heady

glassman buffer on veroboard? I can't even do the PPA on veroboard. I am not good enough with soldering and EE knowledge. I even need your help to be sure re: which links to cut for this PPA-clone board. Will find out more about the glassman buffer when he starts shipping. Been waiting for glassman to announce it.

huangyong, care to take a closeup pic of where we need to cut the pcb at the buffer output? Thx. BTW - I am contemplating getting the buffers from glassman over at headfi, what do you all think? Worth the US$40? Or just stick to the HA5003s.

Thx Huangyong, have tried Koba already. No 1uF 63V, all bigger than that. I have some Evox/Rifa polyester at that size but no polypropylene.

Great shots, rips, the series on the uncles. Really nice.

BTW - Jason, where did you get those Wima caps? Here in SG? Thx.

Update - Yet another friend ask for a headamp and I use this opportunity to use Nichicon FineGold 470uF 10V as the output caps. Wow, it changed the sound to really clear and airy. Very good, pity the only Nichicon FineGold 1000uF are 63V and are humongous. Anyway, the new amp still sounds good with my Grado SR60. I really enjoy the Grado, really value for money.

You have shaded holes 2,6 and 7. Hole 1 is the first hole at bottom to the right of the notch (next to letter "L") and you continue to count in an anticlockwise direction. If you are adding the LM6171, you don't need to short anything. If you are not using the LM6171, then you need to short only holes 2 & 3. 0V is the virtual ground but you can ignore this, just connect the ground OG to the ground of the output jack and you are alright.

Like Bram said, it is a combination of factors. But sure, lens do play an extremely important part. If you take a pic of scene with the aperture fully open up to max, eg f2 and then take it again at f5.6 or f8, you should see a difference if your sensor has high enough resolution. This is due spherical distortion. However closing the aperture to the minimum is also not the answer as the picture soften up again. I cannot remember the effect's name. Complicated ah. Anyway, the really good lens reduce spherical distortion and chromatic aberration which usually means more elements with specially ground surfaces etc. which also means $$$.

Hey, that's the blow-up thingy I mentioned a few post back.

//OFF TRACK ALERT// stopme, I was talking about helpful and friendly shop staff. I said girls as most of the staff in SLT shops are girls. I don't mind paying a little more for pleasant, helpful and cheerful service. That's my point. Whether it's fine to pay more just becos' the staff is pretty is up to the person. I wouldn't. Cheers.

You got me there N@Z, was embarassed for a while, until my eyes strayed to the bottom of the screen.

Nice meeting you, rips. Reply and up your count some more...

BTW guys, what is the LM6171 used for? For the VG? Thanks.

I am no expert but certainly heating the components for more than 10 -20 secs can damage them. Certainly electrolytic capacitors don't like too much heat, they will pop. I have damaged a few caps that way when I was learning to solder. To short the holes, connect them with jumper wire, either on top or below the pcb, up to you. And this should be a lot easier than using the perf boards.

For indoor meetings/weddings, I use the flash at approx 50degress with the cardboard. Flash is set to 28mm setting. Note that distance to subject also matters, if they are nearer than 6 feet or so, you better to use the flash pointing right up or the bounce effect will not work. For outdoor shot, no way, direct flash with remotes are the only way. Unless you got studio reflectors... Anyway, my outdoor night shots never looked natural, don't have enough experience with it.

I find the plastic diffuser which cover the flash cuts too much light, prefer to bounce if off a large piece of white cardboard. Just rubber-band it to the flash head. True diy look. Well, with dslr, colour balance is not a problem, you could even tie a white balloon to the flash! IMHO, bouncing light off the floor can give an unintended effect - erie look?

Down boy. I first met the lady boss in Kaichin about 20 years ago, a real stunner. I believe some of you guys here find the daughter /ahem/ attractive but the mother looked better in her younger days. Anyway, off thread already. As I said, some staff in the shops in Sim Lim tower make you feel real stupid, like one girl in Federal. But the girls in Sunlight (left of Kaichin) were usually pleasant, even when I ask stupid questions. Which is quite often, since I know nothing about EE, just know how to hold soldering iron.

Ok, I start the list and the other more experienced diyers can add to this: 1. Soldering iron with fine tip (30 or 40 watt) with stand 2. Flux cored solder (I prefer 0.5mm 63/37 alloy) 3. Solder pump (get a smaller one, operable with one hand) 4. Helping hand (two clamps on articulated arms to help hold stuff to solder 5. Side cutter 6. Digital Multimeter but analog also ok (this is essential and must have) 7. Tweezer and fine tip pliers 8. Stannol soldering grease (great for beginners but MUST degrease board after complete soldering) All available at Sim Lim Tower - sorry, you need to apply leg exercise to find the best buy but I like the shop to the left of Kaichin on 3rd floor. The shop assistants are pleasant and cheerful girls, don't know about the price as I don't mind paying a little more not to get humiliated.

Wah, Bram, very spot on. I remember when trans take more than a week to come back from Tokyo (Kodachrome). Very hard to remember what you did wrong and the lessons were expensive! Now almost instant analysis. Yup, agree with you completely.

sorry, couldn't resist it. Good one.

Rameish, you are a true collector. :RESPECT: The oldest camera I have is a Pentax MX (bought 20years ago), also completely mechanical. I had a fantastic 100mm Macro lens with it until the lens got damaged. At that time, the MX was the closest I could find to the smooth shutter action of the unaffordable Leica M4.

N@Z, it's a manual focus lens but good quality. Photography started as a hobby for me when I started taking clinical photos so I still like macro photography. Sentimental lah, so must keep.

I love the bulky Nikons. I used to use a FM2 which when mated with the motordrive was a joy to use. It was so heavy, it stabilised itself.

Hi N@Z, just edited my classified posting to include the Soligor lens I am also off-loading. I bought a Tamron lens last year which is better but I am keeping it with the hope it will be put to use again... if you get my drift. The Soligor is ok but I find the colour contrast not as snappy but it could be my inexperience as I used it when I first got the digicam but used the Tamron when my experience with digicam was better. WB setting is a skill and I used to use AUTO which is big mistake. Also, it may be my imagination as I paid twice as much for the Tamron vs the Soligor. My lens collection are manual, not AF and I don't have many, a Nikon 50mm f1.8, a Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro, a Tamron 35-80mm (superb) and a Sigma 70-210mm zoom (ugh).

Hi Bram, the reason is that I am very under-utilising the S1. I end up using my Olympus and Canon more because they are pocketable. Also no time for shooting pics. AND when I looked at the pics you guys post, I am shamed, cannot call myself a photog any more. I am not sure I want to spend on a DSLR at the moment but eventually I hope to. That's why I am keeping my new Tamron lens in the hope that it will happen. So, I can wait...