the path to the center of downtown.
It's been a mellow week. Well, except for this morning when I drove over to FedEx and picked up my new computer. That seemed exciting for me. Something new. I set it next to my old computer and asked them both to transfer over the applications and various files from the old to the new. The machines got to work immediately. It was fun to see them cooperate so well. Chatting back and forth and sharing so nicely. About 26 minutes later the new machine was up and ready. I went to lunch with the client for my upcoming project and let the new MacBook Pro settle in and get its newly arrived files well sorted.
My client and I had about two minutes of logistics to discuss but we both thought it would be fun to meet for lunch at Jack Allen's Kitchen rather than trying to jabber away on Zoom. I hate Zoom calls; avoid them like the plague. Which, oddly enough, initially gave rise to Zoom.
My instructions for the three days of the show were as follows: "You know what you're doing. Just make nice photographs we can use for marketing. Like last time." That was about it. We spent the rest of lunch catching up and sharing stories. The spicy mango, sautéed shrimp and avocado salad on a bed of greens I had was great. The client picked up the tab for lunch. Bonus. Business well settled I headed back home to see how our newest thinking machine was adapting to my secondary office and to grab an SD card filled with images to import into Lightroom. Testing, testing! 100 images imported and processed into the catalog in about 7 seconds. That's a good start.
I tried out the Lightroom DeNoise A.I. on a big raw file and it processed the image about five times faster than my big iMacPro, the one loaded with tons of RAM and a fast server level Xeon processor. That speed and throughput will come in handy. The screen is remarkably sharp and the colors on the screen are nicer even than on my big, 27 inch monitor. All of this will certainly come in handy at the upcoming corporate event. The new laptop even gets email.
Several people chimed in to ask if I compared this machine with a similarly spec'd MacBook Air and I have to say that I did but I like the additional, full sized HDMI port and really, really appreciate the reappearance of a built-in SD card reader. The difference in price was about the price of a nice dinner at a decent restaurant. If I don't skimp on the tip.
But here's the really cool thing : The computer came bundled with a free keyboard. It's already installed. It's right there on the laptop and has all the keys I would ever need to write anything from an email to a novel. The keys are even backlit. And they feel great. I can already feel the improved keyboard starting to take away some of the stiffness I felt in my right ankle this week. It's an absolute miracle.
How fast is the new machine? Well, before I even started with the post processing I was already through it. It's like my Apple computer is transforming the basic laws of physics.
As long as we're on the topic of gear I thought I'd mention that I got my flash + Leica camera stuff all figured out. You know, for event stuff. A friend had an extra Leica SF58 flash unit. He used it once in a while and he's kind of compulsive about keeping his flash capacitors well formed, and the flash looks mostly brand new. He let me know that he was now using Profoto portable flashes and their hot shoe trigger and felt like older gear was just piling up. I asked what he wanted $$$-wise for the flash and he just rolled his eyes and handed it over.
The flash is exactly what I was looking for. Powerful flash output. TTL and Auto flash in one package. Dedicated to Leica stuff --- like the digital Ms and the SL family of cameras. Once a solution presents itself all research and Marianas Trench-level deep dives disappear and I feel I can get on with my life. Now thinking about more mundane things like what suit and tie to wear to a reception tomorrow.
A number of you were very, very concerned about my "powdered" camera from Sunday. The camera and lens that celebrated Holi and got covered with dusty powder. I've used the perfectly cleaned camera and lens non-stop since Sunday and I'm happy to report that the are in perfect condition and doing their jobs just as they did before their initiation into dirty work. You can stop worrying now. Please!
Austin has gotten a lot of rain this Spring and the whole city is bright green, dark green, mellow green and happy green. Our trees are looking great and the grass is rich and healthy without any assist from sprinklers. Hope this holds out for the year. Last year almost wiped out the trees. Sustained temperatures over 100° and no rain for months at a time is.... a trying experience for trees. I was especially concerned about my Japanese maples. They are more delicate than the live oaks.
That's all I have to report right now. Stay safe out there but stop baby-ing your cameras. They really do want to feel useful. Honest.
The back alley path to Mañana Coffee.
17 comments:
right ankle?
The speed of your new machine reminds me of the Nikon 1 V2 that I used for about a year mainly to shoot bicycle racing pictures. The thing would nail focus and take the picture before I knew what I wanted a photo of. I ended up selling it but I should have hung onto to it as a camcorder. Not like it took up much room.
Maybe. After several hours with the new keyboard the stiffness seems to have resolved...
I don’t know, Kirk… that keyboard sounds kind of veblen if you ask me. Especially with that advanced, luxury computer attached. 🤣
So, did you go for the 13, 14 or 16-inch MacBook Pro? And with which processor? I’m just being nosy. At Christmas, I bought myself a Mac Studio with M2 Max processor and 27-inch Studio Display. Hopefully my final desktop computer for a long time.
Hi Biro, I bought this laptop to replace an older unit that I mostly use at events. I have an event coming up in a few weeks. Big bank conference. Sometimes they like to do "walk in" slide shows of images from the day before. Having a fast machine = an earlier bed time. The one I chose was the 14inch, M3 processor, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD. Not very expensive at all. Perfect for working at hotels and convention centers. The rest of the time it becomes the "surfing the web" machine for leisure.
I will eventually replace the iMacPro in the main office and I'm looking at your basic set up as well. The studio, totally tricked out, is supposed to be incredible.
Amazing how fast and seamlessly the migration process works! Go Apple !!! (disclaimer: I also own their stock).
I think these M's have the memory on the cpu itself, so that can't be upgraded, but does make them much faster...
Oh, and Biro, all Apple keyboards are: "over the top, Veblen, unnecessarily good, luxury items, a rip-off, a waste of money" and other meaningless crap people say. They've had their struggles but for the most part the keyboards are just swell...
Yes Adam, you are correct. The memory is embedded into the chip. But it can be upgraded. You just trade in your computer for one with more RAM.
haha, my brother in law used to be a genius at apple, he was telling me how unupgradable or even fixable some of the macbook airs were, battery soldered on etc, I think the air was almost one unit inside
Great client creative brief. It reminds me of that letter from Mick Jagger to Andy Warhol, commissioning the cover art for Sticky Fingers. It was along the lines of do what you do best, let us know how much money you want for it, and if some guy from Corporate turns up and tells you to "hurry, hurry," just ignore him.
Green!! You have GREEN!! We just got another 12 inches of snow piled on top of the last 10 inches. Cabin fever has set in! No vaccine for that, but good wine helps.
Eric
It's green everywhere you look in Austin. And the wildflowers are blooming all along the highways. Gorgeous. 46° on the way to swim practice. Sunny skies and 76° right now. Pretty much perfect.
Kirk, you got perhaps the best value for the dollar with that setup. Good choice.
I would have completely avoided any MacBook from around 2017 to 2019 because of the butterfly-switch keyboard that was prone to failed keys that were impossible to repair. I bought one of my kids a MacBook Air with older-style LCD screen because I didn’t trust the butterfly-switch keyboards in the newer MacBook Airs with retina screens. After thinness-obsessed Jony Ive retired, Apple engineers and designers could go back to creating MacBooks with decent airflow and reliable scissor-switch keyboards, like the one your new MacBook Pro is attached to.
Enjoy the new computer. Keep us apprised of any Mac Studio purchase.
Will do Craig. Thanks!
I think that possibly . . . just possibly, that back alley path is displaying some punctum.
Maybe.
Mike, we can't know because....as other Mike tells us...it is all very subjective. Did you see that I have a new keyboard? That's the real punctum of the week!
I generally pride myself on a wide vocabulary, but I'll admit I had to look up the definition of punctum, lest I miss the ... point.
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