It's been a bad day. Please don't take a picture.

Well actually a bad spleen-kend. Yesterday morning I found Apache wouldn't start, and spent the morning trying to get it to work again. After finally fixing it (I think I had some bad info in my windows hosts file that was breaking it) I tried to get it set up the same as my webhost's server. The first thing (and only thing) I tried to change was my webhost runs php as cgi, whilst my setup (xampp) runs it as an apache module. I took ages trying to get php to run as cgi on my comp, eventually I did get it run, but only for the whole server, not just for one of the virtual servers. My webhost also has lots of configuration options, including one that means you don't need a shebang line at the top of each php script. I couldn't find how to add these configuration options so I just put the settings back how they were before, with php running as an apache module.

So I spent most of yesterday doing that. I also spent probably a couple of hours trying to find out how to put my HiViz high speed flash trigger together, only to find out (after the couple of hours) that HiViz have detailed step by step instructions on their website. Not sure how I missed that before.

Today went to Church in the morning, but Maccy P couldnae go because he has a bad cold and if he went to church someone might catch it and die (because most people at church are really old and frail). I meant to buy some Maccy's ice cream from co-op on the way home from church (is on special offer at the moment), but I forgot to bring any money.

After church I tried setting up my nodal ninja, it looked like I had found the No Parallax Point when taking pics out the window, but when taking an actual pano there were still quite a few stitching errors. I tried again without the zenith and nadir, the stitch was quite a bit better, but each pic was still a few px out. I tried with the camera position back a mm or so and forward a mm or so, but the parallax was still the same. My nodal ninja's bottom rail is slightly bent, so I think this may be causing the problem. I mounted the nodal ninja directly to the tripod and the camera directly to the nodal ninja (I removed the Kirk QR clamp I was using on the Nodal Ninja upper rail previously).

I also found that my remote shutter release cable wasn't working properly, I think it must have a break in the wire like my last one (also from ebay) developed.

I had a look at the 360 precision website as I'd really like a 360precision adjuste to replace my bent nodal ninja, but they are so expensive! £600 +VAT! They are doing a trade in until the end of May, £95 off if you send them your old nodal ninja. So this would make it about £600 inc. VAT, still massively expensive, although could also be massively time saving. Thing is, I'm still not sure how many panos I will be shooting when the weather gets better (which it is), how much PP will be required with them, or whether I will be mainly shooting tripod or monopod (no point paying for a panohead setup for batch stitching if you're not using a tripod).

After doing this, Maccy P had a bug in his room, so I went to take a photo of it, but my flash (SB800) would nae switch on. I tried for a few minutes using different batteries and trying different things to get it to work. It did switch on once, but then I switched it off and couldn't get
it to switch on again. So after tea, I looked into how to get it repaired. I got the box from the garage and went on the Nikon website and downloaded their repair request form and started filling it out. It said they need a receipt so I looked through all my printed receipts, it wasn't there. Then I went through all my paypal transactions from Jan 08 to Aug 07 to find the transaction. Eventually I found it and printed it out. Then I looked at the actual warranty card for the flash (which I bought off ebay) and it said the warranty was for USA only, no wonder it was so cheap.

Then I remembered that actually I didn't know which flash it was that was broken. If it was my other flash it would be out of warranty anyway (or have a Hong Kong warranty), so I decided I'd just have to pay to get it fixed. From the Nikon website, they list authorised repairers, Fixation UK had easy to follow info on their website, said they repair nikon flashes and looked like they offered good service so I printed off the repair form from their website and packed up the flash to send it off to them for a quote (and repair assuming the quote is less than the cost of a new flash which is highly likely).

So I wasted yesterday (and today really) doing nothing. I need to buy a new remote shutter release, postage and repair costs for the flash, and possibly a new (very expensive) panoramic head! And I just spent loads of money the other day on a macro flash bracket, and haven't had much paid work to do in the last month (from 15th April) either. Ah well...

Food
Breakfast: Crunchy nut cornflakes; cup o' tea.
Dinner: Chilli con carne; rice; slice of French bread with butter. Pudding was neapolitan ice cream with wafers. Cookie, coffee.
Tea: Slice of French bread with butter; slice of French bread with butter and cheddar cheese; Slice of farmhouse fruitcake; Caramel Rocky; Banana; cup o' tea.