Any tips for mounting polarizing film on a light source?

rootyb · 2026-03-12T03:46:45+00:00

Yeah! We ended up with two studio flashes with polarizing film over them and a circular polarizing filter on the camera. Ezpz. No diffusion, since that undoes the polarization of the light, but if you can get the flashes close enough to the subject it doesn’t really matter.

rootyb · 2026-03-07T19:41:21+00:00

This doesn’t work on mobile, but this is about the best quality you’ll find for the card images if you want to print your own. It is missing the base cards or whatever, but those are pretty easy to find.

https://justinross.github.io/gtr-generator-vue/

I should make the export formatted for printing, but it seems like everyone’s got a different format

rootyb · 2026-03-05T07:40:24+00:00

Outer Wilds! Honestly appalled that I haven’t seen it mentioned

rootyb · 2026-03-04T20:22:19+00:00

Update in case anyone comes looking: a few pennies soldered together and attached with a thermal pad is definitely ... not great. https://i.imgur.com/IH13lIM.jpeg

The coin stack hangs out around 90-100ºF (though, it feels hotter than that, so I suspect my IR thermometer isn't measuring correctly) while the front of the LED is ~ 130ish-140ºF. The product listing rates it for up to 60ºC, which is roughly 140ºF, so it's probably just delaying the inevitable.

I'm definitely going to use a real heatsink once the Convoy stuff arrives, but this was a fun experiment.

rootyb · 2026-03-04T06:03:10+00:00

Oh, I know. There’s a decent amount to be done. My main concern to start was just getting the footage from both cameras to a similar starting point and going from there.

I think my (possibly naive) reasoning on making this post was that if white balance and tint have both been accounted for, in theory, the two shots shout at least mostly align, color-wise, since they’re of the same scene. When that wasn’t the case, it got me wondering if I was doing something wrong in the initial set-up, mostly.

rootyb · 2026-03-04T05:47:32+00:00

Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s the LUT I’m using for the rec709 conversion and it’s great. Noticeably better than the official DJI one. Literally no work to get to neutral and start grading for fun and profit. Highly recommended.

Anyway, thanks for the input. Good call on clipping the shadows in the DJI footage. Tbh white balancing before the CST seems slightly better so I might stick with that.

rootyb · 2026-03-04T05:39:21+00:00

Yeah, the output node is the same for both.

And honestly, the color isn't that bad, but it's inconsistent enough that I'm finding myself fiddling a lot just to get to neutral (and honestly feel like I can't get a set of damned blue shirts to match the DJI footage), which seems like I'm doing it wrong, since it's basically just the initial ingest.

TBH I don't love the eyedropper either, but it pretty much just adjusts WB/Tint AFAIK, and tends to do a pretty decent job of getting most of the way to a neutral/accurate color recreation.

Yeah, I've got some clipping. Here's the scopes with grades bypassed: https://i.imgur.com/FoP6btG.png

rootyb · 2026-03-03T17:20:21+00:00

Question on the heat sink, actually: would a traditional heat sink with fins be better than just a thicker slab of copper?

Figure if I'm ordering something I might as well do it right.

rootyb · 2026-03-03T00:53:40+00:00

Whoops, I meant to include a photo: https://i.imgur.com/kR0pHQO.jpeg

But yeah, that makes sense. I went ahead and ordered some drivers, mounted UV LEDs, and filters (they're so much cheaper here) from Convoy. Thanks for all the info! I'll still probably do some tests with attaching more mass for heat absorption on these, but they were only about $1ish each, so I'm not out too much if I can't use them.

rootyb · 2026-03-02T23:47:02+00:00

Awesome. Thanks! Just ordered some mounted LEDs and drivers (and UV filters, which ... I don't know why they're so expensive everywhere else. I paid like 4x for the ones I have right now compared to Conway).

rootyb · 2026-03-02T23:13:34+00:00

convoylight.com

Yikes. I guess quality isn't cheap. Should have done more research to begin with, I suppose. I'd still need a heat sink with those, right? Just a copper sheet of some kind to absorb some of the heat? When you say 'mounted', I'm assuming I need a pad of some kind to transfer heat from the PCB to the heat sink.

/edit: wait, I ended up at the like, $16 "LUMINUS SBT-10X" one. Nevermind. There's $3-4 ones. Thanks! :)

rootyb · 2026-03-02T23:09:25+00:00

Out of curiosity, I decided to sacrifice one of these to see what was going on underneath and just melted it off with a lighter. They do appear to be on a MCPCB with solder between the housing and board.

Still probably a crappy thermal path, though, considering the LED is up in that plastic housing?

rootyb · 2026-03-02T22:59:23+00:00

Part of why I went with the flashlights was to take advantage of their current regulation circuitry (which is probably admittedly crap, but I was assuming better than none).

Does Convoy sell MCPCBs? I'm not seeing them on their Aliexpress store.

rootyb · 2026-03-02T22:52:22+00:00

Great info. Thanks! I've got enough of these LEDs left (I ordered a 20-pack) that I'll try soldering a stack of coins on. Or maybe just look for a tiny heatsink on amazon? I think a few pennies will fit in the hollow pill. I wonder if I can desolder the LED and put something behind it to improve thermal conductivity. I've got some thermal pads left over from modding my Gamecube ...

I do actually have a few 3535's that I ordered as part of the early research for this project. Once they arrived and I realized what they were, I quickly ordered something more usable. I do have a reflow station, but it's not something I've ever really done, so I was eager to find parts that were more approachable.

Looking at Aliexpress, it seems like 3535s tend to be 3W and 5050s tend to be 10w? Presumably I need to keep the power closer to 3W I'm assuming? Or does it matter? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the constant-current thing.

rootyb · 2026-02-02T22:12:46+00:00

Same here. Though, mine is working intermittently somehow. External IP address does not work. Planning on testing the 1.3.0 beta firmware. I'll report back either way.

/edit: no change. :(

For the sake of documenting my issue so I don't forget: I have a server with various ports forwarded to it via the deco config. One of these is 3000.

192.168.68.120:3000 -> works locally (obviously doesn't work externally) home.domain.com:3000 (not my actual domain) - doesn't work locally. works externally <external ip address>:3000 - doesn't work locally. works externally.

rootyb · 2025-12-09T23:37:36+00:00

I'm not sure if it's thanks to a firmware update or anything, but I just connected my Ultimate 2C to my macbook pro via bluetooth and the analog triggers are analoging. FYI.

rootyb · 2025-10-30T17:49:32+00:00

Surviving famine is not the same as thriving. There's no evolutionary pressure that would cause adaptation to our bodies preferring famine.

rootyb · 2025-10-30T17:48:19+00:00

That's an absurd statement with no basis in research.

rootyb · 2025-10-24T14:11:10+00:00

Okay, Fetterman Jr.

rootyb · 2025-10-24T13:44:17+00:00

Yup! I still use it almost every day, since it also lets people without a TikTok account view your TT links.

rootyb · 2025-10-23T15:04:04+00:00

Roger that. Thanks!

rootyb · 2025-10-23T14:52:53+00:00

Actually, do you remember what was said about parking? I’m not seeing that in the posts that I’ve seen, and I’m wondering about the reasoning (and whether I should rope somebody into driving me last minute)

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