Tag: Fuji X-E4

The Ritual

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The makings for my morning ritual. Shot with Fujifilm X-E4 and a Voigtländer 27mm f/2 at f/2.8 using the HP5+ film simulation. SOOC.

Every morning, my day starts with a mug of Joe (or cup of coffee for non-aficionados). There is a ritual associated with my coffee and the tools (most of them) are displayed in the image. The tools comprise a kettle to heat water, a scale and cup to weigh beans, a press, a hand grinder, and a mug to receive the goodness from the press.

My process is:

  1. Fill the kettle with cold water while allowing hot water to flow to the faucet to warm the press and mug.
  2. Place a new paper filter into the filter ring.
  3. Weigh the beans.
  4. Moisten the beans with a fingertip dipped into the warming water of the mug.
  5. Grind the beans in my hand grinder.
  6. Empty the press of warming water and place the coffee into the press.
  7. Pour hot water into the press.
  8. Stir the mixture to wet all of the grounds.
  9. Place the filter ring onto the press.
  10. Set a timer for four minutes.
  11. At the appointed time (or a little after), invert the press onto the mug and press out the newly extracted coffee.
  12. Add some cream to the coffee and top off the mug with hot water.
  13. Utter the required assent (Ahhh…).
  14. Enjoy!

I have been using an Aeropress for a number of years now. It is easy to use and cleans up far more easily than a regular press. It has another positive characteristics — it is nearly indestructible. (Hat tip to DiL.) I generally use the inverted approach instead of placing it filter ring down on top of the mug. I think I get a better brew that way.

My current grinder is a Knock Aergrind with stainless steel burrs. It is a precise grinder that can grind very fine if desired.

My current scale is a Hario I bought from The Evil Empire. (Amazon…)

With the Peet’s dark roast, I am using about 15gm of beans to make 300ml of coffee. I am currently running 200ºF water (the boiling point at my elevation is about 205F) and four minutes for extraction. This gives me a nice rich dark roast that is very tasty with a bit of heavy cream.

I am grateful for coffee. It adds quite a bit to my life. Life is good.

Sunny Girl

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The Sun shone this afternoon, so I opened the curtains in the workroom. She found a sunny spot and snoozed. Captured with the Fujifilm X-E4 and the Voigtländer 27mm f/2 at f/4 using the in-camera Reggie’s Portra 400 film simulation.

We are having a few sunny days after the wintry weekend. I do not mind the cold when the Sun is shining and it was shining yesterday afternoon.

One of the things I love about my apartment is the afternoon winter Sun on the side of my place. It warms my workroom and bedroom nicely and makes for a warm and sleepy afternoon. One of my favorite things is a winter afternoon nap with The Girl. So, I had one yesterday.

She also gave me a lovely portrait, looking over her shoulder at me with the Sun on her. I made the capture with the Fujifilm X-E4 and a Voigtländer 27mm f/2 at f/4. I used the in-camera Reggie’s Portra 400 film simulation and made a slight adjustment to exposure with Snapseed in my iPhone.

It was a good day. Life is good.

The Girl

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I caught this capture of Sera snoozing under my worktable. Capture made with Fujifilm X-E4 and Voigtländer 27mm f/2 at f/2.8 using Reggie’s Portra 400 film simulation.

The Girl is recovering from knee surgery. She ruptured her CCL (ACL in humans) on Thanksgiving Day in an encounter with a coyote. Although I did not see the animal, that is the only likely possibility given the nature of her wounds and that I saw no humans or heard no ruckus that would have accompanied a domestic canine encounter.

The vet at the emergency clinic in Reno indicated that she either had a broken leg or a ruptured CCL. Based on my observation from a couple of days earlier, I believed her to have soft tissue damage.

A subsequent visit and workup with her regular vet confirmed the diagnosis. The treatment is a surgical repair. The complication came from which procedure to use.

The traditional approach is to tie the joint together with grafted tissue and suture material and then allow scar tissue to reinforce the repair. The alternative is to cut the bone and reset the tibia plateau angle. That seems awful to me, so I elected for the simpler, less invasive approach.

So now we wait. She is moving around the house and starting to put her toe down and sometimes a little weight on the affected foot. She is recovering.

Now I am taking care of her and praying for a full recovery. I will have to manage her differently, I think. She has now had two rattlesnake and one coyote encounter. None went well. She is just one of those individuals who finds trouble. So, she will not be permitted to range out like she has. I also will not want her stressing that knee for months. I want it it have plenty of time for recovery.

She will need exercise and plenty of it. But her days or running out more far from me and getting into trouble are over, so I hope.

I am grateful for her. Life is good.

Daily Image: Ponderosa Cone 17 July 2024

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A Ponderosa Pine cone, shot with Fujifilm X-E4 with Voigtlander 27mm f/2 Ultron at F/4, SOOC.

After carrying the Sony A7Sii and three Carl Zeiss Jena manual focus lenses for several days, I decided to carry the Fujifilm X-E4, the Voigtlander 27mm f/2 manual focus lens (a pancake), and the new-to-me Lensbaby 56mm f1/2 Velvet along on walkies.

The Voigtlander is a known good performer on my Fuji cameras. It is small, light, and very good optically. It does not have the clinical performance of most modern lenses, but is a throwback to an earlier age with the Ultron optical formula. It is quite sharp in mid-frame and sharp enough at the edges, even wide open. The out of focus areas are generally lovely, with some fun bokeh when there are background highlights.

I have a few keepers from that walk even though we did not walk slowly and putter like we sometimes do. The capture above was at the end of the hike when I noticed this pine cone in the light and shadow of the surrounding Ponderosa Pines in front of the 4Runner. I played with the image a little bit although I did not move the cone.

The Girl was tired after the hike, so she laid on the ground with her water bowl captured between her front paws, enjoying the cool DG and the shade. I made the capture and we loaded up and headed home for the day.

It was good hike. I felt good. I came away with a few nice photographs. The Girl chased chipmunks. I am grateful for all these things.

Life is good.

Daily Image: 04 January 2024 — Ozark Sunrise

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With a hat tip to the hundreds of photographers who shot a sunrise through an upper-story window, this one was shot with the Fujifilm X100V using Reggie’s Portra film simulation. The f/stop was f/8.

I am still in Ozark, Missouri with Older Son and DiL. I am also still quite sick with whatever this crud is that is going around.

After being down for several days, I managed to get The Girl out for a walk yesterday and got some sun. It was not an easy walk, but it was still good to get out. I am hopeful that today will bring some sun, but it is winter so it might not be sunny.

I just need to get better. My friend (and client) Carol told me it takes a couple of weeks to get through it. She suggested I get a COVID test, but I am not sure that I care what it is. I am not sick enough to go to hospital and not showing signs of a secondary infection, so I suspect I just have to let my body do its immune system thing and suffer through it.

I am enjoying my family. Despite all of us being sick (yep), we are having fun spending time together. I cannot think of a better way to spend my time than with my family.

I noticed the sunrise a day or so ago. I decided to just shoot it through the window and let the window provide a frame.

Life is good.

Testing my Field Kit

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Boiling water with the Firebox Nano 2.0Ti and a Trangia burner. Shot with my iPhone 13Pro Max.

My Haley Strategic Flatpack Plus arrived yesterday. I bought (yet another) small tactical pack because I want to carry a few things in the field with me and a small camera bag. I want a pack that can carry the necessaries and a small QRP radio kit (if desired). I want to be able to carry a small camera bag cross body1 under the pack.

After the ham radio exam session yesterday, I came home and retrieved the pack from the parcel box. Well, that is, after getting The Girl out for a walk. It really is a small pack with an expanded capacity of about 700 cubic inches. (Flat is is closer to 100–200 cubic inches.) It has two compartments, a bladder pouch, and a small flat pouch. The latter is good for a small tarp or a flat paper map, folded (or both, I suppose).

Aside: I am a Volunteer Examiner for the American Relay Radio League. That means I am certified to proctor an amateur radio license examination and the FCC will accept the result.

I bought two of the clear top pouches, a large and a small. The inside of the pack is lined with a loop field, which means appropriately fitted pouches will affix to both the back of the pack and the inside of the large compartment top. One of these pouches will contain a set of clean clothes — shirt, undies, and socks. I will have a change of clothes. The second pouch (the small one) will catch something; I have not figured that out yet.

There is plenty of room for my small cook kit (the stove is above) so I can heat water for coffee/tea or to hydrate freeze-dried food for a hot meal. I have a small bottle to carry alcohol fuel for the Trangia burner. I will work on some of the remaining components today, but am thinking that a small medical kit (more than a boo-boo kit) to supplement my EDC pouch (cargo pocket), a small fire kit (to create warmth or cook), a small radio kit (one of my QRP rigs, plus battery and wire antenna), and cordage to put up a shelter (the tarp) will round it out. I can carry a water bottle(s) or put a small bladder in the bladder pouch.

The coffee I made by boiling water with the Firebox Nano 2.0Ti and an Aeropress. Shot with my iPhone 13Pro Max.
Last night (early this morning), I was awake so I used the stove to heat water for tea. I then decided to use it again this morning to heat water for my coffee. The little burner works fine, but might need a wind screen for the field. I have a small bag to carry makings for coffee and tea. I could add a packet or two of soup mix without adding much weight.

Today I will determine whether (or not) I can carry a small Domke camera bag cross body under the pack straps and still have access to the camera. My camera will be either the Fujifilm X100V or the X-E4 (and a spare lens or two). The cameras are really small, so the bags are small, too.

This might actually work, be reasonably light, and provide routine and light emergency capability in the field when I am hiking with Sera or playing a little radio on a remote summit or a park. I am looking forward to getting in to the field today, even if the weather is quite a bit colder than it has been.

Also, the last of the camper parts are on the way. I hope to have it repaired in a week or two and plan to get out and do some camping before the end of the year.

Sera is snoozing under my worktable. It is a welcome sound. Life is good.

1I carry camera bags and cameras (on straps) cross body because I absolutely cannot stand to have anything hanging around my neck.

Daily Image — 24 September 2023

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Captured with Fujifilm X-E4 and a Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 at f/8 using the Tri-X 400 film simulation.

I have been very busy the last week and the upcoming weeks will be no different, I expect. But, today, The Girl and I got out to walk one of my favorite trails near Spooner Summit along US50.

Soon the snow will come and walking there will be more difficult. I might buy a pair of snowshoes and learn to do that. The Girl might have to have snowshoes for doggos, too.

But this morning, the trail was lovely and the couple who got there before me were far enough ahead that it was as if I was along (with The Girl, of course) on the trail.

I carried the Fujifilm X-E4 with the Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 mounted today. That is a marvelous lens that is fast, plenty sharp, and renders out of focus areas nicely. In fact, I think I see a hint of bokeh balls in some of the images.

I often set the lens for f/8 and just run it. However, for some images I will open up the aperture to reduce the depth of field and isolate the subject a bit. But not for this image.

I really like textures. The granite of the Sierra Nevada provides plenty of subject matter. The iage is straight out of camera. #SOOC

The walk was good. I came away with a frame the pleases me. The Girl is tired (so a happy dog).

Life is good.

Daily Image — 17 September 2023

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The signs of fall are showing. Shot with Fuji X-E4 and Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 at f/2.8 with the Kodachrome 64 film simulation.

While walking The Girl in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, I noticed that the colors of the bear brush1 are changing. This started a couple of days ago. The lodgepole pines, of course, have not changed.

I can feel the difference in the air as well. Over the last couple of weeks, it is not as warm in the afternoons. Fall is coming.

I look forward to it as it is after the summer heat and we move into the cooler months. I love the weather here in the high desert. it suits me. The heat lasts only a few weeks and the remainder of the year has wonderful weather.

I enjoy being outdoors with The Girl. We have fun. Life is good.

1I am sure this brush has a formal name. I recall calling it bear brush from back when I was a kid. I think it will stick.

Daily Image — 26 August 2023

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On walkies I spotted this cart sitting in the shade. I had the Nikkor 82mm f/2 mounted on my Fuji X-E4 and made the capture. I think the shot was captured at f/2, but I did not record it. Straight from camera with the Tri-X 400 film simulation.

The caption pretty much says everything that needs to be said. One thing I will mention is that the bokeh of this lens with the subject/background distance is a little crazy in the upper right. That is not pretty.

I have a Zuiko 85mm f/2 sample in my collection. I think it should be taken for a walk and tested. My other Olympus lenses render out of focus areas well. This Nikkor does not.