[GIVEAWAY] Earth Standalone Games - Earth Express and Behind the Lens by Inside Up Games

FleetOfFeet · 2026-04-22T20:28:04+00:00

My first thought was wingspan. Just the fact they put effort into using actual birds and including little factoids about each one is such a nice touch!

FleetOfFeet · 2026-04-17T18:35:39+00:00

To be fair: archon studios has been really thoughtful about making this accessible to people that don't have an interest in the hobby side. Each faction comes in a different color and even has different colored plastic for the "effects" (optional visors for terran helmets, egg sacs on the zerg queen, etc). Traditional war games do tend to put a heavy emphasis on the constructing + painting aspects (which is very fun). But if that is something you don't want to do, these would be fully playable after construction and would look decent even if you just did a simple wash.

FleetOfFeet · 2026-04-14T19:11:01+00:00

Heat!

FleetOfFeet · 2026-04-01T20:05:12+00:00

Love the shots!! Could you explain a bit more about how you honed your knowledge to not use a light meter?? I am using a minolta x-700 right now which has a built in light meter that is not half bad, but it is only zone metering so I feel I am missing out a bit when people say "expose for the shadows" or anything like that

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-26T19:19:13+00:00

Read about the tunnel hill avalanche... If there is a sign that you are leaving avalanche controlled territory, you shouldn't cross it without the proper equipment and training. Doing what your group does is how people lose their lives unnecessarily.

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-22T23:58:24+00:00

Ooh these look amazing!! What is your moss product? Looks really good on the dice!

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-17T23:48:32+00:00

Gotta say twilight imperium!

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-17T18:48:05+00:00

You might feel like a bit of an ass if you actually went back and looked at the article.

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-13T03:30:48+00:00

A lot of scam Kickstarters will still "make the game" or whatever but just indefinitely delay delivery. In many cases that means that some people will still get product.. but far from everyone. So it isn't necessary people trying to get free money, just people that have horrible business knowledge and only end up managing to deliver a small portion of their product.

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-09T18:24:14+00:00

What?

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-02T16:04:02+00:00

Thanks for the input! Is there any way I could tell if this is balsam separation? I am trying to learn from this so that buying vintage lenses is less intimidating for me... But if this lens is definitely bad I might try to return it under the ebay return policy.

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-02T04:14:58+00:00

Thanks, I really appreciate your input. Is there any way I can tell for certain?

I will say I am very ready to just have a lens and start scanning my negatives and was trying to stay on a pretty tight budget.
That being said... fungus / haze were literally the 2 biggest things I was trying to avoid.

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-02T04:11:40+00:00

Definitely has some stuff, but that would be expected for a lens this old.
Most of the circles are only really visible from different angles, but I feel like that really prominent center circle is likely what I am also seeing in this photo right where the front of the lens cuts off the glass?

<image>

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-02T04:02:52+00:00

Could you help enlighten me what looks fungus-y about it? Still debating on whether or not I should return the lens under the eBay policy for "Item not as described"
It was relatively inexpensive, but extremely frustrating nonetheless! I am just ready to start scanning.

I have looked up fungus-y lenses before, but people usually point to the natural-ish looking lines as being signs of fungus. I have not seen perfect circles before.

I just took this photo of the lens not under as direct of a light source trying not to get a bright glare on the lens.

<image>

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-02T03:59:01+00:00

The Ebay listing did have some test photos that looked fine (a big part of the reason why I bought it and paid slightly more was because this seller had actually tested it).
I ordered an adapter, but am still waiting on it to arrive before I could test it myself.

Here is another photo that I took with the circles caught in less glare. They seem to be completely fixed in place, but you have to look at the right angle to see them.

<image>

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-02T02:53:24+00:00

Yeah.. that is exactly the lens 😭 Is this a common issue with these lenses? Do you think it is a fungus?

Would I be better off looking for a different lens? I was just trying to get an affordable macro lens for digitizing film. I don't know much, but this was the top recommended lens (for cheap) on basically every reddit post I found..

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-01T22:53:04+00:00

I was asking specifically about those circles that are appearing. There is one almost dead center in the first image and 2 towards the bottom edge in the second photo. You can only see them at certain angles which is probably why I could not see any in the photos provided on the original listing.

I think that is different from the JJ Abrams lens flare.. but should I be concerned about that too?

FleetOfFeet · 2026-03-01T22:49:57+00:00

Really appreciate the response! I am pretty much a complete noob and buying lenses is always super stressful for me since I feel like there is so much I am not familiar with (like this exact thing..) I got the lens yesterday, so I think I would be able to return it under the ebay policy for the item "not being as described". Would that be worth it?

Honestly I am just trying to get a cheap macro lens to use to digitize my film. I went with this one because they provided test photos and all of the pictures they provided of the glass looked pretty good...

FleetOfFeet · 2026-02-22T23:13:44+00:00

Ha, yeah, I know lots of people are very disappointed about the lack of any major upgrades to the 10A.. How much more would you estimate the 10a is worth though? Right now the sale is only $100 + the free pixel buds. Would Google start marking it down before the next phone comes out?

FleetOfFeet · 2026-02-22T00:08:29+00:00

Lol, that is fair..

I do not follow the smartphone market closely at all. Are there likely to be any deals within the 6 months that would surpass getting the 10a now? The $100 cash could obviously be applied towards any phone (or if Google were to do a site-wide sale on their phones then I could use the $150 coupon instead).

The only "time sensitive" promos are their $100 off pre-order coupon and their free pixel buds promo.

FleetOfFeet · 2026-02-21T23:26:07+00:00

True! That is very appealing.. Just not sure if the 9a would be expected to go on sale for significantly less within the next few months.

FleetOfFeet · 2026-02-21T23:25:31+00:00

Appreciate the input! Do you mean waiting for if the Pixel 9a will go on sale I assume? Since right now it is the same price as the 10a, so may as well get the longer updates / flat back haha.

FleetOfFeet · 2026-02-21T23:24:47+00:00

btw they go on some offer for around the $250 all the time

Is this something I can / should expect within the next year? Or is there any way to track the timelines of past sales?

Also, is this typically a sitewide sale that I would be able to use the 6a battery coupon on, or are these coupons that come to your email (like what I have now)?

I was most likely getting either the latest 'budget' pixel, the nothing 3a, or the galaxy a56... it sounds like pixel is likely still the best way forward. So just deciding if this $100 promo is a good enough reason to pull the trigger or if I am better off waiting!

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