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Geddy.

Counterpoint to my paean of primes: Modern zooms can be really good. Last fall I bought a stack of lenses from an MV photographer who had gone mirrorless. The least interesting but most useful of the bunch was the 24-70mm F/2.8L II. It's the perfect "walk around" focal range and a vast improvement of the original model (which was more than a bit of a dog.) Also pictured is the 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L IS II which is an impressive and massive beast, but also a great way to blow copious amount of dust into one's camera body. I took all of the following with the 24-70. It's been so long since I've posted photos in this thread that we're going all the way back to last Christmas. I'll win no awards for framing on this one (especially on a stationary object) but in spite of my snapshotesque abilities with the viewfinder, I really like the the look of this shot. 30 seconds at F/22, ISO200. I really needed to do shots significantly longer than 30 seconds, and I was too stubborn to raise the ISO. At this point I had not been able to locate my remote cable. Blissfully, the remote I bought for my 30D in 2006 works with the 5D IV. This coming Christmas I can do multi-minute exposures. This is the house my father grew up in. It has a big Cyrano De Bergerac portico that juts out into an already narrow sidewalk. For something like 150 years it has served as an inconvenience to all passers-by. I love it. Cool Story Bro: My grandparents were the last private family to live in the house. After they moved out in 1940s, it became a law office and of course it's been a retail shop for decades at this point. Right next to the Vineyard Haven ferry slip. Not pictured: the December wind ripping across the harbor and through my jacket. I will cheerfully take the same picture over and over again, in different weather an lighting conditions. Happy sledders enjoying the first snow of the season. Later afternoon sun on Sweetened Water Farm. There's that patch of woods again. The calm before the blizzard. The aftermath. Ideal lighting conditions at the Oak Bluffs harbor. Still shooting that 1980s car commercial. All good things must come to an end.

Oh boy. Pulled a tick nymph off my leg. It was on there long enough to cause irritation, but not get engorged yet. TBH any length of time is too long for a tick. MV has a terrible alpha gal problem (no, that does not mean women who fancy themselves the leader of the pack.) If I develop those symptoms, I'm jumping in front of a train. Note from legal: MV has no trains. It did have one in the 19th century. The first locomotive to arrive on the Vineyard got dropped into the ocean as the workers attempted to unload it from a ferry. If Knuckles manages to jump in front of any of the above, he's more talented than previously believed.

I drove her for about 10 months when I first moved out here. RIP Skanky!

We don't really have a Detroit Techno thread, so I'm putting this here: Mayor Mary Sheffield declares this week as Detroit Techno Week https://6amgroup.com/articles/events-all/detroit-declares-techno-week-as-movement-festival-marks-20-years

^ potatoes?

It was the side burner on the grill so that counts, right?

Wait we're talking about random Euro-bangers? (Caution: Bare Euro ass.)

yep

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 21 by Friedrich Gulda (1975) https://open.qobuz.com/album/fp84x72ff06ca Example (One I could find): I have been checking out Gulda's work recently, including some of his jazz work. This is very nice, I may not agree with all of his choices, but with Abbado and the Weiner/Vienna behind you it is hard to stray too far. Also being some of my favorite works does not hurt. The 1975 recording is a little thin, but not in a distracting way. The 24/192 on qobuz helps as well.

Tom Kane, Iconic ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Powerpuff Girls’ Voice Actor, Has Died. RIP. 64 is crazy young.

^This!

Interestingly, one of the things I've been doing lately is putting my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 (plastic fantastic) in my bag. I really missed having that f/1.8 lens indoors. It's small, very light... I think it will be a great "lifesaver" for very dark places.

I’m kind of proud and relieved that Spain didn’t participate this year.

Also.....Maphra.....sounds great on my new speakers!

I miss the good old days when Winny Puhh was entering the contest for Eurovision appearances....

Okay Amy, you have my attention.

We had my parents down for dinner so I made 6 lbs of baby back ribs and both sweet Italian and garlic/cheese smoked sausage.

@blessingx - yes, very much a potayto/potahto scenario but I often find myself in fixed shooting positions where zoom is a huge benefit. Granted, I've been shooting 90% with the 70-200 these days for kids sports but when I'm doing landscape stuff for work the 12-24 is indispensable. The 24-70 has made rare but meaningful appearances for things like semi-formals or proms. A lot of $$ for not much use but live and learn.

FERTO! USA! KEEDING!

So How proud did the Grand Final make you feel @blessingx You're Welcome

Obviously, no universal right choice, though I get a kick out of opposite prime/zoom conclusions somewhat arguing the same case. I rarely need many focus lengths with me... one, maybe two will do... so zooms, especially AF zooms, are too big and heavy... "too much to carry around". They only leave the house under special occasions. I really wish there was a new Leica WATE/MATE-ish lens made by someone. Also nice shots Knucks, especially the 135/tree. Here’s the single shot I took with a non-phone in Vegas recently. Sigma BF & 35mm f/2 Contemporary.

Shooting with primes will make you a better photographer, but they won't make you take better photos. Modern (as in the last 20 years) zooms are so good that primes are vestigial beasts best left to eccentrics. There are exceptions to this rule of course, mostly super-teles that operate in a range outside of any zoom. Personally, I muck about with primes because I find them interesting. To me cameras are fiddly devices that get between me and the photo I want to take. Lenses are tools to make art. While I use modern (or "modern") autofocus lenses all the time, for me the real joy is ancient manual focus ones. Also, I haven't posted any of my own photos here in like six months. Two of my favorite bits of vintage glass are Asahi Super-Takumars: A 35mm F/3.5 and 50mm F/1.4. It's a tossup which one is more crackheaded. The 35mm, in spite of its woefully slow aperture for its focal length, has a really fat ass and will not fit properly in Nikon or Canon DSLR bodies. It will fit in a Canon cropped sensor body, and presumably most mirrorless ones. I've posted shots with it in this thread many times over the years. I liken the images it produces to a horror movie. The 50mm does the same thing, but much more so. My particular copy is a third iteration (IIRC) and it's notable for being radioactive. Glamour shot taken with my 100mm F/2.8 Macro. The 50 has a permanent warming filter (that gets more warm over time). It's useless for anything serious, but endless fun for goofing around. For me this is definitive example of "Takumar horror." The color temperature, weird rendering of OOF highlights and slight vignetting are all produced by the lens. I did only minor tweaks in Photoshop. The same view, taken with the 35mm mounted to a 7D Mk II. Not really horror at all. First and foremost, I stopped down and used infinity focus. Also the 35 is not radioactive. I have a long term goal of buying a full frame body so I can mount the 35 to it and see how bad the corners are. Yes, buying a $3K body to mount a $75 lens. Makes perfect sense. I mentioned in the snow thread that we got absolute decimated here in February. I promised to post photos and never did. The AF system on my 5D IV was not impressed with the condensation on the outside of our windows. One nice thing about old primes is that most of them have a hard infinity stop. Modern glass often lets the user focus beyond infinity (calm down, Buzz Lightyear) meaning they're a PITA to use in low light and other difficult circumstances. This shot is in focus, but still quite blurry because of the water on the window. Looking out my front door. No giants doing cartwheels or a statue wearing high heels. Quite the whiteout, however. Taken with the TTArtisan 100mm F/2.8 "Bubble Bokeh," which is a Trioplan copy, more or less. I have mostly used it as an actual 100mm and ignored its abilities with OOF highlights. Our poor, battered thermometer. Back to the OG Canon 50mm F/1.8. My ca. 1988 copy is one of my most prized lenses. Back to the 35mm Takumar and 7D II. Not exactly horror movie, but exhibiting how the 35 is not entirely sharp at any aperture. The images it produces have a slight uncanny quality in more or less all circumstances. One of the casualties of the nor'easter, which had some very powerful winds. As of this writing, the boat is still there. The mighty Canon 135mm F/2L. Designed as a portrait lens, it's good at photographing more or less anything, provided the photographer is up to making use of its FoV and DoF. Oh, hey. Actually using the TTArtisan 100mm for its intended purpose. The late afternoon sun reflecting on the pond and some early spring buds.