The end of a long and good relationship is always painful. Velvia 50 (RVP 50) has now officially reached its end of life and is replaced worldwide by Velvia 100 and 100F. For those who would like to extend it a little more we have added Velvia 50 in all formats to the selection. There is no further manufacturing, expect sudden unavailability when stocks have finally depleted.
This is the 7:38 to Ueno
The weather in Ueno is fine, 21 degrees with a light south-westerly wind.
We hope you will enjoy the time on board.One of the great things about Japan is that people worry about carrying around babies, but nobody raises an eyebrow about other weird stuff.
A first taste of summer
The first umbrellas and gloves, people waiting to cross the streets stay in the shadows. The humming of air-conditioners, humidity. Salarymen with their jackets taken off.Time to buy more sleeveless shirts.
Family 5.5.05
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Family on 5th May 2005
Not many updates on this site as family life keeps us busy at home.
This photo was taken on the 5th of May, Children’s Day in Japan. I was not really sure when I would use the large format camera again, but I thought it is time for a good family portrait, so we went down for a walk, me lugging the big camera around. Fortunately we did not get far, since Theobald was crying a lot. Well, suffice to say, this ain’t no point & shoot camera. Fortunately I had not forgotten how to use it and took this within a few minutes in front of our block of flats. Once more lucky with the focus, but camera should have been placed a little higher. I am actually looking down on it, which is a little weird. Works OK for the Japanese folks though, so chest height may be the way to go.
Looking at photos like these, it becomes a little clearer to me what this camera should perhaps get used for. There is a certain grandeur to the images it produces, which in a way is matched by the effort. Maybe this is totally subjective. Either way, I am rather happy with this photo. I also like the remote release and the cable running from my hand. A while ago I bought a box of Velvia 50 and shot one on it too, it is still at the lab. Would not be surprised if this would look better in colour.
iPhoto means convenience
I know some of you are very skeptical when I talk about Mac stuff, but here is something I just needed to share.
The other day I was poking around in iPhoto, and there are these buttons on the bottom which I thought are just for “clueless people†to do something really obvious. One of those buttons is Order Prints. I clicked on it to see what happens and >>> fast forward >>> two days later I have a set of fine Fuji prints in my letterbox, at 35 yen each (same as at the photo shops – minus points) and 200 yen for postage. The interface is simple, but allows you to make your choices of size and quantities quick and efficiently. And in any language you are running on at that moment. Another cool feature is that you can specify a delivery address other than your own – perfect to get baby pics to everyone in the family without fuss.
Anyway, I am very impressed by the cost, speed and ease of this. If you have a Mac and iPhoto, try and see it for yourself. It is how it should be. I will try black and white stuff and the photo books next.
Policy change – low order fee
After experiencing a series of low value orders, I felt I needed to introduce a low order fee of Y500 for orders under Y2000. Low value orders are extremely cost-inefficient to process and a low order fee will allow to keep the price of low-value products unchanged. The Shipping & Returns page was updated accordingly.
German Streets
Photo by Ferdinand Glockner/Stadt-Licht
Some enjoyable street photography from Germany, Munich to be precise. Even dares to feature the Oktoberfest, avoiding the clichés. Best German-based material I have seen to date.
Well worth a visit.