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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Well, the M11 is back in business. Highlight metering actually works, at least on the front patio bushes when it’s sunny. It’s even simpler in some regards than the SL2: dedicated dials for shutter speed and ISO; magnified focus is automatic with known lenses; thumbwheel brings it up (and alters power) with adapted lenses; it’s light and has good ergonomics; etc. Still some occasional flickering with the Visoflex 2–don’t know whether to replace that or not.

–Put the Biotar 75 back together, got a little focus range. Wrote to Youxin Ye to see if he would make it right. He responded that he’d never worked on this lens and wouldn’t be able to fix it. Will toss, I guess, and look for a Helios 85.

–Took a couple shots comparing M11 and SL2. 1. M11 seemed to set f wherever it wanted, even though it had a native M lens on it. 2. Pictures of the front patio through my bedroom glass doors were revealing: The SL2 was fine, while the colors on the M11 were atrocious. I have tried so many times to like the M11, but it always disappoints. I don’t get it. [edit] Got out the M10 Safari and took a night shot. Blew me away. The speed limit sign is crystal clear, sharp and bright–with only 24 megapixels, I believe. [edit 2] Same with the Hodinkee and its 35mm lens. Pretty impressive.

–The Biotar 75/1.5 came in. Body scratched up, glass really good. Noticed right off it wouldn’t focus anywhere near infinity. Also, the bokeh on a patio shot was really weird, though to be fair it probably would have been better if the bushes in the background were much farther away. I took the lens apart to try and fix infinity, and of course completely forgot the video where the tech carefully marked everything before disassembly. Guess I’ll send this one to Don Goldberg. Gettin’ tired of expensive vintage lenses that suck.

–Rode the InnerLight to UPS, got a screw in the front tire on the way back. Took it to Bob’s Bikes. Guy pulled the screw out, nothing happened. Yay!

–Played with Silca pumps. They kept falling over–really poor design on that small rectangular base. Swapped bases back so now both the Superpistas have triangular bases. The housing on one hides the brass innards, but that’s fine–at least it’s stable.

–Dropped Grace off at KP Market, got bagels (and a breakfast sandwich), got several boxes of protein bars at target to compare.

–Much stuff came in to UPS: Zeiss Pancolar lens (mint and nice so far; somehow the Canon knows what aperture it’s set to); brass and aluminum blacks; Rolex link; gifts from the non-communicative eBay Canon seller (SD card, batteries for the Canon).

–Japanese sellers on eBay are getting worse and worse. I noticed today a guy selling a Leica SL as “Mint++++” (what could that possibly mean?) with large gouges showing on top near the strap brackets. Super ugly.

–Played with cameras. Tested all four Q’s against each other (my Q2, Reporter, Hodinkee, Q-P). The Q-P is out: resolution not good enough for me. Hard to differentiate between the other three, so I’ll keep the Q2 I bought new. Not fancy, but all mine. Ordered a Leica SL on eBay, allegedly mint but missing a rubber cover on the bottom (put in a pre-order for the cover at Leica Miami). It’s only 24 megapixels, but that might be enough in a full-frame sensor–and it is the most beautifully minimalist camera design I’ve ever seen. There are four long buttons flanking the LCD screen (unlabeled) and a nipple button. The only words printed on the back are “On/Off.” Could be good…

–Watered/fertilized plants.

–Fixed the glowing-eyes frogs. Pried open the controller, found the lightest (i.e., cheapest) battery in there I’ve ever seen. Replaced it with an Eneloop, and it’s still glowing an hour later (recently it’s been lighting up for < 30 seconds).

–Went to S*T Strawberries, got a 4-pack. Grace wanted me to get some for the neighbors. Grace doesn’t want to be the one responsible for getting them to the neighbors.

==Played with cameras. Got the SL2 and R5 working, I think. SL2 seems to produce more saturated images. Going to be hard to choose.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–SCUBA stuff came in. Not new as I had thought, but nicest Tekna gauge console I’ve seen.

–Couple of camera batteries with charger came in from China. Not from eBay. Must have ordered them a while back for an M9 and forgotten. I’ll go through all my cameras again (5th time), checking for memory cards and batteries.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 7 PM (5 days + 4 hours).

–Reconciled cameras some more. Decided (for now) to keep the Leica Q I bought new, the Q2 Reporter, and the SL2. The Canon R5 had edged out the SL2, but it turns out that IF you get the SL2 set up right (those wheels are a bear, and the setup menus are just wrong), it’s about as easy to use as the R5–exposure preview, focus magnification, wheels for shutter speed and ISO, etc. I’ll do some more comparisons, but at the moment it’s hard to see what the R5 has that the SL2 lacks. Yes, there’s ONE LENS I can’t put on the SL2 (at the moment)–the Pancolar. We’ll see if that’s a must-have lens in the arsenal. [edit] Well, ’bout to give up again. Went to take another night shot with the SL2, couldn’t get the wheel to change ISO. I swear I had it perfect, then turned it off, then an hour later turned it on. No good. Put the Summicron 50 on the Canon, set ISO and shutter speed, took a nice shot. Oh well…

–Picked up Silcas NOS pump at UPS. Not the yellow logo as I had requested (white instead), but it works great. It came with a boot covering the brass works under the gauge, but that was easily removed (unlike an earlier one). They also sent another decal, black letters with yellow outlines, that I put on another pump. Kind of hides, but looks okay.

–Aoto stone came. Kind of crappy. What did I expect for $220?

–Got corn and pork chops at Bel Air; barbecued. Yummy! Finally, great corn.

–Going bananas with watches and wath bands. Hope to get it all sorted soon.

–Took the Rolex 1680 that stopped working to Ivanov Watch Repair in East Sac. Stopped at Corti Brothers for a cucumber, cheese, sourdough.

–Played with pump heads some more. Much to learn. For example, the gasket hole in one of them is so small it won’t go on the valve without letting all the air out of the tire. There must be a way…

–The Canon R5 came in. Focus magnification (a big worry) is trivial at 6x and 15x. One wheel does ISO, another does shutter speed. What more could you want?

–Rolex Day-Date came in, and Rolex 5512 came back from unsuccessful consignment.  I need two links for the Day-Date, as usual. I put all my Rolexes on the Timegrapher. Datejust, GMT, 18038 Day-Date and 5512 were fine. Sea Dweller was pretty bad. Plan: take my 1680 to Ivanov to see if they can get it running again cheaply, then test it. If good, I would keep 1680, Datejust, GMT and Day-Date. I’d try to consign (somewhere) the Sea Dweller and the cursed 5512 “neat fonts” that I foolishly paid $20k for.

–Canon R seller finally wrote and said the camera would be here by 10 PM today. Total BS, and I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe they’re stalling until they get their funds from eBay, I don’t know. I just want to get it over with so I can order another.

–Saw Kenny, who said Leslie’s Pools would be replacing his filter for $800. Yay!!

–Got a haircut at Great Clips. Number 5 clipper, about 1/2 inch. Yikes!

–Broke the news to Kenny about cracks in his Hayward filter housing. I think he’s going to look into getting it replaced.

–Spent more time reconciling razors/brushes.

–No word from the eBay seller of the new Canon R5. Third scam in a year, I fear.

–Took a shower and shave. With all my new-found shaving abilities, I decided to try out, for the 6th time, a Blackland razor (beautiful polished brass). Blade feel was quite harsh, and I did get a couple of nicks. I don’t understand it–given how many razors I’m comfortable with–but no more Blackland for me. Until next time.

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

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

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

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 3 PM.

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

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

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

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

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

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

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

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

–Watered plants.

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

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

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

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

–Very warm today, and very windy.

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

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

–Red Baron for dinner.

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

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

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

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

–Finally dealt with paperwork. Desk is clean.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Lunch at Jersey Mike’s.

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

–Got a bag o’ bagels at Bel Air.

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

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

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

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

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

–Put gas in the Honda.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Watered plants; fertilized camellia.

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

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

–Took a shower and shave.

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

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

–Barbecued pork chops and corn.

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

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

–Helped Kenny replace his fountain pump filter. Success!

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

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

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

–Red Baron for dinner.

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

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

–Had another physical therapy visit with Robert.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Made pizza for dinner.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Pizza for dinner.

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

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

–Got strawberries and jam at S*T Strawberries.

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

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

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

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

–Took Grace shopping at Smart and Final.

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

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

–Lunch at In ‘N’ Out–darn good.

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

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

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

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

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

–Transplanted the basil plant.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Tried to ride the InnerLight; too windy.

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

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

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

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

–BBQ for dinner. Dee-licious!

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

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

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

–Rode with Tom Elken in El Dorado Hills.

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

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

–BBQ for dinner. Not bad.

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

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

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

–Took Grace shopping at Smart and Final.

–Took a shower and shave.

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

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

–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 7 PM.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Bought a used Leica Q2 Reporter at Fred Miranda.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Took a shower and shave.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–Pizza for dinner.

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

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

–Rode the Folsom Canal with Tom Elken.

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

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

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

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

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

–Cold, drizzly day.

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

–Windy and cool, but not too cool.

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

–Watered my plants, which are looking pretty good.

–Hot weather.

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

–Finally heard back from Leica Parts. They won’t sell me a vertical adjuster cap, but rather want me to send the camera to New Jersey.

–Got the Sony out again, and figured out how to do magnified focus. Took photos on front and back patios. Breathtaking sharpness in both auto and manual focus modes. I sort of knew this would happen, given the gorgeous photos I got in La Selva Beach, but still, it sure puts the whammy on Leica M’s. There’s now zero reason to use them, except for nostalgia and snob appeal. I may keep the M-E to kind of “go with” the old Contax and Canon SLR’s; we’ll see. [edit] Well, tried the M-E and the Sony on my night shot. M-E sucked, likely because of the “king of bokeh” lens I had on it. And as it turns out, the Sony–like the Visoflex 2–is almost impossible to focus at night. It might improve with practice, or by focusing on something other than a globe light, but I’m thinking Sony for daytime, many lenses manually focused; and Hodinkee for night. Maybe. [edit 10] Screwed everything up. Tried to put the M10-P silver screw on the Hodinkee. It came off trivially earlier today. Tonight it did that horrible tilt/tighten thing, and would not come off for love or money. Ruined the camera; will toss. The screw on the Hodinkee is JUST passable for sale, I hope. There is no screw on the M10-P Safari. Guess I’ll put a sticker on it for sale. Those screws are awful. Will look (I guess) for an M10-R black, and hope it is vertically aligned.

–Got the rest of my refund back on the Reporter from eBay–in spades. eBay definitely knew this transaction on digree’s part was bogus.

–Went biking with Tom Elken around some of the newer housing developments in El Dorado Hills.

–Went to Costco for muffins, gas ($5.16/gallon), toilet paper. Also got grapes and apples.

–Found a Leica M10-P Reporter on eBay. Put the photos into Lightroom and could not find a single flaw. Almost put a best offer on it, but went riding. Later, while researching it (seeing how much I paid for the first one, etc.), I noticed that the seller had deducted 10% ($1,285) from the refund on the first one. It took me a while to realize what had happened–I’ve never seen this before and didn’t know it was even possible for a seller to refund less than full price. Turns out the asshole claimed I put additional fingerprints on the tape on the inner box, which “greatly devalued” the camera. eBay, almost as if they knew this was bogus, had a large “Open a Case” rectangle nearby. So I opened a case. Seems to me like a no-brainer, but I’ve been outfoxed before on eBay. Oh—it turns out there are two Reporters listed now on eBay, neither by digree. One is at $13k (above), the other at $22k. When I finally compared photos of the cheaper one to the one I bought, I discovered they’re the same camera. Ditto for the $22k one. I repeat: serious manipulation in Lightroom showed zero marks of any kind on the camera. I do believe these pics were taken before someone put that faint rub mark on the top. Dodged a bullet there, and MAY get a full refund.

–Picked up coffee at Black Sails.

–Went shopping at Target for eggs, milk, cream cheese, Zone Perfect bars, deodorant.

–Slow day. Windy, cool. Plants are looking good.

–Took the second “plant picture” with the Hodinkee. Lightroom blowups showed horrible jaggies. Took two more pics, with Hodinkee and M11. Both were much better (bad focus first time?), with the M11 having an edge even though it set ISO at 2000 (Hodinkee was the usual 800). Will likely move to the M11. Forced max ISO to 800, which seems to work on other Ms. Will test with another street photo tonight. [edit] Well, so much for that idea. M11’s first two pics had shutter speeds of 1 and .5 seconds. I ran the max auto ISO back up to 2000 and under-exposed by one full stop. The shutter speed was .25s, but the pic was totally over-exposed: the globe lights blew out everything, and could not be “highlighted” down. It almost HAS to be something I’m doing wrong, but I sure can’t figure out what. I suppose I could go full manual and set shutter speed, but what a pain. [edit 2] Tried again, all manual, same settings as the M10 successful night pic. It was better, but (a) not great, and (b) for some reason, the camera only wrote the jpg correctly–the DNG file was corrupt and showed nothing. I guess I give up on the M11. [edit 17] Tried the Hodinkee again on auto, got a totally good pic. [edit 129] GOT IT! Read up on M11 overexposure at Leica forum. It’s a known issue. Solutions are several, two of which I tried with good success: (1) There’s an exposure setting called Highlight Weighted Metering, which does what its name implies. (2) Use Spot metering and Live View. Aim at the brightest light, half-press the shutter, recompose, and (if LV looks okay) take the picture. Not as automatic as M10, but I really should be using Live View (and/or the EVF) more anyway. No guessing.

–Played with cameras again (duh). Trying to see if I can live with the M-P 240 Safari, since it’s new and green.

–Took Grace to Smiles on Sunrise, then Koreana Plaza. Had lunch there; not bad.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Dark and rainy today.

–2mm ball end hex driver came in from Amazon–two, in fact. (?)

–Bought a Leica M10-P silver (used) at M&K Camera Hong Kong. Good price, hope it’s nice and can replace the Hodinkee. Compared Hodinkee with mt M11 tonight, on the light across the street. Hod took a nice photo. M11 looked like it was horribly over-exposed–I couldn’t even begin to recover the globe light. Turns out Hod was 1/30 ISO 800; M11 was 1/30 ISO 3200. I think I’ve seen that before on the M11. It’s like Leica said “The camera takes great shots at high ISO, so we’ll max out ISO when we can and show Sony a thing or two.” I know the odds are good I’m misusing the M11 (people take great shots with it, after all), but I tried hard to set the cameras up identically. Total bummer, as the M11 feels so good in hand.

–Returned the crappy Leica TL from eBay.

–Tried hard again to like the M-P 240 Safari. Couldn’t. With everything set up identically, the 240 over-exposed the bright leaves in several patio pics; the Hodinkee did not. Minimum Leica: M10. [edit] Took another great night shot with the Hodinkee. Still in a quandary regarding keeping or selling it. Found a shop in Hong Kong with FOUR M10-Ps between $5,100 and $5,400 (U.S. stores/eBay are mostly $7,000+, plus taxes). (The M10-P is the only M10 worth considering, as it’s the only one with a screw cover for vertical alignment). BUT all M10-Ps available today are second hand, may have marks, have unknown shutter count, etc. I guess I just enjoy the Hodinkee and consider a mint Safari if one comes up.

–Was working on the Hodinkee cover screw in the garage. Dropped it. It hit the bench, then went to the floor and COMPLETELY disappeared. Exactly like the Fellow Ode spring a couple days ago. This is simply beyond belief.

–Picked up Nitecore charger for dead Hodinkee original battery. It showed some numbers, later said “Full,” but it was still dead as a doornail. Tried a few more cycles in the Leica and Nitecore chargers, no change. This was supposed to be the “improved” version of the Nitecore, but it’s not worth crap if it flashes some numbers and then calls a dead battery full.

–Leica TL (allegedly Top Mint) finally got here. Also a piece of crap, with scratches dings and chips all over. Started a return at eBay.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final.

–Played with cameras. Decided to keep just an M9 for now, so did a showdown of  four of them. No marked differences; will keep the nice anthacite M-E: low shutter count, nice images, very nice body. Re-re-re-learned that one shouldn’t attend to jpg’s from M9s, as they are known to be weird. (I have noticed this myself: in all of my other cameras, jpg’s and DNG’s are identical in XnView. They are starkly different  coming out of M9s, which likely accounts for (a) all the hoopla in forums about M9 colors, and (b) how over-saturated the greens seemed in my early M9 patio pics.) [edit] Okay, hold everything. Tried a night pic of the house across the street with the M-E, as done many times before. With the Voiglander lens at 1.2, the street light just blew everything away, beyond all recovery in Lightroom. Grrrr…..] [edit 2] Dug out the Hodinkee for the 8th time and took two more pics–with Summilux and Voigtlander. Summilux was a little better (less glow around the globe light), but both ere perfectly exposed. Try as I might, I can’t seem to get rid of the Hodinkee. It’s likely any M10 would be as good, but: do I want to make the Black Paint a daily user? Buy a $6k lens for it? Get a new M10 and a $6k lens? Arrggghhhh…]

–P.S. As of yesterday, my back is all of a sudden 90% good. It’s beyond my comprehension: comes in an instant, lasts for a week, two weeks, six weeks, then goes away almost overnight.

–Tried the M-P 240 Safari again. It just did not seem to want to meter correctly, and (I was reminded) it shows these flashing clipped highlights in Play mode. I could probably get rid of them, but. So brought back the Hodinkee. It takes some pretty spiffy pictures. Might be the lens, I don’t know. [edit] Found out how to fix Play on the Safari. Did a showdown between Safari 240 and Hodinkee. Hodinkee wins. Incredible lens, 3 buttons on the back (as opposed to 5-6), LCD screen more modern, can use Visoflex 2, no Advanced vs. Classic metering,  etc. [edit 2] Another showdown between the Hodinkee and the M11, both using the 35mm f1.4 FLE lens. Photos were close, but again, Hodinkee rules. Can’t hardly understand it. Hodinkee did 1/30 ISO 800, while M11 did 1/320 ISO 3200. Why does M11 run the ISO up so high? And the house number was almost readable on the Hodinkee, while you could hardly tell there was a number with the M11. Strange, and I guess I’ll just have to get used to the gray paint.

–Got a (small) start on reorganizing/cleaning up the garage. Exhausted.

–Pizza for dinner.

–Sharpened the new CKF on the Wicked Edge. Pretty good.

–Yet another cool, dark, drizzly day.

–Set up auto-pay for state and federal taxes.

–Played with cameras. Still don’t know what I want.

–Another gray and misty day.

–Bought fruit and cheese at Koreana Plaza.

–Discovered (to my glee) that the vertical rangefinder alignment was off on the Reporter. So I requested a refund, using that and the scratch in the top plate as excuses. The seller offered me a $100 refund. I said no thanks, just get me your address. Meanwhile, Progear Cameras in New Zealand has a new Hodinkee M10-P available, and I’m in touch with them regarding shipped price.

–Re-routed drip hoses in the side yard so we don’t keep tripping over (and breaking) the one that crossed the path. As I’ve said before: feeling every inch of 77.

–I have slight evidence (in the form of sleepers) that Restasis might be working. Fingers crossed.

–Leica M10-P Reporter finally came in. Mostly my fault: DHL thought Seward was a company, and that complicated the customs process. Also cost me $62 in duty. Crap. Camera is nice, but has a small mark on the top plate and ~2,450 clicks. Looks like I might be keeping it, as a query to Hodinkee hasn’t been resolved yet (“we’re looking into it,” which likely means “they sold out a while back and we neglected to update the listing”). Listing has been updated now: sold out. I doubt I’m going to get the last one.

–Took a shot at painting the Leica Black Paint bottom cover, after sanding it smooth. It might work.

–Well, so much for M9’s. Took out the M-E for a couple of patio pics at twilight. DNG looked like it was shot through a red filter, jpg through green. Tried the black M9, thinking the M-E had acted up before–got exactly the same results. I really don’t understand the hype behind M9’s.

–Used the 1-ton press and a feeler gauge to improve the action on a Sham by pushing down the detent ball. It worked!

–A dark and drizzly day.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Did a bagel run.

–And not much else.

–Finished and submitted 2023 taxes via TurboTax. They had a state underpayment penalty (Block did not). I think Block may have been accurate, but didn’t feel like getting into a showdown with the state.

–Walked to UPS to pick up Dremel polish. Surprised to see the order did not include buffs. Ordered the buffs (again?) from Widget Supply. Very strange. Stopped at Bel Air for dessert and cheese. Wanted milk, but you cannot buy one quart of milk at Bel Air. Second time I’ve seen this. Inexplicable and very annoying.

–Never satisfied with my Leicas, I looked again at eBay. Noticed (not for the first time) a used M10-P Hodinkee Ghost Edition for $19,000. Nice-looking camera. Searched the web to get a feel for it, found that Hodinkee is selling this new for $15,000. Bought it. Hoping that’s the end. Removable bottom cover, three buttons, 24 megapixels, cool ghost colors. Given its age (2019) and scarcity (250 units) I’m surprised to see it still available new. It better be new…

–Picked up Leica M-P 240 Safari at UPS. Not what I thought it was going to be. Was expecting a sort of M10 (like the one I have with rub marks), but instead it’s a 10-year old camera, just like an M9 with 24MB sensor. It has weird Classic or Advanced Exposure (with Live View), which seems more of a kluge than an advance. It’s flawless cosmetically, but really is just the most advanced M9 (Live View) in green. I can’t see a real niche for it. SL2 and M11 are the only real candidates for “master camera,” and M9 has a spot as a classic with CCD sensor. It’s possible the M10-R BP could be the master, but then M9 would be superfluous, I go back and forth on the BP as user vs. work of art. And then there’s the Reporter coming some day……

–Had a horrible night of diarrhea, after Motor City pizza and a Howard’s Donuts cinnamon roll.

–Slept much of the afternoon.

–Did Federal taxes; owe $828.

–Took the Beemer to Howard’s Donuts (no bagels) and UPS.

–Picked up the “softest” Dremel buff. Looked harsh to me, and shed like crazy for a long time. HOWEVER, with some Crystal Brite polish, it really did seem to get rid of very shallow scratches in the M10-R BP. It left a fair haze, but Meguiar’s Swirl Remover brought everything back to perfect. This might actually work; I’m holding my breath. Also conflicted now on which M to keep: the BP, or the incoming Safari. Tests are in order.

–Tried to finish taxes using the IRS online app. Too many limitations–they can’t do IRA distributions, for example. Bought H&R Block Tax Cut (cheaper than, and works with Turbo Tax) and we’re moving along.

–Took a shower and shave. Used a new Gillette Spoiler blade, after using one for 4-6 shaves. Really nice blade.

–Played with cameras. Will keep only (1) SL2–like the Sony before it, it will take any lens (with adapter) and focus it better than an M with Visoflex 2; (2) M10-P Safari–using the scratched one now, with an “unused” one coming soon. Nice color, last M with the bottom plate, will utilize the Visoflex 2 in a pinch; (3) TL–best design ever, takes fine pictures; (4) C-Lux–huge zoom with incredible sharpness at the far end.

No M9’s for now. Will decide how to use the CL Paul Smith (which kind of overlaps the TL) when it comes back from Leica.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.