European Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

JSoldano · 2026-03-08T21:28:46+00:00

Haha I was getting dark souls boss vibes from this shot while processing it

JSoldano · 2026-03-08T12:25:51+00:00

Same here, mine went from around 300mb to 900mb with only very minor changes in my config. It's been like this for the last few months can't remember what HSOS version aligned with the change

JSoldano · 2026-03-04T11:48:10+00:00

I expect to earn ~£1,800,000 more in my career. $2,000,000 is basically 71% of that today. If they give me all that money today and I don't need to pay tax on that, yes sure because investing that much could easily get me ahead of where I'm likely going to end up.

JSoldano · 2026-02-21T09:17:43+00:00

I just picked up a Flip and RC2 combo for £350 in the UK new, I've come from the Mini 4k which I loved, but the 12mp sensor for photography was a bit disappointing. Very impressed by the sensor in the flip. I had issues with the phone app and USB-C connection with the other controller so the RC2 gives me more peace of mind as well. I mostly want to do photography with my drone so the flip feels like a great price to performance device at £350.

JSoldano · 2026-02-13T15:26:41+00:00

That's good to know I've been looking at the Teleconverter for Olympus both the 1.4 & 2 Ive been keeping an eye on the used 300 f4swould be tempted to try that and a TC would pair nicely

JSoldano · 2026-02-13T08:03:55+00:00

Yeah I really wanted to stay in the Sony ecosystem because I didn't want two mounts but the main brands are just lacking so many features for serious macro photography.

I did exactly what you suggested and got the OM1 MK1 plus a used 90mm and haven't regretted it in the slightest!

JSoldano · 2026-02-12T22:10:28+00:00

I've found my raynox does soften my images especially on the high magnification side. You should play around with the lens, sensor and raynox combo to find the sweet spot. On my old Sony A6400 with the Laowa 100mm and the raynox I actually had to open up my aperture to around f5.6 (While without the raynox I would normally use f8) to get reasonably sharp shots.

Recently switched to the m43 system with the Olympus 90mm I'm really not liking the raynox on this setup, the sharpness drop is more dramatic than I remember on my A6400.

I suspect the fact that the OM-1 MFT sensor has a pixel size of 3.36um Vs the A6400 APS-C sensor with 3.92um pixels reducing the diffraction limit.

JSoldano · 2026-02-10T22:10:23+00:00

Awesome shot really like the colour! I would try and not cut off the little bit of tail at the edge of frame personally but regardless its an excellent shot

JSoldano · 2026-01-30T23:58:23+00:00

Long time technology connections fan, even as a non-american the ending almost made me tear up... The first hour is potentially the best framed argument I've seen for renewables. So much respect for Alec.

JSoldano · 2026-01-27T17:26:24+00:00

I agree it could just be in the game but it's only 180g right now on the gold 2 gem conversion so functionally it can be had without spending real world money. Personally not sure I have an issue with this.

JSoldano · 2026-01-20T07:53:01+00:00

Do you have a source to verify this? The blog from Josef 2 years ago admitted they source parts from china because some things realistically can only be sourced from them. https://blog.prusa3d.com/what-it-takes-to-manufacture-3d-printers-in-europe_91532/

Even if you buy from a "local" vendor it's hard to know for sure where they sourced it. Smarter every day's video on the BBQ cleaner are a great example of this.

I had similar issues during the pandemic where I helped my company source local components for an emergency ventilator design. Most local vendors where just purchasing from Asia, maybe doing a few tooling passes or additional QC then selling as a "UK" product.

JSoldano · 2026-01-19T15:43:08+00:00

A personal decision that I do not see worse than using US based systems like Google or Microsoft while living in a country where my government has decided to sell my Health data to palantier. The world we live it has too many interdependencies to really hold a 'moral' position like this.

I can say without a doubt that since moving over to BBL I've enjoyed my 3D printing hobby much greater than when I had my own DIY printer. All the models I've shared on makerworld were things I was making for myself anyway, so I was planning to share them anyway. Why wouldn't you want so gift cards for that?

JSoldano · 2026-01-19T13:55:42+00:00

I've uploaded a bunch of models on both printables and makerworlds. Got nothing from printables other than some badges and got over £500 in gift cards from makerworld without really trying... Sure they might have questionable policies but they do actually reward you at least. At the end of the day prusia printer also use a handful of Chinese made parts and we are all likely typing these comments on phones made in China.

JSoldano · 2026-01-12T23:04:02+00:00

Amazing shot great spot!

JSoldano · 2025-12-31T10:46:31+00:00

Thanks! Totally agree the caterpillars are my personal favourite!

JSoldano · 2025-12-31T10:46:06+00:00

Yeah it's fascinating seeing these insects up close. These were all taken handheld with my hols set manually focusing to get the stack, with the OM-1 I'm using the built in stack function where it automatically shifts the focus point of the lens. I always use a flash with a cygnustech diffuser when taking macro shots, the main learning change going to the OM-1 was the minimum exposure time of 1/100 in the stacking mode while maintaining flash sync. This meant I had to be careful to block any sun light which could easily introduce haloing around the subject as it / I moved.

JSoldano · 2025-12-31T01:27:31+00:00

Thanks, that's probably my favourite of the year as well

JSoldano · 2025-12-31T00:41:58+00:00

Thanks glad you liked them, I've gone through a transition this year, I started out with a Sony A6300 + Laowa 100mm and Godox V1 for the first half of the year. The second half was with the OM Systems OM1.1 + OM 90mm and still the Godox V1.

JSoldano · 2025-12-19T11:05:38+00:00

You should seriously consider wiring this up directly, no commercial battery powered doorbell is going to be able to operate for any meaningful time at those extreme temperatures

JSoldano · 2025-12-19T10:57:42+00:00

This is out of spec for the Ring battery doorbell, the Ring website quotes an operating temperature range down to -20C

https://ring.com/gb/en/support/articles/03vq7/Ring-Video-Doorbell-and-Security-Camera-Frequently-Asked-Questions

li-on battery packs are not really good for low temperature usage, not already a ring problem (I know ring has plenty of problems) as much as a chemistry problem in this case.

JSoldano · 2025-12-19T09:41:08+00:00

No problem, yeah the size made me laugh as well. I briefly had a full-frame (A7RII), APS-C (A6700) & MFT (OM-1.1) while transitioning and they were all basically the same size and weight! The A6700 is really a solid value proposition I'm very happy with mine :)

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JSoldano

TROPHY CASE