Brother's Budget Workstation Build | Welcome to 2018!

Hey, everyone!

We are now in 2018 and here is the first video. Sorry it took a while to upload some content. I guess this Winter made me feel like a bear in hibernation.

My brother has been using an Apple iMac from 2011 to work on his music. He asked me if I could help him build a budget workstation which would be more current. Something that would be more powerful. I was glad to take on the task, especially since we're family. Below are the following specs of this system. About half of the items I already had on hand and the other half was purchased (but some of that is used which helped keep the cost down).

System specs:
Intel Core i5-4590 Processor
8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 Kingston HyperX Savage RAM
120GB HP M700 SSD http://amzn.to/2sv8WoN
2TB Hitachi HDD
ASRock B85M-ITX Motherboard
Rosewill Legacy V6-S Mini-ITX Cube Computer Case


Music provided by Alex Talavera

Production Equipment
Shot with a Canon EOS 77D: http://amzn.to/2BuDwl7
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens: http://amzn.to/2EwDZGg
Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens (overhead shot): http://amzn.to/2C0KVKc
Magnus VT-4000 Professional High Performance Tripod System with Fluid Head: http://amzn.to/2BuEvBP
Comica CVM-V03 Lavalier Lapel Microphone: http://amzn.to/2sAIJFi
Tascam DR-22WL Portable Handheld Recorder with WiFi: http://amzn.to/2Bu4E3K
Edited with Vegas Pro Edit: http://amzn.to/2o0y0PK

How To: Mount an FD Lens onto an M43 Adapter

I've seen a couple of video showing how to mount an FD lens onto an adapter which then goes on to a micro four thirds body, like the Panasonic or Olympus cameras. Recently I've been able to help someone online who was having some trouble mounting theirs. That's when I decided to make a quick video to see if it can help others. I love the look vintage lenses give video shot on newer cameras. It gives the video a more organic feel to it. The focal reducer can be found on eBay but there is one version sold on Amazon. The focal reducer would help in decreasing your focal length when mounting the lens onto the micro four thirds body.

Watch your step...

I'm wrapping up the evening. About to go to bed. I turn off the lights in the office and head towards the kitchen, across the living room, to put away my coffee cup. Just one step outside of the office I notice something out of the corner of my eye. Something's on the ground on the carpet. A darker spot on the carpet which doesn't match the carpet's color. I look down and see a long shape just sitting there. It only takes me a fraction of a second to identify this little guy. It's the second one this year. I set my cup down and head back into the office trying to figure out what to use to capture it. The usual trick is to get some sort of clear cylindrical vessel and a flat piece of paper. A CD spindle cover will do and a junk mail envelope. There's no reason to fear these little guys or any of its relatives. I encapsulate the critter from above and slide the envelope underneath. This little guy didn't even flinch when I came down on it. It did start to move once I got it onto the envelope and I can see it curled its tail. Flipped the lid to allow it to fall into the lid and snapped the pic before getting rid of the scorpion. Always watch where you're going. This goes for everyone. Including you, little scorpion.

Thursday Evening Walk

I almost did not go for a walk this evening. I know I should be doing this on a daily basis. I do need to get back into shape again. When I got home I sat myself into my office desk chair and began to sink down into it. Watched a couple of videos online and it almost got to the point to where I was going to say, "Oh well, I'll just go for a walk tomorrow. It's too late now." I did say "almost" because right before that moment my inner thoughts smacked my brain and told it, "No! Get off your butt and go out there!" Without hesitating I put on my shorts, grabbed my sneakers and grabbed my camera. I also want to try out the 24mm lens I received earlier this week.

When I got to the front of the garage I looked out to see if it was going to rain since it started to sprinkle as I got home from work. At this point the weather seemed fair. It's cloudy but no visible sign of water falling from the sky.

The goal is to walk close to two miles around our housing development. Since it was getting late I wasn't sure of going off road onto the dirt road. At this time of the day I expect the annoying little bugs to be buzzing around. I picked a new course and began my little adventure. A quarter of the way into the walk I came across a big fuzzy bee collecting pollen from a wild flowery plant. Since the camera had a fixed lens on it I couldn't zoom in so I tried to get as close as possible but at the same time I didn't want to get too close to where the bee would fly away. Unfortunately only one picture came out somewhat decent.

About half way through the walk I come up to a sidewalk with a wall running along next to it. Underneath the top edge there was this strange thing hanging from it. I have a feeling it's form some sort of insect where it's babies hatched from those holes and moved on. I've seen one similar to this the other day but never got a chance to get a closer look.

Moving along I then came across a beetle casually walking along the side of the wall. It seemed confused as it wasn't sure in which direction to go to and pretty much stayed in one spot. This guy was easy to photograph since it moved extremely slow.

Near the end of the walk I saw this plants and flowers on the corner of our development block. I had a feeling this would be a good spot to take some pictures of the flowers with the sun setting in the background. I feel it was an excellent choice. It's true of the saying, "Go with your gut." The one thing I forgot to do was mount a filter on the lens. Oh, well. Next time!

Another shot from Sunday's Storm

Went through the rest of the pictures from Sunday afternoon/evening's storm. Many of the pictures were identical. A lot were taken at an attempt to capture a flash of lightning. Aside from the lightning picture I think this one turned out well. There was more light since the sun's light wasn't completely gone just yet.

Sunday Evening Lightning

The sun was beginning to set this first Sunday of June. I was working at my desk when Gwen came in stating the clouds look great outside and if I was interested in going out for a quick walk. Cannot say no to her so we grabbed our cameras and walked out. The clouds were just as beautiful as they were yesterday when we took our mini adventure. Lightning was seen in the distance and we spent the next ten to twenty minutes trying to capture one. I've taken about four to five hundred shots when finally I got the tail end of one striking the Sandia Mountains. The sun already set by this time which is unfortunate since it the image produced a good amount of noise. Still very satisfactory. Very excited to post this picture and will go through the rest and post them later.

Saturday Evening Post Dinner Mini Adventure

We came back from my parents' house after eating a great chili dinner. They live fairly close so it didn't take too long for us to reach our home. Along the way I noticed how beautiful the clouds looked with the sun beginning to set. I asked Gwen if she wanted to take a quick trip out somewhere to take some pictures. She agreed. We got home, put our leftovers away in the refrigerator (it was just leftover dessert), grabbed our cameras and headed back out. I even kept the car running as we went inside.

We headed east / northeast on Highway 550 and drove. There aren't too many areas to stop unless you want to stop on the side of the road. Gwen wasn't too fond of the idea of stopping on the side of the road due to the danger of fast moving cars. We did find a small truck weigh station which was empty and got out for a few minutes. I took some pictures but after reviewing them when we got home I wish I would've brought my longer lens. The nice rock formations were on the other side of the road and off to the distance.

We continued on the highway and finally arrived to a small road about 35 miles from the start of our original departure location. The sun was moments from disappearing into the horizon. The clouds provided a great sight. With not much light left we got out and started firing those shots from our cameras.

I definitely want to come back to this area and continue trekking further to see what else it contains.

I want to get closer to that! Next time.

Next time we'll go down this road to see where it leads to.

My partner in crime and in life.

Afternoon / Evening Walk

Went out for an evening walk with Gwen after I came home from work. The week is almost over. It felt like it went by so quickly due to Memorial Day being on Monday. We each talked about how our day went and the other listened. The weather was nice. It wasn't too warm especially since the sun was on the horizon ready to set. The calm breeze did help keep the night time bugs from attacking us.

Same flower plant from the other day though it's a different flower. They're still alive and beautiful.

I don't think that storm back there will end up reaching us.

Morning walk on the last Saturday of May

We went out for walk this morning after coming back from running a couple of errands (though there are still more to do). We got our cameras and went out for a walk behind our housing development to see what else is new plus to get some exercise. Gwen wanted to break in her new hiking boots and I wanted to try out the recently acquired Canon Rebel T5 with the 55-250mm. It's been a week since I've last posted and I want to make this a more frequent thing.

We've never walked this far back. From a distance we thought it was just some graffiti but upon reaching it we saw it's decent.

Not from my yard but another house in the neighborhood. Beautiful pots.

Not the.... bee? (This thing was about the size of my thumb)