Month: June 2024 (Page 2 of 3)

–Well, the M11 is back in business. Highlight metering actually works, at least on the front patio bushes when it’s sunny. It’s even simpler in some regards than the SL2: dedicated dials for shutter speed and ISO; magnified focus is automatic with known lenses; thumbwheel brings it up (and alters power) with adapted lenses; it’s light and has good ergonomics; etc. Still some occasional flickering with the Visoflex 2–don’t know whether to replace that or not.

–Put the Biotar 75 back together, got a little focus range. Wrote to Youxin Ye to see if he would make it right. He responded that he’d never worked on this lens and wouldn’t be able to fix it. Will toss, I guess, and look for a Helios 85.

–Took a couple shots comparing M11 and SL2. 1. M11 seemed to set f wherever it wanted, even though it had a native M lens on it. 2. Pictures of the front patio through my bedroom glass doors were revealing: The SL2 was fine, while the colors on the M11 were atrocious. I have tried so many times to like the M11, but it always disappoints. I don’t get it. [edit] Got out the M10 Safari and took a night shot. Blew me away. The speed limit sign is crystal clear, sharp and bright–with only 24 megapixels, I believe. [edit 2] Same with the Hodinkee and its 35mm lens. Pretty impressive.

–The Biotar 75/1.5 came in. Body scratched up, glass really good. Noticed right off it wouldn’t focus anywhere near infinity. Also, the bokeh on a patio shot was really weird, though to be fair it probably would have been better if the bushes in the background were much farther away. I took the lens apart to try and fix infinity, and of course completely forgot the video where the tech carefully marked everything before disassembly. Guess I’ll send this one to Don Goldberg. Gettin’ tired of expensive vintage lenses that suck.

–Rode the InnerLight to UPS, got a screw in the front tire on the way back. Took it to Bob’s Bikes. Guy pulled the screw out, nothing happened. Yay!

–Played with Silca pumps. They kept falling over–really poor design on that small rectangular base. Swapped bases back so now both the Superpistas have triangular bases. The housing on one hides the brass innards, but that’s fine–at least it’s stable.

–Dropped Grace off at KP Market, got bagels (and a breakfast sandwich), got several boxes of protein bars at target to compare.

–Much stuff came in to UPS: Zeiss Pancolar lens (mint and nice so far; somehow the Canon knows what aperture it’s set to); brass and aluminum blacks; Rolex link; gifts from the non-communicative eBay Canon seller (SD card, batteries for the Canon).

–Japanese sellers on eBay are getting worse and worse. I noticed today a guy selling a Leica SL as “Mint++++” (what could that possibly mean?) with large gouges showing on top near the strap brackets. Super ugly.

–Played with cameras. Tested all four Q’s against each other (my Q2, Reporter, Hodinkee, Q-P). The Q-P is out: resolution not good enough for me. Hard to differentiate between the other three, so I’ll keep the Q2 I bought new. Not fancy, but all mine. Ordered a Leica SL on eBay, allegedly mint but missing a rubber cover on the bottom (put in a pre-order for the cover at Leica Miami). It’s only 24 megapixels, but that might be enough in a full-frame sensor–and it is the most beautifully minimalist camera design I’ve ever seen. There are four long buttons flanking the LCD screen (unlabeled) and a nipple button. The only words printed on the back are “On/Off.” Could be good…

–Watered/fertilized plants.

–Fixed the glowing-eyes frogs. Pried open the controller, found the lightest (i.e., cheapest) battery in there I’ve ever seen. Replaced it with an Eneloop, and it’s still glowing an hour later (recently it’s been lighting up for < 30 seconds).

–Went to S*T Strawberries, got a 4-pack. Grace wanted me to get some for the neighbors. Grace doesn’t want to be the one responsible for getting them to the neighbors.

==Played with cameras. Got the SL2 and R5 working, I think. SL2 seems to produce more saturated images. Going to be hard to choose.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–SCUBA stuff came in. Not new as I had thought, but nicest Tekna gauge console I’ve seen.

–Couple of camera batteries with charger came in from China. Not from eBay. Must have ordered them a while back for an M9 and forgotten. I’ll go through all my cameras again (5th time), checking for memory cards and batteries.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 7 PM (5 days + 4 hours).

–Reconciled cameras some more. Decided (for now) to keep the Leica Q I bought new, the Q2 Reporter, and the SL2. The Canon R5 had edged out the SL2, but it turns out that IF you get the SL2 set up right (those wheels are a bear, and the setup menus are just wrong), it’s about as easy to use as the R5–exposure preview, focus magnification, wheels for shutter speed and ISO, etc. I’ll do some more comparisons, but at the moment it’s hard to see what the R5 has that the SL2 lacks. Yes, there’s ONE LENS I can’t put on the SL2 (at the moment)–the Pancolar. We’ll see if that’s a must-have lens in the arsenal. [edit] Well, ’bout to give up again. Went to take another night shot with the SL2, couldn’t get the wheel to change ISO. I swear I had it perfect, then turned it off, then an hour later turned it on. No good. Put the Summicron 50 on the Canon, set ISO and shutter speed, took a nice shot. Oh well…

–Picked up Silcas NOS pump at UPS. Not the yellow logo as I had requested (white instead), but it works great. It came with a boot covering the brass works under the gauge, but that was easily removed (unlike an earlier one). They also sent another decal, black letters with yellow outlines, that I put on another pump. Kind of hides, but looks okay.

–Aoto stone came. Kind of crappy. What did I expect for $220?

–Got corn and pork chops at Bel Air; barbecued. Yummy! Finally, great corn.

–Going bananas with watches and wath bands. Hope to get it all sorted soon.

–Took the Rolex 1680 that stopped working to Ivanov Watch Repair in East Sac. Stopped at Corti Brothers for a cucumber, cheese, sourdough.

–Played with pump heads some more. Much to learn. For example, the gasket hole in one of them is so small it won’t go on the valve without letting all the air out of the tire. There must be a way…

–The Canon R5 came in. Focus magnification (a big worry) is trivial at 6x and 15x. One wheel does ISO, another does shutter speed. What more could you want?

–Rolex Day-Date came in, and Rolex 5512 came back from unsuccessful consignment.  I need two links for the Day-Date, as usual. I put all my Rolexes on the Timegrapher. Datejust, GMT, 18038 Day-Date and 5512 were fine. Sea Dweller was pretty bad. Plan: take my 1680 to Ivanov to see if they can get it running again cheaply, then test it. If good, I would keep 1680, Datejust, GMT and Day-Date. I’d try to consign (somewhere) the Sea Dweller and the cursed 5512 “neat fonts” that I foolishly paid $20k for.

–Canon R seller finally wrote and said the camera would be here by 10 PM today. Total BS, and I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe they’re stalling until they get their funds from eBay, I don’t know. I just want to get it over with so I can order another.

–Saw Kenny, who said Leslie’s Pools would be replacing his filter for $800. Yay!!

–Got a haircut at Great Clips. Number 5 clipper, about 1/2 inch. Yikes!

–Broke the news to Kenny about cracks in his Hayward filter housing. I think he’s going to look into getting it replaced.

–Spent more time reconciling razors/brushes.

–No word from the eBay seller of the new Canon R5. Third scam in a year, I fear.

–Took a shower and shave. With all my new-found shaving abilities, I decided to try out, for the 6th time, a Blackland razor (beautiful polished brass). Blade feel was quite harsh, and I did get a couple of nicks. I don’t understand it–given how many razors I’m comfortable with–but no more Blackland for me. Until next time.