• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Nikon D850 camera

WebSlave

WebSlave

The world looks differently to me now.
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So far I am REALLY impressed with this new camera! The closeup images I am getting using my Nikkor micro lenses are way better than I had been expecting.

I've been zooming in looking at cropped 1:1 images and it's pretty remarkable how sharp the images still are at that level. And that is with the camera being hand held! Even with my old shaky hands holding this beast, which weighs a LOT with the flashes and bracket mounted on it.

This is the setup I am using, with the 200mm micro lens attached.

nikon_d850_01.jpg



nikon_d850_02.jpg



It's quite the hand full trying to hold it all steady while getting the shot. Using the smaller 105mm or 60mm does help a little, but the longer lens is better for shooting something a little further away that is difficult to get closer to. I've had all three of these lenses for years, and only used the 105mm on occasion with my old Fuji camera body when I needed closeups of something or another. This new Nikon D850 camera body beats that old Fuji all to hell and back again in the quality department. And I have barely scratched the surface of what this camera can actually do. Heck, I haven't even been doing any post processing on the photos they are turning out so well. Exposure with the flashes seems pretty much dead on as it is straight from the camera.
 
I recently got a wide angle zoom lens (15mm to 30mm) for this new camera body and wanted to try it out with something, well, unusual. During Christmas, Connie wanted to put some colored lights out on the palm trees outside of our house, and she decided she liked them enough to just keep them there all year. So I was curious about a number of factors from a photographic slant using this wide angle lens at night. The camera was mounted on a tripod, of course, with the smallest aperture for the best depth of field. Shutter speed was 20 seconds.

The colors look kind of psychedelic. When I zoomed in to see the details, I was pleased with how sharp the image is, even zoomed in to a 1:1 image of the front door.

house_2018_01.jpg



house_2018_02.jpg
 
So the other day, I got the idea to try some close up screw on lenses on my Nikon 105mm Micro lens, thinking I might be able to get even closer macro shots. I wasn't sure how well this would work, because I read some accounts online where some people were claiming that it wouldn't work adequately.

Well, I did crop most of the photos I took, but I do believe I was able to get closer with the screw on macro lenses than I could without them. I used a +1 and +2 ganged together on the lens.

flowers_04092018_01.jpg



flowers_04092018_02.jpg



[
flytraps_04092018_01.jpg



flytraps_04092018_02.jpg
 
And then I tried to get some really close up shots of my sundews...

sundews_04092018_01.jpg



sundews_04092018_02.jpg



sundews_04092018_03.jpg



sundews_04092018_04.jpg



sundews_04092018_05.jpg
 
So, after that, I thought maybe using my 200mm micro lense would give me more working area, since I was having to get really close in to the plants for the above shots. I wasn't sure I had any larger magnifying lenses that would fit the larger lens, so I was rummaging around in the cabinet where I've been storing the old camera stuff I haven't touched in years. I actually did find a set of 67mm magnifying lenses (the 105mm lens uses 52mm), but the 200mm lens uses 62mm filters. I did find some step up rings that I could use, but while pulling out all that stuff out of the cabinet, I spotted a box that I had no idea what it contained. Well I'll be darned! A brand new set up extension tubes for macro work. This will be even better, because I won't have to put any more glass layers between the subject and the image sensor.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to try this yet, because we've had rain all day today. I also think I really should use a tripod, since this rig is quite heavy, and it is very difficult for me to hold it all steady to take the shot. I searched around and found what looks like the perfect tripod for this sort of work, but it will likely take about a week before it shows up here.

Would be nice to actually get some time lapse video of the sundews capturing their insect prey, but unfortunately the AC adapter isn't available for the Nikon D850 body yet. I don't think the battery will run the camera long enough in time lapse to do the job, unfortunately.

I guess I'm getting that camera bug back again. It seems to come and go now and again. :eek:
 
That is great. I hope you can find an adapter so you can try time lapsing the sundews, would be really interesting to watch them catching whatever they can lure in.
 
Randall Turner said:
That is great. I hope you can find an adapter so you can try time lapsing the sundews, would be really interesting to watch them catching whatever they can lure in.
Click to expand...

I've got my name on the list for the adapter, but no telling how long it will be before it becomes available. The camera itself is STILL on backorder from nearly all of the suppliers, as best I can tell. So maybe Nikon isn't putting a lot of priority on the accessories right now.
 
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