I need more workspace and a better rig to prop up my phone to film with but it wouldn’t be hard to do.
I do have two other cameras lined up for re-covering.
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Trying to patiently wait for my replacement leather. It’s on its way, but boy the anticipation is killing me. Everything is on hold because for some reason I decided I want to apply the leather before I apply the new light seals.
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Tested another camera I plan to apply new seals and covering to yesterday and the shots are pretty fantastic. I think it may have the most accurate light metre I’ve worked with lately, exposures were spot on. Also shot FlicFilm Elektra film stock, which tends to have this great red hue:
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Got antsy and applied the new seals to both cameras and took one of them for a test shoot to make sure it works. Apologies for no video, applying light seals isn’t particularly sexy tutorial material, lol.
The leather for the the new camera coverings is still on its way, although it seems like USPS doesn’t do a great job updating their tracking data. Today marks the earliest date it could arrive per the shipping notice, so here’s hoping it’s arrives in the next couple days. I have three I want to apply new covers to: the camera I’m gifting my brother; a camera I bought myself, and my original camera I’ve had since it was thirteen. I already put a new covering on my old camera over a decade ago but I bought leather that ended up being too thick for the camera, and I did a mediocre job applying the leather. This time I bought genuine leather that matches the manufacturer specs for thickness and finish. It will be nice to see my camera restored to its original appearance.
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They are incredibly hit and miss with their tracking info. I’ve had multiple things that are just “lost” show up weeks later. It’s chaos at the USPS!
I love all your camera stuff and pictures, but when do you have any time to play video games these days? You know, the important stuff!
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It’s funny you say that, because I have another item coming via USPS that has all its tracking info regularly updated. So I’ve got two packages coming with wildly different tracking experiences. Additionally, I looked up what “USPS awaiting item” means and, according to USPS, this sometimes doesn’t get updated until the package is delivered to the receiver. So I have to ask, what’s the point of tracking it?
Lol, it’s a very real thing. I’m certainly playing a bit less than usual. I’m often just out hiking on weekends and am not home to play. But I am squeaking in some time with Monster Hunter Rise here and there. I probably will dig pretty deep into Metroid Prime when my copy arrives, and I know the I’ll be playing a lot of Tears of the Kingdom but I’ll also admit, photography eats into my budget pretty significantly. Film is expensive and I’m constantly shooting. I normally have at least one camera with me everywhere I go so it adds up. But I don’t mind. Digital photography never captured my interest the way film did, and I worked as a photographer’s assistant and photographer in my late teens and early twenties when I was jumping around between careers so I feel very comfortable in the world of film costs. Or, at the very least, they don’t surprise me.
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Just had a big kick to the guts. Several months ago a small publisher here in the UK asked if I’d be interested in writing a guidebook on The Phantom, similar to the Marvel and DC ones. I spent months on working out the contents, writing chapter examples and doing up the proposal…only for the licence owner, King Features Syndicate, to say no. For some reason they are “not interested in doing a guidebook at this time.”
It totally boggles the mind because they are apparently tryin to push the character, and literally all they would have had to do with this is OK the proofs and let the money roll in. Just…ugh!
Publisher and I are now talking about other things, but this was quite a blow. 
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That sucks. I presume the publisher thought it would be a slam dunk with the license holder when they greenlit you to start working on it?
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Finally got an update, and it’s dated 13 February, so a whole four days ago. So presumably it’s somewhere further along, and I’ll probably get a notice it was delivered four days after I have it in my hands 
Side note, confirmed that the camera that I bought and am refurbishing for my brother can shoot in -17ºC temperatures. Got to love fully mechanical cameras!
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Guess so. I think we were all taken by surprise.
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It is really a shame. I hope you and the publisher can come up with something else you can work on but I can appreciate how disappointing that must be.
Going to try my hand at some more bird photography again tomorrow. I’ve had mixed results so far, with a handful of great shots but a lot more mediocre or disappointing ones. However, I think I might set up my tripod to get a decent shot of a Screech Owl if he decides to poke his head out when there’s still enough light.
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Quite like taking photos of some nice birds myself. 
No owls tonight sadly 
I forgot to take any photos along the way but last night I successfully soldered something for the first time.
I like keeping my Dreamcast as “stock” as I can until the parts inevitably start failing, but the watch battery it uses to retain the date and time had been dead for probably ten years. It’s soldered directly to the controller PCB, so I held off because I’ve never soldered anything before and the thought of doing so was intimidating. But after successfully lubricating the console’s disc drive a year or two ago and later binge-watching a bunch of the Macho Nacho Productions YouTube channel, I decided that it didn’t look too difficult and I should give it a shot.
I bought the supplies back in August, but I procrastinated actually doing it because, frankly, I was a little scared to! How much smoke will it make? How hot does the iron get? What if I break something? So yesterday a family member who had done a little bit of soldering offered to be my second pair of eyes, which was super helpful!
The mod I did is really common, it replaces the battery that’s soldered directly with a socket so you can pop a new battery in and out later. The kit I bought off eBay also included some other common replacement parts for the controller PCB, but in 24 years I haven’t had any other problems, so I just focused on the watch battery for now. It was also a little less intimidating because it has three pins in a triangle formation, so it’s basically impossible to place incorrectly.
The Dreamcast’s screws are regular ol’ Philips heads, but they are seated pretty deep. This time I had an iFixit kit so that went more smoothly than the disc drive servicing I’d done before, and the controller PCB is way easier to reach.
Desoldering was way tougher than any of the videos I watched made it seem! I don’t know if my watch battery’s pins were just uncommonly well-affixed, but it took quite a while of heating up the points, trying a copper wick, and then also trying a little vacuum tool to remove the solder. But eventually it came loose and popped right out.
The soldering went so much more quickly! I am now very impressed by those with steady hands, I hadn’t had any caffeine or anything that day but I felt so shaky!! But luckily the solder just seemed to want to glob onto the pins, which was really satisfying.
I gave the board a few minutes to cool before reassembling everything but the top cover, then plugging it in to make sure nothing, y’know, smoked or popped or anything like that. Then I finished reassembly, plugged it in, and set the date/time. I left it on for a few minutes, turned it off, then back on again, and… success!! No more date/time prompt.
I did the same thing a few more times just to be sure, even unplugging the console at one point, and it worked like a charm… the Dreamcast now remembers it’s the year 2023!
What I learned:
- People aren’t lying, it really isn’t super difficult!
- I was also pleased by how affordable most of the supplies were. (The iFixit kit was definitely the biggest splurge.)
- If I had to do it again, I’d probably invest in a small vice or something to help hold the PCB in place. It was really helpful having an extra pair of hands, it would have been a little tougher leaning really close to the table or trying to hold it steady myself.
- Desoldering would have been easier if I’d spent more time heating the tin on the board and less time futzing with the copper wick and vacuum. Those tools were really helpful, but the key is melting the tin that’s already there… those other tools can’t do anything otherwise!
- There was more smoke than I expected! Not like worrying amounts, but I’d definitely do this with an open window or in the garage with the door open.
I don’t think I’ll ever be super into this as a hobby, but I’ll definitely be on the lookout for a broken Neo Geo Pocket Color now… I feel confident I could install an IPS display in one.
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It’s the fear of something going wrong with this type of project that prevents me of installing a backlit IPS display in a GameBoy Advance, something I very much would like to do.
but, I am about to attempt my most daunting camera repair yet, a removal and reattachment of an SLR mirror. I’m nervous about it but I think I know how to do it and am hoping I don’t mess it up. But reading your post inspired me to see if I can do this myself, because the better I develop my repair skills the more I can take matters into my own hands when dealing with aging cameras.
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Did you see the new IPS kit that requires no soldering? It has a touch sensor in the glass, which is just ingenious.
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Oh, no I didn’t know about this. That’s neat. I wonder if this is also available for the SP. I’ll take a look into it. My ideal conversion is a brighter iOS screen for the SP because that’s my favourite GameBoy form factor.
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That is a great form factor!
I recommend that YouTube channel highly, Tito does a great job of showcasing different mods and what it actually takes to pull them off (there are some really unique SP ones, too). Watching him for the last year or two finally inspired me to try it.
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I’m not game enough to do any hardware mods, but this does look cool! Furthest I’ve gone is to hack my 2DS to it can work as an emulation machine which it’s reaaaaally good at.
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