Silly find
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On the same site, this page might be more useful for anyone who needs to travel a couple of hours or more to get to a good site: Aurora Dashboard (Experimental) | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center
Iāve been using this Android app: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=my+aurora+forecast+app&c=apps
Iāve found that its KP forecasts have been pretty good well into the future, i.e., the days it says will have high KP index actually correlate with what actually happens when that date arrives. But I have yet to get the combination of aurora + not overcast + having the time to go shoot, so I have nothing to show for it.
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Iām hoping the forecast for Aurora stays true for this weekendā¦ High probability of a very active event.
Itās been a good day for retail therapy todayā¦ Picked up a new (proper) compass, a Minolta 70-210 f4, a cheap wide angle lens converter, and the āThames and Hudson Dictionary of Photographyāā¦ All for less than $50 cdn.
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What was your choice for a compass?
For the aurora from the UK, https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ is useful. When the chart hits red (very rare) and the sky is clear (even more rare) thereās a good chance of a very dimly visible aurora here in south-east England. Itās too dim to activate my cone cells, but ISO 100 f/2.8 for about 20s shows the colours.
It was a thrift store findā¦so I was limited to one choice. I am now the proud owner of a new-to-me Suunto Sighting Compass.
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Thereās also an iOS app with notifications, and I guess android.
Buying more crapā¦
Picked up a used Logan matt cutter set yesterday.
Now I just need some A3 paper, matt board, and a crap ton of glass and straight grained hardwood 
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Thinking of buying a Minolta SRT 101, with a MC Rokkor 58 f1.4. Have never shot film but with a barrier this ālowā (150ā¬ from a reputable ebay seller) and worst case scenario I get a nice lens to adapt on mirrorless.
Any ideas? Will also be developing my own film, which also looks like a low barrier to entry with Paterson tank kits with starter chemicals being around 50ā¬. B&W only. Scanning also looks cheap, light + film holder being around 100ā¬. Please dissuade me from it 
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What do you expect from film that your existing digital setup doesnāt provide? Especially if you are going B&W.
Is it? From the reviews it looks very soft wide open, decent IQ starts around f/5.6 even a bit from the center. Yes, it does give you a vintage look, but you would get the pretty much the same just blurring out the edges in Darktable with a mask.
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Nothing Itās pure vanity to experience the film shooting experience, winding the shutter, looking through a ārealā viewfinder, developing film etc.
The only benefit I really see is being forced to stop down and make my shots count. Which of course can be done with digital, but a real physical barrier always wins.
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I would just get a manual focus prime lens (any kind you like, it does not matter). They are cheap and perfect for slowing you down.
For similar reason (making shots count) I was considering giving 10c per exposure to a charity or some other worthy cause, eg a FOSS project. It would be easy to read out the information from images or the camera every month. But, unfortunately, my binding constraint for photography as a hobby is time, and I donāt shoot nearly as much as I would like.
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This is a good pointā¦ For me itās the same, I donāt go out enough at the moment. A manual lens might be a good idea, I need to look around and see if I can find something worthwhile.
10c per shot is still half as cheap as film
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āMy camera has the advantage of being slow.ā - John (āJockā) Sturges
but also
āMany positive things may be said about analog photography. Not the least that we donāt have to do it anymore.ā - Knut-Sverre Horn
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Here is a random find. I have heard this song before and do not know what she is singing about. It an opening theme song for an anime. The chorus made me chuckle. Hint: something we all should do with antagonistic OSes *ahem* Windows.
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ā¦coupled with video showing reverse motion, it does indeed suggest turning back time, or, ahem: āuninstall.ā
Nice find!
I came across a Nikon D300s today at a camera store for less than 130EUR the other day. This, in itself, is not news for anyone who knows the used DSLR market.
But I remember that I seriously coveted this camera about 15 years ago. It had everything an enthusiast could dream of: gazillion focus points (51!), competent 3D AF tracking, 7 frames/s burst rate. In the end I did not buy it as I could not justify the expenditure of a hobby I did not have a lot of time for (more than 1500 eur in 2010). I thought about it for months though at the time.
I did not buy it now either, knowing that it would sit on the shelf after the initial enthusiasm. What I want to remember from this is how advanced technology (1) remains powerful for decades; even if the market moves on with tons of new features or totally different directions, a camera that was good at some point is still a good camera, (2) but the price on the used market drops like crazy. We live in an age where we can have amazing cameras for very, very little money. Anyone can start photography.
(What I donāt get is the revival of compacts which now occasionally trade for more money than the above camera paired with a decent entry-level lens.)
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I recently learned that the Sony RX100VA, which I bought several years ago, for some reason now sells for twice the price than what I paid back then. Even used ones on MPB are more expensive than what I once paid for a new one 
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