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Pentax *ist DS revisit

herman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:08:24 +0000

Pentax *ist DS DSLR camera (2005) was born for manual focusing M42 lens and PK lens. It is fitted with real pentaprism providing reliable, big and bright optical viewfinder for user to perform manual focusing comfortably and quickly. The flange focal distance of M42 lens is the same as PK lens and hence there is no offset when focusing at infinity distance which is common problem for most M42 lens adapters. Better still, PK lens can mount the camera without lens adapter. One reason to use the old manual lenses is to feel the handling of old film camera and photography. The nice optical viewfinder and reflective mirror box make me feel like I am using a real Single Lens Reflect (SLR) camera. Nowadays, these two expensive pieces of precision mechanism are fading out to give way to the mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras or electronic viewfinder (EVF). A Pentax *ist DS in used market is around HK1200 now but a good condition one is hard to find. Mine is a Japanese domestic version fitted with bigger LCD which is even harder to find now.

Funny looking Fujifilm F610 DC (2003)

herman — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:26:09 +0000

The recent trend in portable DC to end the mega pixel war for better image quality is my long awaiting wish I was shouting for in hermanland.com back in 2006 when I got my F31FD which was my only choice of budget DC with well image quality at that time. Despite I have the latest F200EXR and I appreciate its faster response and higher dynamic range, I am still using F31FD for its low noise, 35mm F2.8 lens, hence faster with less distortion for portrait. The Fujifilm F series started from F10 in 2005 showing which can be achievable with the combination of Super CCD sensor and well balanced camera design among different factors. In fact, Fujifilm made some DC with Super CCD before the F series glory story started and some of them had a funny upright format which look odd by today standards. One of them is Fujifilm F610 I recently got from a retail shop for HK$800. It is brand new out of old stock and the whole package was made in Japan including even the battery. I am happy to get an extra 1G XD card for free. Following is its attraction to me:

1) Funny upright format
2) Funny dual LCD
3) Super CCD DC pre date the F series glory story
4) Can turn off the LCD and use the built-in optical viewfinder only
5) Faster lens with more portrait friendly focal length – 35mm F2.8
6) Bigger CCD size – 1/1.7
7) Aperture priority, shutter priority and full manul exposure mode

Just discovered that the upright format body of F610 is really handy for snapshot in coffee shop. Just set the timer and put the camera on the table. The view is less likely blocked by the table. Here is the years my “antique” DC were made:
F610 (2003)
F31FD (2006)
F200EXR (2009)

DELL OPTIPLEX GX620 setup

herman — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:12:41 +0000

I recently got a DELL OPTIPLEX GX620 desktop for a steal. The machine came without a hard disk and therefore I needed to install a new hard disk and Windows XP professional (English version). DELL website provides the full list of drivers, utilities and applications for download. Unfortunately, the site does not mention which are the essential one and does not provide a mapping to the actual downloaded file name. It took me some time to figure it out and following was my record for the essential one :

Chipset -Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility – R132539

The Intel CS INF package contains many different individual INFs, supporting various ICHs, various OSes, and various Intel Chipsets. It is possible that a specific platform may not need all INFs within the package.

In order to extract only the needed INFs for a given platform, please execute the following command (it is very important to run the above command on a platform on which the extracted INF files will be later installed):

setup.exe -aonly -overall

The above command will send the needed INFs to C:\Program Files\Intel\INFInst folder.

Video – Intel 82945G Express Chipset Family -R126542

Network -Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet PCI-E – R97582

Audio -Analog Devices ADI 198x Integrated Audio – R97809

System Utility – Dell Utility – R121089.EXE (not yet installed)

Fixes and enhancements

1. Changed USB driver support in Windows 2000 SP3/SP4
2. Updated USB driver support in Windows XP SP2
3. Added support for new systems

DAM concept – Folder structure

herman — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:18:10 +0000

Like any other files, the photos can be held in a folder or sub folder. I store my photos in a folder hierarchy by photo taken date

year yyyy
month mm
date yyyy-mm-dd

which matches my photo taking frequency so that photos are distributed more evenly across the whole folder hierachy. Idimager allows me to define any folder hierachy and not just provides a few folder structures for me to choose from as in some DAM software.

Thank you in various languages

herman — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Thank you, Danke schön, Gracias, Grazie, Merci, 谢谢，謝謝, ありがとうございました, 갑사함니다, ขอบคุณครับ

Protected: Welcome to Kagaroo Club

herman — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:56:07 +0000