John Spahr

October is nearing its end, and that means we’ll have to contend with winter soon. With this in mind, I wanted to capture rural Indiana's fleeting autumnal beauty this weekend. I decided to do this with two cameras: My beloved Canon Rebel T7 (paired with my Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens) and my Sony Mavica FD88 ( as seen previously   on this blog). I chose to use the Canon for still shots, as per usual... The Fall Vortex Red Splash Bokeh Leaf 3000 By the time I had taken these three photos, the sun had started to set. I was ready for a break. The following afternoon, I decided to find my next subject. My cat Mocha proved to be exactly what I was looking for. Yep, I took a bunch of cat pics. Sue me. A Distinguished Gentleman A Clueless Gentleman A Distracted Gentleman Mocha's Calm Stare I'm glad Mocha cooperated, as the results are quite nice. I had a lot of fun with my fall pictures, but nothing beats photographing cats (when they're on board with it).  As for the Mavica, I u...

Hey, folks! Over the last few years, iPod modding has grown to be incredibly popular. There are tons of cool aftermarket parts and a thriving community of enthusiasts who keep these music players alive. The problem? Prices have gone up exponentially! The later iPod Classics have become extremely desirable, and now it's hard to get one at a compelling price. As a result, I have compiled this list of three iPod options that are often overlooked and offer excellent value. Refurbished iPod Nanos It's no secret that restoring iPod Nanos is nothing short of a nightmare. These devices are so compact that they require expert repair skills to even swap out the battery. Thankfully, people with these skills exist! Many people put new batteries in iPod Nanos and sell them on eBay for as low as $25. Quality varies, so you'll want to verify that the seller has good feedback. Do your homework, and you can get an excellent deal. Aside from the risk associated with buying someone else's...

Hey, everyone! Yesterday, I did something incredible: I recorded a 7-minute video on a Sony Mavica. For those unaware, the Mavica is a series of digital cameras produced by Sony that saved the photos they took to 3.5-inch floppy disks. If you want to learn more, I wrote a whole post about these things (and included some truly awful photos). Anyway, it turns out that my Mavica FD88 can record videos with a duration of up to 15 seconds. It's not a whole lot to work with, but each disk can hold 4 videos at a resolution of 160x112 pixels. Alternatively, you could fit 2 videos per disk at a slightly higher resolution of 320x240. I chose to record at a lower resolution so I wouldn't risk running out of floppies. I'd like to think that adds to the charm! Recording videos definitely drained the battery fairly quickly, so I had to charge it up once or twice throughout the day. The Mavica also got a little warm when recording. Otherwise, recording the videos was pretty painless! At ...

Hi, everyone! Lately, I've been exploring tapes and the hardware used to play them. This has led me down a rabbit hole involving the Sony Walkman. You see, in the 90s, Sony made several budget Walkmans with virtually the same internal mechanism and layout. They were constructed out of black plastic to meet a price point, with detachable belt clips on the back. All of these models are held together with plastic clips, with no screws to be found. Looking inside, they're pretty simple, with a single belt found in my two units. This belt is easily accessible, making repairs incredibly quick and painless. Given that these belts tend to deteriorate over time, this is definitely a major plus to these models. From what I can tell, all of these black plastic 90s Walkmans have a selector switch for Type 1 and 2/4 tapes. My smaller and more basic Walkman, the WM-EX102, has a switch on the front for the "Mega Bass" bass boost system. Conversely, my WM-FX21 features a radio tuner ...

     I have Spotify Premium. I like it; it's fast, its catalog is huge, and it's a great place to discover new music. However, in today's digital world, there has been a resurgence in the tangible, physical media that came before Spotify and Apple Music. Nowadays, you can find vinyl records, tapes, and CDs for sale at all sorts of places. To me, CDs stand out especially due to their easily archivable nature (e.g. throwing them on an iPod Classic) but also their impressive audio fidelity. They sound great!     I have a shelf of CDs that I use in my Technics 5 disc changer (SL-PD887) and my 2009 Honda Accord. They're very compact compared to vinyl, while also making a lot more practical sense than tapes. Granted, each of these formats is unique and deserves a place in your tower of power. However, if you too are tight on money, CDs have one final trick up their sleeve: They're cheap. Seldom will you buy a new CD for more than $20, excluding box sets and rare relea...

Hey, everyone. Yesterday, I took my Sony Mavica FD-75 to the park and got some neat shots. I used standard resolution for most of these photos and captured the events of the evening, as I had some fun hanging with friends. So, what are you waiting for? Check these pictures out!

I've been wearing my Pebble Time Steel a lot lately. I have all the different models of Pebbles and each certainly has its own pros and cons. Time Steel's main cons are that it's heavy and expensive. However, its pros far outnumber its cons. It's built like a tank, has incredible battery life, features an awesome 64-color screen, and basically offers the definitive Pebble experience. That said, if I had to pick my second favorite Pebble, it would likely be the Time Round. If that watch had better endurance, it would likely be my favorite Pebble. Admittedly, other Pebble models such as the Pebble 2 and standard Time are quite nice in their own rights, but the Time Steel feels like a watch that means business. It strives to be the absolute best Pebble it could be and achieves this. Thus, though I do adore all the Pebble models, the Time Steel is what I would consider the quintessential Pebble. If the Pebble Time 2 had been released, though... Well, that would be a differe...

Howdy, everyone! A few days ago, I wrote a post about my recently-acquired Sony Mavica FD88 , an absolute nugget of a camera. In said post, I mentioned that I also had a slightly less capable Mavica FD75 in my collection. So, in recognition that my last post was a bit lacking in the photo sample department, here are some fun FD75 shots that I took this weekend. Enjoy! Wow, that's a lot of photos in no particular order! Anyway, I hope you found this post interesting, and thanks for stopping by.