psynegy

We too experienced this, and I spent a long time looking at the cause. It appears that Windows doesn't create the registry keys required for the printers to work correctly. I wrote a script that does the job it doesn't seem to want to. We've been using this for months and months, without issue. We gave it to a nearby school to try, and they've had no issues either. It's a powershell logon script, that we run at every user logon. https://github.com/OllieB/WinPrinterFix Good way to test if it resolves your issue is to find a broken machine, run the script and see if the printers appear. Any problems, give me a shout.

Our science department approached me recently, as I have some experience in repairing electronics, they wanted me to look at some of their broken equipment. We're talking signal generators, oscilloscopes, bench power supplies, that sort of thing. It got me to thinking, what are the limits of what I am allowed to repair in this manor? What happens if a repair I did results in injury? Another example of a repair that I've been asked to do, is the music department piano keyboards. The kids snap off the power connector. It's a piece of cake and costs next to nothing to repair. The keyboards are only 12v, so even if I soldered someones tounge to the board, apart from the burns and confusion, they'd still be okay. Am I allowed to replace the fuse in our signal generators? I have to remove 4 screws to get to the fuse as it's on a little plastic fuse holder on the PCB... What if I accidentally put the wrong fuse in? It seems crazy to be throwing these things away, but am I leaving myself open to problems later down the line?

I'm impressed that you can hold a camera steady for more than 1/50th of a second! I know I can't! Camera should always be tripod mounted for photographing stars. You should literally be not touching it. This rule is about calculating the maximum length of time you can expose for (for any given focal length) before the stars will have moved enough to cause streaking. Sometimes streaking is desired though, but this is often achieved by 'stacking'.

All single shots, no comps. The image with the tent in the foreground was done using a headtorch to 'paint' the tent with light whilst the sky was exposing. Took a good few attempts to get the right balance. So, the way I focus for stars, is a little unorthodox, perhaps... but here it is... 1. LCD brightness to minimum. 2. Allow your eyes to adjust (5-10 mins is ample) 3. Find your composition through the viewfinder (if the stars are out, it should be bright enough to discern objects around you, if not, use a low intensity red light of some kind, this helps to preserve your night vision) 4. Lock your zoom at the correct focal length for your composition (use some gaffa tape, whatever) 5. Find the brightest star you can in the night sky point the camera directly at that, then with the lens in MF, rotate the focus ring until the star is as small (or in focus, if you prefer) as you can make it. 5 alt. If you have a camera with live view, and the option to digitally zoom whilst in live view, this is the time to use that feature. Again by pointing at the brightest star, this makes it super easy. I use Magic Lantern custom firmware on my camera, but I think it might be possible on stock, not sure, it's been a while since I've used stock. Vague guide camera settings: - Exposure: use the 500 rule: 500 / focal length of lens = max seconds you can shoot without streaking. (e.g. 500/16mm = ~31seconds) (less is obviously fine too) - Aperture: as wide as possible. (small f number) - ISO: totally camera and conditions dependant, trial and error, but likely quite high - WB: doesn't matter, shoot in RAW. As for locking your mirror up and using a remote for shooting... I'm not convinced. You're exposing for say, 30 seconds, so you're talking about reducing shake for say, 100th of a second... or 0.03% of your overall exposure. In any case, I didn't bother. I do use a 2 second delay so at least I'm not touching the camera when it's exposing. I suppose if you're using a lighter weight camera, this may have a bigger impact, so I can see that being an issue. My camera+lens weigh in at 1.4kg, so it doesn't concern me too much. The absolute most important thing is weather conditions. You want minimal haze and light pollution. I haven't had any real success down in the south of the UK, you may be able to find places further north where the population density is lower. These pictures were from out in the Altas Mountains, at least a 5 hour hike from the nearest town. Random tip: big rubber bands. Lenses aren't really designed to work pointed straight up, and often suffer from lens droop. Some rubber bands can help keep things where you set them. I'm currently running a Canon 6D with a 16-35mm f/2.8 L II. We were hiking/camping, so lightweight was critical, so I picked up a Manfrotto PIXI EVO 2-Section Mini Tripod - which worked a treat. You're too kind, thank you.

I didn't know the one you meant, but now I've gone and looked... YIKES!

Got back from our school expedition to Morocco. 50/50 as to whether I was going to take my proper camera, glad I did in the end!