Archive for March, 2006

Never forget (opposite to my own experience) that your PC needs to be cleaned a little soemtimes. For me, the fan of my Athlon XP 2600+ CPU saw so much dust accumulated during the last months that the CPU temperature had progressively climbed from about 50°C up to more than 74°C.

A mere duster, a blower or a vacuum cleaner set to the minimal power will be sufficient to improve dramatically the situation. I immediately moved from the temperature alarm sound (going over 73°C) to a much more normal 52°C.

A good advice. A small prophylactic act to remember.

After the first article written just before I left for the Masai Mara photo safari, it was time to check on those comments and to see if they still held after the test of practical experience.

(more…)

The comments reported by PhotoReporter.com are really worrying for the future of the existing Digital Single Lens Reflex (D-SLR) Konica-Minolta line.

It appears that Sony thinks that they should move from the existing KM products toward a more Sony RD1-type of cameras. It seems to announce replacement of mechanical parts by electronic solutions (you can expect to loose quickly the exceptionally good AcuteMate viewfinder). The “niche world of professionals” may be indicated that we, prosumers, may be out of our waters.

The EICTA (European Information and Communications Technology Association) just announced publication of a logo to clearly identify future equipements compatible with High Definition TV (HD TV).

But the problem is to know what consumers will really understand. How can they differentiate between HD-ready and HD-TV logos. For example, HD-ready requires the presence of both analog and digital inputs on a compatible display, but HD-TV requires only one of them. We can expect a mess of incompatibilities not understandable by the average Joe or Jane.

The Masai Mara park hosts not only felines (I went there specially to watch them) and their preys (all kinds of antelopes), but also a large number of birds of all kinds. Travelling with Alain Saunier, reknowned ornithologist photographer, and with some other bird watchers allowed to stop and contemplate some very colourful (or less colourful) specimens of various birds present in the park.

Everyday, everywhere

The most common (or most visible) amongst the small birds if the roller that we found about everywhere (as the Fiscal Shrikes).

Lilac-breasted Roller, or Lilac-throated Roller

African Pygmy Kingfisher and its reflection

(more…)

For all those who wonder about the compatibility of Minolta lenses and accessories bought before the move to digital technology with the recent Konica-Minolta Digital SLR (Dynax 7D and Dynax 5D), I can give some bits of advice that may be useful before buying a body from Konica-Minolta.

First, the Minolta lenses seem to have no compatibility problem. In some rare cases, it has been heard that Sigma lenses had to be brought back to after-sales department to be refitted with a new chip and be made compatible again with the new Konica-Minolta bodies. In my case, Minolta Xi 28-105mm zoom (with its featured motor-actuated zoom feature), Minolta 200mm/2.8 APO G tele-lens (and not a young one) and the Sigma 400mm/5.6 tele-lens all worked well at the first try.

On the contrary, flashes seem to be in trouble. For me, the Minolta 3500xi flash never produced a correct image (as announced by Konica-Minolta). I bought a second-hand Minolta 5600HS (I got a considerable power boost, too).

For Jean-Pierre A.

During my recent photo safari to the Masai Mara park, there is a time to be singled out. It allowed me to take the following photo.

As a matter of fact, this magnificent female cheetah is less that two meters from me…
(more…)

I’m back from a full week of photo safari in the Masai Mara park (Kenya). Here are a few figures to sum it up (before the photos).
(more…)

Some information for the photographer going to Masai Mara.

Maps

Some maps collected on the Internet to give you minimal directions or some orientation. As you can see, this is really bordering the Tanzanian Serengeti reserve (South to Masai Mara).

The safari from Objectif Nature happens in the Western part of the Park, South of Oloololo gate.

Animals

Apart from the animals I spotted and you can see on the photos (including lions everywhere, some cheetahs, rare leopards), I was told there are a few black rhinos (very hard to see).

Best time to go

July/August is the time to see the migration of wildebeest (and zebras) over the Mara river. Millions of animals moving at the same time, impressive sights, compelling occasions to hunt for all carnivores (lions and crocodiles). But the exact date depends heavily on rain patterns and change each year.

On the web site of the United States Secret Service, you will find a very deep article about money, banknotes and counterfetied banknotes, describing american dollars of course. But, more generally, this information is also applicable to countless other currencies.

If you find a similar article about Euro banknotes, thanks to inform me in order to add it here.

This little file is used to protect part of your web site against the visits of some automated robots (like the one sent by Google to index the pages of yuor site).

• The syntax
• My own web site was checked

This glossary contains brief definitions of terms frequently used in reliability engineering and life data analysis. The purpose of these entries is to provide a quick explanation of the terms in question, not to provide extensive explanations or mathematical derivations. For those desiring such detailed descriptions, links have been provided when possible for more extensive coverage elsewhere in ReliaSoft’s reliability engineering knowledge base.

From Weibull.com.