BTM_Pix

Have a look at a product called Clampod Takeway T2 which has been designed for pressing balconies, rails and tree branches etc into makeshift mounting points when travelling.

The 35mm Mamiya? Like everything else in the past 10 months, I haven't really done enough to draw a conclusion. I got it really cheap and its in OK shape but the focus barrel is really stiff for the first 25% of travel which is a pain. I got the Baveyes on a really cheap Amazon return deal so once I can go out again I'm looking to get the 80mm and the 210mm. I've got a tiny SSD that I got in an electronics shop in Tokyo that is about the size of a CF card and I've got a SanDisk extreme as well as the Samsung T5. The good thing about the T5 is that its well catered for with cage mounts etc. At some point, I'll get round to doing a roll your own solution using an enclosure like this as it seems a decent form factor for top or bottom mounting. It was all about the M mount for me when I got it as the native lenses were all huge and expensive with the exception of the 45mm f2.8 I got wirh it but I definitely think the landscape has changed L mount wise since then. The 45mm f2.8 is a really decent lens that is well proportioned on the Fp and I was hoping they'd produce more in the same sort of size and the three recent ones they've released (24,35 and 65mm) seem to have delivered on that. By not chasing the f1.4 dragon and being built from the ground up for mirrorless, they've struck a good balance with cost and size when it comes to matching them with the Fp. Not that I've been anywhere near a camera shop to be able to have a close look at them but the reviews seem solid too. I don't what their plans are but they could do with a 90mm and an 18 or 20mm in the same series to round it out. The other three that they've launched in L mount for APS-C are appealing to me for my Leica T and SL (4K internal is crop) and I'd love to see Sigma do a 10bit internal RAW APS-C mode for the Fp. I've got a sneaky feeling that Sigma might actually release an APS-C camera soon.

In the time that I have actually used it, which was predominantly the two weeks after I got it, I love it. No question it could do with a viewfinder for me but I'll get the loupe at some point when I begin shooting again. Based on my experiences with the version of it for the Sigma DP0 then it will do the trick. The 8 bit internal RAW is pretty good but without any of the RAW having compression it needs an SSD really anyway and there are plenty of really small ones now that make that less of an issue.

Reversing the equation, there is a Speed Editor available on eBay where the seller is not including the license and the current bidding is £125 which, against a UK price of £280 for a new one with the license will probably end up valuing the license at around £100. I think you'll see a lot of that type of purchasing, which is the inverse of what you want to do, where people buy the package and will take a view afterwards whether they like the Speed Editor or not knowing they can recoup a chunk by selling it on eBay. If you already own the Studio license then I think I'd be looking to pick up one of those used Speed Editors as it might prove cheaper and less hassle than trying to sell the license on.

With regard to the Tokina 11-16mm, I'd left it out because, whilst not massive, it's still a bit of a lump if you are looking for something compact. I've done this quick comparison shot* of it next to the Canon 10-18mm and although there doesn't look to be too much difference its significantly heavier and the 77mm thread will add to the cost of ND filters etc. What you will get back in return for that extra size and weight though is a great lens that I don't think anyone has ever regretted buying. I've got it in both Nikon and Canon mounts and I haven't found them particularly wanting against my Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 and Canon 16-35mm f2.8 lenses (albeit they can't be used on FF). On the other hand, the Canon 10-18 can't compare with it in terms of speed (or handling when it comes to manual focus) but in its favour it adds a bit more range on either end, the stabilisation and the sort of weight that makes it a negligible addition to have in your bag. The obvious answer is to buy both 🙂 * For the benefit of @mercer, the shot was taken on a Sigma Fp with a Mamiya 35mm 645 lens on the Baveyes Medium Format speedbooster 😉

They are good people too.

Aperture have one of the 20mm 3.5 that @mercer suggested. https://www.apertureuk.com/voigtlander-20mm-f35-color-skopar-sl-n-ii-ap201150.html

No, I've fired a similar number of shots in the past 10 months as the Swiss navy have.

Some of the cheap ones aren't great but the 20-35mm f2.8 was a premium lens in its day and according to this review it is smooth. http://cschu.redirectme.net/mirrored/bythom/www.bythom.com/2035lens.htm For the £40-50 I see them selling for they definitely are worth a go. With it being push/pull, some examples of it can be a bit too loose so you have to be careful with them when trying to focus in the mid range that you don't alter the focal length. I have a fondness for it because it was my first "long" Nikkor lens back in the mists of time when I was a kid and it was a brand new product !

Oh well, I often forget what lenses I've got squirrelled away so I struggle to remember the full extent of other fetishist's collections 😉

Yeah, they did a 200mm f4. They also did a 180mm f2.8 if you want to trade reach (and price) for speed.

Because I keep trying to sell him mine.

I haven't got this particular Samyang but it might be worth having a look at the Flickr pool for it to see if it takes your fancy. Samyang 16mm F2.0 ED AS UMC CS https://www.flickr.com/groups/2299572@N22/pool/ The comparison tests that I've put up on here have invariably included a Samyang variant and they always punch above their weight, particularly as a used purchase. As with most Samyang lenses, there is also the option of the cine version of it with geared focus and aperture. For an alternative, as you don't need FF, then, whilst not a prime, this Canon EF-S 10-18mm is very compact, light and is a flexible if slower option. They are also pretty cheap used and I got mine for about £130 if memory serves. https://www.flickr.com/groups/canonefs10-18mm/pool/ Gives you the option to go wider and the stabilisation comes in very handy with the P6K. As an aside, I've obviously been doing a lot of AF stuff with P6K of late with numerous different lenses and the 10-18mm is definitely one of the fastest responding and quiet of all of them.

There are definitely cheaper vintage lenses but the Nikkors do tend to hit that sweet spot of performance to price ratio as well if not better than anything else out there. The 105mm f2.5 is still changing hands at prices that make it one of the very best value propositions IMO. And you should buy one immediately 🙂

For FF or crop and what mount do you need it in ?

There will be more waves available for order in February. Drop an email to admin (at) cdatek (dot) com to request being added to the mailing list to get notified when they are available.

Yeah, thats right, typical Remoaner, you take your facts and scurry off back to join all the other liberal elites in your ivory towers of Birkenhead 😉

The UK parliament was famously so powerless to pass its own laws by the iron grip of the EU that it was able to pass a law to <checks notes> leave the fucking EU. You can't "Take Back Control" of something you already had control of.

Or as Mike Tyson put it when asked if he was concerned about his upcoming opponent's plan for the fight... *ironically, though, he then went on to lose that particular fight after his own response to being punched in the mouth was to bite off a piece of his opponent's ear..

Lest we forget that Farage couldn't even convince his own kids that losing their freedom of movement was a great idea. Then again, they have actually met him so are less likely to fall for his bullshit. Quite the volte face too for such a devoted Spitfire shagger as him to say in that same article that Britain lost the Second World War. Wonder if his ilk amongst the England team's fans will now have to modify the lyrics to their favourite chant to German fans to "One World War and one World Cup doodah doodah" now then ?

In fairness to Remain, the basis for their position was the established rules that apply to 3rd countries with regard to their relationship with the EU and contrast that with the status quo of what our current membership of the union meant to the UK. Those rules were and remain facts for 3rd countries whether its to do with trade, immigration or other regulations and have always been easily verified. In contrast, the Leave campaign was largely based more on feelings than it was facts. Which is fine, I suppose, as we're all human so feelings matter, but unfortunately trade agreements and established rules for 3rd countries can't be overcome by three word nebulous slogans such as "Take Back Control". So from 1st. January 2021, the only thing that has and will matter is the factual reality of being a 3rd country to our nearest major trading partner. The UK could've negotiated to leave the EU but still be part of the single market, like Norway for example, and this option was actually stated as an intention by this journalist below shortly after the referendum. I mean, I know its just the statement of a journalist who had previously been sacked by another newspaper for lying and I'm guessing he's probably faded into obscurity since but, still, he was one of the leaders of the Vote Leave campaign so that intention does seem at odds with everything that has happened since and what they have attempted to negotiate. The Government's repeated bleatings that they would seek an "Australian style deal" was just an absolute nonsense as, with Australia not actually having a deal with the EU, it was actually code for no deal. It was often stated that the Government might as well be saying "Afghanistan style deal" or "Mongolian style deal" but even that wasn't accurate as both of those countries have more favourable arrangements with the EU than Australia. Its happened though so we are where we are with the agreement they eventually did negotiate and have to deal with it. One major obstacle is the lack of preparation time for it whilst the Government ran the clock down and the lack of experience to deal with the practicalities. Prior to the single market, when we exported gear either for sale or for touring, it was the same level of pain in terms of documentation and shipping/customs agents whether we were sending it to Munich or Miami. After the single market, sending gear to Munich suddenly became indivisible to sending it to Middlesbrough and UK businesses have had almost thirty years of trading that way. Not only does it mean that new processes like JIT manufacturing have evolved to benefit from it but there are an enormous amount of companies who have never had to deal with all but the scantest import/export procedures for their goods or supply lines. The procedures involved now to send something to Munich requires the same specialist skills that were last needed almost three decades ago and they just aren't there. When the mitigation work for the Millennium Bug was happening, there were a lot of systems that were created using COBOL that necessitated a lot of retired programmers being brought back to earn serious cash as those skills had left the workforce as they hadn't been required any more. I think it might be the same story for a lot of UK pensioners who had the experience of how to navigate the hoops to jump through to get machinery from London to Paris in the 80s ! The impact of being a 3rd party trying to get goods into the EU across its land borders is well known and isn't Project Fear, its just the reality of it. This site is used by transportation companies to show real time info on waiting times at borders : https://www.transporeon.com/en/expertise/corona-update/real-time-overview-international-traffic/ If you look at Poland and compare the waiting times at its border with its EU neighbours such as Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic with its border with Belarus then the difference is clear. What is also clear from that are the delays at the channel ports of the UK. The mitigation of the UK authorities in using holding areas away from the ports themselves means that the expected media coverage of endless queues at Dover hasn't happened but oddly enough that actually demonstrates something even more concerning. Namely that the amount of traffic is down as companies can't get the formalities sorted but also because EU transport companies are now reluctant to send trucks to UK as the delays both way are costing them too much money to make it worthwhile. Importing and exporting goods is one of those things that a majority or even a sizeable minority of people don't have any direct experience of but it is something that because of the supply chain processes that have built up since we joined the single market we are all impacted by, whether its for buying a book off Amazon or a lettuce from Tesco. Disruption to those supply chains, by which I mean delays rather than flat out stoppages, will eventually trickle down to everyone but, like anything, its only when it gets personal that it hits home ! Nikon UK have today had to act in this regard The salient point in this is not if they get it resolved or even necessarily how long it takes them but in terms of how they resolve it. When you had frictionless trade and now you've had a lot of friction put back in then the only way to remove it will likely to be to polish it away with money. If you can't get your cameras imported efficiently or without variable delays because of admin then you have to hire dedicated staff. If you can't get them brought in by ship/lorry due to the penalty cost of shippers having to deal with the customs procedures then you'll have to fly them in. If you can't get reliable lead times for re-supply then you'll have to hold more stock to mitigate it. All of that costs money and its inevitable that it will find its way to being added to the retail price. Even when Covid goes away, when all the companies have caught up with training their admin staff to deal with the processes, when the government have tarmacced over the rest of Kent to accommodate the lorries, we will still not have frictionless trade because no 3rd country can have frictionless trade with the EU. So it means more cost to export and more cost to import. The EU aren't punishing us with some new rules, we punished ourselves by not understanding them when we are a part of it. Still, those fish are much happier now so there's that.

Mmmm....I could use either of the Ursas they have as I'll just be testing code but for the extra €39 I might as well go large and rent the 12K ! Thanks for your help.

I'm after renting an Ursa Mini Pro or a G2, do you have any recommendations where I can rent one in Madrid post plague ?

That actually looks really interesting. Look forward to hearing your thoughts about it if you get one.

My Uncle lived in a flat on Smithdown and, yeah, the difference in how Parly looked when we were driving up it on the bus going to visit him pre and post riot was marginal 🙂 . The front page of today's FT shows the wholly anticipated direction of travel now that this government is free of those pesky EU rules. The painful economic recovery from COVID and "re-adjustment" to Brexit trading conditions will give convenient cover for the unscrupulous to exploit any sort of removal of protections. And this is only week two.