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108.27.17.93
sorry if this is too dark, I will post in my audio asylum gallery if there are no complaints about image this time.
I want to contribute here as much as possible, I have found system synergy after about 15 years in this hobby. The best thing I did was for the most part stick to one system company for the heart of the chain, then surgically selecting components that give the best bang for the buck, for example my second DAC the Yaqin DAC.
So far so good,
I think when you get to the point where you don't dwell to much on the individual components and can just chill out and listen you've reached a good spot in the hobby.
Follow Ups:
Not a critique of your decorating tastes...but that rug seems a bit too big for the room and (as per your other thread) may be overdamping the in-room treble response. I would recommend a smaller and natural fiber (wool or cotton) area rug.
Probably overdamped, but I would start by replacing the curtain on the left with a room divider, and remove that giant puffy looking thing on the right (is that a chair with pillows on it?). And then revisit the sound and see if the rug has to go.
Taking pics in low light settings can be difficult. My attempt:
The WHITE in the picture is a good touch.
If I were to work on this photo, I'd start there using THAT white as 'reference' which would pretty much automatically correct the rest of the pallette.
Good detail extending into the blacks.
Too much is never enough
As Todd wrote an inexpensive camera will give much better shots because that is not really low light. I just took this in a completely dark room except for a computer screen that was about 3 feet away with an inexpensive olympus, about $600 with lens, free hand. I could just see the pill box shape but not read what was on it as in real life it was much, much darker then the picture shows. A good lens will gather any available light.
Edits: 01/25/15
CAF
Most modern pocket cameras, like the Panasonic Lumix ZS30, take great pictures in low light........ (This shot was NOT taken using a tripod, by the way.) The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 III should take even better pictures in low light. But it is a more expensive camera.
(The next show I will use the ZS40, which shoots "RAW".... Should capture more detail in low light.)
It's bad Juju.
You have a nice setup but in my opinion you need better lighting to capture good photos of your gear. The lighting is significantly more important than the cost of your camera. I'm no pro but I get fairly decent results for my equipment snap shots.
Insufficient lighting causes blur and grainy pictures
Open the shades to bring in as much natural light as possible. Illuminate the ceiling and walls with bright light. This works best if the walls and ceilings are white. If they're colored, it may still work but you run into other problems with the overall color tone of your photos. You'll likely need to adjust the cameras 'white balance' or fix it later in a image editor. If you're on a Mac the Preview application can be used for basic photo editing. There are many free programs as well including GIMP for Mac or PC.
Make sure your front lighting is stronger than your back lighting, or remove unnecessary back lighting. You want the front, top, and sides of your gear illuminated for the most part. Use flash if you have to. If you can bounce it off a white ceiling and walls that helps with even illumination and softens the blast. You can flash directly at your subject to get more detail but the photos might appear a little harsh but in some cases it's better to have sufficient harsh lighting vs dark and grainy pictures. Be careful that the flash on shiny equipment doesn't reflect right back at the camera. You can often avoid this by not shooting 'straight' at the subject but at a slight angle left or right, or up or down. The effect is easily demonstrated by taking a flash picture of yourself in a mirror. Shooting right into the mirror will result in a bright 'flash back' to the camera. Shoot into the mirror at ~45-degrees and it will turn out fine. Same for shooting pictures through windows and such.
If you can't get enough lighting, try using a tripod or a stack of books or whatever to support your camera. Use the camera shutter timer so it snaps the picture w/o your hand on the camera avoiding camera shake. Very light colored or very dark colored subjects might fool the camera exposure system by under or over exposing the shot. Many cameras have an exposure compensation setting so you can increase or decrease your exposure in +/- 1/4 or 1/3 or 1/2 f-stop equivalent increments up to about +/- 3 stops in either direction depending on the camera.
Lighting is key. With sufficient lightly you can also use a smaller lens aperture (higher f-stop number) for sharper images and greater depth of field. A smaller lens aperture will let in less light so the shutter speed will need to be proportionately slower so a tripod becomes even more important to avoid blur due to camera shake. With most cameras in Program Auto mode you don't have control of Aperature and Shutter speed. You can put some cameras in Aperature Priority or Shutter Priority mode giving you full control of one or the other.
I would also look into a basic photography book if you're at all curious how all of this stuff interacts.
Misc equipment photos were all taken 'hand held' with my compact Fuji point n shoot camera
Close the shades, dim the lighting as much as possible, paint the ceiling black. You can't have enough darkness when doing a photoshoot. And for pete's sake, get rid of the tripod. :)
Actually, this photo was a complete crap shoot as I was holding the camera in my hands (big no-no in the dark) and somehow the pic still turned out ok.
Nice pictures and explanation.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
Abe you take great pis and have a wonderful system. You also give good advice . Your a credit to the Audioasylum as far as I am concerned.
That's the spirit. I too have found the synergy aspect to be vital, but through a different approach!Pictures STILL need more light. My funky little Lumix DMC -FZ-18 takes GREAT PAS pixs, mostly
due to the wonderful Leica lens. It has Intelligent Auto, I am but the pointer...Take LOTS of photos, learn what works best for you, delete what doesn't. Start over.
MORE light and some time devoted and you will take decent pix, even if not becoming
a decent photographer ( they are two different beats).
The ones posted today are better than previously.Are you again happy with the Gallos?
Cable Nest? Check out the link and posts from the great Ted Smith who used
to post here and is missed.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure
Edits: 01/24/15
The cable mess picture and the rooted hacker are from Bob Crump who I miss.
The cable mess picture and the rooted hacker are from Bob Crump who I miss.
As do I.
Regards,
Geoff
I like that you left a pile of discs sitting there ,it shows that you actually listen to your system. :-)
enjoy,
mark
bullethead, see if this helps.
Most cameras utilize an "average" setting for light level exposure. Your pictures are dark because your camera "sees" the bright light in the left corner and reflection off the wall behind your components and adjusts based on that. I believe you have three choices:
* Tilt the camera down so you see your components and floor with very little of the wall showing. Depress the shutter part way which with most digital cameras will "lock" the exposure settings. The tilt the camera upward to frame the image you want and gently press the shutter down the rest of the way. This should eliminate the light that is fooling your exposure.
* Experiment with additional lighting placed behind you when taking the picture. You might turn off the lamp in the corner. First try shooting with the camera flash. That may look slightly artificial but will show better details. If you don't like that, bring two lamps in, placing one on either side of you and shoot that.
* Many digital cameras do offer manual controls although usually set in the "auto exposure" mode. You can expose for a longer time (tri pod will likely be needed) or open the lens aperture wider. Consult your manual.
I'm sure you have a great system so better pictures will be rewarding. Good luck.
"You can’t know what the “best” is unless you have heard everything, and keep in mind that given individual tastes, there really isn’t any such thing." HP
sharpened and added exposure and killed some noise.
I prefer the original.......
he said he'll use a tripod and 1 sec exposure,will update y'all when I get some pro pics, thanks for that.
... The photo ain't great. I like your gear though.Some problems with the pic:
- Not enough light overall: this makes the picture grainy and reduces the resolution.
- The lighting is too contrasty, especially given that the main light source is behind the components. Thus the speakers for example tend to look like black blobs
- The picture is not level, i.e. it's slightly tilted; this isn't so obvious in you main photo but is painfully obvious in some of the others you have provided.
I have some simple suggestions:
- Place a lamp or two in front of the components
- To prevent fibration, set you camera on tripod and use the self-timer to delay the shutter release
- Alternatively, use a flash to illuminate the scene. Even the camera's built-in flash would produce a better result than we're seeing
- It's difficult to get photo precisely level: sse a simple photo editor to level the shot. Irfanview is such a simple editor and it's free.
I love the music of ... ... Gustav Mahler
Edits: 01/24/15 01/24/15
I would have better luck doing a still life painting of it, honestly.
Thanks for the tips.
I'm pretty familiar with Bel Canto and a collection of their pieces is an impressive system. Have you considered a Sony HAP-Z1ES? You'll end up having all of your CDs on the internal hard drive, wouldn't need a laptop in the system, wouldn't need a DAC, and you could even do without a CD player. Think of the simplicity, ease of use, and eliminating several pairs of signal cables and power cords. Just a thought.
I use a Sonos system and Deezer Elite which is a FLAC streaming service, haven't "bought" music in over 3 years now, since getting Deezer Elite and Google Music service.
I don't buy into downloads, if they can stream DSD over the internet with a subscription service I would appreciate that, I love SACD even though I only have a few titles, it is the best I have heard.
Turn the lights off in front of the camera. Turn on or provide light facing the gear from behind the camera. Be careful your shadow is not in the frame.
thanks, I can't do this properly, I even tried what you said, I give up. I'm trying to hire a professional, won't post anything else until I get something decent. I apologize again, this is just not something I am good at.
Sounds good to me. Thanks for any help. As I said I am not the expert on rooms.
...is clearly farther into the room than the right. Is there a reason for this?
Oz
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
best I could do...
thanks, looks great.
The left of the systems room is an entrance way. I put a rayon entrance curtain, not sure if I should get a folding wall divider type of device instead. Can't move the system to the other wall as I have a leaky central ac slim wall unit and the distance would be too close for correct listening.
ok, I give up. Thanks anyway.
a little..
The lights you have on behind the speakers tell the camera you have plenty of light, however those lights create a shadow that darkens your gear. If you turn off those lights and provide more direct lighting toward the gear from behind the camera, the camera won't see the direct light and auto adjust accordingly.
I am going to hire a friend of mine who takes photos for a living, might cost me a dinner or a few beers. I will not post anything else until I get something that looks decent. He's got lighting lamps, meters, etc...
Edits: 01/24/15
And there is no WAF, back of system.
My current setup has a central screen up the back of the rack. So I zip tie the powercords to that neatly. Then let the signal cables wander as they will. Best I can do.
A few places the power vs signal, I use foam pipe insulation sections to keep them a few inches apart.
I'd definitely try to redress the wiring, better isolating the power cables from signal cables for one. It's pretty much a "free" tweak unless you spend a little bit on cable organizing devices. Also the acoustic treatments directly behind the speakers look better suited stacked for corner placement. I can't tell from the photos if the acoustic treatment currently in the corner is triangular in shape as well. Maybe you've sorted this out already. I've mentioned this before, but I believe you'd also benefit by placing sounding absorbing panels on the front wall and especially behind the equipment rack. Not trying to be a critic, just passing along a few ideas that have worked for me.
thanks will look into the behind the racks, used to have a rug on the wall but I currently use it now for my budget projector when I want to watch movies.
Keep the rug with your projector. Look for some fairly inexpensive absorbing panels from ATS Acoustics or similar. The 2" thick panels work quite well. As I've said, I'm not sure if that's a flat acoustic panel currently in the corner or not. If it's flat you could certainly experiment with that on the front wall..... then using the units behind your speakers in the corners.
Those flat things that look like monoliths in the right corner of the sweet spot shot is a pair of Magnepan MMGs loudspeakers :)thank you for the help and advice.
Edits: 01/24/15
Yeah....I'd store those somewhere behind your listening position and definitely out of the soundstage area. As I've said, try placing the acoustic treatments currently behind your speakers in the corners.
For those that care, I hope this gives an idea, looking for constructive criticism.
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