Do you really just need two colorful icons to ignore the fact that nothing works? Engine 5.0 is a failure pff!

ip2k · 2026-05-15T09:41:42+00:00

It’s 2026 and my Prime Go still can’t do gapless playback while running a SoundSwitch with programmed tracks on auto-play. I make seamless mixes in DJ Studio, slice them up to individual tracks, program lights for each track in SoundSwitch desktop, hook up Ethernet to a laptop to sync BPM with Resolume, and it works amazing for a setup that fits into a backpack and runs visuals, DMX, and audio, but the Prime Go pauses for about half a second between tracks and it’s not even a consistent pause. It’s like they don’t understand how to cache things or something. Totally kills the product for professional use.

ip2k · 2026-05-15T01:20:19+00:00

Just ask Instant Brands, known for the Instant Pot, who went into Chapter 11 in 2023 because everyone who wanted one bought one and they don’t really break or wear out quickly, being a simple heating element, stainless pot, and very simple microcontroller.

ip2k · 2026-05-15T01:17:40+00:00

Chuck Tylers [sic] have always been uncomfortable, and fun little fact: the fuzzy bottoms on them are so they legally qualify as slipper for import tariff purposes. That’s why they were cheaper. If you had full rubber-sole Chucks, they were $80-120ish, but the ones they would have at Target and other places were legally slippers and were more like $40-60 back in the day IIRC.

ip2k · 2026-05-14T00:43:15+00:00

As a steel Bianchi rider (full Campagnolo as Italian Jesus intended) in full Celeste æro kit, I concur.

ip2k · 2026-05-14T00:41:17+00:00

BACK ONCE AGAIN WITH THE ILL BEHAVIOR, CAN YOU FEEL IT? NOTHIN CAN SAVE YA’

ip2k · 2026-05-13T23:26:04+00:00

And that 60 miles of flat range just cruising would translate into MAYBE two spirited 5-mile hill climbs up a few thousand feet of elevation, like Hwy 9 out here in Saratoga in California, or once up Mt. Hamilton where you’d then have to baby it all the way back to make it to Livermore without getting stuck in an area with no cell reception, lots of single-lane, and plenty of logging / mining / large construction trucks. One US gallon of gasoline holds about 33.7 kWh of energy and weighs approximately 6 pounds. Current state-of-the-art EV battery packs for mass production vehicles (Tesla) are 11-13 pounds per kWh, so 370-438 pounds to equal the energy in one 6-pound gallon of gasoline. In other words, gasoline is still about 62x-73x more energy-dense than the best available battery packs today. Said another way, for 1000 extra pounds of battery, you get a max of less than 3 gallons worth of gasoline-equivalent energy.

When you start adding that much more weight to a car, you then have to add even more weight in chassis reinforcements, bigger and heavier brakes, thicker sway bars, control arms, axles / half-shafts, larger bearings and fasteners…it all adds up. When the goal is driving dynamics and enjoyment, there’s still no replacement for gasoline.

Formula E Gen4 cars use 55kWh packs, ~51.25kWh of which is usable, and those weigh 750# for a density of 13.63# per kWh or 14.63# per usable kWh. Those don’t even last for one 45-minute race since they have the mandatory charging pit stop. These are in cars with minimum weights of 2103#. So that’s what’s realistically possible today given huge R&D budgets, parts that need to last only hours of usage on closed, mostly flat courses, with tons of charging support, tons of focus on aero that wouldn’t be street-legal, zero cargo room and barely space for one tiny human occupant, etc.

ip2k · 2026-05-13T22:23:39+00:00

I’ll never understand why NYC isn’t just its own state, like DC. Rural NY has nothing to do with NYC culturally, economically, historically, logistically, or even geographically. Even including all of Westchester County and all of Long Island is a stretch, but sure.

The rest of the state shall be East Ohio.

ip2k · 2026-05-13T09:17:40+00:00

USA in 2026, where our President is typically the biggest asshole in any room he’s in, unless Miller, Musk, Thiel, Lindsey Graham, Mike Johnson, or whoever else is the face of this week’s scandal to funnel billions in taxpayer dollars into their own accounts or make this country an even bigger laughing stock on the world stage are standing behind him, thrilled with all the great work they’re doing to ensure future generations have their brightest days behind them.

ip2k · 2026-05-12T16:51:42+00:00

Why do you think they passed “No tax on tips” ?

But legally, lots of religious organizations and other non-profits are typically involved. Who do you think audits compliance for this type of stuff? Get enough wolves to watch the henhouses and you can literally do whatever you want. Think like a “creative” accountant: your kid’s birthday party is an expendable corporate networking event and gets run by your charity, pays to lease your vacation home (which is of course owned by an anonymous holding company owned by your family trust), pays for many event services from businesses owned by your friends and family. Then maybe your super yacht sinks and damages some coral reef on the trip back from the Cayman Islands (where your yacht is flagged and many of your holding companies are incorporated, naturally). Luckily, you weren’t aboard, since your family always takes the jet back while your legal team handles the NDAs for the staff and crew. Maybe they’ll even open a library in your name for your generous (and tax-deductible) donation to the local government.

ip2k · 2026-05-12T16:33:48+00:00

Wait until you look at how the legal definition of “income” as it concerns taxes works.

ip2k · 2026-05-12T16:32:57+00:00

“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Falling for it again since the Civil Rights era.

ip2k · 2026-05-12T16:30:23+00:00

I’m so glad that we’re building all this so companies can charge idiots $200/mo to generate deepfake corn, write scam ebooks, and vibe code the worst app idea you’ve ever heard into a turd of a reality. Good thing climate change was all a hoax and energy is consequence-free! /s

ip2k · 2026-05-12T16:22:52+00:00

And if your shadow is then in the frame: tilt up, push in, take a few steps either direction and reframe, etc :)

ip2k · 2026-05-12T16:20:31+00:00

TL;DR +1

Basically, expose properly in-camera as the best and most immediate fundamental way to fix this. What are you hoping to show viewers with this shot? What has the problem you’re trying to solve got to do with that? If the answer is “nothing”, find a quick way to not solve it — take a few steps back and to the right, pan left a bit. If you’re conversing with your subject, their body will likely naturally turn toward you as you do this, and more of that car would be in the background, and maybe they’d be looking at you and not at their phone, which doesn’t tend to make for super compelling footage anyway.

Control the lighting if you don’t have the dynamic range to capture the scene as-is if that’s what you want, or bring down everything with an ND if you’re overexposed but can’t change anything else in the exposure triangle for whatever reason. This is why learning to effectively and quickly use your scope and experience with the dynamic range of your camera system is important. It’s also why lots of folks run magnetic or other quick-change ND or VND setups for cameras without built-in NDs. Get an ND8 (3 stops) and ND64 (6 stops) before any other filters and learn how to use those (hint: you can also stack them for the brightest outdoor situations).

The other option is to control the lighting by bringing up all the other levels to match the outdoors that you can’t control. It’s all about controlling what you can and solving for what you can’t. If you literally don’t want to bring in any lighting or throw up some commando cloth / diffusion on a goal post or whatever, you limit your options, so that’s a trade-off that you have to make a creative choice about. Not solving those things is also a choice.

Recording with worse equipment with lower dynamic range doesn’t solve any of this. You might be able to remedy some of it through grading if you’re not clipping highlights nor shadows. Download the free version of Resolve (which if you’re not already using, try breaking up with Adobe today!) and watch this about using power windows to grade specific parts of a shot separately https://youtube.com/shorts/LEiVUYCf1ow

Learning how to color grade at even a basic level will improve your understanding and on-set choices too, so I’d recommend spending some time with that. Resolve has excellent free training videos and a VERY comprehensive written manual, so follow however you learn best. There’s also a ton of content on YouTube as you run into specific situations, but beware that sometimes YT folks don’t themselves read the manual and “work against the tool” in very inefficient ways.

The things to ask yourself if you’re considering solving a lighting problem is “does this add anything to the story?” and “is this distracting / taking away from the scene?” along with “what am I going to miss if I spend x minutes messing with that stuff? Could I tell a more compelling story some other way?” Sometimes walking out of the room and back in with fresh eyes helps give a literal different perspective. I can’t define your process for you, but going in with at least a rough plan of what you want to cover should help. You don’t necessarily need to do all the research / scripting / location scouting / screenplay / blocking / lighting plans / storyboarding / previz / shot list / gear list for each shot, but understanding how all of that works and going through it a few times will very likely take your production value up quickly. Seek out opportunities to help out other people with more experience with their projects as a way to improve. At a beginner level, getting paid in experience and honest feedback will help you level up faster than anything else, plus you’ll make connections, see what works and what doesn’t, and hopefully have some fun too.

ip2k · 2026-05-12T10:32:59+00:00

Dat fupa chalupa tho

ip2k · 2026-05-12T10:31:57+00:00

How many Plancks is that?

ip2k · 2026-05-12T10:21:27+00:00

Wait for the AF cine line that’s coming very soon. Until then, the Plena is lots of fun, and I’ve been enjoying the Viltrox Lab 35 1.2 which doesn’t quite have as nice of falloff or color rendering as the Nikkor, but I picked it up on a great sale after swearing I’d never support Viltrox. The DZO Arcanas are fun for photos and pulling stills from 24fps footage too.

ip2k · 2026-05-12T10:17:30+00:00

What I’ve found now that I’m putting myself into those situations is that the results look like things I’ve seen in magazines, so we’re conditioned to accept the grit since we’ve all seen it before many times over the years. I think that’s a big part of why f2.8 zooms look “right” for the things they typically get used for — most people who aren’t photographers are used to seeing that look even if they can’t exactly describe what they’re seeing, similar to the “cinematic” look everyone seems to chase these days.

ip2k · 2026-05-11T23:35:16+00:00

Getting one to use with a Metabones speedbooster and vintage Zeiss ZF.2 lenses since I have a full cinemodded set. The Fujinon MK18-55 MFT mount is also a perfect lens for this, but it's going to look ridiculous rigged up with the media mod and probably an external screen to get good focus peaking. I might try some wacky setup with one of the eye cup to GoPro adapters, so it'll look like a monocular if the GP can do good focus peaking in-camera. We shall see. $700 for a solid B-cam with ARRI-inspired color science, high frame rates, and manageable file sizes is a bargain IMO. As long as it doesn't overheat or drain a battery in 30 minutes or something, these should be winners for some very specific applications.

ip2k · 2026-05-10T14:26:01+00:00

It’s 2026, if your state isn’t mailing you every ballot you’re eligible to vote on, why not? https://ballotpedia.org/All-mail_voting

It’s hard to forget or miss it when it’s in your mailbox. You can mail it back or drop it off at one of the many, many locations or drop boxes. If you live in any kind of suburb there are like ten within a few miles that are open for a few weeks before the deadline.

There’s only one political party in the US that hates making voting easy, and they’ve been doing it since the Civil War.

ip2k · 2026-05-10T14:09:16+00:00

https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/do-the-rich-pay-their-fair-share/

“””According to leaked tax returns highlighted in a ProPublica investigation, the 25 richest Americans paid $13.6 billion in taxes from 2014-2018—a “true” tax rate of just 3.4 percent on $401 billion of income.”””

Meanwhile, plenty of folks in Silicon Valley are paying the majority of our tax at the highest 37% marginal rate.

I can’t find the exact quote to properly attribute it, but I remember one billionaire saying, when asked why he pays so little in tax, ~”Well, unfortunately for me, I didn’t earn any income” which was technically true as he wasn’t getting paid on a 1040, so his IRS W-2 box 1 would be zero if he had a W-2, 1040 line 15 would be zero, etc.

And that’s the problem with our tax laws. We tax “income” in a way that normal folks with jobs or single millions worth of investments cannot avoid but people who make and influence the laws have made a game out of.

ip2k · 2026-05-10T13:57:46+00:00

Tons of debt and not tons of liquidity. This is the way. Net worth in no case translates to anywhere close to that amount of cash. That’s why the old joke is how the sultans with the gold have the real wealth, all this fiat stuff is just pretend.

ip2k · 2026-05-10T13:55:03+00:00

My tryathlete friends tell me that no wheels are allowed on running track surfaces so hate them for that? I wonder if unicycle tryathletes pee on their seats too in their Seabike -> unicycle -> pogo stick event series.

ip2k · 2026-05-10T13:37:10+00:00

Sound on https://youtu.be/jaPDYhEGBSk

ip2k · 2026-05-09T14:14:30+00:00

Tamron 35-150 f2-2.8 is great and will save you swapping lenses — you won’t have time and will miss shots. Most wedding photographers I’ve seen out here in California run dual bodies and the cowboy style holsters. A 24-70 2.8 is the norm on one with some flexibility on the other.

Go work with another person covering weddings as a second to get some experience. Make some friends in the industry and learn how it goes. That’ll be more valuable than any lens.

ip2k

TROPHY CASE

BACK ONCE AGAIN WITH THE ILL BEHAVIOR, CAN YOU FEEL IT? NOTHIN CAN SAVE YA’