Questions about the almighty Phil

[Don Van Patten]

The last I heard he was using a Fuji S1 or S2 for his own work.

Don

I was just wondering about the guy behind dpreview, and how he made
it all happen. It seems that when I come across a rare post where
he replies it is almost like everyone shuts up and listens - like
some sort of a higher power is speaking (well, I guess he is - he
IS the moderator I have come to quite admire this man that I
really know nothing about.

So who this Phil Askey legend? Any idea how old he is? Obviously he
is very knowledgeable at photography and computer programming all
at once - how did he learn all of this? I take it he must have some
sort of a background in programming?
Also, I have noticed that he rarely posts here in the Canon SLR
forum... usually in the Olympus and Open forums I think. Feel left
out? I wonder what camera he calls his own? I have a feeling it
is not a cell phone cam.

He must have one heck of a cool job - testing out the coolest new
toys - I don't know what kind of a living you would make doing
this, but it must be fun some times

Just curious...

Duncan

--
http://www.actionimages.ca

 

[William C]

... because a DP Review readers might beat him up for a bad camera review! ) I can see him getting attacked by someone who thought the camera should have been "Highly Recommended" instead of "Recommended".

Just curious...

Or to much free time on your hand, so much concern about P.A.

He must have one heck of a cool job

You think it is a real cool job to deal with adults that act like children? He has to deal out punishment to those who break his forum rule. I think this takes up much of his free time.

Bill

--

New Yorkers like to think that their city is the center of the universe, and after spending some time there, I am not so sure they are wrong.

Bob Krist, Spirit of Place

 

[m5laser]

perhaps, but I still think booting people off the forum would be more exciting than pushing paper, etc..

Just curious...

Or to much free time on your hand, so much concern about P.A.

He must have one heck of a cool job

You think it is a real cool job to deal with adults that act like
children? He has to deal out punishment to those who break his
forum rule. I think this takes up much of his free time.

Bill

--
New Yorkers like to think that their city is the center of the
universe, and after spending some time there, I am not so sure they
are wrong.

Bob Krist, Spirit of Place

--
http://www.actionimages.ca

 

[Duct Tape]

Best bits from Warren's Previous Posts:

IMO he's not a real programmer because he uses ASP... cough blechk > heave ... slow, buggy, craaaap but graphic IDE for newbies.

i said nothing about programming being overly difficult, i merely
indicated that ASP is a bit of a joke in most "hardcore"
programming circles because it's slow, buggy, bloated, etc, but
relatively easy to get into.

Is the hardcore programming circle you refer to your local Linux or Java user's group?

I never said i didnt respect him, just that his programming
language of choice is unfortunate because it directly impacts the
potential performance of the site, which I like very much as an
information resource, but I get frustrated by the slow response
times (due in part to the server/ASP combo)

Everthing you say here suggests that you are just another open source fanboy who has never actually used the technologies that you are deriding.

And I don't claim to be a great programmer either, but i have
worked with enough talented individuals to know that asp sucks..!

And this just confirms it. A lot of people sit around in their cliques and while away the hours bashing the other side. (Just look at some of the Canon and Nikon users around here) Then there are people who have experience with both, and their opinions are much more worthwhile.

i'd love to see these forums re-coded without the MS bloatware, but > that ain't gonna happen. sigh.

This statement would have a lot of credibility if you actually had used ASP. I don't know anything about you but in my experience, a lot of people think they can instantly get "cred" by bashing Microsoft. And sure, the other script kiddies will think you are "kewl" but everyone else rolls their eyes and thinks "Great, here we go again."

Oh yeah, and if you want to talk bloatware, lets talk emacs.

oh, and enough of this bizarre primary-school type worship of phil... very > disturbing

Two words:
Richard Stallman

Actually, make that four:
Linus Torvalds

My own website- http://www.wprasek.com , has been set up with the
programming (well, scripting) language of my choice... PHP. open
source, efficient, flexible, etc. Obviously its nowhere near as
important as this one but thats not my goal, merely to promote my
own business, still in its infancy. I have no intention of
introducing forums or generating income via advertising.

Hey good for you. Your site is pretty cool (and fast). If you start getting a lot of traffic you owe it to yourself to try ASP.NET and IIS 6.0. Trust me, you won't look back.

Cheers,
Anonymous Coward

 

[Shutter.]

We've all been there!

OK OK i take it all back about being a "real programmer". it was an
exaggeration, i apologise but i stand by my opinion that asp is
slooooow. and i hate proprietary systems in comparison to very
capable open source alternatives like php.

OK rant over. back to the photos. i was wrong! mea culpa!

When all is said-and-done, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET...it all has to be
HTML in the end.

I get javascript errors on your site, btw.

--
warren prasek
web design ~ interactive media ~ photography
(specifically candids/street, event, theatre, abstract/arty)
http://www.wprasek.com/

--
Jim Fuglestad

Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase. -Percy W. Harris
Our existence is determined by the truths we tell.
Why simply live and let live? Live and help live.
http://www.pbase.com/jfuglestad/galleries

 

[Mike.]

All in the reflection,



He's been so busy with this site im sorry to you inform you all he now looks like this:-

 

[Franklin]

Nice to hear from somebody who actually worked on the project. It alway intrigued and puzzled me how can it be accomplished. It seems to me there are many technical issues with build and sell a product like "silicon film" to ordinary comsumers. For one, the size limitation is daunting. How can you fit enough electronics, batteries into a 35mm cartridge. Second, the sensor and protection of it. The sensor assembly has to be extremely thin to fit into the camera. Thirdly, the later design has a module to be attached to the bottom of the camera. How do you solve the wiring issue for all kind of camera without modify them.

Overall, to me "silicon film" is a nice concept when you first hear it, but it presents too many technical challenges in building it to be able used in wide varieties of different cameras. I like to learn many about its designs and interested in hearing from you.

I seem to remember him coming to our "Silicon Film" booth at PMA a
couple of years ago to see the electronic film cartridge we were
developing (until we ran out of money when the economy crashed).