How to turn off viewfinder auto-adjustment on Alpha 77?

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Oleg Volk

A friend lend me Sony Alpha 77 to try out. I noticed that the viewfinder brightness is proportional to the exposure. If the ambient exposure is insufficient, the viewfinder turns black. The camera doesn’t know that I have studio flash set up. Since the hot shoe is the Minolta type, I will have to plug in the radio controller into the PC socket on the side. I read the manual, but still not sure how to make the viewfinder look bright regardless of the exposure that I select? Does anyone know?

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | 6 Comments

Portrait

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Special effects make-up artist Tirzah Julius-Burns.

Posted in interesting people | Tagged | 2 Comments

Guns for the handicapped: amplifying a fundraising appeal

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Oleg Volk

BayouRenaissanceMan talks about the challenges of finding affordable defensive arms for his disabled trainees. If you are able and willing to help out, I think this is a project worthy of support.

Posted in advice requested, self-defense, weapon | Tagged , | Comments Off on Guns for the handicapped: amplifying a fundraising appeal

How to reach Frontier Airlines? (Update — problem solved)

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Oleg Volk

A friend is sick this morning and needs to postpone a flight with Frontier. Their hold time is in the “40 minutes range” but they always drop the call at about half-hour mark. The web site doesn’t offer the option to make changes.

Any suggestions on reaching them, short of going to the airport and possibly running into the same problem live?

(Update — got through to them after 1h30m wait)

Posted in advice requested | 2 Comments

New on All4Shooters: Keltec RDB and M43 bullpups

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Read the overview.

Posted in rifle | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Canon flash needed in Las Vegas

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Oleg Volk

I am in Las Vegas for SHOT show. I brought two studio flashes with me but managed to leave out my hot shoe mount flash. I can try to have it shipped but I am not certain that the package would arrive in time and not be lost — the level of competency of the hotel isn’t very inspiring. Buying another one locally is an option but I don’t really need a second hot shoe flash, and the cost isn’t trivial. My current flash was purchased used for $200, buying a new one would set me back a minimum of $400, a bit steep for the one day use I have in mind.

Does anyone have an ETTL swivel flash for Canon (550EX/580EX or similar) that I could borrow by Wednesday evening and return before my departure from Las Vegas?

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | 3 Comments

Flat Dark Earth

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Sig M1911 Scorpion, Viridian X5L light/laser, Skallywag Tactical dagger.

Posted in knife, light/laser, pistol, weapon | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The main reason for Coonan popularity

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Some of the 357Mag ammo options

Coonan pistols in particular are very accurate, have good triggers and tame the .357 recoil well — especially when compensated. Absence of barrel to cylinder gap means no pressure loss, so muzzle velocity of 1400fps with 158gr and 1600fps with 125gr ammunition is typical.

Compensated Coonan with private label ammunition

Bonded 158gr at 1400fps means not having to choose between expansion and penetration.

Posted in ammunition, pistol | Tagged | 9 Comments

Speaking of good holsters for uncommon guns…

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Oleg Volk

…last year, I needed holsters for two FMK pistols. Turned out that Alessi is one of the very few companies making them. Since I carry Kahr P9 often and G26 sometimes in their leather — and it’s still like new after 14 years, that was great news.

The quality, predictably, is top-notch. The design is very comfortable to wear and doesn’t print much. I really like that Alessi marks the holster with the pistol model. I spend far too much time trying to figure out which leather fits what pistol.

Posted in holster, pistol | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Sideguard belt holster for HK USP9 compact

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Oleg Volk

One of my closest friends had a USP 9 compact that he wasn’t carrying. Turns out the holster he had were either uncomfortable or too obvious to observers.

Enter Sideguard holster and mag pouch. Problem solved. I borrowed that USP for a few days and, several time, had to check that the holster was actually in place. With a sturdy belt, the weight was that imperceptible. Concealment was also top-notch, with the gun and magazine invisible under just a tshirt.

Posted in holster, pistol | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Today’s snapshots

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Not quite as cold out today, so CZ527 came out to play. With iron sights, it’s a fast and handy brush carbine. With an optic, it’s set trigger allows considerable precision.

Not warm enough to stay out long though…

…so back to Neverland with locked and loaded Peter Pan. Sig M1911 Scorpion with X5L.

Posted in light/laser, pistol, rifle | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Snapshots of a sharp, pointy thing

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Skallywag Tactical

Posted in knife, Uncategorized, weapon | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

If you have nothing to hide…

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Imagine a most upstanding human, righteous, kind and lawful. That human gets elected to hold some office. Should that person not worry about government spying because they would never find anything compromising about him?

Surveillance can be used for more than just discrediting imperfect people. Even meta info, much less whole texts of email, can be used to learn who is important to your target. Then pressure would be put on those important people to make the target — their father or spouse or friend — comply with some government dictate or another for fear of harm to those he loves. Typical mafia approach made even easier by NSA and their handlers.

Posted in civil rights | Tagged | 10 Comments

Thanks, Will!

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Oleg Volk

While still sorting the many good photos that came out of the photo shoot at Will M-Four studio, I’d like to post a shout-out for Will and his site.

Will’s kind invitation provided me with highly productive work day, new connections with awesome people and a very enjoyable experience. Looks like some of the other participants also had a good time.

Posted in interesting people, pistol, rifle, weapon | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Arrows quarrels and bolts

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Where could I get a few Medieval-looking arrows and/or bolt for a photo shoot? They don’t have to be functional, but have to look old rather than modern in construction. I’d like to have them by January 20th.

Posted in advice requested | 7 Comments

Bright-eyed and pensive

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Oleg Volk

Posted in interesting people | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Studio or another indoor space for photos in Minneapolis

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Oleg Volk

I am looking for a space that I could use for portrait, gun poster and figure work this coming Saturday, January 3, near Hopkins, Edina or Minneapolis. Does anyone have suggestions or leads? Outdoors is just too cold this time of year.

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Any Canon 70D users in Nashville?

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Oleg Volk

I am considering adding a 70D to my 5Dmk2 as a more video and action oriented body. However, I’d like to try it for a day before buying.

I just tried a friend’s Nikon D700 and the user interface improvement (and apparent build quality) over Canon bodies is considerable. But I can’t justify the massive expense of switching brands — too many specialized lenses to replace.

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | 1 Comment

Security measures merely move terrorist events…

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Oleg Volk

…to the check-in site:  Volgograd, Russia gets an explosion right in the crowd at the metal detector. In short, even if successful, security measures save trains or aircraft from damage, not passengers.

Posted in self-defense | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Peaceful uses of explosives

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Oleg Volk

In response to my recent post, everyone focused on combat uses of explosives. While that is an important use, it is relatively uncommon. Just as firearms are used for recreation, hunting and other non-defensive uses far, far more often than for self-defense or war, so are explosives are more often used for construction, field clearing and other peaceful purposes. Yey, just as it may be hard for a gunless people to imagine a peaceful gun culture, it is hard for us — long denied access to most explosives and means of controlling them — to imagine their positive uses.

Those uses are all around me as I drive on most Tennessee roads: the vertical hashes in the rock faces on both sides of many roadways are where gelignite or something similar was placed into pre-drilled holes and exploded to remove obstructions to travel. ANFO is still popular for removing tree stumps and boulders from fields. Detcord is used for falling trees quickly and safely by those who have access to it.

Explosives of various kinds are heat engines. They convert rapid exothermic reactions into kinetic or brisant action. Safe ways of working with them have been worked out ages ago, and yet we have multiple generations of people world-wide who have no access to these useful tool and often no idea of their utility. Because all these would-be common peaceful uses are denied, explosives get the stigma of the association with terrorism and war, same as guns do in disarmed societies. With good people denied these tools, only bad actors get the publicity and the problem becomes self-reinforcing.

Posted in civil rights, rkba, weapon | Tagged , , | 8 Comments