[CASELABS BH4] MILSPEC II

Legend · 21 Jul 2016 at 02:52

B N3GATIVE said:
Canon EOS m,stock lens,£12 backdrop, 14" ring light.

How you light the shot > Everything else.

If you have a DSLR,iso 100,aperture priority,play with the f stop to get your depth of field and use a tripod.

Cool thanks. I have a 500D and tripod, but nothing else, and I've been very curious lately as to how take these kinds of shots, particularly as I have a WC build I'm planning for so would like to get some good shots of it all. What ring light do you have? One of the tripod ones the camera sits in the middle of? I saw the below one (which is compatible with the 500D), quite cheap, wondered if it would work?

LePhuronn · 21 Jul 2016 at 09:36

Legend said:
...What ring light do you have?

I've grabbed a pair of cheap studio umbrella lights from the fleabay for about £30. Could be an alternative if you can't score a light ring.

B N3GATIVE · 21 Jul 2016 at 10:49

So after an hour or so in the garden,I made the second PSU mount in the rear of the case to mount the extra Corsair SFX PSU for the second card and ancillaries like the water cooling,storage etc.

It all fits like a glove!

600w for the board, first GPU and OS drive,the 450w for the second card and the rest of the gubbins,lovely job!

Now to cut the res mount and top clamshell,get the bottom plumbed in with the passthru's. I do believe we can get some paint down after that!

LePhuronn · 21 Jul 2016 at 11:15

Lovely work as always.

B N3GATIVE · 21 Jul 2016 at 11:28

Legend said:
Cool thanks. I have a 500D and tripod, but nothing else, and I've been very curious lately as to how take these kinds of shots, particularly as I have a WC build I'm planning for so would like to get some good shots of it all. What ring light do you have? One of the tripod ones the camera sits in the middle of? I saw the below one (which is compatible with the 500D), quite cheap, wondered if it would work?

No,they are really for facial portrait shots,most of my pics are done on my desk with my monitor up and pointing down on to the subject from overhead with notepad opened fullscreen so its just a white lightpanel.

These pics were taken like that...

LePhuronn said:
I've grabbed a pair of cheap studio umbrella lights from the fleabay for about £30. Could be an alternative if you can't score a light ring.

They work but the bulbs are where you need to spend money,cheap bulbs have odd colours to them.

LePhuronn said:
Lovely work as always.

You love it.

Legend · 21 Jul 2016 at 11:43

B N3GATIVE said:
No,they are really for facial portrait shots,most of my pics are done on my desk with my monitor up and pointing down on to the subject from overhead with notepad opened fullscreen so its just a white lightpanel.

These pics were taken like that...

Great shots, that's what I want to try and achieve. So you have the camera on tripod with the 14" ring light around that? From what I'm seeing they're around the £60-70 mark?

B N3GATIVE · 21 Jul 2016 at 11:46

Legend said:
Great shots, that's what I want to try and achieve. So you have the camera on tripod with the 14" ring light around that? From what I'm seeing they're around the £60-70 mark?

Sounds about right,get an LED one if you can.

Those pics where just my monitor lighting the subject,nothing else.

Legend · 21 Jul 2016 at 12:00

B N3GATIVE said:
Sounds about right,get an LED one if you can.

Those pics where just my monitor lighting the subject,nothing else.

I guess that demonstrates the importance of getting the settings within the camera right then!

Cenedd · 21 Jul 2016 at 13:16

B N3GATIVE said:
So after an hour or so in the garden,I made the second PSU mount in the rear of the case to mount the extra Corsair SFX PSU for the second card and ancillaries like the water cooling,storage etc.

No, sorry. The cuts are too neat, it must have been like that to start with. Clearly the earlier shots had it photoshopped out! I can tell by the pixels or something!

Seriously though, apart from the fact that if you look really closely, there isn't any paint (yet) on the cut edges, you wouldn't be able to tell that it hadn't come from the factory that way. Very nice work.

LePhuronn · 21 Jul 2016 at 14:14

B N3GATIVE said:
They work but the bulbs are where you need to spend money, cheap bulbs have odd colours to them.

They look good so far, but I have a lot of scrim and gels left over from my previous life in Video productions so I can just about compensate for dodgy bulbs. Of course when (if) I start modding more regularly then I'll be able to invest - right now the initial outlay of ALL the kit and ALL the tools on top of the project itself is...a wee bit pricey. Thanks Barclaycard

B N3GATIVE said:
You love it.

Damn right I do

B N3GATIVE · 21 Jul 2016 at 15:37

In more news,the pass thrus are done and I managed to keep all the storage options too.

B N3GATIVE · 23 Jul 2016 at 17:30

The roughing cutouts have been done,now to get the res made for the front and a more form fitting cutout for the GPU terminals/SLI bridge. I will machine that later today I think.....

After that...PAINT TIME!

I love the way I can see a lot of the hardware from 3 sides,so much so that clear coolant maybe the way forward.

5mm clearance from the top of the case to the GPU's......

So this is the rough clearance cutout,there will be a machined plate going full length that will have a closer tolerance of around .5mm.

And the block just fills one side....

Cenedd · 24 Jul 2016 at 10:13

You say "rough" but it looks pretty good as it is - especially round the water terminals!

Quantum-192 · 25 Jul 2016 at 11:40

I think the phrase I'm looking for is.....seriously impressive work. Looking forward to seeing this one develop for sure.

B N3GATIVE · 25 Jul 2016 at 21:45

Cenedd said:
You say "rough" but it looks pretty good as it is - especially round the water terminals!

It will look much tidier with the panel,trust me.

Quantum-192 said:
I think the phrase I'm looking for is.....seriously impressive work. Looking forward to seeing this one develop for sure.

Im machining the last piece now,once thats done I can etch primer the Alu parts then possibly get a top coat on tomorrow,the problem being that I want to get at least 3 coats on before airbushing and clearing,preferably quite quickly (2 days max) so it will be well cured for I series,dont want fingerprints in it on the ASUS stand.

ThereIs0nly0ne · 25 Jul 2016 at 22:25

Beautiful build going on here. Looks fantasic and the pictures are great. Going to have to have a look into that camera of yours.

Cenedd · 26 Jul 2016 at 08:45

B N3GATIVE said:
... quickly (2 days max) so it will be well cured for I series,dont want fingerprints in it on the ASUS stand.

Ah, the infamous five days work to do but only three days before it has to be ready. Good luck!

B N3GATIVE · 26 Jul 2016 at 17:40

Apologies for the cam phone.....
The top plate is cut and everything bare was etch primered ready for colour tomorrow!

The sli bridge is almost flush with the plate now.

Now to strip it all down to the last bolt and key everything ready for the lovely green basecoat. Sleeve is on its way too,the job I hate the most.......

LePhuronn · 26 Jul 2016 at 17:42

B N3GATIVE said:
...everything ready for the lovely green basecoat...

GREEN? Was not expecting that. Or have I not been paying attention?

Cenedd · 26 Jul 2016 at 20:01

Yeah, I gotta give it to you; it does look better with the plate. Was good before though.

"GREEN?": Given the name Milspec, it wouldn't shock me if it was olive drab or similarly themed.