Saturday adventures. April 4, 2020.

From yesterday's run. Water pouring off the top of the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge

in Austin, Texas. Combined with an amazing (and dangerous) lightning storm.

It was fun to get out and hit a nearly vacant trail right through the middle of town yesterday. When I left my vehicle it was a balmy 70+ degrees and there was soft, intermittent rain. By the time I'd gone 1/3 of the way the wind had picked up, the temperature started dropping and the raindrops got fatter and more frequent. By the time I finished the wind gusts were dramatic, the rainfall torrential and the temperature about 20 degrees colder. It was a blast! What a nice change from sitting in front of my computer trying to find fun stuff to read. 

When I got back to my vehicle I stood under the tailgate and stripped off my rain jacket, black baseball cap, and camera and tossed them in with the swim bag on the rubber mat. I grabbed an "emergency" poncho and my swim towel and blundered into the driver's seat, using the poncho to create a barrier between the seat and my soaking wet shorts. Happily, I have a WeatherTech floor mat on the driver's side so my brand new, soaked, running shoes didn't matter.

The Sigma fp and the Lumix 24-105mm f4.0 L lens were unfazed by their time in the rain and wind but that's probably because I tucked them into my jacket for the last half of our journey. The bridge above is the last couple of hundred yards to cover on my way back to the Zach Theatre complex where my car was parked. I stopped under the bridge and made a few shots (and some video) because by the time I'd gotten to that point the thunder and lightning was nearly continuous and I thought it best not to cross an exposed, elevated bridge in the middle of a lightning storm. As soon as mother nature signaled a very short break in electrical activity I lunged up the stairs and sprinted across the span. Just like a protagonist in an action/adventure movie... (Calling Walter Mitty, calling Walter Mitty....). 

Last night was weird. The temperature dropped into the 40's (which is very unusual for this time in our part of Texas) and instead of running the air conditioner we had to switch back to the heater for the first time in a month. It rained and thundered and lightning-ed (is that even a word?) all through the night and it was still chilly this morning. I made almond croissants and scrambled eggs for me and Belinda. It was a fun breakfast, complete with an extra dose of coffee. 

Then boredom really sunk in. I was in the office looking at camera store websites. I went to Precision Camera's website where I had previously seen a used Mamiya 645 Pro with an 80mm lens and an Aptus 5-II digital back offered for the princely sum of $1299. With a sensor three times the size of a 35mm sensor it seemed like it might be a fun diversion. 

I called my favorite used equipment specialist at the shop to make inquiries. They are working with a skeleton crew and can ship or do a curbside pick-up (brief explanation: By "curbside pick-up" you should not take it to mean that a human comes up to my car and hands me my purchase through the car window. Instead, you purchase the unit you want with a credit card -- either over the phone or online -- then they prepare the package for you. You arrive and stay in your car. You call them to let them know you are out front. They place your package outside the door and then retreat. Once they've fled the scene you exit your car, circle around the package warily, spray it with your spray sanitizer, and, with the tips of two fingers of one hand, drop it into the gapping trunk, in a special metal box marked with hazardous material decals. Once home you spray down the contents of the box with a toxic stew of disinfectants and disgorge the contents onto a thick spread of newspaper on top of which you swab down each piece with more disinfectant. Then you dispose of the newspaper, re-wash your hands and you are ready to re-enter the portal of normalcy. Or something like that....).

We chatted about the medium format digital camera and, to his credit, he convinced me not to buy it. The sensor in the camera is from 2008 and is now more or less obsolete, but also, the original owner was not an individual but a busy for profit trade school for which this camera was a daily loaner to students. Not a good recipe for long term reliability.

So, what did I buy instead? You may recall me asking everyone who would read or listen how well they liked their Panasonic GX8 cameras. I'd danced around picking one up for a while. My most convenient rationale for wanting one being my ample supply of Olympus Pen FT lenses to use on this kind of camera (aaah. Just the thought of being able to use my 60mm f1.5 on the 20 megapixel sensor makes me happy!).  I'd seen three used versions in EX condition on Precision Camera's site so I asked about that while I had my guy on the phone. We negotiated a bit and I decided on a nice, black one. 

With charger and battery for not a lot of money. The asking price was $450. I paid less. I'm heading up this afternoon with my improvised face mask and a new belt with holsters that hold spray bottles of sanitizer on either side (kidding about the belt and holsters) to pick up the camera from their front door. It will be nice to have a diversion to play with. I can't wait to shoot some frames and evaluate it. Maybe I'll have something interesting to write about a three year old (+) used camera by the middle of next week.   

Still eyeing the Leica SLs. I know you are tired of hearing about it and wish I would just buy one and get over it but that's not the way I do stuff. It's either total impulse purchase or the opposite. I can watch the prices go down until we hit a point where sales start to increase and then I'll make my offer. It works for me. I do the same with investments. Seems to work most of the time. Sometimes the price never comes down enough and I'm happy to walk away. 

I'm having fun shooting lots and lots of video. Trying to get my video mojo in shape for the recovery. I have a feeling video production will be in very high demand. Sorry to torture you with my impromptu video shorts but I think it's all fun. 

Stay safe and have some solo adventures in the rain. At least, in the cold, driving rain you won't be fighting for safe space!

Hope everyone is putting their own positive spin on sheltering in place. 

At the beginning of the run it was just starting to rain.....

I guess that's how it always starts. 

Wanna blame someone for my GX8 purchase? It's Frank's fault. 

He makes the camera look good....