MrSMW

Can’t afford to do otherwise!

All of this uncertainty is just stupid. I'm so glad I made all my business decisions re. kit before all of this kicked off. It amuses me to still look and speculate on a few things, but I won't be buying or changing anything this year and therefore can't be hit by any of this stoopidity, in CameraLand anyway.

Zero issues. To be fair, my issues have not so much been with MPB but with DHL regarding pick ups and deliveries. Because so many drivers are sub-contractors these days and get paid peanuts, in more rural areas, they skip as many of the more distant collections or deliveries with the latter often being dumped at some collection point 10-15km away, or undelivered with claims that the recipient was not in to sign. But in recent times, it seems these sub-contracts have been taken over by the post office and they simply deliver or collect on their normal rounds. MPB themselves have downgraded me on a couple of items I have sold to them but have equally, upgraded quite a few. Prices can be a bit all over the place and based on what I am not sure. At one point a year or so back, Canon R3's were well over 5k and as a result, I decided against and bought something else...only for the prices to go under 4k within weeks. I pondered that for a while and made a business case for Canon, but all units were sold out by then and when they had new stock (I set up an alert), back over 5k again! I had same condition S5ii trade price of around 1k one week and below 700 the following week... My 3 lenses that completed this years kit though, all exactly as expected and will be in use in a few weeks time.

There seems to be a big discrepancy these days in what we used to call 'the working class' feel about the 'wealthy'. If they worked hard, then they are often sneered at and derided, but if they went viral on TikTok or some uber-shallow reality TV show and became 'rich & famous' as a result, then that is something to aspire to. The world gets ever more mad.

The level of condescension in regards to other countries, their leaders and their people, is off the charts. His behaviour and speech is surreal.

I am sure this is the direction it will head in and pretty much everyone except his most hardcore acolytes, will realise they have been royally presidentially, shafted. I've seen that movie and I would not bet against that becoming a reality, possibly even before this year is out. As Luke Skywalker once said, "I have a bad feeling about this..."

I'd swap out a few items there... All of the animals for a hunting rifle with scope for longer range stuff and a pump action shotgun for the closer stuff. I've seen up to Season 5 of The Walking Dead so feel I am quite well informed on such matters. The matches I'd keep and the sharp knife though I might swap out both the sharp knife and the cricket bat for a single sword? And as ridiculous as this sounds, it's no more insane than the news currently spewing out of North America. And get some gold coins. Not the chocolate kind as they might melt, but the real stuff because you can trade them for food in the future. Such as soy beans.

I just went out into my back garden and turned the lawn into a field of soy beans instead. Someone has to feed those estimated 440 million piggies in China and I reckon I’m gonna get me a slice of that piggy pie.

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0BMFV7H9M?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title As I stated, they are not Sony branded batteries but they are 'NP-F970'. I never buy branded batteries for any of my gear other than the battery that comes with say a camera and never had an issue in pro use. Actually, I lie, I had one battery for a Fuji camera once that got a bit hot and expanded so I dumped it, but otherwise, nada.

I just went for a set of 4 including quad charger, 'Powerextra' from Amazon for just over €100 delivered. Mine are to power my Amuran lights 'off grid' because finding a power supply and using extension cables is not always ideal.

I dunno, I just popped down to the local magasin and right there on the shelf next to (the school kids buying) absinthe and Gauloise, were some bottles of the stuff labelled 'extra long shelf life 235'. Being serious, they DO pay much more for groceries here if it has a 'Made in France' sticker on it. We're not talking especially 'artisan sourced local product', but just every day things that are exactly the same. They fill up on the stuff out of national pride and fair play if it supports the supermarket profits. Personally, being a Brit, I'll go to LIDL or ALDI.

Good point. Well France is also well fucked in the new world order! Or maybe they need to stock up on uranium as I did on a few bits & bobs I needed for this season just in case the shit hits the fan. I bought 4 batteries, 3 used lenses, 2 filter adapters and a filter (not in a pear tree).

I'm curious...but also a slightly rhetorical question, what folks in the industry think they can 'buy local' and only local, ie, made in your country or area of residence? Personally speaking, as an EU resident, I'd have to buy Leica for cameras and lenses, plus there are German companies that make sound gear. France make that Pixiie camera, but struggling beyond that... We'd be OK for cars...unless they needed components from outside the EU. France is OK for electric as the country runs on nuclear. We have dozens of countries to trade with within the EU. But it's actually a load of fucking bollocks to think we can all suddenly shift to 'shopping local' and all or at least most options exist because so much is manufactured in at least component form around the world. It's a global economy. With enough time, maybe...probably, but what would happen in the mean time? Life as we know it changed fundamentally and almost certainly for the worst if not multiple and massive conflicts ending with possible annihilation of every species on the planet including human life. As the saying goes, the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

What I am incredulous about is not so much how we got to this point, but how this point even exists. Beyond stating that, I have no words.

More companies need to import stuff through the Heard and MacDonald Islands whilst the opportunity exists. Oh wait, too late, that loophole of zero human, only penguin residents, has been closed.

It also facilitates the opportunity to rob your clients behind their backs unless they scrutinise their bank statements on a regular basis and then if 'errors' are spotted, manage to not lose the patience that is required to actually bring this up with them. Oh yes, it's that time of year when I need to get my books in order for my accountants and have to attempt to jump through these flaming hoops... I am only into the 4th month of statements and already have complaints in with: Musicbed, Avast and Adobe. A cynical person might think that some of these companies are cheeky robbing fuckers...

This as a fundamental choice. Possibly…probably even, in some areas, it would be a case of fighting the tide, but I think too many people will use it to compensate for both their own lack of skill and in order to make a fast buck. While they still can. But short term gain and all that…

When folks say ‘rangefinder’ they generally mean ‘rangefinderesque’ because unless they are old school hardcore purists, we tend to want great AF these days. It’s purely form over function, ie, sacrificing something less (D)SLR looking for something more stylish and yes, nostalgic. The format can of course be used with zooms, but is more suited to compact primes and helps keep that ‘small, fast, discrete’ philosophy. For me anyway… If Lumix were to make one based on the S1Rii spec, I’d be all over a pair of them instantly whereas as the S1Rii is more of a, “yeah, like it and if starting again…”

I don’t object to that ie, ‘stuff I was going to do anyway’ that just makes my life easier, all good. I already use it in fact in Lightroom, but it’s the wholesale image generation that I oppose.

It doesn’t interest me either. I’d rather see out whatever remains of my career being ‘authentic’ and even if this means stopping a year or two short, then so be it. ”Look what I made!” What you mean is look at what AI made for you, but don’t kid yourself it was any talent that you had. It is almost certainly the future but I want no part of that future.

All I want to know is if the presentation has finished yet?

“Does one want mushy peas with that?”

Your fish looks a bit poshed up. Is your local one of those ‘artisan chippies’?

Yeah, that would do it.

Probably because it’s a more ‘entry level’ camera and ‘lower’ priced than the recent Lumix cameras?