Periscope (remember that?) Table of Contents (archive)
Links and notes from a daily Periscope experiment I did in 2015. For the latest chineSecrets shows click here.
Newest links at top – scroll down for older goodness.
151013: Cheap and Easy Single-Serve Pourover Coffee Hack
151009: My Favourite Barefoot Running Gear
151002: Coffee hacking take 2 & 1 month recap of daily Periscopes
151001: #InternationalCoffeeDay Hack: how to make the best Pourover Coffee with this $15 stainless steel tea strainer (updated 151013)
150930: Top Tips to help make Adobe Lightroom Faster
150929: Celebrating #NationalCoffeeDay by sharing 2 of my favourite coffee makers and a 15% COUPON CODE
150928: The Best $20 You Can Spend to Keep Your Stuff Safe
150925: Photo Shoot Location Scouting & Catching Leaves
150924: Busy-Season Fitness: Getting back in shape with 5 minute workouts
150923: The Best Ultra-Compact Travel Tripod
150922: Pro-Photographer Multiple Memory Card Reader Setup
150921: How we roll (literally): my favourite photo travel bag setup
150918: On the road with DQ: 3 top travel tips
150917: Travel-worthy Photo Tripod Shoot-out: Mefoto Backpacker vs Dolica 570DS
150916: Our Photo Gear Cave
150915: Why this Photographer loves this Camcorder
150914: Coffee with DQ: We have a 13yr old! The “Sex talk” and what we did on his birthday
150911:Neurotic Pro Photographer’s digital image backup system
150910: Chemex Coffee Brewing Hack
150903: Ergonomic Keyboard Setup
151013: Cheap and Easy Single-Serve Pourover Coffee Hack
A follow-up to our popular popular pourover coffee hack. In that periscope we brewed 2 cups. But what if you only need one?
It won’t work. No matter how fine the grind, the shape and size of that tea infuser is too large to allow proper extraction (in other words: the water runs through the grinds too quickly).
Not to fear because this SMALLER version of the tea infuser is the solution.
Why it’s awesome:
- flat bottom and cylindrical shape allows for more even extraction
- this infuser + 16oz mason jar = perfect fit to make 1 cup
- small size of filter limits pour speed which promotes better extraction
- green and easy cleanup
What you need:
- great coffee beans!
- this extra-fine tea infuser
- 16oz widemouth mason jar (regular mouth works too)
- burr grinder
- scale
- bonus: variable temperature gooseneck kettle
How to Make the Best Single-Serve Pourover Coffee with this cheap hack:
Tip: for best results, hack exact.
- grind just a bit coarser than espresso – aim for total brew time of ~3 minutes (including 30sec bloom)
- coffee:water ratio for 1 cup = 20g/290g Best to measure out your beans with a scale, but 290g of water conveniently goes up to the bottom of this filter/tea infuser in the 16oz mason jar
- Gently pour 200°F water over ground coffee. If beans are gassy, let bloom for 30 seconds, then continue pouring water until brewed coffee almost reaches base of filter (~290g of water)
- pour and enjoy!
151009: My Favourite Barefoot Running Gear
Click here to replay the Periscope (only available 24hrs from broadcast)
Been running barefoot for 5 years and loving it. Not for everyone, and DEFINITELY don’t do what I did (like jumping in full force and running barefoot for months …. Before my body adjusted and loves it). My favourite barefoot “runners” are actually Luna Sandals. I own MANY pairs of Luna’s but my favourite balance of comfort and grip are the Luna Mono’s. Great for everything from splunking through rivers to hill sprints. I also love their leather-topped Venado’s for wearing around town. All summer I’m sporting either the mono’s for running or the Venado’s for more stylish affairs. You can find a few on Amazon, but for best selection, checkout their website here.
151002: Coffee hacking take 2 & 1 month recap of daily Periscopes
Click here to replay the Periscope (only available 24hrs from broadcast)
151001: #InternationalCoffeeDay Hack: how to make the best Pourover Coffee with this $15 stainless steel tea strainer
Celebrating #InternationalCoffeeDay by sharing this cheap but amazingly awesome Pourover Coffee Hack!
Why it’s awesome:
- flat bottom and cylindrical shape allows for more even extraction
- this infuser + 32oz mason jar = perfect fit to make 2 cups
- small size of filter limits pour speed which promotes better extraction
- green and easy cleanup
What you need:
- great coffee beans!
- this $15 stainless steel tea strainer
- 32oz widemouth mason jar
- burr grinder
- scale
- bonus: variable temperature gooseneck kettle
How to Make the Best Pourover Coffee with this cheap hack:
Tip: for best results, hack exact.
- grind slightly finer than drip – aim for total brew time of ~4 minutes (including 30sec bloom)
- coffee:water ratio for 2 cups = 40g/590g Best to measure out your beans with a scale, but 590g of water conveniently goes up to the bottom of this filter in the 32oz mason jar
- Gently pour 200°F water over ground coffee. If beans are gassy, let bloom for 30 seconds, then continue pouring water until brewed coffee almost reaches base of filter (~590g of water)
- pour and enjoy!
Resources: thesweethome.com coffee maker review that led to my “ah-ha!” moment
150930: Top Tips to help make Adobe Lightroom Faster
If you use Lightroom, I hope at least one of these tips can help you spend less time in front of a computer and more time doing what you love with those you love.
Click here for the full write-up and more Lightroom tips.
150929: Celebrating #NationalCoffeeDay by sharing 2 of my favourite coffee makers and a 15% COUPON CODE
With an open flame, gravity-defying water and paraphernalia that look more Breaking Bad than coffee brewing, the Hario Syphon Coffee Maker is one of my favourite ways to showcase coffee.
If you’re a coffee lover and want to level-up your presentation, this is the method to beat.
On the other end of the spectrum, one of the easiest, no-fuss methods of making GREAT coffee is by using my favourite French Press Coffee Maker.
Bonus: use coupon code RYSCZN4W at checkout to get 15% off.
150928: The Best $20 You Can Spend to Keep Your Stuff Safe
Whether you’re bringing your bag to the coffee shop or leaving it in the car, this resettable cable lock is cheap insurance against the casual thief.
I also have these cheap zipper locks on every bag that leaves the house. Decidedly NOT theft-proof, but just something to keep the honest-ish people more honest.
If somebody wants to take your stuff bad enough, nothing can stop them. But for us this is $20 of cheap insurance.
150925: Photo Shoot Location Scouting & Catching Leaves
Click here to replay the Periscope (only available 24hrs from broadcast)
150924: Busy-Season Fitness: Getting back in shape with 5 minute workouts
It’s wedding editing season and we’re swamped … as usual. Travels, work, and after-school activities are all piling up and my mid-section is showing it.
Click here to replay the Periscope (only available 24hrs from broadcast)
Don’t have time (or energy) for long continuous workouts, so easing back into shape with the help of the Pomodoro technique and 5 minute workouts.
There’s a lot of pomodoro timer apps for every platform both free and paid. Right now I’m liking this free pomodoro app for Mac.
Let’s get fit together! Checkout our home gym setup here.
150923: The Best Ultra-Compact Travel Tripod
I’ve been on a bent to find the very best ultra-light travel tripod to add to our arsenal. I’m so excited about this tripod that is taller, shorter, beefier, and less than half the price (?!?) of the industry leading Mefoto backpacker.
I present to you, the Dolica 570SL:
WARNING: Don’t get the wrong one!! The Dolica DS is NOT recommended (the video above explains why). So be sure to use the link to get the SL version.
150922: Pro-Photographer Multiple Memory Card Reader Setup
I’ve just updated our blog post on the Best Memory Card Reader Setup. Simplicity and speed = happy Davey 🙂
150921: How we roll (literally): my favourite photo travel bag setup
Roll through airports with ease with this ultimate photo travel setup.
Importantly, this roller is smaller than its bigger brother and can convert to a backpack when you really get squeezed.
Bonus rice points: we never travel without a luggage scale to avoid excess weight and baggage fees. SHWING!
150918: On the road with DQ: 3 top travel tips
- Tether EVERYTHING (including memory cards, rental car keys and your wallet. My favourite travel wallet can do it all).
- Switch timezones immediately after boarding to get your brain/body started with the next timezone and, importantly, to avoid a missed connection. I wear this slim, inexpensive solar-powered watch for travels and hiking.
- Use pouches to group items by place they’ll be used. I’ve got dedicated pouches for the airplane (earphones, lip balm, USB battery pack etc), rental car (dash mount, USB car charger and cables) and for the hotel: our epic travel charging kit.
150917: Travel-worthy Photo Tripod Shoot-out: Mefoto Backpacker vs Dolica 570DS
The seemingly gold standard of back-packable tripods compared to a cheaper, less-known brand with better specs and features.
Spoiler alert: neither will replace a decent full-size tripod and I’m not truly happy with either model so I’ve ordered this variation below in the hopes it solves my gripes:
I plan to do a future Periscope once I get it in and put it through it’s paces. Stay tuned ….
150916: Our Photo Gear Cave
Click here to replay the Periscope (only available 24hrs from broadcast)
You can find our current photo gear here.
Other little tools in my gear cave I can’t live without include a set of adjustable pliers, gripper shelf liner (so many uses including being better than a dedicated set of lens wrenches for removing stuck filters!), yellow painters tape for labeling, and a never-ending supply of gaffers tape (cut, of course, with teflon coated non-stick scissors).
150915: Why this Photographer loves this Camcorder
Better than a my smartphone, favourite point&shoot or DSLR at capturing everyday family life. You’ll cherish videos of loved ones in years to come more and more.
150914: Coffee with DQ: We have a 13yr old! The “Sex talk” and what we did on his birthday
150911:Neurotic Pro Photographer’s digital image backup system
Admittedly neurotic, but hey: people pay us to make pictures so it’s justified 🙂
SHOOT -> EDIT -> FINISHED
Post-SHOOT: all RAW files
Use Photo Mechanic to ingest all memory cards at once onto 2 portable hard drives.
Use Chronosync to clone onto additional two 3.5 hard drives (double USB3 dock).
![Sabrent USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay External Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD, SSD with Hard Drive Duplicator/Cloner Function [4TB Support] (EC-HDD2)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416b5ezTyIL.jpg)
FINISHED FILES:
Backed up onto 2x Portable HD, 2x 3.5 HD and finished full-size JPEG’s backed up online to Smugmug (unlimited online JPEG storage!).
All working and finished HD’s that are NOT backed up online are kept in Pelican cases (shock/water/dust protection).
Never keep all HD’s together: when traveling we carry our portable copies and leave others at home.
150910: Chemex Coffee Brewing Hack
Too cheap to purchase the reusable stainless steel Able Kone filter, I tried (and liked!) using this tea strainer as my Chemex coffee filter.
I’m always changing up the daily brew, but my “desert island” coffee maker would be this Chemex 6-cup with handle.
150903: Ergonomic Keyboard Setup
For years I’ve been searching for my “Holy Grail” of office ergonomics. It took me a couple of weeks to get used to the split keyboard, and I didn’t get the VIP lifter/pads until a year later, but the set together is BOMB. It totally removed wrist-pain since the angle of the keyboard allows your wrists to stay in a more natural ankle. I love it so much I have a 2 sets: one for my iMAC and another for my Macbook Pro setup 🙂
