–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.

–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.