NoVa Derby Good vs. Evil Mixer June 10, 2016

I am desperately behind posting about anything, and am really desperately behind posting photos of derby.

You'll have to suffer.

I bought 16 Eneloop batteries with the sole purpose of keeping the flashes hot for the length of a double header. I now have over 30 low discharge AAs of various vintages, and I've marked them so I can keep them properly paired. With 5 AA Eneloop batteries, the SB-800 can crank out around 500-600 half power shots.

When I was working weddings with regularity, I had a stack of normal NiMH batteries that I would charge and use, and the discharge profile wasn't too insufferable. However, those batteries gave up the ghost last fall and wouldn't even power the Cactus remotes for any length of time. Thus, combined with the pain that a broken leg brings to mobility, I left artificial light work sit on the back burner.

But things are better now.

This year I vowed to up the quality of the photos of derby I'm taking. This means being more choosy about the photos and putting my hands on each one before I produce it, though that functionally means that everything is getting cropped a bit. I hope you like 1:1 aspect ratio, because I do. It looks great on every device and it captures the eye. I'm also playing with black and white because I can.

Even after 4 years, getting to composition nailed is still a struggle. It turns out that if you nail 25% of a skater; just their head and shoulders, the photos can be as compelling as a full body slam, though the meanings between the photos are often different. Getting a solid focus lock to obtain a crisp face.


I'm still flogging my D200, now well past 100,000 shutter actuations. The quality in available light in the arena is poor enough that folks who try to use the photos in prints turn up their nose in favor of cameras made this decade. They look ok on small screens and in general on the web. At ISO 400 with a flash, the age isn't much of a limiting factor.

The shutter sync speed is, however. If I want to push down the dark yellow background, I'm going to either need to invest in more flash power.

NoVa Roller Derby vs SMRD February 20th, 2016

No Donuts for You!

I like to poke around rental cars to see how the engine and drive train are laided out and the philosophy and features that are included.

This weeks trip gave me the opportunity to play with a 2015 Hyundai Accent. Aside from the nifty fuel economy button (who wouldn't just leave that on in an econobox?) the other thing that struck me right away was the spare tire. I expect most cars to come with a donut spare, and the real question is if there is enough space for a full size spare down the road.

Well, lets take a look.

Surprise! There is no spare! Instead we have what looks to be extra storage, an electric tire pump, and a can of fix-a-flat.

Actually, this is more of a can of sealant. It's designed to connect to the pump, not the tire.

The can is very heavy and the metal feels thick, likely intended to last a long time in the trunk before use.

Back side of the pump. All the hoses and cables are neatly contained.

Front side of the pump. The can slides in from the right.

I had heard that these were becoming common but this is the first time I have seen one in the wild.

At various times I have chucked the spare tires from our cars into the basement or barn and gone with a can of fix-a-flat. The idea is that a small amount of fuel economy can be gained by reducing the inertia that must be overcome to accelerate. If a tire is blown, I can either use the fixaflat, or get The Girly or cab to return me to the barn where I gather my tools and get things rolling again.

However, for trips of distance beyond a normal commute beg for the peace of mind that having a spare, especially a full size spare, can bring. Coming back from a long hike to find the car with a flat and no spare would be expensive and time consuming to rectify. Thus, most of the time, most of the cars have a spare tire because lugging it in and out of the car is a chore.

That all said, I think these little kits probably have a real place in a universe where folks do regular maintenance (and replace tires before they're bald!), stay on blacktop, have cell phones, carry a roadside assistance plan. Especially since mechanics tend to use an air wrench set to 200 ft-lbs to put on the lug nuts. (Good luck getting those off with a tire iron) I've only had one tire repair in the past 6 years, and it's been over a decade since I had an event that required tire removal on the side of the road.

 Even with all that stuff, because of the requisite wait for rescue, it seems massively more inconvenient to wait then just swap.