Flops' Friday mini blog

[Abarbarian]

I've decided to start a different thread about this camera as it's taking me a while to get to know it and I've encountered file formats I've never seen before which won't open in forums or social media. Nor Adobe software Photshop CS5 and Lightroom 5.

Quite confusing but I'm aware of the old adage 'RTFM' Or in this case read some online guides as the manual with the Sony RX100M3 is decidedly short, all it does is outline all the functions available and what each part on the outside of the camera does.

I'm liking this camera but I think it's going to take me a while to understand.

This cross platform open source tool may be of use to you then.

http://rawtherapee.com/blog/screenshots

The manual wiki,

http://rawpedia.rawtherapee.com/Main_Page

The developers also offer this neat service

Adding Support for New Raw Formats

Adding perfect support for new raw formats in RawTherapee is easy. You can do it yourself, or you can take the needed photos and send them to us so we can do the measurements ourselves and add support for your camera.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Black Friday/Christmas/Boxing Day/New Years/Whatever sales spam has finally trickled to a halt.

For how long, I know not.

Two things: Any spam that says Hurry! or starts with a 'Re:' that I don't recognise gets instantly binned.

On a different note my Focuswrite Scarlet 2i2 USB Audio Interface suddenly packed up. It just went kaput, no warning.

It cost about £110 around 5 years ago and hasn't been heavily used. The Mk 2 version now costs £90 which is interesting.

But there's a Behringer equivalent that only costs £56 so guess which one I'll be buying?

I do need this thing for making vinyl into FLAC/WAV/mp3 and also a zillion cassettes to catalogue in the same fashion..

 

[floppybootstomp]

Just returned from my minor op at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital. It took a Herculean effort on my part to rise at 06:15 but I did and turned up half hour early at the Hospital only to find the Dermatology department locked. After waiting 30 minutes in the corridor where staff questioned me three times what I was doing there, they opened at 08:30.

Then I was told the doctor who was to perform my op was late and on his way from North London. Ho hum. For about 8 – 10 years I’ve had this mark on the edge of my top lip so last September I thought I better see the Doc about it. He said it could be cancerous but if it was then it was non serious and could be removed safely with either a laser or minor surgery.

In December I saw a dermatologist at the QE and she made today’s appointment to gain a diagnosis of my ailment. When the quack arrived today about 09:00 he asked me whether I’d like a scrape where they scrape a layer of the mark off then seal the open wound with heat or have the whole thing cut out for a biopsy which would need stitches. I asked if they could gain a diagnosis from a scrape and when Mr Doc replied in the positive I went for that.

They gave me a local anaesthetic which was the most painful injection I’ve ever had in my life and believe me I’ve had a few injections in my time. Then I felt scrapety-scrape and then something like a soldering iron was applied which smelt strangely like burnt hair whilst it done its work.

They stuck a plaster on it and I was done. I’m informed they’ll give me a result ‘within 4 weeks’. I was told I’ll have what looks like a cigarette burn from today’s treatment that will take 3 or 4 weeks to heal. The Doc said by the look of my mark he doesn’t think it’s cancer so I asked him if it was cancer would the treatment leave a significant scar and he answered ‘Yes’.

So that’s a bit of a bugger but all those I’ve dealt with in a professional capacity on this matter agree it’s not life threatening. So here’s hoping it isn’t cancer. On the three occasions I’ve been diagnosed with cancer I’ve always felt before diagnosis that it was cancer, somehow your body just tells you but this time I don’t feel like it is cancer but I do know the dangers of optimism and so should be wary.

So how did this mark, this slight discolouration that itched, come to be there? My second ex-wife bestowed upon me the dubious gift of herpes or in more common parlance – cold sores. At the spot where my mark appeared a cold sore used to appear regularly about once every 6 months or so and last about a week. After I received radiotherapy Oct-Dec 2006 during which that area of my face was bathed regularly in radiation for 6 weeks, the cold sore didn’t appear in full again.

I was aware sometimes of it trying to start and I’d get a small tingling but it never developed into a full blown whelk hanging off my top lip like it used to. After a few years the mark I now have appeared. So I can only assume from this that radiation for cancer has the unexpected side effect of putting the kibosh on cold sores.

Whatever the outcome I’m going to be left with a scar and at the very worst have a disfigured top lip. The radiotherapy I had in the past also caused most of my teeth to fall out and ruined my saliva glands leaving me with a very dry mouth and also causing the few teeth I have remaining to be discoloured as saliva has a cleansing effect. I can’t wear dentures as without saliva to act as a lubricant they would chafe.

So, couple a mouth with a few teeth that look rotten and a messed up top lip I am not going to win top prize in the ‘attract yourself a significant other’ stakes am I. I wonder why fate seems to keep slinging horrible things my way then remind myself that there are lots of other people worse off than me and at least I’m still alive.

But sometimes I wonder whether being alive is a boon or a hindrance, I really do. Oh well, c’est la vie, as the old folk say.

It is now 10:55 and the anaesthetic is starting to wear off. So far, it doesn’t hurt so here’s hoping...

 

[muckshifter]

the sun has popped his head out after this morning downpour

... nobody notices I have no teef unless I'm eating, or I tell them, only thing I miss eating is, peanuts. ;-)


I like being alive

 

[Ian]

You've certainly had enough prodding in hospitals for a lifetime @floppybootstomp. Good news at least that the doc doesn't think it's anything too serious .

 

[Becky]

I'm glad to hear it was easily treated, although the injection doesn't sound pleasant. If you do end up with a scar you want to cover up you could always grow a mustache

 

[nivrip]

I like being alive

Yup, I like being alive too.

It seems, to me, better than the alternative.

 

[floppybootstomp]

As part of this morning’s breakfast ritual I made a half litre smoothie from strawberries, tangerines and cashews then poured the resultant gloop into a pint glass. Then promptly knocked the glass over spilling it’s full contents into my cutlery draw.

After having washed all of my assorted knives, forks, spoons and odd looking gizmos that I have no idea what their use is, I reflected this happening did not bode well for the day’s events to come.

And yesterday evening I noticed a large wet patch on my living room carpet about 18” wide. One hour later it was 24” wide. ‘ello, I thought, something wrong here. Traced the fault to a small drip coming from a piece of hosepipe I’d attached to a cold water outlet under the kitchen sink which I use for an outdoor hose. One small drip for mankind, a huge flood effect for me.

Have turned off the cold water outlet and am now off to B & Q or local plumbers for replacement plumbing bits to reinstate hosepipe facility. Considering outside tap which may prove to be more reliable and less prone to drippity-drip syndrome.

Such is life, as Ned Kelly remarked when the trapdoor opened.

On the good news side on Saturday I opened a letter from the dermatology department at the local hospital telling me that the dry discoloured patch on my top lip was not cancer but something called an actinic keratosis which apparently is caused by too much sun exposure.

The effect of the sun on skin is cumulutive over a lifetime, the letter tells me, and I’m advised to stay out of the sun and take a vitamin D supplement. I was advised to avoid the sun after the radiotherapy 12 years ago but couldn’t stay away from it entirely and the top lip area is rather awkward to cover with sun block.

They scraped the thingie off my lip over 5 weeks ago and it has healed nicely, albeit leaving a slight indentation, so all in all good news on the medical front.

 

[muckshifter]

On day like that, I wonder if it's a God test, or the Devil's day in paradise?

Have a great week. ;-)

 

[bootneck02]

So glad your lip is ok and nothing drastic Mr Flops.

 

[Becky]

Eek, the spilled smoothie sounds like something I would do! Glad to hear your lip is ok

Have you been working on any more audio projects recently?

 

[Taffycat]

So glad to hear that your lip is healing, and that it wasn't anything bad.

Eeew! The smoothie must have been pretty messy to clean up. Hubby recently had a little mishap with a full glass of fruit juice. The glass seemed to explode as it hit the deck, spilling its sticky contents liberally over the floor. Yeah, that was fun too.

 

[Becky]

Eeew! The smoothie must have been pretty messy to clean up. Hubby recently had a little mishap with a full glass of fruit juice. The glass seemed to explode as it hit the deck, spilling its sticky contents liberally over the floor. Yeah, that was fun too.

Oh no! I hate when things like that happen. You end up finding sticky splashes in the most unlikely of places for ages afterwards!

 

[floppybootstomp]

Have you been working on any more audio projects recently?

All quiet lately on the audio projects front. I was making a three way active crossover and completed populating the two PCB's (one for each stereo channel). Then I powered them up and displayed their outputs on my oscilloscope and fed them audio signals at various frequencies from a tone generator.

And the result? Plenty going in, bugger-all coming out Which means, in common parlance, they didn't work.

So, back to the drawing board with that one.... I think it may have something to do with which resistors are fitted or more specifically which resistors are NOT fitted, the instructions are a little confusing. I became a bit downhearted when it didn't work first time and put it to one side but soon I will return and trace the signals through the circuit and see where we're losing it and then try and work things out.

Have been refurbishing several turntables for a client currently working on a Lenco L75, complete refurbishment and sprayed the baseplate white and a Thorens TD1608 Mk II.

Abandoned the three way active loudspeaker project (for which the 3-way crossover was going to be used) because of financial restraints and sold the three Mosfet amplifiers I'd made for the project. Also sold a six way buffer/switcher/passive preamp that I'd made but then found I didn't have a use for after I'd bought a Croft Basic valve preamplifier.

And recently added a pair of AKG Y50 wireless headphones to my stereo setup for which I also had to buy a Bluetooth Transmitter/Receiver. They replaced a set of Sennheiser HDR160 wireless headphones. I replaced the Sennheisers as they had become loose, they didn't grip my head as strongly as they did when new and if I leant forward they would slip off. This also reduced the bass signal a little.

I'm now using the Sennheisers with my computer though so not wasted.

I'm pleased with the AKG Y50's, only £80 in a sale at Richer Sounds and they sound good. They will also work with my phone, a Samsung Galaxy S6, should I so desire it but as yet haven't tried them with the phone.

 

[Becky]

Shame to hear you've had to abandon the loudspeaker project, but I hope you're able to get the 3-way crossover working at some point. I love that feeling you get from fixing a difficult problem, so I hope that happens for you!

The talk of headphones reminds me that before I got ill I was looking for the perfect pair of headphones (noise-cancelling ones I can use with the PSVR and my phone but aren't a gaming headset with a mic), so I should really get back on the search...

How are your daughters doing?

 

[Ian]

With the PCBs you're populating, do you design and build them yourself or buy kits with the components and assemble them?

On the good news side on Saturday I opened a letter from the dermatology department at the local hospital telling me that the dry discoloured patch on my top lip was not cancer but something called an actinic keratosis which apparently is caused by too much sun exposure.

Bet that's a relief . Really pleased to hear that!

 

[floppybootstomp]

Noise cancelling headphones? I was strongly advised by several people to avoid Bose which is just as well as I had my eye on a set costing £180.00. The main criticism is that Bose are overpriced for what they are which in my experience is true across their whole audio range of equipment.

FWIW I was advised to go with AKG, Sennheiser or Sony.

Electronic problem solving? I recently had a problem where the power supply for my valve phono stage was faulty, the high tension rail was fixed at 360V where I should have been able to adjust it to 260V. Turned out to be a 27K resistor had gone high to 3 megohms, twas satisfying solving that one and the phono stage is no longer noisy, the over voltage did disagree with it somewhat.

Daughters? You really want to know? lol Ok then, the eldest, Faye, recently changed jobs and she's now office manager for a firm that puts up those large advertising hordings you see everywhere and she's based at Goodge Street off the Tottenham Court Road, central London. She recently split from her long time boyfriend and is living in a rented room in a house two miles away from me in Blackheath.

Both twins recently became house owners at around the same time which is a bit weird. Sophie has a house in Bath with her boyfriend and Lucy's new abode is in Cardiff. Sophie is still a teacher and head of the History Department at a secondary school in Bath and Lucy is still driving an ambulance way too fast through Cardiff Streets and scraping road accident victims off the tarmac or carting dead old people off to the morgue cos they couldn't afford to heat their homes.

So all in all, 3 x female offspring doing ok

 

[floppybootstomp]

With the PCBs you're populating, do you design and build them yourself or buy kits with the components and assemble them?

I have made PCB's in the past with a help of a friend who has all the equipment but generally speaking I'll use custom made PCB's made for specific projects.

Sometimes I'll also use vero board or in the case of Valve projects I'll sometimes use tag strips.

Here's a link to the crossover project Elektor Crossover

As mentioned with that project, for different options some resistors are mounted and others omitted, that's the first area I'll be looking at.

 

[Ian]

Ah yes, I remember you mentioning Elektor in the past. I'm just having a browse of their site now and they've got some great stuff . I've started to get back in to electronics work so their "projects" page is right up my street for inspiration .

 

[Becky]

The main criticism is that Bose are overpriced for what they are which in my experience is true across their whole audio range of equipment.

FWIW I was advised to go with AKG, Sennheiser or Sony.

Ta for the advice the problem I've been getting is that when I narrow down what I'm looking for I end up with a load of brands I've never heard of... I've seen a Sony headset that looks good though, problem is it's £130

So all in all, 3 x female offspring doing ok

Glad to hear it! Well less so about the scooping bodies off tarmac / morgue trips, but the rest sounds positive