Well… Hello There!

So… in terms of updates, there are many. However, I’ll start off with the usual apology: sorry, Nick and I are very busy and have been completely inactive on iMD for months.  Now that that’s finished, I’ll continue.   As I said earlier, I preordered the Oculus Rift DK2. Not only did I preorder it, but I just received it a few days ago. Now… since I’m not Nick, I wasn’t able to make a great unboxing video, however, from here on, there will be Oculus Rift content. I’ve already tried it out on a few simulators (ie. Matrix simulator, Live For Speed 2, Tron Light Cycles Simulator, etc.). We have also been looking into taking better care of our health. Being in front of the computer all day makes you worry about that every once in a while I’d say. We had already been looking into a health supplement that had decent reviews online, and eventually we tried it. I really do think it has been working great for us, and I strongly recommend it. If you would...

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Olympus PEN E-PL1 Review

So, here comes the full-fledged review. I’ll break it down into 3 main parts, as follows: Overall Picture Quality, Ease Of  Use, and Compatible Lenses.   1. Overall Picture Quality The overall quality of the camera is very impressive. As a 4/3 camera should be (having practically the same technical specs as an entry-level DSLR), the Olympus PEN E-PL1 (which I’ll refer to as the Olympus PEN) created stunning stills (some which can be found on the photography page here). Colors were vibrant, edges were crisp, and blurred backgrounds looked fantastic. However, this camera only performed well at very low ISO settings due to a Noise Reduction feature at ISO settings under 200. When at any setting higher, the camera, even in auto mode, had trouble with lighting, focusing, and a lot of noise in photos. Example of “No Noise” and “Noise”: 2.  Ease Of  Use Ease Of  Use was a major setback when taking pictures with the Olympus PEN. There were loads of issues I had with the GUI and menu configuration as well as the actual LCD...

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The Camera Has Arrived

So, I’ve recently received an Olympus PEN E-PL1 micro 4/3 camera as a gift, for my birthday, which was on July 29th.  I’ve already taken many test shots, some of which were actually good. Since it’s my first time using a DSLR, or rather a hybrid DSLR. The definition of a 4/3 camera, basically a very portable DSLR. And a little advise is to add a speed booster to your laptop or to the device you use, as this camera each photo has a big size so if you start working with this you need the best performance to actually finish and do well the job. You can view the website to find the best one for you, and also you might want to add one of this boosters to an attachable lens to increase the speed and movement of your camera. I’ve been practicing in both Manual and Automatic, usually trying comparing f-stop (aperture), shutter speed, and ISO settings specifically. I’ll be doing a more thorough review of the camera in nearby future. But for now, many of...

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Well… Hello There!

Posted by on Nov 4, 2014 in DK2, iMD, Let's Play, Oculus Rift, Technology, Updates

Well… Hello There!

So… in terms of updates, there are many. However, I’ll start off with the usual apology: sorry, Nick and I are very busy and have been completely inactive on iMD for months.  Now that that’s finished, I’ll continue.

 

As I said earlier, I preordered the Oculus Rift DK2. Not only did I preorder it, but I just received it a few days ago. Now… since I’m not Nick, I wasn’t able to make a great unboxing video, however, from here on, there will be Oculus Rift content. I’ve already tried it out on a few simulators (ie. Matrix simulator, Live For Speed 2, Tron Light Cycles Simulator, etc.).

We have also been looking into taking better care of our health. Being in front of the computer all day makes you worry about that every once in a while I’d say. We had already been looking into a health supplement that had decent reviews online, and eventually we tried it. I really do think it has been working great for us, and I strongly recommend it. If you would like to know more about to see if maybe you would like to try it out yourself you can view the website.

 

To clarify, since the Oculus Rift is a one person headset, Nick and I will somehow figure out how to record content of both of us playing, whether it be turn-based or whatever. But don’t worry, there WILL be videos of us falling off our chairs as we use the headset…

 

Stay Hungry…

Stay Foolish

 

 

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Olympus PEN E-PL1 Review

Posted by on Aug 8, 2014 in iMD, Olympus PEN E-PL1, Technology

Olympus PEN E-PL1 Review

So, here comes the full-fledged review. I’ll break it down into 3 main parts, as follows: Overall Picture Quality, Ease Of  Use, and Compatible Lenses.

 

1. Overall Picture Quality

The overall quality of the camera is very impressive. As a 4/3 camera should be (having practically the same technical specs as an entry-level DSLR), the Olympus PEN E-PL1 (which I’ll refer to as the Olympus PEN) created stunning stills (some which can be found on the photography page here). Colors were vibrant, edges were crisp, and blurred backgrounds looked fantastic. However, this camera only performed well at very low ISO settings due to a Noise Reduction feature at ISO settings under 200. When at any setting higher, the camera, even in auto mode, had trouble with lighting, focusing, and a lot of noise in photos.

Example of “No Noise” and “Noise”:

No noticeable noise in the photo.

There is lots of noise and grain in the photo zoomed in.

2.  Ease Of  Use

Ease Of  Use was a major setback when taking pictures with the Olympus PEN. There were loads of issues I had with the GUI and menu configuration as well as the actual LCD screen and electronic viewfinder. Disclaimer however, since I received the camera second-hand, I didn’t get to see its manual and therefore don’t know if some of these issues were discussed in the original guide to the camera. Continuing, the camera’s menu is very convoluted (Check out a picture of it here) and appears in a high contrast blue-yellow theme. A larger problem, however, is the fact that the 2.7″ LCD screen and electronic viewfinder (available separately as an accessory) both don’t accurately show you what you’re taking a picture of. While it appears on the screen as good lighting and an optimal ISO-shutter speed configuration, once you take the picture, you see that it is in fact so dark that you can’t make out any details whatsoever. Because of this flaw with the live view feature, your pictures can end up as high quality black or white boxes at 4032×3024 resolution. The best method of configuring your settings in manual mode is by taking at least 5-10 versions of the same picture, each time adjusting ISO, shutter-speed, and whatever else.

3. Lens Compatibility

Let me just start by saying that there are many, many different lenses available for use on this camera, however i’ll be talking about standard, not specialty or filter lenses, such as the camera’s kit lens. Alright, the kit lens (the lens you receive on purchase, unless of course you buy it body-only)… This lens is decent. It can’t be considered amazing, yet it doesn’t completely suck. Here’s what I mean. The kit lens is a 14-42mm zoom lens (which is a lens that can zoom in and out between these two sizes). The minimum f-stop number (or the largest size for the aperture) is f-3.5 , which isn’t that bad, pretty standard for kit lenses. While this lens may work for a casual photographer, many who want to broaden their variety of pictures and also significantly improve the quality of their photos will look to buying new lenses, some of which will include FFL (Fixed Focal Length) lenses, which while they can’t zoom will have much better maximum aperture, an f-stop of usually 1.8 . Olympus Zuiko, a line of lenses compatible with the Olympus PEN series, sells FFL lenses at 20mm to even 45mm. There are more zoom lenses which, at a much higher price, will also have an f-stop of 1.8 . But, these higher quality zoom lenses and larger FFL lenses (20mm or larger) can cost over $500, much more than the original cost of the camera of about $350. Even the kit lens itself is only available for between $150-200, a ridiculous amount. Another issue with this camera, the overly expensive extra lenses.

As a last thought, I should say that this camera is a very solid choice among other Interchangeable lens and 4/3 cameras, however it in no way can stand up to DSLR cameras, even entry-level ones, such as Nick’s Nikon d-5200.

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The Camera Has Arrived

Posted by on Aug 6, 2014 in iMD, Technology, Updates

The Camera Has Arrived

So, I’ve recently received an Olympus PEN E-PL1 micro 4/3 camera as a gift, for my birthday, which was on July 29th.  I’ve already taken many test shots, some of which were actually good. Since it’s my first time using a DSLR, or rather a hybrid DSLR. The definition of a 4/3 camera, basically a very portable DSLR. And a little advise is to add a speed booster to your laptop or to the device you use, as this camera each photo has a big size so if you start working with this you need the best performance to actually finish and do well the job. You can view the website to find the best one for you, and also you might want to add one of this boosters to an attachable lens to increase the speed and movement of your camera.

I’ve been practicing in both Manual and Automatic, usually trying comparing f-stop (aperture), shutter speed, and ISO settings specifically. I’ll be doing a more thorough review of the camera in nearby future. But for now, many of the pictures I take will be posted here.

 

Yes, I’m actually still doing the signature still…

 

Stay Hungry…

Stay Foolish

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Long Time No See

Posted by on Jul 4, 2014 in iMD

Long Time No See

Hey everyone, Nick here! It’s been such long time since David or I have been posting on the site. We are very sorry about this. After February break, school became so crazy that we had zero free time.

We would like to announce that we will be trying to post much more frequently this summer. This might not happen right away because David is at sleep-away camp. Right now I’m back Renbrook again, but I’m working there this time. I am the assistant director for the senior technology group. I am also working on finishing up drivers ed at the same time.

Before David left for his camp, we worked all day on recording a video for you all! We finally made a video of the tour for the iMacdanny headquarters. You can check it out on the videos page or on YouTube.

I would also like to personally announce a project I will be working on with my sister. After Renbrook is over we will be going on a road trip across the United States. I will try to take hundreds of pictures and maybe even do a daily Vlog! Look for more updates on the road trip in the future.

Oh and I almost forgot, happy independence day Americans! It is the 238th birthday of the United States of America.

I personally wanted to celebrate Canada day, but my trip to Montreal got cancelled.

Stay tuned for updates!

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February Break

Posted by on Feb 13, 2014 in Anime, David, iMD, Technology, Updates

February Break

So, February Break is on its way, and WOW,  we’ve been lazy…

Nick and I, most likely, will do something productive over the break. Personally, I’ll shorten my anime-watching in order to work on a cool project. Now onto the few, VERY few, updates that I have to offer…

  • Prashant may, or may not, be making some more art for iMD
  • There will be a few test clips with the DSLR video camera Nick bought
  • My watched anime list now exceeds 1,000 hours (or was it 10,000?)
  • I’m thinking of getting my hands on Rust, a new survival type game, loosely based off of Minecraft
  • I’ve “acquired” an Ethernet cord which is around 50ft long. Now we’ll be able to get two computer running in the HQ (a Windows desktop for me and Nick’s Macbook Air)
  • I have bought a PS4, with which I may record video, and maybe even with Nick

Now that the small list of updates is over, I’ll share a story. A few weeks ago, I installed an Ethernet switch. Somehow, I managed to make a wired connection more unreliable than WiFi…

Also, one last thing, I’m taking out my signature in order to minimize the time it takes to type/format it, while in hope of a signature feature in wordpress web design Brisbane.

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Prepare… !

Posted by on Jan 21, 2014 in Apologoy, iMD, Updates

Prepare… !

Nick and I truly sorry for the extreme lack in content from iMD. Though, we promise to start working on something insanely great after midterms.

On the topic of midterms, mine and Nick’s schedules have truly mangled, I’ve been so busy as to not even see Nick for weeks on end, mostly due to lots of studying, which I guess is a plus.

Now on the topic of new content, I’ve actually found another good topic for videos to be made with Nick’s newly bought DSLR  camera. Which sadly doesn’t have an unboxing video, I guess due to the fact that he was too excited? I thought about doing creative shorts, as we both did the first year at Renbrook, where the video’s main focus was the cool and usually funny editing over the original clip. Of course, because Nick and I don’t own a Hollywood lighting studio and green screen, don’t initially expect some kind of inter-galactic spaceship fight scene. The closest thing we have is just a room lamp and a green sheet. Maybe as a start, we will do a few edited clips here and there and try our best to make the editing as professional as possible. Also, the Lost parody episodes, most likely, will come before, after or, in between these other edited clips as we make more and more. Keep checking the Videos page here and look out for more updates!

 

Stay Hungry…

Stay Foolish

 

 

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Six Years of iMacdanny!

Posted by on Dec 28, 2013 in iMD, Updates

Six Years of iMacdanny!

Hey everyone, Nick here! It’s been a while but I am finally here to give you all some updates. School has been very busy lately so I haven’t had the time to do much, but since it’s winter break, here I am! Today’s biggest news is that this day marks the sixth anniversary of iMacdanny! It has been a great six years and I can’t wait for year seven. If you would like to read about the history of iMacdanny, you can read the article I wrote last year here.

For this year I would like to have a year in review. One of the first things we did this year was buy a server from Computer Repairs Brisbane. This was an awesome experience. It allowed us to learn how to host our own server and how the internet works. After some tinkering around in the server, we eventually started our very own Minecraft server. Our server started out small but has now grown to over 40 users! A big portion of this year was spent dedicated to the creation of Colonizing America, an adventure map I designed for our server. Our website also had some design changes this year. We removed the home page, in favor of having the blog be the first thing you see, and we completely changed all of the themes. Also this year, I started the daily professional series on the photo page and the official iMacdanny Tumblr blog which you can check out here.

Now that we’ve reviewed the past, let’s talk a little about the future. I recently purchased a Nikon D5200 DSLR to replace my old one. With this new camera, I hope to take more pictures for the daily professional and start working a little bit in  amature film. David and I are considering filming a few parody clips of one of our favorite TV shows, Lost.

We hope that you have truly enjoyed the iMacdanny Network during 2013, and will continue to support us into 2014. All of us want to wish you all a happy new year. In light of the holidays, there will be snow falling on the website until New Year’s day. Thank you very much for being awesome!

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We Hit 100!

Posted by on Nov 23, 2013 in Blog, iMD

We Hit 100!

Yay! This is the blog’s 100th post! This post may or may not be a placeholder for an awesome update! It all depends on how lazy I or Nick are at the moment…

 

Stay Hungry…

Stay Foolish

 

 

 

 

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For The Hipsters Out There

Posted by on Nov 3, 2013 in Emulators, Game Boy Advance, iMD, Nostalgia, Technology

For The Hipsters Out There

The past week has been very eventful for me. Mostly because I found a free GBA (Gameboy Advance) emulator that works on Non-Jailbroken iPhones. It’s called Gba4ios and can be downloaded by clicking Here . This emulator is amazing!  A really great feature is the “Toggle Speed” button (though only available on select devices, iPad 2+, iPhone 4s+, Ipod Touch 5+) which speeds up the game somewhere between 2x and 4x speed. The developer plans to fix the current buggy sound, add full compatibility with Gameboy Color games, and add cheat compatibility in the next version (2.0). Impotrant Note: MAKE SURE TO SET YOUR DATE BACK TO BEFORE JULY 2012! The only way the emulator can be downloaded is by bypassing Apple’s security through a glitch with  MacBuildServer (Some thing available to App Developers, also, if you like to be updated on the program go Here ).

Now on to a slightly different topic. For PC (I’m only sure it works on Windows though) is a new mod/plugin to the already existing Visual Boy Advance GBA emulator . It’s called VBA link (download Here ). What this program does, is allow you to emulate the GBA Connector Cable (which allowed multiplayer) through the Visual Boy Advance GBA emulator either as 2 games on 1 computer or 2 computers with 1 game each via the same network, this way, you can always trade/battle your Pokémon even on an emulator, race karts in Mario Kart, or of course, anything else using multiplayer. All you have to do, is download the VBA link plugin + emulator, since the website given is a download for the emulator with an already installed VBA link plugin/mod.

 

Stay Hungry…

Stay Foolish

 

 

Gba4ios Portrait UI

Gba4ios Portrait UI

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