When I got my D300 and the Tamron 17-50/2.8 VC back from repair, I was really awed by the raw speed of focusing and the enormous precision of the autofocus.
Try that one time: use manual focus for a few days, and preferrably do that with a manual focus lens. I have two of them now, the 50/1.2 and the 24/2.8, and both feel so enormously better when focusing than any modern AF lens, it’s a pleasure to use them. Try using such lenses for a few days, then switch to a decent AF lens and feel the awe 
But then, oh my, am I slow focusing manually! On the other hand, this is part of the appeal of these lenses. They slow me down. I wouldn’t use them for action, but for subjects like today’s, there is nothing wrong with them.
The Song of the Day is “Cool Disposition” by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup. Hear it on YouTube.
Yup, nothing wrong with the Tamron. It works better than ever. QED. I guess I can go back to the manual focus primes soon 
The Song of the Day is “Drive My Car” from the 1965 Beatles album “Rubber Soul”. YouTube has it, but you know it anyway. Not a bad match for a battered old Mini Cooper, if you ask me
It’s still supposed to be Summer, only it ain’t. People here in Vienna wear autumn clothing, which I refuse to do, but at the moment, while I sit in my living room, writing this post, my heating is turned on. This is a first for this season, and I feel comfortably warm, while outside the winds are howling.
The image that you see here was made with the new Nikon AI-S 24/2.8, and it was taken from under an umbrella. I guess I was not the only one who felt uncomfortable
The Song of the Day is “That’s How I Feel Today” from The Little Chocolate Dandies. You find the song on many compilations, depending on the member of the band you look for. Among others that includes Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter and Fats Waller. YouTube has a version from 1929.
So The Bike Photographer strikes again
I guess this was the last image with the Nikon AI-S 50/1.2 for a few days. I actually did it, I bought a Nikon AI 24/2.8 for €160. This is quite a good price, especially considering that it came with a hood. Unfortunately the weather here is unpleasantly wet and cold, completely untypical for this season, and this takes a bit of the joy out of photography.
The Song of the Day is “I’d Be Waiting” by Xavier Naidoo. See the video on YouTube.
Again I had precious little time yesterday, with no photographic results worth mentioning. It may even go on like that for a few days.
Here’s another image from Italy, taken in beautiful Camogli. For lack of time and a better name, the Song of the Day is again “Canzone Della Strada” from the 2004 album of the same name by Quadro Nuevo. Here’s it on YouTube, and they have other pieces from the same album as well.
I can’t say that I’m very interested in modern, flawless, untainted architecture, but you can get me anytime with a little decay. Why? Inorganic things somehow get organic when they age. By falling apart, the lifeless begins to breath life. Funny, huh?
The Song of the Day is “A Long Time Ago” from David Byrne’s 1994 self-titled album. YouTube has a video for you.
OK, this is a strange format for a post, but it’s a strange format for an image as well 
Yesterday morning I took the tram for work. It was one of those old trains that I sometimes take images of, and while I was in there and wondered at which station to get out, I took some images from the same position. Some were not sharp, but some were, and they were easily aligned in Photoshop. At first I wanted to do some trick with masks, but when I tried simply arranging them vertically, I liked the result.
The other image is a night shot. I stayed at work until 8pm and, regardless of the temperatures, had this winter feeling while walking home
The Song of the Day is “Time Passes” from Paul Weller’s great 1995 album “Stanley Road”. Hear a live version on YouTube.
These are the last images with my D300. It’s gone. I mean not really gone, not that gone, but well, gone nevertheless, at least for a week or two.
Remember that cursed Tamron 17-50/2.8, this sweet lens that works so well, at least as long as it works? Remember that I sent it in for service, because it increasingly often failed to stop down upon exposure, resulting in terribly overexposed images? Well, the Tamron service insists on having the body to match the lens to.
It’s a tad stupid, because if I upgrade to a D400 in a year, I simply expect my lenses to work.
Anyway, that’s how it is, today I sent the D300 in, and for the next one or two weeks I will be using my old D200.
The Song of the Day is one of the biggest hits of The Smiths, “Bigmouth Strikes Again“, originally from their album “The World Won’t Listen”, but as that is not available as digital downloads, and as “The Sound Of The Smiths” contains pretty much everything from that album plus much more, I am going to recommend the collection. YouTube has many live versions as well, but here is the original.
Just a street scene that I saw today. Sorry that I’m not in the mood to elaborate further. It’s after midnight and I am really, really tired
The Song of the Day is “High Hopes” by young Scotsman Paolo Nutini. It’s from his 2006 album “Sunny Side Up”. YouTube has a nice live video. And while you’re at it, why not hear some more songs from this fabulous album?
This is the image for Friday, obviously not made on Friday. It’s Rapallo in Liguria, Italy again. I like Rapallo, because it is big enough to have a population not working in the tourism industries.
We are in the process of searching for a a more permanent abode in Villach, and I arrived one day earlier, because we had a meeting with a very competent woman from the construction company. We are looking for an apartment, but of course nothing fits just right. Thus we spent three hours in front of AutoCAD, and now we are quite confident.
The Song of the Day is “Canzone Della Strada” from the 2004 Quadro Nuevo album of the same name. YouTube has it, I suggest you give it a try. Quadro Nuevo are an Austrian band, but this feels real Italian. More than real I might say
Try that one time: use manual focus for a few days, and preferrably do that with a manual focus lens. I have two of them now, the 50/1.2 and the 24/2.8, and both feel so enormously better when focusing than any modern AF lens, it’s a pleasure to use them. Try using such lenses for a few days, then switch to a decent AF lens and feel the awe 
