Three more images from yesterday's trip to the Halde Hoheward. You know, since I wasn't so sure about this whole focusing thing with the Monochrom, I took my M as well and decided to process them in color. 😏

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I did some testing with the Monochrom and a tripod today. Turns out it doesn't work at all with my 50 mm: The rangefinder is completely out of whack. (I basically have to intentionally miss focus to get sharp images.) That's no fun. The Mono works with my 35 mm and the 28 mm, at least at close range, tested up to ~8 meters. Nearing infinity, the alignment is also off. This is pretty frustrating, to be honest, and nothing I've ever experienced with my M10-P. Glad it's only a loaner! 🙃

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Took the family to Halde Hoheward today. They were not too pleased with the incline from the parking lot, but in the end I think they enjoyed our little hike nonetheless. (I didn't think it was that far, when I looked at the map at home. Should have brought some snacks!)...

Of this church, only the spire is still standing. The rest has been demolished recently. I took a picture of it before.

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Took the image yesterday, and since it is raining cats and dogs today, I might not be able to get outside to shoot something else.

Someone went all out for Halloween. The guy told me, it took him and a couple of friends two days to set up the spectacle along this alleyway. The kids were a little freaked out by all the sound effects, but they collected lots of candy so they were happy.

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Early morning Gruga walk.

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I don't think I've mentioned yet that I am also testing the 28mm Summicron ASPH., which has a minimum focusing distance of only 0.4m (instead of the typical 0.7m). You obviously can't use the rangefinder to focus this close, so you have to rely on the display. I find this pretty difficult (or maybe I'm just not used to it). Also: focus peaking isn't that great in certain lighting situations, especially if it is dark. In a pinch, it's nice to have that option, though.

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Today at kindergarten, we made a friendly ghost lantern.

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No dedicated photography time just now. I hope I'll manage to find some time on the weekend! 🤞

This was more of a test shot, but I didn't get much else today, so… I need to get used to exposing for the highlights with the Monochrom, almost to an extreme. There's no recovery in the highlights whatsoever.

I was pretty lucky today: Every time I used my bike, there was no rain! (I am sure me typing this will jinx it for the rest of the year.) In the afternoon we had a pretty heavy hailstorm. I sprinted up to the attic to close all the windows – after grabbing my camera of course. You can see the build-up in the first photo above. Spent the afternoon working at the kitchen table and drawing cute little capybaras with the girls.

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Finally the rain took a break, so the little and I one went outside for a walk – which became longer and longer, and we even ended up going to Gruga.

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BTW, the irony is not lost on me that I am taking a black and white only camera to a park with vibrant fall colors everywhere.

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It was raining all day, so I only got to take photographs inside the house today.

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A couple of random thoughts/first impressions about the M11 Monochrom:

• It feels a bit lighter than my M10-P
• I like the rough surface texture of the camera body
• Removing the battery to get to the memory card feels weird, but it is pretty much the same effort as removing the bottom plate
• Having 60 megapixels available is amazing, as it allows for some extensive cropping, which might come in handy in certain situations
• It will take some time to get used to the shutter opening when I turn on the camera
• I love that there is even less decision making involved when it comes to post processing (it is already b/w, duh, no color mixer, etc.)
• ISO 25,000 is actually usable 🤯 (I need to test this further, but it compares to 6,400 on my M10-P)

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Last day at the riding school. Really proud the girls made it through the whole week. Very long days, they were very exhausted. But they are happy and want to go back as soon as possible. 🙂

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In other news: The package I was talking about the other day? It arrived, and I shot the above image with it. (Press M to see the meta data. 😉) Very excited to put this camera through its paces for the next couple of weeks before I have to send it back.

I am so glad my regular daily commute does not involve a car. One week of driving to Mülheim and back twice a day is enough for another year at least! (Photo taken on the Autobahn while patiently waiting during a traffic jam at 9 am. 🙄)

Not feeling so well today. Had this infection coming on for a couple of days now. Photo taken while getting the kids.

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Expecting an exciting package in the mail tomorrow!

Second day at riding school. The girls had fun despite the atrocious weather. Caught this guy while waiting for them to finish up for the day. He was wary of the rain, too.

First images with the new lens. Had a couple of minutes to take some pictures, when we picked up the girls from the riding school. (They were really exhausted after a long day. I hope they want to return tomorrow, because it is all paid in advance – and not cheap, to say the least. 🤞)

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New lens, who dis? Welcome to the family! Got the XF 23mm F/2.8 R WR ahead of its release date in December as an open box deal and I will put it through its paces over the next couple of weeks. I love the 27mm pancake for its size, not so much its focal length. This 35mm (in full frame terms) is what I am most comfortable shooting with, so the combination of size, weight and focal length make this new 23 pretty ideal for everyday carry in my book. I'll keep you updated.

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Finishing the thought about my 25th high school reunion from yesterday: Like the last time we met four years ago (not five due to COVID), I did not take any images! 🙈 I am just too absorbed in conversations and don't want to break the flow, if that makes sense. We took a couple of selfies with our phones though, but those are not for sharing. 🙂

Observing autumn colors. (This post is a bit late, but with good reason. I went to my 25th high school reunion and came home quite late…)

Dampfnudeln (lit. 'steam noodle') is my favorite dish my grandma prepared a couple of times per year. The whole family would gather for this, and there was enough for everyone to take a couple of dumplings home for the next day. Great memories! Today my mom made them, and my kids had them for the first time.

Got nothing today, besides some wet leaves I thought looked kinda interesting. Maybe the weekend will bring more interesting subjects.

It's autumn break right now, so the kids are home and we need to find things to do, e.g., sorting out the junk drawer – which created a new spot to play hide and seek.

There's always something important that must be done – e.g. climbing the door frame – right when we urgently need to leave. 🤷‍♂️🙂

Found a couple more images from yesterday that I like. We also recreated the image from two days ago with yet another Kugel fountain. 🙂

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Finally out photographing again. Went to Mülheim's MüGa park and surrounding area with Daniel. We also visited the camera obscura – the biggest in the world apparently. Unfortunately it was quite overcast and late in the day so the image was not super bright. Still amazing to see! I'll definitely return with the kids.

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Kugel fountain – I never knew the name of these fountains, until I looked it up just now. Funny, as "Kugel" is German for ball/sphere/orb. I think there is at least one more here in Essen besides this one. Maybe I should add them to the Wikipedia page. 🤔

Observing more color during my early morning Gruga walk.

Observing color.

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Golden light. Image from yesterday, but I like it. Even though I hate posting color images after a long black and white streak – 56 days after all!

Walked a different route than usual and came across this bouquet vending machine.

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I needed a calm evening walk after attending a kids' birthday party earlier today – which was quite, well… not calm. The little one still wants me or her mom to be around for some of these occasions, so that's what I was doing. Brought my laptop and at least was able to get a bit of work done while she was playing and eating cake. 🙂

Love that my kids (probably most kids) are constantly creating new things. A painting yesterday, a necklace from a gift ribbon today, an aquarium out of a cardboard box tomorrow. I wish for them that they will never stop creating.

Only went outside for a short walk with the girls today.