Month: July 2024 (Page 2 of 4)

–Hot hot hot.

–Put gas in the Honda at the cheap Arco on Sunrise.

–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for mandarins and tomatoes.

–Played with cameras and lenses a bit. The SL continues to surprise in terms of how well it stacks up against the SL2. And it looks like the Voigtlander 50/1.2 Nokton will be the go-to lens for a while. Several Helios coming, plus I just ordered the legendary Contax 50mm/f1.4. Really hoping it doesn’t flare at night.

–Searched for saw some nice images from the SL2-S, so I bought one from Hong Kong. High ISO and IBIS are hard to resist, AND I’m hopeful that both wheels can be programmed (as on the SL2). It would be a great bonus if IBIS could be set to “always on,” but that’s unlikely.

–Another hot day. Watered plants and the dying tree in the side yard.

–Tested all my lenses for flare in the bedroom, by turning the desk light toward me and taking photos of the clock radio. Old ones all flare, even if multi-coated (Rokinon, Summicron, Biotar, Pancolar). Newer ones do not (Voigtlander, Zeiss 35 and 85, Hexanon 135). The 85 and 135 may be good because of their long focal length; I don’t know. What a revolting development. In a test between Voigtlander 50 and Zeiss 35, the V nosed out the Z. As I recall, though, the V gets weird at night with big hazy halos around the lights. We’ll test again. Now that I have all these daytime (only) bokeh lenses, I’d like something sharp and reliable for day AND night.

–Used some rodico to stop a rattle (I hope) where brake cable goes into main tube on the InnerLight.

–Watered dying tree in side yard and the abutilon.

–Picked up the second Rokinon 55/1.2 at UPS> It’s in beautiful condition, but I wasn’t blown away by a couple shots of the cottage cheese container at f1.2. We’ll see. [edit] Compared Rikenon to Biotar, and set the Rikenon same as Biotar: f2.0. Huge difference. Rikenon was gorgeous, with maybe a tiny edge over the biotar. Keeper. [edit] It’s always something. Took a night shot, discovered the Rokinon has bad orange flare. It changes shape a lot as I move the camera around, is minimal when pointing directly at a light, but seems always to be there. I can’t imagine what causes it, much less how to get rid of it. I vaguely recall seeing something similar on the Summisomething 35 that I tossed. Really annoying.

–Ball bearings came. In a mind-boggling session of skill and competence, I restored the aperture rings on two D-Lux 7’s. Neither would start up afterward. I have them both charging and hope that’s the only issue. [edit] After charging, they work.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Tried the Zeiss Pancolar 50/1.4 once more. Officially nominating it as the worst lens ever. Great ergonomics, glass is crystal clear, but it produces the haziest low-contrast images I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know how it’s possible. You can see it while trying to focus, like someone put hair spray on the front lens. So much for radioactive.

–Ran through the cameras again. Decided to keep (for now) the Q2 Hodinkee, SL, C-Lux and Canon R5. Q2 Hodinkee is markedly improved with one of these little Leica stickers from Etsy–as was the Reporter.

–Took a 12-mile bike ride on the ARP. Breezy and nice.

–Lunch at McDonald’s.

–Destroyed another lens last night: the Rokinon 55/1.2. Pictures were bizarre, so I took off the mount and found that the rear lens group was loose. Tightened it. Couldn’t get it back together intact, as there is a complex (to me) mechanism with spring to open and close the aperture. Ordered another. I really have to start taking pictures if I’m going to be disassembling a lens. There are 2 (TWO) C-Luxes sitting in a drawer waiting for ball bearings. 50-50 whether I can get them back together so they work.

–Kenny’s vaguely jade-like succulent is not looking good, dropping lots of buds (or whatever they’re called. I guess I’ll ask him about it. My guess is it needs much more light and/or less water.

–Used that tiny little Presta chuck on the InnerLight this morning and it worked beautifully. So I looked it up via Google image search, found it’s likely a Silca (though unmarked), and ordered about six of them from various sources. Like other Silca stuff, there’s a newer version (aluminum, not brass), and the vintage ones are a tough find.

–Picked up a couple of lens adapters at UPS. Took a couple of pics with the Rikenon. Looks like a keeper.

–Stopped at Bel Air for turkey burgers, milk, corn.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Barbecue for dinner. Good stuff.

–Put the last nail in the coffin for the Leica SL: took a picture of the cottage cheese container in back at 1/10 second with the Contax 85 lens; total blur from shaking. A second picture of the rain cricket was great, so it wasn’t just some global thing with the lens. Sometimes I shake, sometimes I don’t. Was tempted for a moment to re-consider the SL2-S, which does have IBIS, but quickly realized that’s just dropping from 45 MP to 24, without gaining any of the great design features of the SL. Crap. Between SL2 and Canon R5—who knows? I’ll know more after the Canon grip extenders come in. Tough choice: same resolution, both cameras SEEM to be working the way I like, etc.

–Cooler today, cloudy, some breeze.

–Went to the Folsom farmers market for cherry tomatoes, melon, squash.

–Made tomato compote in the Insta-Pot. Yum!

–Went to Panera for lunch. Not bad.

–Got a hose and nozzle for the side yard at Home Depot. It’s a grow/shrink hose, “as seen on TV.” Trying to keep the big tree out there alive. May already be too late.

–Another really hot day.

–Picked up Petri lens at UPS; kinda crappy, tossed.

–Picked up Rikenon 50/1.2 lens UPS. Super nice, can’t wait to get adapter and try it out.

–Went to Bel Air and got ice cream, cream cheese, and FOUR BOXES OF ZONE PERFECT BARS. Thought they had stopped making those. Will look into it again.

–Red Baron pizza for dinner while watching Biden’s press conference. His performance was 180 degrees from the debate. Don’t know which was the real Biden.