Is this love? A work break for relaxation and contemplation

Andreas Thaler · Oct 1, 2024

A cold forces me to take a break from work that is long overdue anyway.

I doze, my thoughts become longer, the past lights up in images, both distant and near.

Cameras are repaired with the hands, then with the head

lights up on a display above my croudy work table, which is empty in the kitchen, with a vase of flowers that have been around for weeks.

On the border between reality and dream, I go through my last projects, explore the Nikon EM and repeat the rules for logic gates. Later, I hope, this will help me understand the control electronics of my cameras better,

And suddenly Alison Moyet and Dave Stewart accompany me back to 1986, when the Canon T90 was released. I had almost forgotten this song:

You dream with your head and not with your hands

it lights up and I fell asleep.

Hopefully see you soon when we look at the Nikon EM together.

And yes, this is love!

loccdor · Oct 1, 2024

Breaks are essential for the mind to fully integrate our experience. We get confused about them because it seems like we are doing nothing, but we are actually continuing to learn and develop during our rest periods. Hope you recover quickly from your cold.

Donald Qualls · Oct 1, 2024

Dreams, likewise, are (among other functions) how our brain moves items from medium storage (longer than a few seconds to a minute) to long term (remember this in thirty or forty years if needed). This often works better for things you've done multiple times -- so if you want to really remember those logic gates, you should review the AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR from time to time until you look at them and just know.

Andreas Thaler · Oct 1, 2024

loccdor said:
Breaks are essential for the mind to fully integrate our experience. We get confused about them because it seems like we are doing nothing, but we are actually continuing to learn and develop during our rest periods. Hope you recover quickly from your cold.

Thank you, that's true but sometimes hard to see.

Andreas Thaler · Oct 1, 2024

Donald Qualls said:
Dreams, likewise, are (among other functions) how our brain moves items from medium storage (longer than a few seconds to a minute) to long term (remember this in thirty or forty years if needed). This often works better for things you've done multiple times -- so if you want to really remember those logic gates, you should review the AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR from time to time until you look at them and just know.

I am currently reviewing the basics of digital electronics in order to understand the structure of simple computer circuits. This in turn is in the hope that I will then be able to better understand my clock-controlled camera circuits.

Andreas Thaler · Oct 1, 2024

Maybe you should do nothing at all when you're sick and sleep. A fever helps with that, but you don't really want that.

A little mental activity in the background without pressure shouldn't hurt, though. Hand movements and work processes can also be repeated this way. I used to practice shorthand this way too.

Andreas Thaler · Oct 1, 2024

What amazes me about the topic of repairing photo equipment is that the practice and the theory behind it can be almost completely separated.

For example, to replace an electrolytic capacitor, I don't need to know anything about its structure or its function in the circuit. Just enough to solder it in the right place without damaging it.

On the one hand, that's an advantage, because you can repair something without any engineering knowledge.

On the other hand, however, it's unsatisfactory if you want to understand how the thing you’re working on works.

I try to bring it together as best as I can.

Donald Qualls · Oct 1, 2024

Andreas Thaler said:
you can repair something without any engineering knowledge.

I've had many occasions when the stuff I fix (not cameras) wouldn't have gotten fixed if I didn't understand how it worked and what each part was doing. Just yesterday, I solved a pressure leak (in all new parts!) in a pneumatic staple gun by adding a .002" shim that wasn't even from that brand of tool, never mind that model -- but it moved another part enough for an o-ring to seal immediately when pressure was applied vs. leaking through a vent for seconds or longer.

Andreas Thaler · Oct 1, 2024

Donald Qualls said:
I've had many occasions when the stuff I fix (not cameras) wouldn't have gotten fixed if I didn't understand how it worked and what each part was doing. Just yesterday, I solved a pressure leak (in all new parts!) in a pneumatic staple gun by adding a .002" shim that wasn't even from that brand of tool, never mind that model -- but it moved another part enough for an o-ring to seal immediately when pressure was applied vs. leaking through a vent for seconds or longer.

Someone has calculated everything to make it work like this. That's the wonderful thing that you only see in the result.

Andreas Thaler · Oct 1, 2024

In order to understand the technology of a particular era, I like to read specialist books from that time.

I have a book here that was published in 1989 in the German Democratic Republic: "From simple logic circuits to microcomputers".

These books are written precisely, everything is explained with lots of technical drawings.

My cameras are also from that time, and I get a precise explanation of the development stage of digital circuits at that area.

For this purpose, I do not need to concern myself with subsequent developments, as that would just be a burden.

forest bagger · Oct 1, 2024

Andreas Thaler said:
On the one hand, that's an advantage, because you can repair something without any engineering knowledge.

That is the main reason why there are so many service and repair center which change only assemblies, no components.

Andreas Thaler said:
On the other hand, however, it's unsatisfactory if you want to understand how the thing you’re working on works.

Not only unsatisfactoray, Andreas! My successes in repairing come primarily through my knowledge of how it should work when it is repaired.

Andreas Thaler · Oct 1, 2024

forest bagger said:
Not only unsatisfactoray, Andreas! My successes in repairing come primarily through my knowledge of how it should work when it is repaired.

But - just as an example, if I see a leaking capacitor in a circuit, then there is a high probability that it is the cause of the error or at least part of the problem. I don't need to know anything about the circuit and the function of the capacitor in it to get the device up and running again.

Or a mechanical switch. If it is oxidized or not making contact, it is easy to fix.

And problems like this make up a large proportion of the causes of errors, at least with my photo equipment.

forest bagger · Oct 2, 2024

That' right, Andreas. Sometimes the cause for a malfunction is only sand or water where it shouldn't be, sometimes is something visibly broken. The challenge for repairers who do cost estimates is to estimate what is defective inside a camera or a lens without opening it at all.

Is this love? A work break for relaxation and contemplation

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