Mothballed...

... one day I'll return to shooting!

What is that???

What is that???  Seeing another new camera in my hands.  Image taken with the Nikon Coolpix A

Work anywhere...

My previous life.... worked anywhere but also worked ALL THE TIME !

More damn cellphones...

More damn use of cellphones... it's a nice sunny day people... enjoy the sunshine!

Want some head???

Out on a date...

Great thing about street photography is that at the very worse all I will get is some air, sunshine and exercise.  Every once in a while, you can capture something nice.  Today I noticed this young couple taking a stroll along the shore (do people still stroll?).  Said to myself.... to be young once again.

4 Leg Rental Customer...

Cool thing about Samy's Camera - San Francisco is that we are a pet friendly store with plenty of treats.

Trees don't punch back...

Passing on knowledge...

Learning Rollei.  CameraWest's Jullian getting a quick tutorial from photojournalist Peter DaSilva

Special Rolleiflexes...

3 special Rolleiflexes that have a unique story.  The great thing is that these cameras are in the hands of a master photojournalist, Peter DaSilva, who uses them to record history.

Conducting...

It may not be an orchestra... but each of us have to conduct something all the time.

Don't think it's gonna work...

I guess this is the next attempt by the city to try to stop the homeless tents from going up.

Fujifilm Instax SQ 10

Right off the bat.... it's FUN!

OK... now the more serious stuff.

Image quality from the film = Instax quality.  Good but don't expect it to replace your prints from a real film or serious digital camera.

Cost per shot = about $1.70.  Compare that to about $ 0.63 for Instax Mini and $ 0.75 for Instax Wide.  So it's not cheap.  BUT compare that to Impossible Film at about $2.94 a shot.  The Fuji at least is predictable while Impossible is impossible to know what you'll get

Good thing... you can shoot this camera is MANUAL mode which means it acts like a digital point and shoot.  You can edit a little and then decide if you want an Instax print.  So, you can save a few $$ by not wasting film.  You can also shoot in monochrome mode.

Good thing... you can place a microSD card in the camera.  The 32Gb card I inserted allows me to take 31,000 images.  The images are JPEG from a 3MP sensor.  It's as good as what you'll get from a cellphone should you open the image, edit and try to print from a real printer.

Build quality = Plastic but not cheap plastic.  Feels good in the hands.

Good thing = you compose using the large rear LCD screen.  No more having to try to make their too tiny optical window work.

Bad thing = you compose using the large rear LCD screen.  So everyone knows you're taking a photo in a dim room and you have to suffer trying to compose in bright sunlight (although it's not too bad with this camera).

Good thing = you can now control the flash a bit.  Instax cameras use to force flash no matter what.  Now you can turn the thing off or tell it what to do.  Something Fuji learned with their collaboration with Leica on the Sofort I guess.

Bad thing = Camera costs about $280.00 so it's the most expensive Instax to date.
However, it's cheaper than the Leica Sofort (Instax Mini90 reimagined) that costs $299 and shoots Instax Mini.

Conclusion:
It's nice to see that Fuji is still keeping a part of Polaroid's (Dr.Land) invention alive.  Although I am STILL MAD AS HELL over their decision to stop the Pull and Peel film.

That thing (Zinc) the marketing company currently named Polaroid is trying to say is instant photography is still just a photo printer and NOT film.  It takes about a minute for the image to come out of the camera or printer.  You're not shooting on film and it's not developing before your eyes.

For anyone who loves instant film photography... there's not much to dislike and should be pleased with this camera.  If you are looking for this camera to be your only main camera?  I would say, look elsewhere.

The Critique...

Education time - Bruce Gilden

Masterclass held last week at Samy's Camera - San Francisco

The Phantom...

LancomeLover...

"LancomeLover" a real sweetheart to work with.  Special thanks to Summer for helping to make this shoot happen

Light and Shadow...

Aly...

Thank you Aly !

Overgrown...

Nature will always find a way...

Images...

Gave up too soon...

Ahead of it's time, it's too bad Contax weren't able to hang on.

Unity...

Can't we all just get along?

Problem solving...

50Mb of resolution to play with...

 You get a lot of possibilities.

Leica shooter...

Work in progress...

The Gallery 1090 at Samy's Camera - San Francisco

No poop...

Gilligan was here...

Get me outta here...

Debris...

The aftermath after all of the storms.

He's dead Jim...

Eureka...

Leica Microscope...

M10 - 48hours later...

48 hours after taking delivery of a Leica M10  (thanks CameraWest for allowing me to be the 1st once again), I wanted to give some feedback on what's it been like without sounding like a Leica fanboy.

Is it slimmer?  YES.  Holding it gives the Leica film body sensation.

Easier to look out of?  YES.  The new 0.72 finder is wonderful.

Lighter?  YES.  Feels close to the M262.

Better menu?  YES.  More like the Q and SL in terms of appearance and function.

Better with less buttons?  YES and NO.  Never had a problem with the buttons before but the less buttons seems ok.

High ISO?  HELL YES !!!  Finally, the image above isn't anything special except it was shot at ISO 10,000.  NO previous M can do this.

Detail retention?  YES.  I loaned my new camera to a few of my colleagues and some of the shots were well under exposed.  I pushed the file 2, 3 and 4 stops.  Not only was the subject looking good, there wasn't any banding or color issues.  Just looked liked a properly exposed shot.

New sensor and processor better?  Oh YES.  Colors, white balance, noise reduction, etc... all was dramatically improved.

Conclusion....
So far this new M10 is living up to what I wanted in a Leica digital rangefinder.  The high ISO is an important thing for me and all the previous M's (except for the Monochrom) fell short of what I wanted.

The M10 just feels good in the hand.  Just like holding my M3 or MP film Leica's.  Going to do some black and white shots with the new M10.  If things work out... who knows, my previous stance that the Monochrom goes no where might be moving on to help fund perhaps another M10.

I have NO regrets for selling off nearly my entire Nikon digital set-up.

Love of Leica...

While I was being photographed (now I know how my models feel)  today for a future promotional spot for Samy's Camera, this customer came up to us and started a conversation about Leica.

He's a long time Leica shooter and to prove it, he has a Leica M6 tatoo on his arm.  Talk about real dedication and love of the brand !!

Leave my pigeons alone !!!