The hardware

When setting up more than two monitors, it’s important to pick your video card wisely. Most cards, including many consumer and entry level cards, will support two screens out of the box. When shopping for a card that supports more than that, be sure to check the specs to make sure it supports the number of screens you want. Also, your main use of the setup will guide how much you may want to spend. A gaming setup will need a more powerful card(s) than one that is only used for productivity.

I chose a Radeon HD6870 from Sapphire as the basis for my setup. At the time of purchase, I only had two screens and used it primarily for playing Final Fantasy XIV. My card featured two DVI ports, one HDMI, and two Mini DisplayPorts. More importantly, the card supported AMD Eyefinity. More on that later.

Even though there are five outputs, this particular card will only support up to four monitors: two DVI and two via DisplayPort. However, if your monitors do not have native DisplayPort inputs, you will only be able to drive two DVI monitors out of the box. How do you get around this? The expensive way is to buy a matching card and run them in Crossfire (AMD) or SLI (nVidia) mode. This would effectively double your video processing power but also drive up the cost, require a motherboard that supports this configuration, and a power supply that can feed two power-hungry GPUs.

The cost effective way is to get an adapter to convert the DisplayPort (or mini DisplayPort depending on the card) to DVI. There are a lot of adapters on the market that do this, but be careful when buying one! There are two types:

• Passive Adapter – These simply tells the DisplayPort that you are connecting a DVI device and won’t convert the signal. They are typically cheap to buy (around $10) and not usually marked with any special verbiage. Even some more expensive adapters found in stores (like Apple’s $30 miniDP to DVI adapter) are passive and WILL NOT WORK for this. Example of a passive adapter.

• Active Adapter – These adapters contain more circuitry in them that actually converts the DisplayPort signal to DVI. As far as the computer is concerned, you are hooking up a DisplayPort device. These adapters are a little more expensive (around $30) but don’t look any different than their passive brethren. Example of an active adapter (and the one I purchased).

So besides price and description, how can you tell which adapters are active and which are passive? AMD actually has a nice list of validated dongles. The list includes the higher priced DP to Dual Link active adapters needed to support the ultra-high resolution monitors (usually 25in.+), the DP to Single Link active adapters like the one above, and the DP to Single Link passive adapters. Just remember, an active adapter is necessary!

The Software

One you get all the hardware in place, it’s time to set up the software. Since I have an AMD card, I’ll be covering that setup process. nVidia users should have a similar experience.

Provided you have all of the right adapters, your system should boot up and recognize all three displays. If you are just setting up for productivity, I would recommend using the Windows control panel:

Here you can arrange the displays as they are on your desk, enable spanning across all screens, and set the main display. The main display is where your start menu and task bar will live. Keep in mind that the numbers are somewhat arbitrary, usually in the order that the GPU recognizes them. In my case, the DisplayPort screen is identified as 1. That doesn’t really matter much, as long as they are arranged in the right way here.

If you are going to want to game across all three screens, you will need to set up an Eyefinity group via the Catalyst Control Center. Most games won’t recognize multiple monitors out of the box, so even “full screen” mode will only maximize to your main monitor. What Eyefinity does is combine all of your displays (or the displays of your choice) into a single display. Instead of having three distinct displays, Windows and all applications will see one high resolution display.

When you maximize a window in this mode, it will fill all three screens, instead of just one. To set this up, fire up the Catalyst Control Center (CCC), navigate to the Eyefinith Multi-display section, and create a group. Follow the on-screen prompts to arrange and set up the monitors the way you want them.

Once that’s done, it’s now time to set up the games you’ll be playing. Since this is a much higher resolution than you were used to playing on before, you will likely have to tweak some settings in order to keep the frame rates up and in a playable range. Also, be sure to set the resolution properly and select the full screen option to get the maximum effect!

Lastly, since I usually switch between the Eyefinity setup and “standard” desktop setup quite frequently, I created some presets in the CCC. This allows me to easily go between the two via the CCC menu on the taskbar:

To set up a preset, arrange your displays to how you want them via CCC, then click “Add Preset.” Then change the settings to the alternate configuration and add another preset. Here you can see the two presets I’ve created, one for the Eyefinity spanned mode (for gaming) and the other for the standard 3 screen mode (for productivity).

Once everything is set up properly, give it a go with your favorite game. It’ll probably take some getting used to, but in many games, having the extra real estate is worth it!

Before

The existing dual stand is in the left corner holding the center and left monitors. The right monitor is sitting on the original base and a few volumes of manga. XD

To solve the problem, I went with a triple monitor stand that mounted to the desk. It arrived a few days later, even though I selected economy shipping!

The box contents are well packed, though I would never be able to get everything back in there in the same order… The stand consists of two long curved arms, a center mounting pole, clamp for the desk, and a large bag of screws. Each monitor is mounted independently prior to installation on the base.

Before installing the mount on my desk, I assembled the full mount and made sure it all fit together. I didn’t need any surprises while holding a 23 inch monitor!

The mounting plates for the monitor are nicely designed. The middle mount slides into a bracket at the center. The left and right mounts slide in from either end and clamp down for stability. For me, there is a slight design flaw with the center mount, more on that later. Since the monitors have VESA mounts, they attach easily with four screws.

Now that the screens are mounted, time for the final assembly! Installing the base to the desk was a cinch, the clamp is very sturdy and holds well. The top half of the clamp has some foam padding to minimize scratching if your desk is delicate.

Now time to install the first monitor. Here’s where I started running into problems. The mounts slide over the cross bar and then clamp down. Since my desk is in a corner, I did the far left one first by shifting the stand off to the right, mounting the monitor, and then sliding the whole assembly back to the left.

Here’s what it looks like behind the monitor once it is installed. There is a nice lever at the back that allows you to tighten the clamp without tools. The end caps on the hinges also come off to access a screw for tightening the joint so it doesn’t flop around.

Another nice feature is the cable management system. The center pole is thick enough to contain wires from all three screens and includes a place to feed them. Unfortunately, the cables I’m using aren’t long enough to go through the system and still make it to the computer.

In all, this was an awesome way to mount three screens and save some space. I did discover one major downside in my setup though. For flexibility, each mount has full tilt, swivel, and rotate functionality. While on the surface this is great and cool, it does present a challenge for the size of the monitor bracket. Take the center mount for example…

The center mount is far too large with the added functionality. As a result, it doesn’t mount flush with the bar and instead protrudes quite a bit forward. I discovered that if I used the mount, the monitors would actually be hanging over half of the desk. Not a very good space saving design! The solution? Go back to standing the center monitor on it’s original stand. >.>

Despite the flaw, the three monitor stand is a really nice way to mount three widescreen monitors. At less than $100, this is certainly the most cost effective way to do it!

So what does a screenshot at 6144×1152 look like? It looks like this!

In February, D’Ann got her first doll. She’d been wanting one for some time so I hit up Volks to see if they still had any in stock. Fortunately, they still had a Miu available after the DP event so I picked her up. Even though it was still a few months before D’Ann’s birthday, I let it slip that I already had the present. Here’s what happened…

Early birthday present

Of course, Miu wasn’t the only doll to join our family this year. I had also acquired the newly released Saber Lily as well as Reimu! On the custom front, we brought in an MDD and another DDS (Umi and Kitsune). With the new dolls, we had to rethink our strategy for displaying them all…

With all these new dolls, the logical thing to do would be to take pictures of them. What better way to do that by traveling with them? They went everywhere with us this year, including to Raleigh for Animazement and our road trip to Saratoga Springs, NY, Ithaca, NY, Niagara Falls, and Louisville, KY.

Of course, we had a good time too…

Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls

Niagara at night

Lobby of the Seelbach Hilton in Louisville, KY

Horse racing at Saratoga Race Course

Dolls weren’t the only thing we took into our home this year! We also adopted a a Flame Point Siamese cat from a local animal rescue. His name is Dakota and he is a total sweetheart! His mellow temper really lets him get along with Sophie.

On the photography front, I started dabbling in the world of film again. Since we have a few classic film SLRs laying around, I started shooting a few rolls of film here and there instead of using the D7000. I’m pleased with the results and I’ll keep doing it! Taking away the crutch of digital really forces me to be a better (and more frugal) photographer. XD

My two “new” cameras, Canon AE-1 (left) and Nikon FE (right)

So far I only have samples from the Canon, but I’m looking forward to shooting with the Nikon in 2012! It’s significantly more advanced than the Canon in terms of features and it’ll also take the majority of my lenses!

Finally, the big news of the year is that D’Ann and I got engaged. We found the perfect ring in Louisville while browsing the estate jewelry section and knew it was the one for us! It has some beautiful details and features leaf patterns around the diamond.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I know of that shows her wearing it… XD

That’s it for 2011… I hope 2012 brings us just as much excitement!

Happy New Year!

You can choose from pink or silver for your part, as well as for DD or MDD. They’re also reasonably priced at about $40 and ship from Taiwan.

Packaging is also very simple, all that comes with it is the joint and a spare set of screws for if you lose the original ones. So how does the joint compare to the Volks original joint?

At first glance, they look about the same. The upper portion of the ball joint is slightly taller than the Volks one and there are not as many ribs in the portion that goes into the head.

When moving the joint around, we can start seeing the differences. The range of motion is much larger and can go a good 15 degrees more in every direction.

When mounted to the body, the difference becomes even more apparent! This should translate to a decent amount of head movement.

Here Rin has the new joint while Haruka has the original. Rin is able to tilt her head back a bit further and maintain that pose while Haruka will snap back to a much straighter position. It’s also important to note that the shape of the head will impact the angle that can be achieved, as the back of the head may prevent using the full range.

From looking at the design of the ball joint, it doesn’t appear that cutting the neck will yield any more motion as the ball comes almost completely flush with the top of the neck. A cut may give you a slight bit more, however you may already be limited by the back of the head hitting the neck.

Since making the initial purchase, I decided to replace all of the girls neck parts! The Cool Cats joint is much easier to pose with in every direction and gives much more flexibility in moving the head. At $40, it’s much more economical than the Dollfie World version (which is also not always in stock) and they are extremely reasonable with shipping. There is a downside with this version though, since the stem is mostly smooth, the head does not grip as well and detaches easily.

For more information on the Cool Cats Neck replacement part, visit their web site. You can also find them at their eBay store for the same price (plus $4 shipping).

For more information on the Dollfie World neck joint, visit their web site.

I’ve been lusting after a wide angle for some time now and I’d been considering this lens. At an MSRP of $399 for the initial AT-X Pro version ($499 for the AT-X Pro II) seemed a bargain compared to the $1000+ price tag of the Nikon equivalent. Even better, I got mine used from a local camera shop for less than that! A sucker for a good deal (and even nicer glass), I went ahead and picked it up. This would be my second piece of glass from Tokina, the first being the 100mm AT-X Pro Macro lens.

First things first, I noticed how well the lens feels to hold. It’s fairly weighty and gives nice balance to the D7000 body I’m using. Both the focus ring and zoom ring are a decent size, making them easy to use in hand.

Both the zoom ring and focus ring goes clockwise for increasing focal length and distance, which is right on par with standard Nikkor lenses. Sorry Canon fans, it’s “backwards” for you.

Another neat thing about some Tokina lenses is the clutch system used to engage manual focus. Pull back on the focus barrel to go into manual mode, push forward for auto. Kinda nice that you don’t have to take your hands off the lens to change, or hunt for a switch on the neck of the lens! The only real issue I have (and it’s really not a fault of the lens), is that it takes 77mm filters. Unfortunately, this doesn’t match any of the filters I already have in my collection so I’d have to get a new set for polarizers (and they’d have to be ultra thin, at that).

So what can you do with an ultra wide angle lens? The obvious answer would be for landscapes, but that’s not all it’s good for!

Here are some examples of wide angle shots. The first is a landscape and the second is a picture of my new desk. Both were shot at 12mm, so I was actually pretty close to both targets. This is a fairly obvious application, “getting more in the shot,” but there’s a lot more stuff you can do with a wide. It seems counter intuitive, but close up work can really benefit too!

In each of these shots, the object was very close to the minimum working distance of the lens (mouse in the first, camera in the second). In both photos, I set the aperture to f/4.0 triggered the shutter remotely. One thing I’ve noticed is the nice depth of field that comes in at maximum aperture, but the other cool thing is the interesting perspective effect that’s introduced. Lines that are supposed to be perpendicular are distorted more than with a standard lens.

Another great use is to squeeze in to those places for shots where you normally can’t. We were out and about one day and found this little bridge, which is pretty much 1/3 scale. It would be perfect for dolls, but how could I shoot from the bridge and look straight on at the girls? Answer? Use a wide angle!

Here’s Sakura and Miu on the bridge, the scale is just perfect! From behind, I could kneel on the bridge, zoom in slightly, and get both girls framed well.

More shots of Sakura, in the first picture you can see a bit of the distortion the lens introduces.

In all, the lens is great for a variety of purposes, from landscapes, to close up work, to doll portraits. And at the price range, practically a bargain compared to the competition!

It’s a great little shopping center with plenty to see. Mandarake operates most of the stores in the 3rd and 4th floor and many of the other shops deal largely in second hand goods. It’s typically less crowded than Akihabara and is completely indoors. Since it’s a bit less traveled, you can often find some interesting little gems!

Before getting on the train and heading out, we had to stop for something to eat. We picked a little restaurant on the way to Ikebukuro station that served a variety of food. I settled on the lunch special.

It was all sorts of yummy with a little fried chicken, cream filled croquet, egg, and miso soup. The bowl of rice was rather large, though the whole meal really hit the spot! After food, it was off to Nakano.

Once out of the station, the Nakano Broadway shopping center is right across the street. There’s a great little Taiyaki stand on the right hand side as well as a lot of good little restaurants inside the shopping area. The actual part we were looking for was the second area. Some of the shop names are oddly specific though…

Very descriptive tag line! Though I don’t see too many socks at first glance…. XD I wonder if they have American-style socks? Nakano Broadway has several floors of otaku goodness. We started at the top on the 4th floor and worked our way down. I noticed that the closer we got to the bottom, the more “normal” stores there were. Coincidence? Probably not. There are several stores dealing in animation cels, production booklets, posters, dolls, figures, and books.

I was particularly interested in the Kenshin cel, but it was being sold for 52,500 yen! That’s a little too much for my blood, and I’ve been trying to keep my spending down on this trip… I’ve been pretty successful so far! So what kind of stuff have I wound up with so far? Well…

Lots of stuff so far! My favorite is the IdolM@ster 360 box, which includes all the extras that were sold with the special edition of the game. The game wasn’t included, but I’m perfectly OK with that!

Yep, that’s rain in the forecast all the way through Tuesday… I’m leaving on Thursday afternoon. >.> Hopefully we’ll find enough to do despite the weather, but it really hinders what I want to do with photography! At least it gives me plenty of time to do shopping…

The flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo was about 4 hours and it was my first experience with a non-American airline. The flight was operated by ANA and it took some getting used to. Firstly, the announcements came in Japanese first, followed by somewhat broken English. Service was excellent and the food was pretty good. I wasn’t expecting to be served a meal on such a short flight, since it’s not something you see with an American carrier.

Getting into Tokyo was a breeze, immigration was quick, baggage claim was slow, and immigration was quick. Once on the outside though, the reality of how expensive the trip would be set in. The currency exchange was trading at 78 Yen per USD. Fortunately, travelers cheques were trading at 80 Yen to the dollar, so it wasn’t as bad. After a little problem with the hotel (they didn’t actually have the room we reserved), we got settled in to an upgraded room with an amazing view of the Tokyo skyline.

Off in the distance is Shinjuku and the DoCoMo clock tower. It truly was a spectacular view! Unfortunately, the weather wouldn’t hold and that turned into clouds the following day. No bother, we would be shopping most of the day in Ikebukuro and the Otaku mecca of Akihabara! We actually found a couple interesting shops in Ikebukuro, including several K-Books locations that dealt in second hand items. I managed to pick up a few artbooks and some CDs as well as browse a shop that handled doll clothing.

I also ran in to Darth Vader, who was looking for Droids, as well as an interesting kind of bar… I want to know what kind of drinks they specialize in!

The walk around Ikebukuro took a bit longer than expected, so we headed out to Akihabara around 3pm. By that time, the trains were starting to get crowded with all the students getting out of school and going to various places. 20 minutes later on the Yamanote train line and we arrived in Akihabara!

The rain didn’t let up at all while we were out there, so photo coverage was extremely limited. We’re definitely planning a second (maybe third?) trip!

First order of business was to get to my relative’s place from the airport. Hong Kong International Airport is huge and very modern. Since it’s on an island outside of the city, it’s connected to the mainland via a very large bridge. Unfortunately, I was *on* the bridge so there aren’t any pictures…

First stop, my home away from home in Hong Kong. I’m staying with relatives in Kwun Tong for the few days I head to Tokyo. It’s a nice quiet area but is a bit smaller than what I’m used to for so many people. The view isn’t terrible, but it’s by no means spectacular… XD

Now would also be a decent time to talk about the camera gear I took on this trip. I recently picked up the new Canon S95 compact digital camera. It’s extremely full featured and slots in well for when I don’t want to lug around the full SLR kit. It fits easily into my pocket and features all the shooting modes I use the most (Program Auto, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority), does HD video, and has some other pretty nifty shooting modes!

This is my personal favorite… the so called “miniature mode.” It’s pretty much a faux tilt-shift effect, which gives the objects a miniaturized look. I’ve been using that extensively where the situation fits… In addition to the S95, I also have the Nikon D50 with me (since the D7000 hasn’t arrived yet) and an array of lenses. For standard shooting, I’ll be sticking mostly to my 18-200VR and 50mm Nikkors, but brought the 70-300 and 100mm macro with me as well. I’m especially looking forward to running the 70-300 through it’s paces!

Enough about camera equipment, it’s time for some sightseeing! Hong Kong is filled with interesting sights. It is home to several “themed” areas, where folks can buy stuff related to specific hobbies. Entire streets are dedicated to things like fish, birds, jade, and electronics!

Jade Market

“Goldfish street”

“Bird street”

I also managed to get myself to the super awesome Dollfie World shop in Mong Kok. I already knew what I wanted to buy, but that didn’t stop me from browsing their stock in person! The shop itself was a bit smaller than I thought it would be though… I guess the pictures on the internet made it look bigger than in person.

Also on the agenda for the trip was an excursion out to Dai O, which is a quaint area on Lantau Island. It has the air of an old fishing village and features a lot of interesting architecture. A lot of the houses are built on the water and supported on stilts.

For more pictures, be sure to check out the rest of the uploads up on Flickr!

With Rin, Sakura, and accessories packed, it was time to hit the road!

I actually ended up carpooling with Balldylox to the meet, who drove up from Charleston. He brought Manami along for the meet and was looking forward to meeting up with the previous owner! Along with Rin and Sakura, the three of them were representing the Dollfie Dream camp in the sea of resin!

There were plenty of gorgeous dolls at the meet and it was the first time I’d had the chance to really look at the resins. They’re much heavier than the vinyl Dollfie Dreams and much more solid feeling. With so many dolls in one place, it was hard not to set them up together for some awesome photos!

Here we have Rin and a new friend. Isn’t she cute?

This was an interesting shot. Sakura appears to be staring at Manami’s assets while Kou is copping a little feel from Sakura…

Rin, Manami, and Sakura welcome you to Doll Market!

Proud owners gather at Patti Lynn’s doll shop afterwards. We picked out several wigs for Manami to try and got her papa to buy it. XD In all though, we had a great time at the meet! For more pictures, see the full set up on Flickr!

It was an exciting day to see both packages in my mailbox!

The artist I commissioned via Flickr/Den of Angels did a magnificent job on the faceup, giving Haruka a slight smile and gorgeous eyelashes! The wig, on the other hand, was a different story. It took almost two hours and several fittings to finally get it right. The wig cap was a touch too big to fit properly, so currently the cap is pulled over both her ears. A little trim to the bangs may be in order as well, as the hair currently strays in front of her eyes.

Without further ado, I present to you Amami Haruka!

For her debut, Haruka will be performing the song “Go My Way!” from the IdolM@ster XBOX360 trailer!

One thing this shoot taught me was that my lighting for shooting Dollfies against a bright background is a bit inadequate. The two spot lamps I had were great for closeup shots, but didn’t provide adequate light for wider angle shots. Also, I discovered that my 60in TV makes for a great backdrop for shooting and I can take a photos without worry of glare as long as the lighting is placed in the right spot. I may have to use it more in the future for other shoots!

For reference, here’s the video that was playing from the XBOX…