Are you tired of looking at abandoned shopping carts yet? There is an ample supply, and my other choice was more photos of transmission towers, so there you go. Tomorrow may be transmission towers again! I need to get out of the neighborhood. Soon, I suspect.
I spent yesterday afternoon fiddling with menus and settings and taking photos of the ceiling fan on our porch. It’s interesting what things can be controlled on these cameras, although I’m not sure what they all do or why I would need them. I’m trying to figure out some of the custom settings but am discovering why I seldom bother – they are fussy and frustrating to figure out and it is getting in the way of taking pictures. I’m going to keep trying, though. Because I suspect that there is value in using them that I won’t recognize until I’ve used them. Duh.
Today I’m working with the camera profiles in Lightroom to see what they will do. Fuji added a bunch of new profiles to their cameras over the last 5 years or so, and I need to catch up! There are 4 new black & white settings and a number of color/film emulations to figure out. I try not to use the same settings all the time, but I do like to have a common starting point. In order to know what to use I need to know (1) what I like, and (2) what they all do. So, the homework continues!
Kathy’s birthday is coming up soon, so of course I did the sensible thing and bought her a camera. I think she’s going to let me use it. 😉 Actually, I did buy a new camera, but it’s for me. For her birthday I think we’ll plan to go somewhere fun for me to use it.
When I migrated from Canon cameras to Fuji cameras in 2015, I bought the X-T1, followed by a “backup” X-E2. When it was all said and done, I had a pretty enviable collection of lenses, both zooms and primes. The whole kit weighed a fraction of what my literal suitcase of Canon gear weighed, the Fuji cameras and lenses are excellent and I paid for most of the Fuji stuff for what I sold the Canon stuff for. Wins all around!
Now, 5 years later the camera technology has improved, to the point where when Fuji announced the X-T4 I knew it was time for an upgrade. The X-T1 & X-E2 are still excellent cameras. In fact, my youngest son is going to embark on his own photography journey with the bodies and two of my lenses. So they will go to a good home, and by keeping them “in the family” maybe I can borrow them back at some point! 😉 Not really, but I wrote that for his benefit….
I had looked seriously at the X-T3 when it came out, and it is an excellent camera. I actually rented one to try out about a year ago. The timing wasn’t right, I felt like I still needed a second body and it was going to require different batteries, memory cards, etc., and at the time I didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do. But after all the travel we’ve been doing the last year or so, the more I realized that I was just carrying too much stuff. I’ve always said – jokingly – that the more lenses I carried with me the more likely it was that I had the wrong one on the camera. So the idea of having to choose from 2 camera bodies and 8 lenses – or heaven forbid carry all of it with me! – seemed like things were getting out of hand.
Backing up a bit – several years ago we went from a 2003 Acura to a 2016 Honda. While we thought the Acura was a pretty sophisticated car, the 13 year difference with the Honda was astounding. The years do (usually) mean an improvement in technology, engineering and performance. Same thing holds true for cameras , even though in this case we’re talking about a difference of only 5 years! At the time I am typing this I haven’t even turned the camera on, but reading through the manual (YES, I did!) I am amazed at the improvement in just the custom settings alone. I can’t wait to see what the photos look like.
I’ll write about my initial impressions once I have had a chance to take it for a spin and see what it will do. But for now suffice it to say that the X-T4 is a pretty fine looking piece of equipment, I like the silver look instead of the all black of my X-T1, and I can’t wait to see how it performs in real life. Stay tuned for more thoughts and many more photos!
“There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.” Incorrectly attributed to many sources, origin uncertain. I like it anyway. Sort of like the one about the journey being the destination.
The quote is on a card that I received yesterday with a shipment of coffee beans. Freedom Fresh Roasts is a small batch coffee roaster operated by a long-time friend and former restaurant manager. I’ve had his coffee in restaurants but he just recently started selling online. I haven’t had the beans yet but will report as soon as I’ve tried them. I have a feeling they’ll be yummy! 🙂
Delivery of building supplies to the new storage center under construction
The summertime heat and humidity have finally arrived. It’s typical here in the south, but we do the “thermometer dance” in the spring between heat and A/C, then BAM! it’s summer. We’ve been taking our walks early. Well, early for Kathy. 😉 That gives us a chance to get home before our shoes start melting into the pavement!
The Big Brown Truck is bringing me a special package today. I’ll write about it tomorrow. 🙂
It was nice to get out yesterday and do something besides buy groceries. I’m still getting used to the breeze on my neck and around my ears from my haircut, but it feels good!
We drove through uptown Charlotte on our way home yesterday, and it was interesting to see the number of cars parked along the street, even though there weren’t many people around. There was a lot of construction going on, as there always is there. It’s probably good to get it done at a time when they won’t muck up traffic, although they will still manage to muck up traffic even when people start returning to the office. Assuming they ever do!
Word is that Trumpty Dumpty has decided that he’s going to take his toys and go to someone else’s sandbox to have his lovefest. I don’t care one way or the other, but I know that a lot of businesses are/were hoping to gain back some of their lost revenue from all the convention goers.
One good thing about having the convention wherever they have it is that locking all those goofballs up in one place for a week may insure that a lot of them aren’t around to vote in November. That’s cruel I know, but when ego replaces good sense you get what you get.
“One of the difficulties of being alive today is that everything is absurd but fewer and fewer things are funny.” Alexandra Petri in“Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why”
We’re getting our hair cut today! I know it may seem selfish to some to be so excited about something so trivial, but it’s a big friggin’ deal to us! I’m proud to have a full head of hair at almost 62 years old, but this rag mop is getting out of hand!
Just another small step toward normalcy. We’re happy for every little thing these days.
From the Useless Statistics Department: We drove our car a grand total of 42 miles during the month of May. Yikes! We did finally buy gas for the first time since March in order to use up some of our Fuelpoints, but only needed 7.5 gallons. But I got it for only $6 so it was still a deal. I suspect we’ll be doing a little more driving in June. At least I hope so…I’ll have more Fuelpoints to use! 🙂
We spent this morning watching the approach and docking of the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. It is quite a historic event and a long-overdue accomplishment for our country. Nice to see some fantastic photos and video to document a positive event in our history.
One of the things I’ve been impressed with during this corona-crisis is the resilience of people and what they have done during this time. No, most of us haven’t learned to speak Italian or Spanish, but many people have found interesting things to do. Some of my neighbors are rediscovering old hobbies or dusting off cookbooks and getting reacquainted with their kitchens. Monte was writing the other day about replacing the coffee shop routine with visits to the countryside in the early morning or late evening. Earl and Cedric have been revisiting old photographs – sometimes finding lost photos filed in the wrong folder! – and reworking them to make new art.
Of course there are downsides, but I try to not dwell on those.
We learned yesterday that our libraries will reopen on June 1, albeit with very limited services including only allowing one person at a time in the building. That’s OK with me, as right now I just want to return two physical books that I’ve had since February. All of my other reading has been on my Kindle. It will be nice to get the books off our living room table!
