Welcome friends. I did the first installment of this film last year while dwelling in Maine, so I thought it prudent to continue the conversation as I find myself, once again, in Maine. Just me talking about random things that may or may not be of interest. Sure, there is a bit of photography, kit, bookmaking, and potential travel scenarios but it’s mostly just me letting out the swirling of my head. First, I teach you how to lie. Don’t knock lying. Great skill and fun for all ages.
1. Smartphone collection, power of music.
2. Travel is possible but COVID is raging.
3. Photography is one thing, and bookmaking is another.
4. Journaling is difficult.
5. Maybe Paris?
6. My bag fetish is real.
7. My camera fetish is real. Don’t even THINK of comparing the Q2 and the X100.
8. My immediate goal, get better at filmmaking.
9. Water drama.
10. Ticks and the reality of today.
Comments 17
Please don’t take my smartphone away – I’m watching your videos on it. Great stuff!
space pens are the best.
thanks to a trade show in vegas, currently recovering from covid myself. riding is difficult. lungs are trash at the moment. i can squeak out 30 miles but it isn’t fun and i’m hacking almost the entire time.
peru and lebanon?!? would love to join on one of those.
Q/Q2 is absolutely amazing. it is probably my most favorite camera that i own. currently lusting after the mono version. i’ve been commuting into NYC a few times a month and i either have my Q or SL. 28 is wider than i normally shoot but i’m getting used to the focal length. a hand grip and the magic thumb lever completely change the handling for the better. mpb usually has great deals on used ones. if you come down from maine, i’ll let you take it for a spin for as long as you’d like.
Author
Oh man, so sorry to hear. That sucks. I’m still hacking stuff up, but I never tested positive for C19. Yet again, a Q user saying “the 28 is a bit wide.” That is 99% of all the Q users I know. I REALLY hope they are working on a 35 but I doubt it. And a mic jack. But I would still love to have one. Get better!
Glad we can keep the music!
We pulled a tick off my wife’s back last week. Thankfully the doctor gave her antibiotics right away. This was just from sitting on our back porch here in New Jersey! We found another one crawling on our dog a couple of days later. It’s crazy!
I could always talk the wife into a Paris trip!
Author
Jersey is total hotzone. I spoke to a woman who lived in a gated community there, 180 houses. Every house had a least one Lyme patient. And yes to Paris!
You are really tempting me with that space pen (and the Q2).
Everything Craig mentioned in that email is true of Japan. Sure it’s an annoyance to still have masks everywhere but honestly it’s no big deal and that’s how most people here think despite the insane heat at the moment. His vaccine side effect was shocking though!
I also like it when you talk about Lyme. It reminds me to keep up to date with the situation and stay on guard. As someone who regularly hikes in the mountains it’s important. It’s present where I hike above 1900m apparently. I was hiking up to 2700m last weekend.
Author
You could do a lot worse than space pen and Q. Yes, Japan feels like more of a collective and we feel like a zombie film where it’s down to every human for themselves. Just today, four more friends have C19 and two of a family member’s friends are on their way to the ER with C19. Lyme is SO rampant, SO common, and getting way worse. But it’s about like C19, people just don’t want to believe how bad it is.
Don’t think I can make it, but Paris Photo sounds very interesting, Dan. With regard to the Leica Q: you already own Leica glass, so why not just go for a digital M? It’s only money. You also praise the X-pro3 and condemn the X-100: they have the same sensor, processor and (I think) viewfinder. This is X-100v and X-Pro3. Different lenses, of course. I’m waiting for a full-frame camera that doesn’t look like a DSLR i.e. without a lump on the front. I think its called a grip. Oh, and a small prime lens that doesn’t have a plastic lens mount.
Author
xPro takes better lenses. Makes a HUGE difference on the small chips. F/2 lenses won’t give you anywhere near a FF look. I know, I have several. I’m shooting a .95 as my main Fuji lens. There is a reason for that. Also, I want autofocus. My eyes suck now.
Enjoyed this one. I also very much enjoy the writer you mentioned, even though I found myself frustrated by his most recent piece. Sometimes things sound holier than thou. I think I just read it too late at night.
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I think so. He’s just a dude dressed as another dude playing another dude.
He’s alive!
Author
Barely
Hi Dan,
I hope all is well! Another great series, looking forward to more! A couple of comments…
COVID
I totally agree with your comments ref. travel. In Europe especially there is many problems at airports and with airlines, so much so that we drove to the UK from Munich a couple of weeks ago (first time back in 2.5 years). As the mess seems to be increasing we have cancelled our flights/hire car in August and will drive back again. Here in Munich everyone is waiting to see how bad it gets in Autumn. A couple of months back they gave the go ahead to the world famous Oktoberfest and I’m sure it will have many after affects once the crowds start arriving from around the world again. 16,000 people in one ‘tent’ alone (there are 10 of them, as well as all of the outside stalls, rides, etc.) with no masks is asking for trouble…
Paris
I’d love to go to Paris Photo but due to the travel mess right now it’s highly unlikely. In fact I might be headed in the other direction and will probably be in Dalls at some point in November or December on a business trip.
Q2
It’s funny that lots of Q2 users would love to see a 35mm version and most Fuji X100 owners would love a full-frame version. I’m not sure either will happen though. They should not be compared at all, other than they are both fixed-lens cameras. The full-frame look of course is not the same as the ASPC sensor in the Fuji but as a X100V owner myself, I love mine! I had the original X100 and had to sell it but missed the joy of having a pick-up-go fixed lens camera and bought the X100V. I kind of got it for free (it was a €5 fun football bet and I got a return of €1400 so I bought the Fuji). I think the X100V does produce some great work, it just needs to be used the right way…maybe I have something to send you soon. Of course, I would love a Q2 but that price…maybe I wait for the Q3 next year 🙂
Author
I can’t believe they let Oktoberfest fly. Well, I can, but you KNOW that isn’t going to end well. Spoke to someone on their way to Vegas to attend shows and the like. They asked what I would do if I was going and I said “I’m not going in a casino right now, or a show,” and they said “Why?” This is the kind of top notch readiness we now put on display. As for the Q, yep, 35mm is what people seem to want. The X100 for me just needed a faster lens. It might be the same sensor in the XT but the lens options make it far more versatile, at least for me. I love the size and IDEA of the X100.
I’m 99% certain I’ll be in Paris in November. I’m planning on visiting Paris Photo for at least two days. It would be magnifique, fantastique and excellente to meet other photographers then. I’m warning you, though, that as a recent convert to the greatness of some country music, you might be on the receiving end of some evangelism (and I grew up hating the stuff because I’m from the actual West, too).
Author
Will keep you posted. Not sure it will happen for me.