Long Exposure Photography With 16 Stops ND

A while back I investigated the possibility of using the Lee filter system on my Fujifilm X-T1. As you can see, I invested in two Lee ND filters;

  • Lee Big Stopper (110ND / 10 stops Neutral Density Grey filter)
  • Lee Little Stopper (106ND / 6 stops Neutral Density Grey filter)

The thing with ND filters is that they reduce the light evenly. This results in (depending on the greyness of the filter) longer exposure times. With enough 'stops' in front of your lens, you can stretch the exposure from 1/200s to 10 or 15 minutes. Shooting with exposure times of minutes instead of the usual fraction of seconds results in motion blur in the photos (assuming that you're not shooting a stationary object indoors). Expose long enough, and the movement becomes a silky haze.

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Posted on September 29, 2014 by Willem and filed under Gear, Photography, Tips'n Tricks and tagged lee filter neutral density long exposure.

Apple OSX Server Firewall

My Apple OSX server (Mountain Lion) at home is the centre of my network and entertainment system. It provides provides the following services:

Since several (soft-, and hardware) upgrades and redesigns of my internal network (from a single VLAN to a multi-VLAN with firewall services and traffic inspection) several services failed under certain circumstances. E.g. Air-Video would work internally where the client was in the same network as the OSX server network interface. But trying to connect through the SSL VPN stopped working for some reason. Also, the VNC Viewer did work in the old days, but stopped working over time. Same for several static NAT entries; worked before, and stopped working without 'no reason'. Other services like ssh did work in the old and new network design....

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Posted on September 3, 2014 by Willem and filed under Annoying, Apple, Security and tagged ipfw firewall OSX server Air Video.

Apple OSX DHCP Server Challenges

The last week, I've been experimenting with the Juniper Mobility System Software (MSS) in conjunction with two Juniper/Trapeze Access Points (type WLA522E). The MSS software is a Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) with manages the Access Points, and like so many Juniper Product; it can run in a virtual machine.

For the AP's to boot / connect to the network they need some basic information about where to find the WLC from which they receive their wireless settings. This can be done through DNS, or through DHCP. The first uses specific DNS records, and the latter uses DHCP Options (option 43 to be precise). I wanted to use the latter (which is a bit more challenging).

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Posted on August 25, 2014 by Willem and filed under Annoying, Apple, Tips'n Tricks and tagged DHCP Option 43 multi-homed OSX server.

Juniper Unified Access Control With Junos Pulse

This blog post hold the key ingredients for successfully authenticating on layer 2 (802.1x or dot1x) and layer 3 with:

General Information

The setup consists of four networks (VLAN's) and Internet access. Inter-VLAN communication is handled by a Juniper SRX210. The four VLAN's are:

  • Untrust (VLAN 20)
    The Internet
  • Trust (VLAN 10 - 192.168.1.0/24)
    This VLAN hosts the UAC, Active Directory, DNS and DHCP services
  • Production (VLAN 100 - 192.168.100.0/24)
    Network where the normal workstations are placed
  • Quarantine (VLAN 200 - 192.168.200.0/24)
    This is where the naughty people/PC's are dropped

When a PC is placed in Quarantine, it looses all access to the Internet, but can still resolve domain names, access minimal internal services like the DHCP server and the UAC.

The components on the network are:

  • Domain Controller + DNS Server - 192.168.1.10
  • DHCP Server - 192.168.1.1
  • UAC - 192.168.1.11
  • Gateway(s) - .254
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Posted on August 5, 2014 by Willem and filed under Security, Tips'n Tricks and tagged Juniper UAC host checker Junos Pulse EX2200 srx.

Really Right Stuff L-Plate For Fuji X-T1

The Arca-style tripod heads and plates are one of my favorites. I use them now for over 4 years, and I guess I'll be using them for a long time. Especially the so-called L-plates are awesome.

The L-plates are plates which enables you to put the camera in portrait orientation on the tripod head, without putting the top of the head in an awkward vertical position, which lowers the effective height of your camera on the tripod.

For my former Nikon D300 I had a L-plate by Really Right Stuff, and now that I upgraded to a Fujifilm X-T1, I needed one for that model. This time they (Really Right Stuff - RSS) created a modular L-plate. The former D300 version was made out of one piece, but the this one allows you to remove the L-part of the plate, making the camera lighter. So you need to add that part if you intend to shoot in the portrait orientation. The good thing is that you can order the parts separately. So you can start with the base plate and get the L-part when you need it. I just got them both at the same time.

The entire kit comes with the appropriate hex wrenches and a small screw which can be used on the bottom plate as a stop, so the camera won't accidentally slide out of the ball head. Unfortunately,  there's only one stop screw available on the bottom, so the camera can still slide to the other side.

The connection of the two parts is rock solid. No movement what so ever. I just hope that it doesn't wear over time.

While the L-plate is attached to the camera, you can still access all the important parts of the camera.

There is one downside to the L-plate. You cannot use the Fuji wired shutter remote when you have the l-part attached to the bottom plate. But you can always use the Fuji smartphone app to remotely control your camera via a wireless connection.

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Willem and filed under Photography, Gear, Review and tagged RRS Really Right Stuff L-Plate.

Induro BHL1 Ballhead

A couple of years ago I bought the Arca-Swiss Z1 Monoball (with flip-lock) to support my Nikon D300 with several lenses. An excellent ballhead which would last you a life time (that's what I said at the time). And that statement is still valid, IF I was still shooting with (large) DSLR's. In the mean time I sold my DSLR and went for something a bit more compact with the Fujifilm X-T1.

Scaling down on the camera part means that I can also scale down the accessories. A smaller and lighter camera doesn't need a beast like the Arca-Swiss Z1 Monoball for tripod support. Something smaller and lighter (and cheaper) would also suffice.

Induro Ballhead BHL1

Looking around on the Internet I ran into the Induro brand. They make tripods, monopods, and (ball)heads. The one I got is their smallerst BHL ballhead (BHL1).

It's relatively small (compared to the Arca), and about 200grams lighter, while it's still capable of bearing a 20kg load. Not that my current gear comes even near that weight.

It also has the main features of the Arca-Swiss Monoball. Nice bog knobs, with variable friction setting. It also comes with a all-round camera plate (PU60), and a nice bubble-level. The latter is kinda small, so I don't know if it's very usable in the field.

I use the included PU60 plate on my Nikon P7000 P&S camera if necessary. The Wimberley P-5 is my preferred plate under my M9. The Fuji X-T1 is using a Really Right Stuff L-Plate (BXT1). I tested the PU60 on my M9, but even with the rubbery pads on the plate, I could still easily rotate the plate under the camera. This doesn't happen when I use the Wimberley P-5 plate.

This shouldn't be a problem in everyday use, but when you want to do some long-exposures, you don't want the camera to move around the plate itself.

The following photos might give you some idea of the ball head with the included PU60 plate.

The tension on the ball is adjustable (by the 'wheel' in the large knob. It allows you to maintain movement of the ball head, but when you let go of the camera, it stays in the position when you let go. The adjustment can be done with the tip of your finger. If that is hard, you can also use a small coin (or screwdriver) to adjust the friction setting.

It also features a locking mechanism that makes sure that you don't accidentally 'loose' the camera when moving around. This might happen when you loosen the plate. One condition is that the plate attached to the camera has 'stop screws' on the bottom. If these are present, you need to pull and turn the release knob. After that you can safely remove the camera from the ball head.

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Willem and filed under Gear, Photography, Review and tagged ballhead induro bhl1.