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One other suggestion for taking pictures: if your camera has a macro mode, it might be worth giving that a try. I know with my small digital camera, I've been finding that turning that on is helpful because I'm often trying to take a picture of the disk with the camera pretty close. In normal modes, the camera is just too close to focus properly.

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With my digital, which has a portrait mode, I use that mode and then zoom in as closely as possible to get as close and clear as possible. Still, with the damage some of the disks have taken from nature and/or people who seem to think they have nothing better to do, some are really hard to read or unreadable.

 

One other suggestion for taking pictures: if your camera has a macro mode, it might be worth giving that a try. I know with my small digital camera, I've been finding that turning that on is helpful because I'm often trying to take a picture of the disk with the camera pretty close. In normal modes, the camera is just too close to focus properly.

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With my digital, which has a portrait mode, I use that mode and then zoom in as closely as possible to get as close and clear as possible. Still, with the damage some of the disks have taken from nature and/or people who seem to think they have nothing better to do, some are really hard to read or unreadable.

 

The only thing I'd watch with portrait modes is that they tend to take a soft picture. With a hard to read disk, that might actually make it harder to read.

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Dolphin and Bear have decided not to revisit the ten or so Tidal Markers that they found last weekend. They are at 3-5 feet above mean high water. Well, we had 7" of rain Sunday (we average 3.9" for April). The river that runs through my town is about seven feet above mean high water. Third worst flooding in the thirty years that I've lived here. So, I have no benchmark submissions for Sunday. :D

Hopefully, the river has crested, or I may find myself on an island by morning.

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Dolphin and Bear have decided not to revisit the ten or so Tidal Markers that they found last weekend. They are at 3-5 feet above mean high water. Well, we had 7" of rain Sunday (we average 3.9" for April). The river that runs through my town is about seven feet above mean high water. Third worst flooding in the thirty years that I've lived here. So, I have no benchmark submissions for Sunday. :(

Hopefully, the river has crested, or I may find myself on an island by morning.

 

Hey Harry,

 

Are going to change your name to Gilligan? Are you still stranded on an island?? Is the weather better this weekend? Hope so...you are about to break 100 points in the contest! B)

 

Shirley~

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I've already done the two easy ones: Ophidia and Ogdensburg. There are a few on the grounds of Alcatel/Lucent, but you can't gt to them. No O's in any of the Oranges in NJ. Orange in Orange County NY (Port Jervis) is buried in the lawn of a small manicured park, if it's still there. So, the nearest ones that look plausible are down the shore (Oceanic), or at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. So, I'm guess I'm waiting for the time limit to expire on Ophidia. :laughing:

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I was looking through the contest submissions because I like to look at some of the DNFs that people have found. I have seen some that are reported in the contest logging thread as DNFs, but all the entries on the geocache page are "found it" and nothing on the NGS data sheet says DNF either.

 

LY2267

 

AX1283

 

just curious how these are DNFs, because I highly respect the folks that found them, and I am sure there is a reason I am just not seeing.

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I was looking through the contest submissions because I like to look at some of the DNFs that people have found. I have seen some that are reported in the contest logging thread as DNFs, but all the entries on the geocache page are "found it" and nothing on the NGS data sheet says DNF either.

 

LY2267

 

AX1283

 

just curious how these are DNFs, because I highly respect the folks that found them, and I am sure there is a reason I am just not seeing.

 

There are many PMs sent during the contest concerning log entries for the contest.

 

These PMs run the gamut from letting a person know the find didn't qualify and "why", to asking if they posted the wrong link, to even letting the contestant know that they could change their post from "REG" to "DNF" or some other designation.

 

The 2 links you have questions about, both received a PM and both have read & acknowledged those PMs. We have chosen to use this method for 2 reasons. First, it helps keep the "Logging" thread clean, and we see no reason to make public comments about the errors or problems with any particular log entry. We feel that the public will see the scoreboard and deduce that there was a problem with 1 or more of the contestants logs and realize that the scorekeeper is doing his job. If you should see where the scorekeeper missed something, by all means let him know with a PM.

 

If you watch the weekly updates you will be able to see which find didn't get allowed for the contest. If you have specific questions about a log entry you can PM us with your questions, and we will reply as soon as possible with the decision we made and our reasoning behind that decision.

 

If you have any questions about the rules of the contest and need clarification, please ask here in this thread.

 

John

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LoL... thanks Harry... I hit a lucky streak of culverts. One after another every .5 to .8 mile apart from each other with a disk on it... but some were new... and... and... the uh, sun was in my eyes... oh, wait a minute... it was half past midnight... ok, I was tired... ok, maybe not as tired as when I got home at 4am 2 weeks previous... I'm clearing so many around my home area, that I might as well just find a place to camp for the night and then hunt for more on my way back home.... It's been fun....

Seen lots of interesting people, places and things....

 

It should be noted that Doc Geo did NOT make a clean sweep! On 4/21 he only located 20 of the 26 disks in the series _ 819! We are not accepting as an excuse that I 819, K 819, O 819, and Z 819 are not listed in NGS! With 52 recoveries, he could have done two complete series!!! :lol:

Congrats, Doc Geo!

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You're just a little to late to get in on this contest.

 

We will probably have another in the fall or maybe next spring, depending how ambitious we get and if we can find some prizes that aren't very expensive & appropriate to benchmarking.

 

We also have to come up with a contest idea that will make it fun for everyone from the "old" timers to the newbies.

 

John

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ARGH!! I'm being beaten by this contest!! all we get are the crappy one pointers. Why oh why can't we find a wrongly logged one? Or how bout those three elusive letters to complete the bonus phrase or how bout just for once finding a destroyed???

 

I think we need to move to another state. :o

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Don't move to Illinois hoping to find more benchmarks. I haven't kept track but I bet I've looked for at least a half dozen benchmarks for every one I've found here.

 

I don't like Illinois anyways. J/K!

 

Well, if I could count all the WIDOT benchmarks I'd have a nifty total. I can't pass them up cause, well, I have to attempt to find every benchmark in a given county. That includes those not listed on GC. Yeah, I'm a sadist.

 

I am hoping to go after work and grab a few before I have to go back to do a wedding rehearsal. I'll look cute going back covered in dirt. :o The things I do for this hobby.

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Long as you don't show up for the actual wedding with dirt all over the tux, they may let it slide. The first half dozen I looked for today were either destroyed or plowed over by farmers. Surprising how many more urban ones survive in Illinois.

 

LOL Actually, I'm not the one getting married. Did that nearly 10 years ago. I work at the largest planetarium in the state and we do weddings "under the stars". I have to be there to run all the computers and Digistar (that great thing that puts all the stars on the dome).

 

sorry to hear about your streak of bad luck at finding any marks. Here's to finding a few more!!

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Did keep looking until I finally at least found 10. One, KB1311 is called a Vortec by the people who established it as a benchmark. It's about the weirdest one I've ever seen and I was the first to log it. Hope you found some on the way to rehearsal.

 

That is a cool find!! We've got nothing like that here. Although we did manage to find our oldest BM date today..... 1926.

 

Tried for another 1872 but it started raining and well, the description was sketchy at best. We are hoping for better weather as we think we know the general location. Now to just talk to some of the locals and see if we can't get permission to take a look.

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Yeah, there are a couple I'm going to try to get permission to check out.

How close are you to Ohio? There are a couple vortacs there and a couple in Illinois.

 

Did keep looking until I finally at least found 10. One, KB1311 is called a Vortec by the people who established it as a benchmark. It's about the weirdest one I've ever seen and I was the first to log it. Hope you found some on the way to rehearsal.

 

That is a cool find!! We've got nothing like that here. Although we did manage to find our oldest BM date today..... 1926.

 

Tried for another 1872 but it started raining and well, the description was sketchy at best. We are hoping for better weather as we think we know the general location. Now to just talk to some of the locals and see if we can't get permission to take a look.

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Yeah, there are a couple I'm going to try to get permission to check out.

How close are you to Ohio? There are a couple vortacs there and a couple in Illinois.

 

Uh, I'm a 4 hours drive north of Chicago....so quite a bit aways unfortunately. :(

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well, you can always check out the one in Alaska. There are also some neat ones in the Upper Peninsula should you be wandering up that way....

 

Yeah, there are a couple I'm going to try to get permission to check out.

How close are you to Ohio? There are a couple vortacs there and a couple in Illinois.

 

Uh, I'm a 4 hours drive north of Chicago....so quite a bit aways unfortunately. :(

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Didn't mean there are vortacs as bench marks in the Upper Peninsula. Just some interesting looking bench marks.

 

Yeah, there are a couple I'm going to try to get permission to check out.

How close are you to Ohio? There are a couple vortacs there and a couple in Illinois.

 

Uh, I'm a 4 hours drive north of Chicago....so quite a bit aways unfortunately. :(

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I have a quick question regarding the 2OLDFARTS counter, need a clarification/ruling:

 

If the designation says one thing and the (obviously correct) station marker is not marked quite the same, which one do I use for the 2OLDFARTS bonus? The PID in question is MD0163, whose designation is DAB 24. The actual station disc reads 24 DAB. Do I use the D or the 2 ?? Or a choice?

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I have a quick question regarding the 2OLDFARTS counter, need a clarification/ruling:

 

If the designation says one thing and the (obviously correct) station marker is not marked quite the same, which one do I use for the 2OLDFARTS bonus? The PID in question is MD0163, whose designation is DAB 24. The actual station disc reads 24 DAB. Do I use the D or the 2 ?? Or a choice?

 

Everybody else has used the designation on the benchmark page.

 

From the rules Quote - Spell "2oldfarts" using the 1st digit of the designation (they must be listed in the GC.com database) of benchmarks that you find. - Unquote

 

John

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QUESTION.....

 

What happens when we found the remnants of a BM (the concrete stump and rebar) and the previous loggers have recorded "found" even though their pixs clearly indicate the same remnant of the concrete stump and rebar we have found?

 

Would this count for the contest as an incorrect log, even though it is clearly a DNF (and destroyed)?

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QUESTION.....

 

What happens when we found the remnants of a BM (the concrete stump and rebar) and the previous loggers have recorded "found" even though their pixs clearly indicate the same remnant of the concrete stump and rebar we have found?

 

Would this count for the contest as an incorrect log, even though it is clearly a DNF (and destroyed)?

 

Wow! Good question.

 

I will defer to John on this one. He is at work right now and will answer this after he gets home and thinks this one through.

 

Shirley~

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QUESTION.....

 

What happens when we found the remnants of a BM (the concrete stump and rebar) and the previous loggers have recorded "found" even though their pixs clearly indicate the same remnant of the concrete stump and rebar we have found?

 

Would this count for the contest as an incorrect log, even though it is clearly a DNF (and destroyed)?

 

Wow! Good question.

 

I will defer to John on this one. He is at work right now and will answer this after he gets home and thinks this one through.

 

Shirley~

 

No worries. I haven't even started logging our BM hunting weekend. You're going to be busy. )

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QUESTION.....

 

What happens when we found the remnants of a BM (the concrete stump and rebar) and the previous loggers have recorded "found" even though their pixs clearly indicate the same remnant of the concrete stump and rebar we have found?

 

Would this count for the contest as an incorrect log, even though it is clearly a DNF (and destroyed)?

 

A nice easy question. Now for the nice easy answer......Did you "Find" the benchmark that was logged in error? If so, post the picture showing the correct benchmark in your log and collect 15 points.

 

The more difficult answer is...Did the previous finder find the remains of the designated benchmark? Did you find the remains of that benchmark? If so, what is its condition? Perhaps "found in destroyed condition"? Is that 'found', in error?

 

From the rules, you must find the benchmark that was logged in error. For example, did someone log "DART" when they should have logged "B 103"? If so, did you find "B 103"? That would have been finding a benchmark that was logged in error.

 

If you need a more difinitive answer, please send us some pictures or a link to them and we will make a more specific decision.

 

John

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With my digital, which has a portrait mode, I use that mode and then zoom in as closely as possible to get as close and clear as possible. Still, with the damage some of the disks have taken from nature and/or people who seem to think they have nothing better to do, some are really hard to read or unreadable.

 

One other suggestion for taking pictures: if your camera has a macro mode, it might be worth giving that a try. I know with my small digital camera, I've been finding that turning that on is helpful because I'm often trying to take a picture of the disk with the camera pretty close. In normal modes, the camera is just too close to focus properly.

 

Not exactly correct...portrait modes will tend to use a larger aperature, and then by nature a higher shutter speed. The larger aperature will tend to throw the background out of focus, which is pleasing in a portrait because it draws attention to your subject. However, your focus point will still be sharp.

 

My wife has a point and shoot that I often use for benchmarking because it's easier to haul around than one of our SLRs. As piper28 previously mentioned, macro modes can work better because they are designed for closer work. On ours, it's designated by a picture of a flower. While doing close work like photographing benchmarks, the camera will often have trouble auto focusing if in one of the standard modes.

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

Edited by andylphoto
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With my digital, which has a portrait mode, I use that mode and then zoom in as closely as possible to get as close and clear as possible. Still, with the damage some of the disks have taken from nature and/or people who seem to think they have nothing better to do, some are really hard to read or unreadable.

 

One other suggestion for taking pictures: if your camera has a macro mode, it might be worth giving that a try. I know with my small digital camera, I've been finding that turning that on is helpful because I'm often trying to take a picture of the disk with the camera pretty close. In normal modes, the camera is just too close to focus properly.

 

Not exactly correct...portrait modes will tend to use a larger aperature, and then by nature a higher shutter speed. The larger aperature will tend to throw the background out of focus, which is pleasing in a portrait because it draws attention to your subject. However, your focus point will still be sharp.

 

My wife has a point and shoot that I often use for benchmarking because it's easier to haul around than one of our SLRs. As piper28 previously mentioned, macro modes can work better because they are designed for closer work. On ours, it's designated by a picture of a flower. While doing close work like photographing benchmarks, the camera will often have trouble auto focusing if in one of the standard modes.

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

 

Yes, I put my digital SLR (Canon D20) about a foot or two above the disk but I have a zoom lens on it (comes in very handy for taking pictures of disks through chainlink fences...) so I don't have to go to macro mode. The problem I used to have is night pictures. In my auto mode, the camera will pop the flash up and send several short blasts of light to illuminate the object so it can focus on it. Works great when taking the close up pic of the disk, but when I back off and try to get a pic of it and the setting around it, the camera won't focus because there's not enough light from the mini-flashes to illuminate the scene.

 

Solution: Shine my flashlight at the center of the scene. Now the camera has enough light to focus with and the flashlight beam is mostly washed out by the camera's flash when it goes off....

 

Barry

aka Doc Geo

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With my digital, which has a portrait mode, I use that mode and then zoom in as closely as possible to get as close and clear as possible. Still, with the damage some of the disks have taken from nature and/or people who seem to think they have nothing better to do, some are really hard to read or unreadable.

 

One other suggestion for taking pictures: if your camera has a macro mode, it might be worth giving that a try. I know with my small digital camera, I've been finding that turning that on is helpful because I'm often trying to take a picture of the disk with the camera pretty close. In normal modes, the camera is just too close to focus properly.

 

Not exactly correct...portrait modes will tend to use a larger aperature, and then by nature a higher shutter speed. The larger aperature will tend to throw the background out of focus, which is pleasing in a portrait because it draws attention to your subject. However, your focus point will still be sharp.

 

My wife has a point and shoot that I often use for benchmarking because it's easier to haul around than one of our SLRs. As piper28 previously mentioned, macro modes can work better because they are designed for closer work. On ours, it's designated by a picture of a flower. While doing close work like photographing benchmarks, the camera will often have trouble auto focusing if in one of the standard modes.

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

 

Portrait modes will work just fine for getting a picture of a benchmark disk. The depth of field is less than 1/2 inch (from the top of the disk to the top of the concrete) so the disk will be in focus and the concrete will be easily recognized and in focus enough to have a good picture.

 

In low light, that wider aperature will allow the extra light needed to get the better picture.

 

John

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The benchmark contest ends tonight at 11:59 PM AZ time (That's less than 20 minutes from now).

 

Contestants will have until Friday at 7:00 PM AZ time to get all your finds logged. We will tally the scores and post them in these forums with further instructions (if needed) for the contestants.

 

Thank you all for participating and finding an amazing number of benchmarks. We will have some figures to post once the logging is done. Currently there has been over 2800 benchmarks logged for the contest.

 

Well done,

 

John & Shirley

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AYE! CARUMBA! I stayed up till 0200 last night this morning trying to get 'em all logged! :P

Looks as if I will have time to link those no-finds to the NGS datasheets after all. :D

 

It's been fun, but I'm ready for things to get back to 'normal'. :blink:

 

Hear! Hear! I'm not sure I remember what normal is... What "will" I do now that I have a free weekend...

AZCacheMeister, I like you style... If you ever get to Austin, we need to go on a geocaching tour....

 

Several challenging caches here and Austin is a "cache-rich environment".

 

Just read the note saying we have until Friday to log our finds, so I guess my last post counts after all....

If I had known that, I would have stayed in Houston longer.... :D

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