Immortalised (for a few minutes at least) in the title of an excellent album by the Jazz Butcher

I’ve been using it for yrs :-)

and by the way ‘yr’ means randy in Norwegian (as well as a sort of drizzly mist)

all mod cons

great stuff yourself stuartie – especially love the mackerel one :)

simonfbarnes – Member

I like it when full colour photos come out monochrome:

So do I:

Provia 100F, Leica M6TTL, Voigtlander 35mm/1.4

poor scans, but here are a few more:

XP2, Pentax LX, Pentax 50/1.4

Delta 400, Pentax LX, Pentax 50/1.4

Ilford PanF, Hasselblad 500C/M, Hasselblad 80mm/2.8

HP5, Minolta CLE, Voigtlander 40/1.4

I agree, and perhaps as well as disposition it’s down to the type of photography one does. I can absolutely see how if one is primarily interested in content then it is the subject that matters above all else – that is certainly the case when I’m taking photos of my kids or other people. But I also like to take more abstract or minimalistic photos, and for these I find that things like composition, selective sharpness, and exposure matter far more to me than the subject – for recent examples of this see my pics on Flickr[/url].

This is why I use different cameras for different types of photos – I can of course take snaps with my Leica and poncy shots with my Nikon – but I find it much easier to use them the other way around. As long as I am lucky enough to be able to indulge my hobby in this way I’ll continue to do so.

Anyway, it’s good to see this kind of debate – I’m now thinking of digging out an old paint tin as a pinhole camera and making up my own paper using liquid light …. :-)

I happily use both film and digital. Digital is much more convenient, and I use it for the vast majority of my photos, but I hugely value film too.

I bought an old Hasselblad for about £300 on eBay a couple of years ago, and several 35mm rangefinders for rather more. The Hasselblad gives me medium format quality – by which I mean the wonderful depth of field characteristics more than resolving power – at a price I can afford. And the rangefinders give me the equivalent of full frame digital quality at both a vastly lower price and a fraction of the size – I’d much rather carry my Minolta CLE around all day than a D3S, even if I could afford the latter.

On top of all that is the discipline film requires of me. Yes, of course I could tape over the light meter and set my D300 to manual, but I don’t. I love the simplicity of my film cameras, and because I take more time over my photos, and I don’t carry anough film with me to take hundreds of photos in a day, I slow down. This forces me to think, and think again, and work on my composition and lighting and exposure, and I take better photos as a result. This may not work for others, who may have the discipline to apply this approach with a digital camera, but I don’t and it works for me. It’s pretty hopeless for taking pictures of my kids running around, and the DSLR excels at that, but sometimes it’s just what I want…

WorldClassAccident – Member

lorax – not suggesting it is either/or. Just think it is easy to not drink a couple of pints than spend an hour walking on a damn treadmill.

Fair point! I hate treadmills so I share your perspective, but I know many people who would take the opposite view :-)

WorldClassAccident – Member

My conclusion is that it is better just to cut out the calories in the first place rather than trying to burn them off afterwards.

It’s not either/or – while there is in essence a straightforward energy in-energy out trade-off there is also a more complex set of issues relating to energy flux, basal metabolic rate, adaptive behaviours, and so on. It is of course possible to lose weight by diet alone, or by exercise alone, all other things being equal, but for most people it’s a balance of both.

nice bike :)

Thanks everyone; think I’ll hang onto it!

thanks – if that’s all I’d get for it I’ll definitely not be selling!

Thanks! I am prepared for that, and actually I’d be delighted because if it’s not worth much there’s no point selling it….

:-)

My Montane eVent jacket needed washing and the instructions on the two labels in it were ambiguous, so I contacted Montane and got this reply:

I can confirm that NikWax will not clean this garment, you need to wash it with a liquid detergent before using NikWax to reproof.

I suggest washing a couple of times with biological liquid detergent as you have reproofed over the dirt and grease due to the inaccurate first wash . After you have washed it give it an iron on the face fabric to rejuvenate the DWR.

I spoke to him and he confirmed that it should just be washed in any normal, biological liquid detergent as part of the normal wash – but not detergent powder as this can clog the pores. It can then be washed with Tech Wash to remove the detergent, and reproofed if necessary. But he was adamant that most of the time it should just be chucked in the machine with other laundry.

As someone who hadn’t dared wash it for a year in case it messed up the proffing I still find this hard to believe, but he was very clear about it!

I was wondering exactly the same thing the other day and decided against it – I just couldn’t work out a way to secure the block as solidly as it is on the Brompton. So I’m just going to stick with swapping stuff between Brompton bag and Ortlieb depending on the bike of the day :-)

many thanks ourmaninthenorth – exactly what I was after. I’ve now registered on pinkfishmedia and it appears that the BWD1 is known and loved there. I’ll work out a price, take some photos, and stick it on there tomorrow. I may even offload some of my other decent kit from my bachelor days….

and no worries duntstick, no offence taken :-)

thanks for that helpful response duntstick

rootes1 is spot on! I used to have the 6 speed with dynamo and rack and it weighed an absolute ton. I now have the 2 speed with flat bars and all the lightweight titanium bits and it is appreciably lighter (although still not what I’d call light).

the front bag is great – it’s not only a good way to carry stuff without getting a sweaty back, it also stabilises the bike. I have two sets of LED lights – some basic ones screwed to the bike and some better, removable ones on bars and seat post (my joystick is great for getting through Hyde park on dark winter evenings)

I’ve been using mine as my main road bike for a couple of months now. I can’t say it’s as much fun to ride as my Roberts, but it’s fine. I do spin out a bit on the flat, but nothing dreadful, and I’d rather do that than lug the extra weight on the train.

I think the new ones all come with the clip to stop the rear wheel flopping down – mine was a retrofit but well worth it. and I also bought an uprated elastomer from a bloke on eBay which tightened up the ‘suspension’ a bit.

Weight was an important consideration for me, and another reason to get Li-ion batteries. It depends what you want it for – I have a decent corded drill for heavy duty jobs, so mine is just for the odd bit of drilling into wood, and mostly a very good screwdriver. If you don't need hammer action then I'd miss it off – it adds to the cost and weight and won't be of any benefit.

I ended up with a Panasonic EY7440LN2S which is really excellent, but probably not available from B&Q or Amazon. But an equivalent Makita would be just as good if not better. There are loads of DeWalts but as far as I can remember you have to spend vast amounts to get one with a decent battery.

3rd for Miele. Pricey up front but worth every penny. Ours is 13 years old and just keeps going and going, despite being worked very hard – apart from scale in the powder drawer it is effectively as good as new.

The one problem we have had was a weird noise on the spin cycle. I called Miele and asked someone to come and check the main bearings (this was after about 8 years); they said it wouldn't be this and I should check it was level. When I did the check I found out that one of the screws securing the top surface had worked loose, so I called them up and a pair of screws (they weren't just any old screws) arrived the next day.

We have a 1991 T4 Westfalia left hand drive. We bought it after failing to go tent camping for most of the summer a couple of years ago because of the rain. Wet weather is much less hassle in a van – you just know you're going to be able to stay dry. We tend to use hookup but the leisure batteries can cope fine with running the fridge all the time for a couple of days, and the Eberspacher heater at night if it's cold. It has a decent fresh water tank with capacity for all cooking and cleaning for a weekend. It's just so handy to be self-contained with fridge, cooker, sink and space for all our stuff, and with small kids it is so much easier when arriving at a campsite just to pop the roof up than having to pitch a tent.

We just spent a week in it in the Netherlands over half term and it was just great. There's probably not much in it when comparing the costs of maintenance and depreciation with what one could spend on hotels, but it's not all about the money!

We use ours for everyday use as well. The left hand drive can be a bit of a pain if you're on your own in car parks but other than that it's fine. And cooking in there is no trouble – you need to leave a window open to let the steam out, but I don't recall there being a problem with smells.

I quite like the fact that ours is an old one as it means I don't worry about it getting bashed and dinged by the kids when we're camping. The only thing I would change if I could would be to get one with air-con; it's not really a problem in this country but I think it might get quite uncomfortable in southern Europe in the summer.

baked beans and banana – yum yum

Just finished Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami – great book, really brought home the value of literature.

Now on Whoops! by John Lanchester – I think most of it has already been trailed in the LRB over the last year or, but even if so it'll easily bear re-reading.

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GrahamS – thanks for that. I'm not sure about 'clear subject' but other than that I guess it's a fair cop :) – and there I was thinking I didn't follow any rules….

I wouldn't remotely claim to be a good photographer, but I have no doubt I'm significantly better than I was a year or so ago. What has changed since then is:

– I've taken loads of photos. Loads and loads of them
– I've looked at loads of other people's photos. Spending time on Flickr and other sites seeing what other people do, and learning from them, is a great education
– I've gradually simplified my kit so that most of the time I'm using a manual film camera with a prime lens. The fancy DSLR kit still has an important place, especially when taking pics of people, but I get a vastly higher proportion of decent shots, and probably more decent shots in absolute terms, with the basic kit than the posh stuff. I am sure that the main reason for this is because it slows me down. A good starting point is to buy a cheap prime lens for your DSLR.
– I've become more minimal and more abstract. Of course that's just the direction I have taken, and others will take different directions, but I think the important thing is to find one's own eye, to uncover a personal style.

I don't know if these will help you, but they certainly helped me

GrahamS – in general I agree with you. However, I like this pic of mine[/url], as do several others, but it doesn't seem to meet many of your rules. Perhaps you'll like it, perhaps you'll hate it, but I'm happy with it :)

And Kit, I don't know what you're worried about – your pics are great :)

I probably won't buy one, at least not until version 2 or 3, but I love the idea of a bigger iPhone – something that is as simple and reliable but with a bigger screen and bigger keyboard.

I've wasted weeks of my life faffing around with computers, and I'm more than willing to trade a spurious sense of control for something like this. I travel huge amounts for work, and need something small and light on which to edit documents, deal with emails, and tweak the odd presentation while I do.

Just as I used to fix my own car but now have little idea (and less interest) what goes on under the bonnet, i've moved on from the machine code programming I used to do on a 6502 processor 30 years ago to just wanting the blasted thing to work. I have a samsung nc10 but found using windows unbearable and running it as a hackintosh a pain, so gave up using it. These things are all compromises, but I reckon an iPad is probably a pretty good set of compromises for what I want.

It's a big and completely legitimate scientific research project[/url] overseen by a highly respected Oxford academic. I was invited a year or so ago and participated – I think it took about an hour. There's nothing to fear unless you're scared of needles as they'll take a blood sample….

The G10 is fairly big, but with the leather case and the neck strap it is in some ways easier for cycling than a smaller compact as you can have it round your neck and ready to go at all time. You might not want to if you're cycling fast in case you come off and the camera breaks a couple of ribs, but for a wimp like me whose wheels never leave the ground it fells pretty safe…

go on Bez – give it a go :) The Leica CL is also a great camera, smaller than the CLE but manual only.

I use film for two main reasons:

1) better low-light performance than a small-sensor digital, whether compact or SLR. I scan in all my film so I get the best of both worlds.
2) availability of small wide angle primes for sensible money. Unless you go for a full-frame sensor you can't really get a wide angle prime for a DSLR – but my Minolta CLE along with 40, 25 and 15mm lenses and a couple of films takes up about the same space as my D300 and a big zoom.

There are of course plenty of reasons to stick with digital – and I still mostly use my D300 and my G10 – but in certain situations I like to have an alternative.

My first response to the same problem was a Canon G10, which I'm still extremely happy with, but having decided to try a completely different approach I'm increasingly pleased with my Minolta CLE

I might give it another go but would do it very differently – it ended up taking up far too much time last year so I didn't get beyond August, after the kids mutinied. If I do it again it'll be with film rather than digital, so I'll submit in batches about two or three weeks out of sync. I'll see….

And thanks very much for keeping at it Simon – very much appreciated :)

cheers

harry / lorax / modalshift

I end up having to use Word as everyone else I work with uses it and the other components of Office and it's not worth the grief of people complaining if there's any minor kind of incompatibility. But I wish I didn't; the only things I dislike on my Mac come from Microsoft…

As a result I've never used Pages, but it is very well thought of. I haven't used Mellel either but it seems to have quite a following, as long as you don't need to share stuff with other people too much.

If you want something really cheap you could try Bean – a free word-processor for OSX. I downloaded it the other day and it's great for quick jottings – it opens almost instantaneously (unlike Word) and seems pretty compatible.

I'd also suggest taking a close look at Scrivener which I used for a recent thesis. It's not a word-processor but it's an excellent writing tool for structuring complex documents. Hard to explain but read the reviews and try out the free trial

Good luck!

Thought I'd update this, especially give the review in the latest Singletrack. I bought the Montane Stormrider in the end and it's great. Nice and light, pretty breathable, and fits well. The mag review is spot-on.

Tell me more about the Toro please – it looks very appealing!

I've emailed you about the Leicas (well, one of them) :-)

Thanks Del. I thought Endura were supposed to be pretty good, so I'm surprised to hear that. I'll take a look at the Pace and DHB jackets, but I have a feeling they don't do them in hi-viz colours. Cheers

thanks trail_rat – anyone else got a view…?