Last night we had a huge weather front roll in from midnight till about 2 a.m. Studio Dog huddled in the corner of a closet, I checked for clogged French drains while the rest of the family slept soundly. By first light this morning the front had blown through, scrubbed out a lot of the cedar pollen that's been making people miserable, and ushered in lowered temperatures and clear, dry skies.
I grabbed a cup of coffee, my swim gear and a clean towel, and headed to the pool. I hit the second practice at 8:15 a.m. and we swam diligently until 9:30 a.m. We racked up about 3,500 yards; a bit over two miles.
Nobody but Ben seems to be working this week so I'm abandoning the office in favor of a walking tour of downtown coffee shops and some genial photography. Maybe I'll see someone famous. Or interesting. Or beautiful. Or nice. Or all of the previous things. I'll try to get a nice photograph. Otherwise I'll try to get in a bit more exercise and a lot of casual, walking observation.
Today's camera of choice is the Fuji X-H1 with the 60mm Macro 2.4. We'll see if the choice holds between now and my downtown parking spot.....
I hope your holidays are progressing happily. Did anybody get ( or get themselves ) anything photographically interesting for the holidays? Curious minds want to know.....
Not exactly photographic, but my 2012 Mac Mini had been spinning a lot of beach balls lately, as I transition into Lightroom. I looked at the new Mini models, and couldn't quite pull the trigger on a $2,000 replacement (Of course I wanted 32G of RAM and a one terabyte SSD). I've been very disappointed by Apple in recent years. One major blow was their dumping Aperture after selling it as the professional solution for photo editing, necessitating a transition to Lightroom, and the list goes on, far longer than needs to be recounted here. As a stop gap measure I put a new 1TB SSD in the old Mini at a cost of $300. The good news: it's been like a miracle cure for those beach ball blues. And no more money to Apple! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeletePhil, I've been considering a similar update to our older Mac Mini, also a 2012 model. With the SSD swap does it have sufficient CPU to keep up with current builds of Lightroom?
DeleteI also have 16G of RAM. It now boots very quickly, and there are seldom delays. I'm using Adobe Lightroom Classic CC. I bought an upgrade kit from OWC (www.macsales.com) with the drive. The "kit" is simply the tools one needs to torque the various screws that Apple has designed to make user servicing difficult. A ten minute Youtube video shows all the steps.
DeleteI have gone back and forth between Apple and Microsoft OS systems for the past 40 years. I am cycling out of my MS phase back to Apple. During the transition I am using my son's abandoned 2008 MacBook which was painful. I installed an SSD and the experience on a 10 year old machine is pleasant. The performance jumps seem to be getting shorter and shorter. But .... please don't tell my wife that when I tell her I need a new computer.
DeleteIt's amazing to visit this site and reading the views of all mates regarding this piece of writing, while I am also keen of getting knowledge.
ReplyDeleteBought a g9, 12-35mm, and a 42.5mm 1.7. Been having great fun around the greater Pasadena area in SoCal. Given that I find the right place to stand, great images. You can customize everything while you look thru the viewfinder. No second thoughts as to buying it. Considering a 75mm Olympus purchase.
ReplyDeleteJay
PS
The sensitive shutter is easy to get use to. Also get a second battery.
Picked up the Fuji 55-200 XF f/3.5-4.8. After seeing how it performed for you shooting at Zach Theatre it seemed like a safe bet to commit to a nice used copy at Robert's Camera (Carmel, IN) for under $500 out the door. Used it two days later to capture the middle school choir, the lens exceeded my already high expectations in every way. While the big 50-140 f/2.8 sounds more attractive on paper, the extra reach and lighter weight of the 55-200 will suite my needs better.
ReplyDeleteNow, to find a nice used XE-2...
Well, I "got" the awakening that I need to stop screwing around with a hodgepodge of lenses, match them all up with their respective cameras/formats, and decide what to release back into the wild (aka, eBay).
ReplyDeleteSimplify!!
Even as a dedicated Panasonic m43 user (G9 and GX9 currently) I couldn't resist the full-frame siren song when the Sony A7 II was put on sale for cheap with a kit lens. So I gifted myself with it and have already sprung for a better lens (24-105 F4.0 G). The IQ is wonderful and the handling and menus aren't that bad even in comparison with the G9. I hope they can live peaceably together!
ReplyDeletecertainly like your web site but you need to test the spelling on several of your
ReplyDeleteposts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and
I to find it very bothersome to tell the reality however I'll
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Around Thanksgiving I bought the Oly 12-40 f/2.8 for my OMD EM5II. It's a nice lens but not as sharp as the Panasonic-Leica 8-18 that I've rented several times. I LOVE that lens but it's not in my budget right now. I was able to get the 12-40 f/2.8 on sale for $650.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that a GH5 ... ?
ReplyDeleteEagle eyed readers rejoice. You were correct. It was a GH5S in the image above. I corrected the title now. All such great cameras I can hardly tell them apart.....😉
DeleteKirk, it's the editor in me, but I couldn't help but notice that your title reads "G9", but the camera in the photo looks like a GH5. HUH? ;<)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year
The only photographic item I received for Christmas was a new Carbon Fibre tripod. Given the amount of mountain hiking I do this will be a welcome addition to my photo pack. Especially since I want to do more 4x5 film photography in the coming year. I've been enjoying my darkroom more and more and sitting in front of my computer less and less.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever considered writing an e-book or guest authoring on other sites?
ReplyDeleteI have a blog based upon on the same subjects you discuss and would really like to have you share
some stories/information. I know my readers would value your work.
If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an email.
I traded in an Olympus 45mm 1.8 towards the Pro 1.2 version, which is, as expected quite phenomenal (and 1.2 is incredibly usable with face&eye-detect AF. While the 25mm and 17mm PRO lenses appeal, I learnt quite quickly that I prefer something much smaller in these 'walk-around' lengths.
ReplyDeleteI also traded in my backup body (E-PL 7) towards a heavily discounted Panasonic LX100 (ver. 1). This is an experiment in getting the best quality in the smallest package - something I can attach to my backpack strap or toss (encased of course) into my hip pack for mountain biking. I view it as a collection of useful primes.
My biggest disappointment is honestly the terrible jpegs it produces - blotchy yellow chroma noise at the hint of a shadow and obviously posterized gradations in areas of smooth tonality. I've done some colour profile adjustments and trimmed the white balance, but it can't come near to what Olympus cameras of the same era produce.
However, B&W conversions look quite promising, and high-speed flash sync courtesy the leaf shutter opens a whole new realm of lighting possibilities.
After years of happily shooting with micro-four-thirds cameras - my current favorite is a Lumix GX8 body with that amazing EVF, followed by the diminutive GM1 which is a superb camera that makes me think it's a digital version of my former take-everywhere-tiny-analog Rollei 35 compact camera - I broken down and actually acquired a DSLR when the particular model I fancied went on drastically-reduced sale for Black Friday: the Pentax KP. It's barely larger than my GX8 body, and in terms of handling and features, it reminds me of the Spotmatics and MX's which I shot with for years back in the ancient barely-remembered analog era. Best of all, it couples beautifully with a few tiny but sterling Pentax lenses - the laughably tiny DA 40mm (given its tiny dimensions, to call it a pancake seems an exaggeration), and the classic and-also-quite-small DA 21mm Ltd. Pentax has always made great glass and the KP is one of the most photographer-friendly cameras I have ever shot with, past, present or future. It also seems to have a brilliant (pun intended) sensor, and while Pentax has always marched to the beat of its own drummer, I am surprised to find myself using a DSLR as much and sometimes more than its mirrorless cousins.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! This blog looks exactly like my old
ReplyDeleteone! It's on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Outstanding choice of colors!
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When I originally commented I clicked the "Notify me when new comments are added"
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We come here primarily to see more pictures of Studio Dog!
ReplyDeleteRick