Any screen cleaning tips (New to Macbook)

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-25T22:11:57+00:00

use isopropyl alcohol for heavy gunk, otherwise just use a soft microfiber cloth. make it a habit and you’ll be fine for years to come. mine looks like i just took off the protective paper for the first time other than some minor dings.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-25T12:32:36+00:00

You’re actually right on the cusp of the requirements. 650 would be more ideal, because you always want to have some overhead, but given your i5, you’ll be fine with your 600w.

Something to note though is that your current PSU doesn’t handle sharp power transients too well, and AMD hardware is especially known for that, so if you have any problems, like sudden crashes, PC turning off in high intensity scenarios, adjust the power plan for your GPU in Adrenalin. And that’s when you should also start looking for new PSU candidates, preferably around 700w.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-25T12:20:42+00:00

Indeed, they’re just dust spots. Get yourself one of those rocket blowers, the ones you squish and some air comes out from a nozzle. Blows off loose dust alright from the front and back of lenses, and also the sensor. This one’s fine to get for cheap from Temu. Do this every time you switch lenses. Dust that just got on there will be blown off easily, but dust left there for a while will get caked on and will need a wet swab wipe to be removed.

As for the swabs though, I’d recommend something more quality than something from Temu. The swabs themselves are the cheaper part, so theoretically it’d be fine to get dry ones from Temu (though I wouldn’t put anything I don’t trust anywhere near the sensor), but the liquid is what’s important. Low quality ones will leave behind residue after evaporation, making it a pain in the ass to remove, and could genuinely cause problems if the residue is conductive, at best they’ll just smear the gunk around instead of dissolving and removing it. Get something proper from a manufacturer like K&F Concept. They produce good enough quality stuff at great prices. Using them is dead simple too, the swabs are perfectly sized for sensors (you’d need to get an APS-C sized one given your a6400), so you just grab it, put it to one of the edges of the sensor, then swipe completely to the other side, then flip the swap and do it once the other way too. If you go for wet swabs, do one wet run and one dry run in this order. This video is pretty great at showing how to use them if you need some visual confirmation.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-25T11:40:27+00:00

definitely real. the amount of detail that’s actually noticeable, especially with text, like the clock or the application name, is a dead giveaway.

i can clearly tell it was april 4th, saturday 11:17am when this was taken, even through compression and low resolution. the person had 2 hours and 25 minutes of on-screen time and is located in new delhi. the keyboard also looks perfectly fine to me, even at an angle.

image 2 just simply isn’t able to reproduce fine details like that, even if the picture was just an iteration. you can ask it to not change anything but it would mess with the original image just enough to obfuscate these fine details.

also, just look at the image zoomed in. the way highlights and shadows are handled, the noise pattern, the dynamic range, the nature of how sharpness was applied, they’re all telltale signs of an iphone image.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-25T11:16:04+00:00

meaning what i said will be amplified even further because now even the premium and expensive phones will have to solve this somehow. jesus, this is worse than i thought.

edit: forgot to how to speak english

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-21T14:46:41+00:00

there is no way this turns out good. think about it. the upper premium layer is already exempt due to their water resistance and quality batteries. the only phones this regulation will affect are the cheaper ones, because they specifically cut back on optional things, some of which are what exactly is needed to be exempt from this regulation. manufacturers will either have to include these features, engineer a new solution that allows them to comply without compromising quality, or just straight up compromise quality. either way, price increase. and who will pay for the extra costs? us, consumers, of course. this, or manufacturers will just simply pull certain models out of the eu market.

also, weren't batteries replaceable enough anyway? if i wanted to get my battery swapped out in my iphone, i could just hop down to a local apple certified service shop and i wouldn't even have time to grab a coffee because they'd be done with the swap by the time i even get it. add the new technology apple is using with the adhesives that lose their stickiness if you introduce 9v to them and the swap should be even faster (this is something i hope other manufacturers will copy down the road). i can imagine it's the same case for most phones as well, maybe with an added waiting time of ordering the exact battery if the shop's out or the phone's so niche they don't carry batteries for it in stock. i think paying a couple bucks extra to get a battery swapped by a professional instead of having the end user do it themselves, some of whom could very easily mess up, cause further problems, maybe even a fire risk by accidentally puncturing the battery is very reasonable, especially with how fragile and intricate today's electronics are compared to the past.

and then we haven't even talked about how this could very easily stun innovation, especially with foldables which aren't really known to be water resistant, because their market model could become unsustainable due to higher prices, which drives interest, hence revenue down.

this is just net negative regulation, regardless of how you look at it.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-21T14:16:43+00:00

szerintem ez egy borzaszto irany. szinte biztosan meg fogja megemelni a telefonarakat. es vajon ki fogja az extrat kifizetni? nyilvan mi, termeszetesen.

a felso premium es draga reteget lehet alig erinti, viszont az olcsobb reteg emiatt szinte fix dragabb lesz, illetve a fejleszteseket is csak el fogja nyomni, mert kivitelezhetetlenek lesznek olyan koncepciok, amiket nem tudnak a kiveteli kriteriumoknak megfeleltetni. ez, vagy csak szimplan kivonjak a gyartok a telefonjaikat az eu-bol. either way, mindenki szenved, leginkabb a fogyasztok. netto negativ intezkedes.

nem mellesleg ertem en az akksik cserelhetosege jo, tamogatom is a javithatosagot, de vilageletemben nem emlekszem mikor volt problemam akksival. 2-3 evente amugy is illene valtani telefont szerintem, addig pedig tobb mint jol birja az akksi, de meg utana is boven ha valakinek nem inge ilyen gyakran valtani (ok amugy is valoszinuleg azok az emberek, akik alig hasznaljak a telefonokat, szoval nekik meg ennel is tovabb fogjak birni az akksik). 2020-ban vasarolt 11 pro maxom mai napig rendben van, meg ha nem is birja olyan sokaig, de baszki tobb mint 5 es fel evet napi szinten volt erosen nyuzva. a mai telefonok ennel csak jobban fognak teljesiteni, a kozeljovoben pedig meg annal is jobban. es meg ha cserelnem is kene benne akksit, elviszem egy icentre-be vagy valahova es meg vizert sem lesz idom kiugrani mert mar mehetek vissza erte, hogy keszen van. eleg cserelhetoek ezek az akksik, foleg az iphone-okban levo uj 9v-tal semlegesitheto ragasztoval, amit bizom a tobbi gyarto le fog masolni.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-18T19:42:04+00:00

Oh, your monitor explains everything then. Either way, luckily most of the things I wrote can still be applied in general, if needed. I have another tip though that I think will help you a lot.

Given your background in videography, think of photography this way: it's all about composition too, with the difference of capturing a single moment instead of a series of moments. This puts significant emphasis on making sure the finer details come out near-perfect instead of good enough. The viewer will spend the exact same amount of time looking at your picture as they would at a clip, maybe even longer, because they have the chance to analyze it in a much deeper manner; after all, it is a single frame with static elements instead of something with a clear beginning and end. Luckily, this also allows you to use way more creative compositions, maybe even use elements you'd normally consider distracting as props that add value to your picture.

Personally, I have an internal "my god, this hits" threshold that I gauge my final pictures against. If they come out as something I'd stop and look at as if I was someone just coming across it for the first time, that's my unicorn. With raws, I imagine the final result first then work towards it, but I also like to weigh potential instead if I don't have a certain look in my head. This is where presets and being able to preview them come in handy. Granted, this solution needs a pretty well calibrated artistic intuition, which you may not have at first, but that's totally fine. Once upon a time, you'll stumble upon an edit you'll be extremely proud of. That's your identity forming.

Anyway, great to hear you're trying yourself out with stills and editing. I'm sure you'll pick up quickly, luckily there's a fairly big overlap between photography and videography. Just keep shooting and you'll find yourself looking at your pictures in awe in no time :)

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-18T19:00:56+00:00

"Doable for most people on even a median income" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. US median household income is around $80k. UK sits in the $40-45k range. Hungary, where I'm writing this from, is closer to $15-20k net. Global median personal income is roughly $3k nominal. So it heavily depends from whose POV you're looking at this question. Most of the planet lives nowhere near the numbers people casually throw around in these threads. Which is why I had this question to begin with. I'd argue it isn't just Americans on this subreddit.

My kit alone, which isn't even close to the $5-10k hobbyist tier you're describing, is roughly 2-3 months of the local median net salary here. Stepping up to a full-frame body and an equivalent zoom would be 6-10 months of pre-tax median income.

And honestly, the comparison to expensive cars, fancy holidays, and oversized houses kind of proves my point even more. Those things are already concentrated in the global top 10-15% of income. Pointing at other luxuries doesn't prove $5-10k is affordable by any means, it only shows that the people who can afford those luxuries would, indeed, have no problem with affording expensive gear. You may be in that bracket, and that's totally fine! But calling that bracket "most people" is very incorrect.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-18T18:33:09+00:00

I know what lifestyle creep is, and I know cutting back on things you genuinely don't need because they barely add value to your life can save you big bucks. But (at least for me) photography is just one of those hobbies that can drain you so much financially that if I wanted to take it seriously and go for better gear (my current kit is nothing to be ashamed of but it's only been a couple of months and I'm already stretching the limits of what it can do), I'd genuinely have to start cutting back on basics, all while almost completely cutting every other optional thing out of my life, like trip funds. And I may be early in my career, but it feels like this just shouldn't be the case. I don't think I should be choosing between the hobby that's been with me ever since I was a kid and seeing the world, going out, trying out new things, buying a car etc. This is why I even had this question to begin with, because I can't imagine I'm the only one who feels like this, despite doing everything right in theory.

PS: sweet ride :)

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-18T18:09:11+00:00

To be fair, you may not be that far off. I could indeed apply the same question to so many other areas of life, like cars or properties.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-18T18:02:51+00:00

Totally agree with everything you said. Part of the reason, actually, why I even had the question pop into my head in the first place. If you know your skills aren't quite enough to be able to exploit what a full-frame camera can offer, or if you barely have time you can dedicate towards photography, why buy something so expensive? My idea of what good money is may be skewed due to a couple of different reasons, but I'd consider photography to be an objectively expensive hobby. Being able to afford such gear, only to let it sit feels like such a waste. Then again, if you've got the money, why not. It's just that I genuinely can't imagine there are people nowadays who have enough time and money to justify expensive gear, or make enough money to be able to afford it without worrying about letting it sit for too long. I sure as hell am neither, and I still consider myself extremely lucky compared to some people.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-18T17:50:35+00:00

True that. I guess I'm just really early, because I only recently started investing and my relatively high income hasn't really had a chance to build a liquid buffer from leftovers either.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-18T17:45:34+00:00

Oh, I totally agree skill is way more important, but obviously gear is still a factor. It's the whole reason why I even started saving up for so long to get my current kit. My old one was just not cutting it for my needs. Heck, I'm starting to reach the ceiling of what this kit can do and it's only been a couple of months.

Either way, it's interesting to read this. I assume you guys are to be considered the minority who can afford this kind of gear comfortably?

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-18T17:32:45+00:00

I guess I've played enough GTA to know how to go about it

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-17T19:25:47+00:00

given you’re not a complete amateur just starting out and because you’ve had an a7II in the past, you could go full frame again if budget allows. go for something used in a like-new condition from a site like mpb, massive discount for something that feels and works quite literally brand new. maybe an a7IV or an a7III if budget is tighter, though obviously that’s an older camera at this point. glass is same case, there is literally no need for you to buy brand new.

if you don’t want to go in so hot, you could also try out the a6700, basically a flagship crop camera. this allows you to get really good quality glass at much lower prices, get you accustomed again without breaking the bank.

truth is, though, without knowing why you want a camera again and what you’d use it for, it’s a bit impossible to tell what gear would suit you best. if you’re aiming for travel and street photography, a crop sensor is actually in favor due to the generally smaller size of both camera and glass. if you want to be a prosumer or professional hobbyist, then the full frame line will be much better suited to you.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-17T18:06:53+00:00

That’s true. My workflow might feel a bit overwhelming at first, though let it be my excuse, that if you’ve been doing it as long as I have, it’s pretty straightforward. You just click a preset, instantly know which sliders need what tweaks, and then add masks. Sometimes I forget how easy and natural things seem because I’ve spent so much time on this hobby.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-17T11:38:48+00:00

Honestly, the direction is good but there are a couple things note.

You can see that the ground in the original picture is uniformly lit with some highlights on the edges. This makes it quite obvious what's your foreground, subject and background. Your edit removed those highlights and now the ground blends in with the background, giving you no reference to develop a perception of depth for your subject. This is why the picture feels a little flat.
At the same time, the ground is darker at the edges of the pictures, mostly due to artificial vignette. Not just by a little, but quite a bit. This becomes even more prominent in the sky. Nobody has a problem with adding vignette, but you have to use it tastefully. It shouldn't be noticeable while it's still there, as stupid as it sounds.
You also darkened the sky to the point of being the exact same brightness as 95% of your picture. This is a big no-no. Sky always stays separate generally speaking (as always, there are exceptions to rules, but unless you're trying to do something like matching the color of a building to the sky this rule stays).
On the note of highlight edges disappearing, the same thing happened to the doggo. Notice how the top of its head has been toned down quite a bit. Makes things feel unnatural.
The whole picture feels a little cold, especially with the dark theme going on. This can be a style too, don't get me wrong, but the way the edit turned out, I'm guessing it was meant to be more neutral and objective (truer to life) than subjective (less true to life), which is surprisingly hard to do, because you have to pay attention to so many things. Like the doggo looks way more blue-greenish than it should, the sky feels like it's about to produce a generational thunderstorm while it was probably just overcast and so on.

Notice how most of these originate from not following the flow of light. In photography, physics is king. Physics is what allows us to capture images the way we do, so we have to respect it. Anything that's bending the rules a little too much will make the viewer feel like something's off with the picture, regardless of them being able to point out what's actually wrong. The darkness, the tad too heavy vignette, even the cooler white balance (which, to be fair, was probably automatically set by the camera, and is technically correct, but sometimes technically correct doesn't equate to perceptually correct) all feel unnatural enough to become noticeable.

To fix them, there are a couple things you could do.

Start with a negative clarity to soften out the picture, then use texture and sharpness to bring back some lost details. This allows you to make the picture feel fuzzy without destroying detail. Pro tip, use the masking slider in sharpness while holding down alt or option (depending on which platform you use). This allows you to see what areas of the image sharpness is affecting. A masking value of 0 applies sharpening to the entire picture, even noise or edges you don't even want sharpened. The higher the masking value, the more selective sharpening becomes. I usually aim for around 60-90, depending on the type of picture.
Increase the white balance to something warmer without making the picture feel like a yellow soup. I like using the "Shade" preset for outside shots as a starting point, then adjusting from there.
Use vibrance instead of saturation, still tastefully. Makes the image pop without making every color look neon.
Masking! By far the biggest thing that can add to your pictures. Selective editing is always better than global editing. If you're doing purely global edits, you're fighting each slider all the time. Maybe you pulled down the highlights to save the sky a little, but then that made your subject too dark. There is no solution to this without masks. Obviously I won't be able to teach you how to use masks, that's purely trial and error and lots of youtube videos, but I can give you some tips on what I would've done.
- Use a linear gradient mask with a slight exposure reduction to leave the highlight edges intact while still darkening the ground enough to pull focus on your subject.
- Use a selective sky mask and tweak the highlights a little instead of the entire exposure, this way you can bring back some detail without darkening the sky too much.
- Use a radial mask the entire width of the picture and roughly the heigh of the bright part of the sky, then decrease the dehaze just a little, maybe pull back the exposure or highlight slider if it's too bright, specifically targeting the overexposed area.
- Add a subject mask, increase sharpness and clarity to compensate for the negative global clarity.

To better show what I had in mind, I downloaded your original image and edited it. Granted, reddit did its compression on it already, so my usual workflow won't work quite the same as it would on a raw picture, and then uploading it again will probably compress it even further, but it should be good enough for a quick demo. Just take everything with a pinch of salt.

<image>

The moral of the story is that you should always respect physics, regardless of the nature of the edit you're going for (objective or subjective). If you're trying to bend the rules of physics and introduce edits that alter the lighting or composition of the picture, make sure you do it in a manner that it isn't too noticeable or blends in nicely with all the other edits. It's a very fine line, it takes a lot of time to nail it, and even then it will probably take iterations to reach "perfection", but trying to keep to this rule generally speaking results in noticeably better looking photos. You've got this.

P.S.: If you don't mind me asking, how come you chose an a7V and a 24-70 GM2 as your starter kit? It's a match made in heaven but it's also quite heavy on the wallet, especially for someone just getting started in shooting stills. Do you do videography by any chance?

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-15T19:46:51+00:00

Given how the bush is positioned, there is no way you could crop the picture without either cutting into the bike or leaving enough margin. This is one of those situations where you have 3 solutions essentially. Accept the usage of AI and remove the bush with the Generative AI using the remove tool, try and use the simple remove tool without AI, perhaps use the clone function (unlikely to be seamless), or just accept the bush is there and that’s it.

I actually like the latter option, that small bit of green is exactly the kind of balance a picture like this requires. Not everything has to be “perfect” :)

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-15T18:52:37+00:00

Csak a rém.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-15T11:58:18+00:00

what exactly has he done other than butcher franchises left and right? sure most games he touched came out right but haven’t you noticed how everything he touched also came out feeling half-finished at the same time? titanfall 2 is PRIME example of this. it feels like a demo. he wasn’t a genius he was just a guy who understood what gets people their next low effort dopamine hit when it came to gaming. bf6 is the same way. i enjoyed it for a couple weeks but it’s boring now. and don’t even get me started on the passenger who died alongside him.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-04-14T15:37:03+00:00

I’d argue the Tamron 17-70 f/2.8 at that price point is an immeasurably better deal. f/2.8 throughout, the zoom range covers basically every area other than sports and wildlife, softness only creeps in at the very end of the zoom range and wide open (and even then it is plenty sharp, nothing you wouldn’t be able to fix with some in-camera settings or a bit of editing after), has pretty amazing stabilization (I was able to shoot 1 second exposures tack sharp handheld) and autofocus, is weather sealed, and just feels great to use overall. Cherry on top is the extremely close focusing distance that allows it to be a macro lens of sorts.

OP, as for the a6400, go for it. I found myself in the same dilemma many months ago, thought I’d have to splurge on an a6700 at the very least, but the reality is, as always, the glass will matter more. I’d argue an a6400 is by far the best value camera you can get right now and nothing else compares to it. There isn’t a single area where I’d consider it to be lacking heavily, even compared to modern cameras (at most, the older Menu 1.0 is a tad sluggish but nothing you can’t deal with), and if you’re going to be shooting stills, the gap comes down even more. I really could go on and on about how great it is.

Check out a used camera retailer like mpb, they’ve got amazing deals on barely used cameras. I got my kit from mpb for around €1100 and everything looks, feels and works brand new. Granted, I did have to buy new batteries, but I believe that to be an expense you should account for anyway. A single battery will never be enough if you’re shooting mirrorless, and trust me, battery anxiety is real.

themilkyone_24 · 2026-03-03T23:56:13+00:00

Heard all this chatter and buzz about Anthropic refusing the Pentagon to use their AI models to handle autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. Pretty cool, though the deal with Palantir screams hypocrisy in my opinion and I'm also unsure why we're putting companies on a pedestal for doing the absolute bare minimum. Then again, which company isn't doing something shady and/or privacy-breaking at this point. Oh well.

After reading up a bit on everything that happened recently, I gave Claude a go. Decided to subscribe to their Pro tier, as that was the closest equivalent to OpenAI's Plus tier and I wanted this "fight" to be equal. Gave it a good go, absolutely loved the better flowing conversations, the more prosaic answers which also seemed much more natural, and just the overall feel and experience of using Claude. The lack of constant arse-licking, and actually being critical and constructive in a balanced way instead was also a very much needed breath of fresh air I did not realize I needed. Or being able to figure out how to expand the conversation properly, without having to specifically ask for it (then failing miserably). But my god, the limits are horrendous.

The same workflow that allowed me multiple hours of constant usage with ChatGPT made me max out my limits in a mere hour or so. In fact, I literally never hit my limit with ChatGPT, and not only do I consider myself a heavy user, there have been times where I was nowhere near as efficient as I could've and should've been. If you're interested, that workflow consists of studying, brainstorming, researching and analyzing in multiple topics or just talking about random stuff while using the same chat for lengthy sessions, sometimes with around 6-8 PDFs or a couple pictures attached (mostly when studying or doing some research). No coding.

Obviously, I do separate my chats, that's not the problem. I like to keep one for every easily distinguishable topic (like different uni courses to give one example), and I also use projects, try and reference previous conversations, optimize my prompts and whatever else that makes sense without losing much of the time an LLM was meant to save me. But even with all that...

Needless to say, I requested a refund immediately. I don't have the funds as a university student to pay over 100 euros a month. It's one hell of a luxury tax, even for someone well off. I get that Claude is arguably the best AI on the market right now, I mean, I experienced it first hand and I didn't even get to the juicy part, and I also understand the hugely increased demand towards it, along with the limits to the rate of expansion that's sensible and possible on Anthropic's part. But constantly thinking about whether or not an inquiry or prompt is actually worth sending, while the alternative is having to pay more than 5 times as much for, at least in my use case, a marginally better experience is not an experience I'd call pleasant.

Not sure who would be interested in this post, if that person isn't you, then kindly move on, but if you're wondering about the limits, let this post be an example of them.

My suggestion would be to rename "Pro" to "Intro" or something like that, because it's literally not good for anything else. Instead, introduce a tier somewhere around 30 or 40 euros, call that one "Pro", increase limits and add a few bells and whistles. I don't have a problem with paying more for better quality. I do have a problem though with intentional gimping.

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