–Drove the BMW to the coast to drop off three Creminas for consignment at Great Infusions. Stopped at La Selva Beach, took pictures, ate an El Patio egg salad sandwich on the bluff. Bought a sweatshirt for Grace and a t-shirt for me. Checked in at the Holiday Inn in Watsonville. Went to Nob Hill for 2032 batteries: the battery in my key fob died. Fortunately, the car will start if you hold the (dead) key fob close to the start button. Walked to McDonald’s for dinner. Saw the standard table full of beautiful, big-breasted teen Latinas. Nice weather here: clear, 70’s. The humidity doesn’t seem to be helping my eyes at all. They are bad.
Month: July 2024 (Page 1 of 4)
–Went to UPS and picked up Tekna regulator (crappy; will use for parts), Silca pump head, and elastomer insetrs (inserts seem harder than rubber, allow only one thread or so to be used when fitting them, and don’t work nearly as well as the rubber ones. May toss.
–Heard from Leica after emailing them yesterday. They can and will adjust the eye sensor sensitivity on my SL2-S–apparently to 30mm. Will send it out when I get back from the coast.
–Took a shower and shave (with Paradigm titanium: excellent).
–Moved the Bird of Paradise from a pot to the ground. It really needed it: the finger-sized roots had completed more than a full circle around the bottom of the pot. I hope it’ll be happier now.
–Took Grace shopping at the Folson Safeway. Expensive stuff, mostly, though they do have a setup like Raley’s where some prices are lower for members, and even lower if one activates a digital coupon.
–Played with cameras. Noticed again (and semi-quantified) that the SL2-S Reporter has MUCH better EVF eye sensitivity. The switching point from LCD to EVF is like 2.5″ for the Reporter, 0.5″ for the standard. The 0.5″ thing is a universal complaint, so I’m wondering if the Reporter owner sent the camera off to Leica to have it adjusted. Will look into it.
–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for tomatoes, sourdough, squash. Making another batch of tomato compote with some smaller cherry tomatoes. Used almost 3 pounds of tomatoes and cut the olive oil (in the two-pound recipe) in half to 1/4 cup. Still WAY too much liquid. Don’t know how to tame it.
–Played with lenses a little. Destroyed the Helios 81N. Tested the two other Helios against each other and the Biotar. Helios 44-2 won with greater contrast/sharpness. Will order another 81N, as that was a super lens.
–Running the deionizer in the BMW trunk, along with cologne-infused SL2-S Reporter. Seems to be working on the camera. [edit] Started to get more serious about deodorizing and noticed that the Kevlar is starting to fray in front where one’s fingers grip the camera. This camera has really been used, and still smells, so I put it back in the box and brought back my new one.
–Trimmed the abutilon and cleaned up the front patio. Giving up on the side tree; it looks awful.
–The guy who sold me the Leica SL2-S Reporter at Fred Miranda runs the Luxury Auto Haus off White Rock Road. Went there to pick up the camera from his assistant. Camera is fine, but smells of his cologne.
–Stopped at UPS for three Russian lenses. All are fine; the 81H (50/2) is mighty fine in terms of contrast and sharpness. Bokeh seemed similar for all; might just have been the picture I took.
–HD Lawn guy was going to come by today and fix the leak in front. He didn’t. And apparently I left the rear patio valve on for a couple days after adding an emitter for the Japanese maple. I really need to slow down, engage, think things through, and make sure all the t’s are crossed.
–Still hot. Last day, perhaps.
–Sent two Rolexes off to Rolliworks: 1680 for movement service and case refinish, Sea-Dweller for case work only.
–Stopped at the Rancho post office to inquire about the Helios lens that’s been traveling around the country. Should be coming soon, they said.
–Went to Bel Air for milk and cream Tried to make espresso on the lever Cremina and just got water, as has happened before. I really need to update the portafilter gaskets on both machines.
–Picked up the Zeiss 85/1.4 lens at UPS. Massive, as remembered. At f1.4 it was a little washed out compared to the 85/2.8 at f2.8. But when I tried the cottage cheese shot again at f2.8, it was gorgeous–contrasty and saturated. Unfortunately, it does have a slight flare using my desk light test, as does the 2.8, so I guess it will end up as a bokeh lens, which it is optimized for anyway. I’m just flabbergasted at the proportion of vintage multi-coated lenses that flare.
–Did a noise test between SL2 and SL2-S. SL2-S definitely shows less noise at ISO 3200.
–Fixed two more sprinkler gushers–one in back that Grace caused by inspecting the line, one on the side with no apparent cause (looked like two pieces of tubing that had been joined came unjoined at the same time, with the joining collar disappearing. Just not possible. Added an emitter to the Japanese maple in back.
–Picked up the Contax 50mm f1.4 lens at UPS. In addition to having lots of dings, it flared in my desk light test. Tossed.
–Picked up the Leica SL2-S at UPS. Seems fine, though took a while to set it up (same as SL2, but my memory is painfully short). Hard to believe I talked myself into a downgrade from 45 MP to 24 MP just to get some high ISO improvement. Will test tonight against SL2. Maybe it’ll blow my socks off. [edit] Well, it does take a nice picture. Minimal testing so far, but (1) noise at ISO 6400 might be comparable to SL2 at 3200; (2) colors seem rich and saturated; (3) best of all: white balance is perfect as pics come into Lightroom–I wasn’t remotely tempted to change it, unlike the SL2 where night shots come in red and really have to be tweaked. Promising. [edit 2] I discovered the “defringe” control panel in Lightroom. I haven’t quite figured out how to reliably do it manually. But when it works, it’s magic.
–Picked up replacement ebony grip extension for Canon R5. It fits, but didn’t include a screw, and the one on the previous extension is too short to work. Kee-rap! Might just ask the Chinese seller what to buy.
–Super hot again.
–Went to UPS to mail a package to Janet Cantelon and to Yellow Jersey, returning a pump head.
–Lunch at Subway.
–Back to UPS to pick up a proper Silca pump head.
–Bel Air for desert.
–Grace’s Insta-Pot dinner didn’t work out, so I made pizza.
–Hot again.
–Went to New York bagels for…..bagels.
–Stopped at UPS for syringe, Kroil, and Silca pump heads. Only one pump head was correct (small brass, he only had one); the other was large aluminum with lever (that didn’t work). Will be returning the aluminum one.
–Went to add water to fountain and abutilon, noticed a leak at the sprinkler control valve–beyond my fixing. Called and left a message for HD lawn, who replaced the valve 360 days ago. He hasn’t called back yet.
–Walked to Bel Air for potato salad and corn.
–Took a shave and shower. Worst ever: made a toe bleed while trimming toenails, got the worst nick of my shaving career, for no obvious reason, using a Charcoal Goods Level 2. It took several applications of stypticbar to stop the bleeding.
–Turkey burgers, corn, Thao Ranch tomatoes, potato/egg salad for dinner.