it with the AF-S 70-200 f/2.8.  I have the first version a friend of mine gave me.

If you have extra cash but not extra enough to buy the AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 then perhaps this AF-S 80-200 f/2.8 is not a bad choice at all.  If I ever break the AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 then I won't be able to replace it.

Auto focus of AF-D lenses won't work on the Z cameras with the FTZ adapter.  More reason to get the AF-S instead of the AF-D 80-200 f/2.8 lens.

Phone Number

Thirty years ago, I memorized a bunch of phone numbers.  I still remember my home number from way back when my family got a rotary phone.

Now, I don't even remember my own cell number.  I keep the post-it the T-Mobile sales left me with my own phone number written on it.  It lost its stickiness so I guess I really have to commit the number in my memory.

Mojave on MacPro3,1

The power splitter came.

Chucked the SSD into the drive bay.  I didn't bother to get any adapter at all.  I figure the clipped on power and data cables would "secure" the SSD no problem.  I just saved myself a couple of days and $10.  I formatted the SSD and proceeded to install Mojave.  It went on no problem.

The on board Bluetooth is iffy.  I guess I need to upgrade that.
For internet connection, I just share the MacBook Pro using a RJ45 cable.  It works pretty well.  The MacPro doesn't come with one though I am going to get one comes this Saturday.

The graphics is a tiny bit sub optimal.  This has been documented on the patch documentation.  The windows title bar doesn't have transparency.  So it's expected.  When I use Safari the graphics shortcoming becomes more apparent; some buttons on webpages would appear smeared when navigating.  The Safari tabs also would smear when mouse over.  This happens in day or night mode regardless.  Strange enough, it doesn't exhibit this behavior on Chrome.  When I wanted to do a Command-Shift-5 to capture that smear, the screen refreshes and it's gone.

I am using ancient USB keyboard.  It's just not any USB keyboard but a DELL by Microsoft keyboard with number pad and all the special buttons for web browsing which I have no use on a Mac environment.  It's raised and supposed to be ergonomic.  But it's just way too big for the desk..  The mouse is an optical one with a click wheel which doesn't work on scrolling.  Oh well.

So I am think of getting

Magic Keyboard
Magic Mouse
WiFi and Bluetooth for Airdrop and Handoff
One or two 4TB of HDD

Liongate

As far as I know, Liongate is really good at encrypting or obfuscating its DVDs.

First Time Boot up the 2008 MacPro3,1

Here are the updates:-

I got the dosdude1 program to patch the Apple installer.

I downloaded the Mojave installer from Apple and even verified good by the patcher program.  But when it actually ran it complained can't mount.  I reformatted the USB thumb drive one more time, downloaded the patcher program one more time but still no go.  I don't find lots of information other than you must have the wrong install program (from Apple?) or you need another 16GB USB thumb drive.  Oh no!  OK, so I tried using the patcher's program utility to download the mojave again, instead from Apple, I don't know where it was from but worth a try.  This was like the last resort as it would take some 30 minutes to download.  Hey this time it worked.  So it's a mystery to me.  As the original mojave is from Apple and checked ok even by the patcher program why it failed I don't know.

So the patcher program created this modified installer which doesn't discriminate against old hardware or something something so my MacPro3,1 from early 2008 can install mojave.

I checked the installers by eyeballing them they look the same to me.

My build isn't quite ready as I am still waiting for the power cable splitter to power the STA SSD which is going to be installed on the optical drive bay.  It doesn't come with any drive at all.  So I have no way of booting it up from any existing old OS.

Anyway, I tried to boot from the USB drive.  And the MP came alive!  Since the SSD is not ready so I can't really install mojave from scratch.  The odd thing is I have another 3.5" HDD in the 2nd bay, I wonder why it can't see it.  I hope I can install and boot from the lower bay of the 5.25" optical drive bay, that's the goal.

I guess I need to wait till Tuesday to find out.

Screwdriver Set

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  Or in my case, if you have one screwdriver, all the screws look the same.

Most of the time this doesn't work.

I keep learning this the hard way.  I don't know how many times I screwed up because of using the wrong tool, to be exact, some dollar shop screwdriver, the wrong size one to unscrew and screw.  Needless to say, the experience has been frustrating and counter productive.

I think I must have told myself to buy a nice set of precision screwdrivers a dozen times.  But that never happened until today.

I have checked out Wiha and Wera.  Since I need the good ones.  Alas, the price isn't all too bad but they just don't have the right pieces in one set.  In the end, after spending the entire day looking, I opt for the ifixit set for a whopping $59.99.  I was just too tired to look any further.

I don't open my computers too often as I don't do this for a living.  I do this like once a year when I need to replace the harddrive when it runs out of space.  A few years from now I guess chances are all the old upgradable Macs would be too outdated to mess with and all repairs or upgrades would be impossible except to the real professionals.  I wonder what will happen to OWC or Macsales or other Mac parts resellers.

For the foreseeable future I think I will still be upgrading 2 or 3 Macs.

https blogspot

I wonder why blogspot doesn't automatically goes https instead it allows http.

It's just weird something like this from Google.

Of course, I don't discount I don't know what I am doing or talking.

UPDATE:
Well, it's under basic setting, https redirect.  Blogspot provides this as an option.  And I thought it's a must.  Anyway it as an option is good I suppose.  I just thought it should be by default.  Anyway.  Good enough for me.

Nikkor 20-35

This lens has to be retired for the time being.  I simply don't want to spend the money on repairing it.  I didn't bother to make the trip to the shop to let them check it out.  I predict it's anywhere from $200 to $400 to repair it.

I will stick with my Nikon 16-35 f/4 for now.

Stripped Screw

I swear I am going to get the best set of screwdrivers.

A stripped screw turns out to the the biggest hurdle for my upgrade.

Sad.

Not touching it now.

MacPro3,1

Sometimes projects find me.  Not the ones that are you know earn me any money.  But the kind that are quite fun to work with but would burn a small hole or two in my wallet.

A friend of mine gave me this giant cheese grater or otherwise known as Mac Pro.  It's a 2008 model with 32GB of RAM but no HD whatsoever.  I am not currently having lots of disposable income so I have to savage whatever parts possible to make it run again.

I need a keyboard, a wired one at least in the beginning.  I have a PS/2 keyboard ... was thinking about getting an adapter for PS/2 to USB--this is really low I know.  Then I remember I actually have a Dell Microsoft keyboard Fung gave me long time ago.

USB mouse, which I have.
Install macOS Mojave
macOS  Mojave Patcher
2.5" 240GB SSD from before

To Buy list:
A DVI male to male cable
16 GB USB thumb drive
2.5" to 3.5" adapter

To Buy Later:
WiFi and Bluetooth module
more 3.5"HD
Bluetooth keyboard
Bluetooth mouse
PCIe card for USB3 ports