[ucodegen]

They have 65 Billion in debt, they have 3 billion in book value,
it seems they are wildly leveraged, and all this bridge loan is doing is
letting them wind up.

Book value is net.. That means that CIT has roughly 65B in debt and 68B in assets(from your numbers).. leveraged 22:1.. (ouch). No goodwill that I could see on a cursory look.. meaning that all assets are probably tangible.

That said, a 10.5% rate on a short term loan is quite painful.

[ucodegen]

They have 65 Billion in debt, they have 3 billion in book value,
it seems they are wildly leveraged, and all this bridge loan is doing is
letting them wind up.

Book value is net.. That means that CIT has roughly 65B in debt and 68B in assets(from your numbers).. leveraged 22:1.. (ouch). No goodwill that I could see on a cursory look.. meaning that all assets are probably tangible.

That said, a 10.5% rate on a short term loan is quite painful.

[ucodegen]

They have 65 Billion in debt, they have 3 billion in book value,
it seems they are wildly leveraged, and all this bridge loan is doing is
letting them wind up.

Book value is net.. That means that CIT has roughly 65B in debt and 68B in assets(from your numbers).. leveraged 22:1.. (ouch). No goodwill that I could see on a cursory look.. meaning that all assets are probably tangible.

That said, a 10.5% rate on a short term loan is quite painful.

[ucodegen]

The guy who won that house is a young guy (in 30s), and does not seem like a flipper. He didn’t join the bidding until the very last stage, from around $540K. I think he could just be a consumer for the house.

Actually, I would disagree with you. This is how you bid on auctions if you don’t want to drive the price up. You wait until bidding slows down and if the price is still under your max, place a bid.. higher enough above what the last bids were to make people pause.. but not at your peak bid.. unless the price is very close to your peak.

[ucodegen]

The guy who won that house is a young guy (in 30s), and does not seem like a flipper. He didn’t join the bidding until the very last stage, from around $540K. I think he could just be a consumer for the house.

Actually, I would disagree with you. This is how you bid on auctions if you don’t want to drive the price up. You wait until bidding slows down and if the price is still under your max, place a bid.. higher enough above what the last bids were to make people pause.. but not at your peak bid.. unless the price is very close to your peak.

[ucodegen]

The guy who won that house is a young guy (in 30s), and does not seem like a flipper. He didn’t join the bidding until the very last stage, from around $540K. I think he could just be a consumer for the house.

Actually, I would disagree with you. This is how you bid on auctions if you don’t want to drive the price up. You wait until bidding slows down and if the price is still under your max, place a bid.. higher enough above what the last bids were to make people pause.. but not at your peak bid.. unless the price is very close to your peak.

[ucodegen]

The guy who won that house is a young guy (in 30s), and does not seem like a flipper. He didn’t join the bidding until the very last stage, from around $540K. I think he could just be a consumer for the house.

Actually, I would disagree with you. This is how you bid on auctions if you don’t want to drive the price up. You wait until bidding slows down and if the price is still under your max, place a bid.. higher enough above what the last bids were to make people pause.. but not at your peak bid.. unless the price is very close to your peak.

[ucodegen]

The guy who won that house is a young guy (in 30s), and does not seem like a flipper. He didn’t join the bidding until the very last stage, from around $540K. I think he could just be a consumer for the house.

Actually, I would disagree with you. This is how you bid on auctions if you don’t want to drive the price up. You wait until bidding slows down and if the price is still under your max, place a bid.. higher enough above what the last bids were to make people pause.. but not at your peak bid.. unless the price is very close to your peak.

[ucodegen]

Thank you sir! I just ordered a Hoya “X” filter from Adorama directly. Thanks for the reminder about plastic filter threads on some lenses.

Good luck with your filter. Let me know what you think.

I figured out that why tamron’s are at the prices points that they are at why Canon L’s are at there’s. While I’m pretty happy with the Tamron, it’s not quite the same build quality of Canon.

Two other lens manufacturers to look at are Sigma and Tokina (As far as I know, their lenses are still largely metal). I tend to rate the aftermarket mfrs in this order of quality: Sigma, Tokina, Tamron. I generally won’t bother with the others. Sigma also makes SLR cameras using the Foveon sensors. The Sigma EX tends to have pretty good build quality. My Sigma 50-500EX,APO is all metal (not a light lens) and has held up for several years (more than 8). It is getting to the point that I may need to get it cleaned though. I got my S.O. a Tokina 80-400ATX which is virtually all metal. My sister is using a Nikon body with older Nikon lenses and Tamron lenses. I have noticed that Nikon is going plastic.. and I am not too happy about their lens quality these days. They have decided to try to fix lens problems in the camera w/ software vs a proper lens build. Canon tends to have good lenses.. but very pricey.

My rule of thumb for putting on a filter is to rotate them on ccw for a bit to get alignment first and then to rotate them cw to actually mount them.

I sort of do the same, I rotate backwards (CCW) until I feel the filter ‘settle’ or drop just a bit, then turn slowly forwards.

Another thing that I tend to do with metal ring mounts is to take Vaseline and use a Q-tip to put a very thin film of it on the metal mount-rings that go between camera and lens apply with Q-tip and then wipe off. I also use a Q-tip and apply dry lubricant(Teflon or silicon based) to it and while the Q-tip is still wet, apply it to the threads on my filters. All of the above is to prevent the creation of small metal shavings, through use, that can get into the camera or lens.

[ucodegen]

Thank you sir! I just ordered a Hoya “X” filter from Adorama directly. Thanks for the reminder about plastic filter threads on some lenses.

Good luck with your filter. Let me know what you think.

I figured out that why tamron’s are at the prices points that they are at why Canon L’s are at there’s. While I’m pretty happy with the Tamron, it’s not quite the same build quality of Canon.

Two other lens manufacturers to look at are Sigma and Tokina (As far as I know, their lenses are still largely metal). I tend to rate the aftermarket mfrs in this order of quality: Sigma, Tokina, Tamron. I generally won’t bother with the others. Sigma also makes SLR cameras using the Foveon sensors. The Sigma EX tends to have pretty good build quality. My Sigma 50-500EX,APO is all metal (not a light lens) and has held up for several years (more than 8). It is getting to the point that I may need to get it cleaned though. I got my S.O. a Tokina 80-400ATX which is virtually all metal. My sister is using a Nikon body with older Nikon lenses and Tamron lenses. I have noticed that Nikon is going plastic.. and I am not too happy about their lens quality these days. They have decided to try to fix lens problems in the camera w/ software vs a proper lens build. Canon tends to have good lenses.. but very pricey.

My rule of thumb for putting on a filter is to rotate them on ccw for a bit to get alignment first and then to rotate them cw to actually mount them.

I sort of do the same, I rotate backwards (CCW) until I feel the filter ‘settle’ or drop just a bit, then turn slowly forwards.

Another thing that I tend to do with metal ring mounts is to take Vaseline and use a Q-tip to put a very thin film of it on the metal mount-rings that go between camera and lens apply with Q-tip and then wipe off. I also use a Q-tip and apply dry lubricant(Teflon or silicon based) to it and while the Q-tip is still wet, apply it to the threads on my filters. All of the above is to prevent the creation of small metal shavings, through use, that can get into the camera or lens.

[ucodegen]

Thank you sir! I just ordered a Hoya “X” filter from Adorama directly. Thanks for the reminder about plastic filter threads on some lenses.

Good luck with your filter. Let me know what you think.

I figured out that why tamron’s are at the prices points that they are at why Canon L’s are at there’s. While I’m pretty happy with the Tamron, it’s not quite the same build quality of Canon.

Two other lens manufacturers to look at are Sigma and Tokina (As far as I know, their lenses are still largely metal). I tend to rate the aftermarket mfrs in this order of quality: Sigma, Tokina, Tamron. I generally won’t bother with the others. Sigma also makes SLR cameras using the Foveon sensors. The Sigma EX tends to have pretty good build quality. My Sigma 50-500EX,APO is all metal (not a light lens) and has held up for several years (more than 8). It is getting to the point that I may need to get it cleaned though. I got my S.O. a Tokina 80-400ATX which is virtually all metal. My sister is using a Nikon body with older Nikon lenses and Tamron lenses. I have noticed that Nikon is going plastic.. and I am not too happy about their lens quality these days. They have decided to try to fix lens problems in the camera w/ software vs a proper lens build. Canon tends to have good lenses.. but very pricey.

My rule of thumb for putting on a filter is to rotate them on ccw for a bit to get alignment first and then to rotate them cw to actually mount them.

I sort of do the same, I rotate backwards (CCW) until I feel the filter ‘settle’ or drop just a bit, then turn slowly forwards.

Another thing that I tend to do with metal ring mounts is to take Vaseline and use a Q-tip to put a very thin film of it on the metal mount-rings that go between camera and lens apply with Q-tip and then wipe off. I also use a Q-tip and apply dry lubricant(Teflon or silicon based) to it and while the Q-tip is still wet, apply it to the threads on my filters. All of the above is to prevent the creation of small metal shavings, through use, that can get into the camera or lens.

[ucodegen]

Thank you sir! I just ordered a Hoya “X” filter from Adorama directly. Thanks for the reminder about plastic filter threads on some lenses.

Good luck with your filter. Let me know what you think.

I figured out that why tamron’s are at the prices points that they are at why Canon L’s are at there’s. While I’m pretty happy with the Tamron, it’s not quite the same build quality of Canon.

Two other lens manufacturers to look at are Sigma and Tokina (As far as I know, their lenses are still largely metal). I tend to rate the aftermarket mfrs in this order of quality: Sigma, Tokina, Tamron. I generally won’t bother with the others. Sigma also makes SLR cameras using the Foveon sensors. The Sigma EX tends to have pretty good build quality. My Sigma 50-500EX,APO is all metal (not a light lens) and has held up for several years (more than 8). It is getting to the point that I may need to get it cleaned though. I got my S.O. a Tokina 80-400ATX which is virtually all metal. My sister is using a Nikon body with older Nikon lenses and Tamron lenses. I have noticed that Nikon is going plastic.. and I am not too happy about their lens quality these days. They have decided to try to fix lens problems in the camera w/ software vs a proper lens build. Canon tends to have good lenses.. but very pricey.

My rule of thumb for putting on a filter is to rotate them on ccw for a bit to get alignment first and then to rotate them cw to actually mount them.

I sort of do the same, I rotate backwards (CCW) until I feel the filter ‘settle’ or drop just a bit, then turn slowly forwards.

Another thing that I tend to do with metal ring mounts is to take Vaseline and use a Q-tip to put a very thin film of it on the metal mount-rings that go between camera and lens apply with Q-tip and then wipe off. I also use a Q-tip and apply dry lubricant(Teflon or silicon based) to it and while the Q-tip is still wet, apply it to the threads on my filters. All of the above is to prevent the creation of small metal shavings, through use, that can get into the camera or lens.

[ucodegen]

Thank you sir! I just ordered a Hoya “X” filter from Adorama directly. Thanks for the reminder about plastic filter threads on some lenses.

Good luck with your filter. Let me know what you think.

I figured out that why tamron’s are at the prices points that they are at why Canon L’s are at there’s. While I’m pretty happy with the Tamron, it’s not quite the same build quality of Canon.

Two other lens manufacturers to look at are Sigma and Tokina (As far as I know, their lenses are still largely metal). I tend to rate the aftermarket mfrs in this order of quality: Sigma, Tokina, Tamron. I generally won’t bother with the others. Sigma also makes SLR cameras using the Foveon sensors. The Sigma EX tends to have pretty good build quality. My Sigma 50-500EX,APO is all metal (not a light lens) and has held up for several years (more than 8). It is getting to the point that I may need to get it cleaned though. I got my S.O. a Tokina 80-400ATX which is virtually all metal. My sister is using a Nikon body with older Nikon lenses and Tamron lenses. I have noticed that Nikon is going plastic.. and I am not too happy about their lens quality these days. They have decided to try to fix lens problems in the camera w/ software vs a proper lens build. Canon tends to have good lenses.. but very pricey.

My rule of thumb for putting on a filter is to rotate them on ccw for a bit to get alignment first and then to rotate them cw to actually mount them.

I sort of do the same, I rotate backwards (CCW) until I feel the filter ‘settle’ or drop just a bit, then turn slowly forwards.

Another thing that I tend to do with metal ring mounts is to take Vaseline and use a Q-tip to put a very thin film of it on the metal mount-rings that go between camera and lens apply with Q-tip and then wipe off. I also use a Q-tip and apply dry lubricant(Teflon or silicon based) to it and while the Q-tip is still wet, apply it to the threads on my filters. All of the above is to prevent the creation of small metal shavings, through use, that can get into the camera or lens.

[ucodegen]

Wow, thanks! So I guess especially for the wide angle, putting a polarizer on top of a UV filter is a no-no due to vignetting… I haven’t noticed vignetting problem with my B+W filter, and it’s not a low-profile one…Maybe I’m just not looking too hard.

A UV filter is thinner than a polarizer. Polarizers have two rings, a fixed ring portion that screws into the lens and a rotating portion that allows you to align the polarizing element to get the effect (best if oriented 90 degrees to a line between lens and position of the sun). Depending upon how aligned, polarizers will either strengthen or weaken reflections etc. One way to see if vignetting will be a problem is to ‘double stack’ the UV filters on the wide angle lens and then look at the corners of the viewfinder/pictures and see if they are darker than the center.

One of the problems with stacking a polarizer on top of a UV filter is that each filter adds aberrations to the image. I tend to take my UV off when putting on the polarizer.. but you also have to be careful there. Many lens built today have plastic front thread barrels.. which are too easy to crossthread. Once cross-threaded, trying to get the filters on properly will be a problem.

NOTE: The ‘X’ series of Hoya filters is about the thickness of a UV filter (Super Multicoat thin profile). I suspect that the Pro-1 line is also about the thickness of a UV filter. The others are thicker. (This is generally true across the manufacturers) The thin profiles are a little harder to handle because the ring you have to handle to align the filter is about 2mm wide at most, same size as the ring to screw it onto the lens.

[ucodegen]

Wow, thanks! So I guess especially for the wide angle, putting a polarizer on top of a UV filter is a no-no due to vignetting… I haven’t noticed vignetting problem with my B+W filter, and it’s not a low-profile one…Maybe I’m just not looking too hard.

A UV filter is thinner than a polarizer. Polarizers have two rings, a fixed ring portion that screws into the lens and a rotating portion that allows you to align the polarizing element to get the effect (best if oriented 90 degrees to a line between lens and position of the sun). Depending upon how aligned, polarizers will either strengthen or weaken reflections etc. One way to see if vignetting will be a problem is to ‘double stack’ the UV filters on the wide angle lens and then look at the corners of the viewfinder/pictures and see if they are darker than the center.

One of the problems with stacking a polarizer on top of a UV filter is that each filter adds aberrations to the image. I tend to take my UV off when putting on the polarizer.. but you also have to be careful there. Many lens built today have plastic front thread barrels.. which are too easy to crossthread. Once cross-threaded, trying to get the filters on properly will be a problem.

NOTE: The ‘X’ series of Hoya filters is about the thickness of a UV filter (Super Multicoat thin profile). I suspect that the Pro-1 line is also about the thickness of a UV filter. The others are thicker. (This is generally true across the manufacturers) The thin profiles are a little harder to handle because the ring you have to handle to align the filter is about 2mm wide at most, same size as the ring to screw it onto the lens.

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