Category: Uncategorized (Page 9 of 29)

–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.

–Took the BMW to Hooverville Orchards for jam, sourdough bread, marionberry pie.

–Picked up my Rolex 1680 at Ivanov’s Watch Repair. They couldn’t fix it.

–Picked up a couple of esoteric (Petri) lens adapters at UPS. Going to be interesting getting that lens on a camera when it comes in.

–Went through my Tekna regulators. The exhaust port cover (plastic? nylon?) on one of the brass models just separated from its threads when I picked it up. This was one of the NOS ones, so it’s not like Teknas were so popular and used so much that they sat in the sun for hours and deteriorated. More like they were built with untested and/or cheap materials. Black nylon bodies crack a lot, needle seats turn to goo, plastic rings that hold hose to reg break, etc. Whereas most other regulators I worked with seemed like they’d go forever with a new poppet seat.

–Took Grace to Smart & Final for fairly major shopping.

–Took the pool chlorine test strips over to Kenny and showed him how to use them. His fountain is seriously over-chlorinated.

–Played with cameras. The SL2 seemed to randomly go wacky again, so I reset everything and set it up. It seems okay, but I’m not totally confident. So I went back to the Canon R5. I noted that (a) image stabilization is always on, whether it recognizes the lens or not; (b) the shutter speed and ISO dials I set up always work; (c) exposure simulation works and (after a shutter half-press) so does the exposure meter; (d) the viewfinder has higher magnification and SEEMS clearer–though that could just be daytime and/or magnification. So I’ll drop the SL2 for now, after ordering three adapters for new (old) lenses for it. I guess I’ll try the lenses on the SL2, and if they’re good, get adapters for the Canon. I really like the look and feel of the SL2, but the Canon’s consistency and viewfinder are big deals to me. Finally: I put the ebony grip extension on the R5 that I got from China a while back, and it is ludicrously wrong–not just slightly off. I wrote the seller, and I sincerely hope he sent the wrong base and will swap it out.

–Still hot; a little Delta breeze came up though.

–Dropped Grace off at KP Market while I picked up a dozen bagels at New York Bagel Cfe.

–Went to Bel Air for pine nuts, lunch cheese, cream. They are dead out of the store brand cream cheese. Seems ominous.

–Made pesto. Pretty much destroyed my favorite wooden spoon in the blender.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Hot again. Cut off some dead branches from the tree in our side yard. More to go. Might have to increase its water supply.

–Some years later, i finally figured out why some photos seem to suffer from camera shake while others don’t. Turns out the SL2’s IBIS only works when it “knows” the lens. The Summicron 50 adapter has contacts, so the camera recognizes it. None of my other adapted lenses is recognized by the camera. It took some setting up, but I eventually programmed a button to bring up “Lens Profiles.” All you have to do (all you can do) is tell the camera the lens focal length, then IBIS works. Unbelievable. Now I have to re-evaluate all my uncoded lenses. I don’t think this will make the Zeiss 35 (say) a compelling proposition, but at least it will get a fair shake (heh heh).

–Hottest day yet.

–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for tomatoes, squash, basil; Bel Air for milk, pizza, dessert.

–Put gas in the BMW and turned off (with difficulty) the “oil service” warning.

–The red elastomer inserts came in for the Silca push-on pump heads. Not at all clear to me that they’re any more flexible than or superior to the original black rubber ones. We’ll see.

–Motor City pizza for dinner.

–Spent a long time making pizza for the annual DV party at the clubhouse. Spent less time at the party than making pizza: I had totally forgotten how bad the acoustics are there. It’s a madhouse–even people who can ehar had trouble hearing.

–Konica 135 lens came in. Looks good, works fine.

–Tekna regulator came in, along with a whole bunch of other SCUBA stuff that I tossed. The regulator (nylon) looked new, but was really hard-breathing; the needle seat had gone soft as they do. BUT I tried a couple other needles I had (not sure if they were original or ones I made) and one of them worked great. Got three each nice brass and nice nylon Tekna regs. Time to start selling.

–Nice grip extension for the Canon came in, now that I’ve given up on it and boxed it. Did another test last night trying to revive the SL, but it just can’t compete with the SL2–now that I finally have it customized (in a way that simply can’t be replicated on the SL). Frustrating to have the exact same dials on the SL and yet be completely unable to get one of them to do ANYTHING. (I guess it does something in auto-focus mode, which I don’t use.)

–Super hot today. At one point the AC couldn’t keep up: set at 78, the temp was 81.

–Looked at Leica SL2-Ss; found a mint one and a new one. Did considerable reading up on them: just don’t see it. The down side of the SL2 (high ISO noise) is easily corrected, especially with the newer AI denoise stuff. The downside of the SL2-S (24 megapixels vs. 47) cannot really be overcome. I took photos of Kenny’s cottage cheese container in back with SL and SL2, using the auto-focus 23mm lens. Pretty stark differences in sharpness. [FWIW, I took the same photo with the Q2 Reporter: stunning results. That lens is incredible.]

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Brought the Sony A7R IV out and (more or less) set it up after reading about then buying a Petri lens. The camera is just too well supported to not use.

Hot hot hot.

–Put three Silca pumps together. They are very, very nice.

–Picked up the compass-like lens ring tool at UPS. Piece of crap. Ground it down for 15 minutes, it still wouldn’t fit the Biotar. Tossed it.

–Also picked up a gaffed deck of cards. Nicely done, but I don’t really see myself using it without hours of practice.

–Went to Bel Air for cream corn, mandarins.

–Barbecued chicken burgers for dinner at 106 degrees. It’s miserable alright.

–Happy 77 to me!

–Kenny got his fountain filter replaced; no more leaks. The guy from Leslie’s Pools doing the install gave Kenny some incredible BS about how too much chlorine would ravage his system: “It has cyanuric acid in it. I put some in my toilet and it just dissolved all the metal.” Right. I ordered some pool test strips so we can check Kenny’s chlorine AND cyanuric acid levels.

–Played with pumps.

–Went to Il Forno Classico at the Town Centre for birthday dinner. I had sea bass on “potato salad.” It was great.

–Played with pumps a little. Discovered the big reversible chuck is a screw-on. Not quite the quick wonder-tool I had thought.

–Kenny drove me to the Folsom farmers market. Got melons, tomatoes, doughnut hole peaches.

–Watered/fertilized plants on back patio.

–“Silca” hose and chuck came in. Doesn’t say Silca anywhere; chuck says Euroline. Hose seems much higher quality than the ribbed, stiff ones I have on all five pumps. Took me a while to figure out it’s kind of a spring-loaded quick-release reversible chuck for Schrader and Presta. Advertised as aluminum, it’s clearly brass with chrome plating. I like it, I think–haven’t actually tried it yet. Ordered a second one–the last available in the U.S. Tough get, as they say.

–Red Baron pizza for dinner.

–Played with cameras. Gave up on the Canon again. Colors out of the camera just don’t seem great. Likely because I was comparing it to the SL2, which, like M9’s, really saturates the greens in the abutilon. It can be dealt with in Lightroom, but I guess I’d rather tone down the SL2 than juice up the Canon.

–Silca pump heads came in. They had no logos engraved and were too small–they were a loose fit in the hose. Started a return on eBay, got a long nasty letter back from the seller about how they were genuine and I just need to use smaller hose. Nope. Wrote them and said I’d cancel return if they sent me a couple of bigger heads. Haven’t heard back.

–Oz flipper with speed holes came in. Not as shiny as some of the videos, but darn nice.

–Took the InnerLight on a 14-mile ride west on the ARP.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Red Baron pizza for dinner.

–Dug out the Canon R5 again. First, I mistakenly mounted the Zeiss 85mm on the camera using the Praktica adapter, and took a couple of nice sharp abutilon shots after dark. Then I mounted the (proper) Pancolar lens on that adapter, and the lens is so soft and useless it would hardly focus, and the shot was crap. Learnings: (1) The Canon is far from dead. Turns out the two knobs were good for ISO and shutter speed; (2) it has two levels of magnification (I’ve only been able to access one on the SL2 lately; even if I find the second it won’t be as powerful as the Canon max); (3) think hard about that M42 Pancolar 80 (whatever) in my eBay watchlist: it could be a thousand bucks down the tube for another ultra-soft lens.

–17th Silca pump came in. Found some flat black spray paint I didn’t know I had and touched up the base. Took it apart, put it back together: best-feeling pump I have. None of the farty stuff, just dead smooth and strong-feeling. Might have to spend another $300 and get a SuperPista tube for it.

–Final coat of paint on the pump tube was a disaster–mottled, lumps, runs. Stripped it all again, put it together. I just don’t have the patience to paint.

–Started painting the Silca pump tube with Krylon gloss black lacquer. Much better than the yellow paint–no drips or runs. After 5-6 coats it’s still kind of rough, so I might have to reort to some sanding.

–Glow-eyed turtle came in. I swapped out the solar control module with the triple frogs, and it seemed to work. We’ll know more when it gets dark.

–Sent off the CL that won’t turn on to Leica.

–Got some peanut butter/chocolate-dipped cookies at Bel Air.

–Took a shower, and shaved with the big Merkur razor: surprisingly smooth and close. I should use it more.

–Finally gave up on the Leica SL. SL2 focus magnification is so much higher (15x vs. 10x maybe; the web is silent on this) and the viewfinder is so much brighter.

–Tried to paint the Silca pump tube Krylon Sun Yellow. Total disaster. The paint from a foot away hardly showed up on the tube, and from six inches it globbed and ran. I had to go to Home Depot and get some paint stripper. It’s back to normal matte black now. I might try a gloss black Krylon, since I have some, or take it to Powder Coat-It and see what yellows they have.

–Went to UPS and picked up yellow Krylon spray paint.

–Made an offer on an expensive Helios 85/1.5.

–Took some pics. Learned (again) that the front patio at midday is a really challenging exposure. M11, SL and SL2 showed almost no difference between spot, center, multi or highlight-weighted metering. The only way to get a decent photo is to put the meter on spot, aim at the glaringly-bright leaves, half-press the shutter, then re-compose and shoot. Having fun with the SL. TL button is menus; BL is focus magnification (short press) and ISO (long press); TR is review (play); BR turns on focus peaking (it stays on) (short) and metering modes (long).

–Jack’s Urban Eats (takeout) for dinner.

–Went to Dr. Cripe to have temporary crown replaced with permanent one. All good.

–Leica SL came in. Perfect as advertised. The unmarked buttons will take a little getting used to, but I think I’m going to enjoy it.

–Took Grace to the optometrist on Sunrise, where I got my glasses, for some progressive lenses.

–Went to Bel Air for pizza, milk, cream, cream cheese, dessert.

–Dead Leica CL came in from MPB Camera. Did I think they were fools? Tried everything, cannot revive it. Frustrating: it’s black, very handsome, and in perfect shape–except for a large ding on top. I’ll send it off to Leica and see what they say. Inconceivable (he said) that it could cost as much as the Paul Smith CL repair, which involved replacing the whole (special) top.

–Tombstone pizza for dinner. Much like Red baron, except the pepperoni isn’t hot.

–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.

–Took a Tramadol last night around 5:30. Got to sleep (maybe) around 3 AM, and it wasn’t deep. That drug is self-limiting.

–Went for a brief ride on the InnerLight around the ‘hood.

–Talked to Kenny a bit about the filter. After some more internet searching, I am 99% convinced that the problem is vertical cracks in the filter housing, and has nothing to do with o-rings, tightness of top, etc. Bummer.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 3 PM.

–Did some reconciling of shaving brushes. Discovered that I no longer have the Simpsons Colonel XXL Centenary–the one with the chip in the base that I polished out. I strongly suspect it was pocketed by someone looking at the Tunnel Hill house when we had it up for sale. Mark Solich made a point of asking me to leave my shaving stuff out because it was so neatly arranged and looked so cool. I have no memory of using it at Discovery–though to be fair, I have no memory of missing it either. CRAP!

–Went back to Kenny’s to try and stop fountain filter leaks. Made them worse.

–Went to UPS to pick up some tire pump stuff. Can’t seem to get locking pumpheads to work, but straight on/off head still works.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Picked up bike pump parts at UPS. Put new internals in the two pumps. Strong and smooth.

–A very large tree branch blew down into the parking area across from our front door. Scary, but no damage to anything.

–Dr. Cecille Taylor, who diagnosed and treated the glaucoma in my right eye, is retiring. Now where do I go for cataract surgery?

–Went to Dr. Cripe at 9:30 and got a temporary crown on tooth 4. No pain, but there’s still a small area of gum that seems hyper-sensitive (painful) to touch.

–Watered plants.

–Moved dresser/night stand in my bedroom to make room for a work table.

–Ordered a Canon R5 and several lens adapters (including one for the Pancolar). I’m done with this Leica crap.

–Went in for the last PT session. Nice folks, but there wasn’t much they could do for me.

–Picked up yet another Silca pump at UPS. Not great, but not bad. It does have the base that shows (rather than hides) the brass parts under the gauge, so I swapped it out with one of the other pumps. May start restoring these. The hardest part would be to find shipping boxes if I sell them on eBay.

–Very warm today, and very windy.

–Second Silca Pista bike pump came in. Very nice. The plastic part on top that centers the pump rod actually threads in, as opposed to the first one which just presses in and is held by a couple of screws. I did swap gauges, as I like the one with the second pointer that you can set at your desired PSI.

–Took Grace shopping at Target, and picked up a dozen sesame bagels at New York Bagel Cafe.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Brought out the Leica SL2. Looks like it will be the mainstay. Really nice viewfinder with three levels of magnification. Got it set up so thumbwheel does shutter speed, top wheel does focus magnification. It’s heavy, but has no other real drawbacks compared to CL (low res) or M11 (Visoflex 2). [edit] Winner! Took a night shot with the SL2/Summicron 50; really gorgeous and ultra sharp. AND it worked like I wanted it to: shutter speed would only go down to about 1/4 second, so I upped the ISO from 800 to 3200. Bingo! Also surprisingly little noise with those settings. Hard to believe I gave up on that camera 3-4 times. It does take some figuring out, but they all do, and we’re talking a couple of hours, not a week.

–The Rabbit AI device came in. What a joke. Will toss.

–Went to Bel Air for apples, milk, cream cheese, peanut butter cookies.

–Rolex Sea-Dweller stopped. While starting it, I noticed there was no o-ring gasket on the caseback. Also s ome corrosion (independent). Found a gasket amongst my stash (which includes several parts for a Day-Date) and installed it. Scary stuff. Did it never have a gasket? I lose stuff, but that’s hard to imagine.

–Finally dealt with paperwork. Desk is clean.

–Reconciled cameras again. Keeping the M11, M-E, Hodinkee Q2, C-Lux. In a showdown between Hodinkee and Reporter, it LOOKED like the Hodinkee had a (slightly) brighter, clearer, more saturated viewfinder. Now sure how that’s possible.

–Put the bigger Silca pump together with a new leather gasket. It works! I used 5-weight Knife Pivot Lube for the gssket; it can’t be vastly different from the synthetic oil that’s coming from Silca. I’ve also bought two more Silca pumps, small and large like I have now. Should be able to put together a wining pair out of all these parts. [edit] It seemed MUCH easier to start the leather gasket in either tube than it did with the older gaskets, which I was always tearing up as I tried to insert them. Because this gasket is new? Or because I now finally have the proper fore and aft metal gaskets surrounding the leather one. Who knows…

–Went to the Sunrise farmers market for squash, cherries, mandarins, tomatoes.

–Brought out the M11 again. Visoflex 2 isn’t ideal, but the camera just seems a little more serious than the CL.

–Walked to Dr. Cripe’s office for part 2 of crown on #3 tooth. Went fine. Will go back on 6/6 for part 1 of crown on #4 tooth. Not getting a root canal. Hope none is needed.

–Successfully “hid” the journal under /public_html/Journal, so going to wsf.ac just brings up a big “403 Forbidden” screen. It was not easy. Going to wsf.ac/Journal brings up the journal, all logged in, hit “New” to start a new entry. Going to wsf.ac/Journal/wp-admin brings up the Admin panel, again all logged in. I guess one would have to know that Journal was a sub-directory on wsf.ac in order to get there. Going to wsf.ac/sahara.jpg (after copying the photo to public_html) brings up the photo. Good.

–Went to see Jasleen Agroia RN in Dr. Firoz’ office. BP was 136/6x; the flunkie taking it said “BP is good.” So did Jasleen. I argued that it was high (and it is, according to the recent AHA/ACC guidelines); no, it’s good she said. She put in a 90-day prescription for 25mg Losartan. I argued that 50 is standard. No, she said, 25 is good. I asked her for a copy of Dr. Bellinger’s telemetry/EKG findings. She looked it up, mentioned the word “stable,” printed out one page from Sac Heart that said absolutely nothing about findings.

–Lunch at Jersey Mike’s.

–Stopped at UPS for Olympus VF-2 viewfinder. Was reminded it doesn’t fit M9, just 240. Put it on the 240. Useless, as recalled (I tossed the previous one).

–Got a bag o’ bagels at Bel Air.

–Paid State Farm bill for BMW, $527ish.

–Went to physical therapy in Folsom. Robert took me into the gym where PT is located and put me on 4-5 machines. Hoping I would sign up for a membership I guess.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Spent some more time on the Silca pumps, to no avail. Finally did the correct google search (blowby) and learned that I’ve over-lubed and thus softened both leather gaskets beyond usability. After some more research, I discovered that Pista and Superpista pumps (anything prior to 2008) take the smaller 28mm (731) gasket–after ordering a 731 and 741. Even further, I discovered that Silca now has specific different washers behind and in front of the leather gasket; I don’t think either of my pumps had this setup. So, I ordered $48 worth of lube, washers, etc. from Silca, and told Heritage (who thought it might be fraud) all was okay. I had also ordered another restored Pista pump on eBay, from the same guy in Southern Cal who sells under 6 different names–I did this before all the gasket stuff, thinking I had to. Pretty soon, WE GOT PUMPS!!

–Rode around Lake Natoma with Tom Elken. Been a long time since I rode there, and I would have made a couple wrong turns without him. The blue Silca pump, though it does work when tested with a finger over the nozzle, didn’t seem to put air in the tires. The black one worked like crazy and filled ’em up toot-sweet.

–Put gas in the Honda.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Watered plants; fertilized camellia.

–Went to Bel Air for cream, pizza, dessert.

–After mastering the Leica M11, went back to the CL. Figured it out pretty quick, took a couple abutilon pics, like it. M11 has the megapixels, and CL has the viewfinder. The CL also seems a little more fun, and is more compact.

–Took a shower and shave.

–FINALLY got the M11 set up (I think the CL is set up too, but it’s hard to say no to 60 megapixels.)
—-Known lens: focus mag. will start automatically; power can be adjusted with thumbwheel.
—-Unknown lens: Press the little top button to start focus mag., adjust power with thumbwheel.
——After exiting focus mag. with little top button (if used), thumbwheel adjusts exposure comp. (via shutter speed) with permanent real-time preview. Whew!!!

–Rode the canal on the Innerlight. Decent weather, still tiring.

–Barbecued pork chops and corn.

–Played with bike pumps a bit. Got them both going good.

–Played with new digital tire gauge. Cannot get consistent readings from it. Old age and lack of practice probably. Will look for a clamp-on gauge.

–Helped Kenny replace his fountain pump filter. Success!

–Went to Bel Air for corn, milk, cream cheese, lunch cheese, dessert, Zone Perfect bars.

–Went to Creekside Endodontics for my root canal on tooth 3. Fairly uncomfortable, fairly quick. Some pain and pressure sensitivity hours later, even after a strong ibuprofen.

–More hilarity tonight comparing M11 and CL. I don’t seem to be able hold any thought in my mind for more than a day. I had dismissed both cameras tonight after testing them with a fully stopped down Biotar–for bokeh, you know. Unbelievable.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Went to Creekside Endodontists (Scott Young) about tooth pain. They took some CT scans, and I got a long explanation of things. As best I could make out: teeth 3, 4 and 5 need root canals. We’ll do 3 tomorrow (mostly because it’s already been started, I believe), then wait until benefits are available to do 4 and 5. $390 consult fee at Creekside, $1,865 for the root canal, $1,300 at Cripe for the crown.

–Leica CL Paul Smith came back from Leica Repair. Looks and feels good. Having second thoughts about it though. Turns out the left wheel ISO control (for exposure) which I really liked only works with an L lens. I won’t be using many L lenses on the CL, given what the Q2s will do. With a manual lens (even one that’s recognized by the CL), the left wheel controls exposure via shutter speed–not my favorite thing. I can control ISO with a menu, but it doesn’t do that instant lightening/darkening of the viewfinder which allows me to pick an ISO that works along with a non-blurring shutter speed. Even focusing with the CL–the one HUGE advantage it has over M’s–isn’t turning out to be all that miraculous. Leica may have gotten it right with the M11 and I just haven’t figured it out yet–like the really high ISO’s were done to allow fast shutter speeds. I just wish that Visoflex worked better.

–Had another physical therapy visit with Robert.

–Leather washer came in for Silca bike pump. I put both of them together and they work fine. Given they’re the same inner dimeter, It sure seems like the NOS one moves a lot more air. It is a few inches taller, but still…

–Tom Elken hurt his hand and canceled the bike ride.

–Went to see Olga Karaputa at Pacific Skin. She froze 7-8 things on my face and head. I’m in great shape now.

–Tooth still hurts off and on. Made an appointment for a $390 consult with Creekside Endodontists.

–Played with bike pumps. Turns out the “leather” washer in the blue one was not. I swapped in the leather washer from the NOS black one and it now pumps/holds perfectly. Further, there’s an ad on eBay for another blue one, also in southern California, using the same pictures as the one I bought. Sucks…

–Looked at Kenny’s fountain pump. As he said, it would work for a small swimming pool. Decided to get him a new filter (which I did on Amazon, for one-third the price of Leslie’s Pool) and hopefully we can fix it up.

–New single-prong moisture meter came. The first three plants I tried it on all looked about the same (good). But the three succulents I tried it on were all down toward dry, so it looks like the meter works.

–Took a shower and shave. Went back to Iridium Super blades (in a Fat Boy) and they just blew away the Spoilers that a guy gave me with a brush purchase. I don’t see how there could be a better blade.

–Actually unbelievable: Got the 3 M9’s and the M-E all squared away, decided to keep the Black Paint (!) M9. Put the Biotar lens on it to get a bokeh shot, then realized–for literally the 8th time–you can’t focus a non-M lens on an M9. Put the Leica 35mm on it (King of Bokeh), then discovered I couldn’t focus on an abutilon flower that was in the shade–you really need a contrasty vertical thing to focus on. So: (a) wait for the Paul Smith CL to return and try to overcome the metering issue, or (b) buy another Olympus VF-2 viewfinder (tossed the first one) and see if it is an improvement over the rangefinder. Grrrrr…… [edit] Okay okay okay: read a little in Leica Forum and revived the CL, I believe. We know the right thumb wheel does two levels of focus magnification. Turns out the left wheel does ISO. I put the Leica 50 lens on and went out on the front patio to take a pic of the abutilon. With Auto ISO, it defaults to making the scene way too bright (overexposed) for me, anyway. I thumbed the ISO down and the picture in the view finder got darker and darker as ISO decreased. I took a couple pics at more than -1 EV (CL thinks it’s way under-exposed). Pics came out great–for me, anyway. So: looking forward to the Paul Smith. Keep an M9? I don’t know. I just bought an Olympus viewfinder on eBay, so we’ll see how it works, but I’m guessing the CL will outrun the M9 in every way. We’ll see. [edit 2] Took a couple of night shots with the CL They came out nice, but the exposure meter was pretty much maxed out at -3 EV. I really wonder if there’s a way of resetting the meter so I don’t have to abuse it so much. Doubtful.

–Made pizza for dinner.

–Well, you won’t hardly believe it: back to M9 (M-E specifically). Just don’t want to deal with the (de facto) dual metering system of the M10, where exposure changes depending on whether or not Live View is active. It’s even worse: with LV off, the metering is “mostly center-weighted,” the manual says, even though it pretends to let you change to spot or multi. So stupid. Took a couple of great shots of the abutilon with the Leica 50 and 35 lenses. I suspect they’ll look cartoonish when compared to more modern photos, but they work for me at the moment.

–Picked up a digital tire gauge at Amazon and started taking readings on the Beemer, to see what happens with the plugged tire.

–Got apples, mandarins, coffee (Philz and Peet’s) at Bel Air.

–Kenny gave us another plant: a really beautiful succulent. Guess I’d better go look at his pump.

–Second Silca pump came in–totally rebuilt. Looks good, but either it’s really low capacity or leaking or something, as nothing seemed to happen after many pumps (needle goes up and back, but doesn’t seem to go higher with every pump). In contrast, The (larger) NOS pump just works like crazy. Guess I’ll buy another rebuild kit (seller already did one rebuild) and see what’s up.

–Got a tomato from Jan Muehlbauer; we gave her cuttings from our abutilon. Kenny is going to give us something–iris, maybe.

–PSA test came back super-clean. I’m good to go for a while.

–Going back to the CL. Tried the M10-R with Visoflex after the CL’s bad night performance. The Visoflex just won’t cut it. In addition to giving a jumpy, dark image, it times out after five seconds or no focusing. The CL viewfinder is bright and clear, and will stay magnified until you reset it to normal. And again, putting viewfinders on M cameras just seems to be defeating the purpose. It would be nice to get the CL to work at night. We’ll see. [edit] Okay, back to the M10-P Safari. I had to underexpose the CL by 3 thirds to get a reasonably-lit shot at night, and it still sucked (noise, washed-out colors, etc. Brought out the Safari and got my infinitely-repeatable, 1/30 second shot: under-exposed, but trivially brought up to perfect in Lightroom, rich colors, etc. I don’t get it: these cameras have the same-size (if not the same) sensor. Why are exposures so different? Will still need the Visoflex for non-M lenses, but that should be okay. [edit 2] I’m reminded that the Visoflex changes the exposure–under-exposing the night shot like the CL did. Easy enough to fix: focus using Visoflex, then turn it off and take the shot. Annoying, though. I’ll look into it.

–Barbecued: chicken burgers, corn, tomato, Bel Air antipasto salad. Yummy!

–Picked up a Gareth Bull Shamwari “Gambler” at UPS. Pretty nice.

–Went to Bel Air and got an antipasto salad and corn for barbecue–maybe tomorrow (see below).

–Took Grace to the Sutter Lab in Folsom for (our) multiple blood tests, urine sample, PSA.

–Went to Dr. Cripe to look into my pressure- and cold-sensitive tooth. Sandy had me come back at 3:30, whereupon they took an x-ray and decided to cap the tooth. Dr. Cripe there was a lot of decay inside, and the adjacent tooth also looked bad. I might need a root canal, “but we’ll wait and hope for the best.” He gave me a referral to an endodontics group. Not clear if I’m supposed to go there and get evaluated for a root canal, or go there only when severe pain/sensitivity kicks in. For now, I think I’ll wait. Cripe drilled quickly and a temporary crown was installed. Back in two weeks.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Stop the presses! (1) Tooth with temp crown had zero reaction to much ice cream tonight. Have we finally fixed it? Maybe. (2) Took a couple night pictures with the Leica 50/2 lens on the CL. Terrible–it drastically over-exposed them. And to top it off, I just heard the Paul Smith CL is on its way back. Great. (3) Tried the M11. Ran into that issue where the camera is pointing at one thing, but the EVF is looking at something else. Sort of fixed it by brute force moving the + cursor, but the pic still sucked. (4) Brought out the M10-R Black Paint: easy, good shot. Argghhh…

–Bought a 2019 Paladin Halloween shaving brush. I used to sort of think they did one every year. Did a search. Found like 12 different Halloween brushes for 2021. So much for building a complete collection.

–Got strawberries and jam at S*T Strawberries.

–Okay okay: went back to the CL. I bought it new, the menus are nice, it has easy-access (and I believe permanent) magnification–as opposed to others’ 5-second magnification (could be wrong about that). If I ever get the Paul Smith CL back…

–Rode the InnerLight on the canal, 16.5 miles. Too much, perhaps.

–Stopped ar UPS for Lile Button Lock folder (very nice, though the web is completely silent on assembly/disassembly) and blue-anodized bit driver (also very nice; same length as my other one).

–Tooth stopped aching, even with ice cream, so I put off the visit to Dr. Cripe.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart and Final.

–Opened up a PayPal case against True Vintage Leather. Sent them > $500 9 weeks ago for a 1786 wallet; heard nothing.

–Rode 10.5 miles west on ARP with the new 14-tooth rear sprocket. Much easier; I averaged 10.0 mph. Will I build back muscles so I can go back to 15? Not likely.

–Lunch at In ‘N’ Out–darn good.

–Got soil, fertilizer, birdseed at Home Depot; plant moisture tester and roach bait at Lowe’s; milk, muffins, peanuts, frozen stuff at Smart and Final.

–Realized (a bit too late) that in moving vstat.com to Namecheap I lost everything in the bf and wsf email accounts there (mostly archived stuff from car/house sales/purchase. What an idiot. I suppose I should add back the accounts for the two people who still send me stuff at those addresses.

–Aaannnd it’s back to M11. I MAY have found advice at the Leica Forum on fixing the SD card/freezing issues, and its ergonomics are just too good–fewer buttons, simpler menus, etc.

–Went for a 10.5 mile ride west. A young guy on a single speed (rare) passed me, pedaling faster than I was. Dawned on me that I could drop back from a 15-tooth rear cog to a 14-tooth. So I did (not easy, as I had to re-tension the chain). On thinking, I “earned” the 15-tooth after years of near-daily riding. It’s possible, if I ride a lot over the next year or two, I’ll be able to move back up to the higher-geared ride. We’ll see.

–Went to the Folsom farmers market. Got oranges, asparagus, almonds, and a basil plant.

–Transplanted the basil plant.

–Tried for the Nth time to utilize the Leica M 240. Not only could I not accept it, I boxed up the M11 as well and trotted out the Sony again. All of my Leica Ms have metering issues. I’m beginning to suspect that people who use and love them don’t use auto exposure, but instead set everything manually.The M11 isn’t bad, but with its funky ISO dial, klugey EVF, etc., it has strayed far from what the M started out as. Put an adapted lens on the Sony, however, and it just works. Far too many buttons and menu lists, but most can be ignored.

–Tooth still hurts. Decided to go see Dr. Cripe.

–Had a video visit with an R.N. working with Dr. Firoz. Went okay. Going off Amlodipine and switching to Losartan to reduce ankle swelling. PSA test called for. Crap.

–Camera Choice, Chapter 118: Going with the M11. It allows all 4 metering modes (spot, center-weighted, highlight-weighted, multi-field) with or without the Visoflex mounted. The M10s without Visoflex ONLY allow center-weighted (same with M9s, but the M10s show a menu that pretends to let you choose other modes—with no effect). Spot and multi work only when Visoflex is on. Seems to me it would be a trivial fix to gray out things that aren’t available, and only slightly harder to MAKE them available without Visoflex, as they do on the M11. But what do I know?

–Had a toothache all day. Going to be really upset if the Sunrise dentist crowned a tooth (and bottomed out my insurance) that now needs a root canal.

–Took Grace to Dr. Firoz while I went to physical therapy. As usual, she got hyper and spent the rest of the day yelling at me.

–Went to lunch at Sourdough in Folsom. Truly excellent; best sandwich ever.

–Got some coffee beans at Peet’s. Could have been a mistake. Really need to find some dark roast beans that aren’t burnt.

–Really really really windy today. This is one strange Spring. I’d be a wreck if not for the Astepro nasal spray. Yes, I get sleepy in the afternoon, but it’s worth it.

–Playing with cameras. Trying to decide between M10 Safari (with Visoflex) and Sony for odd lens art pics. I thought Sony would be a slam dunk, based on a recent shoot, but now I’m not so sure. [edit] The Safari metering system is complex. Without the Visoflex, you get standard center-weighted metering. With the Visoflex/live view, you can also get spot and multifield. Further, it changes completely depending on whether the Visoflex is magnifying or not. I couldn’t get a good night shot with the V (it always overexposed). Without it, back to normal 1/30 second good shots. Crap… Maybe Visoflex in daylight, off at night. Or M10-P Safari at day, Q2 at night…

–Tried to ride the InnerLight; too windy.

–Plaed with cameras. The Leica Summicron 50/2 CLA’d by Youxin Ye is a killer; wipes out its 35mm brother in sharpeness, contrast, saturation. Tried to revive the M 240 and M11 again; no luck. Will likely go with the Sony or the M10 Safari (with EVF) for art shots.

–Took a shower and shave. Gave up on Wald brushes. In addition to being too soft (both are synthetic knots), they seem for some reason to stream water down the handle constantly, making it messy and slippery.

–Went to Rite-Aid for allergy medicine. Prices are a joke. Got some children’s nasal spray.

–Went to Bel Air for milk and such, saw some fat corn and got it.

–BBQ for dinner. Dee-licious!

–Trimmed the abutilon a bit, cleaned out the back patio gutter and pushed down the gutter guard where it had come up.

–Dark and rainy all day, as predicted. BBQ was uncovered.

–Went through cameras again, did another shootout. Results: will keep M10-P Safari with Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander M lenses in former sock drawer with Contax. Will keep Q2 Reporter, silver Q and Sony (with Biotar, Zeiss 85 and native Sony 55 lenses) in main drawer.

–Rode with Tom Elken in El Dorado Hills.

–Decided (for now) to go with Hodinkee M10 and Q2, plus silver Q cameras. Much as I like the Reporter, a shootout with the black Q2 and the Hodinkee Q2 gave a slight sharpness edge to those two. Edge was slight, and who knows: if I ever land a Q-P, it could be a black / green / silver lineup.

–Went to Safeway in Citrus heights for chicken patties, potato salad, corn.

–BBQ for dinner. Not bad.

–Went to first physical therapy visit for back pain. Not bad.

–Leica Q and Q2 Reporter came in. Both seem flawless.

–N.L. knife came in. Unlike previous one, it was a piece of crap–I could have done a prettier job of belt-sharpening the blade. The pivots, in addition to not fitting any tool ever made, were locked together. I scratched the scale trying to get it open, then tossed it.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart and Final.

–Took a shower and shave.

–CKF Evo 4.0 came in. Stiff action, much improved after hydraulic-pressing down the detent ball.

–Took a ride on the InnerLight to the dog park, ~11 miles. Seemed easy. Super breezy.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 7 PM.

–Went to Bel Air for milk, cheese, cream cheese.

–Ordered and picked up a dozen sesame bagels from NY Bagel Cafe.

–Looking for a Leica Q-P. Turns out everyone and his brother is looking as well.

–Took the BMW to S*T Strawberries. Prices are up, but berries are incredible.

–Lunch at Subway Hazel. Not good, won’t be back for a while.

–Watered plants and trimmed around abutilon. The Chinese Pistache tree in back almost completely blocks the sun all day. So much for bird of paradise, satsuma, etc.

–Got the new website wsf.ac set up finally last night.

–Took Grace shopping for birthday presents at Daiso (disappointing) and Target.

–Bought a used Leica Q2 Reporter at Fred Miranda.

–Papa Murphy’s pizza for dinner. Was reminded that it’s my least favorite pizza.

–Big crane truck came this morning to replace leaking skylights across the alley. Knocked off a couple branches from the Chinese Pistache tree.

–For reasons not totally clear, I decided to drop vstat.com and instead set up wsf.ac at Namecheap. After a few failed attempts, got the WordPress journal working. Hoping I can set up the website to be a more useful repository for photos and such.

–Youxin Ye finished CLAing the Leica lens: $455. Crap.

–Tried to buy a new Leica Q2 Reporter from Canada. They don’t ship to the U.S., so I had it sent to a reshipper in Canada. They figured that out and cancelled the sale.

–Grace is in a big snit, since I wasn’t wild about her idea of getting a potato to give to Kenny to pay him back for his potato.

–Picked up the Zeiss Distagon lens. A couple shots suggest it’s nice, but I’m not bowled over yet. [edit] Tested with night shots. Turns out Sony’s 3 and 5 metering options are best at night (Spot Standard and Highlight), with 3 having a little edge. OTOH, the Q2 Hodinkee lens wipes out the Zeiss Distagon wrt focus: On the sign, “Speed Limit” and “MPH” were quite readable with the Q2, totally unreadable with the Zeiss. Same with the red flowers. So much for the “sharper” Zeiss. Seems I haven’t learned that you can’t believe everything you read on the web. So what lens on the Sony? I guess its own 55mm for auto-focus, and Biotar/Contax 85mm etc. for art.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Was going to ride with Tom in El Dorado Hills, but it turned chilly, so we cancelled.

–The Leica Q2 Ghost Hodinkee Edition came in. Accurately billed as new, I didn’t even bother to check with Leica Sync. The little Leica black bags (for example) had the usual knot in the string, and the battery was sealed in cellophane. Magnificent camera.

–Kenny gave us a half-baked potato. Had it for dinner with sausage and leftover barbecued corn. Yum!

–Got the Fellow Ode back together and working. Was not easy. That machine has at least four poorly-designed features that really make it hard to work on. Worse, the first batch of coffee I made with after repair was pretty much tasteless. I did manage to free the ball/spring on the old dial assembly, so we have a spare.

–Rode the InnerLight 14.4 miles total to the Harold Richey Memorial Pedestrian Bridge and back. Return trip was very slow, as I’m old and it was warm.

–Went to the Sunrise framers market. Got satsumas and some of Kathy’s Peach Jalapeno jam (still $8).

–Opened the barbecue season with Bel Air pork chops (good), corn (not yet) and Creole potato salad (not so good).

–Took the BMW to Hooverville Orchards for jam and pastries.

–Finally getting warm. Both patio doors open tonight. I can hear a mourning dove doing its classic call in front.

–Second CKF Evo 4.0 came in. Great action, not the best satin finish.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Leica Safari top cover came in from eBay. Pretty scratched up on top, and the screw looks like it has been used. Good enough to replace the screw on my Safari, though. May have the cover repainted, if I ever hear from the Vietnamese painter or his friend who handles postal logistics.

–Replaced the portafilter gasket on the Cremina. Was hoping it would be thicker, and would not allow the portafilter to rotate so far when tightening. No difference. For some idiotic reason I only bought one gasket–the one in the Maximatic is likely in worse shape than was the old one in the Cremina.

–Rode the Folsom Canal with Tom Elken.

–Made pizza dough (great), then pizza (good).

–Adapter came for Biotar to Sony. Took a good while to figure out how to activate focus magnification, but then one abutilon photo answered all questions. That camera just obliterates Leicas–perfect focus, perfect metering, incredible resolution–and this on a 60-70 year old lens. Now I just need to figure out whether I need a Leica M at all. The 007 will work for sales macros; the Paul Smith should be fun if it ever gets back; but so far it’s on ly night shots that the M shines on (heh heh). If I can figure those out on the Sony, the M’s become true dinosaurs. [edit] As feared: I set the Sony (with its own lens) on spot metering and AUTO FOCUS and took a couple of night shots. One was overexposed, but one was near perfect–and had by far the sharpest fire hydrant and speed limit sign. And minimal flare around the globes. Well, what did I expect–only the Leica could shoot at night? It just boggles the mind how people can worship the M’s. Time to start sellin’…..

–Put the InnerLight on the bike stand in the back patio to check for the “pinging” I heard on my last ride. Didn’t find anything. Decided to lube and tighten the chain. Old lube had dried out, and my pin spanner pins were a little short. Went to Bob’s Bikes for lube (laughably overpriced); they couldn’t help with the tool. Fixed the spanner myself by replacing the pins with a couple of ground-to-fit bolts. That (and an online video) got the chain tightened.

–Was getting ready to buy another Leica 35mm f1.4 Asph FLE lens for ~$3,600, when I saw a reddit comment about how sharp(er) the Zeiss ZM Biogon equivalent was. A nice one on eBay is $1,325. Leica stuff is way way way overpriced, like chain lube. Don’t know if the Zeiss will minimize globe light flare like the FLE, but it’s probably worth checking out.

–Did another night pic test with the Voigtlander, after noticing (and cleaning) some fog off the rear element. Same glare/haze issues around the globe lights.

–Cold, drizzly day.

–Tried once more to flatten some Bel Air pizza dough. Failed. Another Red Baron tonight.

–Windy and cool, but not too cool.

–Took the InnerLight on the ARP, saw lots of mower goats. Was greeted by (perhaps) Mark Solich on the outbound portion of the ride.

–Watered my plants, which are looking pretty good.

–Hot weather.

–Took top off Hodinkee camera and cleaned dust off the rangefinder lens. Worked good.