–Paid $6,842 Sac County property tax (both installments).

–Had a bad night of diarrhea, which continued into the morning. Hope I’m not getting something.

–Heard from Jasleen Agroia in Dr. Firoz’ office. She recommended pneumococcal vaccine PCV20, sent in order to Rite-Aid.

–Made a pizza for dinner. Spread the dough thin on a round pan, overcooked it. Barely edible. Live and learn.

–Ordered Viton o-rings from The O-Ring Store in a realistic size for using on the Cremina group-to-boiler connection. Will never understand why Orphan Espresso uses (and sells) those seriously undersized o-rings. I believe I’ve installed one of those, correctly, the first time, once. We’ll see.

–Compared the TTArisans 75/2 lens with Helios 58/2 and Contax 85/1.4. No comparison. Helios was more saturated, Contax much sharper. The coatings are good–it doesn’t flare in my night shot–but back in the box it goes.

–Dropped off a Monterey BMW FedEx package with my signature verification signed (W.S. and William). It was sent to me a while ago, but I didn’t look at it closely enough to figure out what they were asking.

–Dropped off Matteo Diolaiti’s birthday gift at UPS. Picked up a second cheap Leica at UPS and managed to get the (NON-3D) button off intact. Put it on the SL2-S. Also picked up the TTArtisans 75mm/f1.5 copy of the legendary Zeiss lens. Weighs a ton, great ergonomics, takes a sharp picture. Bokeh to be determined later when (if) the abutilon blooms.

–Stopped at Smart & Final for a bunch of stuff. Drove the right rear wheel of the Beemer over a curb on the way out. No apparent damage.

–Didn’t do much of anything today. Grace is in an extremely foul mood.

–Had a bad night after the flu vaccination. Couldn’t get to sleep, a couple of shivers, minor aches. Went back to bed after breakfast, got up at 1:00, more or less okay.

–Put the Cremina mostly together, waiting for a steam poppet.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Took Grace to Rite-Aid for vaccinations. Turns out she didn’t have an appointment. They recommended no more than two for me, so I got flu and COVID 2024-2025. Spent some time looking at my record on MyChart, gave up and messaged Firoz’ office asking what else I need.

–One of two rat Leitz R4s came in that I ordered on eBay for the red Leitz button. Got it apart by brute force (no youtube disassembly videos), marred the button in the process. It wasn’t very 3D anyway–more than paint, but not much.

–Took the Beemer to El Centro in Natomas to revisit Perry’s farm stand (now Cuevas) and the strawberry lady (still there). Got strawberries, tomatoes, squash, melon–great stuff.

–Scanned some more photos. Assembled the 1965 ACDS graduation photos into a Word doc and uploaded it to vstat.com so the classmates can download it.

–Scanned a bunch of photos.

–Walked to UPS to pick up Cerini Cremina steam assembly, then to Bel Air for anti-perspirant.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Picked up Damasteel Shamwari at FedEx on Sunrise.

–Picked up Cremina rebuild kit at UPS. Seems slender–no steam poppet or boiler cap gasket, for example. Turns out those are only in the $62 “complete” rebuild kit. Oh well…

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final. She forgot her list. RedBaron for dinner.

–Did one more showdown between the two SL2-Ss. The Reporter did fine this time. One thing: With the Rikenon lens (with which I am less and less impressed), the Reporter took a horrible double image. Duh! After telling the cameras that I was using a 55mm “other” lens (to turn on image stabilization), all was good. That doesn’t explain the Reporter’s deficiencies when using the coded Summicron, so–still a little mystery. P.S. I finally figured out (last night) how to align the plastic and rubber parts of the eyepiece so it would go on easily the first time. Can’t believe how many times I struggled with those before hitting on this. Oh well. And why did I have them off? The Reporter’s reeked of PJ’s cologne, pretty much obviating the Leica reskin. After swapping them, the Reporter smells…almost not at all. I’m soaking the bad one in alcohol. Probably won’t do anything.

–Played with the Cremina a bit. Buggered the screw trying to get the steam poppet out. Pried it out later with my package-opening knife. Hard to believe I have no spares for steam internals. I ordered a new assembly (stainless, finally) from Cerini. Will look again for spares. I need to find out what the threads are on the trashed screw to see if I can replace it.

–Played a little more with SL2-S and SL2-S Reporter. Sometimes the Reporter seems to have a little more saturation, but other times the standard seems to be a little sharper. May test again tonight. [edit] Tested. like last night (I BELIEVE) the Reporter really suffers in the dark the speed limit sign is foggy, hazy, low contrast. Using the “denoise” feature doesn’t correct it. Both cameras set up as identically as I could do. Very strange how the Reporter is as good when there’s some light, then degrades in the dark. More testing to follow. [edit 2] Tested again with a shot in back. Same results: the Reporter lacks saturation and contrast compared to the standard. I’ll really hate to give that up, given the eye relief and Leica reskin (and identical daytime photos), but there really does seem to be something lacking in the Reporter at night.

–Cleaned up/cut up all boxes so as to reclaim some space in the garage and bedroom.

–Played with the scanner some more. Still learning, but it’s pretty impressive.

–Dinner from Jack’s Urban Eats; Beach Hut Deli closed at 5.

–Dropped off the Rolex 16800 at FedEx.

–Dropped off Noah Cantelon’s birthday package at UPS.

–Picked up Hirame chucks at UPS.

–Picked up a dozen sesame bagels at New York Bagel Cafe.

–Leica SL2-S Reporter came back from being reskinned at Elica. 95% of the smell is gone now. There’s still some there: I swapped the rubber pieces around the viewfinders, which helped. I guess I might still need to add a positive odor to it, since I believe I’ve gone as far as I can in removing the cologne smell.

–Plustek scanner came in. Tried it out on some slides from my 1965 ACDS graduation. Seems to be good. The slides are showing their age (and size), but the scans are certainly good enough to evoke memories. Except Laurel’s eyes were closed.

–Got another free cutting from Kenny; put it in a pot.

–Got the propane tank filled at U-Haul. The guy didn’t seem to look for an inspection date/tag. I’ll have to check and see how obvious it is.

–Red Baron pizza for dinner.

–Leica CL came back from repair. Works.

–Cremina came in. Looks good.

–Decided to return the Rolex 16800. Emailed Jacek; Kirill replied that he would handle everything. Jacek later replied that “for sure it’s been polished.” Wish he had said that in the listing.

–Sea Dweller case came back from Rolliworks. It’s shiny all right, with relatively broad chamfers. It doesn’t look bad; it’ll likely come down to a choice between it and the 1680 Rolliworks is working on.

–Got corn at Bel Air; barbecued it with Jenny-O turkey burgers (yum) and Claire’s potato salad (not yum).

–Took a shower and shave.

–Rolex 16800 came in. Runs perfect on the Timegrapher. Lume seems much whiter than the tan shown on Jacek’s pics. Had to add a link to the 11-link bracelet. Close scrutiny does make it look like it’s been refinished–except the caseback has the worst pitting I’ve ever seen, while the case underneath is clean. I don’t know.

–Took Grace to Hallmark at Sunrise Mall for cards and wrapping paper. Discovered there’s a Red Robin at the edge of the mall. Had I known…

–Played with Westclox Moonbeams. Decided to keep the original: light alarm works (sound alarm is weak), it has lume on hands (new one doesn’t seem to) and a better case.

–Grace still sick. Sicker, maybe.

–Leather glue came. Used it on my belt; will see. Just noticed for the first time today (after 40 years or so) (a) that the belt has a script signature “John W. Nordstrom,” and (b) it consists of a 2″ wide piece of leather folded over and glued to…a form of some sort to make a 1″ belt. Could be a thicker stiffer piece of leather, could possibly be something else. How it held up this long without noticeable wear is astonishing–the one hole I’ve used isn’t even elongated. Reversing it every time I wear it has helped, I’m sure.

–Third (or fifth) Westclox Moonbeam came in. This one is nice: dead silent, has the “power loss” indicator, and both light and buzzer work at the appropriate time.

–Got a pizza at Blaze for dinner. Pretty tasty.

–Lunch at McDonald’s on Sunrise, then shopping at Smart & Final for milk, Pellegrino, pizza, tangerines, apples.

–Played with cameras. Dug out the Canon R5 again to test the Zeiss Pancolar against the Rikenon. Can’t tell. [edit] Tested Canon and SL2-S with Summicron 50 with night shots. Canon held its own, but the SL2-S sensor continues to astound.

–Took the Helios 44-2 apart (via youtube video) and fixed the ultra-stiff aperture ring. Wasn’t obvious how to do it (not covered in video), but I figured it out. Smooth as silk now.

–Fixed (apparently) the steam lever on the ECM. It wouldn’t stay down, now it does. I didn’t do anything except take it apart and put it back together. Beats me.

–Kind of a nothing day. Much cooler.

–Took the BMW to McDonald’s for lunch, then Bel Air for bulk water, banana cream pie, and a couple of frozen dinners.

–Played with Helios-type lenses. Decided to drop the Biotar and 81H, keep the MMZ Belomo Helios 44-2 (58/2).

–Grace still sick.

–Picked up another Lumitime clock at UPS. Nice. Got pizza, cream cream cheese at Bel Air.

–Got a haircut at Great Clips. Cutter was tattooed, but had good energy and an unbelievable body.

–Took the Beemer out for a ride. Started towards Ione, turned back before reaching (eyes mostly). Car has a buzz/rattle in the dashboard that sounds just like the one in the 330i. Keerap!

Red Baron 4-cheese pizza with our own pepperoni for dinner.

–Played with bike pumps all day. Got all but one working nicely–i.e., gauge needle goes up on the downstroke and stays there until the upstroke. Web solved one issue: When I push super hard but can’t get the handle down, it’s likely because the Presta valve is blocked shut by my poor fitting of the chuck. Could also be that the “drops to zero” problem is related to poor fitting of the chuck–though I tried different ones and  (sort of) tried to keep them straight. Will try again. I may also want to have the tubes replaced, as I’ve done a lot of pushing and pulling on the valve stems. I was going to buy a bunch of Hiro chucks but then noticed (and read) that they let a lot of air out unless you remove them really fast after opening the lever. Will practice.

–Weather is much milder. Took a 10.5 mile bike ride around 2 PM. The first two bike pumps I tried didn’t really work. I think the issue is that when I test them there’s about 5 pounds of air in the tire. Today there was > 50 pounds, and, I believe, the weaknesses of the Silca pump heads are showing up. The gauges would go up (but not to 50) then quickly down, as air leaked (I surmise) around the chuck seal. We’ll see.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Went to UPS to pick up Paradigm Titanium razor. Very nice; turns out I have the steel version of this and the ti version is much preferred. Also got the Carbonio front license plate holder. Installed it without too much trouble; seems good.

–Went to Bel Air for dessert, corn, turkey burgers, potato salad. Barbecued for dinner: fabulous stuff.

–Compared Leica Q-P and Q2 (Hodinkee). It seems to come up repeatedly that 24 megapixels is just fine, showing no real deficits compared to 46. Last night’s night shot with the Q-P, which came out fine, was done at 1/6 second and 400 ISO (I neglected to set it to auto ISO). Pretty amazing. Will try again tonight with higher ISOs.

–Took the BMW to New York Bagel Cafe for bagels. Took Grace to Target, where she didn’t get much. I got protein bars and toothpaste.

–One red squirrel (child) came for peanuts. Yay!

–Compared Leica M10-P Safari to SL2-S, Summicron 50/2, 24 MP each. M was fine, but doesn’t really offer anything over the SL2-S, and was actually a little fuzzier here and there, which surprised me given the identical setups. That SL2-S sensor is pretty amazing.

–Played with small cameras. Was shocked to see that the the tiny Leica C beat out the C-Lux, which in turn outperformed the D-Lux 7 and 007. The C has the only Summicron lens among those cameras–though it’s from 2013 with only 12 megapixels. The single best performance was the C-Lux zoomed, but for point-and-shoot I seem to go with unzoomed then cropped. Wish I’d had the C in Bellevue. Also thinking of dropping the Qs and just going with C and SL2-S. It would be nice to find a wide L-mount auto-focus lens for the SL2-S that weighs less than 3 pounds.

–Put gas in the BMW. That car is fun to drive.

–Cleaned and set up the Plomb 1943 “War Finish” 3/8″ ratchet. Very sweet tool.

–Muffins in the hotel room; gas at a nearby Chevron; then to the airport. Siri crapped out for some reason and wouldn’t connect with Carplay. Dropped the car off at National: a really good experience overall. Then trudged through Security to the gate. Another full plane, with lots of cheaters trying to board early, screaming babies, dogs, etc. A totally not fun experience.

–Got back to Sac, made our way to the Daily lot (we were the only ones on the shuttle), and eventually found the Honda. Home at last, said hi to Kenny, got pizza for dinner at Bel Air.

–Really exhausting experience all around; I think we’ll drive the next time(s).

–Breakfast at the hotel–good.

–Went with Jan and Chuck to Crossroads. Lunch at some forgettable Vietnamese sandwich place, then Barnes and Noble.

–Then to Kathy’s. We all went to dinner at Tokyo Japanese Restaurant. Good stuff. Then back to Kathy’s for opening presents and birthday cake on her 80th. Then back to the hotel and sleep.

–Breakfast at the hotel–very good. Off to Jan and Chuck’s for family to chat.

–Got sandwiches at Potbelly (very good) and took them to Kathy’s. Family chatted some more. Jan and Chuck went to Safeway and Costco for rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes. Very good. Kathy isn’t drinking. Hard to tell with David: he seems chipper, but as I recall Kelly moved out in part because of his drunken abuse. Noah seems fine.

–Back to the hotel for muffins and sleep.

–Took the Honda to the airport. Parking wasn’t bad, but getting to the terminal, security, etc. was pretty tedious. Plane was chilly, but that was expected. Sparkling water and chips were provided.

–Getting to the National Car Rental area was also tedious–up and down escalators, a shuttle, etc. Once there: pick a car, any car. chose a Kia Kona (eventually) and–bless the saints–it started Apple Carplay automatically.

–Checked in at Eastgate BW Signature, got top (6th) floor. Not bad.

–We all went out to dinner at Las Margaritas in Issaquah–pretty good.

–Then to bed.

–Drove the BMW to Sacramento Airport just to get a feel for it–it’s been many many years. In fact, I can’t remember the last trip I took. Oh wait: early 2008, Minneapolis, for the SPSS weekend seminar. And…

–Picked up 3 Apple charging cables at UPS (all work); the Armstrong ratchet wrench (bad mechanism, very hard to switch off/on, tossed; and the replacement solar fountain pump–piece of crap, barely works, ordered another from Amazon, will toss.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Skipped Chalk It Up this year. Heat, travel prep, laziness…

–Took a shower and shave.

–A nothing day, pretty much.

–Paid State Farm $95.73 for (difference in) insurance on BMW 230i.

–Went to Home Depot for a hacksaw. Used it to saw off bolts that hindered drawer opening after I mounted the vise (finally).

–Put gas in the Honda and washed the windshield.

–Got 3 Red baron pizzas at Smart & Final. Had one for dinner: good.

–Took the Beemer to REI in Sacramento, bought 3 Pairs of cargo shorts, size 40 (up from 38). Ready to roll.

–Took Grace to Hallmark at Sunrise Mall to look for birthday stuff for Kathy. There are like 3-4 jewelry stores at that mall, and I can’t imagine how they pay rent when it looks like the mall is mostly deserted.

–Tried to paint in the RB logo on the new Reggie Barber tamper–with BMW Alpine White paint and then with Testors enamel. Total failure. Wiping off the over-paint just screws up the paint in the letters. I suppose I could try a thinner paint and a micro-brush so there’s no paint leaking out of the grooves; hard to do though.

–Finished tweaking the last of the Silca pumps. It took (finally) a 9mm dual-wire spring clip to fit the pump hose. We’re rollin’ now.

–Took the BMW to Nai’s Berry Farm. Closed. Open tomorrow. Really liking the Beemer. It gives me sort of a God feeling when driving. I vaguely recall the Mustang was like that, though it lacked the smoothness, pickup, tautness, etc. of the BMW. Siri works great in the car–no wires needed. I tell her where to go; she directs me, with aplomb.

–Took the Beemer to Michael’s to get Grace some glue for her photo assemblage. Picked up varnish at UPS on the way back. Turns out I didn’t need it: 99% isopropyl alcohol removed the water spots from the Capitola miniature paintings without damage. Not sure what happened when I tried it a couple days ago and it seemed to remove the original varnish. Less-pure alcohol? I don’t know.

–Watered the plants in back.

–Raley’s rising-crust pizza for dinner. Not good. Back to Red Baron.

–Played with Silca pumps.

–Took the BMW to Bel Air for potato salad. Sweet car.

–Barbecued turkey burgers and (from Sherry/Davis Ranch) corn and tomatoes.

–Took the BMW to REI Folsom to get some new sneakers. Car was good, Siri was good.

–Re-hung the parking duck.

–Sherry Stults went to Davis ranch and brought us back (per request) some corn, tomatoes and peanut brittle.

–Still hot!

–Dinner at Zinfandel. Pretty good.

–Breakfast at the Holiday Inn, cinnamon rolls and bagels at Top Donuts, then headed back (Phoebe’s doesn’t open until 11). BMW was good, especially after I redirected the AC air flow.

–Hot here, still not conducive to working in the garage.

–Switched over to iPhone for the BMW in order to get Siri. It’ll be hard to beat the car’s native GPS system, which (I learned today) knows about slowdowns and how long they’ll last–but we’ll check it out.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Took the 330i to BMW Monterey; traded it in for a 230i. Car salespeople are still jerks: I got a 15-minute high-pressure sales pitch on various kinds of insurance from the finance guy. Anyway, the car is fabulous, though it does have a fairly strong odor.

–Briefly checked out La Selva Beach with chips on the bluff.

–Checked in at the Holiday Inn Watsonville. Got room 319, same as last trip.

–Dinner at McDonald’s.

–Big diarrhea attacks this morning, a day early.

–Paid State Farm homeowner’s insurance $1,186, due in October. Hope this is for a full year.

–Took the BMW to Bel Air for cash, then Coloma Arco for gas.

–Tried to pack, sort of.

–Took a shower and shave.

–While fiddling in the bathroom, I noticed that the two Vern Scharf paintings (hot dog and donut over Capitola) were covered with water spots. (1) Be care when using the water flosser. (2) Tried getting them off with water, Mother’s Mag, white vinegar: nope. Tried alcohol, which seemed to work, but also removed some varnish. Ordered some varnish. May try to clear up all water spots, then re-varnish.

–Went birthday shopping at Oto’s market and Osaka Ya. Total nightmare, due to terribly blurred vision and circuitous routes.

–Haven’t heard a word from Nathan Reed. Looks like I might have pissed him off with my Perma-Plate complaint.

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

–Took the BMW to Folsom Glenn car wash. $45 and a great job. Now that I’m not taking it anywhere soon…

–After verifying travel dates with Grace yesterday (Aug 28–31), she said today those weren’t right, as Kathy’s birthday is Sep 6. So I re-did everything for Sep 4–7. Airline and rental car were no problem. Best Western Eastgate could be a $700 problem. After I explained everything to central reservations, they submitted a change ticket to the the local hotel. Haven’t heard from them yet.

–Meidai Japanese bike pump came in. High quality, but the chuck head (not replaceable) is awful. Hard to get on, won’t stay on. Will toss most of it, keep a few nice parts.

–Double-ring hose clamps came in from Walmart. (a) Too large. (b) Flimsy wire. Tossed. Finally found what I should have been looking for all along: not 10mm but 3/8″ clamps. Ordered some.

–Second Helios 81H came in. Glass, though clear, had many small hard-to-see cleaning marks on it. Compared it to the first one (ultra-clear AND no cleaning marks): first one won. Then compared first one to Biotar (which it had edged out a while back. Biotar won, not really close: the Helios had a sort of misty veiling flare that the Biotar lacked. Hoping I’m done (again) with Helios.

–Talked to Nathan Reed finally at Monterey BMW. Long story short: if my 330i is flawless, I’ll trade it plus $20,000 for a white 230i with 4 miles on it. And a convenience package, surround sound, parking assistance, AND PERMA-PLATE. Can’t believe a Beemer dealer is still doing this crap.

–Spent much of the day transplanting the Mandarin into the ground. I’m totally exhausted. I was shocked to see how small and sparse its roots were. Hard to predict what’s going to happen to it.

–Renewed memberships and made reservations at Alaska Air and Best Western Hotels. Turns out I have 14,000 miles at AA (didn’t use any this time), and the Silver Cloud Eastgate has become a Best Western. All those Silver Rewards…poof!

–Helped Kenny install a wheel on his back patio gate.

–Grace wants to go to Bellevue. Flights and hotel are available, but she’ll wait a week or two to tell me she wants to go the next day.

–Went to S*T Strawberries for some berries for Grace to play around with.

–Picked up Pentacon 29/2.8 lens at UPS. Glass seems clear enough, but the lens is totally useless: impossible to focus, acts like infinity is 10 feet away, ultra-soft and unsaturated photos. Tossed it.

–Picked up Diamond Calk WWII entrenching tool at UPS. Super nice, original paint and all. I’ll almost hate to use it–but I didn’t get it as a collector’s piece.

–Went to CarMax for an appraisal. Waited a while; they finally came out with a $25,000 offer. Will try to talk to Nathan Reed tomorrow at BMW of Monterey.

–Tried to organize stuff a little in the garage.

–Kenny brought me a melon and us a baked potato. I went to Sunrise farmers market for tomatoes, jam, squash, pears.

–Water tank for the ECM Technika V came in from Whole Latte Love. Set it up, tried it out, perfect!

–Plomb 3/8″ ratchet handle came in. After some confusion and (temporarily) lost tiny conical springs, I got it cleaned up and working nicely.

–Talked to Moe from Niello BMW. Not impressed. The black 230i I was looking at turned out to be a service loaner. They have others coming in, but none that appealed to me. Will take the 330i to CarMax Sunday for an appraisal. Thinking about Monterey BMW, which has a white 230i in stock, albeit with an add-on package I don’t need. Was Nathan Reed the sales guy I worked with there? Got no paperwork, and this journal is mute.

Brought the Canon R5 out again now that I have the screw for the grip extension. Will test some more against the lower-resolution, lower-noise SL2-S. [edit] Did the test. The SL2-S is astonishing. The Canon has greater magnification, but the viewfinder in the SL2-S is super sharp and contrasty. The Leica photo had hugely less noise, and though they were close after Adobe Enhancement, the SL2-S still wins. Just an amazing performance for 24 megapixels.

–Wrote PJ James again, finally heard back: he’s made an intro with Moe at Niello. I’ll call tomorrow.

–Screw finally came from China for the Canon R5 extension grip. Unfortunately, though the camera with grip is very nice, the Leica SL2-S–with much lower resolution–takes pictures that are as good or better.

–Went to Bel Air for some bargains (Grace) and milk, cream, corn.

–Barbecued turkey burgers. The “Amaizing” corn from Bel Air was finally really really good.

–Took a 10.7 mile bike ride. Tiring.

–Found a bolt that would hold the Canon custom grip extender on. Shot some shots. Even the Pancolar came out good–at f8. I could end up saying goodbye to Leica forever.

–Played with pumps some more. Got really frustrated that several of them didn’t seem to “accumulate” air fast enough, or at all. Took ’em apart, put ’em back together, etc., THEN discovered it could be those tiny snap-on pump heads I favor. Turns out if the hose pulls the slightest bit, the head is at an angle and is (may be) letting most of the air out around the seal. Tested by putting locking heads on 2-3 pumps: they all held air perfectly, with the gauge needle staying where it ended up at the end of each stroke. So much for cornering the market on tiny snap-on pump heads.

–Scavenged a bolt that would hold extension grip on Canon R5. Thinking it might become the ONE camera. Did a shootout (heh heh) between it and the SL2-S. Leica won. Considerably less noise, slightly better colors and saturation. Quite the camera.

–Sealed the crack in the ECM water tank with epoxy and Gorilla tape. Seemed to work. New one coming, so I’ll have an extra.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Decided (as per yesterday’s journal entry) to box up the Leica Q and call it quits (for now) on fixed-lens cameras. Brought out the M11 for the 13th time, and may keep it out as a high-megapixel complement to the SL2-S. It does have (on the LCD) constant exposure preview, and the thumbwheel adjusts it via ISO. The LCD should also work for focusing at night–I imagine I’ve done it before, in addition to using the Visoflex. It’s not exactly an M, with magnified LCD focus and lift-up ISO dial for example, but I checked and all M10s also have that ISO dial, and I’m not going back to M9. [edit] Okay, okay. It’s always something. Took a couple night shots with the M11, full of hope, then realized in Lightroom that the M11 lacks image stabilization. ISO was 8000 in both pics (though I underexposed the second one), shutter speeds were 1/15, then 1/5. Pictures were awful. M11 is just not a night camera. I WISH I COULD REMEMBER THIS.

–Played with Silca pumps. Had some issues with check valves (Silca calls them inner valves). Don’t know all the symptoms, but one (which I experienced) is that pump handle will rise up after a down stroke if you let it. As I suspected. So I checked Silca’s website, founf the inner valve, bought 8 of them. I know this will solve the rising pump handle issue, and I’m hoping it will solve the issue where the gauge goes back to zero after every down stroke. That’s not so clear, though. Don’t skimp on the teflon tape…

–Took a shower and shave.

–Heard back from PJ, whose friend Andrew will hook me up with salesman Moe. Here we go…

–Played with Q cameras all day. Q2 Hodinkee gets a downgrade for numbers on dials being impossible to read in the sun. I’ll likely go with a Q or Q-P. Thing is, I really like NEW, so might end up making the Q I bought at LSB (?) permanent. Big test tonight in the dark, after last night’s fiasco where the Q-P pic in Lightroom turned into a complete soft blurry smudge. The Q2 pic had 10 times the detail. If Q doesn’t work out, I may try a different Q2–a Reporter, say. Or drop the whole Q thing and get on with SL2-S. That’s a thought, actually: I went through 6-8 M’s before realizing I didn’t care much for them. Q’s have fixed lenses, are not pocketable, etc.–why bother?

–Speaking of Q2 Reporter, I wish I would hear from PJ about a contact at Niello BMW.

–Surprise! Whole Latte Love sent me an invoice for an ECM water tank! Amazing!

–Finally got all 6 Silca tire pumps together. Even the last 3 “slapdash” ones are very smooth.

–Picked up the “like new” Leica Q-P at UPS. It wasn’t, of course, but it was in pretty good condition. Took some daytime photos and noted the lack of contrast and saturation in my 3 Q’s (Q, Q-P 1, Q-P 2) compared to my Q2 Hodinkee. Took some night shots, and, though different light levels may have affected the results, I was aghast at how bad the Q-P looked compared to the Q2. I might finally be seeing some resolution and dynamic range issues. I just highly doubt I can talk myself into the Q-P, lovely though it is.

–Spent some time looking for a replacement tank for the ECM. Couldn’t find one (that would ship to U.S.).

–Got some bird seed and Gorilla tape at Home Depot; Triscuits at Bel Air.

–Put the ECM back together. Not easy, not horrible. Two small leftover screws.

–Went to see Michelle Hoyt, OD, at Sacramento Eyes in Folsom. She said I need cataract surgery, and maybe stents to reduce intra-ocular pressure. Got an appointment for a consult in late October. Maybe I’ll be seeing in 2024…

–Lunch (free) at Jersey Make’s.

–Got a market report for the BMW 330i from Patrick James. Seems it’s worth ~ $26,000. That’s a $12,000 bath in one year.

–Hot hot hot.

–Went to Luxury Auto Haus and sold Patrick james my recently-acquired Leica Q2 Reporter for what I paid: $4,400. He said he would get me a contact at Niello BMW who might help in pursuing a 230i.

–Moved and started up the ECM espresso machine. Grace heard a drip. Took it all apart with some difficulty, discovered I needn’t have: there’s a 4″-5″ crack radiating out from the little hole in the bottom of the water tank. CRAP! Nobody on the planet seems to carry those tanks any more, so I’ll glue/tape it and wrestle it back together.

–Got bagels at New York Bagel Cafe, where the owner engaged me in brief conversation. I’m in! Then to Target for shopping for Grace.

–Went to Home Depot for dual-emitter caps. Put one on a riser in back and ran a short line to the Bird of Paradise. Works good.

–Heard from Leica that they will replace the cologne-smelling Kevlar fabric on my SL2-S Reporter with the same stuff, so wrapped it up and dropped it off at UPS. Looking forward to what will be virtually a new camera with great eye sensor relief.

–Called and emailed Patrick James re Q2 Reporter sale. He finally called back late and we’ll meet tomorrow.

–Strongly considered a “like new” Leica Q-P at MPB. Took a couple shots in back comparing Q2 Hodinkee with rat Q-P. Q2 wins.

–Left a review on Yelp of HD Lawn Care.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Tried to balance the fan over the dining room table. Made it better at low speed only.

–Picked up ECM portafilter from UPS. It’s bottomless. Don’t know if I ordered bottomless or not–they were out of double spout. Bought a cheaper single spout at Clive Coffee; will remove the spout.

–Discovered yesterday that one reason I’m having so much trouble with the two Creminas is that (a) their portafilter baskets really don’t like more than 17 grams; I’ve been using 18.5; (b) My 49mm tamper is > 49mm, and won’t really go down far enough into the basket to tamp well. Combined, these issues mean I’m really forcing an untamped portafilter onto the grouphead. No wonder it complains. I had a much better time scraping out some of the (over)dose and using my Thor tamper, which seems to be a better size. Grrr….

–Heath fromHD Lawn finally texted me and said our warranty had expired. I texted him back that it had NOT expired, but my text failed to go through–he has blocked my number. What a dirtbag. Yelp, Nextdoor, etc. here we come.

–Finally dawned on me that the BMW 230i, small and powerful though it is, is a two-door, and I’ve had trouble getting into those. Guess I’ll have to screw up my courage and try a test drive.

–Re-tried a few photo editors again, for fringing and to see if I can drop Lightroom. Lightroom still wins.

–Warm and muggy.

–Got a message at Fred Miranda forums from Patrick James (sold me the SL2-S Reporter). He noticed I bought a nice Q2 Reporter there, and wants to buy it. Coincidentally, I’m looking at a BMW 230 at Elk Grove Niello. Perhaps Patrick can help buy it/sell BMW 330i while avoiding some of the dealer BS/markups. We’ll see.

–HD Lawn Care guy’s dad came over at 9 AM to replace the two leaking control valves. Talked to his son on the phone, son decided to charge us $350. This was ONE YEAR after the son replaced these same two valves for $370. Pretty sketchy in my opinion.

–Tried to swap in the new portafilter gasket on the Maximatic, discovered it’s 54mm, not the correct 49mm. Emailed Great Infusions. Meanwhile, the reinstalled Orphan Espresso silicone gasket seems to work. On the other hand, it appears I gave away at least one of my extra-large portafilter baskets, as the standard 18.3g dose caused all sorts of over-spilling problems. Grrrr….

–Went through a “sell the BMW” exercise at Carvana. They offered $24,300. This is going to be ugly.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–NOS red Tekna regulator came in. An unused beauty, but of course the tilt needle seat had turned to goo and all but disappeared. Tried some other innards in it, but it never did breathe great. Into the bin; will play with it some more later.

–Barbecue for dinner: corn, Corralitos Cheesy Bavarian sausage, Bel Air potato salad (red bliss potato–not great), Thao tomato.

–Stopped at Corralitos Meat for Cheesy Bavarian and Gizdich apple pie, then drove home. The GPS put me on 5/99/Grantline. Kind of grueling. The BMW drove beautifully, but still smells and has started making more noises. Finding a replacement will be really hard: smaller cars are really small (like Coopers); similar-size cars are hard to justify. Why spend $10k-$20k to trade a fast smooth beauty for one that’s the same size, slower, less sexy, etc.?

–Picked up the Leica SL2 extension grip from Patrick James at Luxury Auto Haus. Quite manly. Grrrrr…

–Leica won’t adjust eye sensor relief under warranty for my new SL2-S, as it was bought from an unauthorized dealer (All Good Friend in Hong Kong). Not sure what to do. After testing, turns out the original SL2 has the worst relief (the slightest head movement blacks out the EVF); my SL2-S is better; and the SL2-S Reporter is far better (but has wear on the cover and smells). I could send mine in and pay for adjustment, but it’s not at all clear that it would come back like the Reporter (which Patrick James claims is untouched) and everything I’ve sent to Leica costs > $600. Dilemma.

–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.

–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.

–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.

–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.