I think that one was from a negative, but I did some slides, and didn’t take them out of the frames. TBH, I didn’t even scan the correct side of the negatives, so I didn’t have to flip the image, and I didn’t use the highest resolution to save time / disk space, so the quality could have been better.

The image has been resampled for flickr, so there is some quality loss there. For what I wanted (i.e. scan a couple of hundred slides/negatives, most of which are pretty poor quality) the V500 has done the job. Pretty pleased with it TBH.

Gonna take this…

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IMG_0085.jpg[/url] by Lodious[/url], on Flickr

and this…

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IMG_0078.jpg[/url] by Lodious[/url], on Flickr

and this….
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IMG_0999.jpg[/url] by Lodious[/url], on Flickr

and do some old skool black and white photography :-)

I bought an Epson V500 flatbed scanner to scan old slide / negatives. I tried years ago with a flatbed and found cleaning up the dust too much effort to make bulk scanning possible. The V500 has IR dust removal built in, and it works much better. It will do multiple scans in one pass of either slides or negatives. It will also do medium format and 120 film.

An example of 50 year old 35mm negative scan, which is covered in dust….

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img145.jpg[/url] by Lodious[/url], on Flickr

I don’t know how good the quality of the negative is (it’s prob taken with a cheap camera), but the quality looks good enough for me.

The cost difference between the 5Dmk111 and the D800 would cover the losses in selling lenses/flash guns, so I guess if people want to transition from Canon to Nikon, when moving to FF the costs would be similar? I wonder when the two camreas will actually be available to buy in the UK? End of March is not long off!

3k….ouch! Looks good though.

I’m getting a 7D tomorrow ;-) , planning to wait until the 5d III has been out for 6 months and the inital frenzy has subsided, then go Full Frame w/5d mkIII. If it has the electrical wireless flash built in, that would be fun ;-)

Congratulations Graham :-)

….you don’t need a pedalboard for lonely Boss overdrive ;-(

Not the most exciting purchase, but after using the straps which came with the camera for years, getting an R-Strap has made a massive difference to the perceived weight of the camera. I even took a medium format film camera on a two mile walk without feeling it was a problem. There are also cheaper copies available for £20ish.

I’d be vary wary of getting one fitted at the moment. We had one fitted by First Utility last year, it took them months to get data from it, and more months to give us an accurate bill (which we only got because we left them). In total we went from Feb to November without any meaningful billing.

I don’t think the standards for transmitting the data have been finalised / standardised, so our meter won’t work with any other supplier than First Utility. What is more significant is that having moved energy suppliers, we can’t submit readings using any convenient method (automated phone, website, smartphone app). I have to phone and speak to someone and explain they we have a smartmeter fitted, but they can’t read it, so update the readings manually…blah blah blah.

I can’t get monthly billing as ‘we have the smart meter’ (!???), they won’t update their records to mark it as a ‘dumb’ meter, because it’s (apparently) illegal to do so. They won’t take it out and put a dumb meter in, as the drive is towards smart meters.

It’s been a nightmare, we tried to get readings so allow us to monitor gas consumption, but based on experience, your better with a conventional meter and using a smart phone to submit readings and use a home energy monitor for instant electricity readings.

Once the standards are in place, smartmeters will be OK, but until that happens, it’s best avoided, unless you stay with the smart meter supplier indefinitely.

If your going from a CRT, it’s quite common to think it’s miles too big. It’s also pretty common that a month down the line you think it’s too small and want something bigger :-).

There’s nothing Chavy about it…films were meant to be watched big.

GEM80

Now that’s old skool…remember the ‘portable’ programming terminals :D

Last time I worked with Seimens, it was S5..so can’t really help. Does this provide any pointers….

http://www.automation.siemens.com/WW/forum/guests/PostShow.aspx?PageIndex=1&PostID=124960&Language=en

I would look at the new Canon G1X

me too…looks really good.

Apart from the odd snap which you need quick, i’d use an online print service. IMHO Printing at home properly costs a lot of money, and is a pain is the ass.

The phone was not Voda branded, so in my case, I don’t think that’s the problem (unless it’s the opposite, that Vodafone branded handsets are tweaked to work on the network?)

Just to follow up on this, tried a T-Mobile sim in the Sensation at the weekend, and it looks like it works OK. Signal is still up and down a bit, but it doesn’t drop out for long periods like it does on Vodafone.

Vodafone suggested turning off 3G, this made no difference. Conclusion seems to me Sensation and Vodafone aren’t a good match.

I’m no fan of Salmond, but I thought he did well in front of a typically obnoxious Paxo. The likening of him to Mugabe was crass and offensive to the people who have suffered under his rule. I’m surprised Salmond didn’t tell him to f*** off and walk out.

TBH I think the interview raises more questions of Paxo’s salary than Salmonds policies. There didn’t seem to be much intellectual content to his questioning, and I’m sure if we just want someone to be obnoxious, there are a number of characters on STW who would do it for a lot less then Paxo.

Funny how she was quite happy to lie to the police to use them against the guy with the phone, but as soon as she started getting abuse, she’s asking for help from them 8O

The bit where Bob Dylan starts playing his harmonica :-)

I bought a prerunner of the Panasonic HDC-SD800 + Rode Video mic a few years ago. Seems pretty good, lot easier than DSLR to get good results. Did a bit of research at the time, and it looked like the best option, but dunno how it stacks up now.

And dont forget there’s 5 different amps ‘to collect’ in this range this year which get more expensive as you go through the range

I think you bought the right one…think most the stuff Marshall have made since mid 70’s has been going backwards.

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IMG_0289[/url] by Lodious[/url], on Flickr

+1 for that BOC solo, it’s fantastic…really melodic, great phrasing and not too many notes.

Jimmy, I feel for you mate, what he did sucks. I’ve been burned on s/h sales before and it hurts much more than the loss of money. Keep cool and move on.

Trouble is, both Realman and the guy who ripped off another forum user on Talk Photo (another STW type forum) wouldn’t have had poor feedback ratings. In the case of talk photo, they have a feedback system on the forum, and it didn’t stop some poor bloke getting burned for £1000 on a lens, from a well established forum user with good seller feedback.

I think if anything a feedback system makes it worse, as people drop their guard for people with good feedback, when there is a problem, they blame the buyer, as nothing can be wrong with them…look at the feedback from other buyers. :(

Is anyone worried about IR35?

Wouldn’t say I’m worried as I think I really do operate as a limited company, but for the time being, (IMHO) it’s still a real threat, especially to anybody who does not have insurance in place to cover legal fees to defend themselves.

Think there a lot of people out there who have just ignored it and are in a very risky position.

£330 – Professional indemnity insurance, Employers’ and Public Liability
£1100 – Accountancy fees

The contractor is ‘treated’ the same regardless of your IR35 status, and that treatment really depends on the client. If the client sets your working hours, and commits to giving you work for a defined period and controls how you do the work (and i’m simplifying here) then the revenue will view you as an employee, and you can’t operate in as tax efficient manner.

If your inside IR35, it’s pretty much the worst of all worlds…you pay a lot of tax and you get no benefits.

I should add that it’s not a simple subject, and you IMHO really need professional help. There are a lot of opinions out there, and the subject is by it’s nature (i.e. the tax legislation is ambiguous) open to interpretation.

I hope GrahamS isn’t reading this…smug factor will be off the scale :-)

Mine dies even if your talking, and it’s dropped out maybe 30% of the time. I never had any problems with my previous Desire (not S though). I have 3 months left on the Vodafone contract, so I guess I’ll have to put up with it until then.

Surfdad, I meant your issue…it’s a new feature! :-)Nothing to worry about.

yup, i had that. I can’t remember how I stopped it, but it went away eventually. Think it was a feature introduced under the last s/w upgrade.

Bloody hell…since posting on this thread, loads of Brookson adverts have appeared over there >>>>>> 8O

OK thanks for that Cougar…O2 it is then!

Seeing as you mention IR35 you probably already know about the legalities of ’employed contracting’. Something you really don’t want to get involved in – I know of people who have fallen foul of these new regulations, if you are thinking of simply contracting out to one company where you could legitimately be paid via PAYE i’d be careful. I made the switch back to PAYE a few years ago to avoid this.

It’s a good point, as far as I know, Umbrella companies aren’t a magic bullet to get round IR35. There is quite a learning curve in going limited, but, at least it forces you to think about how you conduct yourself when representing your company. At the very least, you need to look at how your first contract is written and what the working practices are, and if it’s really a staff job, stay inside IR35.

I use Bauer and Cotrell for contract reviews / advice…can’t rate them highly enough, there is some good info on their website.

Some more info here…

http://www.shout99.com/contractors/

http://www.pcg.org.uk/cms/index.php

Good luck, but it’s not really something you can sort out with a couple of responses on STW.

Cheers Bruneep, looks like it is a Vodafone network compatibility problem. :(

OK thanks for the positive reports, I’ll pick up an O2 sim and see if it’s better. Hope it is, as I really like the phone. :-)

Thanks for the signal booster app idea croen, i’ll give it a go.

Smax owners club has loads of info about this. From memory, I thought the Thule ones are the ones that grab the sides of the roof, not using the fixpoints?

I bought the ford ones which use the fixpoints…not the easiest things to fit. A tip, use a 5p to turn the plastic retaining screw on the fixpoint covers…don’t use a screwdriver, the plastic is very, very soft.