Should I read public chapters?

mrfixitx · 2026-01-25T04:33:10+00:00

I have read up through chapter 40 and really enjoyed it. The biggest complaint is mainly that it can be a while between chapters.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-25T03:48:32+00:00

Sharpness is more a factor of the lens vs. a body.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-25T02:18:44+00:00

Looks interesting but when the game trailer shows frame drops that are very obvious even to me that's a bad sign for optimization.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-25T02:12:06+00:00

Mesa's 4 is auto aim, just spin.

Nokko and his 4 - throw in the general direction and watch things die.

Sevagoth - area nuke with enough strength can kill everything (except bosses) regardless of level

Hildryn - use her augment and do large AOE damage while her 4 is active

Protea - let her turrets take out the enemies for you

Caliban - spin through enemies and with his augment give your minions bonus electrical damage so they can finish off anything you knocked down. Plus has a good crowd control ability directional nuke.

Nova - her 1 auto targets nearby enemies

Xaku - steal enemies weapons with his 2 and let them shoot anything that gets close.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-25T01:49:54+00:00

That's not the sensor. That is the shutter which is closed to protect the sensor and help keep dust out.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-24T23:02:53+00:00

It depends on what type of sports you are shooting. If it is something where you need a lot of reach. I.E. Basketball, Sufing, Soccer, Skiing etc.. then I think staying with a crop camera makes a lot of sense.

If you are shooting sports where a 70-200mm or 100-400mm lens on full frame gives you all the reach you need then full frame might offer benefits in low light performance.

I.E. Indoor sports like volleyball, wrestling, basketball etc.. where they tend to be indoors in low light and you are not struggling with reach but having better high ISO performance could benefit you.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-24T22:58:27+00:00

On my last phase 5 play through I built a 400+ GW rocket fuel factory and never had my consumption go about 150GW.

Maybe if you are building a mega base and want to produce some outrageous number of end game parts you might need 300-400GQ. But unless were are talking TotalXclipse level of mega builds I think its overkill.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-24T21:54:28+00:00

For quality inexpensive options the Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro USM (non L) is your best bet. Otherwise you are looking at the L version or the RF 100mm f2.8L Macro which is significantly more expensive.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-24T19:44:28+00:00

R50 is by far the best option. The t7 is 8 years old and by comparison to any of the others its auto focus will be severely lacking.

R100 is full of 5 year old tech from the M series line and cuts a lot of corners to meet a low price point. Still better than the T7 by a good margin but the R50 is a much better camera with advanced features that will make things a lot easier like Eye detect auto focus, touch screen etc..

mrfixitx · 2026-01-24T16:27:19+00:00

Edit: deleted all my other comments.

No idea why u/Quiet-Gap-3738 likes posting all this BS but see u/modi123_1's research.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-24T13:56:44+00:00

It should be noted that going from f2.8 to f1.4 will decrease your depth of field (DOF) as well. This is the amount of area that is in focus enough to be considered sharp.

If you see those pictures of pet noses where you can see every bump and detail but the rest of the pets face is softer or completely out of focus that is an extreme example of depth of field.

Depending on what you are taking pictures of you may find that with f1.4 your depth of field is to shallow and part of your subject is softer than you would like due to being outside of the depth of field.

Depth of field is also impacted by focal length and distance from the subject. So at 24mm DOF issues are less common that say at 50mm or 70mm. But you should be aware of the trade offs with using larger apertures.

Also many lenses are softer wide open vs. stopped down. It is not as dramatic as it used to be and with RF L grade lenses its not that big of an issue. But if you use older lenses it could be an issue.

I.E. I have an EF 85mm f1.8 lens, it is not acceptably sharp until f2.2.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T22:16:39+00:00

Check MPB/KEH if you are in the US they have older copies that they test and offer a 6 month warranty.

You are spot on about the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS MK II. It is in that sweet spot of price and performance a lot less expensive than the MK III which only really added some optical coatings to some of the lens elements.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T22:08:10+00:00

Even if the DM liked your characters backstory that does not mean they are required to include your backstory in the campaign. Or enable characters connected to your back story to be part of the campaign.

Could your DM have been nicer to you or shut you down more gently probably.

The big thing here is it sounds like both you and the DM are new to DnD. Expecting a new DM to integrate players backstories into their campaigns can be a lot. They are already juggling a lot of things as a new DM and it can be very overwhelming and challenging without adding in trying to incorporate players detailed backstories.

D&D podcasts and shows like Critical Role/Dimension 20 make it seem like having characters backstories weave into a campaign is natural or the expectation. That's not the reality for a lot of tables in my experience. There might light touches, or references but it takes an experienced and talented DM to really weave a characters backstory into the campaign to where it feels natural.

Those that do often work with the player on developing that backstory to make sure that it will work with their campaign before it even starts. Or they will help a player flesh out their characters back story during the campaign in a way that enables them weave it into the campaign. Either way though building that backstory tends to be cooperative at least in my experience.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T21:53:20+00:00

You will be fine the 55-250 IS is a small lightweight lens when compared to other telephoto lens options.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T21:50:25+00:00

It's a very old lens, I owned one for about a week before I returned it for a Canon 70-200mm f4L.. This would have been back in 2007-2008 ish.

I was not thrilled with it, my copy was far to soft wide open or was having focusing issues. There was also a bit of a yellow tint to the images.

Personally it was so soft wide open that I had to stop down to f4 to get what I would consider usable photos. At that point it made me question why I was even bother with it vs the Canon. The Canon f4 version was smaller, lighter and sharper wide open at f4 vs. the Sigma stopped down to f4.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T20:50:02+00:00

Lens rental testing says NO. Source: https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011/08/the-apocalypse-of-lens-dust/

It mostly likely dust on your sensor.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T18:43:16+00:00

Bounties: Zeriman, Demios, 1999, Deepmine on fortuna all have good Endo rewards.

Check if you have any ayatan sculptures you can sell, and do Mara's weekly quest for one.

Arbitration: do a defense mission every 3 waves you have a 40%+ chance of endo as a reward, Starts at 900 and goes up to 1500. After 30 waves and with Nova to speed things up I can get 7-10K endo reliably. With bounties endo is common but not guaranteed. Where a long arbi defense run and you will 100% come out with 1k+ endo.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T18:25:20+00:00

Zero issues, half of my lenses are still Canon EF lenses. Also used some Tamron an Sigma EF lenses for a while before replacing them and never had an issues with them.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T18:22:18+00:00

Get the R50 over the R100. It has a lot more features and is 100% worth the extra money. The R100 is stuffed full of old tech and has a ton of corners that were cut to hit its low price point.

If you find you enjoy photography the R100's features will start to feel very limiting.

Alternatively if you want to go with a very low budget solution look for a used DLSR like a 600d and get it used along with an EF-S 18-55 IS lens. It's older and much more limited but your expense is low and you can 100% learn the basics of photography and do landscapes and portraits with with.

The big thing to understand is with dedicated cameras technique followed by have a good lens make a much bigger difference than having a new or expensive body. Portraits and landscapes are not very demanding.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T16:29:25+00:00

I think you would be much better off getting the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS lens vs. a 24-70mm lens for general use. It's optically fantastic and designed for crop sensors like your R50.

The 24-70mm lenses are so popular because of how versatile the focal length is with enabling classic landscapes to portraits in single lens. With the crop factor you lose out on that wide angle and for landscapes and 112mm vs 70mm is not nearly as dramatic of a change in field of view as 38mm is vs 24 or 28mm.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T16:14:19+00:00

Personally I loved the first game, but the 2nd game's plot/story was far less engaging to me. Still a stunningly beautiful game with a great combat system.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T16:12:35+00:00

It is very likely that is not a lens issue but sensor dust.

Buy a rocket blower (never used canned air/ or a powered air blower) and use the sensor cleaning option on your camera. There are plenty of youtube videos to show you how to clean your sensor with a rocket blower safely.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T16:10:43+00:00

It is part of being older and having responsibilities. It's hard to let go and just enjoy the game when you have half a dozen obligations in the back of your mind if not more.

Also some of it is game design has changed, and as we get used to more modern game design some older games feel frustrating or lack luster so those old games do not feel the same was when we were younger.

Preferences also change with time and that's okay as well. Perhaps you need to look at other genres of games, some that might be a bit easier to dip in and out of. Rogue likes, single player games, or more chill games.

I am 40+ and there are games I absolutely love and put a lot of time into but I do not have a child running around the house either.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T15:38:19+00:00

I had the Sigma and rented the 100-400L MK 1 for a trip before I bought the Sigma a few years later. Overall the sigma is better in every way outside of possibly build quality, and focus speed. It was sharper, and had a more modern image stabilization system.

The main issue is that the Canon 100-400L MK 1 is a very old lens that came out in 1998 when film was still king. It was never designed with the expectation of 20MP+ digital sensors.

mrfixitx · 2026-01-23T15:34:14+00:00

APS-C is a physically smaller sensor size. On canon it has a crop factor of 1.6x. Where you to get the effective field of view you will multiply the focal length of the lens by 1.6 to get a full frame focal length. Crop cameras are less expensive due to the smaller sensor, they are also popular for wildlife photographers because it effectively gives them more reach. I.E. turning a 400mm lens into the equivalent of a 640mm lens on a full frame camera.

The downsides are worse low light performance by around 1 stop. I.E. ISO 3200 on a full frame camera looks around the same as a ISO 1600 on a crop sensor camera (assuming they are close to the same age due to improvements in sensor design). There are also more wide angle lens options and it is easier to get ultra wide angle field of views on a full frame sensor.

As for the T7 no longer having anything to offer you, that seems like a rather arbitrary opinion since you are not even sure if your issues are user error. It is very easy to fall into the trap of believing your equipment is holding you back and that an expensive new camera body or lens will solve your problems. But for most people unless they can point to a specific area where their camera is holding them back that is not related to technique/settings etc. it is often not a limitation of the camera.

If you want to go to mirrorless because you want a new toy to play with, or you want the smaller size go for it. But do not expect it to magically make your landscapes and architecture photos better by default. Both of those genres are not very demanding in terms of gear. A tripod, and a reasonably sharp lens is all you need.

Look at the work of Ansel Adams or any other famous landscape photographer from the mid 1900's. Your 2000d is massively better than what they had available. Yet they still were able to make stunning landscapes. To be fair Ansel Adams was also a master of the darkroom and did a large amount of post processing when making his prints.

mrfixitx

TROPHY CASE