[UncleVanya]

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The photography related things:

A very clean used copy of, “Beyond the zone system” by Phil Davis.

A mint used Sony A7RII body, a mint used Sony FE 28mm lens, a mint used Sony FE 85 f1.8, and a loaner Sony 24-105 f4 (also mint).

[aslyfox]

I forgot to give credit

@grzesiek was the member who posted notice of the sale at Amazon for the D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro WR @ $ 340.99

it is very nice ( and tempting ) when members post notice of sale prices

[RoxnDox]

A ShotBox light box to upgrade for the macro subjects, with some accessories. A LensBall glass sphere to play with. Lots of sugary sweets, a few books, some T-shirts, bits & pieces. A great day all in all.

[azappraiser]

I got a new K-70 and a "new to me" SMC Pentax-DA 14mm F2.8 ED [IF] Wide Angle lens. Also had a few B&H Wish list items in my stocking. I was a very good boy this year.

[dbs]

I bought a KP battery grip.... it arrived a bit before xmas.... wife wanted to wrap it.... I wanted to use it.... so I did a bad thing.

I put something else in the box before handing it over.... so.... now that I have done my confession (in this pentax holy forum).... all is good again karma wise.... as I understand it.

Tut tut Noel

You better make 3 pizzas for the troops.......... yeh that should do it ...



Dave

[Riggomatic]

An INNOREL low profile ball head.
Very impressed with the quality. Holds the K1 and DA 300 steady at all angles.

[BigMackCam]

I'm late to this thread

We don't exchange a lot of gifts at Christmas in my family these days... We tend to give each other one or two small, token gifts, and focus mostly on time together and eating / drinking well

Still, despite my best efforts to convince my folks that I already have everything I need and most of what I could realistically want, I still had some things to open on the day:

- Merkur 15c open comb safety razor
- Omega 10049 hog bristle shaving brush
- 3 x Arko shaving soaps
- Books:
"Now We Shall Be Entirely Free" by Andrew Miller
"Redemption" by David Baldacci
- Two bottles of good red wine
- Too many chocolates (Hotel Chocolat, Green & Black's etc.)
- Various other bits 'n' pieces

Plus, as a gift to myself I bought a new smartphone with better photography capabilities than my old one... a Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro 6GB/128GB. I'm awaiting a new nano SIM card from my provider (my old phone had a micro SIM), so I've only been able to use it on wifi thus far, but it's an impressive device with remarkably good photographic capabilities considering the modest price

[UncleVanya]

I'm late to this thread

We don't exchange a lot of gifts at Christmas in my family these days... We tend to give each other one or two small, token gifts, and focus mostly on time together and eating / drinking well

We don’t go nuts either, the Sony gear is an aberration. My dad has been without money for a long time has had a windfall and decided to spend some of it on me since he hasn’t been able to provide much for many many years. I’ve told him repeatedly I don’t need anything. But he won’t listen. Now I have a Sony and a couple of lenses...

[BigMackCam]

We don’t go nuts either, the Sony gear is an aberration. My dad has been without money for a long time has had a windfall and decided to spend some of it on me since he hasn’t been able to provide much for many many years. I’ve told him repeatedly I don’t need anything. But he won’t listen. Now I have a Sony and a couple of lenses...

It's a wonderful gesture from your father, Brad, and I'm sure it means a lot to him that he was able to treat you to something special

How are you getting on with the camera? It's a fantastic bit of kit, but a quite different experience than a Pentax DSLR, eh?

[UncleVanya]

It's a wonderful gesture from your father, Brad, and I'm sure it means a lot to him that he was able to treat you to something special

How are you getting on with the camera? It's a fantastic bit of kit, but a quite different experience than a Pentax DSLR, eh?

I love my dad, but he is impulsive. It is sweet of him to try to do this. I think it was predicated on the discussion of the monster adapter I had with him.

As far as the gear, I finally took it out with me on a “photo adventure” yesterday. All the previous use was in my house. Covid-19 response here in my area doesn’t have us in full lock down so we were able to do some responsible travel to a favorite winery where they have a massive covered area with about six tables open to the wind. They added a few heaters and serve their fabulous brick oven pizza there. We had a chilly (barely 50f with mild wind) lunch with fantastic food. Then later went to another winery we know that has multiple outdoor spaces to be socially distant. We timed it late in the day after the crowds were gone. At this location I got a chance to use the camera for some afterglow shots as well as some other shots. My unfamiliarity with the gear was evident however, first I pulled it out and it wouldn’t autofocus. Menu diving confirmed what I suspected... I had switched the focus mode to manual focus! Then I took a bunch of shots only to realize it was set for jpg only where I’m typically a raw + jpg guy. (I had set it to jpg only while doing testing of adapted lenses for coverage verification - no need to dump huge raw files onto the sd card for that!)

I plan to post some shots after I review them today.

Overall the experience was good. I really liked the A7RII with the FE 28 f2 and FE 85 f1.8. Interestingly, I didn’t pull the 24-105 f4 out of the bag. I like the optics of that lens, but I wanted the faster aperture and smaller size/weight of the prime lenses. This was even more important as I took only one lens out at a time - leaving the rest of the gear in the car trunk.

[jpzk]

Christmas was quiet ... very quiet, mostly for reasons related to the COVID.

Couldn't see our children who are all over the country from one ocean to the other but at least we could use Messenger and had a few virtual visits. All is well for them and the grand children and that's what counts, right ?
For us, this year, Christmas has also been a time when we reflected on how lucky we are to be (still) healthy and enjoy each other, my wife and I, for the past 41 years. And that's another "gift".

Happy to see that lots of people here were spoiled with some photographic gear ... I hope you'll enjoy!

Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!

Cheers!

[Benz3ne]

I love my dad, but he is impulsive. It is sweet of him to try to do this. I think it was predicated on the discussion of the monster adapter I had with him.

As far as the gear, I finally took it out with me on a “photo adventure” yesterday. All the previous use was in my house. Covid-19 response here in my area doesn’t have us in full lock down so we were able to do some responsible travel to a favorite winery where they have a massive covered area with about six tables open to the wind. They added a few heaters and serve their fabulous brick oven pizza there. We had a chilly (barely 50f with mild wind) lunch with fantastic food. Then later went to another winery we know that has multiple outdoor spaces to be socially distant. We timed it late in the day after the crowds were gone. At this location I got a chance to use the camera for some afterglow shots as well as some other shots. My unfamiliarity with the gear was evident however, first I pulled it out and it wouldn’t autofocus. Menu diving confirmed what I suspected... I had switched the focus mode to manual focus! Then I took a bunch of shots only to realize it was set for jpg only where I’m typically a raw + jpg guy. (I had set it to jpg only while doing testing of adapted lenses for coverage verification - no need to dump huge raw files onto the sd card for that!)

I plan to post some shots after I review them today.

Overall the experience was good. I really liked the A7RII with the FE 28 f2 and FE 85 f1.8. Interestingly, I didn’t pull the 24-105 f4 out of the bag. I like the optics of that lens, but I wanted the faster aperture and smaller size/weight of the prime lenses. This was even more important as I took only one lens out at a time - leaving the rest of the gear in the car trunk.

I’ll be having a look out for your FE85/1.8 photos very interested in that lens...

[Benz3ne]

I'm late to this thread

We don't exchange a lot of gifts at Christmas in my family these days... We tend to give each other one or two small, token gifts, and focus mostly on time together and eating / drinking well

Still, despite my best efforts to convince my folks that I already have everything I need and most of what I could realistically want, I still had some things to open on the day:

- Merkur 15c open comb safety razor
- Omega 10049 hog bristle shaving brush
- 3 x Arko shaving soaps
- Books:
"Now We Shall Be Entirely Free" by Andrew Miller
"Redemption" by David Baldacci
- Two bottles of good red wine
- Too many chocolates (Hotel Chocolat, Green & Black's etc.)
- Various other bits 'n' pieces

Plus, as a gift to myself I bought a new smartphone with better photography capabilities than my old one... a Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro 6GB/128GB. I'm awaiting a new nano SIM card from my provider (my old phone had a micro SIM), so I've only been able to use it on wifi thus far, but it's an impressive device with remarkably good photographic capabilities considering the modest price

Excellent choices of shaving gear.
I’m enjoying a RazoRock Gamechanger personally, coupled with signature soaps ‘Capra’ hybrid soap and a Brad Sears Shave Works ‘chubby’. 😁

[UncleVanya]

I’ll be having a look out for your FE85/1.8 photos very interested in that lens...

I will be posting some today on my Flickr and possibly here.
Most are not of people so if you were looking for that I may not have much today.

Flickr album of adapted lenses so far:
Sony A7RII adapted lenses | Flickr

[ffking]

Nothing for Christmas, but a copy of Bystander (A history of street photography) by Colin Sestenbeck and Joel Meyerowitz for our wedding anniversary today (28 Dec)