New member, but an old photographer...
I've just joined the forum.
Originally from Northern Michigan, but have been living in Southern California since 1980 (with 17 months during the mid-80's back in Michigan on a job assignment). I'm a graduate Engineer with a BSME from Michigan Technological University and was a licensed Professional Engineer until I retired in 2016, after a 49+ year career.
Have been taking pictures since elementary school and worked both freelance and for the university as a photographer and managing a departmental darkroom.
Worked in film, mostly 35mm but some 6x7 and 6x9. For years I only shot slides (Kodachrome and Extachrome) and B&W. Later moved to color negative. For several years I also had a series of APS format cameras and almost invested in some serious amateur gear, but digital was starting to come on line and so I thought better of it and waited and finally in 2000 when I bought my first digital camera, a Canon PowerShot S10, which replaced my APS 'pocket camera'. Note that I was still shooting some serious 35mm at the time with my last film camera being a Minolta X-700, with my last color negatives taken in 2006.
My first serious digital camera was a Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi purchased in 2003. Eventually, the sensor failed and Sony (which had acquired the Minolta camera business) replaced it with a Sony DSC-H2 in 2006. I moved up to my first DSLR, a Sony A100 in 2007 and then to a Sony A65 in 2012. I went mirrorless in 2016 when I bought a Sony a6000, which I've just upgraded to a Sony a6500 a couple of months ago. I've still got most all of my serious cameras, most are just in 'storage', but the Sony a6000 has been set aside as part of a macro set-up, something that I've been wanting to do more work in, so the Sony a6500 is now my mainline camera.
And before anyone asks, I try to avoid using my iPhone as a camera. My wife uses her iPhone 8 as her camera and it actually takes good pictures, but it's not my cup of tea.
Note that when I saw that digital was the wave of the future I decided to scan all of my film to digital and so in 2001 I invested in a Canon CanoscanFS400US film scanner that would take both 35mm (mounted slides and film) and APS cartridges, and scanned everything we had into digital. I used an flatbed scanner with a lightcover for the larger format negatives and transparencies. I had been keeping, since college, a paper based record of my photos and when I went to an all digital archive, I created, using FileMaker Pro, a full blown database, complete with all relevant camera, subject, date, place, with thumbnail images, of all of my digital files, which is fully searchable using any entry field including sets of keywords. Currently, this database contains 50,472 records, going back to 1960. It basically includes every photo ever taken by my wife and myself.
Note that I've always considered myself a serious amateur, and while I was in college I did earn a fair amount of money working doing freelance and other photo-related work. However, since I retired I've started to sell photo through a stock photo service and to date have sold 28 images. Note that I'm not getting rich, but at least I can use what income I've earned as an excuse for when I need a new tripod or like that macro-lens I bought late last year.
Anyway, I hope I haven't bored anyone with my first post here.
But before I end this, I have to stop and brag a bit. My wife and I have been married 53 years (high school sweethearts), we have three sons, five granddaughters and one great-granddaughter.
John
Just a note about my camera gear. This is what I consider my current (usable) camera gear:
DSLR
Sony A100 10.2 Mp
Sony A65 24.3 Mp
10-24mm 1:3.5-4.5 Tamron
18-70mm 1:3.5-5.6 Sony
28-75mm 1:2.8 Tamron
75-300mm 1:4.5-5.6 Sony
400mm 1:6.3 Tele-Astranar
Mirrorless
Sony a6000 24.2 Mp
Sony a6500 24.2 Mp
10-18mm 1:4.0 Sony
16-50mm 1:3.5-5.6 Sony
18-135mm 1:3.5-5.6 Sony
55-210mm 1:4.5-6.3 Sony
60mm 1:2.8 Macro Artisans
400mm 1:6.3 Tele-Astranar
Note that 400mm Tele-Astranar is used with both my DSLR's and the Mirrorless as it's a T-Mount lens.
John
BTW, my 'avatar' is an image of a Zeiss Ikonta 52 1/2 folding camera that I used to use for large format (6x9) work. It was manufactured in Germany prior to WWII and except for some pin holes in the bellows, it still works fine.
John
Welcome to UHH, OldCADuser.
--Bob
OldCADuser wrote:
I've just joined the forum.
Originally from Northern Michigan, but have been living in Southern California since 1980 (with 17 months during the mid-80's back in Michigan on a job assignment). I'm a graduate Engineer with a BSME from Michigan Technological University and was a licensed Professional Engineer until I retired in 2016, after a 49+ year career.
Have been taking pictures since elementary school and worked both freelance and for the university as a photographer and managing a departmental darkroom.
Worked in film, mostly 35mm but some 6x7 and 6x9. For years I only shot slides (Kodachrome and Extachrome) and B&W. Later moved to color negative. For several years I also had a series of APS format cameras and almost invested in some serious amateur gear, but digital was starting to come on line and so I thought better of it and waited and finally in 2000 when I bought my first digital camera, a Canon PowerShot S10, which replaced my APS 'pocket camera'. Note that I was still shooting some serious 35mm at the time with my last film camera being a Minolta X-700, with my last color negatives taken in 2006.
My first serious digital camera was a Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi purchased in 2003. Eventually, the sensor failed and Sony (which had acquired the Minolta camera business) replaced it with a Sony DSC-H2 in 2006. I moved up to my first DSLR, a Sony A100 in 2007 and then to a Sony A65 in 2012. I went mirrorless in 2016 when I bought a Sony a6000, which I've just upgraded to a Sony a6500 a couple of months ago. I've still got most all of my serious cameras, most are just in 'storage', but the Sony a6000 has been set aside as part of a macro set-up, something that I've been wanting to do more work in, so the Sony a6500 is now my mainline camera.
And before anyone asks, I try to avoid using my iPhone as a camera. My wife uses her iPhone 8 as her camera and it actually takes good pictures, but it's not my cup of tea.
Note that when I saw that digital was the wave of the future I decided to scan all of my film to digital and so in 2001 I invested in a Canon CanoscanFS400US film scanner that would take both 35mm (mounted slides and film) and APS cartridges, and scanned everything we had into digital. I used an flatbed scanner with a lightcover for the larger format negatives and transparencies. I had been keeping, since college, a paper based record of my photos and when I went to an all digital archive, I created, using FileMaker Pro, a full blown database, complete with all relevant camera, subject, date, place, with thumbnail images, of all of my digital files, which is fully searchable using any entry field including sets of keywords. Currently, this database contains 50,472 records, going back to 1960. It basically includes every photo ever taken by my wife and myself.
Note that I've always considered myself a serious amateur, and while I was in college I did earn a fair amount of money working doing freelance and other photo-related work. However, since I retired I've started to sell photo through a stock photo service and to date have sold 28 images. Note that I'm not getting rich, but at least I can use what income I've earned as an excuse for when I need a new tripod or like that macro-lens I bought late last year.
Anyway, I hope I haven't bored anyone with my first post here.
But before I end this, I have to stop and brag a bit. My wife and I have been married 53 years (high school sweethearts), we have three sons, five granddaughters and one great-granddaughter.
John
I've just joined the forum. br br Originally from... (
show quote)
It seems you have had adequate experience to teach most of us a few things
Welcome OldCADUser. I, too am an old user of CAD! DXF rules! Welcome aboard, I am sure that you will enjoy the ride, and as Doc Mck mentions, I am sure that you are well qualified to give us all some guidelines. Putting all of those images into a real database must have taken a while. It has been some time since I did any SQL, but get the urge to use that route to properly catalogue my "stuff" too. There are easier ways, but digging into structure of a db is always fun. Looking forward to seeing some of your work. Please stay safe and don't be shy.
Note that while I have nearly 40 years of programming experience, it was limited to an application that was part of the CAD system that I was involved in. As for my database, it's strictly 'forms based' where I've 'designed' an entry 'form' for recording relevant data, and which also allows me to initiate either a general search or a search unique to a specific entry field. Everything I do is on an Apple MacBook Pro. I can do a keyword search of the entire database in less than a second, and the database opens from a cold start in about two seconds.
In addition to the database, I also have all of the 50K+ images online for immediate access. I currently have four copies, two online (one in a pocket drive that goes wherever the laptop goes, the other on a larger archive drive that never leaves home). I also have two external copies on DVD-ROM's, one set in my gun safe and one set kept offsite as my catastrophe back-up.
John
Welcome, John. Post and have fun. I am looking forward to seeing your work.
OldCADuser wrote:
I've just joined the forum.
Originally from Northern Michigan, but have been living in Southern California since 1980 (with 17 months during the mid-80's back in Michigan on a job assignment). I'm a graduate Engineer with a BSME from Michigan Technological University and was a licensed Professional Engineer until I retired in 2016, after a 49+ year career.
Have been taking pictures since elementary school and worked both freelance and for the university as a photographer and managing a departmental darkroom.
Worked in film, mostly 35mm but some 6x7 and 6x9. For years I only shot slides (Kodachrome and Extachrome) and B&W. Later moved to color negative. For several years I also had a series of APS format cameras and almost invested in some serious amateur gear, but digital was starting to come on line and so I thought better of it and waited and finally in 2000 when I bought my first digital camera, a Canon PowerShot S10, which replaced my APS 'pocket camera'. Note that I was still shooting some serious 35mm at the time with my last film camera being a Minolta X-700, with my last color negatives taken in 2006.
My first serious digital camera was a Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi purchased in 2003. Eventually, the sensor failed and Sony (which had acquired the Minolta camera business) replaced it with a Sony DSC-H2 in 2006. I moved up to my first DSLR, a Sony A100 in 2007 and then to a Sony A65 in 2012. I went mirrorless in 2016 when I bought a Sony a6000, which I've just upgraded to a Sony a6500 a couple of months ago. I've still got most all of my serious cameras, most are just in 'storage', but the Sony a6000 has been set aside as part of a macro set-up, something that I've been wanting to do more work in, so the Sony a6500 is now my mainline camera.
And before anyone asks, I try to avoid using my iPhone as a camera. My wife uses her iPhone 8 as her camera and it actually takes good pictures, but it's not my cup of tea.
Note that when I saw that digital was the wave of the future I decided to scan all of my film to digital and so in 2001 I invested in a Canon CanoscanFS400US film scanner that would take both 35mm (mounted slides and film) and APS cartridges, and scanned everything we had into digital. I used an flatbed scanner with a light cover for the larger format negatives and transparencies. I had been keeping, since college, a paper based record of my photos and when I went to an all digital archive, I created, using FileMaker Pro, a full blown database, complete with all relevant camera, subject, date, place, with thumbnail images, of all of my digital files, which is fully searchable using any entry field including sets of keywords. Currently, this database contains 50,472 records, going back to 1960. It basically includes every photo ever taken by my wife and myself.
Note that I've always considered myself a serious amateur, and while I was in college I did earn a fair amount of money working doing freelance and other photo-related work. However, since I retired I've started to sell photo through a stock photo service and to date have sold 28 images. Note that I'm not getting rich, but at least I can use what income I've earned as an excuse for when I need a new tripod or like that macro-lens I bought late last year.
Anyway, I hope I haven't bored anyone with my first post here.
But before I end this, I have to stop and brag a bit. My wife and I have been married 53 years (high school sweethearts), we have three sons, five granddaughters and one great-granddaughter.
John
I've just joined the forum. br br Originally from... (
show quote)
Welcome, enjoy your stay with us at the Hog. Post and tell stories all you want - what else do those of us with 7 day weekends have to do with Covid-19 messing up life.
You aren't too far away, I am in Corona. We had a family friend who taught Computer Science at UC Irvine but his family moved years ago. I make it over that way every so often since our family dentist (long time personal friend) is now at an office in Tustin.
I am: 2 year Vietnam Vet, former Ralph's market clerk for 13 years, retired history/geography/government teacher in Los Angeles for 35 years. And since my wife (retired Surgical/OR Charge Nurse) got tired of seeing me sitting and reading "Why don't you buy a new camera and get back into photography more. And get out to take pictures." - HUH! She told me to buy camera gear!
Well she can't say I didn't do what she told me because now I have 4 cameras (I don't count all the pocket cameras over the years or the two boxes of old film cameras), three bags of lenses 14mm to 600mm (three of them are macro lenses), lots of accessories, two scanners, one 13x19 photo printer and a lot of pictures of everything under the sun but mostly birds, bugs and blooms. Plus this rather powerful desktop computer with a 32" graphic arts/photo monitor + lots of software.
Family wise = two sons, one daughter, no grandkids. The baby Jasmine is a third year medical student at the University of Virginia who wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. Our oldest is a licensed mediator, does work for the Red Cross and a volunteer disaster response group named Team Rubicon and a logistics NCO with an Army Reserve Civil Affairs unit after two enlistments as a combat engineer. He has, I think, two bachelors and two masters in different things. He has a room at our house for when he is in town. Our middle child is cognitively impaired special needs and as my wife says he is "Our forever toddler."
robertjerl wrote:
Welcome, enjoy your stay with us at the Hog. Post and tell stories all you want - what else do those of us with 7 day weekends have to do with Covid-19 messing up life.
You aren't too far away, I am in Corona. We had a family friend who taught Computer Science at UC Irvine but his family moved years ago. I make it over that way every so often since our family dentist (long time personal friend) is now at an office in Tustin.
I am: 2 year Vietnam Vet, former Ralph's market clerk for 13 years, retired history/geography/government teacher in Los Angeles for 35 years. And since my wife (retired Surgical/OR Charge Nurse) got tired of seeing me sitting and reading "Why don't you buy a new camera and get back into photography more. And get out to take pictures." - HUH! She told me to buy camera gear!
Well she can't say I didn't do what she told me because now I have 4 cameras (I don't count all the pocket cameras over the years or the two boxes of old film cameras), three bags of lenses 14mm to 600mm (three of them are macro lenses), lots of accessories, two scanners, one 13x19 photo printer and a lot of pictures of everything under the sun but mostly birds, bugs and blooms. Plus this rather powerful desktop computer with a 32" graphic arts/photo monitor + lots of software.
Family wise = two sons, one daughter, no grandkids. The baby Jasmine is a third year medical student at the University of Virginia who wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. Our oldest is a licensed mediator, does work for the Red Cross and a volunteer disaster response group named Team Rubicon and a logistics NCO with an Army Reserve Civil Affairs unit after two enlistments as a combat engineer. He has, I think, two bachelors and two masters in different things. He has a room at our house for when he is in town. Our middle child is cognitively impaired special needs and as my wife says he is "Our forever toddler."
Welcome, enjoy your stay with us at the Hog. Post... (
show quote)
Opps, update, Frank now teaches at UCR but they live in Lake Forest.
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