What hobbies does science offer?

[Klaynos]

What camera and lens? Like the photo.

[Acme]

What camera and lens? Like the photo.

Thanks Klaynos. The camera is a 16-megapixel Nikon Coolpix L830 digital with a 34x optical Zoom-NIKKOR ED glass lens. (More technical details at the link.) Props to our member Sensei for putting me onto it when he recommended an earlier Coolpix model in another thread. I have had it about 9 months and love it. It does lack the ability to make manual settings for f-stop and shutter speed which sometimes makes depth-of-field a challenge, but all cameras have their trade offs. Getting it on sale at 1/3 off was icing on the cake.

 

The macro focus allows me to get within 1cm of subject, though at that distance it's difficult to get sufficient light. As a hobbyist I'm thinking of making a Lucite® light ring this Winter for lab work.

 

Here's a sample of the lab shots I do with a rule. The background is some craft foam matting which I chose for its nearly neutral gray color. Seeds are from Dillen's Wood-sorrel - Oxalis dillenii.

 

[Klaynos]

Impressive macro for a compact!

 

You can get some relatively affordable led ring lights now.

[Acme]

Impressive macro for a compact!

 

You can get some relatively affordable led ring lights now.

Thnx. I'll look into the commercial jobs. I have tried shining in light using LEDs, but I wasn't happy with the color. My 'lab' is a table by a window which gives me natural light. My thought on the home-made ring is to have the plastic extend out beyond the lens to collect the natural light and to bevel the inside edges to cast the light downward.

 

Besides the close and small, my camera has given me the best far and large photos that I have had since film days. As ajb mentioned astronomy hobbyists:

Astronomy... you actually don't need any equipment to learn the position of the brighter stars and the constellations. You can study the movement of the planets and the Moon without any equipment.

 

However, the minimum equipment I suggest is a pair of binoculars, a planisphere and a small torch with a red filter.

I caught this shot of the Moon on August 22 when smoke from forest fires East of me swept down the gorge and filled the air. I scaled down the seed images, but this one I'll put up full scale. I have taken even sharper Moon images when the sky was clear. Alas the auto-focus of my camera made getting focused shots of the recent Jupiter/Venus conjunction impossible.

 

[Klaynos]

Can you change the white balance on the camera/in post processing using raw.

[Acme]

Can you change the white balance on the camera/in post processing using raw.

The camera does have a collection of white balance filters [auto/daylight/incandescent/fluorescent/cloudy/flash] and I can manually adjust exposure/brightness + or - to some degree. Unfortunately this model saves all images as jpg and has no raw option. I usually convert the images to png in Photoshop and then process those using mostly the unsharp mask and contrast/brightness filters.

[Klaynos]

You might find that using led changing the white balance would help. I imagine fluorescent might be best but not sure though.

 

I would advise against PNG for photos, jpg whilst lossy is good for busy images, PNG is more suited to large blocks or lines.

[Acme]

You might find that using led changing the white balance would help. I imagine fluorescent might be best but not sure though.

Roger. I will play around with that.

 

I would advise against PNG for photos, jpg whilst lossy is good for busy images, PNG is more suited to large blocks or lines.

Also roger. I had heard/read about the lossiness and that's why I was converting them. I'm something of a newbie to the digital realm and appreciate any help. The jpgs are definitely smaller and the pngs became an issue with my submissions to the university because I have an e-mail attachment limit, which prompted me to get a Dropbox. Fortunately I have saved all the original jpgs so I can go back and do some experimenting.

 

Afterthought: Here's a link to the free camera manual in PDF format with all specs and features: Nikon COOLPIX L830 - Reference Manual Hobbyists love free.

 

I saw insect collecting mentioned earlier, so I'll bug y'all a bit further with some of my hobbying.

 

[Sensei]

I would advise against PNG for photos, jpg whilst lossy is good for busy images, PNG is more suited to large blocks or lines.

 

I always use PNG, when not using PSD (PhotoShop Document).

 

Pretty good is also EXR file format (it can have even 32 bit floating point number per channel, while PNG/JPG have 8 bits unsigned integer per channel). Obviously at cost of file size.

 

Especially photos taken by digital camera, at full res, saved automatically to JPEG,

if we will load it in Photoshop or other 2D image processing software,

and then do some processing like rescale down,

and we will save it yet again in JPEG,

it will introduce even more errors due to double saving in lossy compression file format.

 

Make a test: ten times load same photo, and save in JPG, load it again, save in JPG, repeat..

[Acme]

 

I would advise against PNG for photos, jpg whilst lossy is good for busy images, PNG is more suited to large blocks or lines.

I always use PNG, when not using PSD (PhotoShop Document).

 

Can we have our cake and eat it too?

 

 

 

[Pretty good is also EXR file format (it can have even 32 bit floating point number per channel, while PNG/JPG have 8 bits unsigned integer per channel). Obviously at cost of file size.

 

Especially photos taken by digital camera, at full res, saved automatically to JPEG,

if we will load it in Photoshop or other 2D image processing software,

and then do some processing like rescale down,

and we will save it yet again in JPEG,

it will introduce even more errors due to double saving in lossy compression file format.

 

Make a test: ten times load same photo, and save in JPG, load it again, save in JPG, repeat..

Mmmmm...I opened my original bug pic above to see if Photoshop had that EXR, which it does not. It does have a Save As RAW option though, which I never noticed. Is there any advantage to use that for the jpgs from my camera?

 

I also notice the bug pic I posted is a jpg, so I must have been in a hurry. I usually don't do more than 1 edit on a single file, so I don't think I suffer the lossiness you mention. My typical operation is to load the original jpg, then Save As PNG using same file name and adding a code letter. Then I edit the PNG and save it. I also have a habit of then loading the edited file into Paint, selecting all and copying, and then making a new file, pasting to it, and saving it with same file name but with different code letter. I do this to strip the EXIF data which I consider nobody's business but my own. The bug pic above followed that procedure except that I kept the jpg format.

 

All-in-all, photography is a fun hobby by itself and a valuable addition to many other science hobbies.

[Sensei]

Can we have our cake and eat it too?

 

If you will invent time-machine that works..

 

Mmmmm...I opened my original bug pic above to see if Photoshop had that EXR, which it does not.

You need to install plugin

http://www.openexr.com/photoshop_plugin.html

Search for "Photoshop exr file format" or so in Google.

 

It does have a Save As RAW option though, which I never noticed. Is there any advantage to use that for the jpgs from my camera?

For me RAW can be useful.

Because it's extremely easy to make loader in C/C++.

BMP is nearly-RAW. It has just bitmap header structure at beginning of file, that we need to skip. The rest is up-side-down RAW.

 

I also notice the bug pic I posted is a jpg, so I must have been in a hurry. I usually don't do more than 1 edit on a single file, so I don't think I suffer the lossiness you mention. My typical operation is to load the original jpg, then Save As PNG using same file name and adding a code letter. Then I edit the PNG and save it. I also have a habit of then loading the edited file into Paint, selecting all and copying, and then making a new file, pasting to it, and saving it with same file name but with different code letter. I do this to strip the EXIF data which I consider nobody's business but my own. The bug pic above followed that procedure except that I kept the jpg format.

 

All-in-all, photography is a fun hobby by itself and a valuable addition to many other science hobbies.

 

Make a test: write same picture in JPG (test various compression levels), and in PNG, load them in Photoshop. Put to layers. Use subtraction mode between layers. It will show difference introduced by lossy file format.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Sensei

[CharonY]

The camera does have a collection of white balance filters [auto/daylight/incandescent/fluorescent/cloudy/flash] and I can manually adjust exposure/brightness + or - to some degree. Unfortunately this model saves all images as jpg and has no raw option. I usually convert the images to png in Photoshop and then process those using mostly the unsharp mask and contrast/brightness filters.

 

Problem is that most LEDs are not terribly bright and it could be challenging to use it with a limitations of a coolpix. I also think they do not have hotshoes? A strobe would be a much better fix for macros (especially outdoors, also a hobby of mine). Alternatives would be getting the brightest LED(s) that you can find but chose a colour output that is compatible with your presets (many LEDs now feature a rough graph of their color temp). Most should have tungsten setting which is about 3200K (IIRC).

Then, eliminate other light sources. The reason is that they create a colour cast if you dialed your light in as white). Add reflectors to minimize shadows (you can used aluminium foil for that, usually. If it is still too dark, a mini tripod can help.

 

PNG is not that great either, while it does a lossless compression it still doing something to the files. Tiffs are better in that regard. But it is true that if you use jpg you should be certain to use file managing software (if you use them) that are non-destructive.

 

There are some updated point and shooters that are not that expensive and have more options for that (and of course there systems with interchangeable lenses, but usually more pricey).

 

Edit: I realized that photography is a very sciency hobby (especially if you are at least slightly gear-interested). I also realized that one of my favorite camera setups is actually not that expensive, it involves using a micro-four third camera (which is a mirrorless systems with interchangeable lenses, older systems are around 200 bucks used), an adapter (20 bucks) and a manual macro lense from the 80s (20 bucks).

Edited September 15, 2015 by CharonY

[Mordred]

Well being the typical geek that I am, I wired up 60 outputs to an AB SLC processor. I used indirect addressing to vary the numerous timers. Just to run Christmas tree lights lol. My wife rightly thought I was nuts.

(She hated the bulky wiring but loved the display)

Edited September 16, 2015 by Mordred

[Klaynos]

Reaching as jpg well ruin quality, you're right, most of the time you can limit this in what ever editor you're using by reducing compression at the expense of such size, should always start fresh with the original (have a back up).

 

Exr is a good option. Things like darktable allow you to just exit without saving but maintain a record of your changes in another file which is applied next time you open it.

 

Raw is the best option for getting the data off if the camera, highest quality, less likely to cause issues whilst editing. Lots of compacts allow it now as well. I've used it on my DSLR for years.

 

Whilst the camera setup I have/want us expensive it should last years. My current camera body is now 10 years old. I'm only wanting to replace it for better low light photography and a bit of weather proofing. I won't replace any of my lenses.

[CharonY]

Lenses are generally considered the major investment (compared to the bodies). So the line of lenses you are interested in can be a major decision factor. I have to admit that I am partial to mirrorless cameras, however, as I do like vintage lenses (and the flexibility it offers over DSLRs).

[moth]

lately, this has been my hobby:

 

 

Still buggy but the parts are all there.
AJB's recent blogs about iterated functional systems, and Daedalus' challenge on Bezier approximation inspired me to re-write an old idea i had for a program with a few updates.
This is just a line segment but the curves are nearly done.

[ajb]

Still buggy but the parts are all there.

AJB's recent blogs about iterated functional systems, and Daedalus' challenge on Bezier approximation inspired me to re-write an old idea i had for a program with a few updates.

This is just a line segment but the curves are nearly done.

That is quite cool.

 

What amazes me about some of these fractals and fractal-like images is just how regular some of these pattens are given the often very simple rules in constructing these images. This is especially true in my opinion for IRS that are generated using the 'game of life', that is just random choices from a finite set. Even seemingly random things can be very regular!

 

If anyone else wants to generate such images, there are lots of tools online as well as some you can download that will help you do this. Or you can look into modifying or writing code in your favourite computer language or computer algebra system.

[Acme]

That is quite cool.

 

What amazes me about some of these fractals and fractal-like images is just how regular some of these pattens are given the often very simple rules in constructing these images. This is especially true in my opinion for IRS that are generated using the 'game of life', that is just random choices from a finite set. Even seemingly random things can be very regular!

 

If anyone else wants to generate such images, there are lots of tools online as well as some you can download that will help you do this. Or you can look into modifying or writing code in your favourite computer language or computer algebra system.

Cool reference! I used to play with Conway's Life after being assigned to program it for a class. I particularly enjoyed setting the initial condition from different square graphs such as Vedic squares and hoping to discover a Garden of Eden formation. Good times and thanks for that blast from the past.

[moth]

Thanks AJB, generating the Mandelbrot set, and of course Conway's Life were the reason i bought my first pc in `86 .
I thought it was a cheap hobby but it can get expensive in terms of sleep-loss(for a spaghetti-coder like me).

[Acme]

Thanks AJB, generating the Mandelbrot set, and of course Conway's Life were the reason i bought my first pc in `86 .

I thought it was a cheap hobby but it can get expensive in terms of sleep-loss(for a spaghetti-coder like me).

What is this 'spaghetti coder' of which you speak? Conway's Life is an example of a 2-dimensional cellular automaton, but you can make any set of rules you want on a 2-dimensional array and get interesting results equally sleep depriving. 1-dimensional cellular automatons are a hoot as well and as I recall produced results reminiscent of Sierpinski gaskets. Edited September 17, 2015 by Acme

[moth]

What is this 'spaghetti coder' of which you speak?

 

 

 

Once the coding-hobby moves to embedded processors, the spaghetti gets tucked away out of sight

 

Every time i look at this I see Homer Simpson's 'bot begging for completion.

[Acme]

Thanks AJB, generating the Mandelbrot set, and of course Conway's Life were the reason i bought my first pc in `86 .

I thought it was a cheap hobby but it can get expensive in terms of sleep-loss(for a spaghetti-coder like me).

When James Gleik's book Chaos: Making a New Science came out, it included a disk full of tools for generating & tweeking Mandelbrot sets, Julia sets, and more. I spent oodles of hours with it and without the need to do the programming.

The software is still available along with links to add-ons needed to run it on newer machines.

Click here: >> The Chaos Software

What's In Chaos

 

CHAOS has six modules.

 

MANDEL. A very fast Mandelbrot set program, incorporating: quadratic and cubic Mandelbrots, various fill patterns, quadratic and cubic Julias, and the gnarly "cubic Mandelbrot catalog" set that Rucker calls the Rudy set. The image in the background of this page is the RHORSE.FRP parameter set for the Rudy set. As mentioned above, you can also run these rules with the Ultra Fractal software, as described on Rucker's blog post, "The Rudy Set as the ultimate Cubic Mandelbrot."

 

MAGNETS... A Pendulum and Magnets program showing chaotic physical motion.

 

ATTRACT. A Strange Attractors program showing some of the Hall of Famers as the Lorenz Attractor, the Logistic Map, the Yorke Attractor, the Henon Attractor, etc.

 

GAME. A "Chaos Game", which is a Barnsley Fractals program showing Iterated Function System fractals such as the famous "fern".

 

FORGE. A "Fractal Forgeries" program that shows mountain ranges based on random fractals.

 

TOY. A "Toy Universes" program that shows some cellular automata.

...

[moth]

Just finished downloading the source code. I haven't looked yet, but it's probably 32-bit and i'm looking into arbitrary prescision like bignum. But i'm sure to learn a lot from their optimizations to the basic algorithm.

[Sab0]

lately, this has been my hobby:

 

https://youtu.be/MG5NRE5AkvQ

 

Still buggy but the parts are all there.

AJB's recent blogs about iterated functional systems, and Daedalus' challenge on Bezier approximation inspired me to re-write an old idea i had for a program with a few updates.

This is just a line segment but the curves are nearly done.

How do you do that?

[moth]

The stills that make up the animation are all Juia sets. If you are familiar with the imaginary unit (square root of -1) you'll probaly remember that a complex number has two components, one Real and one Imaginary. If you plot the Real numbers on one axis and imaginary units on an orthagonal axis then each compound number represents a point on a Cartesian grid.
The key to making images is to use the complex "address" of a point as arguments to a function, for Julia sets the function is: multiply the number by itself and add a constant, then take the output from the function and find it's distance from the origin,if the distance is less than 2 use the output of the function as arguments to the function, when the distance becomes larger than 2 (for Julia or Mandelbrot sets), get the count of how many times you fed the dragon its tail, and assign a color value to the point based on that number.
If you do this for a sequence of points on a line (or curve) you get pictures like this:

 

The program I'm writing makes it easy to find interesting lines and specify zooms.