Spring Time in Austin. Time to get outside more and see the sites. Prices on cameras set to rise by at least 10%. Best close on that once in a lifetime camera deal today!!!

 

It was a beautiful day in Austin. The sun was coming in and out of the clouds. There was a soft breeze for most of the afternoon and the temperatures stayed in the lower 80s. We had some good, soaking rains last week and some on again, off again showers this week. In central Texas that means just about everything is bright green or blooming like crazy. The trees surrounding the house and studio have thick canopies and the live oaks are dropping oak pollen like confetti. 

I could have stayed in the office and listened to the news about tariffs and then watched my favorite stocks falling like lead balloons but I decided to ignore everything and go for a walk instead. It was the right choice. 

The camera I chose today was the Leica top 240 M-E. A gorgeous grey metal finish with nary a defect on it anywhere. I paired it with my current favorite 50mm lens, the Voigtlander APO Lanthar. I set up the camera to shoot in .dng and headed off to my favorite parking place, just north of Lady Bird Lake. 

As I crossed over the railroad tracks and headed for the pedestrian bridge that would lead me into South Austin I wondered just how many times I've walked across the tracks, behind a huge parking garage, past Mañana Coffee and over the Pfluger Bridge. At least a couple hundred times. Maybe more. That triggered my memories of just how long I've been running the four mile loop around the lake in downtown. I started running the trail with a college girlfriend who was the first person I knew who not only had Nike Waffle Trainers but also had a passion for finding just the right running shoes. That would have been back in 1975. 

When we were undergraduates on just about every nice weather day we'd lace up our running shoes and run down from the UT campus (about a mile and a half) and hit the four mile trail. We're both pretty competitive but she was always the better runner. After a fast spin around the lake we'd walk or jog back to our dorms on campus. We broke up, eventually, but I never stopped running the trails. 

I competed in the very first Capitol 10K way back in 1978 and ran my first marathon in 1979. I'm going to guess I've been around the lake in running shoes about 5,000 times over the last 50 years. Sounds like a  lot but that's really only 100 days a year. The last time I ran a race was in 2013 when my kid was running cross country in high school and we decided to run the Thundercloud Turkey Trot. Geez! I can hardly believe that was twelve years ago.... (sigh). Yes, my 17 year old kicked my butt by several minutes. But at least I could still knock out a 10K with a minimum of active training. I guess the cardio of swimming transfers --- a bit. Not sure how I'd do today but I'm in no hurry to find out.

Anyway, I got across the pedestrian bridge and headed east on Barton Springs Road. I walked past the lunch rush at Black's BBQ. Lots of big, big people with trays loaded high jockeying for picnic table space. Funny that the restaurant is juxtaposed right next to Austin TriCyclist which is a store than serves swimmers, runners, cyclists and triathletes (I swim most days with one of the owners. She is faster than me...). I buy my swim goggles from her. It's kind of fun to be part of an exercise clique... Makes it all feel more like a family of athletes. I actually used the owner of the sport shop as a primary model in a photo shoot for Austin Sports Medicine. She was perfect for the role. Because she lives the role.

I was traveling light this afternoon. One camera, one lens. I had my car key in one pocket and my wallet in the other. That's it. No cell phone, no extra batteries, no encumbrances. Nothing weighting me down. 

Just comfortable shoes and a cool pair of shorts. I walked up one side of South Congress Ave., crossed over after I ran out of stores, shops and restaurants to look at on the east side of the street and came back down on the west side of the street. I walked into one gallery and found two really fun litho prints I liked very much. 

I stopped at Torchy's Tacos to grab a big, stuffed, bacon, egg and cheese taco on a flour tortilla for lunch. Cruised by the Maufrais hat shop to see what might be new. 

I cut through the Hotel San José just to watch the people sitting in the courtyard in the mid-afternoon sipping cocktails and wine, and came to rest, temporarily, at Jo's Coffee right next door. I'd just read an article on Medscape about how having enough dairy in your daily diet can reduce your chances of colon cancer by up to 20% over people who don't have enough dairy in their diets. Seems big studies now show that all that hoopla over the evils of dairy and saturated fat was wrong. The big cut back of dairy may be one of the reasons why CRC is increasing among younger and younger generations. Too much oat milk, not enough whole cow milk. Who am I to argue with big studies from legit sources? 

So, of course I had a latté made with whole milk. But really, is there any other way to make a good latté??? Secondary studies also indicate that twice weekly yogurt ingestion has a similar positive effect. And, just to mollify yogurt naysayers, my preferred yogurt, from FAGE has two ingredients. One is milk and the second is yogurt cultures. No sugars, no sweeteners, no candy soup. Just protein and CRC reducing properties. Who knew that so many previously vilified foods would turn out to be so good for you? Be careful where you source your nutrition info. You may be playing footsie with a proponent of RFK, Jr. The patron saint of Measles. 

After the coffee, which I enjoyed while sitting almost motionless at a table, I walked back toward the other side of downtown and headed off to find my car. Which was right where I left it four miles ago. Vroooom. 

When I got home there was a box waiting for me just outside the front door of the house. It's a Pelican case I ordered from B&H. It's just right for the back-up gear. 

The images from today validate my understanding of just how good this camera and lens combination can be. I stayed close to f5.6 but I have no fears about using f16 if I need to/want to and, by the same token, no fears about using f2.0. They must have put those settings on the lens for a reason!!!

An interesting fact to share: A great uncle of my father was Edward Tuck. He was a banker, a diplomat (mostly stationed in France) and a philanthropist. His father was Amos Tuck, the founder of the Republican party. When I took my parents on a trip to Paris back in 1994 we made a visit to the Petit Palais where Edward Tuck had donated a large collection of his art. He was also a frequent benefactor for social programs there. There is a street named after him in Paris. It's Avenue Edouard Tuck which runs between La Place de la Concord to the Petit Palais. My father and mother were greeted warmly by the museum staff after they learned of his relationship to Edward Tuck. While he lived most of his later life in Monte Carlo he did dabble in philanthropy in the U.S.; his most noted gift was the establishment of the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He was an alumni of Dartmouth, and earlier,  Exeter Academy. 

I always find it interesting to learn more about the family's past. My father was the first to break a long line of precedence of being in banking... But that's a story for another time.

But look! Spring has sprung in Austin....

When I got back home I heard the financial news about the tariffs. Seems like they cover not just cars and steel and such but also electronics and consumer goods from just about every country on the face of the earth. I'm sure we'll see camera and lens prices heading north in short order. While I was joking earlier, with inflation not coming down and tariffs driving prices higher, this might be the best moment to finally push the "buy now" button for the camera you've been saving up for. They may never be this "cheap" again.

I was going to buy a D-Lux 8 today. I put one in my shopping cart at Leica Store Miami. They had at least one in stock. I thought I'd come back after my walk and finish up the order. But by the time I got back they'd sold through their supply. I guess that's all for the best. I never attended the Edward Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Only the Kirk Tuck School of Hard Knocks, so maybe it was a sign from the universe to keep some powder dry (save the money). 

At least the current milieu means never a boring day on Wall Street. 

Don't leave them hanging...

 

In the end the camera you choose to use doesn't really matter at all. For most of us our brand choice is an extension of ego. The most mentally healthy amongst us can make a good argument that their choices are only predicated by the intended use case. But I'm not sure I buy that. 

I had a client call and ask if I would put together a collection of food shots from which to choose a small sampling of images for a campaign. The funny thing is that some of my favorite images from the 400+ I put together in the catalog came from the casual use of an older iPhone; the XR. Now five generations old. A few of my least favorite came from very expensive cameras and top tier lenses. 

Putting together a collection is like looking into a time machine. There were image candidates made with cameras from nearly every major brand. Micro 4:3rd camera images were over-represented. As were images from Fuji cameras. There were even a couple from my old, cheap, 4x5 Calumet view camera...

Were those cameras better than the other, newer, full frame cameras? Not at all, they were just the cameras that were in the right place at the right time when I was in the right mood to be entirely awake to the potential in front of me. 

I have no external reasons not to succeed at making good images. The stumbling blocks I do have are: preconceived notions of style, copying the look and feel of a homogenous collection of shots I've seen over time, depending on a particular feature of a camera or lens that doesn't pan out, laziness, feeling rushed, feeling bored by the subject, trying to hard to please the client standing next to me, an over -reliance on technical chops, an under-reliance on creativity and intuition, ignoring inspiration and instead clinging to the safest way to make a photograph. 

None of these things has anything do to with cameras or lenses and everything to do with the state of mind you find yourself in, or the ability to allow yourself to step outside of how you did stuff yesterday in order to try something new today. Inspiration comes to those who can conquer their own fears. And none of us are perfect at this all the time.

Some stuff is about problem solving but most stuff is about paying attention to how you like things to look.

Organizing a brief trip to another city to shoot a conference. Who knew there were so many details to attend?

 

The Eldorado Hotel. Santa Fe.

Never give a certain type of photographer too much time to plan a trip. They will research it to death. 

I'm heading to Santa Fe, N.M. in the middle of next month for a three day bank conference. I'm working for a client I really like and have worked with for nearly 30 years now. She mentioned my participation for this meeting way back in Spring of 2024 and confirmed it just after the start of this year. I put the dates in my calendar and ... immediately started worrying over details. 

The last time we did this conference in Santa Fe was 2022. I drove there then. That was a big mistake. Everyone says you can drive it in one day. I'll only agree that if you are 18 years old, high on speed and driving a Porsche GTS-R3 then...yeah. You can make it in one day. If you are, say 66 years old, driving a Subaru Forester and the most powerful drug you ever put in your system is coffee? Then no. It's a two day trip.

Better yet? You can now fly directly into Santa Fe on a real airline. It's no longer required to fly into Albuquerque, rent a car and drive for two hours. Nope, you can fly right in. I researched it. I booked my tickets back in January. There's a one hour stop at DFW. Not a big deal. 

The airlines seem to be anticipating declining travel numbers in the short term. Businesses are uncertain about things like tariffs and, well, basically the sanity of the people running the government. It's showing. American Airlines emailed today and offered to upgrade all of the legs of my flights in and out of Austin  and Santa Fe to first class seating for a fee that would just about cover dinner for two at a nice restaurant. First class buys you pre-boarding, a better seat and...most important of all, a dedicated overhead luggage space. Perfect for people traveling with delicate cameras. I jumped on the offer and didn't give it a second thought. 

For the last several months I've been trying to figure out exactly what gear to take. The flights into and out of Santa Fe are on smaller regional jets and I was operating under the idea that I'd be flying economy and that I needed to pack to make sure the cameras could fit under the seat in front of me. That's based on the premise that the overheads will be tiny and that no matter how I tried to game the boarding with my luck I'd end up near the end of the line and would have to hassle with whether or not I'd have to gate check cameras. And lenses. 

One month, back in 2018, I was working on an annual report job for a huge infrastructure company and I did 24 different flights, some round trips, over the course of 30 days. Most of the locations were in and out of rural areas where big planes didn't fly. I got really good at figuring out how to pack hard to break stuff to check into the bellies of planes and how to pack soft-sided camera bags that could be coerced to ride under the seat in front of me; if necessary. Those were the memories I conjured up as I approached packing logistics. 

And I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to safely bring along everything I wanted to have, from just in case to wouldn't that be nice to have? I'm pretty much locked in now. Then I found a solution that will allow me to bring everything I could ever imagine. Which is good because at last year's conference in a different city we needed extra lights, light stands, a tripod, and modifiers. Not stuff that fits into overhead compartments. 

No fun packing... but.... I remembered that the Austin-based event production company (lighting, sound and staging) that my client likes to use are people I have happily worked with in cities across the country and in places like Lisbon, Monte Carlo and Madrid. Really good guys who do mostly very high end production work. I called over to them last week and asked if they were sending a big truck to Santa Fe for the show. Yes indeed. They are. Could I toss in one medium-sized Pelican hard case? You bet! Just have it at our office by the 9th of April and we'll have it backstage at the hotel when you arrive. This allows me to pack a full complement of prime lenses, an extra flash, mountains of batteries and a second SL2-S body, along with accessories and cabling, and have it shipped free of charge right to my final destination. And back home again.

That means when I fly I only have to handle a much lighter camera bag with an SL2-S, the 24-90mm zoom, one flash and one Q2 camera. Oh, and my laptop. These will all fit in one manageable Domke shoulder bag which will ride on top of the roller case with all my clothing and toiletries in it as I march through the airports.

And now that I have upgraded to first class I could actually check two bags for free and also be assured that my roller case is flying close to me in the overhead space. 

My flight will leave before sunrise and I don't take chances so I'm driving myself to the airport at 4:30 in the morning. Way too early!!! But parking at the terminal can be time consuming and iffy so I've made a reservation for a covered parking space at one of the close-in private lots at the airport periphery. I've used them many times before and their shuttle will get me to the terminal fast. On the other end I have ample time to get a taxi. Or an Uber. 

I've upgraded all my production software on the laptop as well as all the firmware for the various cameras. In addition I'm meeting with my client for a lunch this week to discuss schedules, needed photos and other details. We do this each year before the show and it's helpful to know what's planned and to get a feel for the mood of the corporation. 

Every work camera will have two fast SD cards backing each other up and I'll be downloading to an outboard SSD and also to the internal SSD in the laptop each night of the conference. 

Now that I have more leeway in the luggage I'll also pack swim gear. You never know when a Santa Fe based friend might need an impromptu swim lesson....

None of this planning is my only focus on work. Last week, this week and the week after all have other projects booked in. But it's nice to have a plan, a plan "B" and a plan "C" just in case. Once I hit the hotel and grab the trucked in case the feeling of relaxation will be almost overwhelming. At that point my only worry will be getting the shots. And having fun shooting. 

Bit by bit a project comes together. It's so much easier these days when I'm not planning around a kid's soccer games or trying to figure out how to pre-pay for stuff out of a limited budget. The schedule is mine to plan around and the cash flow is no longer a worry. In fact, the most stressful part of almost every out of town trip these days is getting to the airport, getting seated on the plane and making those connections. Everything else?  I've practiced so many times it should be automatic. 

The only other logistics consideration is wardrobe. It's a banker conference. Very high end. Coat and tie. Shiny shoes. Pressed shirts. Unwrinkled pants. More than one jacket. But, again, this is not my first rodeo. I've practiced the wardrobe thing with U.S. presidents and Fortune 100 CEOs. It's the same basic plan. Dress conservatively, plan for plan B and lean on the hotel for needed pressing and dry cleaning. And if the shoes get scuffed...get them shined. 

Love the Eldorado Hotel. It's a great business destination. That's all I've got for today.

Someone asked me what camera system I'd buy into if I'd never stumbled head first into the Leica swamp.

When I look back over all the cameras (and lenses) I've used in the past twenty five years (the Age of Digital) there are lots of individual cameras I liked. A lot. But one camera does not a system make. 

The hand feel of Nikons like the D700, D610 and D750 were really good for me. But the system had its issues. Most of the pre-mirrorless Nikons could have issues with front focusing and back focusing. And I found that correcting for one lens might put another, different lens in jeopardy. I have some good images from my years with Nikon but...

Then there's my time with Sony. Interesting to me that I was at the Photo Expo in NYC in 2013 when Sony debuted the A7 and A7R cameras. The A7 was interesting but the shutter noise and slap in the A7R (even though it was a mirrorless camera!!!) was so awful and profound that I almost dropped it out of sheer surprise. I owned an A7ii, and A7Rii and a couple iterations of the (very good) RX10 cameras but back in the early days of Sony cameras both the batteries and the camera menus seemed locked in a competition to see which could be worse. Which one could most annoy working photographers. And I never got used to carrying around eight to ten batteries to get through a day. And I never really wanted to have the 250 page .pdf of the manual on my phone to try, while out in the field, to unlock the secrets of some control which seemed straightforward on every other camera brand's cameras. The photos were fine....

I could have lived with Panasonic's first generation of S1 cameras. They worked well. But they were a bit noisy (file noise at higher ISOS) and the focusing could have been better. At the time I traded them for Leica stuff they seemed not to be making much forward movement and like immobile sharks I thought the brand, Lumix, might stop breathing and die. The Leicas were expensive to buy and it may be that the sheer expense has kept me anchored to the brand. Who wants to spend a small fortune only to abandon the brand and switch yet again to something else?

I even had a flirtation with a Pentax camera. It was the K1. The original K1. And from a handling point of view I'd still have it. But, again, the scourge of DSLRs. Variable front and back focusing reared its ugly head. Still, the camera itself was mature, charming and almost sophisticated. Sad to see it go. Now that I think about it I'll start wishing that Pentax would take that body and use it as the platform for a really great mirrorless system... Not going to happen. Sorry. 

But the one brand I haven't mentioned is probably the one brand I would go to if I were to replace the Leicas, and that's Canon. There's a lot to dislike about Canon. But then again, I used the 60D, the 70D, the 5D and the 5Dmk2 cameras back in the day and when I revisit those files I still like em. A lot. The handling of the full frame cameras was comfortable and I never worried that the files would be compromised by focus issues, noise issues or skin color issues. Sure, there's no real prestige value to a camera system that every weekend warrior uses for weddings of all stripes but you can't really count that against a brand. I also owned one of the big 1Dmk4 cameras they made for sports shooters and liked it a lot. Sure it was big but what good camera back in the pre-2010 days wasn't? The beauty was that cameras such as the 1Dmk4 were practically indestructible and well formed to spend a day in one's hands with little to no strain. 

I shot with Canon SLRs back in the film days. My first real camera was a TX. Replaced by an FTb, augmented with an EF and then an F1. When Canon switched to the EOS mount from the FD mount I switched with them and had the EOS-1...which was a wonderful camera. I paired it with the 85mm L f1.2 and, except for slow focusing (torturously slow) it was an amazing lens. 

I haven't kept up with what Canon is doing in the mirrorless space. Once in a while I'll hear about a camera they've introduced that has heat issues with not only video but also with photos. Then I'll hear that it's been fixed but it has seemed like a brand in such flux that I guess I decided I didn't have the bandwidth to keep up with their strained campaign to move, seriously, into the mirrorless space. 

I guess the Canon camera that would interest me the most would be the R5mk2. More than enough pixels. Seems like they worked out the thermal issues that plagued the original model. It seems advanced enough to do just about anything I need and I'd couple it with basic 24-105mm L lens (not the Z model). There are a few cheaper models that could serve in a pinch for backup but I haven't looked into them. There is a super cheap, full frame model called the EOS RP which you can pick up right now, on sale for about $800, new. Clamp on a kit version of the 24-105 (f4-something to f7-something), add a flash and you'd be ready to go shoot a wedding or an event. But really?

I can't imagine changing stuff right now. If I found the Leica stuff just too pricy to go on with I think I'd just default to the Panasonic S5 series cameras and their cheap as dirt line of prime lenses. At least I'd be able navigate the menus, having used the original S5 since...forever. 

It's been asked on other blogs but I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask here: If storm troopers tossed you into the street and burned down your house with all your camera gear in it, and you needed/wanted to start over again in photography, what system would you be looking at???? Presuming you got to keep your basic wealth and the insurance paid for your losses (house, gear, etc) after the overlords figured out that you actually weren't the terrorist cell they anticipated???? Sorry dude! Mistakes happen.

Just a few thoughts on a Monday.

Bricked. The wall. Not my camera...

 Q2 in 35mm lens camera mode. 

I'm constantly amazed by people who complain about not having enough money and how expensive everything has gotten and then, in the next breath, call themselves out for being lazy, not sticking to anything worthwhile, going through life unmotivated and disengaged. Wealth almost seems like math to me. Work smart and work hard and you can charge commensurately. Spend your hard earned money on crap and you'll stay economically fragile. Save and invest and you'll do okay.

It's all a matter of discipline and follow through. But what do I know about all this? I'm just a freelance photographer... sigh.

I was pretty upset when I found out that my Leica Q2 was actually a 35mm lens camera. Not just a 28mm lens camera!!! The horror.

 

It's funny. When Leica incorporates a "feature" into a camera people don't know how to respond. Take the ability to engage frame lines in the finder of the Q2 to show you the accurate crops for 35, 50 and 75mm lenses. Take the photo at, say, a 35mm crop and that's what you end up with if you are shooting Jpegs. A photo with a 35mm angle of view. The framelines are a good indicator that you're actually doing some cropping. You won't get to use every pixel you paid for.  It set the web on fire at the time of the camera's introduction. How dare they make in-camera cropping a thing in an over-priced, red dot, Veblen photography product. And then call it a feature!!! IT'S JUST CROPPING! I CAN DO THAT IN POWER POINT!!!

But stick the same capability in a newly announced Fuji medium format camera and you'd think you just bought tickets for the second coming of Christ. 

Out for a walk today with the Leica Q2 camera. Trying to decide, by using this camera all the time, if I could really just buy a Q3 with a 43mm lens on it, keep the original Q2, and get rid of every other camera, camera body and lens in the entire studio. Gone. Trashed. Sold. Liquidated. Sure would make packing a lot easier. Two cameras and good coverage from 28mm to about 90mm. With enough resolution for everything. But..inertia. Common sense. Conservative constraint. 

I liked the way the light played across the bench and also created shadows of the leaves. It was well suited for the 35mm focal length. And since I was shooting Jpegs I thought I'd just push the little button on the back and engage the frame lines. Turn the camera into a 35mm lens camera. The push of a button. 

I've been playing around with the cropping feature for days now. It's elegant and reminds me of the frame lines in any M series Leica camera. You can also see "outside the frame" which I think allows for better compositions. The ability to see what's in and what's out.

Sad to think I'll have to settle for "only" 30 something megapixels when I use that 35mm crop mode. I guess there are worse things to contemplate. 

Ah. First World Veblen Problems...  FWVP.   Never learned about that in prep school. 

OT: Adaptation and empathy. Why society in general will never work. Another glorious photo walk.

 You know how it is. You've been driving around in your enormous pick-up truck, running errands, honking at cute girls, flipping off people who are driving Prius cars and trying to figure out why, if you voted for your guy for president, the price of your eggs keeps going up and up and you might have to start paying for your mom's healthcare out of your own pocket. Because, you know, Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. You might never get all the money you deserve!!! It's kind of like when you pay taxes to support the biggest military in the history of the Universe and they won't even let you ride in an F-35 fighter jet. The jets your taxes are paying for...!!! 

But so anyway you're driving around and you decide you need to drop by and visit with someone in a downtown building. But there's not enough parking space behind this darn mail truck (Don't worry, they'll be cancelling mail delivery shortly...) and you're in a hurry cuz you are always in a hurry and you decide instead to just put half your truck up on the side walk. But you're a swell guy. You left enough space so people can  squeeze by. Well, but maybe not if somebody is using a wheel chair. But hey! You deserve to make your own space and nobody should deny that. Besides, I heard they are going to make yelling at obnoxious pick-up truck drivers an act of Domestic Terrorism. A hate crime. Sure wish they made Cyber Trucks with diesel engines. I'd get me one. They'll let you park those anywhere.

Thoughts conjured up while dodging pick-up trucks in the process of owning the sidewalks... safety first. You betcha.