July 2022 - Favourite uploads

[VbFolly]

Well, it's already the 18th, and it doesn't look like anyone has started a Favourite Uploads thread yet this month. Here's a series of photos of leaf-cutter bees I've taken in my garden over the last couple of weeks.

 

 

 

 

[NYCat]

Wonderful. They look so furry.

 

Paulette

[VbFolly]

1 hour ago, NYCat said:

Wonderful. They look so furry.

 

Paulette

Thanks, Paulette. Yes, they are quite cute!

[John Mitchell]

No bees here, just leaves -- two recently uploaded plant images shot in our yard.

 

Hosta leaves

 

 

Maidenhair fern fronds

 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by John Mitchell

[John Mitchell]

double post -- deleted by me

Edited July 21, 2022 by John Mitchell

[VbFolly]

Very healthy-looking hosta leaves there, John. Mine always have slug or snail damage!

[Dave Richards]

From a brief excursion into town. People enjoying the lovely summer weather in the grounds of the Natural History Museum.

 

[spacecadet]

On 18/07/2022 at 17:17, VbFolly said:

Well, it's already the 18th, and it doesn't look like anyone has started a Favourite Uploads thread yet this month. Here's a series of photos of leaf-cutter bees I've taken in my garden over the last couple of weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wish we had some of them- help with the gardening, or as I prefer to call it, demolition.

[VbFolly]

9 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Wish we had some of them- help with the gardening, or as I prefer to call it, demolition.

Haha. Actually they were taking chunks out of the weeds, so quite helpful!

[Steve Hyde]

Continuing the plant theme. Here’s a picture of a local Rhyne I walked over on my way to the pub last week. It’s usually a home to lots of wildlife including Herons and Kingfishers. It’s currently covered in Floating Pennywort. A non native invasive weed in the UK. Initially it was sold as a pond plant over here although it’s sale has been banned since 2014. Amazing what you learn whilst keywording. The other image is the first pint, that night, once I got to the pub 🙂
 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Steve Hyde

[John Mitchell]

11 hours ago, VbFolly said:

Very healthy-looking hosta leaves there, John. Mine always have slug or snail damage!

 

Our slugs seem to have gone on holiday this year.

[Ed Rooney]

 

Maybe slugs don't like the heat -- they get sluggish.

[sb photos]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Our slugs seem to have gone on holiday this year.

 

Not ours, I usually find half a dozen or so early in the morning in the garden when I'm on patrol with a putty knife. They don't bother us again.

[John Mitchell]

30 minutes ago, sb photos said:

 

Not ours, I usually find half a dozen or so early in the morning in the garden when I'm on patrol with a putty knife. They don't bother us again.

 

Would you like a recipe for slugargot? 🐌

[John Mitchell]

Just to keep the July plant thing alive -- no slugs here either, just worts.

 

St. John's Wort

 

 

[Bryan]

A collection of my old film cameras, I recall paying £25 for the Rolleicord back in the 1970s. Their existence is threatened, space required for toys for grandchildren etc, I'm fighting a rear-guard action.

 

[sb photos]

I've owned 4 TLR's, a used Yashicamat, a new all black, the last made, Yashicamat. Also a Mamiya C220 and C330. I still have the C220 with 55mm, 80mm and 135mm lenses  tucked away somewhere.

[John Mitchell]

9 hours ago, Bryan said:

A collection of my old film cameras, I recall paying £25 for the Rolleicord back in the 1970s. Their existence is threatened, space required for toys for grandchildren etc, I'm fighting a rear-guard action.

 

 

Nice collection. Keep up the resistance. I think it's brilliant that you're still using old Pentax lenses on your Sony cameras.

 

My old manual focus lenses still see some action as well. Two of the plant images (the ferns and St John's Wart) posted above were taken with a Minolta MD 50mm lens and extension tubes. I really like it for closeups and macro.

[Bryan]

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Nice collection. Keep up the resistance. I think it's brilliant that you're still using old Pentax lenses on your Sony cameras.

 

My old manual focus lenses still see some action as well. Two of the plant images (the ferns and St John's Wart) posted above were taken with a Minolta MD 50mm lens and extension tubes. I really like it for closeups and macro.

 

Yes that St John's Wort shot looks to be super sharp !

 

Re using old lenses, I've got used to the idea that when I take a photo, and where appropriate, it will be sharp from corner to corner, and the old full frame fixed focal length lenses generally deliver - plus I enjoy playing with the controls ! 

 

I could never justify the cost of a film Leica, but the wonderfully compact Sony a6500 with its excellent EVF and a bag full of good lenses is some compensation.

[John Mitchell]

8 hours ago, Bryan said:

 

Yes that St John's Wort shot looks to be super sharp !

 

Re using old lenses, I've got used to the idea that when I take a photo, and where appropriate, it will be sharp from corner to corner, and the old full frame fixed focal length lenses generally deliver - plus I enjoy playing with the controls ! 

 

I could never justify the cost of a film Leica, but the wonderfully compact Sony a6500 with its excellent EVF and a bag full of good lenses is some compensation.

 

Yes, the MInolta 50mm lens (f /1.7) is nice and sharp. Also, images have a pleasing look and feel to them, I find. They must have used different coatings back in the good old days. Minolta reportedly made some of Leica's lenses back in the 70's and 80's.

[Bryan]

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Yes, the MInolta 50mm lens (f /1.7) is nice and sharp. Also, images have a pleasing look and feel to them, I find. They must have used different coatings back in the good old days. Minolta reportedly made some of Leica's lenses back in the 70's and 80's.

I recall the reviews that the Amateur Photographer magazine used to carry out on film cameras and they always included an in depth assessment of the so called 50mm standard lens that came bundled with the camera. I guess that the manufacturers tried just a bit harder to get their 50s just right, or maybe it was an easy focal length to work with, as I have never encountered a bad one having sampled a number of Pentax, Olympus and one Canon product.

 

The Olympus 50 F1.8 is razor sharp but doesn't have the contrast of the Pentax f1.7, which is sometimes a good thing, reducing blown highlights and black shadows.  It's a lens that always finds its way into my camera bag. I also have the f1.4 versions but they are heavier and more bulky than their "lesser" cousins, and are no better at f8, which is where they are most used.

[Harry Harrison]

55 minutes ago, Bryan said:

they always included an in depth assessment of the so called 50mm standard lens that came bundled with the camera.

For many years this meant photographing HMS Belfast from the roof of the AP offices on the other side of the Thames. Actually quite a useful test, you could certainly pick out the bad ones.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Harry Harrison

[geogphotos]

[geogphotos]

 

Thought to be Bristol 170 Freighter Wayfarer MK21 ( could be MK 31 - not sure)

 

Iberia at Majorca 1958

[Michael Ventura]

1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

I remember stopping at Pavesi food/rest stops in Italy, as a kid traveling with my family, I have not seen them in more recent years, only AutoGrill.  Is Pavesi gone?