Bill, you are correct that I took up photography as a hobby years ago, but I do not consider myself an expert. However, I do know if I like something or not. I can also do A vs B comparisons and make a choice for myself. And I will say that right here in UHH "Nudie Section" there are plenty of images to compare. Tim's "art" is but a small slice of the spectrum.

I have been to many museums and art galleries to see their offerings, and I go on the assumption that what is presented is considered worthy of being called "art." I have scratched my head at many of the pieces trying to figure out why this "piece of crap" is considered art when down the hall is a wonderful painting or sculpture that really moves me. Of course, I acknowledge that there is another patron who may have exactly the opposite take. That is the nature of human likes, dislikes and preferences. And while I have the choice of entering an art gallery or passing it up, I have yet to find myself in an art gallery where I have been told by the management, curators, or on occasion the artists themselves that I don't know s@@t about art.

It is no secret that I don't find many of Tim's offerings appealing. I expressed those views early on and was basically told by "the master" that my opinion is worthless. Well, sorry, not to me it isn't. And I am entitled to say so. Of course, Tim decided some time ago that I am just a stupid art-uneducated technophile and no longer answers any of my comments. But I am somewhat "flattered" to be named in several of his disparages of posters who, like me, don't connect positively with his images; I guess I have become the poster boy of the Tim Bashers.

You seem to hold an opinion similar to that of Tim in that you distinguish between "opinion and informed opinion." Do you have an MFA dgree? Is yours an informed opinion or are just a hack who likes soft porn (as presented by Tim)? Does your opinion count more than mine?

How technical are you when it comes to cameras (optics, mechanics, electronics)? How good are you with lighting techniques? Do you pay attention to background/foreground in composing your shots? Do you "pose" your subjects in the case of portraits/figure shots? How proficient are you at post processing? I mention these technical/mechanical aspects of photography only to tell you that if you think you are good in those areas... well, Tim says they are worthless skills when it comes to creating art.

I express my opinion on images presented on this forum because:
- I have an opinion that I think is worth sharing
- I am entitled to express that "personal uninformed" opinion
- I think the poster might be looking for feedback
- I think I have seen enough images, read enough books on photography, read "informed opinions" on images and learned from those critiques, that my assessment of an image is somewhat more analytical than a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

As a final comment I will get back to your "opinion and informed opinion" comment. It really is up to the reader/recipient of the opinion, not the issuer, to decide on whether the opinion has merit. Tim and his supporters are always telling folks that they have the choice to look or not. Well, Tim -- and you perhaps -- have the option of liking or not liking the comment, informed or not.

Both the battery brand and the charger are important.

I was using cheap NiCd batteries in my speedlights for a while, but I was getting inconsistent results. Part of the problem was the shelf life of the charge on the battery and part of the problem was the longevity of the battery. I would mark my batteries so I knew how old they were and could charge and use them as a consistent group.

Someone recommended Eneloop batteries and I tried them out. They were not much higher priced than what I had been using so I got two sets. They held a charge significantly longer than the old NiCd batteries. However, the length of operation was still inconsistent.

I finally figured out that my old charger was just a cheap one that came with a set of NiCds. It charged batteries two at a time. You couldn't just charge one. Eventually I figured out that it was charging the batteries in series. That meant that no matter what the initial charge on the two batteries was, the charger would provide them both with the same charge because when one of the batteries reached full charge, the voltage would go up, signalling that the battery was fully charged. The problem was that only one of the batteries was fully charged, not both of them. When the voltage goes up, the charger senses that and stops charging.

So I found a new charger. A MAHA 8-battery charger. It would charge anywhere from 1 to 8 batteries at a time, but it charged them individually. They all came out fully charged. That meant that a set of batteries would all discharge the same as long as they all had similar capacities (related to age and usage). The operation of the battery sets became much more consistent.

That was many years ago, so I expect there are probably several brands of chargers out there that would do the job. Just be sure that they charge the batteries individually, not in series.