South Pond, Lincoln Park
Chicago, IL
July 2021

Cup Plant Close-Ups by Paul Sager, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51973346792_667606cfbb_h.jpg

Images shared in this post were captured in RAW from a Sony a7II mirrorless digital camera using adapted 1980s film-era lenses, using both the Canon FD 500mm f/4.5L and the FD 50mm f/1.2L. The RAW files were processed in Adobe Lightroom v6 and Topaz DeNoise v6.

Cup Plant Close-Ups
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51974428313_874df2323c_h.jpg

Although Canon announced the EOS system in 1987, they continued to manufacture their older manual-focus FD lenses until the early 1990s, unlike the company's current transition to mirrorless EOS technology.

Painted Lady
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51974914555_d665cf3321_h.jpg

We can see a white crab spider at the base of the flower below, something I didn't see until editing the images later.

Cup Plant Close-Ups
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51974428333_a07e1e3693_h.jpg

These manual focus lenses have no electronic communication to the digital camera. So, you need to set the aperture manually and focus the lens manually. I use a Metabones adapter for these FD lenses to Sony's E-mount on the a7II. As the camera can't communicate to the lens, I have to configure the camera to release the shutter with no lens mounted (detected).

Cup Plant Close-Ups
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51974639589_18702e46fe_h.jpg

American Goldfinches feed on the seeds of the 'cup flower' and drink the water collected by the 'cups' on the stems. As cup plants are able to form dense colonies, they provide a good shelter for birds.

American goldfinch
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51430474038_8761f10d10_h.jpg

I was to this area of Lincoln Park last week where the cup flowers for 2022 have yet to bloom. These images all date back to 2021 during an investigation of how these two FD lenses work with the Sony mirrorless.

Cup Plant Close-Ups
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51974914505_9c9a4425e6_h.jpg

So, my old laptop has died and I'd like to replace it. I'll admit right here that I'm completely computer illiterate, so any help would be much appreciated. To get started, I really don't have a lot of cash to spend, (perhaps around $500 ish). I realize that's not much for a top of the line machine, so I'm happy to look at used/refurbished, and I already have a few places in mind for getting one. My problem is that I really don't know what specs I should be looking for, such as speed, type of processor, OS, memory, brand, and anything else I may have missed. I really know next to nothing about this subject, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help, all the best, and hope you have a great day!
Ray.

CHD means: whatever processor is contains (Intel, AMD, etc), the hard drive - 1TB or larger, memory: 16GB or larger

You can use USB-connected drives to create more storage over 1TB. The memory is for running your editing software. The chip / processor runs on generations and 'speed' as measured in GHz. They also can subdivide and distribute the processing, doing 2 things equally fast at once, or 4 or 8 / 16 / etc.

Take the idea mentioned at Walmart and go online, or drive over, and check the specs. Allow for the cost of purchasing software too. The OS should come installed, but what else, if anything. Do you need MS office? You can get by with free Google Docs. You'll need a virus protection. Is this pre-installed and what is the annual subscription cost? Can you download your current digital editor and re-install on the new equipment?

EDIT: looking online at the Walmart site, it seem your Windows-based options are 8GB with drives maybe 500GB. These would be fine, just undersized for running the top-notch software. If not subscribing to the Adobe software, probably not an issue.