Testing the highslide plugin
It works but it isn’t at all elegant. It isn’t easy to use. I can’t drop in images quickly. Lots of fuss.
Lightbox testing
Noticed feature to use Lightbox effect on all images. Testing that feature.
And it works well. But I prefer Highslide. Disabled. For now.
Highslide
I somehow ended up at this website. It had this great way to display photos. I really wish gallery and more specifically the theme I use would make use of highslide. Lightbox was cool but highslide is better. Being able to move the images around is fantastic. F11 to make the thing full screen makes for a fucking cool gallery.
I won’t hold my breath. Gallery is undergoing a rewrite to version 3 with a goal of going back to the basics.
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/ is where I first saw it. And my favorite use of it. My own gallery is very similar but viewing an image full size is just a lot more work.
http://highslide.com/
More stuff I want
A netbook. Something with excellent battery life. Something with an Atom processor. Smaller is better. Higher resolution screen is better. The MSI Wind is the leading candidate (with a 6 or 9 cell battery). A GPS device for my camera. Something reasonably priced like a Geomet’r GNC-35. At 150, it is a steal. A 1.4 Kenko teleconverter. For the 300 2.8. [aquired for about 100 used from Map Camera]
Nikon K ring set. Or some extention tubes.
Nikon macro stuff. (coupling ring, reversing attachment thing, filter mount for other end of lens.)
Stuff I want
Not surprisingly, I want more stuff. I have money that I shouldn’t spend but I want more stuff.
- Nintendo DSi
- DS Slot 1 Backup card
- GPS for my camera
- a netbook: a MSI Wind or whatever. I’d prefer higher resolutions but… the HP one sucks
- Thinkpad W500 – Lenovo made a very nice upgrade to the T61p. My T60p is not hardly what I was looking for. It doesn’t have anything better than VGA out, not that I use that feature much. It doesn’t have a WUXGA screen (the new one doesn’t have a IPS screen either. Ironic that my fucking cell phone is the first and only IPS device I have ever owned.) The video card isn’t quite strong enough.
- Desktop computer and new IPS monitor
I sure will be poor after I get home. I still haven’t decided IF I will upgrade my lenses. And I sure as hell won’t really need a new Thinkpad. But the thought of my primary notebook being of such a low resolution kills me.
Mount Fuji
So I took a trip to Mt. Fuji during Obon. I’ve wanted to climb this mountain since my first trip to Japan. It was too cold and inconvenient then. This time, I was ready and prepared. That didn’t stop me from getting really really sick. I wound up staying at the hospital in Yamanashi Prefecture during my Obon trip. Two days and nights with IV for fluids and IV antibiotics. My first real stay in a hospital. Trip: ruined.
I decide to try again. This time without a travel crew as I had to take some vacation days. I fuck up majorly and wind up blowing $120 on a taxi to complete the climb. But complete it I did. It was harder than I expected. There isn’t much oxygen up there and there was no time to get acclimated so it is pretty tough. And the distance is pretty great, vertically. Got some sunrise photos. The downhill was brutal on my knees. I couldn’t go fast. Love having trekking poles.
Tokina 300 2.8
I finally have a 300 2.8. After waiting 5 or so months for another Nikon 300 2.8 AF, I decided to get a much cheaper Tokina 300 2.8. Festival season is here and I really don’t want to wait. Resale value won’t be anything but I doubt I will sell it.
First impressions: heavy as a mofo, I am trying to order a monopod now, it is a lot shorter then I expected, 60mm or something, shorter than my 70-200 2.8, the AF is fast enough, it doesn’t give me THAT much reach, 1.4 teleconverter here I come, it fits in my camera bag without removing the little stuff basket on the top, much more convenient. I’m relieved that I finally have this.
WordPress 2.6
The WP automatic updateplugin is really really nice. Beats the fuck out of manually upgrading a WP installation. I didn’t even put it off. WP2.5 made HUGE strides in usability. WP2.6 was even a month early.
WordPress upgrade – 2.5.1
After putting off many a much needed WordPress upgrades, I finally bit the bullet and spent a few hours upgrading WordPress. I am now running the latest version of WP and a few of the plugins were updated automatically. That is one heck of a nice feature of the new WP. Wonder if it does that for themes… Even more useful is the new WP upgrade plugin. Makes upgrading versions a LOT easier. I will do it more often. Nothing seems to be broken.
Lightbox is broken.
Now it is fixed.
Lowepro Flipside 300
After getting the new camera toy, I realized it does not work with my default shoulder bag. This is a regular non-camera bag that I use every day that worked quite well for my D200 but does not work at all with a bigger camera. A day shooting a bit of a Setsubun festival makes it obvious that my current bags do not cut the mustard.
A trip to Bic Camera finds be wanting a Flipside 300 from Lowepro. Backpack styled. Can handle a pro DSLR with 300 2.8 attached. Has a tripod holder. Pretty much the feature set I would have requested. And it is pretty slim and compact too. The problem: 13500 yen. It costs $57 at BH Photo. A search on the Internet through Japanese websites did not show a better price than Bic.
I wound up getting it at Bic even though it was brutally expensive. This is maybe the first time I’ve just had to bite the bullet on something insanely pricey. Previously, I’ve been able to find a decent price or a different solution but I just swallowed it this time. Since there is not that much info on the Internet about this product, I plan on putting my thoughts down on ‘paper’ on this. I will be using it on a weekend trip to Yonago/Izumo and the weekend after at a work party (maybe) and the Naked Man festival here in Okayama.