User talk:Colin

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Commons:Photo challenge/2016 - March - Inside / Outside/Winners

	Photo Challenge – Second Place
	Congratulations! Your picture City Hall, London, Spiral Staircase - 1.jpg won the 2nd place in the Photo Challenge Inside / Outside, in March 2016. You can find the results of the challenge here.

Another first

Gothenburg City Theatre at night

So, my very first night HDR. :) I don't think it went too badly considering it was a hand-held shot and therefore only three exposures. (I didn't bring a tripod on the trip) Manually blended in layers. This was fun! Will definitely try it out some more when the weather allows it again ...sometime in March... (This was taken last year but it looks exactly the same outside right now.) Tnx for luring me into this. :) cart-Talk 00:27, 6 November 2016 (UTC) That is a really nice shot Colin --WPPilot (talk) 06:46, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Racing yacht photos

So I took your suggestion to heart and went out with one of my production rigs today and shot this:

Santa Cruz 60 Dare

It was shot with a MDT on a Rig using a 4x5.565 Tiffen ND in DLog then converted it in PS. Penny for your thoughts?

On another topic, I have added a 360 camera, to my quiver of gear. Have you played with them yet. Any idea is the player will even all the use of them? Mine is a Nikon 360 btw. I am not sure if I can get used to the perspective for still photos, but today was my first day using it. The learning curve is ahh, interesting to put it lightly.. --WPPilot (talk) 06:46, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

WPPilot, to be honest, I think the colours and contrast look wrong. I can look again tonight on my better monitor. I don't know about "DLog" -- when I Googled it suggested V-Log as a new firmware option on the Panasonic GH4 you used. I've read a little about SLog on the Sonys. My understanding is they have a different gamma (and other aspects) designed to retain more highlight/shadow detail in video, and always need significant post-processing/colour-grading to transform into the gamma we expect for video/still formats. But for stills, I can't see the point vs raw format, which has the native dynamic range of the sensor and therefore can't really be superseded. I'm surprised these modes are even available for stills. The lens has sharply caught the fine mesh in the sail that has resulted in quite a lot of colour moire, which ACR's moire-removal tool should be able to fix.

In terms of composition, the yellow post on the left is a bit distracting but overall it is a rather static "picture of boat in middle of frame" photo, with quite a cluttered background. I can't see that getting a lot of wow votes at FPC unless the boat was highly photogenic in itself.

You should talk to Code and Diliff about the Equirectangular Projection photos they generate and the viewer used. There have been some FPs by each of them in recent months. They generate the images by taking lots of photos with a wide-angle lens and a panoramic head on their tripod. Combined with HDR, the result is very detailed and impressive at FP. Mostly used for indoor but I think Code has an outdoor FP too. Currently they have to use a viewer off-wiki but there is effort to get it here. Just stills though. I suspect that for a small-sensor camera, you won't be able to compete at FP for the same kinds of subjects as Code/Diliff but as an action-cam there must be far more opportunities and potentially impressive photos. I have a fisheye lens, which is one of my favourites, and yes you have watch not to get your feet in the photo and at this time of year, also avoid getting your shadow in the frame. With my fisheye and panoramic head, there's no reason I should not also be taking some 360 photos, but I just haven't got round to it. -- Colin (talk) 10:00, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

The GH 4 is brand new to me, so I am working with a number of different modes, this was Cine D mode. This is a export from 4k videoI too am not so impressed with that mode but see the cameras potential. I should have done a light crop to remove the pin (yellow thing) and I know David, Diliff and agree that he is a truly accomplished photographer. I have a 360 panoramic head as well as the new 360 camera itself.. I have more cameras that I know what to do with really, but its hard to run a large body camera racing a sailboat at the same time :) I will upload my first 360 from the New Nikon in a few moments.. --WPPilot (talk) 15:06, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

360 degree shot from the boat in Newport Harbor shot yesterday with the new Nikon 360 Camera

please forgive my arm on the left side, learned my lesson in that no place is "safe" (outside of the Cameras Lens) with this camera rolling. This is, as was the above pic a example but this should be a fun tool. I have only uploaded a few videos and one of my questions was regarding the OGG viewer and how it will handle the new 360 degree video files. If I drop it in my Premiere timeline I can navigate around within, but the perspective that will render is the "direction" I decide yet if I view it in the Nikon viewer, I can rotate around in a circle using its interface. Now that would be cool here needless to say. I plan one day this week to fly it under the drone and capture a virtual video unlike anything most have ever seen, looking forward to that.. Who created the OGG player here, do you know? --WPPilot (talk) 15:43, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

• That doesn't appear to be a 360 degree file, I have to say. Full 360x180 degree spherical panoramic images should have an exactly 2:1 aspect ratio (vertical by definition is 180 degrees from zenith to nadir and horizontally 360 degrees). Your image is only 2,877 × 1,902 which suggests it's missing about 1/4 of the horizontal field of view. And that seems to be borne out by the fact that there's a yacht on the far right side on the horizon that doesn't wrap over to the left side. You can also add the Pano360 template (with the two {'s on each side) to the image page which should add a spherical panorama viewer. I tried it and there's definitely an issue with the horizontal. Have a go and you'll see what I mean. Not sure why the camera isn't outputting a proper 360 degree horizontal view. Diliff (talk) 15:54, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Hey David thanks for your insight. The missing horizontal field issue was caused by the exporting of a frame in Premiere as this was a part of the video file, rather then just a image so I am sure that is where the "loss of field" comes into. This was the first time I even had it out of the box and am still figuring out in my spare time, something I don't have much of right now. I did only videos yesterday so as soon as I figure out the coded blinking light system and the cameras interface I am sure these will improve. Carter put the 360 template on the pic, that's really nice so now I am motivated to figure this thing out and make it really do what it claims it can do.. Cheers! (Don) 16:36, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

WPPilot, one of the photo sites I read linked to some 360 videos. Such as the one of the media pen at a Trump rally. Took me a while to figure out the UI. The quality was awful until I clicked the HD button, and then dragging around the screen while the video is playing. That's really cool. If that's what your camera can do, then there's definitely some advantage to using it for video vs the static 360's that Diliff and Code have done. Find a scene with action and an immersive viewpoint. -- Colin (talk) 20:31, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Colin Diliff This one is complete: Yacht Interior and has a complete 360 view. For the price this is fantastic and a great deal. The camera runs 599 retail and with bag stand remote and a few bats, you into the kit for under a thousand bucks and it does all the work.. I have the proper handle for it now and will shoot more with it soon without yours truly in the photo. Next step is the interface, still buggy but I am sure that will update soon..... --Don (talk) 00:08, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

: Colin Diliff, are either of you aware of a way to create hot spots, inside the 360 videos to progress to the next photo? Lets say I have a 5 360 video tour that I want to stuich together, i.e. you click in the door and you move inside..--WPPilot (talk) 04:32, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

To do 360 tours, you are going to need specialised software designed to put together the necessary web pages and code. I've never investigated the software too much because it's not something I'm involved in. It's quite a specialised thing and the software is not cheap (USD$500-1000 from memory). I can't give you specific recommendations because it's an industry that's evolving fast, but I know that Kolor are a respected name in panoramic photography and do make software that does creates virtual tours. Whether it's the best cutting edge software at this moment, I couldn't tell you. 13:50, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

Diliff, thanks, the price is reasonable I just need to speak French to read up on it ;) what other companies so 360 stitching that your aware of? 14:26, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

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Questions about panorama and light conditions

Hi Colin,

1. This was not a ironic question, I actually want know your opinion.
2. I haven't a Nodal Ninja or whatever panorama head. Do you know some tecnique to do a Panorama 360 manually?

Thanks --The Photographer 20:25, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

1. I don't know how I would do better. It is hard to make the shutter longer since the train is moving and will blur, unless that's the effect you want. Maybe I was too harsh -- it passed FP after all. The top right third of the image was just too mushy for my liking at FP. I guess you had glare from the train lights too. I think you have a tendency to whack those Lightroom sliders all the way to max/min, or crank up Clarity a lot. The result can be eye-popping but also can be not very realistic. Depends what sort of image you are aiming for, whether that's acceptable imo.

I underestand, however, I will upload the RAW file in commons archive and I will let you know. BTW, I don't know if it's posible share the file alteration history of lightroom in metadata file. --The Photographer 11:35, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

2. Do you mean 360° equilateral panoramas that require a special viewer to pan around and zoom in/out? I haven't created one yet, but keep intending to. Code and Diliff have done this.

I think it is very difficult to do successful panoramas indoors by hand. I've done a few but often there are stitching issues that require Photoshop to fix/hide or that mean the image wouldn't stand a chance at FP. I find Smartblend is much better than the standard blend tool that comes with Hugin or PtGui as it copes better with parallax errors and hides its seams better. But creating stitched photos is a relatively cheap way of making high-resolution, sharp photos without having expensive cameras or lenses -- as you know many of mine were created with my previous entry-level DSLR and cheap lenses. I have Diliff's old Nodal Ninja III. It isn't cheap new but is quite compact and if you have a ball head + tripod then that's all you need. You could also consider Sunwayfoto CR 30 which is very similar in design to the NN III. It is quite a bit cheaper. Sunwayfoto are a good quality make, but possibly that pano head isn't as large or stable as the NN III If you are considering buying one, check with the seller whether it is compatible with your camera + lens. Some of these small panoramic heads aren't compatible with big DSLRs or big lenses. You could try a fund-raising web page like we did for Jee's macro lens, and aim for the Nodal Ninja which is possible more compatible with slightly larger cameras, and is certainly very widely used. I think there are now crowdfunding sites for non-profit activities which charge less or no fees. -- Colin (talk) 21:24, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

I have only a lens in good conditions a 35mm nikon dx 1.8 af-s, I have too a Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG with a focus problem and a sigma sigma 18-55 f/2.8 with a mushroom problem so I try not to use it much. My first option is use my 35 mm and 18 photos every 20° at 30°, however, do it manually result in severals stitching issues how you told me. 200 $ is too expensive to me, please, let me know if you know another alternative like build by yourself a panoramic head. Thanks --The Photographer 11:35, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

If you restrict yourself to single-row panorama then you could buy/make some kind of L bracket that will allow you to mount your camera in portrait mode with the lens centre over the tripod point. Then use your tripod head to rotate horizontally. But if you want multi-row then you need a head with adjustable and rotatable parts. If you know someone who could machine aluminium parts to high specification, then they could copy a NN III -- it isn't exactly rocket science -- but they would have to offer their time for free for you to make any saving over buying one. I do suggest you try crowdfunding to get the gear. I think you'd make use of it so would have a good response. $200 isn't much money to raise. Alternatively, WMF may be willing to buy a pano head and loan it or give you a grant. Again, $200 isn't much money for WMF. -- Colin (talk) 13:07, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

I can read here "Note: The 16-35mm Nikkor lens is not compatible with both the NN3 and NN4 series pano heads. ", it's about all lens in this range (16mm to 35mm) or is about AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR lens?. I will use the nikkor 35mm 1.8. I will ping @Diliff: too and thanks in advance --The Photographer 15:23, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

I don't think you will have any problems. The 16-35 lens is a big big lens and that will be why. See also Entrance Pupil Database, NN3 User Manual which says "How do I know if my lens will work on NN3?: It’s best to simply measure it. You will get full tilt up on wide angle zoom lenses that measure 105mm (4 1/8 inches) or less from the “entrance pupil” at the focal length used to the camera mounting threads. With the use of the N3T20 T-adapter, you will get an “additional” 40mm (1 ½ inches) of length, however this may limit the ability to get a full 90 degree rotation up. These measurements are taken off the upper rail of NN3. Also, some larger fisheye lenses, like the FC-E9, will not fit.". With a crop camera like the D300 and a standard size lens, you should have no problems. Note that many people use such panoramic heads with very wide-angle lenses and fisheyes in order to get a 360° panorama. With your 35mm lens (which is 50mm in full-frame terms) you couldn't easily create a full 360° panorama since it would require a ridiculous number of frames. But you can still create large stitched panoramic photos. I mainly use my 35mm and 50mm lenses. -- Colin (talk) 18:01, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

In this moment I am creating a huge amount of photos to make panoramas 360 (with my 35mm) that usually come with stitch problems that can not be corrected. I followed your suggestion, please tell me your opinion and please feel free to share it --The Photographer 23:09, 19 November 2016 (UTC)

User:The Photographer Great to see you start a fund-raiser. I have a few ideas and suggestions. Let me continue this over on your talk page. @Diliff, Code, and King of Hearts: too. -- Colin (talk) 10:50, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

How important is a nodal head vs. ball-head tripod alone? I like to travel light and am reluctant to bring a long metal object that doesn't fit in my photo backpack. Most of my panos are shot at infinity where parallax doesn't matter, but I've also shot some closer ones like File:San Francisco City Hall September 2013 panorama 3.jpg (this is a 4x3 multi-row). -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 04:04, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

King of Hearts, the NN3 is 475g and as you can see from this page it folds down quite compact. However I tend to leave mine assembled in an L shape which is 18cm x 15cm. This just fits into the top compartment of my camera bag. I see you have a full-frame camera. Code uses the NN3 with his full-frame Canon and Diliff also used that combination I would recommend double-checking it supports your camera+lenses as some of the larger bodies and lenses are not compatible. Diliff uses a larger model now and it is pretty big. He doesn't seem to mind carrying a lot of weight. I have managed to create several FP quality images by taking hand-held stitches. As you say, for landscape photos it doesn't matter unless you include foreground. I took this, this and this handheld and they worked out ok with a bit of Photoshopping to fix some small errors. But this was a nightmare with lots of parallax errors and required a lot of Photoshopping. Not only does it avoid stitching errors but using a tripod (vs rotating around the entrance pupil hand held) considerably increases my success rate with each frame. I used to take two photos for every frame, in case some had shake or blur, but that isn't so necessary with the tripod. I also use a little cheap infra-red remote to fire the shutter. Additionally, the vertical orientation with the pano-head (vs horizontal for typical ball mount usage) is convenient for some lenses to create a single-row stitch that would be too narrow otherwise. So I definitely recommend it. If you want to try 360° panos, then it is essential, as is an ultra-wide or fisheye lens. -- Colin (talk) 10:33, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

The NN3MkII is a wonderful thing and works very well with my equipment. For my 360° panos I usually use the 6D with the Samyang 14mm lens (e.g. here or here) although I also tried the 24-70mm F4L IS USM lens at 35mm or 24mm and got good results, too (see here or here). For other stitched photographs I usually take the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 (Art) lens (examples here or here). I wouldn't recommend to use a heavier equipment on the NN3MkII but an average FF-camera like the Canon EOS 6D with a Sigma Art lens is easy to handle. --Code (talk) 19:01, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

How strict is the 50mm maximum focal length on the NN3? Is it a hard stop (meaning there simply not enough space to move the camera 50mm away from the nodal point), or is it simply a suggestion due to the weight of heavier lenses (so an 85mm prime is OK)? What's the minimum model required to mount the 14-24mm (1 kg)? -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 07:36, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

King of Hearts, see Commons:Featured picture candidates/File:Josselin Château Evening Light Reflected 2016-08-15 WLM.jpg. The issue with focal length is that the horizontal rotator has little interchangeable brass rings that have small dents in them. These are hit by a ball-bearing in the arm base that makes the rotator click and stop every X degrees. These detents let you evenly space the frames in the panorama so that, for a given lens, there is sufficent overlap and no gaps. There are no detents in the vertical arm, just markings for 5 degree and 15 degree IIRC. But you don't have to use the detents. Possibly you could remove the rings, but also you can place the camera between the rings and hold it there. The rings do have an advantage if the panorama software struggles to find control-points to align images. This can happen on water or on the sky, particularly if using a normal or telephoto lens rather than wide-angle. Then you can enter the angles directly to PtGui so knowing that one frame is 2.5 degrees from the previous is useful. But I rarely need to use that. My 50mm lens is equivalent to 75mm.

There are limitations on the length of the arms and the size of some lenses (or where their entrance pupils are) in that you might not be able to position it aligned with the entrance pupil, or that the body will hit the base when rotated vertically (which may not matter unless you are doing a 180-360). Ask Diliff also. If Code can manage a 6D and a Sigma Art (which are big/heavy) then it should be OK. I see the 14-24 is mentioned here wrt the NN4. You could ask on that forum. Your 750 is smaller than the 800. -- Colin (talk) 08:41, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

King of Hearts: I can't add much to what Colin said. I think it'll be possible to use lenses with longer focal lengths than 50mm as well if you either don't use the clicks of the NN3 rotator or buy yourself an advanced rotator. The German shop linked above sells both together, maybe you can find a similar offer in the US as well. --Code (talk) 09:18, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

Well done!

	3rd Prize 1916 Category Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 Ireland
	Congratulations! You have won joint third place in special 1916 category for Wiki Loves Monuments Ireland 2016. Smirkybec (talk) 16:30, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Peter Tatchell - Rainbow - 8by10 - 2016-10-15.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments Good quality. --W.carter 09:30, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:17, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Not exactly a church window... ;)

I tried out the HDR on my better camera. It went even better than with the small one, since I could tweak the settings in so many more ways. More things to test and get better acquainted with. :) cart-Talk 11:04, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

O_o Are you crazy! A respected photographer like you, following a nobody like me. That's going to ruin your reputation seriously! ;) I only got that account to have someplace online to ditch my experiments and more mediocre pics of little or no EV. :) cart-Talk 12:09, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Oh I'm a "nobody" on Flickr. Never got any image into "Explore" nor made any effort to do the social engineering and careful image tagging necessary. Diliff's the same, though perhaps he did get an "Explore" once. I tend to post most of my photos to both sites. I have family photos set with privacy levels so nobody else sees them, and some photos of work events that are also private (accessible only via a link I shared with my colleagues). If I upload with a free licence, then people can use Flickr's search to locate freely licenced images just as they do on Commons, and possibly with better results.

Good result on the HDR. Is that some sort of big shed? How did you set up your camera and what software did you use for HDR? Did your camera let you use exposure bracketing to get a decent exposure range (some are limited to e.g. +/- 1ev which isn't really enough). -- Colin (talk) 12:46, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

I guess Flickr can be just as much about strategic social networking shenanigans as any online media site. Some of my pics got "faved" right away by some users who probably just wanted me to notice their pages. Think I'll stay away from such things, even following someone seems tricky for me since that might look as if I'm trying to get a 'following' in return. I can use your account to keep track of nice folks here at COM instead. :) I'll learn that site on a need-to-know-basis. Right now it's just good to upload things without the usual "paper work" you have to do here. ;)

The pic was taken in one of the stairwells of the industrial complex I work in. There are many manufacturing companies here and you can always find something interesting to shoot. Some examples are these: 1, 2, 3, 4. People here are used to seeing me in some strange position with a camera. ;) The stairwell photo is handheld with a +3 EV. That camera can only handle 3 steps but I can choose how to extract these or mix them in camera if I want. My small camera can do 6 steps, I haven't got around to sussing out exactly what that means, but I guess it is about the same thing. I mixed them in Elements as usual (still there...) and it worked well. Did some extra brightening also and NR, but not for the window part, detailed things like the birch tends to loose too much detail in NR, so I usually leave those out of it. cart-Talk 15:05, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Some of my faves are friends or genuine votes by strangers, but I think some are people just tagging images they plan to use for some purpose. You get some people fav or follow who haven't uploaded any photos, so I think they are there just to collect images. The tit-for-tat following and faving seems to be a way to build up exposure, though you also have to upload interesting images regularly and tag them well. Other than Commons folk or friends, I follow a few photographers in London whose work I like and it is nice to get updated with what they've done. It can be inspiring to see local sights photographed well. Since Flickr is a bigger community than Commons, you also may find local people to follow or people with similar photographic interests. I agree that manufacturing offers a lot of physically interesting subjects -- more so than an office. -- Colin (talk) 21:26, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Awesome trick you taught me! Yay!

That trick with using layers to reduce noise you told me about is just awesome! Thanks a heap! I used it on the tanker pics. Ok, the pics are still pretty crappy as far as night pics goes here, but not as lousy as they would have been without the HDR and the trick. They are after all taken from about 600 meters away and it was raining (I managed to rig the tripod inside the car to not get the camera wet, a bit uncomfortable but it worked). The "big" pic is done by mixing two in-camera HDRs at the same setting, 50/50 in Elements and the close-up of the tanker is done the same way but with three and the noise is not so eye-hurting. Just wanted to give credit where credit is due. We'll see when/if I can get any pics from inside the plant per this. Cheers, cart-Talk 00:51, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Cart, I'm glad it's useful. Not exactly original to me, though, and your Sony should have "Multi-shot-noise-reduction" mode (aka "Hand-held-twilight") that is exactly that. It's a bit frustrating how the glare/halo/CA from spot lights don't work so well -- I've seen that before with some of my own HDR. -- Colin (talk) 08:44, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, lamps always come out this way and it ruins the pics. This was the Panasonic and not the Sony, that one could not handle the distance. Both cameras have the "Multi-shot-noise-reduction" and that is really crappy in both. The Sony makes the photo look like some abstract painting and the Panasonic makes it more grainy than noisy. Of course I know this is not original to you, just wanted to say thanks. This is learning and also testing the limits of the cameras so I don't have to bother with trying to make shots that won't come out good anyway. cart-Talk 09:03, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Oh that's a shame the built-in modes aren't so good. Sometimes the camera manufacturer modes can be quite advanced, othertimes disappointing. I haven't used the multi-shot feature on my Sony since I tried it on my old A33 years ago, and found that processing the raw file in Lightroom produced a lower noise result. Sony's JPGs have improved since then. The panorama feature on the Sony is good considering what it is achieving with hand-held snaps in a few seconds of processing, and I've achieved some QI results with that. So when am I going to persuade you to try a raw processor like Lightroom. Then your idea of "limits of the cameras" might shift a bit! -- Colin (talk) 09:10, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Not to worry, you've already "persuaded" me to get Lightroom and try out raw. :) Unfortunately, at the annual vehicle inspection it was pointed out that my car needed new brakes, so that emptied my reserve fund. Sadly, I need a functioning car more than new toys. Maybe in February, and by that time the light will return. cart-Talk 09:52, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

I've noticed that my camera phone actually does brilliant HDR. I mean, the image quality isn't brilliant because it's really just a camera phone with a relatively small sensor, and there's zero adjustability of the result, but the implementation of the bracketing is great and completely unnoticable because modern camera phone sensors can be read ridiculously fast ([https://www.xda-developers.com/sony-imx378-comprehensive-breakdown-of-the-google-pixels-sensor-and-its-features/ this is a really informative article, well worth the read if you're interested in the tech). In the article, it mentions that Sony's latest sensor (used in a couple of recent smartphones) "is also able to shoot full resolution burst shots faster, stepping up to 60 Hz at 10 bit output and 40 Hz at 12 bit output (up from 40 Hz and 35 Hz respectively), which should help reduce the amount of motion blur and camera shake when using HDR+.". So essentially it can ouput 40-60 frames per second. Whether the phone's DSP can handle that in a sustained manner is another story, but for basic HDR bracketing, I'm sure it would store the output in RAM and process it. So it's able to do HDR handheld without any significant danger of blur between bracketed frames, something that is a major problem for us DSLR photographers with physical shutters and maximum of 5-10 frames per second. I wonder if this high sppeed HDR bracketing ability is likely to make it DSLR sensors anytime soon. I do already wonder why we still need physical mechanical shutters. Obviously for regular photography, the shutter delay is so that the mirror can flip up and even if you had an electronic shutter, it wouldn't help shutter delay, but for HDR, that wouldn't be necessary as you just want to shoot a bracket with the minimum of delay and don't need to see through the viewfinder during that process. My understanding used to be that there was a delay while the sensor 'discharged' its photosensitive wells, but that can't be the case anymore with the way they handle high speed video? Perhaps you know the answer Colin? Diliff (talk) 12:41, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

See THE FUTURE OF THE ELECTRONIC SHUTTER. I think some mirrorless cameras are already offering fully electronic shutter, but often at the expense of losing a couple of bits of dynamic range (e.g. 10bit rather than 12bit). Some of Sony's A7 series lose a couple of bits like this, or with other mode combinations. My camera has electronic first curtain, which on mirrorless (and SLT) helps avoid the extra "shutter close...shutter open" steps that would otherwise be needed to surround the "shutter open...shutter close" for the exposure. Another feature that might come to sensors soon is the ability to empty a sensor pixel once full and absorb light again. If it kept track of how many times the pixel filled up + the final part reading, then you'd get HDR with one exposure. But some of our HDR photos indoors require several seconds for the brightest exposure, so surely increasing framerate isn't relevant there? It would only help if doing HDR outdoors in bright light. -- Colin (talk) 13:11, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Good links and fascinating subject, thanks. I like when new radical thinking is introduced that will alter tech. Reminds me of when I had an idea for flat very light lenses back in the days. The theory was based on that instead of having the material be of different thickness to get to bend the light, you could alter the refractive index gradually and concentrically in a flat disc instead. The easiest way of doing this would be by finding a polymer which you could change that property of by using a circular gradient electrical field, same way you do in electrophoresis with dna samples, and then fixate it. Unfortunately, we could not find a suitable polymer then and now they have other ways of doing flat lenses. cart-Talk 13:44, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Quality Image Promotion

Your image has been reviewed and promoted Congratulations! Peter Tatchell - Folliage - 2by3 - 2016-10-15.jpg, which was produced by you, was reviewed and has now been promoted to Quality Image status. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Quality images candidates. We also invite you to take part in the categorization of recently promoted quality images. Comments Ok for me --Hubertl 08:43, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

--QICbot (talk) 05:17, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

A "Barnstar" for your truly remarkable Crowd Funding Skills!

	The Teamwork Barnstar
	The Teamwork Barnstar is awarded when several editors work together to improve the sites objectives. For championing the "Crowd Funding Programming" for our friend User:The Photographer, your dedication to the effort is going to get him what he needs. $1,045 USD in 3 days, job well done. --WPPilot (talk) 05:47, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

Wow! Definitely good to hear. When I saw the note about Wilfredo on my talk, I knew that with my limited disability payments, I wouldn't be able to give directly, but I hoped you'd have good luck in getting him what he needs. After seeing the wonderful results Jkadavoor has had thanks to donor generosity, and knowing that The Photographer is a skilled photographer, I figured it's a no-brainer.

I used to work as a printer at a small professional lab here in Reno. I often had to print some pretty boring team portrait sets for local high schools, or personal family/vacation pics. Then there were the photogs from Nevada Magazine and others, who always brought in something well-worth seeing and printing.

That's kind of how it is here. I do my daily stuff, deleting copyvios, blocking socks and spammers, getting rid of vacation and Facebook-style stuff, etc. But then I get to participate at FPC and now VIC, which is the most enjoyable thing I do here. I found recently that at VIC the butterflies that Charles Sharp nominates can be spread to other languages (one of them was a butterfly with 8 articles, and Charles's great image was the first one we had, so I got to add it to all 8 articles.)

I know I only have a Coolpix that doesn't do much for me, but I've already got 26 VI's that help showcase the work of others, with many more to come. I always look forward to the new FPCs, especially from great photographers like you, Diliff, Slaunger, Savin, Charles, Jee, Christian Ferrer, Poco a poco, and many others. I have DVDs full of personal copies of your work so I can look through it, or use it as wallpaper while I delete all the junk! I also try to make sure everyone that works at FPC/QIC/VIC have the tools they need, like filemover.

One thing I wish we had was something like the signpost, but for Commons. Maybe showcase a photog each month with an interview.

I like the educational side of Commons, hence my interest in VIC, but FPC is definitely a place to stop off at and get my dose of WOW. I live with my brother and sister, both in their 50s (I'm 48), and I always call them in to my room to see the latest gems I've found here. lNeverCry 07:06, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Thanks INeverCry. Glad we are giving you pleasure with our image and very nice to read positive things on Commons. I think there's a "meet our photographers" page somewhere on Commons, with some interview stuff, but IIRC it is old and no longer updated. And I recall being "interviewed" on the WMF blog years ago. Has anyone got the time/ability to create a monthly newsletter? -- Colin (talk) 15:16, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

It was initiated; but no progress after that. Jee 16:24, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

That would take a special person to make a monthly thing like that really work. Someone with some actual people skills. OK, so I'm out - who've we got left? In seriousness though, I haven't done any real photography in 15 years. I used to take my Minolta XE7 and SRT303, lenses, filters, etc, my Mamiya RB67 and 80mm Sekor, and my Bogen tripod all over northern NV and CA and into Oregon. When I got back to the shop I worked at here in Reno, I'd have rolls of film running through the color developer, the B&W developer, and slides going through the E6. All I have left is the tripod and a couple big books of negs and slides. The gist of that long ramble is that now I have Commons, and I can see what kind of nice surprises I'll find each day. With FPC I always wake up to something worth seeing. And now we've got these 360 panos that blow my mind! lNeverCry 22:29, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

help needed

Colin, Running Voting code on Commons:Photo challenge/2016 - October - Water Supply Infrastructure/Voting is crashing in line 88 where info.FileName is called but "info" is null. Could you help me debug it, or process that page. --Jarekt (talk) 04:27, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

Jarekt, the voting page has changed by User:Flominator to include a table of contents, and then the ===Sample=== subsection replaced by a div so it doesn't show up in the contents list. The contents were later removed by another user. The vote counting program assumed that there would be a === subsection before any image appeared, and so the info variable was null. I've fixed the page to restore the sample subsection. Flominator, please ask before changing the format of the photo challenge pages, as they are generated by and consumed by computer programs that expect a certain layout. Jarekt, I've pinged a couple of users who voted incorrectly. Once they are fixed, then the results can be generated. I'm happy to do this unless you get there first. -- Colin (talk) 12:17, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

Thank you --Jarekt (talk) 13:54, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

Sorry for the trouble, I wasn't aware of this. --Flominator (talk) 10:05, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Blocked for 24 hours over disruption

So far I have observed you remove a warning (over a topic you ignored my request for clarification), remove my question regarding that very warning removal where you explicitly state that you have absolutely no intention of engaging in any discussion with me. Furthermore you have removed my observation of your conduct in a public thread and closed that very thread you yourself are an involved party twice.

This type of disruption where you remove other peoples warnings and replies, close threads where you are an involved party when you feel like it and overall act like you run the show will not be tolerated. It is clear to me you are far too involved with the issues (whatever they are) so I am giving you a 24 hour block just so you can calm down a bit and perhaps explain your actions.

I am still clueless as to why you are engaged in this bizarre disruptive edit pattern, whatever that reason may be it does NOT excuse your conduct in any shape or form.

Mind that I am willing to listen what the problem is. You need to first calm down and second explain briefly what the issue is about and who is involved. Only after that can I start piecing the details together. I do not have the time or patience to deconstruct pages and pages of text to retrieve such basic information.

I will unblock you myself if I see that

1) You have calmed down and will not act out of impulse like you have so far

2) You have engaged in a discussion where you are willing to provide the basic information I requested, you can do this on your talk page.

I will not hesitate to extend this block if you are unwilling to address these two points and continue engaging in the types of disruptive conduct discussed earlier.

-- とある白い猫 ^ちぃ？ 11:59, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

@とある白い猫: Just noting that from my perspective you're quite involved as well. Being ignored & reverted can induce annoyance / anger (perhaps there's a better word, but I can't think of it right now). --Zhuyifei1999 (talk) 12:07, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Please join IRC

Hi Colin please go to http://webchat.freenode.net and join #wikimedia-commons channel. You know THEY are talking about you. Your current block wouldn't stand if you were to see logs of what is being said. Would you like them? 189.84.21.90 12:40, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

I'd be happy to email the logs. I reiterated what I said here on IRC. If Colin wishes to discuss the matter on IRC, I am more than willing for that as well. -- とある白い猫 ^ちぃ？ 12:43, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Unblock

Unblock request granted This blocked user asked to be unblocked, and one or more administrators has reviewed and granted this request. Request reason: "See below. The template doesn't seem to work with links. Colin (talk) 12:53, 6 December 2016 (UTC)" Unblock reason: "I don't think this block was really justified. At best it is counter-productive, and it looks to be punitive. Yann (talk) 13:05, 6 December 2016 (UTC)" This template should be archived normally.

(Block log) (unblock) (Change local status for a global block) (contribs)

The community has heard more than enough from me in the last two days so I fail to understand why White Cat thinks I should add more words, using simple short sentences, just for his benefit and lack of attention span. The problems with Fae are complex with no obvious solutions. I regard White Cat's "Frankly I could not care any less what the nature of the actual dispute is", "10 words or fewer" and "I do not have the time or patience" comments as insulting and clear evidence that any conversation with him is unlikely to be fruitful. A previous interaction with White Cat (where User:Slaunger defended me) involved him making the most extreme and unpleasant comments, so, no, I'm not going to engage with him, and as a volunteer on this project, with no badge of office to defend, that is my right.

I created a complaint section against User:Revent at AN/U specifically about his misuse of the discussion closure to make a personal threat of a block against me, for reasons that I disputed. The discussion on Revent's closure (such as there was) reached no consensus but the personal threat was retracted and replaced instead with an agreement by Revent to seek community consensus for any block and to note his COI. The matter is resolved, to the best that is reasonable. Since this section was a complaint raised by me about another user, I am most certainly at liberty to close it as and when I feel the matter resolved. The fact that other people, such as White Cat, wish to use a section (a compaint about Revent) to attack me, is abuse and quite disrespectful.

Every admin knows that if you have a problem with a user then create a section about that user and stay focused on the problem with that user. I have done that with Revent, and I suggested to WhiteCat that he do that with me, should he wish. As we can see subsequently, User:Yann re-closed the section and White Cat has created a new section about me. This is exactly what my edits + request would have achieved. What is therefore the disruption I have caused? None. The only person "acting out of impulse" is White Cat because he's upset I won't answer his phone calls. And no, I'm not going to satisfy his #2 point and I don't actually think anyone else wants me to either (confirmed) -- Colin (talk) 12:53, 6 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi,

I unblocked you. Could you please stay away from AN/U for some time. Some of your complain(s) may be justified, but I feel that, at this stage, bringing them forwards may not be fruitful. I hope that some understanding between all people engaged is possible. Regards, Yann (talk) 13:05, 6 December 2016 (UTC)