October 7 Photo Dump

Hey, everyone! My fall break is rapidly approaching its end, so today, I decided it was once again time to take some proper pictures with my Canon Rebel T7. I used my trusty Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens for these shots, and it did not disappoint. As usual, these photos were taken exclusively in manual mode with minimal edits. Enough talk, here are the pics!

Shimmering Flower

Shimmering Flower (Alternate Shot)

Flower Nestled in the Leaves

Pumpkin Contemplating Fall

Vibrant Sunflower

In Her Element

Intense Stare

I'm really happy with all of these shots. I really missed taking photos with my little Rebel. Admittedly, I've been a little distracted by my recent instant camera addiction, but this is still my favorite camera of all time. With that in mind, I'm extremely glad I had the time today to use it again.

Thanks for stopping by, and stayed tuned for more photography stuff! Have a good one.

Late 2014 Mac mini in 2022 - Still Worth Buying?

About a year ago, I reviewed the 2014 Mac mini on this blog. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it was still an excellent machine for productivity tasks, but it could also handle some more intense things you threw at it. Thus, it became my daily driver up until I upgraded to a 2017 MacBook Air a few months ago. That being said, I’ve still been using it some, so I thought I’d briefly share how it’s holding up these days. Here are my thoughts on this miniature Macintosh one year later! Performance Over the last year, I’ve been impressed by how much this Mac can handle. It’s rocking a 2.6 GHz dual-core Core i5 with 8 GB of RAM and a Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB SATA SSD. What all that jargon essentially means is that it’s a moderately powerful little computer, although it certainly isn’t going to put newer Macs to shame. Regardless, I’ve been able to do lots of coding, video editing, and schoolwork on this computer, and it has generally worked pretty well. Granted, it can take a while...

I love my Instax Mini SE. Here's why!

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Sony's CD Mavica is WEIRD (and Awesome!!)

Just when you think you've seen everything, you're gifted a still camera that saves images to compact discs . I had been aware of Sony's CD Mavica line of cameras for a while, and I had owned numerous floppy disk Mavicas, but using a CD Mavica for the first time was surreal nonetheless. There's something special about a camera with a whole optical drive in it. It reminds me a lot of a Discman. I was fortunate enough to get mine for free with all of its accessories and several blank discs. My model is the MVC-CD400, and it was one of several CD-based Mavicas in Sony's lineup. This camera, in particular, dates back to around 2002. The weird round shape is the result of cramming a whole CD mechanism in this camera. The hardware is delightfully 2000s. The entire front panel, including its surprisingly bright LCD, folds out to reveal a compact optical drive. It reads 8-centimeter "mini" CDs. These are significantly smaller than normal CDs, and while the camera ...

John Spahr

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