New York December NYC Meet-Up

Thanksgiving: I luckily bought an APO 35 Cron for $4495.00 (free shipping), This lens is still a back order at many dealers.

The new price with the tariff is $5695.00, so I saved $1.2K.

I understand from one poster on the Leica Forum that he secured and locked in the old price by his back order at Adorama, but eventually there will be a huge price jump.

Also reports are that the Meastro III processor speeds up the autofocus quite a bit on the SL2.

I'm pretty thankful.

Cal
 
Got a delivery of "swag" yesterday from the luxury cruise line. Two knapsacks to walk around hands free about the same quality as what a hipster might buy at the Apple Store to carry his or her Macbook Pro.

A secretary/journal was also included.

So even though I get a month's vacation a year, plus paid holidays, and my work week is only 37.5 hours, this is the first time I have been able to take off more than a week off from work in over 20 years. The problem is that we are only "two-deep," and since we deal with patients, there is a policy of critical importance.

So this break from work in a way is my first real vacation in 20 years.

Cal
 
Leica smut: I was told that starting in January there will be an across the board 10% price increase on Leica glass. I was also told that the pricing on the SL2 and Q2 will remain the same.

Evidently with the proposed 25% tariff, 10% will be paid by the consumer, and Leica will take a 15% "haircut" on their profits on their sales.

So use this insider information to your advantage.

BTW I got on a list at one dealer for the SL2, and pretty much I'm "A" listed on another. Pretty much when I return back from Amsterdam, Germany, France and Switzerland I might have a SL2.

I was told they expect a big shipment within a few weeks.

I can't tell you how crazy the APO 35 Cron is. Brutal I say. I've been lurking on the Leica Forums. They say the AF on the SL is really crazy, and that the AF now has a depth setting. The Maestro III processor also speeds up the AF on my 50 Lux.

One of the problems with using MF lenses on my SL1 is that after I toggle my focus point and depress the joystick for a zoomed in magnification, after the shot the focus point recenters itself. Now it stays in place.

I learned that cleaning a sensor with IBIS gets tricky because the sensor floats.

Seem like some shooters download JPEGS down to an IPAD Pro and use Lightroom to get things online and posted fast.

I wonder how my Noct-Nikkor 58/1.2 and 50 Lux-R "E60" will render on a 47 MP sensor. I think this glass will kill and will be deadly on an SL2. "Brutal," I say.

Cal
 
I printed out a bunch of the stereo shots I took with the pentax stereo attachment at the last meetup. They are very neat when viewed in a Loreo viewer.
The 6x6/6x12 18 year old delta 3200 is developed and looks good. I have 4 roles of tree pictures to scan, so I’ll add it to the list.
I’ll bring all the prints and viewer next time.
 
Calzone, if you mostly use DNG on the SL (and SL2 when you get it) just ignore the jpeg evangelists. iPad and latest iPad Lightroom support DNG flawlessly, you don’t even have to mess around with the Apple camera roll stuff like you used to. I have written several long threads I am happy to link you if you need an iPad workflow kickstart.

I don’t live in NY but this is probably my favorite ongoing series of threads on RFF so I’m a frequent lurker from afar.
 
Henry Schimke said:
Calzone, if you mostly use DNG on the SL (and SL2 when you get it) just ignore the jpeg evangelists. iPad and latest iPad Lightroom support DNG flawlessly, you don’t even have to mess around with the Apple camera roll stuff like you used to. I have written several long threads I am happy to link you if you need an iPad workflow kickstart.

I don’t live in NY but this is probably my favorite ongoing series of threads on RFF so I’m a frequent lurker from afar.
Click to expand...

Henry,

Thanks for your insights.

Since I'm a self proclaimed lazy-slacker, I hate complexity, but I do like DNG over JPEG's.

Please do send me the links. Help support a lazy-slacker.

I know I have many lurkers. Seems like I cultivated a herd of them here on these long often off topic threads. LOL.

BTW "Maggie's" family are a bunch of anxious people. Pretty much I use to be one too, but I learned to relax. Now I'm ruined.

No entertainment factor for a while. I'll be invading Europe and won't be back at my boring day job for a few weeks. Had to pay my rent and make photocopies of our passports.

Pretty much they hold our passports as collateral so we don't jump ship.

Cal
 
CNNY said:
I printed out a bunch of the stereo shots I took with the pentax stereo attachment at the last meetup. They are very neat when viewed in a Loreo viewer.
The 6x6/6x12 18 year old delta 3200 is developed and looks good. I have 4 roles of tree pictures to scan, so I’ll add it to the list.
I’ll bring all the prints and viewer next time.
Click to expand...

Christian,

BTW I was the guy who got "Amsterdamed."

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Henry,

Thanks for your insights.

Since I'm a self proclaimed lazy-slacker, I hate complexity, but I do like DNG over JPEG's.

Please do send me the links. Help support a lazy-slacker.

I know I have many lurkers. Seems like I cultivated a herd of them here on these long often off topic threads. LOL.

BTW "Maggie's" family are a bunch of anxious people. Pretty much I use to be one too, but I learned to relax. Now I'm ruined.

No entertainment factor for a while. I'll be invading Europe and won't be back at my boring day job for a few weeks. Had to pay my rent and make photocopies of our passports.

Pretty much they hold our passports as collateral so we don't jump ship.

Cal
Click to expand...

My lengthy thread on Reddit is a good place to start. The main post is the basic workflow and this comment is the shortcut and steps to use it. This relies on the Apple Shortcuts app, which is now included in the newest iPad operating system.

It's about 100 times better than when I was doing this with the old iOS where you had to import every image at least twice to make it work correctly.
 
Calzone said:
698 K followers on Instagram. Add on the others from other social media and pretty much it approaches nearly a million followers.

A big print feature is coming out, and this one is a big one. Also another big network broadcast news feature will be coming out. Another Kate "Shovel" campaign is coming.

Last week I modeled with "Maggie" for content promoting a brand. Within 24 hours 26K likes and mucho comments that flattered me. Somehow I feel like a trophy. LOL.

One person who put out a "like" is this designer who "dresses" "Maggie" for her to attend his shows. Not too big a jump to include me in these front row center high profile locations because this designer also does menswear.

Maggie as well as her former agent from London thinks we easily could be "branded" as a couple. I can see me actually walking the runway in NYC Fashion Week because I'm a "skinny bitch." LOL.

It would be outrageous to if they exploited my long hair. Pretty much they could sculpt my hair since it reaches my nipples, or I imagine if they teased my hair and did an "up-do" kinda Bride of Frankinstein.

Anyways this is all too strange and weird. "I was just minding my own business."

So we find out that we are on the "Diamond Deck," meaning the luxury section on an 82 cabin long river boat. I'll likely will have to dress up for dinner. Maggie says I should bring my Tux just in case. It will be strange having our own butler. Seems like somehow I'm living in a time of Dowton Abbey.

Cal
Click to expand...

It is my opinion that the celebrity entourage should have more scientists.
 
icebear said:
Hey Cal, how was the German geriatric river experience?😀
Not too much Blasmusik and X-mas shopping push, I hope?
Click to expand...

Klaus,

Today is my first day back at work since Thanksgiving. Over the past 20 years I have never been able to take more than a week's vacation at a time.

The cruz was as you and Pete described mostly and was all people of retirement age, except for two younger couples. Most were from the U.S.; and the others from either Canada or Australia.

One exception was this British couple. Terry sold cargo ships that back in his day were half the size of the current supersized ships of today. Think pre-China... He was an interesting and thoughtful man and also a man of great wealth. I figure he was in his eighties because he told me about being 6 years old and taking refuge in the subway to avoid the bombing of London in WWII.

All the people on this cruz were well educated and successful. I met a retired Secret Service agent, a lawyer who for 15 years was a criminal defense attorney, and then flipped the switch to become a D.A. Met a woman who was involved with the goverment of Michigan for her whole career.

What set me back was not the age of the crowd I was in, but it was there physical shape. Quite a few were handicaped by limited mobility. It became apparent many had health issues. Basically "Maggie and I were the "Vintage Hipsters" out of the say 150 people on board. Realize there there some people I'm not counting that were about a generation younger.

Our ship was perhaps 35 feet wide, but 135 feet long. The food and service was outstanding. I fought back the weight gain by limiting carbs. There were also special invited dinners that I found interesting as experiences.

So other than Amsterdam and Basel the layovers in the ports were too brief to be other than a tour and a survey. I did learn a lot about WWII history, and pretty much this tour indicated how ignorant I am, how poorly educated I am, and how as an American I have lived in a bubble of sorts.

I loved the fresher air. The tour of the Mercedes plant where they built their compact cars was impressive. The quality of life I found to be impressive. I wondered if I could learn to speak Dutch and German, and that I might consider relocating to Europe for retirement.

Heidelberg impressed us as being a university town. I learned that they have a cyclotron facility there. Christian has it right that any city is wonderful if you can afford a luxury lifestyle there. I wonder...

Learning a new language in retirement surely could enrichen my life, and the bonus is it is truely a crazy thing to do. You know me, I say crazy is good.

Somehow we docked close to Strausborg, France; and we had the opportunity to go off on our own to visit this city at night. Somehow enough people drew interest in going, that our Cruise Director made arangements for a "Couch" (meaning bus) to take 48 of us to Strausborg.

I'm glad we did because I got mucho wonderful night shots. This night visit was not on the itinerary, and the trip to Strausborg the next day was not as photogenic. Also know that I was attacked in the Christmas Market by some disturbed individual who displayed aggression. As people disburst, I moved inbetween "Maggie" and this individual, and then this disturbed man grabbed me by the forearm.

Realize that in my leather bookbag is $20K worth of Leica digital cameras. I shook off the man's grip and made a fist. My standing up to this man was enough for him to stop. This happened during the day excursion and not at night.

My next move would of been to drop my eyes to stare at his chest to have a greater per-Riff-Free-L vision. Since most men are bigger than me, I step onto one of their feet, while shoving them. Pretty much they fall to th ground, and the rest is basically a beating involving my legs and feet. No mercy at this point.

Also know that although I'm a righty, I have vicious right jab. I'm glad though that the aggression stopped in time, and I didn't end up in some French jail for beating up a local.

So even in Europe my reputation for drawing out the crazies has happened.

We made this cruise a great vacation. I learned a lot, and I'm considering many possibilities. We will likely meet again, but this time in Europe.

Maggie had this itinerary in Amsterdam because evidently her great great grandfather was August Volmer who created this modern hotel in Amsterdam called the "American Hotel" around 1902. Part of this art deco hotel is the "Cafe Americano" that feature original Tiffany stained glass. Pretty much a time capsule...

So Maggie inquired further and was shown some oil paintings of her great-great grandfather and great-great grandmother.

Interesting to note that during WWII that this hotel was used by the Nazi's as their headquarters.

In Basel I hooked up with my friend J. who I only knew from RFF. Gear wise we pretty much have the same taste and have been in correspondence over the past 4 years or so. I my visit I would learn that J. and I have even much more in common.

In Basel I used a UBER rare double aspherical 35 Lux and F1.2 Noctilux, while I lent my 50 Lux-L to J. J. took us around, and later we had dinner. Basel would be a wonderful place to live, but I don't think I could afford it. I definitely want to visit Basel again.

Cal
 
Saganich said:
It is my opinion that the celebrity entourage should have more scientists.
Click to expand...

Chris,

702K followers.

We posted a photo of "Maggie" on our balcony relaxing in an orange sweater. It got around 40K likes.

So all my slaving has paid off. Well some of it. Maggie gifted me $2k towards a SL2. Yesterday I walked to B&H after a workout on the Elyptical. I figure I walked over a half marathon while carrying my SL rigged with the APO 35 Cron because I also walked home from B&H.

I bought two 128 GB type 2 SD cards to load a SL2.

I'm a VIP at the Leica Store in SoHo. I have to call today near the end of my workday to see if the got a shipment. The report getting 3-4 cameras every week.

Seems likely I might have a SL2 by the December 22d Meet-Up.

Meanwhile this Thursday is a SL2 Workshop at the Leica Store in Soho.

I already handled a new SL2 at the Leica Store last Friday. Mucho hyper fast. Kinda crazy, but I love it.

Cal
 
CNNY said:
Happened to me in Central Park recently.
Click to expand...

Christian,

I saw no dog turds in Amsterdam. Something must have happened.

I wandered around kinda lost. I somehow discovered this neighborhood called "The Jordan."

Not so sure how these oversized barges that are now houseboats exist because they are too big to fit under the bridges. ???

"The Dutch are mighty clever," I say.

Cal
 
I kinda learned how the Dutch created an empire. Pretty much they used windmills to saw wood and built a navy bigger than the British, Spanish, Portuguise, and French combined.

They also invented the stock market. It was said that Dutch West Indies stock had sustained growth of 20%, and this made Amsterdam the riches city in the world.

Don't tell my fellow dumb Americans, but English is a second language in the Netherlands. I can see Maggie and I living in Amsterdam for a while. We also have to check out Rotterdam.

BTW my name for Amsterdam is the "Bike Swamp."

The morning light in Amsterdam is mighty pretty, but around 2:00 PM there is this hot glare that I suspect is light glancing off the ocean. The contrast gets harsh like NYC at noon during summer.

Also the days are about an hour shorter than NYC being further north, but oddly the weather is milder and more moderate.

Cal
 
This cruz was a wake up call for staying fit and maintaining my physical strength. I saw the results of not doing so, and the quality of life and lack of mobility became evident.

No more being a lazy slacker in this regard.

So I come back from vacation and there is a list of people who are leaving for better jobs and higher pay. A Doctor "Clueless" already left for a job at Stonybrook University, and another PhD also got poached by Stonybrook and is leaving the 27th.

Before I left for Europe I learned that a PhD chemist I like and who is my friend got a job at Johnson and Johnson. She will be relocating to PA. and will be living in Center City Philly.

A Chemistry Technician is also leaving for a better job with higher pay after only 4 years of employment.

The other Chemistry Technician was given a big package not to leave.

On the main campus of my hospital that is my true employer an manager administrator is also leaving for a bigger position.

Kinda crazy how people are now upset and are caught in a lurch for not making opportunity happen internally. Kinda funny all the anger when people announce their resignation. Do I have to say some people are demoralized and are leaving for a reason?

Interesting to note that no talk or buzz has happened while I was gone. Is no one making plans to fill the gap when my boss leaves in the first week in January. Pretty much I have no replacement, and I am only "one-deep" meaning there is no one to do my job if I take a vacation or take a sick day.

"Oh-well," I say. 2020 offers no hindsight and I'm sure will be exciting, as two huge hospitals that I work for remain mismanaged. I expect total chaos. How exciting. LOL.

Who would have thought that a Cyclotron would be like a nuclear weapon. The countdown has begun. I sit in my bunker knowing that if I leave or when I leave in 4 years pretty much a 3 1/2 million dollar machine will be useless. Call me a madman, but "Ha-Ha," I say

Cal
 
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