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Finally a weekend in the Garden

 

 

Its been pretty busy the last few weeks again but this weekend we got some time on our own which we spent in the gardenButterflys Harvest

We harvested all the remaining potatoes and also picked some salad for lunch.

IMG_0506 Lunch

It was great to have a lunch consisting of local food.  The bread was from our village artisan baker only a few hundred yards away, we also have a local butcher down the road so a lovely pork pie and a Lincolnshire delicacy, a roasted haslet, which tasted fantastic.  The salad, potatoes and herbs all came from the garden with the eggs from our chickens.OnionsWe have also had a bumper onion harvest this year, so in the afternoon we used one of them with some of our eggs and some local cheese to make a lovely quiche for tea.

 

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Camera shop visits

Sony RX1Friday I had a little time to spare so popped into the High Street location of London Camera Exchange.

The Fuji X-Pro1 is now a real bargain, and they are even throwing in a couple of lens.  I was more interested to look at the compacts in my never ending search for the perfect compact.

The most interesting cameras as usual are the Fuji and Sony, The X100T makes a great compact but possibly the best Sony RX1 (and the RX1R).  These while great cameras do lack a little flexibility and if your willing to allow a small drop in quality then cameras like the RX100 IV with its Nikon Series 1 like one inch sensor offer much more flexilibity.

Nikon V1 10mm f/2.8
Nikon V1 10mm f/2.8

Am I any closer to deciding, well not yet.  At the moment camera funds are being put towards a new Leica M, likely the M-P (240), I am expecting prices to drop soon as we approach the release date of the new M likely to be announced either just before or after Christmas.

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New Nikon Lens announced

Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6

Some interesting announcements from Nikon this week, and if your into long lens the most interesting was the new Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Zoom.  Now f/5.6 may not sound fast and at 200mm its not but its typically what a consumer zoom reaches, but at 500mm its another ball game.  f/5.6 is only a stop slower then a serious fast 500mm telephoto.

A very flexible lens and one I am sure will attract a lot of interest.

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Special Editions

When it comes to cameras, Special Editions generally run into two camps. Colourful with Leppard print designs or generally interesting, useful, and new but limit appeal features. 

Last year we had the Nikon D810A a camera targeting astronomical uses. Yesterday the new Fuji X-T1 IR was announced. A camera sensitive to a wider spectrum then the human eye. Lots of useful scientific uses for cameras like these but I am sure in the hands of Artists we will lots of exciting images.

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Last update for Adobe CS6

Levels
Levels

Its been expected but now Adobe have announced that the latest update for Adobe CS6 is the last, if your a Photoshop user and need camera RAW updates your either going to have bite the bulet and buy an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription or use Lightroom to render the RAW’s to another format and then open in Photoshop.

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Apple Pay

When Apple Pay was announced there was a lot to like about it.  The security model is the key feature with your debit/credit card number never needing to leave your device plus biometric security.

As of now, few UK banks accept it and those that do only to the £20 contact payment limit. Come on banks get with it.  I am in the process of changing bank accounts due to my current provider ending interest payments.  Thanks, i’ll just change banks thank you very much.

There are a couple of banks currently offering over four percent and its one of those that will likely get my business but which to choose, well it might be the one that offers Apple Pay first.

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Mac Sound output

Audio Midi SetupI love good music and HiFi, since getting my new Mac setup the sound quality was not quite as good as I thought it should be.  It was then I remembered that the default output was not as good as it should be.  You need to go into the Audio Midi setup program and configure it to the best settings.

See above.

Having the new Mac Desktop I now have the line out direct into the active speakers giving me better sound quality then Apple AirPlay.

 

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The end room takes shape

Our spare end room over the last few months has been stripped down to bare walls and concrete floor.  We have plastered painted and decorated. Including painting the roof and open roof beams.studio-2

This weekend we finally laid the new floor.

studio-3

We just have the beading left to put round the edge and its finished.

studio

Then its new book cases and we can unbox the books and also finally setup my hifi. Then we have a smart new space which we can use as a reading room, music room and when necessary a studio space and even somewhere to layout quilts.

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Large Format Developing

Processin Insert Paterson-3-reel-tankWhen one hears about people developing their own film one imagines that for most people this is just not an option. Who has the space to create a darkroom, or as used to be common black out the bathroom.

Well it’s traditional printing you need a darkroom for not developing. I taught Caroline how to develop 35mm film in the kitchen using Patterson developing tanks.

We have all the gear for 35mm developing and I want to start again but the driver is large format.  The picture above is an insert for Patterson three reel tanks, I have been waiting for a number of months for them to come back in stock, well now they are, so together with my scanner I hope to do a lot more large format Black & White as well as giving my Leica M4 a workout. 

The question next is what film?