In the TV show Dawson’s Creek, walking the dog is a euphemism for masturbation. As such, I always feel nervous using the phrase – in case anyone else makes the same connection.

Third wander with the X-Pro1. I think I’m getting used to the parallax distortion between the lens and viewfinder. The good thing about a rangefinder is the focus point is 1:1, so if you’re looking at it and it’s in focus, it’s in focus. On the X-Pro1, there’s an AF parallax correction option (which I fully recommend using if you get this camera) which indicates where the AF actually focuses (and changes the image frame estimate in the OVF). This can be backed up by an AF distance meter for your peace of mind. Not ideal, but workable once you cotton on to what it’s doing (there’s no mention of this in the instructions).

Dan and I also took a gamble on Visual Supply Co’s film presets for Aperture 3. I’ve not really had good experiences with presets in general, but I really like the way these make photos look. Very natural, and all based on Aperture’s own preset engine so fits nicely into a workflow. I’m pleased with the results of this processing on JPEGs. Looking forward to Aperture updating for compatibility with the X-Pro1. In the mean time, I may have to capture some RAWs with the D700 to test drive these.

Waffle waffle.

I’m not bowing out just yet, but I probably will. My lust for a Leica only has a single grounding in photography now – the colours. The sensor produces such vivid colours (when the white balance doesn’t fuck up) and great contrast, it’s almost obscene, really.

Having said that, the rangefinder method of focussing just doesn’t sit with me. It might betray poor eye-sight that I don’t know about, but the tiny little rectangle is way too small for me to be able to use as a basis for producing a sharp image. It’s also next to useless with repeating patterns like hair. Even in a decent control environment, the images produced when I’m satisfied that images overlap are nowhere near as sharp as the D700. So if I can’t produce sharp images on a still target with all the time in the world, I can’t really imagine I’ll be effective in the real world. Did notice some improvements this afternoon, so there may be hope yet, but not enough so far.

Shame, really. I’ve heard so much about these cameras just getting out of the way and letting you shoot, but all it’s done so far is stand in the way and make me miss things that the D700 would have captured easily.

The Asgrims are James, Hannah, Freyja and Kali and they’re all awesome. Spent a lovely afternoon wandering round Southampton Common in the sun with them. I highly recommend it.

It’s become an infrequent ritual to go dog-walking on a Sunday morning with Gareth, Jim and their dog Maggie. Maggie is an excellent dog.

Some people like to relax the day before the spend a whole weekend riding a fixed gear bike around one of the hilliest towns in England. Not me, though. I go on ten mile walks with my family.

In semi-related news; I want an alpaca now please. Do they need a lot of space? Could one live in my garden?

I’ve completely changed the way I shoot in the last couple of weeks, and I really like it. I changed to black and white RAW which means my camera only shows black and white previews, but I still get full colour RAWs. I also switched to aperture priority with maximum ISO of 6400 (because I can) and minimum shutter of 1/50s. Metering is either spot or centre-weighted. So far, I haven’t had a single crappy exposure from it, and I spend a lot less time setting up my camera to take a photo. I’m pretty pleased about this because I’ve missed so many opportunities tweaking my exposure.

Having black and white previews also cuts chimping back (the photo won’t be representative of what comes back, I just use it to check the exposure now and once I trust aperture priority a bit more, I’ll hopefully stop all together).