Tong Family (richtong.org sync)

Nothing like using lensrentals.com and actually using all three cameras for a weekend. Really eye opening. Here are the quick notes and some test summaries. As an aside, I like to look at four review sets: Handling. Ming Thein and others who use the camers professionally Sensors. the specifications at DxOmark (which does great testing…

And here is Ming’s view of Ricoh’s quirks and other notes… Unique to Ricoh is the snap focus mode, where the lens will default to a certain distance setting if the shutter is jabbed straight down past the intermediate position and the camera isn’t given time to find focus.   The trouble is, unlike the…

Been spending a lot of time on composition lately (even reading!). Some good advice now that I’ve been shooting wide alot…   If you know how you want the composition of your frame to appear – specifically, the relative prominence of subjects and other supporting elements – then you’ll know whether you need to use…

Well,  here are some things I didn’t know: Mileage Plus Shopping If you go to the Mileageplusshopping.com, you can register up to five credit cards (it doesn’t have to be just a United card), then if you click through that site, you get to double dip by getting additional miles as well. For instance REI…

Now that we’ve had such fun with the Sony RX100, it’s time to think again about cameras. I was literally blown away by the quality of the RX100. It is to be sure a pretty amazing pocket camera and in good light has great resolution (F/3.2, ISO 125, 10.2mm focal length with RAW, it has…

OK, don’t really know where to put this, but socks are so key: Wrightsock Coolmesh II. These are great for short hikes and super comfortable. $8 from Amazon. Smartwool Outdoor PhD Medium. Top rated by Outdoorgearlab, but nearly impossible to find at the end of the season. Large fits 9-11 size men. $22 street, $24…

Well there are quite a few choices in hiking and backpacking watches, but the core features seem to be an altimeter and a compass and for us lazy people solar powered so we don’t have to worry about batteries. I’ve had a Suunto Vector for years and thanks to Roanoke Watch Repair, it is back…

We’ve got the bug and here are some good books: Backpacking Washington: Overnight and Multi-Day Routes. A terrific book by Romano and from the great Mountaineers out here White Mountain Guide, 29th: AMC’s Comprehensive Guide to Hiking Trails in the White Mountain National Forest (Appalachian Mountain Club White Mountain Guide). AMC looks like the big…

To use the maximum memory isn’t easy because you need to put in an older 1066MHz (aka DDR3-8500) part to get the cheaper 1333 Mhz (DDR3-12800) part to run, but just realized the way to do this is to get five DDR3-10800 and five DDR3-12500 and put one in each as the MacBooks will go…

Lurking around, if you have a Visa Signature card: Offer valid 2/1/2012 – 11/2/2013 Get $5 off a $25 Fandango Gift Card, instantly redeemable for the movie of your choice. That’s $25 in movie tickets for only $20! Fandango Gift Cards can be used for tickets to any movie, any time, at any Fandango partner…

Well there are some things to look at and to be careful of which is mileage expiration and extending them if you plan to use them. Asia Miles. I don’t fly these guys much, so we had 80K miles and got a nice pair of sun glasses, a decent one cent per mile Qantas. This…

I’ve been slowly trying to figure this one out. Every couple of months, the iMac (late 2009), so it is now old. Freezes with strange artifacts on the screen. If I were on a Windows machine, I would load the latest video drivers, but that isn’t an option on the Mac. I’ve been going through…

I have one of these and stupidly left it in the car, so I’m sure it has been working for months. Now the battery is dead. Fortunately. DCRainMaker has all kinds of FAQs about this and most importantly how to turn the back and stick in the CR2032 battery! The device is designed to run…

Well there is nothing quite like having reliable electronics (that are light!) on a backpacking trip. After 10 miles with a full pack, grams count! Here is a review of some things that might make sense but a personal locator beacon at 4-8 ounces makes lots of sense if you are really out of cell…

Well we probably have half a dozen first aid kits and didn’t really think about what happens when the medicines (and even bandages!) expire. Seems like there has to be a better way of getting the right set of refills. While you could individually get the various parts and also medicines, it is nice to…

These machines support up to 8GB of memory, but are very picky in that they need PC-8500 (1033 MHz) dRAM, but many folks don’t. First you have to check your model numbers. BTW, the reason you might want to do this is your MacBook is perfectly good and you care about the environment. And/or, you…

Well, if it doesn’t matter the FBI can hack your phone and listen to your conversations (Just kidding), here are a list of accessories for the phone: Cases. The Frexishield Frost Skin for $11 is clear durable silicon gel, the Rearth Ringke Fusion Case is all black, the Spigen Ultra Thin Air is easy to…

I’ve been using the RX100 for about three months now and although the Mark II is out, this is a pretty awesome camera. Some notes on accessories: The grip is awesome. i got mine from a third party, but Sony now makes one. I lost the little wrist strap (used it to tie on a…

Wow, what fun, backpacking is kind of like bicycling. Hard to get into, but addictive as a sport (and also a a geek gear acquisition excuse :-). Here are some more notes on things. If you want to drool, check out the Dream Backpacking list at Outdoorgearlab.com Hiking Boots. Well, like most things, this is…

FBI Taps Hacker Tactics to Spy on Suspects – WSJ.com The FBI develops some hacking tools internally and purchases others from the private sector. With such technology, the bureau can remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google Inc.’s Android software to record conversations, one former U.S. official said. It can do the same to…

Well the good, Comcast is offered to send us a new Docsis 3.0 modem. They even did a robo voice mail and then gave me some magic URL to ask for an a new modem. It asks you for a letter reference (?!) and since I don’t think I got a letter, I guessed. In…

This is such a confusing topic. There is UVC which provices webcam drivers (but can’t take stills) and gPhoto which works for tethered still cameras. To get the best performing camera takes some work. The top selling Amazon webcam, the Logitech C920 gets marketed as a 15MP camera, but is actually 3MP underneath according to…

Well, our Mac Mini server 2010 has a mere 4GB of memory and we wanted more of course. However PC8500 ram is very expensive, so we got the much cheaper ($180 for 2x8GB PC8500 vs $120 for 2x8GB PC12800). But the problem is putting in both doesn’t work. It appears that the Mac Mini needs…

We’ve had the MSR Pocket Rocket for years and it is durable and very light. and has stood the test of time, but it isn’t very stable for sure, but technology has moved ahead: JetBoil Flash. $100. They started the revolution. The main advantage is that it is smaller than the MSR Whisperlite and is…

Wow, Amazon has been expanding its membership programs. Here’s a list: Amazon Student. This is a great program. Half price Amazon Prime ($40 a year). It’s free for six months, you get free two day shipping, but you don’t get to stream movies nor borrow free kindle books until you pay the $40 a month.…

Nothing like visiting REI and getting gear lust all over again by Outdoor Gear Lab: Mountain Hardwear Ultralamina 15 is the best synthetic speeding bag tjat is great for colder temperatures and soaking wet conditions. We just got this bag and it is heavy, but obviously warm. Feathered Friend Hummingbird 20. If you don’t live…

While this is a nice printer and seems decently reliable, it sure is expensive to keep the cartridges. Two quick tips, get the: Canon 0621B016 CLI-8 3 Pack C/M/Y Value Pack. Just $32 from Amazon Canon PGI-5 BK 0628B009 2-Pack Pigment Black Ink Tanks. $25 from Amazon gives you two tanks of black

I have literally no idea what this means and the disk looks good. Have run disk utility and the disk structure looks good. Also gettting strange lock ups on this iMac (late 2009) running Mac OS X 10.9.4. Strange. But serveral a second read: kernel: cksum: out of data by 20 Looking at the manual…

We’ve had two outages in the last two days. I’m getting a partition down message and it lasts for several hours. A chat with the bluehost live chat folks isn’t encouraging. They don’t know why the file system check is running nor do they have log file indicating what is going on. So I guess…

OK, what kind of gear do you need for a 4 day trip, here are some notes from outdoorgearlab, backpacker.com and outdoor.com: Backpacks. They really like the Arcteryx Altra 64 is the best by a long margin with the main issue being its cost (but on the other hand, a backpack lasts a lifetime). Backpacker…