What I Use To Make The Site

Mod Description

Here is a list of things I have that help make the site.

Mod Details

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I always believe that the strong point of the site is the pictures, they help verify my awkward explanations and allow non English speakers to follow the information. I find that pure text pushes people away from doing things, if they can see each step, people can judge for themselves as to whether they think they can do it.1 picture can explain more, explain quicker and explain in more detail than
any amount of words. 1 picture with a photoshopped arrow is even better.

The Cameras

I don’t get asked what camera I use about 3 or 4 times a week so i’ll tell you anyway.

I started with a Casio QV-300 that I bought from a pawn shop. Digital cameras were a fairly new thing and the photo quality was poor for the cost of the unit. The maximum resolution was 640×480.

I replaced it with a Konica Minolta Dimage Z5

This camera was bought in August 2005 and it has served me well, it replaced a 0.3MP camera which was crap and didn’t have super macro. I have found that taking extremely close up shots really helps define some of the pages. Back then, it cost me about £300 but it has easily paid for itself by helping so many.

This was replaced by a Canon Powershot A700 which I got on eBay for about £70. It gave better pictures, the firmware can be hacked and it’s smaller.

That was replaced by a Canon Powershot A720is which is what I have used ever until early 2014. I used an Eye-fi wireless SD card to save hassle transfering photos.

Then I went to a Samsung Galaxy Camera EK-GC100. It’s slow to start, over complicated, the wireless file sending is hit and miss, the transfer software is terrible and all the unnecessary Android shit on it really drains the battery quickly. However, the quality of the photos is excellent and when everything is working, it was great.

I then went to an Olympus Tough Stylus TG-860. The photo quality was great, the macro ability was spot on and the flash didn’t wash the photo out.

That’s when everything went tits up. I had been using an Eye-Fi SD card which automatically transferred the photos I took, straight to my computer via Wi-Fi. It was perfect as all of the photos I had taken were there waiting when I was done and I could delete the SD card every day.

Then Eye-Fi sold their servers to someone and closed down the features of the card, despite the fact that is was a direct link to the computer. People complained and they bodged the software to work but you had to update MacOS. Last time I did that I lost 2 years of photos so I vowed never to update the OS again.

So then I went over to using my iPad Pro and transferring everything using AirDrop. It’s 1 extra step.

The photo quality of the iPad is excellent although the flash is pretty bad. The macro is OK and I have extra lenses for super macro that just clip on. The large screen as a view finder makes it so easy to use although it’s obviously more delicate than a standard camera and TouchID doesn’t work when you are wearing gloves.

Then I went from the iPad Pro 1st gen to the iPad Pro 3rd gen. It’s all just better.

The Computers

From 2007

24″ Apple iMac. It pisses all over every PC I have ever owned. It has been so little hassle unlike all the PCs. Even after 7 years it is still going strong and gave it to my Dad.

From 2013

Despite it still working, I replaced it with a 27″ iMac and a 32″ LG Thunderbolt monitor. I needed more screen space and upgrading the 24″ iMac to Mavericks caused a few problems. This eventually ended up in my workshop.

From 2018

Even though the 24″ and 27″ iMac still work fine, I upgraded to a new 27″ iMac. It has a 5K display and SSD storage. Still attached to the superwide LG monitor. I also added a curved 32″ Samsung ultrawide monitor for triple screen fun.

Everything is all backed up daily onto a 12TB Drobo RAID box, a G-Raid storage device and iCloud.

The Software

Adobe Photoshop Elements
Topaz Gigapixel AI
Topaz DeNoise AI
Topaz Video Enhance AI
Cyberduck
iMovie
Handbrake

The Storage

Living on your own has its advantages. I have a workshop with all the smart stuff in it and an office full of projects.

AI Enhanced Photos

When I started the website, internet was dial up and slow so I chose to edit my photos down to 600 pixels wide. I had little choice as the camera only took 640 pixel wide photos in the first place.

However, when I bought better cameras, to keep the loading speed of the website fast, I still edited my photos down to 600 pixels. Monitors were only 769 pixels or 1080 pixels wide so the photos looked ok.

As time went on, monitors got more pixels and the iPhone and iPad came out. The old 600 pixel photos started looking lost on the page when we redesigned the website. That’s when I started editing new photos to 800 pixels and then ultimately 920 pixels that I use now.

The problem being that I took a lot of photos early on and lost all of my unedited back ups when an update to MacOS went terribly wrong. I thought that I was going to have to re-take all of the photos.

Thankfully, AI is now a thing and useful. I downloaded a piece of software called Gigapixel AI and loaded in a few old photos and told it to upscale them to 920 pixels. I was so impressed I paid the licence immediately. I won’t have to re-take any photos now. I just have to run them through AI.

Old Photo

After AI Rescaling

If you want to get Gigapixel yourself, please use my referral link.

I have also AI upscaled a few videos. You can see a comparison here. Click.