Knuckledragger

I don't want to be a turd in the punchbowl, but the square cropping on the album cover absolutely ruins the brilliant framing of the original. EE hit the rule of thirds just right and made brilliant use of selective DoF in California Kiss. The album cover might as well be an Instagram filter.

Also, meta post here. Imgur finally made good on their threat to delete old images, and not in the way they said they would. In the spring of this year they said they were deleting all old images not associated with an imgur account. I've had an account since the site launched in 2010. I had uploaded something like 44,000 photos in that time. At least 20K are magically gone. This is what the first post in this thread now looks like: 🪦

I'm pretty sure top left is not a printer cable. It looks like one end of late 90s UW SCSI to me. AI generated image of "average Corvette owner."

Fair warning: This is gonna be a long walk and it's going to make increasingly less sense as it goes along. This is the original Canon EF 50mm F/1.8: It is was only made for a short time between 1987 and 1990. It is, in my estimation, still the best 50mm for the EF system. The Mark II is the same optically, but it's got toylike build quality and a plastic mount. The EF 50mm F/1.4 (a lens I have used extensively since 2006) is ...fine. It's not as sharp, has more distortion, and a bigger PITA about focusing. The exotic EF 50mm F/1.0L is a collector's bauble that is astronomically expensive on the used market. It might as well be a Ferrari. The current EF 50mm F/1.2L is better than the 1.0, but still entirely too expensive, large and heavy. In case I'm not being clear, the 1.4, 1.2 and 1.0 fifties are optically inferior to the humble 1.8. I was fortunate to get my Mk I 50/1.8 from a friend who had just broken his EOS camera and gone back to film. I've jealously guarded it since '08 or so. I will be buried with it. The problem is, I don't have a lens hood for it. Now that I'm shooting full frame full time, I need a hood. Canon lens hoods are a dark science. After much searching, I'm more or less positive I need an ES-65 hood, in either Mk I, II, III iteration. The problem is that there's the new mirrorless 50mm F/1.8 STM that users an ES-65B hood. That damn thing (and Chinesium knock-offs) are everywhere. Finding a real McCoy ES-65 in decent shape and at an okay price has been a PITA. I found a couple reputable sellers on the 'Bay and I'm going to pick one up this weekend. This is a Janpol 55mm F/5.6 enlarger lens I got over the summer. It uses the M42 mount. The problem is that it doesn't focus, so I need an M42 helicoid adapter. Guessing what mm range I need is a shot in the dark. I actually DGAF if I can't hit infinity focus on the Janpol, but I'd prefer to have a workable focus range. This is Tamron "Adapt-a-matic" manual focus 135mm F/2.8 from the 1970s, photographed here with my 85mm F/1.8 (I was feeling lazy and used a modern lens for once.) This Tameron is part of their line of lenses that predated the their Adaptall series. The mount adapter is removable and different ones could be swapped in. The problem is that I have a ...Konika or something mount and I need Nikon F or M42. These adapters unimaginably rare these days. What I've read is the trick is to find an old lens with an adapter you want. I've seen a few on the 'Bay in various focal lengths (28mm and 200mm seem popular) and pick one up soonish. No, I have no idea how many 135mm primes I own at this point. They just fall in my lap. This is the Canon EF 600mm F/4L USM: It has been the industry standard wildlife photographer lens since 1988. There are a number of versions. The fist lacked image stabilization. The IS version arrived in '99. The IS Mk II came out in 2011, and the still-in-production III came out in 2018. It'll set you back a cool $13,000. Like most such super-teles, the Can 600mm is a fancy telescope to which one attaches a camera: If the 600 F/4 is not sufficiently insane, there's also the EF 800mm F/5.6L: (Bald guy not included.) It's a stop slower, but is the same bargain price of 13 grand. I have only recently begun to think of 800mm as anything other than silly, but it's really nice for moon photos and especially small critters. Also I went on a bender looking at photos taken with the old FD 800 and saw a lot of cool stuff. Lest one thing we've hit the limit for irrationality, there is also the Canon 1200mm. No, I don't mean the exotic 1200mm F/5.6. There's like 20 of those in total, and it's such a big deal when one comes up for sale the normie press covers it. Also they cost as much as a house. Even if I could magically afford one, I have an aversion to lenses that need to be manned by a crew like a mortar emplacement. No, what I'm talking about is the comparatively diminutive 1200mm F/8L: It's only available in the mirrorless RF mount, and costs a paltry $20,000 (roughly the rental cost of a weekend with the EF 1200mm I imagine.) I will admit, even for me the RF 1200 seems too much. Any critter that far away is no longer of interest to me. There's also the issue that the 1200, along with the 600 and 800 (not to mention the 400 and 500) are completely out of my budget and always will be. So why am I dedicating so much time and space to these things? Well... I now live full time right next to a pond. Since 2005 I've been photographing it: Taken with a PowerShot S60, 2005. Taken with an EOS 30D and EF-S 17-85mm, 2006. Taken with a dollar store camera and Kodak Gold 200, 2007. Taken with an EOS Rebel G, 35mm F/2, and Kodak Gold 200, 2007. Taken with Kodak BW400CN and a 17-40 in 2008. Taken with Velvia 50 and a 17-40L, 2008. I sometimes wonder, did I peak in '08? Taken with an IR-modified PowerShot G2 in 2009. Taken with an IR modified 5D classic and a 17-40L, 2013. Taken with a fricken iPhone, this past January. Taken with my 5D IV, which I've taken to calling "the 5D4" and one of my many silly manual lenses. In this case it was the Asahi Super Takumar 50/1.4. I don't actually like this photo too much, but it's been weirdly popular on Flickr. The point of all this is I live next to a mini nature preserve. I see ducks of the common mallard persuasion, as well as more exotic ones like hooded mergansers. I see black skimmers, who are the Blue Angels of the water bird world. They are so graceful as they fly over the pond it's amazing. I see "common" green herons, who are amazing birds only outclassed because they have to share space with a couple larger iterations. Chief among those is a solitary great blue heron who shows up every once in a while. He's such an animal I could probably write several paragraphs about him. I've also seen two white egrets, who are stunning for entirely different reasons (BRIGHT WHITE. HUGE.) So far, with the rarest exception, I have failed to photograph any of the above avians, as well as any of the ground based fauna. There's a host of reasons for this. I don't put in enough effort. I'm not attentive enough in watching the pond. I'm old, slow and clumsy by the standards of humans (and we we are a clumsy species as far as wildlife is concerned). Also I am completely lacking the right glass for the job. I do own two manual focus 300mms and a crappy 75-300mm autofocus lens. They are NOT up to the task of dealing with birds. As I mentioned paragraphs ago, I cannot afford any of the exotic Can L super-teles, now or ever. So where TF is this going? Full Retard, where else. This is the Canon RF600mm F/11 STM. It's $800. This the Canon RF 800mm F/11 STM, it's under $1000. These are not "normal" lenses at all. First off F/11 is comically slow, or was until we entered the high ISO mirrorless era. Also they lack apertures. At all. You cannot stop them down further than F/11. They are, as the kids say, weird AF. They're also the most economical way to get to the field of view necessary to capture small and easily spooked animals. Also they're all within my long term reach in a way that big stonking L glass never will be. I'm not saying I'm planning out a Canon R5 purchase next year with a 600 and 800mm side order, but I'm sure thinking about it. I'm thinking about it a lot.

I don't know where else to put this, so Self-described gay furry hackers breach one of the biggest nuclear labs in the US, and demand it begin researching 'IRL catgirls'

Special Slow Post, 50% off act now!

I should really learn to read. A friend of mine pointed out to me that the Kodak I bought has the better Kodar 72mm lens that is not fixed focus. It in fact has a focus scale printed on the top of it. This makes it a significantly better camera than what I was describing above. With that said, the Duaflex III is not a true TLR. I was going to take some glamor shots of the lens I bought at the same time as the Kodak, but it's raining sideways here on scenic MV today. The truth is bad weather conditions can make for some amazing photos on MV, but I cannot be arsed to traipse out around in it right now. June of '05, just down the street from me. Taken with my trusty PowerShot S60 and re-edited in 2020. Same spot, same time. Unedited. The following day, at the EDG lighthouse. The day had been totally clear when I started out and the fog rolled in out of nowhere. Vineyard weather is like that. Back to the present day: This was a department store called Fligor's for decades. My grandparents used to buy me overpriced Lego sets here when I was a kid. I have fond memories of the stone wall meaning "Legos soon!" An (AFAIK) no longer used boat launch, with Chappaquiddick in the background. This is me trying to be less strict with the rule of thirds. There's a retired boomer who happily tools around in this Porsche 993. I am (not so) secretly jealous. Air cooled engines make such a neat noise that sounds nothing like other cars. Also I love that he has his surfboard strapped to it. The exact opposite of this vehicle is the veritable army of Posche-Utes with their distinctive but stupid quad LED headlights. I hate every single thing about the Cayenne. They're shitty SUVs. They're shitty Porsches. They're really shitty to have to share the road with on a tiny island with narrow roads. Also I swear the demographic that buys them are among the worst that.... [KNUCKLES. No more ranting!] The On Time ferry, shipping 2 oversized pickups and a dump truck from Chappy back to the "mainland" as they call it. Someone in another forum asked me where I was to get this "airborne" shot of the ferry, so here ya go: I was in Vineyard Haven around dusk (which comes at like 3:45 in the afternoon these days) and climbed up on to the lawn of the Martha's Vineyard museum, which is the best sited building on the entire island. It was originally a military hospital IIRC. The lawn is full of Canadian geese, and therefore a minefield of their droppings. I had to tread carefully to get this shot. I was honked at continuously for my efforts. From the parking lot of the Museum. I wanted to frame the tree, keep the harbor horizon flat, and not fall off the side of the embankment. I succeeded in at least one of these tasks. There's been couple trees in my yard that have stubbornly hung on to their fall colors. This one in particular was being an absolute showoff. Taken with my CZJ Sonnar, which I never fail to describe as the best of my 135mms for actually taking photos. Even if it has a pedestrian 6 blade aperture, it has a brilliant optical design. The color transmission speaks for itself. See how the OOF areas are what I call "painted." It's like a poor man's 85L. Not at all, actually, but it is a mighty fine lens. I like it enough that I make up reasons to use it. Taking photos of trees with a 135mm portrait lens is not something rational people do, but I have fun with it. Speaking of... More of the same, only entirely different. Taken from the edge of my driveway. I converted this shot to B&W with Luminar 4, which I find is better for the process than Photoshop. I did do some further edits in PS to get the levels where I liked them. There might be a tough too much negative space at the top of this photo, but I'm still pretty happy with it. Last light on a day much clearer than today. Taken with my '86 nifty fifty, which is the best walkaround lens I have until I get a new 35mm F/2 with a working AF motor.

I, uh, bought a new camera. ...and by "new" I mean "a Kodak Duaflex III, made between 1954 and 1957. It's a TLR and and by "TLR" I mean "not at all, actually." Real TLRs have a pair of identical lenses that can be focused. They also usually have a proper adjustable aperture. The Duaflex here has none of that. It has a fixed focus 72mm Kodet lens with a 3 position Waterhouse (think 19th century) aperture. The viewing lens is not the same as film lens and is, to use the technical term, a pile of crap. With all of that said, the camera was $10, and I will never put a roll of film through it. I'm going to use it for through the viewfinder shots using digital camera (5D and iPhone probably, but don't put it past me to try out infrared TTV). I'd prefer a proper TLR for TTV photos and over a long enough period of time I'll get one. For a ten spot I'll futz around with damn near any piece of camera gear. The store where I bought it had the original flash that came with the camera when it was new. (Pictured here in far better shape than what they had.) Vintage flashes are of exactly zero interest to me. Also, they're enormous. I can't imagine trying to wrestle one. I also bought another 135mm manual focus prime. No cap as the kids say. More on that later. Also also I've been learning about the 600mm and 800m primes Canon makes for their R series mirrorless bodies. More on those (much) later.

RIP former first lady Rosalynn Carter. She was married to Jimmy since 1946(!)

This is gonna be a long walk, as most such posts are. In early 2010, a now long closed second hand store on MV had two 1990s point and shoot film cameras. They gave them both to me because they didn't want to deal with the hassle of testing them. The first was an awkwardly titled Olympus Trip XB AF 44: Seen here in 2010, taken with my 30D and Orestor 135mm F/2.8 manual, stopped down to F/I-have-no-idea-that-was-13-years-ago. I got the Olympus working, but it died halfway through the first roll I put through it and and would not come back to life no matter what I did. The other camera was a lower end Fuji Smart Shot II: Seen here a few months ago, taken with my 5D IV and 135mm F/3.5 CZJ Sonnar. As I'm fond of saying, the Sonnar is the best actual lens among the ever growing army of manual focus 135mm primes I own. Unlike the Olympus, the Fuji kept running through an entire roll of film. Nothing says quality like "CVS Photostar." The Smart Shot II was made in 1994. I have no idea how old the above roll of film is, nor how long it was the camera. It might be utterly ruined. With that said, I shot the entire thing this summer. As with the other, uh, 4 exposed rolls I've amassed, I still have no idea where I'm going to get it processed. I've also been shooting a fair amount of digital. It's taken me quite some time to make friends with the 5D IV. It's quite a camera, and has a very dense set of controls. The AF system is very complex and I don't like it. I was much faster with my 2006 EOS 30D than I will ever be with the 5D IV. It's a good thing I don't shoot sports. With that said, I have had some successes. This time of year, last light is a fleeting and intense moment. The colors that appear for a few minutes at the end of the day are nuts. I live next to a pod, but across the street is a farm. I traipse through it with my 5D and lens du jour, trying to capture what I can. The above were taken with the 17-40L. The same phenomenon a few days later, taken with the '86 nifty 50 (a lens I much prefer.) These are all more or less "SOOC" with slight edits at most. I also visited the Edgartown waterfront with the 5D and 50, but those shots will have to wait for the moment.

Two things, actually a number of things: I haven't replied in however many hours because something I ate tried to kill me. Longtime listeners will know that I have chronic digestive issues on the best of days. When I ear the wrong (combination of) things, the results can be catastrophic. I spent much of today accomplishing such tasks as "staying in an upright position" and "keeping solid food down." After that I decided to get my Sonnar on in the afternoon light. The median age in the Gaza Strip is 18. 40% of its population is under 30. The last and only time Hamas got elected was 2006, over 17 years ago. The population of Gaza as it is now, did not vote for Hamas. To suggest otherwise is akin to blaming Gen Z for Trump or Millennials for GW Bush. I find accusations of bigotry are almost never productive to any discussion, especially as we now live in the age where such allegations are constantly being weaponized. In the last few months I had a post on Facebook that had the word "assholes" in it mass reported by a bunch of buttmad cretins and I ended up in the tentacles of FB's AI moderation. There are no humans who monitor content at FB anymore. I now have a strike against my FB account with an unknown number remaining before it gets deactivated. Normally, this would not be an issue, but half of MV life takes place on that accursed site and I need to be there. Similarly, I pluralized the word "autistic" and got an official strike on fucking reddit for hate speech. This is a site that still allows people to have the hard R N-word in their username. With all of this said, anti-semitism is on the rise globally. The richest man in the world gave his praise and approval to some fuckwit pushing the "great replacement" theory. The idea is that Jews are somehow magically using dark skinned people to worsen the lives of good God fearing whites. Also, and it pains me to say this, I have seen supposed leftists chanting "gas the Jews" and other horrible shit. I'm sure some of them are bad actors posing as protestors, but there's no way they ALL are. This behavior is inexcusable. The rise of the toxic left is a worrisome trend. A major and important distinction is that being anti-zionist, or even offering mild criticism of zionism is not the same thing as anti-semitism. Similarly, calling Bibi a corrupt and evil clownstick is not even the same thing as being anti-zionist. Bibi doesn't own zionism, zionism doesn't own Israel and more broadly the country of Israel doesn't own the global Jewish identity. Also, we live in the "No True Scotsman" age. The moment the member of a group does something horrid, that person is magically no longer in that group according to its members. An incel or alt-right loser goes on a mass shooting, and suddenly he's no longer one of them. Similarly, a trans man shot up a bunch of school children this year. There was a not insubstantial amount of denial as to his status as a trans person all over social media, extending as far as (once again) weaponized accusations of bigotry for merely acknowledging the fact that he was in fact trans. This line of non-thinking has certainly been visible in the discussion of the Israel/Palestine conflict. I think comedy has an important role in the discussion of war. The greatest comedian of the modern era had quite a routine on Gulf War I: George Carlin had a thing or two to say as well: I'm not saying that the above two men had a massive shaping of my worldview, but if the shoe fits.... Lastly, I cannot stress how important it is to ignore things like "likes" and other reactions. They're a fucking curse. I use scripts and browser plugins to block them on sites like FB. HC is sufficiently small that TBH they don't have much impact, but they are still best ignored. I say this as someone whose mental health is an a precious balance on the best of days. Ignore that shit.

Dammit, Valve!

As I'm sure all of you know, on October 7th of this year, Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing over 1200 people. That makes it the deadliest day in history for Jewish people since the holocaust. The situation has only degraded more in the following month. Oct 7 has been Israel's 9/11. Bibi Netanyahu, an unpopular, corrupt, right wing leader has used the tragedy to dodge criminal investigations against him and further his agenda and position in power. [NB: As much as I loath the man, I'd be doing Dubya a dirty if I directly compared him to Bibi. Shrub ain't even in the same order of magnitude of "corrupt."] The Israeli response to Oct 7th has been immense by any standard. Israel dropped more on bombs in Gaza in a week than the US dropped on Afghanistan during the most intense year of that war. Afghanistan is over a quarter of million square miles. Gaza is 139. There have been a few batshit insane calls for Israel to nuke Gaza. It's been an open secret for decades that Israel has nuclear weapons. Even the most more bloodthirsty war hawk understand why Israel would not detonate a nuke right next to their own border. With that said, Israel has effectively nuked Gaza. The combined explosive force of the conventional bombs dropped by Israel (over 25,000 tons at this point) is the equivalent to a couple tactical nuclear weapons. (Strategic nukes are an order of magnitude bigger and usually originate from missile silos or submarines.) The western media coverage of the unending clusterfuck has been a nightmare of its own. As a longtime user of reddit (my account is older than most of the site's user base at this point), I have been absolutely gobsmacked at the state of /r/worldnews. It's essentially become /r/IDF_press_releases. I generally stay out of the fray on reddit, both for my own mental health and because I know it does no good. I made one post calling out an influx of obvious bot accounts in worldnews, and was rewarded with my comment being shadowbanned. It's more than a bit scary to see such blatant astroturfing occurring online, especially as someone who clearly remembers the post-9/11, early Iraq War II era. Its is my understanding that the polar opposite of what's happening on most of reddit is taking place on Tik Tok. I have not nor will I ever use that app. I see plenty of complaining about Tik Tok and complaining about complaining about Tik Tok and ...fuck it, I'm closing the goddamn web page and looking at cat videos. With all of this said, it's almost invariably true that the best coverage of a controversial issue is done via comedy. Everyone's favorite self-deprecating British expat dedicated half an hour to the Israel-Hamas war and did a better job than most of the corporate media combined:

The Vineyard is full of artists, and has been for ...centuries really. One of them is a painter, and he discovered my Flickr page a while ago. He liked this photo I took in September of '09: Reflecting on it (heh), the image has entirely too much foreground. In the past I was very guilty of such poor framing choices. In this case I had a 50mm on an APS-C sensor, so I didn't have much of a choice. 2010 infrared image of a rail bridge I photographed a great many times. Again with acres of unnecessary foreground. It's the "rule of thirds" not the "rule of corners." Anyway... Tim, the painter, wisely chose to focus on the top half of the photo I took in '09 and turned it into an interesting scene.

James Austin Johnson is so good it's downright spooky.