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OT: Lego Fun Time

Mar 112012

Over the course of a lovely long weekend, I decided to unbox and restore two very large Lego™ Star Wars Ultimate Collector’s Sets; set #10030 (Imperial Star Destroyer) and set #10179 (Millennium Falcon).

The first set, the Star Destroyer, contains 3104 parts and the second set, the Millennium Falcon, contains 5195 parts making it the largest Lego™ set to date to be released. I built the Star Destroyer originally way back in 2004 in Vancouver, Canada. The Millennium Falcon was a little more recent, built in Brisbane in 2008.

Reassembly, as you might imagine, is far less time consuming than the original build. However, it is still not a task to be undertaken lightly. Over time (and relocations!) the many intricate parts have loosened or come apart completely, and the instructions need to be followed closely to ensure nothing is missed.

The end result though, is quite stunning (if I do say so myself). However, I’ll let you be the judge!

Here’s the UCS Millennium Falcon:

Here’s the UCS Star Destroyer:

Which one do you think is more stunning?

Add a comment to record your vote…

HDR Photography

Hobbies No Responses »

Oct 102010

High Dynamic Range photography is very new to me, and a concept I’ve been hearing a lot about over the recent years. As you may know, I shoot things occasionally, most notably when travelling. I’ve yet to really hone my photography craft though, until recently when I decided to read up on a few more advanced topics.

Consequently, I’m planning on a few entries here on Sanders Technology about HDR Photography and also IR (Infrared) Photography – once I am able to purchase some IR filters!

This weekend, I’ve been playing with some HDR software (Photomatix Pro 4.0) which allows you to knit together bracketed photos in both raw and JPEG formats. Luckily, whilst I was travelling and touring in Rome, Italy last year due to lighting conditions, I shot a lot of photos with AE (automatic exposure) bracketing so I have a good source of photos to practice with.

   Having only just started to dip into the topic, I
   managed to produce the following photo of Trajan’s
   Marketplace using a Black and White filter.

   As you can see here, the main outcome is that both
the foreground and background contracts have been
successfully melded, and – in particular – the
foreground has a lot more detail than you’d normally
expect considering the exposure at the time of
shooting the photo.

For my second attempt, I took a high colour
bracketed set of photos of the Roman Forum and used
a grunge effect to produce a HDR image which looks like a painting.

This was shot with a good amount of light, as such
the bracketing doesn’t vary as widely as in the
previous photo of Trajan’s marketplace.

There is a lot of noise, especially in the sky, however softening the image also results in losing the painting-like definition.

I’ve added a third photo, in my attempts to lighten
and soften the effect. This is a second bracketed
photo taken shortly after the one above.

Although it lacks the deeper colours, the photo comes
out more natural, if subdued slightly.

I’m also including resized copies of the source photos,
for comparison – they are linked at the bottom of this
article.

Anyhow, this is something new for me and hopefully as I learn, my results will be better! I’m sure it’ll take some time to find the optimal settings for everyday shooting. Check back soon for more on these interesting photographic techniques.

Lastly, a bonus (I’ve been messing around with non-bracketed photos) and managed to form this nice HDR of the China pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai.

Original (Source) Bracketed Photos – Resized

Aussie Wine Guy visits France

Hobbies, Travel No Responses »

Sep 102009

Sorry about the delay in posting new content here on the ‘Entertain Us’ Nation.

Since we’ve been back from holidays (just over a week or so now), a lot of effort has gone into writing up details of our travels for future reflection. This has taken a lot of time.. Far more than could have been reasonably appreciated beforehand.

A vast majority of content has been collected and collated for uploading to the (obvious plug) Aussie Wine Guy website which is going to be brimming with new content over the next few weeks. There are (literally) thousands of photos which need to be reviewed and culled down into a more manageable (and less snore-fest inducing) numbers. Yes, it never stops here.

I’m also a bit hesitant to write new content while Tech Ed Australia is underway, since there will be a plethora of new technical content being flung around the Interwebs now and over the next week or more. However, there is a free SQL Server luncheon event tomorrow in Brisbane, so there’s a very good chance I’ll end up in the city and ready to report on what I learn.

Lastly, it’s strange how a house can grow into a jungle without ongoing TLC.. Last week was one for the books in terms of total hours spent clearing weeds, trees and dead vegetables. Sitting in front of a computer, by comparison, is far more interesting.

So stay tuned for more on BizTalk 2009 (which we will forever fondly think of as BizTalk 2006 R3), SQL Server 2008 and SQLAzure as we boldly step beyond current conventions and have a think about how Cloud Computing(tm) can be harnessed by integration services. Food for thought.

Always..R

New Camera Body

Hobbies No Responses »

Jul 122009

All,

On the weekend I upgraded my dSLR’s camera body from the (now ancient & retired) Olympus E-500 to the very new Olympus E-620.
The two dSLR bodies couldn’t be further apart in every measurable feature.

To give you an idea, I’ve compiled this specification comparison which shows some of the more interesting differences.

	Olympus E-500	Olympus E-620
Lens System	ZUIKO DIGITAL, FourThirds System lens	ZUIKO DIGITAL, FourThirds System lens
Lens Mount	FourThirds mount	FourThirds mount
Media	CompactFlash card (Type I and II), Microdrive, xD picture card. (Dual slot).	CompactFlash card (Type I and II), Microdrive, xD picture card. (Dual slot). UDMA support
Pixel Number	8 million pixels	12.3 million pixels
Imager Type	4/3 type Full Frame Transfer CCD solid-state image sensor	High Speed Live MOS sensor
Total Pixels	8.89 million pixels	Approx. 13.1 million pixels
Focus Areas	3 points	Single target, All targets with the phase-difference detection system Single, all 7 area, or Face detection with the contrast detection system
Live View	No	Yes
Image stabilizer	No	3 modes (2 dimensional activation, 1 dimensional activation in landscape frame for horizontal pan shooting, 1 dimensional activation in portrait frame for horizontal pan shooting).
Exposure Bracketing	3 frames in +/- 1, 2/3 , 1/2, or 1/3 EV steps (selectabl	3 or 5 frames in 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1EV steps selectable
Sequential Shooting Speed	Approx. 2.5 fps	Approx. 4 frames/sec
Playback Monitor Type	HyperCrystal LCD panel	Dual Axis Variable Angle, HyperCrystal Ⅲ LCD (transmissive TFT colour LCD
Brightness control	+/- 7 steps	Brightness 15 levels; Colour Balance 15 levels
Image Processing Engine	TruePic TURBO	TruePic III+
Metering Modes	Digital ESP, centre-weighted average, spot (about 2% of entire frame) High light based spot and shadow based spot	(1) Digital ESP metering (49-point multi pattern metering) (2) Centre weighted average metering (3) Spot metering (approx. 2% of the viewfinder screen) (4) Spot with Highlight bias (5) Spot with Shadow bias
ISO Sensitivity (Auto)	ISO 100 to 400. Expandable to 1600 (in each 1/3 EV steps possible ). Noise filter is selectable in ISO boos	AUTO: ISO 200 – 3200 (customizable, Default 200-800)

The most obvious advantages over the older body are:

live view (LCD),
increased megapixels,
larger viewfinder,
7-point AF,
4 frames per second (sequential shooting), and,
Image stabilization (in body)

What I had not expected to find, but pleasantly so, is just how much the live view is used. It is far more than simply an LCD screen used to preview photos (as in the E-500) but actually hosts a veritable feast of functionality. There are some really great features available for use through the live view (LCD screen) including composite photos (and multi-exposure also), exposure preview and side-by-side comparison and wireless flash amongst many other features.

Face detection is another nifty addition as well as targeted AF (7 point) which can be viewed on the LCD Live View screen when composing a shot. The “info” button is used to scroll through a number of screens on the LCD panel and exposes a multitude of additional information.

The best part is that by incorporating image stabilization into the body, all existing lenses inherit stabilization! I’ve got the following pro lenses (already):

Plus a couple of standard lenses including a macro lens. Stay tuned for some sample pictures.

By the way! I’m selling my previous E-500 kit so if you know anyone who might be interested, please kindly point them in the direction of my craigslist post: [ http://brisbane.craigslist.com.au/ele/1266858648.html ] and many thanks in advance. I’d like it to go to a good home.

Q1 World’s Tallest Residential Tower – At Night

Hobbies No Responses »

Apr 132009

On Sunday night we ascended Q1 at Surfer’s Paradise, to get a view from the heavens.

View Full Album

QDeck – Q1’s observation deck, by night, offers a complete view from the Byron headlands (south) all the way to the hinterland and greater Brisbane (north).

Towering more than double the nearest complex, Q1 is 322.5 meters high. The QDeck observation deck is seventy seven stories or 230 meters above sea level. The ride up to QDeck takes only a mere 42.7 seconds making it one of the world’s fastest elevators. Yes the .7 really makes a difference..

Here is a gallery of night photos I took on Saturday night.

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