A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.
19 October 2016
In this recurring column, we highlight a few items we've run across that don't merit a full story of their own but are interesting enough to bring to your attention (with more than 140 characters). This time we look at Sony A7R Mark II current draw, a really cheap ring light, the Nikon 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 AF-P VR DX, hard drive longevity and Bill Cunningham remembered.
- Jim Kasson reports on the Sony A7R Mark II Current Draw but he actually measured it with a multimeter and got some surprising readings. Idle power draw actually varied and the EVF power requirement was not higher than the LCD. More to come, too.
- Tommy Callaway shows how to Build A Really Cheap Ring Light using a paper plate for a diffuser and LED strip lights:
- Thom Hogan reviews the inexpensive Nikon 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 AF-P VR DX. "If you need a low-cost, light, competent DX telephoto zoom and have one of the most recent low-end DX bodies (D3400, D5500), the 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 AF-P VR just became the lens to buy," he writes.
- In One Billion Drive Hours and Counting: Q1 2016 Hard Drive Stats, Andy Klein updates Backblaze's hard drive longevity stats based on 61,590 drives in its data center. Most of the drives are made by HGST (Hitachi) and Seagate. The company said it would be happy to buy WDC and Toshiba drives but they are not available in the 5,000 to 10,000 purchase blocks the company requires.
- In Remembering Bill Cunningham, Stuart Emmrich reports on "the gathering of more than 1,000 people at Carnegie Hall on Monday afternoon" to honor the New York Times photographer's memory. Among the speakers, former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg observed, "To him style was less about what people wore and more about how they wore it. It was an expression of freedom."
More to come! Meanwhile, please support our efforts...