Stayed in

I was wanting to go out today and see if I could find some butterflies to try and take photos of, but in the morning it was quite foggy and cool compared to the last couple of days.

About 10am Ben and Moohar and Rad went out, so I had to stay in and look after granny/answer the door if any parcels came. A parcel did come - my MP-E lens!! So I popped it on my 450D but the battery was run out, so I put the battery on charge and finished sorting my pics from the last few days. Also went on the pinternet a bit.

After lunch went on the pinternet a bit more, and the battery for my 450d finished charging so I gave the MP-E a test. I added an arca swiss compatible QR plate to the bottom of the lens tripod mount, then attached the Wimberley Macro flash bracket to this, and then attached an SB800 on that. I put a Sonia hotshoe - PC adapter in the 450d hotshoe and then connected that to the SB800. I did a couple of test shots at 1x and then a few at 5x. I didn't want to go out in the garden much in case the doorbell rang as I probably wouldn't be able to hear it.

I didn't have much luck shooting at 5x outside anyway - it was quite windy. I tried John K's technique of holding onto the stem of whatever it is you're trying to photograph and resting the lens on that arm/hand. However, I found that I would normally want to be shooting looking down at an angle at whatever it was that was on what I was holding. This meant the lens had to be higher up than my hand, so I couldn't rest on it very well. Also, the weight of the whole setup was twisting the camera out of my hand, and meant that my index finger couldn't reach the shutter button.

I ordered a shutter release cable off ebay for the 405d, then I should be able to hold the lens in the middle and trigger the shutter with the remote release. I should probably read John K's notes on the lens and technique again as well. Also, when I get the MT-24EX the weight distrubution will be different (currently it's offset to the side where the Macro flash bracket is).

The rest of the afternoon I went on the internet. I read about UPSs since I wanted to know if its a good idea to switch it off every evening or if this is bad for the battery and its best to leave it on continuously. From what I could gather it seems its okay to switch it off overnight, so I will do that from now on. Should save electricity and also the blue light on it is bright and annoying when you're trying to get to sleep.

I also read on the wikipedia article about UPSs that you shouldn't use a UPS and a surge protected power strip together. I wasn't sure if it meant you shouldn't plug a UPS into a surge protected power strip or you shouldn't plug a surge protected power strip into a UPS, but just to be sure I unplugged my UPS from the surge protected power strip and plugged it straight into the wall.

This way my PC will be protected by the UPS (which has surge protection built in) and the backup drive will be protected by the surge protected power strip.

After dinner Me, Ben and Mac watched Batman begins and a few youtube videos.


Barney McGrood
Breakfeast: Honey nut cornflakes; cup o' tea.
Lunch: Cheddar cheese with iceberg lettuce sandwich; ½ Scotch egg; slice of Victoria Sponge sandwich cake with blackcurrant jam filling; satsuma; cup o' tea.
Jin the Pinner: Spaghetti; pasta twirls; meatballs in sauce. Stuff that REM sing about and comes from a Scandinavian for value place where a rapper shops (Orange crush). Pudding was peach and passion fruit creamy yoghurt. Coffee; Roses.