GAS Dear Giary!

[mike3996]

Swab-cleaned the sensor and located my 52mm filters. A brand-new no-name ND filter and some beat-up CP filter. The 50mm f/1.4D exhibits so much funkiness wide open, I think it will make absolutely gorgeous daylight painting-like seascapes for me.

But what else will I take? Probably the 85mm f/1.8D because it's so well-behaving. The 135mm/3.5 is a probable choice as well. This would mean that I'll skip the 105mm f/2.5. And I think I'll skip the zooms as well. Try to limit to gear that fits in my Billingham. This could mean taking both the 105 and 135 but never carrying them at the same time.

And the question of the second camera is up there. Will it be the Fuji X100 that accompanies the Nikon (and offering a wide view) or do I go with a Panasonic GX80 and an assortment of lenses. Choosing to go with Fuji would be fun because then it's a party of optical viewfinders.

 

[mnhoj]

I have a little lens cap experience. I took delivery of a nice copy of the Fuji 18 1.4. It arrived with the old-style pinch cap which pre-dates the lens release. At first glance, I was disappointed but immediately found that I prefer it. I'll probably start paying attention to them all now. ( :

I have the 20/1.7. It's not bad. But not exactly perfection either. But again, it's not bad. The lens cap of 20/1.7 is easily in the #5 of the greatest of all time.

Top ten of lens caps? Maybe the geekiest list ever made...

 

[mike3996]

Foto.no (a major Oslo camera store with big store) is also selling used ENEL14a batteries for very decent price.

They actually sell brand new batteries for a not very decent price (decent meaning "I certainly don't want to shell out this much money for a measly little battery").

I've been working with Yens lately and from there I misremembered the currency conversion ballpark being around 100 NOK ~ 1 EUR when it's 10 NOK ~ 1 EUR in reality. Current rate is about 10 NOK = 0.86 EUR. (Which is a bit better, for me, than last July.)

So my decently priced 8,50 € batteries are actually 73 € apiece. Doesn't sound very decent to me.

I'll probably buy just one instead of the two that I placed for order. Or maybe I'll get them both. My current Nikon batteries are absurdly bad. Almost all my energy-hog mirrorless cameras have better longevity than my poor Df.

I have rough ideas where I might want to go with Nikon in the future but those plans do not involve cameras that use ENEL14a. Just this one Df suffices.

 

[mike3996]

I'll probably start paying attention to them all now. ( :

It's easy for me to spot the bad caps.

Some horrendous Nikkor caps from the 70s that will fall off the lens if you look at it.

Leica lens cap for 50 Summilux that maybe finds a groove somewhat okay, but hardly never the right groove. As a result it'll stick out half a mm.

And generally many of the caps seem to require pinpoint center position in order to catch the groove.

 

[mike3996]

I decided against my usual setup to have some checked luggage since it's part of the airfare already paid for. It is easy to ram enough clothing and camera gear into my compact travel setup (Billingham + Thinktank 20L backpack), especially since a five-night-trip is shorter than I'm accustomed to.

But anyway, it doesn't cost me much and mom wanted some souvenir chocolate from Oslo she missed (she visited the town a couple of weeks ago on my recommendation) so why not, let's put the clothes in the Thinktank in the trunk.

It's an early flight. 7:30 AM means I have to wake up at 3:30. Certainly not ideal. I fear by the evening I'm near unconscious. Anyway I'm certainly much happier being there than scratching my navel at home.

I've been taking it easy for the entire week. Last week was so busy and now I've just been waiting for the days and hours until my earned travel.

It didn't probably come as a surprise to anyone but this very week I've been contacted by two new prospective firms. They tend to sense when someone's going to be snatched soon from the job markets, and start to message around! Cool opportunities here in Finland which would pay much more but are far from being certain things. Not even this Oslo business is certain even though the firm is spending a grand to get me there. It's always the smartest thing to never treat any thing as certain, until there's some black on white.

Keeping it humble to the very end leaves a smart impression.

Like I said, I have an early start tomorrow and I have things to do today, so this will be it for the next week and a half. By the end of May I think there are some serious job prospects on the table for me to choose from.

GEAR

And yes, before I forget. The setup that comes with me:

• Nikon Df
• 50mm 1.4 AF-D
• 85mm 1.8 AF-D
• 105mm 2.5
• 135mm 3.5
• Fuji x100

Because I only have two full days to myself, I want to take this more experimental setup with me. As a travel kit, Leica+Panasonic is so no-nonsense , it hurts.

 

[doobs]

I decided against my usual setup to have some checked luggage since it's part of the airfare already paid for. It is easy to ram enough clothing and camera gear into my compact travel setup (Billingham + Thinktank 20L backpack), especially since a five-night-trip is shorter than I'm accustomed to.

But anyway, it doesn't cost me much and mom wanted some souvenir chocolate from Oslo she missed (she visited the town a couple of weeks ago on my recommendation) so why not, let's put the clothes in the Thinktank in the trunk.

It's an early flight. 7:30 AM means I have to wake up at 3:30. Certainly not ideal. I fear by the evening I'm near unconscious. Anyway I'm certainly much happier being there than scratching my navel at home.

I've been taking it easy for the entire week. Last week was so busy and now I've just been waiting for the days and hours until my earned travel.

It didn't probably come as a surprise to anyone but this very week I've been contacted by two new prospective firms. They tend to sense when someone's going to be snatched soon from the job markets, and start to message around! Cool opportunities here in Finland which would pay much more but are far from being certain things. Not even this Oslo business is certain even though the firm is spending a grand to get me there. It's always the smartest thing to never treat any thing as certain, until there's some black on white.

Keeping it humble to the very end leaves a smart impression.

Like I said, I have an early start tomorrow and I have things to do today, so this will be it for the next week and a half. By the end of May I think there are some serious job prospects on the table for me to choose from.

GEAR

And yes, before I forget. The setup that comes with me:

• Nikon Df
• 50mm 1.4 AF-D
• 85mm 1.8 AF-D
• 105mm 2.5
• 135mm 3.5
• Fuji x100

Because I only have two full days to myself, I want to take this more experimental setup with me. As a travel kit, Leica+Panasonic is so no-nonsense , it hurts.

Safe travels and good luck with the job prospects.

As of last Friday, I'm officially out of the job market. Retired.

 

[Charzes44]

As of last Friday, I'm officially out of the job market. Retired.

Welcome to the club Chris.

 

[mike3996]

I received an offer from them in verbal form and a written package should be on my inbox soon. Ah, I love these people so much. Rounding up a few details, you could describe them as a family startup at this time. They have no rush to expand, yet they still do, because of good word of mouth. They need new developers badly but can't pay big Norwegian money yet. Such a conflicted offer. I really want it to happen, but I can't be doing charity work either so I need to calculate my salary package once I get the final written offer. There's some kinks here because of the nature of an inter-country work relationship.

But yes, super splendid people, brothers and their wives. We enjoyed the national day of Norway on the busy streets of Oslo, very busy!

Before meeting them I had the weekend to myself. Such a hot weather. There was a brief heat wave come through the town on Saturday. It was hot and beautiful.

Nikon and Fuji was interesting combo to say the least. They sit maybe 3rd tier in my gear stable but nevertheless are super fun. But my back is surely ruined after hauling all that Nikkor...

My next trip starts in 4 hours, crap.

 

[mike3996]

All this Leica Q3 hulabaloo got me hot and bothered... for a fast 28mm.

Not only that, there's one Nikkor 28mm f/1.4 AF-D for relatively cheap available on ebays. These guys ran over 1400 € not a long time ago, and someone is listing one for ~600 € which would be only 800 € imported.

And there's plenty of good 28mm f/1.4 AF-S Nikkors as well, which would feature some weather sealing.

Original Q 116s retain their value, while Q2 loses its fast.
A Q116 at 2000€ mark would be somewhat tough to resist. I paid 3k for mine when it was the top dog. Now Q2s are available at around 3700€.

 

[mike3996]

A weird little pause in my job search as several parties wanted my replies by the end of the month, and I delivered them. Now I haven't heard from any of them. I'm not worried, it's just a weird breather. Calm before a storm?

I've been thinking about normals now. A new fast normal for Nikon Df could do me some good, and also there's the question of treating Pentax with some glass goodness. Nikon F lenses are always versatile as I can adapt them to so many platforms.

But there's also Pentax.

For crop-sensor Pentax I have two particular "normals" in mind. The 35/2.8 Ltd and 20-40Ltd. I sure would like to consider something that could be used on my full frame cameras (adapted). The obvious candidate would be the 31mm f/1.8 but it's also much more expensive.

One opportunity would be this one Greek seller in eBay who's cleaning his shelves of the Pentax FA holy trinity lenses; 31mm, 43mm, 77mm. I can't reasonably get this trio without also purchasing a K1, can I?

 

[agentlossing]

One opportunity would be this one Greek seller in eBay who's cleaning his shelves of the Pentax FA holy trinity lenses; 31mm, 43mm, 77mm. I can't reasonably get this trio without also purchasing a K1, can I?

Get that trio, send them to me, and I will advise whether you really must purchase the K-1 to go with them!

 

[The Electric Squirrel]

One opportunity would be this one Greek seller in eBay who's cleaning his shelves of the Pentax FA holy trinity lenses; 31mm, 43mm, 77mm. I can't reasonably get this trio without also purchasing a K1, can I?

Yes! That is a wonderful excuse to do exactly that. Just what you needed, isn't it?

Any Pentax you like as long as it's a K1, right? That's what I've always thought. Okay, maybe a 6x7 might also be acceptable. Loved the mirror slap on those.

 

[mike3996]

Would looove to try K1 in person. But I have such low expectations for it to work out for me, it's very hard to open up my wallet to finance any kind of a trial.

I'd rather fund a little experiment towards the Fuji GFX 50R. People have positive things to say about shooting the FA 31mm limited on Fuji GFX

 

[mike3996]

Warming up leftovers indeed. For how many years have I gone on about this subject?

The universal body that can adapt lenses.

After years of hem and haw, I went to the best available choice, the Panasonic S1. That was in fall of 2021. And it is so glorious. I get so much mileage from a lens when there's zero misfocus due to magnified live view focus. Pentax, Nikkor, good times ensue.

But there's the pesky question of ergnomics that leaves me in a pickle. I would like to think that the search is still on. The successor body doesn't necessarily surpass S1 in any technical merit but if it could present a better fitting form, all I am asking.

Crossed out due to being too much for my mitts.

• Panasonic S1 (S1R)
• Leica SL series

In consideration:

• Nikon Z6/Z6ii
• Panasonic S5 / S5ii
• Fuji GFX 50R

Nikon Z6 is such a solid body and things are great about it. But I just plain don't like the Nikon color. Sickly yellow tones. I might tolerate it enough to some day pursue another Nikon DSLRs but Z6, forget about it, for now.

Panasonic S5ii is a new strong candidate with a much more agreeable color processing. The improved EVF slings this camera into a strong position. To be sure, it's a drastic downgrade from S1. But everything about Panasonic is so great.

And last but not least, the Fuji GFX 50R. A weird brick that could open up wonderful doors. Great specs about the body and people generally like the ergonomical purchase of the brick. A plenty of SLR glass renders an image circle big enough to give artistic use of the whole frame. The popularity of this cheap MF camera has also provided us with a plenty of adapters for GF mount and also some interesting Chinese MF lenses.

I don't eye the 50R because it's 50 megapixels or that it's a 44x33 medium format camera. I eye it solely because it's a Fujifilm and has the fine Fujifilm features that made the X lineup so popular over the years. Smart customizations and unique focusing aides. For example, Fujifilm must the only maker out there that made the rear dial a pressable button. How sensible is that; another well placed button ready to be customized. I don't quite remember/know where Fuji color sits, somewhere between the Nikon and Panasonic I'm sure.

A wild card appears! Leica M11 is also a super interesting candidate for adapting purposes. Its new plugin EVF shares the specs of many of the candidates here, although I have a strong suspicion that it'll fall behind the others shooting and composing in dark sceneries. But M11's sensor certainly is tuned towards the M glass. I believe this tuning also helps other film-era SLR lenses to shine.

But M11 is certainly so much money that I'm not entertaining it for the time being.

~

I don't quite put weight on this rumor I read somewhere but apparently according to the rumors, the next Leica SL might be physically smaller by a small degree. Could the reduction be enough for it to fit my hand nicely? Now if Panasonic was to do the same with S2, this could be something.

 

[John King]

@mike3996 Mike, if you are even vaguely contemplating an M11, might not the Hasselblad X2D be a (much) better choice?

The RAW files I've downloaded and looked at are simply superb.

 

[mike3996]

@mike3996 Mike, if you are even vaguely contemplating an M11, might not the Hasselblad X2D be a (much) better choice?

The RAW files I've downloaded and looked at are simply superb.

Frankly, no. I want a real shutter on the body. It could be another discussion altogether if I wanted native glass to go with the body but my focus is 100% in adapting dead vintage.

 

[John King]

It has a "real shutter", but it's a leaf shutter, not a focal plane shutter.
It also has an electronic shutter.
All shutter types have their pros and cons ...

 

[mike3996]

It has a "real shutter", but it's a leaf shutter, not a focal plane shutter.
It also has an electronic shutter.
All shutter types have their pros and cons ...

Dear John, the leaf shutter is superior but it's in the native Hassy lenses, not in the body itself.

 

[John King]

Dear John, the leaf shutter is superior but it's in the native Hassy lenses, not in the body itself.

Yes, I know, thanks Mike. I've played around with Hasselblad film cameras with the same setup. A lot of medium format cameras used the same system, including my Rolleiflex 2.8f.

The electronic shutter would be in the body, I would think.

 

[mike3996]

The e-shutters of MF cameras of today are pretty slow, and not really usable to my usecases (artificial night light; handheld photography) so I require a real mechanical shutter.