I haven't posted for a while, it was a difficult time with the passing of our beloved dog, Kenny, who was about the only subject with the patience for photos and was generally just a ray of sunlight for life in general.

We'll never replace the old boy, it wouldn't be fair to ever compare one dog with another, they are are very different, but in the meantime we felt able to add another four furry feet to the household.

It snowed last week here and I was reminded how much Kenny used to love snuffling in the snow. Frankie, the young pup in these pictures seems to enjoy it just as much.


Snow Snuffling 1 by d00d0c


What is thing cold stuff landing on my nose? by d00d0c


Snow Snuffling 2 by d00d0c


Icy Stare by d00d0c

Merry Christmas to all.

Getting ready for my traditional Christmas morning walk in the woods. Good job Pentax are keen on weather sealing.

I recognise this! As soon as I’d run a couple of rolls of B&W film through a recently acquired spotmatic then I just had to have another film body for colour or low ISO B&W. Too used to the convenience of digital in this respect!

I was also tempted by looks (combined with function of course) so went for a black MX.

GAS is even worse than LBA!

This is a bit frivolous, I apologise in advance. Technically some Pentax kit is involved.

I recently took part in an online collaboration to produce a Christmas video of my other hobby, playing trombone. I left my contribution so late, i.e. the night before it was due, that I only had limited light and neither my sd-camcorder or phone were working very well. I went with using the K5iis with a Samsung D-Xenon 35mm f2 and it worked much better. Needless to say I didn't use the terrible audio from the K5iis, apart from to sync the video to the separate audio recording before deleting.

YouTube Link: link

If anyone has a recommendation for an external mic for the K5iis which works well for brass instruments I'd be keen to hear!

It's an interesting paradox to me.

We are treated to new releases of cameras and lenses which would suggest there's a fair bit of development work still going on and that there is still backing for the Pentax product line. I agree with RobL, the Japanese market and brand history are very important.

On the other hand, Pentax isn't even mentioned in the latest financial report link. The camera business within 'Other' is mentioned as having favourable sales of new products and returning to profitability which is encouraging for us Pentax users but the 'Other' segment as a whole made a loss. You have to wonder whether the challanges Ricoh must be facing in their core business may limit investment in some low volume niche areas. It must be tough for the office services and printing areas with the new wave of working at home, not to mention the global challanges of semiconductor availabiltiy, logistics and other material price rises. The same challenges may also apply to Pentax which has much less purchasing power than some competitors in the camera market.

If we continue to get great new Pentax products at sustainable prices (for customers, retailers and manufacturers) I'm more than happy for Pentax to remain a niche brand which does things slightly different to the others.

Excellent and fully representative of how I remember the Peak District at this time of year. I really like Nr3, despite the flat light you've managed to get the green moss on the stones to really pop against the red-brown leaves, but not so much that it looks synthetic. Can something look natural and otherworldy at the same time?

Sorry to hear of some bad experiences here.

My own personal experiences of buying photography kit and large musical instruments on eBay has been mostly excellent. I’m in the EU and have bought from the EU, UK, USA, Japan and elsewhere without any huge surprises on the import charges. It may have some disadvantages but the eBay global shipping programme (GSP) gives some idea of the import charges before purchasing and also means the taxes etc. are handled by eBay so things generally don’t get held up for ages in customs.

For non-EU eBay items not sold through GSP, I always bid on the assumption that about 25% tax will be charged. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised and it is less or waived, if under a threshold. It’s unfortunate that taxes are also payable on used items from outside the EU so although I may bid on such items my budget is lower and ultimately I ‘win’ less items than if I didn’t have to consider tax.

For non-eBay cards and small gifts from the UK I’ve never yet been charged, perhaps this is handled differently in each EU country but in Germany there seems to be a common sense approach (surprising for a German authority, this is not always the case).

As a seller, I’ve sold mainly trombones and accessories nationally and internationally on eBay. I’ve always taken care to fill out the customs forms correctly and so far had no problems at all. It was a bit of a pain the first couple of times but now I’ve got it figured out and it only takes a couple of minutes. I actually quite like the recent changes to the payment system where all payments are handled through eBay and are released within a couple of days of payment. Before, I sometimes had to wait for weeks until items had been delivered in the destination country. As for eBay seller fees, I mostly sell during eBay seller offers which are pretty generous, the last few items I sold cost practically nothing in fees. I’ve been able to sell items internationally at a much better price than I could get locally so even with seller fees, I would end up with more money in my pocket than selling in the local classified ads. Some sellers have a concern that the eBay rules are perceived to favour buyers in case of a dispute so I always take care to photograph items as I pack them with a copy of the postage label and package everything well just in case. I only send items with insured postage. There may still be the chance of being scammed but I feel the risk is low enough to justify the better selling prices. If you sell enough items, you can take the attitude that the risk is priced in to the selling price and you are self-insuring against scammers.

A bit more competition to eBay would be nice, there’s always Amazon marketplace and some product-specific ones e.g. Vinted. Is there any suggestion that eBay is actively limiting competition rather than just being very successful at what they do?

Thanks for the kind comments.

I’m happy to find any excuse to drop in to the library or market hall. I’ve got some Ilford Delta on order and am looking forward to getting out and about with it soon.

All excellent, I also enjoyed the bandstand, in particular with the light coming through the trees. I spent a lot of times playing with brass bands and jazz bands on bandstands so it has a big sentimental draw for me also.

Here are a couple of shots from my favourite places in and around Stuttgart plus a few other random ones thrown in (and of course one of the dog!). All are from my second attempt at film photography with a Spotmatic, this time with Ilford HP5 Plus film, scanned with an Epson V330. There's a mix of lenses, some 28mm/2.0 Soligor, some Super-Takumar 55mm/1.8 and some Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 120mm/2.8.

Japanese Garden in Bietigheim-Bissingen

Japanese Garden Bi-Bi by d00d0c, on Flickr

Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart

[/url]Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart Nr.6 by d00d0c, on Flickr]link

Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart

Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart Nr.3 by d00d0c, on Flickr

Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart

[/url]Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart Nr.2 by d00d0c, on Flickr]link

the "new" palace

[/url]Stuttgarter Riesenrad Nr.2 by d00d0c, on Flickr]link

Market hall

[/url]Stuttgarter Markthalle Nr.2 by d00d0c, on Flickr]link

Market hall - favouite deli stand
Market hall[/b]]
Stuttgarter Markthalle Nr.8 by d00d0c, on Flickr

Market hall - original tram tracks

[/url]Stuttgarter Markthalle Nr.11 by d00d0c, on Flickr]link

Market hall - mirror

[/url]Stuttgarter Markthalle Nr.9 by d00d0c, on Flickr]link

Kenny the Dachsador, awake for a change

[/url]B&W Autumn Kenny by d00d0c, on Flickr]link

There's a few more here from the same roll
link

C&C welcome as always.