DaveS

The thinking seems to be that I am suggesting that TIPF should grow into a 'monster forum', and I fail to see where I have even remotely suggested this. The point I have been trying to make, which seems to have been taken way off track, is that the forum is failing to attract new members, for whatever reason. Every forum, however small, will lose members, for a multitude of reasons, and as such needs to attract new members, even if this is just a trickle. So, going back to where I started, TIPF is a nice forum, which should stand out among all the 'bear pit' forums, so why isn't it attracting people. I don't know the answer to this, and it seems that nobody else does. Dave

I think that like me John, you are getting 'long in the tooth' (I'm 71), and the fact that you have been here for 5-6 years, would IMO, make you one of the 'corner stones' of this forum. However, forums such as this, need an intake of 'young blood' to stimulate fresh discussion. Having my grandchildren around me, keeps me young at heart, if not giving my ageing body a run for its money. Encouraging young people, and even not so young people, to get into photography, helping them to develop their skills, is what forums like this should be doing. The 'old hands' being there to help and advise. Far better that they are attracted to a forum like this, as opposed to some of the 'bear pit' forums out there Dave

Absolutely Annie Running a forum takes time, commitment, and being willing to put your hand in your pocket. Believe me, having being doing this for over four years now, I speak from experience. So yes, I have a very good idea of what goes on behind the scenes here, and appreciate it. It must be a human trait, that when someone raises a question that they genuinely believe is in the best interest of something, some folk will go on the defensive. I'm not 'knocking' this forum, I'm trying to help it evolve and survive. The question that nobody has yet attempted to answer is, why is the forum failing to attract new members? Dave

That only happens on badly managed sites Annie, and this isn't one of them. Dave

Interesting inputs guys. Like you, I don't like large forums, especially those that count their members in the thousands, but when a forum isn't replacing its 'deadwood', there has to be an underlying reason for this. This forum attracted me, and believe me, I looked at quite a lot, but why isn't it attracting say, even one new member a week? I can't see why this is the case, but then maybe I can't see the 'wood for the trees', and thought by throwing this open for discussion someone might just have some constructive thoughts, as opposed to the complacent approach. Most forums, and having communicated with Phil, not this one, like to play the 'numbers game, aka 'my forums bigger than yours', and store all their long since inactive accounts, to show a large, but untrue membership number. As I do with my forum, Phil 'prunes out the deadwood'. Don't get me wrong, I liked what I saw here, I joined, and within few day of being here, contributed financially to the upkeep of this forum, so in a sense, I have a genuine interest in its wellbeing and success. However, irrespective of your views, whether they align with mine, or you are happy with the status quo, and have no desire to see the forum continue grow, albeit slowly, the question I posed remains unanswered: Why is a nice forum like TIPF failing to attract new members? Dave

Its now just over two weeks since I joined this forum, and in that time, not a single new member has registered. Also, studying the members list, there appears to be quite a few people, that joined, never 'posted' and left. All forums have a turn over of members, with some losing interest, and new members joining, and my own forum is no different in this respect. However, we do have trickle of new members joining, even though we are a somewhat specialist forum. There clearly is something that's putting off 'new blood' from joining TIPF, but I can't decide what this might be. There were a couple of points relating to this, that I raised with Phil, and I know that one of these he has implemented. From my perspective, there is nothing to dislike here. Its a nice community with a good spread of photographic expertise, ranging from people at the lower end of the 'learning curve', to experts willing to share their knowledge, and help others. So what is it, that's preventing TIPF from attracting new members to replace those that have dropped off the end.? Is it perhaps that there are more photography forums on the internet, than you could 'shake a stick at', or something more fundamental.? My own personal opinion of course, but a forum that doesn't bring in 'new blood' with fresh ideas and experiences to share, can become very stale. A great forum with nice people, but is it stuck in a 'rut'? Dave

Thanks for confirming that my thinking was correct Richard. The following might help explain the situation for some members: The cheapest way to have a forum 'hosted', is to go down the 'Shared Server' route. This is one where the server is shared with many other users, which includes forums. When the server is busy, a forum may have to wait in the queue with others, before it can communicate with its users. When this happens, the user will experience a delay in opening pages on the 'board', up uploading data, and or images. This can make the forum seem slow in comparison with others, that are hosted on a Virtual Private Server (VPS). Its not a case of the 'board' running slow, or a problem with your own 'router', but just a matter of TIPF waiting its turn at the server. When a forum is independent from sponsorship or advertising revenue, and totally reliant on the good will of its management team, and donating members to fund it, the 'shared server' can be the only affordable option. So yes, the response time of this 'board' can be frustratingly slow at times, but its a small price to pay for what it has to offer. Dave

Richard, its not a speed issue, but one of the time it takes the server to respond. As I said in the 'shout box', I think that this forum is hosted on 'shared server', in which case response time will be an issue, because you are sharing the server bandwidth with multiple other forums etc. I moved my forum onto a VPS because of this, and now its responds instantly. The downside is that a VPS cost significantly more than does shared server space. DAve

Great quality pictures, given the era in which they were taken. Dave

I like that, it has real "atmosphere" about it, and all the better for being in mono, as I think the impact wouldn't be there if in colour. Good choice. Well done that man 'Korky' Dave

Understood Thanks for the explanation Richard. Dave

A lovely moment in time, well captured, and presented. Dave

Don't worry about it, if you enjoy taking photographs, irrespective of the subject, that's what matters. You could say that your forte is an 'all rounder' with a leaning towards motor sports and macro, as an amateur, as opposed to a professional such as fashion or wedding photographer, you don't need a specialist area, unless of course you want one. Some amateur photographers are obsessed with winning competitions, and sticking rigidly to a set of rules like the 'rule of thirds', while others take a more relaxed approach to the hobby, and for us amateurs it is just that, a hobby. Last year, I decided that I would like to join a camera club, and looked at what there was in my local area. I was somewhat dismayed to find the programme of the three clubs in my area read "competition, competition, competition", and very little else. In fact one club stated that members are EXPECTED to enter competitions, and submit their work for assessment by outside judges. Fair enough for those that thrive on this activity, but not all of us do. I eventually found a small not so well known club, that had a much more balanced programme, and one that was more about photography, than competions. So, you enjoy your photography in what ever way you please, and don't worry about having a particular forte, just go where your imagination takes you. As for image processing, then yes, if you have the desire to get involved and learn more, it will prove to be a valuable asset to your photography, and enable you to 'shoot' in RAW if you want to. In astro-imaging, image processing is absolutely essential to extract the feint detail. Dave

This country is now a very different one, compared to the one you and I grew up in Fuji (I'm 71), and nowhere near as pleasant. I don't pander to the stereo typical jobsworth, nor political correctness. I 'call a spade a spade' and always will do. In this now oddball society in which we live, a genuine photographer can no longer take pictures in public areas where children might be present, without being seen as a paedophile. However, Richard is correct in that on private property, the owner has the right to not allow photography. That said, they should display a notice(s) to inform the public that this is the case, and not leave it to the 'jobsworth' to tell people. I think my daughter and family were daft to come back here after 5 years in Australia. Dave

Until reading this 'thread', I didn't know that this forum had closed, and been re-born. Having been running my own forum since 2009, I know that it takes commitment, time, and money to keep one afloat. It also has to offer something different to other forums based on the same interest, if it is to survive alongside the competition. Myself and another astro imager launched our forum to offer a truly dedicated astro imaging forum, and we haven't strayed from this. Other astronomy forums cover just about everything amateur astronomy, with astro imaging just a part of it. At first we started off on a 'shared server', and funded the forum entirely out of our own pockets (we are both retired). Being on a 'shared server' it was at times, painfully slow. So we moved up to a VPS, which of course was much more expensive. Although my co-owner and I fund the bulk of the cost, our four support team members (we neither have, nor need moderators), contribute toward the running cost. Like this forum, we value our independence, and do not have sponsors or advertising. We were approached by a potential sponsor, but declined the offer, and retained our independence. Running a forum means waging a constant war against 'spammers', and believe me, the www is overloaded with these parasites. We (my co-owner and I) personally vet each and every registration, by either checking against a list of know 'spammers', or e-mailing the person registering, and asking what their interest in the forum's subject matter is. The 'spammer' will either not reply, or come back with a less than convincing answer. Either way, they don't get in. It is a time consuming process, but one that has been 100% effective in keeping the forum clear of 'spam', for over 4 years. We were at one time 'hacked', due to our webhost leaving "door open" on the server, and although they quickly closed it, the damage was done, and it took me an age to find where their code was hiding, and clean out the software. So, members here should, as many of them clearly do, appreciate the voluntary work that the guys and girls that maintain this forum do. Believe me its not an 'easy ride'. That said, and as Phil stated, its the members that make a forum what it is, as without members, there is no forum. The admin and their assistants, just look after the housekeeping. I am very new here, but what I've seen in my short time as a member, has impressed me, and I'm pleased to be here. Well done guys and girls, the forum is a credit to you. Dave

You are right Chris, the ink drying out in the delivery system, which includes the print head, has always been a significant issue with Epson inkjet printer. It happen if the printer isn't used for a while. I had to rescue my R300 by flushing it through with the 'Print Hospital' kit. The secret to keeping them working, is to print a test page every couple of weeks, if its not been used for normal printing jobs. Dave

Unfortunately, not all compatibles are the same, and some just aren't at all good, albeit I've only ever tried them on the Epson. I was recommended Jetec, tried them, and have been using them ever since. They came out top of the compatibles group, in two magazine reviews. I've yet to try them on the Canon Pixma, but I will in due course. I get mine from Britink, but Premier and other retailers also stock them. Dave

Not far from Flatford Mill etc, at this end Dave

Thanks Richard Dave

Hi ........? I haven't experienced any green tint problems as yet with the R300, albeit its now several years old, but maybe its something that will happen eventually. However, if and when problems occur, and it gets 'pensioned off', the Canon will be a worthy replacement. Dave

Hmmm? I don't know why some of the text is highlighted, but not having any edit facility as yet, I can't do anything about it. Dave

A bit 'late to the party' on this one, but then I only joined the forum yesterday I have always been a Epson man, when it comes to inkjet printers for photographic work, and my faithful, and now 'long in the tooth' printer is an Epson Stylus Photo R300 (5 ink). Recently, considering that my R300 won't last for ever, I thought I'd give Canon a try, and bought the Pixma ip7250. I don't print that many photographs, and am not a competition or exhibition man, so I didn't need a 'high end' A3 printer. Having a good stock of both Epson and Ilford premium glossy photo paper, I tried both of these on the Canon, and the results were very disappointing, with poor colour balance and lacking the vibrancy of the Epson prints. Suspecting that the Canon might be critical when it comes to photo paper profile, I bought some Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy ll. With this in the Canon printer, the results were very acceptable, at the default colour balance settings. The Epson still has the edge, but the Canon prints are pretty close. Even though the Canon is missing the additional Light Cyan and Light Magenta of the five colour line-up of the Epson, the 1 pico litre print heads of the Canon seem to enable it to fill in the gaps (transitions) very well indeed, and I cannot see any transitions difference between the Canon prints and those from the Epson, with its larger 3 pico litre print heads. With further experimentation, I found it is possible to obtain good prints from the Canon, using Epson or Ilford paper, but the colour balance settings need to be wildly different to those for Canon's own brand paper. So, the 'bottom line' is that I'm now very happy with the Canon Pixma iP7205. I now need to compare the running cost of the Canon with the Epson. I should add that for a long time now, I have been using Jetec compatible ink cartridges in the Epson R300, and am unable to tell the difference in print quality, between prints made with Epson original, and Jetec ink. Some of these Jetec printed photos are quite old now, and still look the same as Epson ink prints of the same age. Dave

A friendly bunch indeed, thank you for the warm welcome. All of my astro imaging is done with dedicated astro imaging cameras (not my DSLR), which are Peltier Cooled down to around 30 degrees below ambient. in order to keep the thermal noise down during very long exposures. Therefore, it wouldn't be representative to post these on a photography forum. However, you are welcome to visit my website at: http://www.progressiveastroimaging.com/davesastronomy/ where there are some images displayed. Dave

Thanks Tina and Denis. Looks like a nice friendly set-up you have here, unlike some forums I've seen BTW, probably me 'not seeing the wood for the trees', or a 'senior moment', but I don't see a facility for editing ones 'post' once 'posted' ? Dave

Hi to all at TIPF My name is Dave, and am located in the beautiful 'Constable Country' area of South Suffolk. A keen photographer for more years than I can remember. Also an astro-imager and co-owner of an astro-imaging forum. I have been a member of a dedicated Canon user forum for some time, but thought I would have look at a forum with a broader spectrum of interest, and came across this forum. Looking forward to getting to know folk here, and contributing where I can. Dave