How To Remove the Toyota Supra's Wireless Charging Mat Cover

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What’s going on guys, it’s Hai and with the new MKV Supras, Toyota has included a wireless charging mat for mobile phones. This is convenient but something annoying to me about this is the cover that sits over the wireless charger. It sits pretty low and that means getting a phone in and out of this area becomes very specific. You definitely develop a certain movement to get the task done. But, it just gets worst or maybe impossible if you use the ports right in front of the charger as the slot becomes even more obscured.

An obvious solution would be to take the cover off and today I’m going to show you how to do this. If we look under the cover, we can see that there’s a point of attachment on either side of the cover. It turns out that these are essentially just J hooks that latch under this panel. So to remove this cover, it’s just a matter of pulling it up. What I like to do is put a finger under the cover (right where the hook is) and just nudge the cover up. When that’s done, it’s just a matter of repeating on the other side.

The first time that I did this, the whole cover popped off from just lifting the right side with little effort and it seemed like it wasn’t even connected properly. This time for the camera, it actually took a little more force because I reinstalled it properly. Just something to take note of.

And that’s about it. Probably one of the simplest mods that can be done on this car but one that greatly improves day to day use. Now that I know how easy this was to do, I’m kind of kicking myself for not doing it sooner. If you have a similar dislike for the Supra’s wireless charging mat cover, then this is definitely something to try.

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Around Washington w/ Kodak GC Ultramax 400

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What’s going on guys, it’s Hai and I recently took the Nikon N2020 back out because I wanted to shoot some film. For this, I decided to pair it with a roll of Kodak Ultramax 400.

This film stock is intended to be more budget-friendly and I guess you can say more low-end. I view this film as something intended for people to pop into a camera and more so just catalog daily life, for people to take photos of their kids and just ordinary things like that. It’s not a specialized film and not saying that it can’t, but I don’t think it was really meant for professional applications.

Now, a little disclaimer. For this roll of film, I decided to have it developed and scanned by a local business. I don’t know the chemicals that were used to develop the film, I don’t know the scanner used to scan the film, or the type of post-processing done. This was my first time not doing all these things for myself so it’s definitely different from what I’ve previously showcased on this channel. Having someone else do everything just makes my life easier and will hopefully mean that I’ll be able to do more analog photography videos.

Ok, with that out of the way, let’s journey through this roll of Kodak Ultramax 400.

For these first few photos, we are heading to Olympic National Park, specifically Hurricane Ridge. This is my first time at this location and I’m going to be honest, I think it’s way overhyped. Don’t get me wrong it’s a nice place to be and has some nice views but you’re essentially just looking at distant ridgelines. It reminds me of Paradise at Mt. Rainier National Park but with a lot less to do. This is a place that I would suggest visiting if you’re already hitting other places in Olympic National Park, not a place that I’d spend the currently $30 entrance fee to solely go to. The highlight of my Hurricane Ridge trip was actually leaving because right as I pulled out of the parking lot, a couple of reindeers showed up and were grazing right beside the road. They were the only thing that I photographed here. I was trying really hard to get the center deer doing something graceful but all I could get was a couple of half-open-mouthed chews. As far as Ultramax 400, something I noticed right away was the amount of grain in this film. This is kind of expected being that it’s 400 speed but even so, I would say this is on the grainier side of the spectrum. Something also pretty apparent is the shift towards the yellows. Everything looks a bit warmer than reality.

Moving on, we are continuing our journey along the Olympic peninsula and stopping at a place called Ruby Beach. This was our last destination for the night and we arrived just as the sun was setting. This picture was taken pretty much at the parking lot and just as you begin the trek down to the beach. I actually really like this view and do plan to come back here at a future time.

Next, we are down on the beach, essentially looking at the large rocks from the previous photo. Here, the sun is just on the horizon, on the left edge of the photo, just out of frame. For this, I wanted to expose for the sky and just get a silhouette of the rocks. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I got what I wanted on film, but here’s another picture that I took of the same location but different composition. I think this composition was stronger than trying to get all the rocks in frame.

For the next few photos, we head to The Needle Lounge, a local tattoo shop in Lakewood, WA. I did this to change it up and get some indoor environmental portraitures. This kind of shows what the film can do indoors with just the artificial lighting of the room. Again, I would say that there’s some pretty noticeable grain. Also, with pictures like these where we have more definable subjects, I would say that it shows that the film stock is a bit soft and there isn’t a lot of fine details. Everything just has a softness to it, even the in-focused bits.

Next up, we have a couple more sunset photos from one of my drives near home. Again, exposed for the sky with silhouette foreground. Something that I’ve been doing a lot. With this photo, I actually like the colors of the sky a lot. The camera did a good job with exposure and we can see colors throughout the entire sky. Nothing’s blown out.

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Now, we are going to head to Mt. Rainier National Park. This was on one of my more spontaneous trips here, heading out and arriving just before sunset. In my opinion, Mt. Rainier is one of those subjects that’s easy to take a picture of, but really hard to get something mind-blowing, especially if you’re trying to get it at sunrise or sunset. A lot of the more accessible locations are just not aligned right with the sun’s path. This was one of the nights where things were really close and the sky was lighting up, but just slightly to the side of where I wanted it to be.

74720016.JPG

I should note that with my Nikon film cameras I almost always shoot with a 50mm lens. I have wider lenses but just completely forgot them for this occasion and this is me paying the price. Things are just too close for my taste here. Again this is at 50mm and here’s the digital picture I took at 28mm. As you can see, a big difference in terms of what is actually in the frame. This is a reminder to always come prepared. Better to have a not use than to need and not have.

Here’s a look at the sky, just to the side of the mountain. Parts of it actually looked pretty good, just not where I want it to be.

Here’s another example of the 50mm focal length on film versus 30mm on digital.

For the next few photos, we are heading to Chambers Bay, a local park and pretty well-known golf course. Again, at sunset. I just realized as I’m making this post that almost the entirety of this roll was taking around sunset. For the first photo, I’m just shooting through the three lonely freestanding trees. I didn’t think that this would be anything, and realistically it’s a snapshot but it doesn’t look too bad. The colors in the sky are soft and have a nice gradient. We can see the sun setting directly in the middle which the camera exposed for and we, again, get the silhouetted foreground.

Another similar shot but with a different subject.

This one, I did the same thing but looking back, I should’ve exposed with more emphasis on the foreground because upon review of these images, even I’m like what is that? In the foreground is actually a passing train. I think in the case exposing somewhere in the middle would’ve been the best route but then the sky wouldn’t look all the great and the train wouldn’t look all that great. So are the limitations of this type of film photography. You just got to live with it and know what you’re getting into.

This next one isn’t really anything special in terms of subject but I wanted to show it because I actually like the colors. The warm, yellow tint of this film really plays well with the setting sun behind me.

Here’s another example of that. The subject is just some giant manmade rock structures but the colors don’t look too bad at sunset.

Finally, with the last few photos, we head to Alki Beach in West Seattle for another sunset. Here’s a look at the skyline. This is typically a snapshot like something you’d see in a family photo album.

Next, I don’t even know what this is. I remember it being a lot better of a composition in person but actually seeing it on screen is something else.

This one is a bit better. It’s me, shooting through the branches of that last tree to get another angle of the Seattle skyline. This would’ve looked better with the Space Needle in the center but then the right portion of the skyline would’ve been cut out more and there really isn’t anything to the left.

Here’s one of a pier along the boardwalk.

Connected to that pier is this little stairway leading to the beach. As you can see, it was high tide and I wanted to take a piccture of this scene but I didn’t know how I wanted to do it. I actually just freehand this close to the ground without even looking in the viewfinder because I wasn’t going to lay in the sand for something I knew I was likely not going to care for. And because I did that, the horizon is lopsided.

Then with this final picture, I was actually setting the camera up on a tripod, getting ready to use the self-timer for the first time. But not fully knowing how to do that, the camera actually took a picture when I didn’t want it to and I didn’t even get a chance to go in. Oh well, lesson learned.

And that’s it guys. A look at Kodak Ultramax 400 with some views around Washington state. Overall, this is a pretty grainy film. It’s not that sharp and the colors lean towards the yellows. Those things are pretty apparent. But considering that this film stock was developed to be budget friendly and for everyday cataloging, I’m not mad about it. I think if you understand the characteristics of this film, you can definitely use it towards your advantage, particularly to get some pretty nice colors.

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Kodak Ultramax 400 https://amzn.to/3jh4XVe

Nikon N2020 https://amzn.to/3gsi7wA

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Camping & Hiking Staircase Rapids

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I’ve done quit a few hiking videos in the past but have been slacking on them quite a bit. Recently, I found new inspiration for a different approach to these videos and thought I’d give it another try.

For this first trip, I headed for the Staircase area of the Olympia National Park in Washington. This is a place that I’ve been to many times. Although I like the area, I dread the drive every time because a few miles out from the trailhead, you pass through a dirt road that’s just laden with potholes. Some of them are pretty deep and dodging was not a possibility because they were just everywhere. Trying to make it through this stretch of land with my lower ride height cars was just a nightmare. I told myself that until this road was fixed, I’ll never come back again. Well, I can confirm that the potholes have been filled! Well, most of them. I did see a couple but they were small and so far apart that they were no problem to dodge at all.

Our trip spanned two days. The first was to arrive on location and camp. The second was to pack up, hike, then leave. We knew that we wanted to camp somewhere. Staircase actually wasn’t even on the radar until we saw it on a list of possible nearby camping spots. Again, I’ve been here multiple times but I somehow never noticed that there was a campsite. It’s literally a few feet away from the trailhead. I ultimately wanted to give it a try because I wanted to camp somewhere where there was a hike. Because we were on a bit of a time crunch and because I knew this hike, it just made sense to give this location a try.

We arrived at the Staircase Campground around 3pm and the 47 spot campground was almost completely filled. There was actually a moment of nervousness about possibly having no camping spot and having to go home. This was really weird because this was the most crowded that I’ve ever seen this place. Literally every time that I’ve come here, the parking lots would be empty. So few people came here that I’ve never actually seen an attendant at the entrance or in the ranger station. The crowd continued on my second day here. The camp site’s check out was at 11am so that’s when we transferred over to the parking lot. Both parking lots were filled. I got the very last parking spot available. By the time that I finished the 2.5 mile or so hike, even more people came and there were cars parked out to the side of the road. Again, a drastic change from my previous trips. Going early is definitely my recommendation. If this was what it was like on a Wednesday and Thursday, I can’t imagine the weekend.

As far as the trail and Staircase Rapids hike, everything was as expected. Nothing really changed from my previous trips. The trail condition was good and nothing out of the ordinary or required extra avoidance. The only annoyance was the amount of bugs. I got bit a few times but the main thing to worry about is the abundance of hornets/wasps. We seemed to have caught the attention of about 5 of them and they followed us for over a mile, just circling and coming close. This really made the second half of the hike not enjoyable at all. Definitely bring some extra bug spray just in case.

Overall, this was an enjoyable trip. We do plan on going on more similar adventures this summer so you should expect more content like this. Hope you’ve enjoyed it. Let me know if you have any recommendations for some camp and hike spots!

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Ethos Car Care Interior Detailer

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What’s going on guys, it’s Hai and in this post, we’re taking a look at Ethos Car Care’s Interior Detailer.

This product is a coconut scented all in one interior detailer, meaning it cleans while leaving behind a layer of UV protection without the need of any other products. Interior Detailer is advertised to be safe for all interior surfaces and leaves a non-greasy, streak-free factory “matte” finish.

To use this product, Ethos recommends spraying directly into a microfiber cleaning towel to prevent overspray and wiping the product onto the surface of choice. Then, go back and wipe again with a second clean microfiber towel to remove any excess. In terms of use, this is as simple as it gets. Wipe on, wipe off.

After getting some time in with this product, I would say that it does the job and is a good product. However, I did notice that results vary depending on the surface. Remember, Interior Detailer is advertised to be safe on all interior surfaces. This includes dashboards, leather, vinyl, plastics, and everything in between. With the Supra interior that you’re seeing here, all the buttons are hard plastic, the various dash and side panels are some sort of soft leather print plastic, maybe vinyl or leatherette, there’s also some clear coat carbon fiber and piano black. Interior Detailer did a great job with the hard plastic buttons, making the surface a darker, richer black. However, with all the leather-textured panels, Interior Detailer seemingly did nothing in terms of enhancing the look of the surface. This product is advertised to leave a factory matte finish but with these surfaces, the surface actually looks so matte that it looks somewhat dull and has nothing on it. This tripped me up a bit and I actually did multiple passes on these surfaces to see if I get anything different but nothing. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, it just depends on what you’re looking for. This is the result that I got on this particular surface. Remember, the results were very different on the hard, smoother plastic buttons. With the clear coat carbon fiber and piano black, as expected, there was no change because everything just wipes away from these surfaces.

In my personal opinion, the biggest strength of this product is convenience. Previously, I would have to clean everything, then go back and protect everything. With Interior Detailer, I just sat there and moved from panel to panel. Cleaning and protecting everything in one pass and with one product. I really liked this. However, because this product really didn’t improve the look of the leather-textured surfaces in my car, which is pretty much everywhere that I look, I would have to say that it’s not for me. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t recommend it because I absolutely would. This is the type of product that you just have to try for yourself and see how it works with your interior. The price isn’t that bad so if you’re interested, I would just pick it up and give it a try.

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Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Leather Mist

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What’s going on guys, it’s Hai and today we are taking a look at Turtle Wax’s Hybrid Solutions Leather Mist.

If you couldn’t already tell, this is a leather detailing product and it is advertised to clean, condition, and protect through the use of proprietary UV inhibitors which helps to prevent sun-induced fading. That’s nothing really to write home about as there are many other products on the market that does this. What makes this particular one unique is that it sprays out as a mist rather than coming in cream form like many of its competitors.

In terms of use, this product is as simple as can be. After shaking the bottle well, we simply pump the sprayer and spray a light coating of the product onto the leather surface. Then, use a clean microfiber cloth, or in my case, an applicator pad, to work the product into the leather. Finally, we go back and lightly buff the treated surface with a second clean microfiber towel. Again, as simple as can be.

So, I have to admit. When I first got this product, I was a bit skeptical of it. I mean, I have my leather cleaning routine down because I do it pretty regularly so I was doubtful that a new product would make me want to change my routine. Man, was I wrong.

Leather Mist makes the job so much easier because it dramatically cuts down the time that it takes me to detail the leather of my cars. Of course, a lot of that has to do with this being an all-in-one product, taking care of cleaning, conditioning, and protecting all in one step. But realistically, because I keep my interior very clean, I often go straight to conditioning without cleaning because my interior just doesn’t need it. So my process is largely one step anyway and in that sense, I still feel that using Leather Mist is faster.

At the end of the day, I just have to attribute things to the mist aspect of this product. It is just very effective. What I like about the mist is that it does a good job at distributing a fine layer of product across a surface. Whereas with a traditional spray bottle, large droplets would shoot out, possibly making a bigger mess and making the situation less controllable. I can only contribute the effectiveness of the mist to the Flairosol bottle that Turtle Wax decided to go with. This is such a quality spray bottle for something intended for a mass-produced product. You probably can’t tell through the video but the sprayer is actually very controllable and allowed me to spray a little to a lot of product just by adjusting my length of pull. The way the sprayer is designed also makes it take less effort to pump the head. I can’t praise this bottle enough. This is by far the best spray bottle of any detailing product that I’ve tried.

Something else that I’ve noticed about this product is that my leather interiors seem to absorb it very well. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact this is a liquid solution rather than a cream. With the traditional cream conditioners, it is easier to apply too much product which results in visible excess and requiring to go back and do a light buff with a clean microfiber towel. With the Leather Mist, I found that the light buffing was largely unnecessary. Because the mist goes on very fine, I can just spread the solution across the surface and after a few seconds the leather will soak it all in and I’m good. The extra buffing is only really necessary if you go really crazy with the spray and just soak the surface. With this product, a little goes a long way because it spreads really well. And, of course, if you don’t have to do the buff, you’re just saving more time.

Again, I’m just very surprised at how well this product performs. I thought it would just be ok but it has made me rethink the way that I approach leather detailing and Leather Mist will definitely be used regularly in the future. This product gets a definite recommend from me and if you’re interested in it, I’ll will have links to where you can purchase the product in the description below.

If you're considering buying any of the products mentioned, please support my work by using the links below.

Turtle Wax 53483 Hybrid Solutions Car Leather Cleaner & Conditioner Misting Spray https://amzn.to/3zlydiC

Chemical Guys Microfiber Applicator Pads https://amzn.to/3r8rpkU

All the Auto Detailing Equipment I Use: https://www.amazon.com/ideas/amzn1.account.AF43XRPGVOUH2E5CJXQY4FIOGVAQ/3AI3XVAQEMORX?type=explore&ref=idea_cp_vl_ov_d

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