Knuckledragger

125lb ~1200mm (1217mm, specifically) F/6.3 aerial espionage lens from WWII: It makes an "if you have to ask" sized image circle.

I like everything except for the position of that rotary mixer. Nobody wants to use a mixer placed at 90º near gut level. DJ Pro Tip(tm): Mixer location is far more important than where the decks are.

Cursed AI attempts a Christmas album by Arnie: I censored this one. AI legit dropped the hard-R N-word here.

Variations on theme:

There's a new AI generated meme, pizzagator. It started when someone posted this series of 3 images to the Midjourney subreddit asking if the images were real or AI generated. While the OP was almost assuredly trolling, the post went viral and to the top of reddit. That was two days ago. In the fast moving world of the internet and AI generated images, a lot as transpire. I know it wasn't the author's intention, but this one almost looks like blackface. I have no idea how a picture of Trump kissing a pig got into this set, but I'm leaving it. It's impressive how badly AI fucked up that pizza.

I've been lurking on the large format subreddit for a while now. It's given me mixed feelings. Some (many) of the submissions are remarkably poor. I see people laboring with giant cameras and expensive film stock (is there any other kind at this point?) producing results that can be charitably described as mediocre. For me the issue isn't the composition or exposure, it's the printing. Of course that's where the real skills of a B&W photographer come out. Conversely, there's a dude with a Linhof Technorama 617s III (a "small" Lin that shoots panoramas on 120 film, and costs north of $8500 without a lens) and a Schneider Tele-Xenar 250mm MC F/5.6 (around $7000). German gear is is kilometers deep into "if you have to ask" territory, schweinhund. With that said, the Linhof is a handsome looking unit: The lens looks like ...every other Schneider to me, but I will admit I know jack shit about them in general. The widget necessary to attach the Schneider to the Linhof is ...odd. All of this is superfluous, because the dude who uses ^ is a bit of a mushroom cloud laying MFer: NYC sunset on Ektar 100. Some place in the US I think. Ektar 100. Schneider Apo-Symmar L 180mm F/5.6, Ilford Kentmere Pan 400, 25A filter. Old Westbury Gardens, Schneider Apo-Symmar L 180mm F/5.6, Ilford SFX 200 | R72 IR filter. NYC night, Super Angulon XL 58mm F/5.6, Kodak Ektar 100. There's also a few brave souls who shoot Velvia on large format. 4x5" w/ a 90mm something-or-other. I rate this one a solid Velvia/10. I think most modern cars are hideous, indistinguishable lumps. These shots are amazing. Velvia panorama. The above are the exceptions and not the rule of what I've seen in the LF subreddit. It's enough to make me swear off anything bigger than 35mm forever. The rest of the time I think about selling the mainland house and buying a Tachihara 11x14" field camera.

RIP Tim Wakefield, Boston Red Sox relief pitcher. 57 years old is awfully young. Also screw Curt Schilling who is never not an absolute clown.

I have a post about photos I took of Katherine the dancer in 2006 and am still processing in 2023 with modern software (and, ahem, 17+ years of refined skills) as well as what I've actually been doing lately. That's all gonna hafta wait because I learned that it's possible to attach the absolutely gargantuan Canon FD 800mm F/5.6L to Canon DSLRs and Sony mirrorless bodies. Or attach the lens to the camera, as the case may be. To the surprise of no one, the old FD 800L is a cult lens. Of course someone stuck one on a Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5 camera. Don't ask me about coverage. WTF does one shoot with an optical trombone like that? The moon, obviously. Long teles are actually really good for landscapes. They compress the perceived distance between objects. This is reason #497 why large format cameras are better at landscape photos. Sony bodies actually let the user enter the lens type so it appears in EXIF. It might be the case that modern Canons can do this as well. Now this is my kind of photo. Nearing abstraction. There are also a legion of critter photos taken with the FD 800. TBH if I had one I'd probably attempt that as well. Quack.

Each bottle represents one year. I have ...questions. Squint. True for most people under 40. Sprocket Rocket, Kodak ColorPlus200, a Swiss kitty.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, an 'icon for women in politics,' dies at 90. I was not particularly a fan of her, but keeping her in office as long as her handlers did was an act of elder abuse.

Dianne Feinstein couldn't stay standing long enough to appear on the game cover. In spite of this, she has repeatedly insisted that she is featured prominently on the cover art and has been since "the Atari version." Chuck Grassley was scheduled to appear, but arrived early for the sitting, spent 45 minutes lecturing the artist on his use of "blurry" paints, refused to acknowledge that he was wearing his readers and not his bifocals, and then left in a huff. In spite of his tragic passing in a 2010 plane crash, the late Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is an unlockable character attainable after beating the extremely difficult "Series of Tubes" level. Game developer SeniorSoft has yet to issue a statement on the widely reported and repeatable bug of the game restarting to the title screen when Senator Mitch McConnell first appears.

iPhone 14 Pro Max next to the OG first gen. The longer you look, the worse it gets. AI does an oil change: Salma Kayak. Mamiya 645, Kodak Ektar. Meow.

SMH look at this noob shoving his speakers in the corner like that. Everyone knows that's a bad idea! Do I have to put /s? I feel like I have to put /s.

DJTJ's Twitter got hax0red. The tell was that he was making more sense than usual.

Placing a turntable on top of a subwoofer is certainly a novel idea.

Anyone seen a plane around here? I found it!

Let's talk about exotic lenses. What a cute kitty. Taken with a Sony full frame body and a Meyer Optik Diaplan 100mm F/2.8. The Diaplan was sold as a projection lens, so it lacks an aperture. It's nearly identical to the Meyer Trioplan 100mm F/2.8, which is very expensive cult lens. The appeal of both is the "soap bubble" bokeh they produce. I am not convinced. Historically, Japanese photographers (the obsessive nuts who coined the term "bokeh") look down on strong rings on OOF highlights. They call that "nisen bokeh" and view it as a bad thing. I tend to agree with them. The Trioplan is a meh lens that's soft and not terribly contrasty wide open, and only okay once stopped down. There are far cheaper lenses with modern build quality available for a fraction of a price. To wit: There's a clean Trioplan 100mm F/2.8 on the 'bay right now, with its original carrying case (also clean). Seller wants $850. Bro, you can buy a real lens for that kind of money. Goddamn vidiots have driven up the price of old manuals to insane levels. [Knuckles, please not another vidiot rant.] Also on the 'bay is a completely new TTartisan 100mm F2.8 in M42 mount for $155 shipped. Don't be too surprised if I buy one of those in a couple months. On the other end of the spectrum: Mercedes car show. Taken with a full frame Sony body and their 14mm F/1.8G. That is a $1500 lens, and dare I say it a bargain for what it is. I'm not super familiar with Sony bodies, but their lens lineup is pretty spectacular. They make a 135mm F/1.8 that's superior to the legendary Canon 135mm F/2L. It's sharper and has (on paper) better color transmission. Snow in Yakitori Alley by Ben Torode on Flickr. Sony 135mm F/1.8 wide open. They also make a number of killer 35mm primes (my favorite focal length) including a $1200ish F/1.4, a significantly cheaper 35mm F1.8FE, and a Zeiss designed 35mm F/2.8 Sonnar. Sony 35mm F/1.8, wide open by Steven Kramer on Flickr. Alfa Romeo in Vancouver, taken with a Sony body and 35mm F/2.8 Sonnar, stopped down a bit. Bonus: Taken with the Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM at the wide end. Giving the Canon 16-35mm F/2.8L a run for its money. This is an audio snob site (at least on paper), and Sony's (to quote Kevin Gilmore) wireless drive-by-wire management is the stuff of legend. With that said, they are also an enormous company, and utterly dwarf Canon and especially diminutive Nikon. When they, you know, actually bother with their products they punch so hard it's scary.

A cursed mix of AI,Photoshop, politics and professional wrestling: AI clearly thinks Joe Biden is Ric Flair.

Speaking of man made horrors, this is Derna, Libya: