Archive for January 2009
Live Mesh, Windows 7 and Traitors :)
Before Christmas, I had to make sure that the modem (remember what those are kids?) worked in my slowly maturing (read: decrepit) laptop as I had not been able to get it working in Ubuntu. To cut a long story short, I initially blamed Linux in general but after reinstalling Windows XP, I reneged on my accusation and realised the modem itself was dead.
So with a basic XP install, I used my mobile phone connected to the USB device instead. This has left me with a very empty laptop. This has been a blessing in disguise as I have some testing to do.
This has enabled me to look at LiveMesh and soon Windows 7.
Groundhog Day or Freedom?
Far from this being a whining diatribe on my life, life, your life, life in general – this actually quite a joyous kind of commentary.
For those of you who have not heard of Groundhog Day – it’s not so much what is celebrated in the US on the 2nd of February but the film starring Bill Murray. In short the film is about a news presenter’s life, where he goes off to report this festival. He hates it. But then he starts to realise each time he wakes up, he can’t get away from that day, no matter what he does, he wakes up to the 2nd of February all over again and can’t escape it until he sorts his life out and breaks out of the routine of life.
And so, describing your life as being like Groundhog Day is like life becoming one illegible blur, one where you can’t really pick out what you’ve done and certainly one where you are trapped in routine, no longer free maybe.
Groundhog Day is one of my favourite films of all time and along with American Beauty probably are my adages to which I try and live my life by; although saying it like that sounds much more grandiose than that mantra sounds!
So what brought this on. Well my drive home from the Christmas/New Year period last Sunday. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, it just underlined things and I thought I’d share it.
I Leica A Lot (Part 3)
In Use
Prices
- Leica M2 – £300
- Leica MR Meter - £30
- Voigtlander Color Skopar 35mm f/2.5 – £120
- Voigtlander LTM to M Mount adapter (35mm) – £40
- Camera and Meter from MXV, Uckfield – www.mxv.co.uk
- Voigtlander LTM-M Mount adapter, Robert White – www.robertwhite.co.uk
Most reviews of a Leica usually pour over the specifications, the actual piece of equipment itself. However, any camera is in effect a light tight box which controls the amount of light that comes in and goes on to expose the film or sensor behind it. A Leica is no different in this effect. If you put a 50mm lens on an automatic every bells and whistle SLR (e.g. a Canon EOS 3 or Nikon F6) and a 50mm lens on the Leica, put it in the field and shoot away, the majority of people will see little to no difference if the aperture and shutter speed; as well as the subject are the same. Like any camera, the Leica by itself does not take better pictures. Owning a Leica will not make you a better photographer by default of owning it. What it will do is avail opportunities that some cameras don’t open up, where the nature of a camera like a Leica is best suited.
