The Austringer

View at St. Pete.

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I have owned several Canon digital cameras in the point-and-shoot through prosumer range. Something Canon has offered for a long time is the Canon Loyalty Program. This allows one to obtain a refurbished Canon digital camera at a discounted price when one trades in a Canon digital camera. Unfortunately, I’ve never had much luck finding current offerings via Canon’s website. So a little while ago, I asked on the phone what refurbished cameras are currently available and at what price. I will provide the list in a table. I wanted to collect all the ancillary information, but my life is still pretty hectic now, so I’ll put up what I have and add to it as I get time (if I get time).

To take advantage of the program, call Canon at 866-443-8002.

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I took some more photos from the stands during the game this past weekend. This time I used the Nikon D2Xs and my Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens. What the lens lacks in the reach of the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G lens I used last week it makes up for in resolution. Unfortunately, it is physically a much larger, heavier lens. Fortunately, the six-inch lens rule at the stadium is discretionary, and I hope that the gate guards I have to pass going in are lenient in their discretion on that point at future games. Otherwise, I’ll have a longish walk back to the vehicle to stash it. Parking is an issue for the Gator games.

First UF play of the game… Brantley gets sacked hard by a USF defender who found the front door wiiiiiiiiide open.

Second UF play of the game, and Pouncey’s hike goes bouncy. Things were looking a bit discouraging right there at the outset.

Don’t get too excited, that’s just Demps receiving a punt, I think.

Brantley showing his throwing form.

And Thompson showing his receiving form. Unfortunately, that one passed through his hands without stopping.

Here’s Moore going to extra effort to make a catch of a Brantley pass. The fuzziness on the left is a large USF fan standing up and obscuring part of my lens. That’s just a part of the magic of taking photos from the seats.

Moore takes in an easier pass, then turns and runs it in for six.

This would be a nice pic of Trattou running in an interception for six points but for the over-enthusiastic Gator fan a couple of rows forward of me.

Gators get another interception.

Here’s a sequence of a reception by Moore… he’s covered pretty well by the Bulls defense, but the ball is coming anyway.

And Moore is off to the races.

A Bulls defender knocks a pass away.

I think this last one is a punt reception with a fair catch called.

I did write the UF Athletic Association asking about getting a press pass for the sidelines. They said that they have already given out all the press passes for this year. OK, I said, what do I need to do to get on the waiting list for next year? I haven’t heard back on that.

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My dad, sister, brother-in-law, and I went to the University of Florida Gators versus University of Miami (Ohio) RedHawks game last Saturday. I carried along a Fujifilm J10 point-and-shoot camera and my Nikon D2Xs with a Nikkor 70-300mm f/3.5-5.6 G lens to take some photos.

We got there a bit early to try to find a parking place not too terribly far from the stadium. Mike dropped the rest of us off, and we settled down in a plaza at 1st Ave and 20th Street. There was quite the cavalcade of fans streaming through there as we waited for Mike to show up again. That included this pair of guys who were taking fandom to a whole other level.

Back in 1980-82, I’d have been one of the folks down at the sidelines taking photos for the Independent Florida Alligator. For this game, I was up in Section 13 instead, which is a ways from the field.

The game was scheduled for a noon kickoff. It was a partly cloudy day, which meant that we baked in the stands. I sweated profusely. My dad, who stayed relatively dry, says I get that from mom. There were times when the Nikon got a bit uncomfortable to touch, being all black.

I was interested to see just what sort of images I could get from the stands using a consumer-grade lens, if not a consumer-grade camera. So the remainder of the photos go some way toward demonstrating that.

Now, about the game… Football is not something I have any sort of deep knowledge about. But I’ve been going to UF Gators games for 40+ years now, so I’ve seen a bit of everything. The Gators v. RedHawks matchup was one of the weirder games that I’ve seen. What the Gators communicated to the world was a mix of messages comprising individual talent but some poor team coordination, and some unpreparedness. The RedHawks marched down the field and put three points on the board with a field goal, obviating the “Bleacher Report” prediction of a possible shutout. The Gator defense denied the RedHawks any touchdown all day, but ended up allowing four field goals.

We saw a lot of the RedHawks’ quarterback getting the pass off. Either the RedHawks are better than pundits were giving them credit for, or we UF fans have some definite rough times ahead.

And another thing we saw a lot of was UF quarterback Brantley handing the ball off to Demps. What we got was a bunch of small yardage plays and one touchdown run, IIRC.

At the far end of the field, Brantley connected with this receiver at the 5 yard line. He turned and ran it in for six points.

We were also fortunate to see a scene like the above four times in the game, IIRC. Because the defense did so well at making turnovers, we had the curious experience of seeing a Gator total yardage figure that, for much of the game, was less than the Gator score.

I think the above is my favorite photo from the game. The RedHawk coach on the sideline emotes well.

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Word was that the “House” finale that aired this past Monday was shot on a DSLR with 1080p HD video.

When the shots had deep-focus, all looked well. However, whenever there were large regions of darker bokeh, it was obvious that there was some pretty serious quantization going on. I’m not sure what needs adjustment for the video capture, but it looks like there’s still something for digicams to catch up with on regular video gear.

Now all I need is someone to tell me that, no, those scenes weren’t done on the DSLR…

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Quark Expeditions has a contest going. They are making a promotion out of sending a blogger to Antarctica on an expedition next year, and have a voting system set up so that each blogger can have people vote for their bid to go on the trip.

I found out about the whole thing a bit late, when PZ Myers on Pharyngula endorsed Grrrlscientist’s bid. So I’m in a bit of a hole at the moment in the voting. Please take a moment to go vote for my bid. You can change your vote later, if you decide to go with another blogger in the running. The voting ends September 30th, 2009.

Back around 1997, Randy Davis at Texas A&M University was putting together an Anatarctic expedition to observe the behavior of diving Weddell seals, including both physiological and bioacoustical measures of what was happening. I got an invitation to go along to assist in the research, but I had to turn that down because of my chronic ulcerative colitis. As my doctor said, though, ulcerative colitis can be cured, and my colon got removed back in 2004. (See the first messages on this blog for the gory details of going through surgery and recuperation.) So now I’m in shape where I can contemplate having an adventure, and I’d like to get the chance to find out part of what I missed due to chronic illness earlier. Please give me a hand: vote for my bid, and pass it on to people you know. And if you do, I’d be grateful to hear from you in the comments here, too.

I should point out that the contest gives the winner a two-person expedition to Antarctica. My partner for the trip is Diane J. Blackwood. Diane’s academic background is also interdisciplinary. She has a BS in zoology, another BS in electrical engineering, an MS in biomedical engineering, and a Ph.D. in wildlife and fisheries sciences. We both went through the same Ph.D. program together at Texas A&M University. Diane has a lot of research experience, from respiratory studies in infants through G-induced loss of consciousness in fighter pilots, from behavior of lekking prairie chickens and sage grouse to reaction times of whales and dolphins in hearing tests. A vote for my bid gets you, the blog reader, an additional expert perspective on the expedition.

Gearing up for Antarctica

It’s a pleasant fantasy to think about what to take along on an Antarctic expedition. One has to balance weight versus value for these sorts of trips, so the first pass will simply be to list off useful things, and later I’ll work on winnowing that down.

Computer gear:

Laptop computer, probably my Gateway MT6458 for me and the old IBM Thinkpad A30 for Diane.
External drive(s), probably one or two 1.5TB USB drives
USB card reader(s)
USB flash drive(s), have one 8GB, will likely stock up on more
Aim to have one or two USB drives pre-loaded with Ubuntu and Knoppix systems for booting and system rescue
CD set of disks for system recovery/reinstallation
GPS with waypoint logging

Toolkit:
Screwdrivers, straight flat blade, Phillips #2, interchangeable tip with tip assortment, miniature screwdriver set
Eyeglass repair kit (2)
Needle-nose pliers
Needle-nose Vise-Grip
Forceps, curved and straight
Dikes, small and medium
C clamps (2)
Gaffer’s tape
2″ PVC pipe tape
Scotch Super-33 electrical tape
Wire-wrap tool
Wire-wrap wire
Hook-up wire, 24 gauge
15W pencil soldering iron
Solder

Photography:
Camera bodies
Nikon D2Xs (digital SLR)
Fuji S2 (digital SLR)
Nikon F2 (manual film SLR)
(May want to get a full frame digital SLR for the trip)
Lenses:
Nikkor VR AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6
Nikkor AI-S 24mm f/2.8
Micro-Nikkor AI-S 105mm f/2.8
Nikkor AI-S 50mm f/2
Sigma AF 18-200mm
(May want to add a 500mm mirror lens or other long lens)
Flash:
Nikon SB-800 (2)
Accessories:
Wireless remote for D2Xs
Gossen Luna-Pro light meter
Compact flash cards
SD to compact flash adapters (2)
Ultrapods (2)
Nikon flash cord
Diffuser for macro work
Custom panorama head
(Need to get a travel tripod)
(More stuff to be listed)

Acoustics:
EDO Western 6166 hydrophone (good for audio through high frequency sound)
Sonobuoy salvage hydrophones, various
Geophone (low frequency and vibration response, has suction cup)
Aiwa miniature stereo mic
Shotgun mic
Olympus WS-320M voice recorder
Archos AV320
Custom hydrophone pre-amps
Battery-powered pre-amps and amplifiers
GT-1000T Amp/monitor speaker
(Will look for flash memory data recorder before trip)

Other:
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Secchi disk
(There are some simple bits of science that can be done with the above tools concerning the state of the sea surface and how the Antarctic peninsula differs from the starting point in Argentina.)

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I retired my banner that I put together in my hospital bed in 2004 and have set up a set of new banners that get picked randomly with page requests. The original aspect ratio was just too long at 8.84:1, so I shifted it to 8.84:2.

GIMP provides a selection tool for a fixed aspect ratio, which was just what I needed. Rotate, crop, scale, apply levels, unsharp mask, and I can save off another banner image. I’ll try to add more to the mix as time goes by.

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Sirenian International, a manatee conservation and public outreach organization, now has a Facebook group.

SI also has a field course in Belize that one can sign up for:

Ecology, Behavior & Conservation of Manatees & Dolphins
A Unique Field Course in the Drowned Cayes, Belize
Host: Caryn Self-Sullivan
Type: Education – Class
Network: Global
Start Time: Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 12:00am
End Time: Friday, June 12, 2009 at 5:00pm
Location: Spanish Bay Conservation & Research Center
Street: Drowned Cayes
City/Town: Belize, Belize

Description

Want to be a Marine Mammal Biologist? Want to be a Behavioral Ecologist?

Here’s your chance to join our research team for two intense weeks of total immersion into the world of Animal Behavior, Antillean manatees, and bottlenose dolphins in Belize!

REGISTER EARLY! SAVE $100 WHEN YOU REGISTER BY MARCH 10th!

Become totally immersed into island living, behavioral ecology and marine biology through lectures and learning activities, literature review, debate, projects, and field research. This unique field course combines an overview of the ecology, behavior, and conservation of sirenians and cetaceans with hands-on manatee & dolphin research in the Drowned Cayes, Belize.

Get out of the classroom! You’ll spend 3-4 hours on the water each day learning about the environment as we explore a labyrinth of mangrove islands, seagrass beds, and coral patches searching for elusive manatees and charismatic dolphins. You’ll collect behavioral and environmental data and learn about photo-id techniques; you’ll develop a Fact Sheet or Activity Booklet about a related topic to be published by the Hugh Parkey Foundation for Marine Awareness & Education and/or Sirenian International. Extra-curricular activities include diving or snorkeling at Turneffe Atoll, and exploring an ancient Maya City.

That just sounds cool.

Dr. Self-Sullivan was one of my fellow grad students back when Diane and I were at Texas A&M University. She’s terrific and has years of experience with the marine mammal populations in Belize, so if you have the time and inclination, I’d suggest signing up pronto.

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I’ve already had at least one image of mine pirated for derivative work sold on CafePress. I like sharing my photography with others, but I’d also like to get my fair share when it comes to profits made from my work.

Something that isn’t a whole lot of work turns out to be adding a plaintext comment to a JPEG format image. I’m using the “jhead” utility that is available for many different platforms. (Anybody else remember the king of multi-platform applications, the Kermit terminal and file transfer utility?) In any case, replacing a current comment in a JPEG file with something specified in a command-line string is simple:

jhead -cl ‘Copyright 2009 by Wesley R. Elsberry. All rights reserved.’ picture.jpg

That would set the “picture.jpg” comment field to be the copyright statement in single quotes.

I just wrote a short Perl script that is trundling through the images directory I have for this blog and adding the comment line to all of them. I’ll be adding that to my regular processing workflow on my file server, so in the future every JPEG file going out should have my copyright statement included.

It is pretty easy to strip comments, too, but at least for casual thieves the comment field should give me an opportunity to find my work when it strays.

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It’s been a rough fall. Sunday marked our first serious falconry outing of the season. Between colds for Diane and I, extra work and various other complications, things only came together this past Sunday. We had made a couple of brief outings to a nearby nursery where there are lots of rabbits, but also loads of rabbit holes, too.

Beka, our mini-dachshund, hasn’t quite figured out what exactly is happening, but she is showing some promise. She mostly followed Ritka, our Vizsla. At one point, she flushed a rabbit. Beka is not yet interested in going down rabbit holes. She’s seven months old now, so there’s time yet for her to figure it out.

Rusty and Shelby were ready for action. Rusty actually grabbed a rabbit after about twenty minutes in the field. Diane made in and pulled out a rabbit leg to give to Rusty. Unfortunately, Rusty let go of the rabbit and it departed at high speed — to its hole about fifty yards away. Rusty used to make sure someone had the prey item in hand, but it seems that we need to make certain that’s under control before making the food visible.

More text and pictures below the fold.

Continue Reading »

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I have signed up on a number of social networking sites. I don’t know that I’ve gotten the hang of using those to actually expand my networks there, so I thought I’d hang out the links here to encourage folks using those sites to actually make that connection.

My FaceBook profile. FaceBook is a social networking site that seems to have a lot of my fellow science bloggers on it.

My LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn appears to be aimed at professional networking, helping with career issues.

My MySpace profile. Another social networking site that is aimed at pop culture.

My Flickr profile. Flickr is a big photo-sharing site. I haven’t put a lot on it so far.

My Zooomr profile. This is another photo-sharing site, and I’ve uploaded a bit more to this one.

So if you already are on these, drop by my profiles. If I ought to be on some other social networking site, please add a comment pointing to those.

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A panorama, that is.

Given the pitiful wages that postdocs and adjunct faculty earn, the debt accrued through grad school for two, the further problems that my medical issues have caused to our finances, and the rapidly rising cost of living, we need to sell our trailer so we can take down some of the debt. In order to further that cause, we gave the interior a thorough cleaning in preparation for taking pictures. My previous experimentation with the Hugin panorama tool made me confident that I could do a 360 degree panorama to show most of the stuff in the trailer. And here is the first one:

And another, with the beds raised:

And another, configured for cargo (“toy”) hauling:

Hand-holding the camera for panorama stitching wasn’t completely satisfactory, so I looked into panorama heads. These are devices that allow you to mount a camera and lens such that the whole apparatus rotates around an axis that passes through the nodal point of the lens. When that happens, things that were in alignment in foreground and background remain in alignment. Unfortunately, panorama heads start at about $80 and quickly run up to a couple of grand. The device at the low end of the scale, the Panosaurus, seems reasonably engineered. There are, of course, things one doesn’t get that the more expensive heads deliver. However, even $80 is out of my budget at the moment. In making my online searches, though, I came across a cheaper alternative: do-it-yourself. I spec’d out the materials, and my father-in-law Sam sprang for the parts: 48″ of 1×4″ oak, 1/4-20 insert nuts, washers, and wingnuts. From that $16 purchase, I’m putting together two homemade panorama heads and will ship one to Sam.

The homemade job doesn’t offer adjustments like the commercial heads do, but if one is careful in measuring where the lens nodal point lies and physical dimensions involving the camera/lens combination, one can get good performance out of the setup. The trailer panorama was made with the homemade head, and Hugin reported a mean alignment error of 0.6 pixels, maximum 20.6 pixels, and pronounced the fit “very good”. There were a total of 19 pictures aligned and stitched to make that panorama. I also used the Qtpfsgui HDR software, so each of the 19 pictures is actually derived from three separate bracketed exposures that were tonemapped using the same settings. The one thing that I didn’t nail down that I should have was the white balance used; you can see that the auto white balance thought the cabinets on one side of the trailer were slightly different in color from those on the other side.

Now, on the slim chance that anybody reading this is looking for a trailer, here’s the summary. The trailer is a 2006 model Northwood Desert Fox SW-21. That’s a 21-foot “toy hauler” model bumper-pull trailer, total length of about 25′ from hitch to rear end. It has a bathroom with shower and tiny tub, refrigerator (propane and electric, with automatic switchover), gas oven and range, microwave oven, two beds with electric lift, 4 kilowatt Onan generator, gas tank and pump, central heat and air-conditioning, and completely enclosed tanks for water and wastewater. Besides the two queen-sized bed mattresses, the dinette bench seats fold to make another bed, and the couch seat folds to make another. This model has insulation and the tank enclosure for all-weather use; if the heater is run to keep the interior warm, it also keeps the plumbing from freezing. Diane got this model trailer in order to have a place in the field in Wyoming where she was doing research back in February through April, 2006, and it worked fine through the cold weather there. We’ve used the trailer as a guest room for company and an emergency shelter for times when the electricity has gone out at the house we’re renting in addition to trips to places where we’ve dry-camped. For those unfamiliar with the toy-hauler concept, this trailer’s basic reason for being was to transport one or two “toys”: motorcycles, dune buggy, ATVs, etc., to a place where the toy could be used in the great outdoors, and while on the spot, provide a place to sleep and cook meals. The back of the trailer is a large ramp that folds down, permitting the “toy” to be loaded in and taken out. One reason I like this design is that it has a high roof; I don’t feel like I’m going to bump the top of my 6′ 3″ frame into the ceiling while moving around inside. We don’t have “toys” of the sort that the trailer was intended to carry, but the floor comes equipped with a number of internal tie-down points for securing a load from shifting around. We use a 2005 Ford E-350 one-ton van to tow the trailer, which it does fine with a weight-distributing hitch. We’d consider selling the van and trailer as a complete package. We’re looking to get Blue Book value on the trailer or both. We’ll toss in the macerator pump with the trailer; that’s a handy device for being able to dump the blackwater tank through an ordinary garden hose to either a distant dump station or septic system standpipe. [Other features that I missed initially: indoor/outdoor stereo system with AM/FM radio and CD player, bedside light and stereo power switches, roll-up awning, 6 gallon capacity propane gas water heater, kitchen sink, bathroom sink, carries two propane tanks, two 12V deep discharge batteries, exterior light with switch by electrical and water hookups, outside shower, and space for a bar-be-que. We never got the bar-be-que, but I'm sure that could be high on someone else's list of amenities to acquire.]

Having the van and trailer got us to a campsite in the Smoky Mountains where I could get this picture of Ritka:

And here are a couple of pictures of the rig on the road.

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Early in the summer, I noted a problem with my Canon S2 IS camera. It would intermittently show a black screen in camera mode, though the screen worked fine for playback. I was planning on arguing with Canon repair people, since the S2 did not have a service advisory out on it.

Well, I found out something since then. I procrastinated long enough on sending it in that I had to look again for forms to send it in for service. While I was doing that, I found that some other people had encountered this, and found a do-it-yourself fix. The problem wasn’t in the linkage to the sensor chip after all, as previous searching had indicated as the likely thing. Instead, various folks said that the iris sticks in a small-aperture condition. Further, by putting the camera in “Tv” or shutter priority mode and setting the shutter to 15 seconds, tripping the shutter release, then turning the camera off after seven seconds have elapsed, one can force the iris to open again. This process may need to be repeated several times, and the condition may turn up again. But regular use of the camera tends to reduce how often the finder blacks out due to the sticky iris. My S2 is working fine once again, and I don’t have to worry about a repair bill that I can’t afford.

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Back in college, I used to take long exposures of things at night. Using my trusty Nikon F2, I could manage this two ways. There was a “T” setting on the shutter dial; if I set that and clicked the shutter release, the camera would open up and stay that way until the shutter dial was set to a different selection. Or, if I set the shutter dial to “B” for “bulb”, I could use a cable release, and the shutter would stay open so long as the cable release was depressed. A locking cable release helped handle the longer exposures.

With my digital Nikon D2Xs, things are a bit different. There is no “T” selection in the menu for manual mode. While there is a “bulb” selection, my good old cable release for the F2 has no applicability to the modern camera.

So I’ve added an electronic shutter release to my gadget bag. This is based on the Nikon MC-22 remote release. That goes from a Nikon 10-pin remote port to a set of three banana plugs.

I’m using telephone wall jacks with this. One of them I’ve added banana jacks to, so the MC-22 plugs fit right in. There’s a switch on that one to enable me to keep the “focus request” and “shutter release” functions separate or join them. Both must be closed with ground for the shutter to fire. I can hook up two separate switches to handle being able to focus and then trip the shutter, and have a rig like that with two momentary-contact normally-open switches. But that doesn’t get me to an easy way to do the long exposures. I’d have to set up something to keep the momentary-contact switch closed for that.

The other wall jack I’ve wired to a push-on, push-off switch. So with the one hooked to the MC-22 set with the switch to combine the focus request and shutter release lines, I can push-on to start a long exposure and push-off to end it.

Why telephone wall jacks, you might ask? Well, that means that I can use telephone extension cords to connect up the two jacks, so I have an electronic cable release of extremely flexible length. For travel, I’m carrying one of those retractable cables.

I tried it out with just having the camera in an unlighted room with the curtains drawn. With manual mode, I set “bulb” for the shutter speed, f/16 for the aperture and ISO 100, pressed my gizmo to “on”, and went away for a while. I didn’t time it precisely, but it was likely about a three minute exposure that I gave it. Coming back and pressing again ended the exposure, and I could review it on screen. It was not too bad for a guessed exposure. Looking at the image zoomed-in, it was apparent that Nikon’s warning about “hot” pixels on long exposures was no hyperbole. There was certainly a scattering of red, green, and blue dots through the image. I may have to look into whether anyone has come up with a filter for that kind of thing.

But at least now I can look forward to trying out some night-time exposures that go beyond the 30s limit. There’s always been some tension between what photographers want and what the limits of the tool and process can yield. I’m ready to see what I can do with the system now.

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Here’s photos from the trip that I, Laura, and PZ took to the Georgia Aquarium back on July 15th. They had some really nicely done displays, but the thing that sets them apart is their 6.3 mega-gallon tank and the four whale sharks they keep in it.

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I’ve had two items malfunction on me recently.

I have a Canon S2 IS camera, and was surprised to be presented with a black screen upon powerup. So far, this happens intermittently, but the discussion available via search indicates that soon it will only show a black screen and record completely black images. The problem is well-known for this piece of gear and relates to the failure of a connection between the sensor and the rest of the electronics.

I also have a Samsung SC-D353 mini-DV camcorder, and was unpleasantly surprised to discover that its fold-out LCD screen now only displays white when deployed completely. I can see that there is an image displayed at just the angle where the LCD screen activates, but any further angle causes it to switch to just a white screen. I suspect a connector failure here, too.

I guess I’ll be finding out just what sort of support is available from the manufacturers in each case. Other people have reported receiving free repair of the S2 IS camera sensor problem from Canon even though the gear has been out of official warranty periods. Both of my problem items are likewise out of warranty.

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A few panoramic collages from our visit last week to the US AIr Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio…

A wind tunnel from the early 1900s takes center place amidst a balloon and WWI Fokker triplane.

There is a hangar inside Wright-Patterson devoted to experimental military aircraft. The same side of the hangar is seen on far left and far right.

The Valkyrie experimental plane just barely fits in the hangar from front to back.

Here is a reconstruction of a rectilinear view of an AFTI F-16 where all the images had to be taken from within four feet or so of the wingtip.

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Over the past weekend, I got acquainted with the Hugin panorama program. This is an open source free application that pulls together several overlapping images and creates a single image as output. It’s best to show an example, I think. Here’s four images from the right-hand side of the output panorama.

And here’s the full panorama:

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I have a FreeBSD-based box acting as a file server. One thing digital photography does is allow one to accumulate a lot of photo files.

The system that seems to work for Diane and I is to put photos into directories named for the date and broad subject the pictures were taken, say “2008_203-hawks”. But the files are large, so browsing photos across the network can try one’s patience.

I started a script on Sunday that is working backwards through these photo directories. In each directory, it finds original JPEG files and applies the “jhead” autorotate procedure to them. If no thumbnails and other size photos are there, it creates an “alt” directory, then makes a thumbnail, a version sized for the web, and another version sized for use in PowerPoint presentations. The original, thumbnail, and web size versions are being put in the “alt” subdirectory, leaving just the PowerPoint sized files.

Those are large enough to provide a good view on screen, while being small enough to transfer efficiently across the home network.

The script has gotten back to photos taken in early 2006 so far.

Via FreeBSD, I’m using the XnView program for browsing. So far, that seems to be working well enough.

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I celebrated my 48th birthday a little over a week ago. I got a package from Jeff Shallit, whose avocation is minerals. Diane and I have met up before with Jeff and his family in the desert southwest, a destination he enjoys particularly for the opportunity to apply geological knowledge and find minerals for himself. Last fall, I accompanied Jeff to a mineral and gem show in Detroit. I had expressed some interest in a couple of types of minerals, and Jeff kindly sent along a couple of samples.

First up is a piece of pyrite, FeS2. This one comes from Navajun, La Rioja Province, Spain. It is a cube, 19.03×19.20×19.31 mm in size. (Electronic readout calipers are cool.) The surfaces are almost mirror-like, and it is somewhat challenging to show any surface texture on the pyrite at all.

And the second is a sample of fluorite, this one from the Rogerley Mine, Frosterley, County Durham, England.

But the real attraction of fluorite isn’t evident until you hit it with ultraviolet light. I took apart a UV light keychain LED bob and a cheap Garrity LED flashlight, and replaced the Garrity white LED with the UV LED from the keychain bob. (Actually, I’ve brought the leads out to a two-place screw-in terminal. I can swap out LEDs for the light of choice.) This gives me a handy UV source I can use in close-ups.

The photo setup is based on a copy stand I made from an old, cheap enlarger. I got rid of the head and simply use the attachment point to mount my camera. The background is a sheet of coarse-grit sandpaper glued down on mounting board. I tilted the whole thing to take the pyrite shot, since with everything flat one sees only two faces on the cube from directly above. The camera is a Nikon D2Xs, and the lens is my old Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 AIS manual-focus lens. I was shooting at 100 ISO, and given the mixed lighting, the exposure was several seconds at a small f-stop.

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