Gollnick
Musical Director
- Joined
- Mar 22, 1999
- Messages
- 29,258
There's an old saying, "If you want something done right, do it yourself."
Printing color photographs and developing color prints is a major undertaking requiring a dark room, thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and lots of experience. But, developing color negatives really isn't that tough. You don't even need a darkroom. Normally, I develope the negatives myself and then scan them with my Minolta film scanner. That's how I get those great photos.
But, I was in a hurry yesterday and wanted to get some pictures done and on the site so I broke down and took my pictures to the local Ritz Photo for one-hour processing. I stressed to them, as I always do, the need to keep the negatives clean.
What I got back was a mess. Most of the negatives have major scratches. Those that don't have fingerprints all over them. A few even have some sort of white residue on them which I'm busy testing for anthrax, that won't come off. Negatives are very delicate. It's very hard to clean them without scratching them. Once they're scratched, they can't be fixed. A minor little scratch can be editted out in Photoshop. But, these have major scratches that run right through the middle and would just be impossible to fix, at least for someone of very limited photo editting skill like me.
Anyway, I did manage to find this one frame that somehow managed to evade the scratches, the water spots, the finger prints, and the residue.
click here for a larger, higher-resolution view (819K).
I've also added wallpaper versions of this image to my wallpaper page.
I'll retake the pictures today and this time do the developing myself.
Now, as long as I've got your attention, let me say a one thing about this new balisong, just one word: QUALITY!
Everything about this knife is well-made. It's like a fine, Swiss watch. Very, very nice.
The sheath is a different story. It's made of the same stuff that BM's give-away sheath is. It fits better, but it's not gonna be any more durable. Now, before anyone gets upset about this, let me just say what BM has told me: when it comes to sheaths, you just can't please anyone, so don't try. The give-away sheath is really just one step up from foam curls as a packing material to keep the knife from rattling around in the box in shipping. Some customers want Kydex. Some prefer nylon. Some insist on leather. Some want horizontal belt carry. Some want vertical belt carry. Some want a neck sheath. Some want shoulder holsters. Some want the knife inside their waist band. Others want it outside the waist band. Some people want a quick, tactical draw. Others want secure utility carry... Color... Material... Texture... Configuration... No matter what you put in the box with the knife, the vast majority of customers are going to complain about it and end up throwing it away anyway. The best thing a manufacturer can do is keep the cost of the give-away sheath as low as possible and leave the customer to get a sheath that fits his specific needs.
There's been a lot of talk about size. I'm finding that I like Tachyon's size. It's smaller, yes, and that takes a bit of adjustment. People with exceptionally large hands may find Tachyon a bit to small. But, again, you can't please all of the people all of the time.
I'll put up more pictures and a more detailed review shortly.
Printing color photographs and developing color prints is a major undertaking requiring a dark room, thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and lots of experience. But, developing color negatives really isn't that tough. You don't even need a darkroom. Normally, I develope the negatives myself and then scan them with my Minolta film scanner. That's how I get those great photos.
But, I was in a hurry yesterday and wanted to get some pictures done and on the site so I broke down and took my pictures to the local Ritz Photo for one-hour processing. I stressed to them, as I always do, the need to keep the negatives clean.
What I got back was a mess. Most of the negatives have major scratches. Those that don't have fingerprints all over them. A few even have some sort of white residue on them which I'm busy testing for anthrax, that won't come off. Negatives are very delicate. It's very hard to clean them without scratching them. Once they're scratched, they can't be fixed. A minor little scratch can be editted out in Photoshop. But, these have major scratches that run right through the middle and would just be impossible to fix, at least for someone of very limited photo editting skill like me.
Anyway, I did manage to find this one frame that somehow managed to evade the scratches, the water spots, the finger prints, and the residue.
click here for a larger, higher-resolution view (819K).
I've also added wallpaper versions of this image to my wallpaper page.
I'll retake the pictures today and this time do the developing myself.
Now, as long as I've got your attention, let me say a one thing about this new balisong, just one word: QUALITY!
Everything about this knife is well-made. It's like a fine, Swiss watch. Very, very nice.
The sheath is a different story. It's made of the same stuff that BM's give-away sheath is. It fits better, but it's not gonna be any more durable. Now, before anyone gets upset about this, let me just say what BM has told me: when it comes to sheaths, you just can't please anyone, so don't try. The give-away sheath is really just one step up from foam curls as a packing material to keep the knife from rattling around in the box in shipping. Some customers want Kydex. Some prefer nylon. Some insist on leather. Some want horizontal belt carry. Some want vertical belt carry. Some want a neck sheath. Some want shoulder holsters. Some want the knife inside their waist band. Others want it outside the waist band. Some people want a quick, tactical draw. Others want secure utility carry... Color... Material... Texture... Configuration... No matter what you put in the box with the knife, the vast majority of customers are going to complain about it and end up throwing it away anyway. The best thing a manufacturer can do is keep the cost of the give-away sheath as low as possible and leave the customer to get a sheath that fits his specific needs.
There's been a lot of talk about size. I'm finding that I like Tachyon's size. It's smaller, yes, and that takes a bit of adjustment. People with exceptionally large hands may find Tachyon a bit to small. But, again, you can't please all of the people all of the time.
I'll put up more pictures and a more detailed review shortly.
. Ahem... Don't tell me you took time out to actually sleep in when the bali world is awaiting your portraits 
.