Here are this week’s Life Pro Tips.
1. If you are doing a task and you’re asking yourself if you should be wearing eye or ear protection, then the answer is always yes.
2. Went on a bad date? Just be honest and say you are not feeling the spark. No need to ghost. Take responsibility for your own feelings, while helping the other party to not worry.
3. If you gain unwanted weight, buy clothes that fit. This isn’t admitting defeat, it’s self-care. You deserve to feel comfortable and look good.
4. Leave “natural” peanut butter jars upside down overnight before stirring them up. The oil will rise to the bottom of the jar making the stirring process much cleaner, easier, and more efficient.
5. If you have a DSLR, use it as a high-quality webcam for free.
If you’re like anyone else and you’re taking a lot of meetings on Zoom (or Teams or WebX or Meet, etc.), one of the best things you can do is have a nice quality camera. The built-in cameras on laptops and desktops usually have a very wide-angle, poor-quality lens, and have to run at high ISO in slightly dim settings, which leads to a lot of noise when the room isn’t incredibly bright.
Up until recently, if you wanted good quality video on a video conferencing app, you’d have to buy a webcam, which could get pretty expensive. The other option was to buy a video switcher with software (like OBS) and use that to interface your DSLR with your computer.
In 2020, it got a lot easier. Manufacturers like Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, and others released free webcam software to easily use your DSLR as a webcam. All you need is a USB-to-mini-HDMI cable or USB-to-mini-USB cord, depending on your camera’s port.
Here are some links to the webcam utilities of the most popular manufacturers:
Make sure your model camera is supported by the software. Some manufacturers only support a selection of models.
