The Art Of Lying Down

I came into possession of a cheap "Made in China", mechanical alarm clock years ago. It was purchased sometime around 1976. Precision was never its strong suit; it keeps time the way a drunk uncle keeps a secret - loosely, approximately, with occasional lapses into nonsense. But hey, as long as it points me vaguely toward the hour, I'm content.

Around the turn of the millennium, though, things started to get interesting. The clock still ran, but its stamina had gone soft. A full wind used to last me a solid 24 plus hours. Now? It conks out before I even crawl into bed. The decline was gradual. Every night now, I have to reset the hands and give the winding knob a few twists.

My 22" Phillips LCD Monitor Settings

My Dell 19" monitor has served me well. Unfortunately after 14 years, delamination is happening and I can see 'bubbles' around the sides of the monitor.

So out I went in search for a new monitor and I finally decided on the budget friendly Phillips 22" LCD monitor. Thanks to Lazada Malaysia (Note: a Lazada Malaysia affiliate link) for the discounts (with Laz coins), I paid Rm225.90 for it. This is the best price that I could find online at that time.

I have been using this 22" Phillips monitor for about a month and a half now, and overall, I am not disappointed. Let's be real. One of the most economical monitors I could find on the market, it delivers solid performance. I can get Full HD at 1920x1080 resolution on Linux Mint (version 21.2) and on Windows XP, all on my 14 year old PC via VGA connection. However, everything looks a little too small in Full HD on Windows XP. So I settled for 1440x900 resolution instead.

My Settings

Out of the box though, this monitor was *not* kind to my eyes. In fact, the initial experience was so uncomfortable that it took a whopping 12 hours for the eye strain and irritation to finally subside. Twelve hours!! I was starting to wonder if I needed to invest in a pair of blue-light-blocking goggles just to survive!

Thankfully, after some strategic tweaking and adjustments, I managed to find settings that transformed this eye-straining beast into a much more comfortable viewing companion.

Focus Bracketing With Olympus EPL-9 And Nisi 58mm Close-up Filter

Greater depth of field. That's what I want for my macro pictures.

So, focus bracketing with a close-up filter attached was one of the first thing that I tried when I first got my Olympus Pen EPL-9 camera and Olympus M.Zuiko ED 40 - 150mm R zoom lens. Tried a few takes and I was disappointed. The results that I got then was unimpressive. I was confused and I wrongly assumed then that the close-up filter combination with the zoom lens doesn't work. How wrong was I. It does works, albeit with some limitations.

The focal length must be between 40mm and 80mm, and ideally, the subject should be at least 25mm across in size. Beyond the 80mm focal length or if the subject is too small (like a lady bug that is 5mm across), the pictures will be unimpressive.

I haven't tried but with a Raynox DCR-250, the focal length range should be less because of its higher magnification capabilities. Maybe between 40mm to 70mm. Again, I haven't tried.

I stumbled upon this find accidentally earlier this month. Not sure why but when I saw this colpacampsomeris indica wasp (thanks to bob296 at iNaturalist for identification) resting on a leave in the cool 8 A.M. morning air, I turned the dial on the camera to AP mode, selected Focus Bracketing, and I clicked away. And the outcome (after much editing because it was shot handheld) was this:

Sorry for the Dreamstime watermark. The picture was too good to not submit it as a stock photo. For a closer look of this picture at Dreamstime, click here. And oh yeah, I wasn't stung by this wasp.

My Nisi 58mm Close-up Filter

Well, things does not always go according to planned as we all know.

A couple of months ago, I had the intention of getting a budget macro lens; the ones that are made in China. I've narrowed down my choice to either a TTArtisan or an 7Artisans.

Guess what. I bought a Nisi 58mm close-up lens (NOTE: a Lazada Malaysia affiliate link) (Also available on Amazon.com - Note: an Amazon affiliate link) instead in the end.

The deciding factor: the ability to auto-focus when shooting macro. I already own a Raynox DCR-250 (a +8 dioptre lens), by the way. But I felt that I needed the extra working distance than a +8 dioptre close-up lens offers.

Yes I know what they say about most macro photographers where they focus exclusively in manual. But I am just not that confident with my manual focusing abilities. With stock photography, where my macro pictures will end up eventually, sharpness at the point of focus matters. And when you miss your opportunity, there may not be second chance. Hence, my decision with the Nisi over a manual macro lens.

New Door Closer

Perhaps it is already too old. Perhaps it couldn't withstand being opened up to 120°, sometimes up to 5 times per day. My DIY door closer quick and dirty repair only lasted 9 months. I had a final look at it and concluded that it is really beyond repair this time. There is nothing more that I can do to revive it. The only thing I could do now is to get a new one.

So, I went online and bought a new one from Lazada Malaysia. Looks nothing like the old one but it is functional. Installation is easy. It is just a matter of drilling the necessary holes on the door frame and later attaching it with the provided screws. Tension on the new door closer is adjustable (hex key is included in the package) but I find this unnecessary.

New PSU For My Lenovo Thinkcentre m70e

Now that I know the offending component is the power supply unit (PSU), now to go out hunting for one.

Prolink DH-5102U USB Wireless Adapter - My Experience

First off, this is not a sponsored post nor was I paid by anyone. And second, I am not a expert in USB wireless adapters for PCs. All I am doing here is to share my knowledge and experience in using this USB wireless adapter from Prolink model DH-5102U (Note: This is a Lazada Malaysia affiliate link). The only reason why I bought this adapter is because it was being offered at a special price at my time of purchase in July 2023. More importantly, it supports the Linux operating system. So far, I have used it on Windows XP, Windows 7, LUbuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 21.2 XFce. On the whole, I find this device to be usable. Unfortunately, it has its limitations too.

Resurrected And Still Good

Would you believe it. After three years my 'dead' Lenovo Thinkcentre m70e desktop PC is still good. All I did was to just plug in a spare over-sized power supply unit (PSU), power it up and it just came back on - right into the screen complaining about no boot media. To get rid of this error screen, I then plugged in its hard disk (which I have removed for other uses) and Windows 7 just booted up like nothing has happened since July 2020.

I can't believe it. I almost trashed a good working computer.

Keeping Canon Selphy Printing Glitches At Bay

Nine months ago I bought a Canon Selphy CP1300 photo printer. Printed some photos when I first received it and I was happy with how the photos came out. Superb print quality. The best part, I bought it at an unbeatable price because of the Lazada 11.11 sale. Essentially after all the discounts, I got the photo paper and cartridge for free. In case you didn't know, no paper or cartridge is included with the printer, unless it is a bundled deal.

Some 2 weeks later, I printed some photos again. Not sure why, but this time there was a glitch on the first print. Three coloured dots on the output that were not in the original JPEG image (see picture above). I was disappointed obviously. Subsequent prints however went perfectly. A big sigh of relief. Thank god.

But what went wrong on the first print?

Replacement Thermostat For Morgan 1.7L Cordless Kettle

It has been 4 months. So far, so good. The replacement thermostat, a Sunlight SLD-118, works fine on my Morgan 1.7 litre cordless kettle. Rated at 10 Amps 250V, it still boils water within 5 minutes. Auto shutoff works.

Replacement was easy. It is just a matter of pulling out the live and neutral wires, removing the old thermostat and then putting in the new, and plugging in the wires back again.

Old Door Closer Repair

Took me a while to figure it out, but I managed to repair the old door closer to one of the netting doors in my house. All I used was just a small block of scrap wood and a screw that I scavenged from an old VCD player.

Misleading Error Message - "A New CPU Installed"

I didn't change anything. The same old PC that I have had for 13 years. Still runs fine. But why this "New CPU installed!" error message every time when I boot up my PC?

The answer finally revealed about a fortnight ago.

Weifeng WT-1003 Monopod

I have bought myself a monopod. A made in China Weifeng WT-1003. The build is surprisingly quite good despite the budget friendly price. Maximum length when fully extended is about 1.7m which is about right for my height. It is quite light and overall, I am happy with my purchase as it serves it purpose for my needs as it is suppose to.

Olympus E-PL 9 + Zoom Lens With Raynox At f/18 Aperture

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been toying around with the idea of getting a budget manual macro lens. Not too sure why I did not try it out earlier, but after stopping down the aperture to f/18 (with my Olympus camera + zoom lens and Raynox DCR-250), I think I will be delaying my decision a bit. Reason being, the picture quality is not too bad with this setup as you can see from the picture above, unedited 100% cropped ( click here for enlarged image).

Disassembling The Front Barrel Of TTArtisan's 40mm Macro Lens

If you were to look at the product description on the TTArtisan's website, it says that the front inner barrel of the TTArtisan 40mm f/2.8 macro lens can be disassembled. I looked and searched online for their official instruction but couldn't find any. So feeling unsatisfied, I decided to seek an official TTArtisan answer by sending an e-mailed to them for clarification.

Less than 12 hours later, I got a reply from their "After-sales Customer Service" and this is what they say:

Dampening Coil Whine

Oooh ... That high pitch noise that is coming from the power adapter/brick of my SMSL class D amplifier, they are so annoying. Yes, coil whine. It is audible even from 6 feet away. The worse part of this all: this problem began on the 13th month after purchase. So no warranty claims here for me for a 12 month warranty only.

A replacement power adapter from SMSL is not cheap either. Quite hard to find too. A quote from the seller that sold me this amplifier says that it costs RM 100. A bit too steep for me. Plus there is no guarantee that the same thing will not happen again weeks or months down the road.

So what am I to do?

I did try a couple of things.

Obsolete, Discontinued - Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS STM

Oh what luck. Just when I have the budget to purchase the Canon EF-S 55 - 250mm IS STM lens, it is now obsolete. This was confirmed by an email by Canon Malaysia after I ask them about it.

A Good Combination: Budget DAC + Fosi Pre-amp Tube-P1

The aim was to improve the audio playback quality of my existing hi-fi. The objective was to upgrade my budget DAC.

But believe it or not, I achieved my goal in the end by getting myself a budget friendly "Made In China" tube pre-amp instead, the Fosi Audio Tube-P1. The cost: about ⅛ of the price of a mid-range DAC.

With this pre-amp, my hi-fi audio experience is much better now. I can hear a lot of improvement. More rumbling bass, more thumping drums, better sound-stage and much better clarity. And mind you, I am just using the stock vacuum tubes that was included in the box, the China made 6K4. I don't think I will be upgrading to the GE5654 tubes. My ears are telling me that these 6K4 tubes are good enough. They are quite economical too.

Now, I have never owned nor have I experienced listening to mid-range or high-end DACs before. I'm sure these products can give much better sounding audio playback. But I do not have deep pockets. So, this Fosi Audio pre-amp addition will just have to do for now. For me at least.

Fascia Board Repair

It has been almost a month now and it looks like my repair work to my fascia board is holding. I think I deserve a pat on my back. Not perfect and a bit rough on the edges I know but this is what I'll get by working with what's at hand. What's left now is to have it painted in the right colour.

Zap, Pop And Smoke

I wonder if my 5 year old Canon SX530 HS camera is approaching its end of life. Last week, while trying to take some pictures of the fascia board that I have repaired, there was a zap, then a pop and a second later some smoke coming out from the top of my camera. I panicked, got anxious and then had that uneasy feeling.

A quick press on the Playback mode button shows that the captured photo was alright.

I took some more pictures just to satisfy my curiosity. No zap and pop this time. No smoke either. I previewed the pictures - they look alright.

So what went wrong? Where did the smoke come from?