Smoktech DCT

Got a bottom-fed, cartomizer style dual coil tank to try out this whole vaping direction, and while a completely different feel from wick-fed tanks, I gotta say that I like this a little bit better on the go.

The DCT sports replaceable single or dual coil atomizer barrel that slide inside a 3.5 or a 5ml tanks and use standard 510 drip tips. While the whole rig is pretty much held together via silicone O rings, it surprisingly stays intact quite well.

filling the tank, especially 3.5ml, can be a little bit delicate since you have to avoid dripping into the metal barrel. With some care, it’s not too bad to get these to 75% full and that can last (me) 2 days if not a bit more (with the 3.5ml tank).

The burning of the dual coil produces far thinner and lighter taste, thus I can tug on it much longer than on my RCT. The real advantage is that the juice hole is at the very bottom of the tank, so DCT will not run dry until all of the juice is used up unlike the RCT whose wicks start having trouble routing the juice when the tank gets to 15-10% full. Avoiding dry hits is easier with these as well- a couple deep, blank pulls will get enough juice into the atomizer and it’s ready to go again and again.

Overall, nice system that is still affordable and rebuildable.

Smoktech RCT – Air Hole Patch

So I noticed that RCT tank has the same air hole down at the bottom of the battery connector like most other 510 tanks and carts for auto battery’s sake. Now that I’m on the eGo, this serves little to no purpose for me, but it does leak a tiny bit. Though this leak doesn’t interfere with the current passing through, it does corrode the threads of the tank’s connector and just annoys me enough to try and plug it.

And I did so via a small circle of aluminum tape.

This displaced the 2 little air holes a tiny bit and blocked off the main one, so the draw is a bit harder, but it seems to conduct better without that drop of liquid being in between contacts and there’s definitely no more corrosion going on.

Bresson Split Focusing Screen – Nikon D5100

After much research and decision, I went with an ebay purchase from China. The brand is Bresson and they seem to make a ton of these resin focusing screens for most of the DSLRs out today. Here is their product page for these nifty little buggers.

Just in case some of you haven entered photography after the film ages, this is how focusing screens used to be- 2 or 4 little prisms embedded into the main screen. Each small screen sits at an opposite angle than its other half, thus splitting the incoming scattered (out of focus) light in different directions unless it is in focus. The circle around aids too by adding grain to the image while it is out of focus. So 2 ways to get something in focus is either using the inner circle and aligning subject’s lines until they appear straight and/or using the outer grainy circle until it looks crystal clear and thus in focus.

As you can see, it works just fine albeit not matching up the stock AF points exactly in the middle. No big deal in my opinion, considering it only costs $20 unlike Katzeye and other brands ($80-150).

Is it accurate? From what I can tell, it is. Tested focusing with both AF-S 35mm f/1.8G as well as D5100’s on-board meter (green dot indicator) and both confirmed the split-cirle.

Now, this kind of screen can also be a great tool for testing your AF- whether it hit where you wanted it to or to quickly override it if it starts to hunt past the good focal point. I can definitely see this prism being essential for anything macro.

Based on promises from Katzeye screens, they treat the surfaces with compounds that help brighten the image and offer another treatment that reduces the split circle blackening when shooting at lower f/ stops. All modern Nikons always keep the aperture wide open until you take a shot, so realistically this issue will never surface unless you use a lens with a high maximum f/ number like 5.6. This one indeed becomes a few shades darker when using my 70-300 since the lens’ maximum range is 4.5-5.6, but even with such effect it is still easy to focus and use.

Installation: quite easy with skilled and nimble hands, though packaging could have been a hint more professional. This came in a box with metal and rubber-tip, plastic tweezers; rubber finger tips; soft cloth; and the screen in a ziplock baggie wrapped into the cloth. All you have to do is VERY, VERY carefully push the wire bracket holding the screen in down to unlatch it, let it drop down, let the screen drop onto it, grab the stock screen with plastic tweezers and place it on the cloth, grab the new screen and try to pop it into its slot, then using your fingers in rubber finger tips close the wire bracket back up. Viola. Note that the wire bracket needs to be bent down to get into its locking piece.

Should you spend $150 for specially-treated screen? If it makes you feel better, why not; however, this Bresson thing is everything I expected and am perfectly happy with it so far. One of these is definitely a must for any sharp shooter out there, especially when using manual-focus, high aperture lenses like 2.0-1.2.

Evil Monkey – Kracked Skulls M1 Custom Grip

So my lady friend finally decided to get a proper length board to step up from the PK I gifted her a good while ago. Trick here was a well-built, light, affordable deck and trucks that would feel as close to my Freebomb as possible.

After some thinking, I figured to go with Bennett 6.0s for their insane turning ability and price point and Kracked Skulls M1 40″ given their build quality and prices ($50 for a nimble drop-through with fiberglass? Beat that most other manufacturers!). Irony here, in a way, is that my very, very first board was the same exact thing with extra glass option. I top mounted it solely to avoid wheel bite it was getting even with 70mm wheels.

Following the footsteps of most decks I had to grip myself, this one wasn’t going to go without a proper, thematic design, so after about hour and a half, here we are-

Given my friend’s nickname and character, Evil Monkey seemed too appropriate. And since the deck is “M1,” Abrams fit like a glove. Decided to go with the WWII U.S. Army star design for classier and vintage look. Since I had to do the details with a razor blade prior to going out and picking up an Olfa knife to replace my lost one, half of this job wasn’t exactly efficient nor comfortable.

Here’s my M1 and the new brother next to one another:

Mine has seen quite a bit in its lifetime, including New York Broadway Bomb ’12, shralpit! Also the deck that I got into Shralper’s Union with. Lots of history and good times. Design on mine is very quick and basic because I just wanted to go and start riding it as soon as I got it, heheh.

So, that’s that for this board. Now to let it accumulate mileage, stickers, and bring lots of stoke and good vibes to my friend.

Little Big Revamp – Smoktech RCT and Joye Ego

So I’ve been neglecting my poor little e-cig kit for a while, and thus decided to do a little overhaul.

Through some net search I came across MadVapes and saw a very attractive deal in their sales section:

Smoktech Replaceable Coil Tank (RCT) for only $4.29. It could use the Joye 510 batteries I had a few of already, so I figured it would be worth a try. Once I got it (the yellow one), I loved how fresh and powerful it was compared to the old little 510T atomizer, so I figured a proper overall upgrade was in order (as well as a spare RCT just in case- purple one).

I went back to Madvapes and ordered a spare tank, some RY4 liquid for a change (VS Banana has been getting old, but when you have ~60/120ml left, you’re just not as inclined to buy any liquid at all), and the real star of the show- Joye eGo 900mAh battery with a usb pass-through mod by Smoktech.

Tank can hold 5ml of liquid!

Before I drown this with words, here are some more shots of this thing plus comparisons with 510T:

*On the vaping note, it seems that you have to fill this tank at least half way to properly submerge the wicks to avoid getting dry pulls. I’ve been playing with 1/5-1/4th full and longer draws were ending a bit dry.

So why eGo battery despite owning 3 510XL ones? Well, predominantly for the USB pass through feature that lets you charge via mini-b cable AND use it while charging. Battery capacity is nice to have as well, since my skinnies are 280mAh for manual and 340mAh for one automatic, so the new 900 is like the 3 combined. Ability to use USB port eliminates having to carry a special and slow proprietary charger.

Lastly, I believe my eGo does not have an automatic cut-off per continuous use like some do or I simply couldn’t hit my liquid for that long since it is very harsh, but that’s the way I like it!

Lastly I’d like to cover how nice the RCT’s build quality is. It is fully rebuildable as you can see in the very first image, but that’s not all. The end caps screw into aluminum thread instead of inside or outside the polycarbonate tank, so opening and closing it will have little to no wear and tear. Then, every part that can be removed has a silicone O-ring to properly seal it and keep the liquid from leaking out. Very nice touch!

Lastly here’s a lil shot of the coil:

All in all, very happy with this purchase and the fact that whenever (if ever, haha) it burns out, I can simply replace the whick-and-coil piece and not the whole thing. The tank size could’ve been a bit smaller IMO, but beggars aren’t choosers. The over-sized tank might possibly protect the battery button from being pressed when carrying this thing in pants pockets.

First Impressions – Yongnuo WJ-60 Macro Photography LED Light

Decided on my truly last piece of affordable gear to put an end to my/camera’s struggle to focus in very low light/pitch-black situations with this wonderful ring LED rig. Decided to go with Yongnuo again since 565 EX I got was a VERY solid flash, so I trust this little brand.

This guy uses 3xAAA batteries; has a hard on/off switch; and a left and right buttons that cycle through brightness modes, half-on modes, or turn it off (ready to be turned back on via another press of either button).

It has 60 LEDs in two rings and a total of 6 modes- all on, half off, left half fully on, left half half off, and likewise for the right half. Not too shabby for a $30 rig.

It can mount in two ways- onto the lens tip like a proper macro light or into the camera’s hot shoe like a flash via plastic mount. Both work quite well. Since its completely autonomous unit, it can just be hand-held as an aid light or even mounted on a stand.

To fully test it, I rigged my D5100 with both this light and my proper flash.

I even tried it with my 70-300 VR for a completely beastly setup-

And of course the lewd setup using my 45mm AI-P that’s thinner than the LED ring with a quarter width to spare. Best part is that I can still use the filter-style hood along with all these lights on this lens!

And onto some “macro”-ish shots-

Unedited-

And edited-

Conclusion thus far? Awesome macro light! While it can’t double as a flash since it’s completely analog, it doesn’t really interfere with using a real flash and does what it needs to do perfectly- illuminate dark places enough to use the big boy properly focused.

Follow-up: And a few shots using the WJ-60 as a base light and then on-board flash at 1/32 the power:

Pentax K10D, Eh?

So my friend got herself a K10D to join me on my photo crusades along with a Sigma 35-70mm f/2.8-4 manual focus, K-mount lens. Pentax’s digital line is interesting, but not quite my cup of tea in the end (unless newer models became more polished).

Now, what I did find interesting is that it was weather-sealed; had built-in auto-focus motor; built-in image stabilization vs in-lens like Nikon; could meter on non-CPU lens; had a test-shot mode to see what you would get before actually taking a shot to save to memory; custom temperature/WB mode that used last image taken as a sample for new settings; ability to shoot in Adobe DNG for RAW files.

Downside is that there isn’t a plethora of natively compatible lenses or reasonably priced, modern bodies. Older glass used to be M42 mount, so to use on digital bodies one has to deal w/ adapters.

Overall, not too bad of a feature list, but to me complete and native flexibility w/ lenses and ability to set an ISO button takes a slight priority. That and my D5100 being a much more simple kinda body, lets me dive straight into the action without too many setting option to ponder. Shooting in RAW can cure most blemishes afterwards anyway.

Why Tessar?

Why indeed, given it’s one of the oldest camera lens designs out there? For one, very, very little flare given how compact the whole lens is. A new thing I noticed is how it captures scattered light-

vs the more modern lenses-

Tessarian scatter looks like flower petals around the light source rather than simple rays scattered out. Very neat, very different.

Finally a Modern Workhorse – Samsung Ultrabook NP540

With my T4220 simply refusing the CS6 workload I do these days w/ RAW files, I had to use the coffin of a Vaio until I could get a proper new portable work horse, and at long last here we are:

Samsung Ultrabook Series 5 (NP540U3C-A03UB). Aluminum body, 10-point touch screen, separate mouse buttons, and very decent guts. Thanks to this guy being a display model from Best Buy and a recall by Samsung (to promote the Ativ brand of basically identical machines) the price was too good to pass up.

Real kicker is that unlike the Ativ Ultrabooks, this guy uses only 1 soldered on 4gb of ddr3 ram with an extra slot for expansion; the HHD is a slim version of a standard sata 2.5″ and that makes it easily serviceable and removable, which is a huge plus over soldered on SSD on newer models (and not to mention 500/whatever GB of playground vs strict 128). Specs are solid too, for the price, type, and size of this thing.

This is actually a second Ultrabook style in the household, my dad’s work Dell XPS being the first one-

Sammy is a bit more chubby, but that’s to be expected from having a standard HDMI port and a regular HDD and RAM (possibility) instead of being a non-upgradeable “phone/tablet.”

Keyboard on the Dell feels surprisingly cheap despite being backlit, the mouse buttons aren’t separated and hard to feel by touch which I find ironic given than even by MSRP the Dell is a more premium horsey. That and the lack of touch screen. And that plastic surface on the keyboard half despite sporting the same aluminum body. It’s a Dell, go figure.

And lastly the Dell’s specs for comparison-

Not too bad, but definitely a gen older than the Sammy.

Win 8 isn’t horrible thus far, as odd as that is to admit. The new smartphone app style menu can be easily hidden and everything else is pretty much the same as 7 minus certain options being harder to get to, like showing known file type extensions. No biggie really.

Battery life is marked at ~9 hours which is uncanny even compared to my old T4220 with 2 batteries on board.

Quad core and ddr3 surely show they prowess in picture processing, so I am extremely pleased in that department even if this guy lacks a proper graphics card to make everything super-duper-uber crisp.

And the form, weight, look and feel is very professional. Huge step-up from my plasticy T4420 albeit not having a Wacom screen.

First Impressions – Nikkor 45mm f/2.8 AI-P

Finally got this gem/dream lens after long deliberation regarding its ridiculous cost. Despite my hunt for a black version, silver will have to do for now as a workhorse.

This guy is a modern remake of the old Guide-Number Nikkor 45mm f/2.8 whose forte was being able to set the old flashes to the optimal output per focal distance using the guide numbers written on the opposite side of the focusing ring than the distance scale. Today, that was replaced with a CPU chip and better lens coating, but the old Zeiss Tessar design remained and made this the only true and smallest pancake lens in Nikon’s (and well, Canon’s) lineup to-date. Haven’t had a chance to really put this guy to work yet, but some snaps I took thus far were pretty smooth.

Package, being a collector’s, comes with the NC 52mm filter matching the lens’ color, its own special metal screw-on hood, special front cap, color-matched back cap (didn’t get this one), and its own soft pouch (eluded me as well).

Main highlights are the mostly metal build (minus the aperture ring), super-compact design, short throw of the focus ring (unlike most primes, though I prefer this for quicker re-focusing once you get the fine-focusing down using a shorter throw), unique hood and cap that fits right over it, and ability to use it on both film and digital bodies. Special note here- to use this on digital bodies via CPU, you have to set the aperture ring to the minimum 22 and control it via body; however, while you lose the ability to manually dial in classic Nikon full-stops, it allows 1/3 stops like any modern G lens via on-board controls. Pretty worthy trade off if you ask me.

Main kicker- its SUPER compact/thin kinda lens-

Fully extended focus doesn’t add too much either-

And next to 35 f/1.8G-

With NC filter and hood attached-

And the cap is designed to fit over the hood!

And a shot of my 24mm Sigma using the 45P-

Today, this is almost purely a collectible lens, but that won’t stop me from going to a unique edge due to its design.

And couple edits-

All in all, extremely portable and fairly versatile street/general purpose lens. Not much fringing with this one thanks to the Tessar design, awesome quality, 1/3 stops for aperture, and a full-metal build that many modern lenses lack in favor of being lighter.