No Bi-Weekly Photo tomorrow...

These past few weeks I have been really busy and didn't have time to go out and take pictures, which means that I don't have anything I would rank as a "By-Weekly Photo". Instead, here's the main thing i've been doing these last 3 weeks for 60+ hours/week:

I've been programming Lego robots in a lab course at my university. Before anyone jums into conclusions, the task was about software engineering (we weren't playing with legos all day): we were split up into teams and had to create a robot that played a slightly modified version of Scotland Yard with/against the other teams' robots on the map you can see in the picture. In order to keep up and finish in time for our deadlines we had to stay between 10 and 12 hours every day, with some teams even pulling all-nighters... I'm actually happy it's over, even though it was an interesting experience and, if you filter out the stress, quite fun.

Bi-Weekly Photo: Garching Forschungszentrum

On the day of my last exam this semester I took my camera along to take a couple of pictures of the campus while there was still a bit of snow left.

The first one is right behind the faculty for mechanical engineering. This is not what it looks like while there are still lectures, it's usually quite lively, since its right in front of the faculty's cafeteria and on the way to the parking lot.

The second one is a picture of my faculty, computer science and mathematics. The trees arranged in a triangle and the binary counter lanterns in the foreground are a nice decoration which fits both the faculty and the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, which is just outside the picture's field of view to the left.

Tutorial: DIY Quick-Release Neck Strap

Ok, it's not much of a tutorial. The pictures explain most of the process.

My parents gave me a hand strap for the camera for my birthday. It's a great way to carry the camera around ready to shoot some pictures without worrying about dropping it. It does not replace the neck strap though; if you're taking a long walk and don't want to put the camera away you need it. But if you just want to take the camera out, take a couple pictures and put it back in the bag, the neck strap can be annoying, specially if you're carrying a small bag. It gets in the way and you have to fold it every time.
Removing it every time is not ideal either without a quick-release mechanism, which brings us to this post's topic: How to build your own quick release for a standard neck strap.

I gathered some ideas from other blogs and sites, but they mostly suggested buying commercial (highly overpriced) quick release systems. One suggested using key rings and carabiners, which are metallic and can scratch the camera. Nevertheless, that was what I had in mind when I went to the harware store, but looking at the stock, I found a hopefully better solution: Strong cable binders and the fasteners you can see in the pictures below (I have no idea what those are called...). It's all made of plastic, yet strong enough to hold the weight of the camera.

I attached the fasteners to the camera using cable binders, which fit perfectly through the cameras loops. I used two binders on each side for additional safety. I Also decided to use the female connector on the camera because it was a bit smaller and looked better, leaving the male on the neck strap.
If you're building this, make sure you dont pull the cable binders too tight. I had to cut one off and use a new one because of that. Pull slowly and try to leave both binders at the same lenght to distribute the weight evenly. The fasteners should be a bit loose to avoid needless strain on them. If they're too tight, moving them might wear them off faster.

I then attached the neck strap to the male connectors the same way it was attached to the camera. Here's the finished quick-release neck strap:

Some info:

• Required time: 5 minutes (not including the time it takes buying the fasteners and cable binders)
• Cost: 3€ for the fasteners, which you can probably get cheaper online, plus whatever 4 cable binders cost (0.01€ each maybe?)

 [Update (2014-03-08)]: You may also find the new quick-release safety leash add-on I wrote useful