Pictures and Pens

I bought and started to use a medium format film camera, the Mamiya 645 Super, which is, in fact, super. Two rolls of black and white film down, I discuss how I bought the camera, it's features, and my adventures making images and getting the film developed and scanned. In fountain pens I discuss stacked nibs, those from Sailor, from individual makers, and the new variants coming from China. 

In this episode I discuss my experience with all my native Fujifilm GFX lenses including the 23mm, 30mm T/S, 45mm, 55mm, 110mm, 120mm, and 500mm primes as well as the 20-35mm and 45-100mm zoom lenses. In fountain pens I discuss how I ended up buying two Montblanc 149 High Artistry A Tribute to Craftsmanship Limited Edition 1994 pens and how I have sent one back to Germany for a nib exchange. 

On a weekend trip to Houston, TX I challenged myself to get some good photos in an essentially random location with a single prime lens. For this exercise I found a location near downtown that I photographed with a 55mm f2.8 Mamiya 645 lens adapted to my Fujifilm GFX100ii using a 0.8x focal reducer. One of the interesting places I found was the former and unfortunately named Jefferson Davis Hospit...

In this episode I discuss my experience with zoom lenses--I prefer primes--and also my experience with buying fountain pens at auction. First, I talk about Sony G-Master zoom lenses, the 16-35mm f2.8 GMII and the 24-70mm f2.8 GMII, both of which I've sold. Then I talk about some zoom lenses for my Fujifilm cameras that I actually love, the GF20-35mm f4 and the GF45-100mm f4 for my GFX cameras...

In this episode I express my enthusiasm for the Sigma 200mm f/2 DG OS Sports lens, a fast telephoto lens that is essentially perfect and one of the best lenses ever made. I picked it up used, almost on a whim, and I'm so glad I did; what a lens! On the topic of fountain pens I discuss Pelikan's raden urushi lineup and express my lack of enthusiasm for the newly released Pelikan Souverän...

In this episode of Pictures and Pens I discuss my current approach to image capture by file type and camera system: RAW and JPEG for Fujifilm and RAW for Sony. I also discuss the exciting news that DaVinci Resolve has added still photo editing to their powerful software. And in pens I relate disappointment for Platinum and Nakaya converters despite my love for the pens generally. Finally, I declar...

In this first episode I discuss adapting Voigtlander M-mount lenses to Sony E-mount mirroless cameras and the magic of the 40mm f1.2 Nokton Aspherical lens from Voigtlander on my Sony A7RV. Also discussed is a standard cigar shaped urushi fountain pen from Nakaya with kuro (black) ishime (stone finish) and a music nib.