New York July NYC Meet-Up

"Maggie" a while back got a free Leica Sofit from GoDaddy.

Yesterday Maggie returned my Leica CL to me to hold onto along with a 23 Cron for 35mm FOV. Pretty much it took a year, but my CL is back.

Anyways the term "Digital Barnack" fits well. The camera is small and is a fast shooter. The battery capacity is small, but the good is that it turns on fast and is ready to shoot before you raise the camera to your eye.

I like this camera for use with M, R and my Noct-Nikkor. With the Noct-Nikkor the 58/1.2 effectively becomes an 87/1.2 that utilizes the sweet spot of the lens. Pretty much unbelievable performance.

Cal
 
So much free stuff gets delivered that yesterday when I came home "Maggie" culled down some of her clothes, and I had two very heavy garbage bags of clothing to recycle.

I was going to donate the clothing to the Children's Aid Society just across Lexington Avenue where I live, but on my way I ran into one of my neighbors, a makeup artist, and asked her if she wanted to help herself to anything she might like.

Pretty much the timing was I had only gotten as far as the lobby and I headed back to the elevator to retrieve the second bag. In the end I ended up helping deliver the two bags to her apartment so she could go through the contents and try things on.

My stipulation is that anything that is surplus should be recycled to good will charity like Housing Works or the Children's Aid Society.

So "Maggie" does not know what transpired. It will be interesting if she ever takes notice or recognizes any of this high end clothing on our neighbor. Good thing I have a "get out of jail card that never expires" and know that women seem to love the bad boys.

My guess is that she will be none the wiser. Some of these clothes were either only worn once or are brand new never worn. All expensive stuff.

"Ha-ha-ha," I say.

Also I'm a lazy slacker. I never left my building, meanwhile Maggie thinks I did her a huge favor. LOL. "Bonus," I say.

Cal
 
BTW these bags weighed about 70 pounds each and I was using a collapsible hand truck to move them.

"Don't tell Maggie." LOL.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
"Maggie" a while back got a free Leica Sofit from GoDaddy.

Yesterday Maggie returned my Leica CL to me to hold onto along with a 23 Cron for 35mm FOV. Pretty much it took a year, but my CL is back.

Anyways the term "Digital Barnack" fits well. The camera is small and is a fast shooter. The battery capacity is small, but the good is that it turns on fast and is ready to shoot before you raise the camera to your eye.

I like this camera for use with M, R and my Noct-Nikkor. With the Noct-Nikkor the 58/1.2 effectively becomes an 87/1.2 that utilizes the sweet spot of the lens. Pretty much unbelievable performance.

Cal
Click to expand...

I like that camera.
 
Range-rover said:
I like that camera.
Click to expand...

Bob,

I have that remarkable portrait of you that I printed as evidence of how legacy glass works on the CL.

Granted that the Noct-Nikkor with the M-L adapter is not so small, but it is compact for an almost 90mm ultra fast prime. BTW the Noct-Nikkor has a hand ground ASPH element. The corners are not the best, but the center creates a perfect sweet spot.

The 50 Lux "E60" R is not so small either with the extra added L-M adapter but somewhat smaller than a 75 Lux-M.

The rendering and balance between sharpness and OOF is kinda wonderful.

Cal
 
jsrockit said:
Me too... though I wish they made a smaller 50mm equivalent.
Click to expand...

John,

Me too. I like to think of the CL as my "John" camera. I totally get the size and weight assets. Also it is a fast shooter with very nicely laid out controls.

With the 23mm Cron it is a 35mm FOV to make a nice travel camera. The SL is a beast.

I too wish the 50 was smaller and more compact.

Cal
 
So I dumb down my SL and CL with spot metering and single point focus. This allows locking focus and exposure both at the same and then I compose the framing.

A great advantage though is that this hot spot is movable via the joystick, so it is not fixed as in a rangefinder. I do this to bracket my shots for later editing.

The CL has really a great simple layout with few controls. I mostly use "A" and utilize the second left dial (exposure compensation) to offset exposure if needed. Pretty much faster than manual exposure.

Also for John a NYC story that happened last Sunday on the "Q" train. We get on the "Q" at 96th Street and as we head downtown more passengers get on as we head downtown. A black man gets on and sits across from us, and then later this woman gets on.

What happens next to our horror we cannot un-see. She begins to give herself a public pedicure that kinda grossed me out. The poor man sitting right next to her kinda tries to mind his own business, but eventually stands rather than sit next to this woman who at this point has become an eyesore, even though she is grooming herself.

Later she pulls out a hand mirror and a brush to do her hair. Mind you that this woman was not at all attractive. Although I was traumatized by the eyesore this public display of vanity it was entertaining.

I took few shots with my SL un-noticed with the 28 Cron wide open without looking through the VF'er.

My guess at 7 feet focus was spot on.

Cal
 
Quality of life in NYC is getting worse. Today on the Upper East Side I was trying to walk to work. There was this man who walked in front of me who veered left blocking my passage. There was a line of people waiting for service from a street cart so I waited for an opening and made my move when the man in front of me veered right creating a reasonable opening after the food line.

So as I make my move this joker moves left again and I accidentally kick the back of his heal. I say, "Sorry," but the guy shoves me.

In my left hand is a letter I'm going to mail, and in my right is a rather big folded umbrella that is rather oversized that I call my "beach umbrella." The point faces rearward and I hold it about a third down due to its exaggerated length.

Know that I wear glasses, so anyone who makes a move on me creates a situation where I will flip the switch. I'm not a big man at 5'9" 156 pounds, and this guy was a big man, but he is wearing flip-flops that are ill suited for fighting.

So this guy gets in my face while standing far enough away not to be in striking distance. He aggressively yells at me, and I appologize a second time, I let him know that it was an accident, yet I stand my ground because it is evident that violence is just a step away.

I let the guy know that all I'm trying to do is walk, I don't mention that he was irratically walking, I'm talking and not yelling like him.

I stand there sending a very clear message, if you want to fight I'm waiting for him to either disingage or make his move.

Eyes, throat and groin. About a foot of umbrella butt protruded above my thumb and thirty inches of umbrella as lance protruded behind me. His bare feet clad in flip flops would of been a target also, but this time it would of been on purpose.

He told me to "Keep walking," but he remained hostile, so I said I'm sorry again and told him that's all I was trying to do.

So after reading "Blink" I realize that this was not a rational person. His dress was too sloppy to be a local from the UES. The locals are people with high incomes, and this guy lacked the class. The flip-flops were kind of a giveaway of perhaps homelessness, as well as his disheveled look, but because he was not a person of color he got the benefit of the doubt from me.

I'm not so sure just walking away would of worked out so well. This man had a certain state of mind that was already too far gone.

Anyways this state of homelessness and mentally ill walking the streets that is worsening I blame on DeBlasio.

Cal
 
BTW I'll be bringing the book "Blink" to the Meet-Up to give away.

Photography related it is about first impressions, rash judgements, a decision making with limited information.

Is that not what we do when street shooting?

Cal
 
A very pleasant outdoor Meet-Up sitting in a beer garden on a picnic table under a canvas awning in the shade.

The M60 bus stop is the first stop after crossing over the TriBorough. Walk to 31st Street and then make a left when you hit 24th Avenue. Landrew was not lying when he said two blocks away.

The lack of subways from Queens Plaza really was not an issue. I ended up walking from East Harlem over to Randal's Island and walked the TriBrorough. On the way I passed the M60 bus stop. This was also with a hand truck loaded with my workbook that Landrew estimates weighs about 40 pounds and a bag of books from Philippe that were recycled.

Don't tell Maggie but I got to know our waitress before it got busy who was a model and actress still in college. "I was just minding my own business," as they say...

It was really great hooking up with Landrew and his crew. A few more people I didn't know before showed up (part of Landrew's crew). Understand that these guys are different than our regular group in that they are working artists. While John was a painter, everyone else had art day jobs as camera assistants, post production, graphic arts...

Anyways this is whole different struggle that having a day job.

I think the August Meet-Up will be at this beer garden. Joe and Christian biked. I got a really nice shot of a boat coming out from under the Triborough from directly overhead. The 23mm (35mm FOV) was perfect. The wake is very expressive. I think I will have to stakeout this location for more of these over head shots.

BTW I also walked home over the Triborough. This past week I have lost some weight. I'm down to 154 pounds. I figure if I get down to 150 I'll be like "Canadian Ninja Warrior." Right now I have abs, but I also still have micro love handles that look kinda funny on an otherwise skinny muscular guy.

I happen to like being a lightweight. Pretty much my fighting weight and I'm more like a kinetic weapon that uses speed and agility as assets. Also better for longevity, blood pressure, and heart.

Cal
 
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