Friday, December 15, 2023

Updated photos (and printer)...

 

I have a Canon CP910 small photo printer.  It is a decent little printer - dye sub, prints on glossy 4x6" paper.  For small one-off images, it can be handy.  The key-words in that previous sentence are "can be"... not "is."

I don't use the printer often.  I've had it for 4 years or so, and I have only just now dug into the second package of photo paper (25 sheets in each package).  The problem: every time I pull it out, it won't print.  It doesn't matter if I try to use my laptop or my phone - neither will connect with the camera.  Of course, both of those devices are being regularly updated... and with each update, it seems to have an issue with this little printer.  I wind up deleting the printer for both devices, then reloading it.  The first print or two is always a "throw away."  What you see on the screen isn't the way it prints - it is always lighter, or darker, or off color.  You can let Photoshop determine the color profile, or let the printer use its default settings for the color profile, and neither is particularly good.

No doubt, my background in imaging means I'm kinda picky about how an image should look.

Joan was putting some small framed images on our dresser, and she wanted one of each of the cats.  We didn't have the right size for Molly and the one for Rufus had one of his "baby" pictures.  We thought it would be best to have something to show how he looked as a grown-up.  So, after 40 minutes or so of frustration, I got these...


Good memories of some fine felines.  After wading through the frustration with the printer, including having to enter the lengthy wifi password one letter click at a time on the printer.

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I made burgers on the griddle this evening.  While waiting for the griddle to heat up (it doesn't take long), I was taking in the feel of our courtyard.  It doesn't feel like we are in a big city.  I have mentioned that this area used to be small farms... until the 202 Loop was completed, giving great access by road from this area.  In fact, if you look on Maps and switch it to a satellite view, it shows our address as a cotton field.

There are still a couple small farms just southwest of us... I have mentioned the rooster, donkey, and goat sounds that we hear on occasion when we're outside.  But, other than an occasional side-by-side, there isn't any road noise (the noise from I-10 was plenty loud at the RV park where we stayed before moving into the house).

While grilling, I heard and saw two guys go by on horseback (just their heads beyond the block wall).  I was busy cooking, so I didn't get a photo of the riders.  But, I did get this shot looking to the west just after sunset: the last rays of the day...


Since we are almost at the winter solstice, that is about as far southwest as the sun will set - in another week, that will start its slow move to the north.


2 comments:

Earl49 said...

Fine pictures of some fine felines. We have one great shot of each of our cats that became the default image among many. Some were on 35mm film, some were from digital cameras, and more recently from iPhones. I have learned to use the printer service at Walgreens or Wally World, where for a buck or two I can get 5x7 or 8x10's -- and all the hassles are theirs.

I hear you with printers. I own an HP inkjet color wide-carriage printer, intended for 11 x 17 drawings when colors are used on each layer. It has never been very useful. Any time I want to print something, the jet is clogged or the ink cartridge is dry. The cartridges are too expensive to use routinely to keep it running. It sits in a box in the shop, having been untouched for at least a dozen years. A tech dump is coming in the spring. We have a store around here called the "Reuseum" that advertises that it takes old computers for repurposing. I even have a full set of original DOS 6.l disks with IBM books on 5¼ floppy disks.

Captain Jim and the Blonde said...

Ah, memories. We always had state of the art printers in the studio, and they got used! And prior to the digital lab, we had a 40" paper processor that could do long rolls (from our package printing equipment) and cut sheet (custom printed, 11x14 and larger). Quite a change from our little 4x6" dye-sub printer that I was using today. ;-) I guess I still like seeing that finished product come out. On rare occasions.

No, I don't miss dealing with chemicals and having to work in the dark (we also did our own film and E6 processing).

We were able to eliminate a lot of outdated tech stuff (is it still considered "tech" at that point?) at one of those "tech dump" events on SPI. I couldn't find anyone to give it to, rather than toss it.