Old 135mm Nikkor

Among the many interesting objects my brother had left me (which included a casket of bullets) when he finished his 2-year studies in the U.S., one was a 135mm Nikkor. It stayed in my storage for a long long time. Since it still felt like my brother's stuff, I never thought of using it. Today while I was lamenting how Nikon's lenses felt "cheap and plastic" compared to the Zeiss, I remembered this old Nikkor. I took it out from its now dusty pouch. To my surprise, the lens was better crafted than the new Nikkors I own, and even after 20 years of no use, the focus barrel was butter smooth, just like my Zeiss. I put it side by side with my Zeiss 35mm and they looked like twins.

135mm Nikkor next to the 35mm Zeiss Zf.2.

The truly amazing thing is, since Nikon hasn't change their F-mount since the 70s, I can still use it with my D3X. I couldn't resist seeing how it performed. I took a few test shots. The first thing I noticed was it had a minimal focusing distance of 5-6 feet, a bit too long compared to a modern designed lens. The focus ring worked perfectly, as expected. The test images looked good on my D3X LCD but when I viewed them on my laptop, I could see the colors were dull. (To be fair, the lens needed to be sent back to Nikon to be cleaned up. I saw some mildew inside. I remembered that's why my brother gave it to me.) It's still usable, but does seem to show its age. Now I feel better about my newer, but uglier, Nikkors. Technology does improve the lens designs, you just have to tolerate their outlooks.

Test shot  taken with the 135mm Nikkor. The backward compatibility of Nikon F-mount is amazing. 

Bye Bye Droid 2, Hello Razr Maxx

My Droid 2 went through a slow and painful (to me) dying process and had since become a zombie (it would still ring when someone called me but I couldn't use the phone). Yesterday I finally got it replaced by a Motorola Razr Maxx. Frankly speaking, after my Droid 2 experience (my second one already since the first one also got some touchscreen problem), I was really hesitant to get another Motorola phone. But none of the other android phones in the store looked satisfactory. HTC was too thick and the battery felt hot in my hand. Samsung was too heavy. LG was not appealing. I only liked the design of Motorola Razr but the sales lady told me the battery life was not good so I settled on the Razr Maxx (standby time is 15 days). 

So far it seemed to be ok. However, I already noticed the screen was not made of glass (that's why the phone was so light) so I had a ghost armor installed. (No need for my Droid 2 since it was using Gorilla glass.) The built-in camera has a 50mm focal length instead of the 35mm I like (as on my Droid 2), less useful for me but probably better for most people. The unexpected benefit was since Verizon had upgraded their network to 4G so I got upgraded to a 4G network automatically. Let's see how it goes. At least now downloading my kindle books is faster.

So Many Books, So Little Space (Lament of a Book Addict)

My home has looked more and more like an overstocked second hand bookstore. If I don't do something about it, soon even my cat Miti will not have space to live. After recognizing how serious the situation is I decide to issue a house rule for my book buying habit:

The number of physical books I buy every week has to be less than the number of books I give away or sell to second hand bookstore.

That is, the input has to be less than the output, until the situation is under control.

(OK, eBooks don't have to follow this rule.)

I hope it will be easier than losing weight...

Down to the Beach (Garrapata State Park)

As expected, Amazon was not able to deliver my D800E on time. The waiting will be long (some said 6 months). Right now the only thing I can do is to make best use of the time to practice. D800E will demand my best skill. Unfortunately too much easy shooting with X100 has made me forget a lot of things. It's time to start with a beginner's mind.

Looking at Santa Lucia Mountain from a highway lookout, I would drive past it soon. (X100)

According to fitbit, I climbed 42 floors today. To think that I carried my D3X to climb 42 floors really made me proud of myself.

Looking at Santa Lucia Mountain from the beach.

The warm light of the magic moment.

It's the first time I tried 50mm for landscape photography. To my surprise, it worked well.

All other people had left. I was alone on the beach. 

Last shot of the day. More practices are needed before my D800E arrives.

A Restaurant with a View (Phoenix in Big Sur)

Will you drive 120 miles to dine here? (My answer is yes.)

The Phoenix statue in the yard.

Customers enjoying the view.

My original plan was to have a cup of coffee here before I headed home. Turned out the cafe was closed. 

Point Lobos

A pretty dreary day, so is my photo.

Heading to Big Sur

A Cat with Attitude

Japanese Maple in Spring

Anything New, Your Cat Will Know

My friend Chinchih had been taking sewing lessons recently and today I got a new pillow case from her. It had a lovely moose pattern and felt very Christmas. After putting it on, I went out to have a cup of coffee and decided to take a nap afterward. To my surprise, Miti, who usually took her nap on the comforter and showed no interest in my pillow, had gone ahead and claimed her "new territory". She liked the pillow case so much that I decided to let her have a nap first. Now I wonder if there's anything in the household that my cat doesn't know...

P.S. Hadn't been playing with my D3X for a while, I almost forgot how to use it. I definitely need to get my skill back before the D800E arrives.

Déjà vu

Wow, now I know who is the perfect actress to play Zora Hurston - Queen Latifah!

April is the National Poetry Month, Adopt a Poet

Whom have you adopted?

New Prints of Philip K Dick

Finally, Philip K. Dick novels get a face lift that was long overdue. The books are redesigned and reprinted (no more blurred letters any more, yes). Also gone are those flashy covers. Dick classics such as "Ubik" and "The Man in The High Castle" can now easily be found in a small bookstore.

A Fun Book - and Some Very "Blind" Answers

A Dali Afternoon