* Posts by CrackedButter

27 publicly visible posts • joined 10 May 2007

Met warns officers off photographers

CrackedButter

To add some balance

I'm free to trawl the streets of Swansea without any policemen harassing me. Why? I told them at the station and informed them of what I was doing, any stoppage I could get and they can then phone through but they never have done. Problem solved and now I have a good relationship with the police here. The ones on the street know me especially and inform their colleagues before they say anything. Job done.

Noel Edmonds defies BBC's jackbooted enforcers

CrackedButter
IT Angle

Do I win a prize?

There is no IT angle to this story. What is it doing here? I am removing The Register from my bookmarks. Please cancel my subscription. I am also dissatisfied with today's weather. Please make the weather the way I like it. Goodbye."

HMV keeps Warhammer-ers from goblins

CrackedButter
Thumb Up

You know

People might stop it with their need to be first all the time if companies keep this level of commitment up.

Seagate tries again with external drives

CrackedButter
Paris Hilton

As far as I'm aware

This website ends with a co.uk suffix. So why prey tell are the prices in $ and with the internet living in the age of 'Web 2.0', why isn't there a link provided to either a shop selling them or a link directing us to Seagate. Sloppy reporting methinks.

Paris because even she can see the link.

Olympus E-420 digital SLR

CrackedButter

@Eden

I'm not making any points about printing paper, I'm suggesting that image ratios don't amount to much if they get cropped anyway or if you're printing you select 'image to fit paper size' in whatever software you happen to use. Oh and not all pictures submitted to news desks are by professionals, there are citizen journalists who photographed the July bombings with simple camera phones remember?

Ratios, image quality all take second place to context and composition.

I also know and I saw (along with my 500 million friends :)) some Olympus cameras at the Olympics from Professional photographers (citing one example). The E3 is one hell of a professional camera. Everything isn't Canon and Nikon you know. If you go higher up into digital medium format territory, you'll find 6x4.5 and 6x6 sensors being used which don't conform to your hallowed 3:2 aspect ratio.

Just accept that Olympus is doing fine without you or your 500 million friends with their 4:3 ratio okay? I can't say I care too much about ratios since I shoot using both of them along with 6x6.

CrackedButter

@Eden

Well done on not addressing my point about the other media types out there besides the blessed LCD monitor. Btw, your last post illustrates that 4/3rds isn't for YOU as you've admitted you don't print anything.

CrackedButter
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@ Eden

There is this program called 'Photoshop', it is really good as it has this feature called the crop tool and what it allows you to do is...

Ratio's don't matter really anyway with or without the crop tool and I can guarantee that newspapers, websites, books, flyers, billboards and they don't care either. Printed media comes in all sorts of formats and sizes.

All P&S are in 4:3 ratio as well and not just from Olympus/Panasonic, even Canon and Nikon use that ratio for their P&S's, I don't know why but there you are. What was the point of your comment again?

CrackedButter
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Questionable review

Of course you're going to struggle with the difference in image quality. The Four/Thirds standard isn't supposed to be anything about that. Just going to the Four/Thirds website would have stated as such. Its about having an digital camera system with no legacy from film cameras which are smaller and capable than the bigger bodies and lenses from Canon or Nikon. Hence the x2 magnification in all the Olympus bodies from the pro to the consumer range, it allows for smaller lens designs. Perfect for travelers and those with weak wrists.

I also fail to see how you can so easily brush off the issue of size. I bought this camera because I wanted something smaller but also something with interchangeable lenses, how does a P&S even compare? This is coming from an owner of a Canon 5D. I can wear this camera under my jacket like a point and shoot but with a 24-120 equivalent lens strapped on its front and I can keep an external flash in my breast pocket. How convenient is that? DSLR's don't have to be big, heavy, loud and proud.

McCain: Keep Shuttle flying, don't trust Russia

CrackedButter

RE: budget concerns

Stop the war in Iraq, funnel money from military spending and don't worry too much about Russia but old habits die hard from 40 years ago. Embrace Russia, not fear her otherwise we go back down that familiar road.

Apple slapped for dodgy ads

CrackedButter
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Obvious

This was obvious right from the start. As much as some of us hate flash or how much of a drain it is on battery life it is a big part of the internet and Apple can't ignore it. This can only help Apple in so much as people's expectations should be biased on truthful advertising now.

Komplett closes retail ops across Europe

CrackedButter

RE: Prices

They were a bit expensive, I waited months for a price drop on a HD which never came and by chance I looked at Dabs which were selling it £25 cheaper. Komplett were weird but I never got a chance to buy from them because of their prices.

The war on photographers - you're all al Qaeda suspects now

CrackedButter
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The best solution is to never stand down.

The best solution is to keep getting stopped over and over again surely we can outlast plod with this issue and they will tire and find something else to do. If we stop our photography then they've won.

I got stopped last week by a city centre ranger in Swansea. As soon as I was stopped I went on the attack right away and the poor chap wasn't prepared for it at all. I explained my rights he explained I needed to get everybody's consent who I had fit into the frame. I told him that wasn't likely and I voluntarily showed him my pictures to be kind since I was on a rage and volunteered my contact information (business card) and he said he would check with his superiors since I needed a license to photograph in a public. I explained how my tax's paid for this public space I've never been phoned anyway.

Don't stand down, also its classed as assault to have your images forcibly deleted from your camera.

Thumbs up for the positive energy I'm hoping to give off.

3G iPhone not ready for the enterprise?

CrackedButter
Jobs Horns

Holy hell! Those Crybabies!

The comments included in the article have the people commenting like they HAVE to buy the 3G iPhone! Holy shit those people should count themselves lucky, some people don't have electricity in this world never mind a jesus phone!

Steve icon because the irony quite isn't apparent yet!

BBC iPlayer for iPhone and iPod Touch is iGo

CrackedButter
Jobs Halo

RE: Next devices

Why not aim for the 3G iPhone :-)

Intel makes MacBook Air processor available to all

CrackedButter
Gates Halo

@ Nick

Now thats a shame... really. I think it will further highlight how cappy the OS is.

Apple ships Air

CrackedButter
Thumb Up

As usual

People talk about the cost difference between different countries, some clever people have pointed out the tax difference but...

Another reason for the difference and somebody else nearly said it (RE: how expensive it is here in the UK to do business) is the warranty periods differ from the US to the UK, they last longer here so for the extra £100 or so isn't THAT worth it as well?

Michael Bay to relive A Nightmare on Elm Street

CrackedButter
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Transformers

It was a terrible film, the action was sparse considering its 2 and a half hour run time, the characters were crap, there were too many and not enough screen time for the Robots. While the CI was clever, it didn't do anything for me, the first Transformers film is better.

The film is about Robots kicking the shit out of each other, that wasn't what I watched in the cinema that night, stupid masturbation jokes and bagging the car mechanic chick.

Adobe bends to might of US printers

CrackedButter

@ Fazal Majid

I don't understand why you're using Adobe Reader, I've been on mac since 2003 and never downloaded or installed it, I just use preview. What makes you use it in the first place?

Alienware Area-51 m9750

CrackedButter

Questions questions!

Why even bother with a battery?

USB goes Wireless

CrackedButter

@ Mr ChriZ

There is something called Firewire 800 if you want faster connectivity.

Olympic planners left IT out of the budget

CrackedButter

There was a time as well...

when this government could build things to spec, on time and on budget, I'm citing the original Crystal Palace as an example. In those days all you had were the engineers and the builders, none of the crap we have today that sits in between like the bureaucrats and the advisors and "outside contractors".

CrackedButter

Its about time

the government over estimated their budgets then put out the news that these projects will be cheaper than they already stated, then they'll look great and somehow organised.

iPhone hackers disclose vulns and hunt for clues

CrackedButter

Crackers not Hackers

I wish the register would use the correct term for this kind of thing.

Apple's Safari 3: a crashing experience for non-US users

CrackedButter

No problems here

I'm running on a PPC mac with no problems bar the first time it ran after installation, it stalled but has been fine since, no errors or complaints.

Nintendo Wii widens sales gap with Sony PS3

CrackedButter

@Graham Jordan

The market has spoken, Graphics are not an issue if they're good enough. Only the geeks care about such stuff, just like the discussion of graphics with the PSP and the Gameboy lite, nobody cares. I would have thought in this case that price, fun and playability take preference.

Vista upgrade revisited

CrackedButter

Of course its difficult

This is Microsoft we're talking about and considering its been in such a long development cycle, its no excuse. All these issues should have been resolved before it was released.

Why they released it in the first place is beyond me as it offers nothing really new over XP and it isn't like MS is short of cash, they could have waited longer and tested Vista throughly.

Downing Street rejects Vista petition

CrackedButter

Photoshop vs GIMP

Four words stop me from using GIMP in Linux instead of Photoshop on my Mac (if I wanted to move from Mac to Linux) and those are: CYMK.