New York February NYC Meet-Up/ Tenth Annual Camera Beauty Contest

[Phil_F_NM]

I should bring up a lot more so as to free up some space in the new house which is smaller.
One other thing, Bethanne and I are mulling about the idea of moving back to NYC but I know I'd rather live out west. I'm thinking Denver might be a big enough metro area for job security in our field and it's close to the mountains as well as the desert. Flying back to NYC from Denver is cheap, cheap, cheap.
Phil Forrest

 

[Calzone]

I should bring up a lot more so as to free up some space in the new house which is smaller.
One other thing, Bethanne and I are mulling about the idea of moving back to NYC but I know I'd rather live out west. I'm thinking Denver might be a big enough metro area for job security in our field and it's close to the mountains as well as the desert. Flying back to NYC from Denver is cheap, cheap, cheap.
Phil Forrest

Phil,

Denver is a hub.

NYC has the oppressive cost of living. You could be in the top 10% and not have a sustainable retirement.

NYC currently is the more expensive city when compared to London.

I would love the desert and the mountains, but there is "Maggie Factor."

Cal

 

[Calzone]

SL2 delivered to me at work 3:05 PM.

Happy-happy.

I have the new issue of "Viewfinder" (The Quarterly Journal of LHSA) that I will recycle into the "Grab-Bab."

Of note is a review of the new recreation of the classic eight element 35/2.0 Cron for Bernard.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Last night I dug-into the SL2.

First off the layout and menus are wonderful. Very streamlined, simple and elegant. Even though I can customize the camera I found that I changed little from the factory defaults, thats how thoughtful everything is. No confusion, and pretty much the camera came without an instruction manual like the CL.

I didn't think that Leica could improve the layout, function, and simplicity more than the CL, but they proved me wrong. They even eliminated scrolling down a page. There are 6 pages in the main menu and only 6 line items to select from on each page, so no scrolling.

There is also a touchscreen menu that like a computer has all the shortcuts set up as favorites for another way to navigate with speed and accuracy all on one page.

So I tested the IBIS and shot down in the mud as far as shutter speed, like 1/6th and 1/8th of a second, using 400 ISO. Tack sharp. The gain of 5 1/2 stops is not an exaggeration. Expect mucho crazy "circus shots" of NYC at night hand held that can be printed huge. How annoying.

My test shooting included the graphics on a Boneco humidifier in darkness, an Edison receptacle from 12 feet away in moderate shadows on my kitchen island where I zoom in on the dual receptacle and look to see how sharp the slot on the screw is. Note that the straight slot on the bottom screw is slightly damaged. Remember that this shot is from 12 feet away.

I had said that the SL is still a great camera, and my thinking was to exploit it as a second body so I could use the APO 35 Cron on the SL. Hmmm...

I also rigged the camera with the Noct-Nikkor. It seems the VF'er and screen AGC goes into nightvision mode. Kinda crazy, but in a way night gets transformed into day, and initially I found this a bit jarring. I know that I can adjust the brightness, but then again I see how that would take away the advantage of seeing the detail that is revealed otherwise.

My thinking is that for using MF lenses is that it is a no-brainer to use the SL2. EZ-PZ. Makes no sense to use the SL with MF lenses. So pretty much the SL is only useful as a second body so I can have two rigged cameras.

The VF'er and the rear screen are higher pixel count than on my SL and the rear screen is marginally bigger, but the effect demands attention because the EVF I think surpasses an optical VF'er, and the rear screen also offers it enhancement that is a lot bigger than the marginal increase in size; it leaves an impact.

I would say also that the SL2 enhances the two AF native lenses where it brings out higher resolution, speed, and sharpness. The huge 50 Lux is the slowest focusing lens out of all the native lenses, even the zooms, but the Maestro processor seems to have sped things up. The 50 Lux is much more responsive and seems to be more accurate, especially under challenging low light.

I'm a lucky dog to have avoided the "Trump tariff's" on the APO 35 Cron and 50 Lux-L. Saved $1.2K. Pretty much I can do lots of shooting with just a 50 and a wide.

Happy-happy.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Every day "Maggie" has been away in Paris two parcels each day have been delivered. Yesterday one box was so big that I decided to do two trips rather than struggle. I had the mail and my SL2 besides the first package.

Seems like the protective "foil" for the rear display is unavailable from two of my dealers. I'm taking extra care not to mare the display until one is available.

I measured last night and the SL2 display is really only marginally bigger, but it for some reason seems mucho larger. Obviously it has a higher resolution, and so does the EVF.

I went into the custom controls to dim down the rear display and the EVF. For me the AGC (gain) in the default setting is set too high and the VF and display are too bright.

I printed out the 220 page Instruction Manual. The hard copy is required because I want to learn how to exploit the video fully and pretty much my skill level I would say is "Numb-skull" even though I have a masters in TV Broadcast News that included mucho ENG (Electronic News Gathering).

Back then I shot with an Ickagami and used 1 inch Sony Numatics, Beta was freshly new. Things have really advanced since then.

The 50 Lux "E60" I can easily "de-click" the aperture by removing a small ball bearing and a spring. I saw a "Cage" if I wanted to create a real crazy video rig with a follow focus. The SL2 is set up for fast learning for a lazy slacker like me.

Funny how as I get older how I regress. Back in grad school I was being groomed to be "a one man band" where I had to cover a broadcast news story as both a videographer with 80 pounds of gear and as the reporter for a daily deadline that was enforced by a nightly broadcast. Only one other person that proceeded me was groomed as such.

Cal

 

[Phil_F_NM]

I'm looking to trade a lot of my stuff when I get there, folks. I'll take all sorts of lighter weight stuff in trade. A half dozen bagels from Ess A bagel will get something good. I think I'd trade a nice black paint Konica Auto-Reflex T3 with a 50mm f/1.7 (this is close to a Summicron beater) for a dozen everything bagels. This is one of my favorite cameras in my collection but I'm trying to really thin the herd. A pound of good coffee flavored coffee will get something.
Phil Forrest

 

[fbf]

unfortunately i am away that weekend (escape the "winter") otherwise I would love to be there and trade/give away some of my old gooddies.

 

[Calzone]

unfortunately i am away that weekend (escape the "winter") otherwise I would love to be there and trade/give away some of my old gooddies.

fbf,

What winter? LOL.

Its been an unlikely mild winter: almost no snow; no polar vortex; and record breaking warm weather.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Currently Maggie is now a "Leica Girl" sporting a CL with a 23 Cron (35mm FOV). Something like 715K followers. One of her followers is Leica Camera, and they love (like) every selfie she posts where she sports a Leica CL.

Her photography has advanced a lot since I taught her how to use manual exposure and limited her F-stop selection to either F2.0 or F5.6.

The trip to Paris was very elegant and was a great-great shooting opportunity. This trip was deluxe luxury on a huge scale. No pay, but an experience and also an honor of sorts. Some important connections and contacts were made.

Seems like yesterday I met the candidate who will be my "back-up" so I can take vacations. Pretty much I'll still work alone and will be unbothered. Thankfully I can just lay low and avoid the politics and meetings.

EZ-PZ.

This weekend I have to be a model for one on Maggie's brands. The brand liked the response and the comments from another post that used me as a prop.

I'm at a point where I can do 3 sets of 70 reps of push-ups, and I can do 3 sets of 9 reps of chin-ups. Down to 149.0 pounds today and really close to being a true "Welter Weight."

The menu on the SL2 is actually fun. I thought I never would say this about a camera. So thoughtful are the controls that even though I can customize the camera, all I have done is a basic tweaking from all the factory default settings. Everything seems so streamlined, speedy, fast, logical, and ergonomic; and this is from a lazy-slacker who hates complexity and loves having the most basic stripped down camera. How odd is this?

Leica went even further segregating photo from video. Either select via a button switch on the top plate, or select from the touch screen, and the camera is reformed and reconfigured. A different set of menus "specializes" to convert with function.

Pretty much so segregated completely that it is like having two separate rigs with the touch of a button. Almost like "Transformer" but cleverly done and provided by menus with just layout, logic, ergonomics, and just plain thoughtfulness likely by a bunch of clever obsessive people (you know the type: photographers).

So it seems the SL2 exaggerates the performance of the native L-lenses I own. I would say the SL2 promotes shooting the 50 Lux at F1.4 and the APO 35 Cron at F2.0. Remember that it is reported on the Red-Dot Forum in the SL user's group that the native SL glass is "future-proofed" out to 3-4 generations and in other words the glass is already designed for a 100-120 MP sensor whenever that happens...

Know that a Leica rep told me that the lens on the Q and Q2 is future proofed to an 80 MP sensor. The Q2 has a 47.3 MP sensor like in my SL2, so will a Q3 have 60 MP sensor, and a Q4 have an 80 MP sensor?

I would say the 50 Lux-L has a "Mandlar" signature and this is a great thing. I know this is a supersized and heavy lens, but for shooting people it is deadly. LOL.

The APO 35 Cron has this distinct enhanced contrast in the "in-focus" which in turn is perceived as enhanced sharpness. This is followed by a smooth OOF and pretty bokeh, even though this highly corrected lens has 5 ASPH surfaces on 3 elements. My friend "J." in Basel remarked and coined the phrase, "A Peter Karbe signature."

While there are smaller lighter cameras, the SL2 rigged with my APO 35 Cron is no heavier than my film SL2-MOT with my 50 Lux "E60." The SL2 with APO 35 Cron is a lot bigger thought, the filter size is E67 and not E60 like on the 50 Lux "E60."

I have a black wide rubber bracelet I found on my walk to work that I use on my 50 Lux to expand the rubber on the manual focus barrel. It provides enhanced grip, protects the lens, and is labeled loudly in bold white letters with the word "MONSTER." I do this to honor our friend John who pretty much label my cameras with the name "Monster."

It seems that all the APO Crons feature the "Karbe" signature.

Happy-happy.

Pretty smooth that I can brag that I saved $1.2K on buying my 50 Lux-L and APO 35 Cron at pre-Trump tariffs.

Didn't think I would see the enhanced resolution of the SL2 except on big prints, but the added detail and the low light performance that allows me to exploit IBIS to the point where my shutter speeds are in the mud and I can keep the ISO set at 400 for NYC night shooting. I should be able to "annoy" people with some crazy "circus shots" to show off this capability.

The EVF and enlarged rear screen both have more pixels and higher resolution than my SL. Pretty much a secret weapon like Army Rangers with night vision googles. Sorry M-body lovers: the EVF crushes a rangefinder. BTW you don't have to remind me that the SL, SL2 and SL native glass are all big and heavy.

Today I exploited the weather proofing. No fear of rain. I used a towel to dry the camera when I got to work.

The SL2 is pretty much a SL on steroids. Kinda funny how this goes with me getting fit and more muscular for retirement. They cancelled the morning patient run, so this explains this lenthy/wordy post that is a bit of a rant.

There are precisely 52 stair steps from my nuclear bunker to street level. I think I will do an interval stair workout that involves climbing the stairs for intensity and using the walk descending as a rest cycle. Pretty much eventually I'll get tired. LOL.

Pretty much I'm in enhanced lazy-slacker mode. Looks like 4 1/2 more years of this. LOL. "They pay me too much," I say. LOL.

Happy-happy.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

How can one button (labeled FN, middle button of the three by the rear display screen) make me S-tat-Ick?

The rear FN button default loops through a series of 4 Capture Assistant Profiles: one has "Info Bars" only; followed by a profile that has everything turned off so on the display and EVF all you see is the full frame. How useful is that after you set up an exposure I get to view full frame with no clutter.

Toggle this FN again and in addition to the Info Bars I add in clipping indicators, focus peaking and histogram.

The fourth Capture Assistant profile is set as a 3x3 grid without anything else to provide an overlay in the EVF and rear display of a "rule of thirds."

Click-click-click-click... EZ-PZ. Especially designed for a lazy slacker. Mucho fast. Did Leica profile me?

This works for both photo playback as well as photo modes, except in playback mode the forth profile (3x3 Grid) is eliminated. How smart was this? Again, did Leica read my mind, or did they profile me? Perhaps they lurk here at RFF and did extensive Data Mining? How did they know that this would be perfect for me? Mucho clever.

This is just one example of how elegant and thorough the design and layout has been thoughfully processed for speed. Mucho good. It is as if Leica designed this SL2 especially for me. The SL is short for "SLacker."

BTW I did a set of 15 reps up and down the 52 steps in 15 minutes. Broke a serious sweat. My calves are tight. If I did 20 reps surely my legs would have gotten some serious lactic burn.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

It is "Fashion Month." I kinda hate it because life gets frenzied and taken away from me. Kinda funny is how "Maggie" also now "over" Fashion Week and can't wait to get back to her life.

Saturday did a shoot for a brand where I'm a model/prop. Then that night were two events. One was attending a cool Agnes B. show that promoted the Agnes B. Snap Cardigan sweater that has endued over the decades.

Some of the artists that participated in creating images for this show that I knew out of the 74 presented were Bruce Webber, Jim-Joe the grap-feet-EE artist, Jim Mare-E-kesh the indie filmaker, and Joel Myerwitz.

What was so great is that I got to know better some of the people that I met from other Agnes B. events. One girl that Maggie just met in Paris at the luxury invite somehow appeared in NYC. Kinda funny how the world is not so big.

Sunday I had an episode of "divine intervention" where I found a stack of books that I was forced to stumble into. I was on my way to Citi Bank to get cash at an ATM. My Metrocard needed a refill and I found this book for Maggie that is a collection of known women writers writing about Paris.

But for me I found "Flash" the Making of WEEGEE THE FAMOUS, a book about Alfred Stieglitz, and a book call "The Sell."

Believe it or not. I'm actually a rather shy loner, and I am actually happiest when alone. Pretty much WEEGEE was shy and socially awkward, but he kinda created a "persona" not very different from "Calzone."

Anyways here I am at work reading while running my Cyclotron.

Another odd thing happened Sunday. I was across from The Public Theater (where I had performed when I was a performance artist) waiting for Maggie who was inside attending a fashion show. On the ground on the sidewalk I saw a Metrocard, and something compelled me to pick it up. Perhaps it was instinct that it was likely a lost Metrocard.

This morning on my way to work I checked to see if it had any outstanding balance and found out there is $37.89 credit left on the card. Don't ask me how $2.75 and $5.50 fares somehow get turned into rounding errors on Metrocards.

After I meet-up with Maggie we went towards Spring Street to get dinner at the Spring Street Cafe, but we soon learned after 47 years it is now closed. That kinda sucked, so we just got salids at Sweet Green.

We were invited to a party that was on Laffette. The building was kinda non-discript on the exterior, but upon entering it pretty much was a 4 level party building like you only hear about. On the second floor was an olympic sized swimming pool and the party really was on the third and forth floors. It was not just an open bar and finger foods, but sandwiches and gourmet fries. Cheesecake for dessert. I'm actually glad we ate before.

Mucho skinny/lanky tall runway models abound. I met a famous designer. Maggie got the invite to stay at a guest house near Manheim to stay as a guest with the designer.

The thing that really was too cool for me is that the place had all this vintage Macintosh Audio gear pumping the sound. Walls of vintage HiFi that was mucho crazy.

Cal

 

[MrFujicaman]

"Flash" is an interesting read. I think you'll like it.

 

[Calzone]

"Flash" is an interesting read. I think you'll like it.

MFM,

I'm already about a third through the book. I can relate to many of his personality flaws: a big risk taker and perhaps a bit of a gambler; obsessive tendencies; clever thoughtfulness; the dirtbag attitude; his having to overcome shyness; his need for an alter ego; his single mindedness; his life on the fringe; his somewhat destructive behavior; his somewhat antisocial behavior; his practice of limiting his shooting distances to either 6 feet or 10 feet to effectively create a "kill-zone" way of shooting; cultivating being a fast location shooter; having bad boundries; being able to manipulate situations and people to his advantage; WeeGee tended to go over the top and exaggerate things; what comes out is that he had this habit of standing out and also annoying people... (Do we know someone that consistently does this all the time?)

Kinda funny the class issues and his lack of education, yet he was an interesting story teller and had a quirky life. Kinda due-fee looking also. A kind of person you would remember.

I find it interesting how similar we are.

For those that do not know this book was published in 2018 and is a National Book Critics Circle Award Winner.

I was going to recycle this book at the February Meet-Up, but I think It is worth keeping. I'm sure to use some of this material as a referance when I start my blog.

Interesting to note that all three books I was given via "Divine Intervention" all deal with marketing and promotion. I wonder what does all this mean.

Interesting to note that my life is about wandering, self discovery, and includes lots of impermanence. I can think of it as some form of American classic road trip, the journey I'm on, not so different than "On The Road" or "Blue Highways" two other books that are also a result of random events that seem to somehow be also included as divine intervention.

While I am a loner at heart, I find great satisfaction being able to share my life. Somehow it makes my life less selfish and provides meaning. Hard to be clear how I have a great fear of being misunderstood, but this is countered in a brave way by putting myself out there. Not so different than when I performed off Broadway, at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, and at numerous colleges and universities throughout the northeast. Pretty much I confronted terror.

In this manner I had to deal with my fear the same way WeeGee did. Calzone is a persona, but it is not really who I am.

Cal

 

[Nokton48]

My first integrated amp was a tube McIntosh. Great stuff 🙂 Bought it at the McIntosh store. Was fun.

Also Luxman the McIntosh of Japan. 🙂

 

[Calzone]

My first integrated amp was a tube McIntosh. Great stuff 🙂 Bought it at the McIntosh store. Was fun.

Also Luxman the McIntosh of Japan. 🙂

Dan,

This party loft was crazy.

I asked Maggie if she would want to live here and she said, "Its too big." LOL.

I was in "McIntosh heaven." Imagine walls of tube amps. Kinda obscene.

Cal

 

[NY_Dan]

Cal, you should team up with a comic book cartoonist and make a graphic novel of your adventures!

 

[Calzone]

Cal, you should team up with a comic book cartoonist and make a graphic novel of your adventures!

Dan,

I can say that you can't make this stuff up.

Today I found a "fresh" mini Totes umbrella. Somehow it sports a "Team Mango" sticker. The forensics suggest that someone lost it on York Avenue, or planted it so that I would find it on my walk to work this morning.

I would say this umbrella was likely used only once because the OEM creases are still present. I opened the umbrella and then carefully reset the creases to maintain the freshness. Only a photographer might do this.

"IQ is important," I say. LOL.

This small umbrella compresses down to an 8 1/2 inch length and can fit in a coat pocket.

Why does all this random good luck happen to me? In the book "Flash" about WeeGee the Famous it seems lots of the mystic is his luck, random events, and odd coincidence that ended up creating a legacy of sorts.

That's why spiritually I believe in "Divine Intervention." Pretty much if it were not for Divine Intervention I would have been dead a long time ago. I have had a reckless and crazy life where I embraced fatalistic and self destructive behavior.

Truth be told, my technical background is limited to a 6 month vocational school training in electronics, even though I have a B.A., a M.A., and a MFA.

The big job I have at a famous hospital was a tall ad like a skyscraper in the New York Times in the Sunday Business section. They asked for someone with a Masters in Electrical Engineering and cyclotron experience.

Maggie said, "You'll never get that job; you don't have the Masters in Electrical Engineering; nor the cyclotron experience."

I know I'm a delusional artist, but I said, "If I can get an interview, I'll get the job." Part of this was delusion, but also remember for about a decade I was a Performance Artist who performed at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater; The Puffin Room in SoHo, and numerous colleges and universities throughout the northeast.

At work at Brookhaven National Labs I exploited their fast Internet connection and their high speed printer to learn what a cyclotron was. I printed out stacks of paper doing a search with the word "Cyclotron" and got all this stuff that had formulas and math that would give me a headache every night.

I learned from a head hunter employment agency that I should bypass the personel and human resources departments and send a cover letter and resume directly to the boss who would hire me. You got to love the Internet, and remember I have a Masters in Journalism so fact checking, doing research, and data mining now is an innate skill.

I know I'm a great salesman. I remember how I could sell hundreds of dollars worth of extras and upgrades when I set the hook into someone buying a "$10.99 10 gallon starter kit" when I worked part-time at "Ed's Aquarium."

Pretty much I pitched myself as a rather clever guy who worked at Grumman doing research working one-on-one with PhD's getting an education you could not get in grad school and my experience working on two big accelerator projects at two different national labs (Los Alamos and Brookhaven).

So I got my interview and was called back for a second interview with the big boss that I sent the cover letter and resume to. It was me against a real engineer with a Masters in EE from Oxford who had real experience with running a cyclotron lab at IBM.

The smut that got back to me is that pretty much I got the job because I had rough hands and the other candidate had soft hands like a woman. I literally came ahead as the "hands on guy" who worked.

So if this is so crazy to be called "Performance Art" it is not really that much of an exaggeration. Pretty much I'm a big poser who is an imposter of sorts. My charm and good looks I think certainly helped. Even though I'm a skinny bitch, I have big balls.

BTW when you read about WeeGee, what I'm reporting above is something he would do.

I have over 20 years of employment at this world famous hospital and pretty much a big pension that should foster a luxury retirement.

BTW I should win an award (Tony or Emmy) for my acting. Also know that a Tony Award winning Director at an audition once asked me, "When will you over your loss?" I didn't get that gig.

Cal

 

[Henry]

Well, you convinced me to go spend an hour learning about cyclotrons and how they relate to medicine. Probably the second most productive hour I had today (the other was learning about dance hall rumors from an octogenarian).

 

[Calzone]

Well, you convinced me to go spend an hour learning about cyclotrons and how they relate to medicine. Probably the second most productive hour I had today (the other was learning about dance hall rumors from an octogenarian).

Henry,

Did you get into "Proton" Theoropy?

Cyclotrons are used as a proton source to bombard inoperable tumors. Human patients are placed on a movable gantry so that "collateral damage" to healthy tissue can be minimized, but a lethal dose of radiation can be directed to a tumor from many target angles.

Last night I attended a 3 hour retirement planning class that was only part one. Part two is in another week.

Interesting how the average inflation rate is about 3 1/2% and how stock markets have an average gain over time of 7%. Abstractly this relates in a way to F-stops where the simple math is pretty much divide by two or in terms of time it takes about a decade for one to double their money in the stock market, and about 20 years for inflation to devalue money's purchasing power to about half.

Simple math but because abstract thinking and conceptual thinking is required complicated for many. "Maggie" has a PhD and two Masters degrees, but F-stops and how they relate to shutter speed to make an exposure is out of her realm of understanding.

There is a joke: There are three kinds of people; those that are good in math; and those that are not. Unfortunately here in the U.S. about 2/3rds of the population can't ever retire.

What I find interesting about myself is how my arts education really allowed me to exploit my innate talents, even though I have a very limited technical background.

Because of my fine art background I was really great at packaging and building prototypes. It was natural for me to come up with clever designs and I was great at coming up with clever solutions to complex problems because I'm a "lazy-slacker."

Then imagine a guy who was kinda like a street thug operating within a Fortune 500 company like a Navy SEAL doing his job.

Then like this NYC Meet-Up thread had the social skills to perhaps be known by about 10K employees out of 30K over a 17 year career that were spread over a 500 acre industrial complex.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

I killed the WeeGee book. Glad I read it. Not only did I learn a lot about WeeGee, I also learned a lot about myself. How crazy is it that in many ways we are somewhat alike.

All this financial stuff involving retirement I can see being very emotional in that it can cause a lot of fear and anxiety, but it seems I'm really prepared and already did lots of the work. I live within a budget below my means, and I have tax defered a lot of money.

My AGI is surprisingly low and yet I enjoy modest amounts of big luxury and live in NYC. In a way my life is austerity already and in a way my income is kinda low and fixed already. In a ways it is almost like I'm already retired.

I kinda live modestly, and although I have lots of expensive gear that I use, I don't really own a lot of stuff. Makes me wonder if I would ever need a house, and it makes me wonder why would I ever buy one?

First off I'm a lazy slacker, also guess who would get stuck with the maintenance and most of the upkeep.

Never knew anyone who has a complicated life that was happy. Not sure I will ever have the darkroom I need to print out the huge mess I created.

Last night I was part of a group that shared some uncertainty, but also had enough assets to plan out a retirement. I seemed a bit out of place because I seemed to not only to be the most fit and skinny, but also the youngest looking even though I'm 62.


Cal