out

up he goes

Shot through glass - thing about this cat is that he likes to climb. Falling from here would be a bad idea - it is about 10m straight down. Why go up then? Squirrels...

enchanted

a tire for all my usage

Of course, there is no such thing.

But what I am looking for is a tire which will suit the needs I put my cyclocross bike through.

It needs to be a one tire does it all and does it all reasonably well kind of tire.
Here is the list of what it needs to do:

• Roll fast. Heavy duty treads or anything beyond light siping is out.
• Be very resistant to punctures. I want to ride my bike, not repair it on the road/trail.
• Be 700x25c. I am tired (haha) of larger sizes and want a tire more in line with a road tire. I have been riding for decades, often off road, and am not scared of tires even as small as 700x21c on crappy surfaces. The worse this tire will encounter is slick wet clay, and for that we have balance and slowing down :)
• Be able to handle a serious pounding. I ride on rail trails, gravel, and pavement which is often times quite broken up. These tires will also be in an urban environment a fair bit with all that entails.
• Have a good long life. Road tires which wear out after less than 2000km are not good. I would go through two sets a year minimum, likely more. That is too costly for me as someone who rides for pure pleasure and is not racing.
• Be relatively light. Relatively. This means 350-400(ish) grams per tire. That is light compared to some which meet my criteria, and heavy compared to a road race tire.
• Must be a clincher.
• Notice I didn't mention cost. It doesn't matter, within reason ($100 plus or minus a few dollars per tire). Savings come from beating the tires up over a few seasons and not replacing them twice a year.

 Picky, aren't I?

I have managed to narrow my search down to a few tires to consider seriously.

Tire choice 1: Schwalbe Marathon Racer HS 429

Why this tire? Well firstly, I have experience with the Schwalbe brand and Marathon tires in particular. They state that they are very tough and very durable. I can attest to that. The old school Marathons I had on my old cyclocross bike still had a bit of life left in them after 5500 plus km of use over gravel, bashed up roads, some mud, and under load (part of the time) as a commuter tire. They also did not have issues when being used on a trainer, so they can handle heat nicely. I never had a flat with them. Not even once.

This tire looks like a nice upgrade to the one I had last time as well since it falls right in my weight category at 395g each.

But, they are a bit of a pig. 700x30c is the size. I would prefer smaller. This is not a deal breaker, but I would prefer a smaller size.

They also don't cost much. MSRP is $48.35 which is cheap for tires (if you are me).

Tire choice 2: Vittoria Randonneur

Why this tire? I have them on the bike now. I like them. But...
I melted the rear tire on the trainer. It is basically shot. The rubber is quite hard and did not take the heat well at all. I will finish it off on the trainer and just let it fall apart. Oh well. This is what prompted my search for another pair of tires.

The plus about this tire is that I can get it in the size I want (700x25c) but they are quite heavy at 430g for that tire size. This is less than what my current ones mass though. I have the 700x32c on there now which mass 580g each which is way higher than I want to go next time around. Another plus with this tire is how well they wear. There are something like 1400km on the tires right now, and they have no noticeable wear on them at all (melted tire aside). Also, I have had no flats. They don't grip as well as the Marathons do though over wet clay. But they do roll faster on pavement. It is a trade off.

Cost is about $50 a tire. Again, not objectionable.

Tire choice 3: Continental SuperSport Plus

Why this tire? It looks like the best option from what I have seen so far.

Firstly, I can get them in a 700x25c size with a mass of 400g per tire. Right on the target. I can also get them as a 700x23c at 320g a tire. Two of these are only 60g more than ONE of the tires I have on the bike now. How about them apples. I am not worried about gravel with a small tire size. Most of the gravel around here is more like a packed clay with a few stones anyway, and the rail trails are all crushed limestone with occasional slick bits. A good friend of mine has been riding literally for years on rough surfaces on 700x23c tires and has never fallen off or flatted. He has disgusting luck I will grant you (aside from getting hit by a car but even there he got lucky), but still. I am not worried about the small size being an issue for what I ride.

Flat resistance appears to be on par more or less with the Schwalbe. I base this on how it is made and how the Schwalbe is made. If the tire is in fact made of similar compounds to the Schwalbe, I am not worried about flats. The tire is specifically designed for fixies and couriers, so it can take a pounding. It should last a good long time. Win for me if I go for it I would think.

Cost? Who knows? Don't care if they fit the bill well enough.

They are basically a siped slick, so they won't grip on crap as well as the Schwalbe does, but shouldn't be much worse than the Vittoria which is basically a fatter siped slick. No concern there then. As a bonus, they have a nice high PSI rating which should make it scoot quite quickly.

Tire choice 4: Specialized Roubaix Armadillo Elite

Why this tire? The armadillo tires from Specialized are very strong and very flat resistant and roll fast. In theory they last a good long time. These ones are very light for a tough tire - 700x23/25c coming in at approximately 305 grams each and should roll very fast.

However. There is a BIG however here. I have owned two sets of armadillo tires over the years and without exception, they have cracked and delaminated within half a year. The rubber cracks, and starts to split. While they don't flat much if at all, and roll pretty fast, they are not durable at all. I include them on the list because many have reported success with them, but my direct experience is that they are iffy at best. The one set lasted less than three months before they started to crack. Not impressive.

It might be worth looking at the non-armadillo variant on the tire though. Currently, I am using a non-armadillo Specialized tire on my commuter in the spring/summer/fall and really like it. It is the Specialized Crossroads. The rubber is supple, it wears well, rolls fast, and has not flatted. Granted, it is a knobbed city tire and is fairly massive, but whatever they do for flat protection does not result in the tire falling apart. So the Specialized Roubaix Pro might be worth a look seeing as it uses similar tech to the Crossroads. As a bonus, the 700x23c tire masses 260g which is very very good.

Cost? No idea. But there is a local Specialized dealer that I am confident I can get a good price from.

That's it so far.

Anyone else have any ideas? Thoughts? Experiences they would like to share?

If so, leave a comment and point me in the direction of a tire you have used over rough terrain that has stood up well for you.

Thanks!

well, I have been warmer

Just a bit of ruminating today.

Cold weather has arrived in Southern Ontario. Suffering as I am from a cold, I am feeling it more than usual. Normally, I don't really mind the cold.  I deal with it by simply ignoring it. I spend most of my time outside when I can, and generally don't acknowledge the temperature (rain bugs me, but cold and snow do not).

Today? Being stubborn is not working very well. The cold seems to possess knives that no amount of clothing can shield me from. Being ill really does not impress me in a positive manner.

I am both glad and saddened by the fact that the major storm that struck Ottawa and points east has missed us entirely. Aware as I am of the damage that early storms cause when people have not yet performed their annual adjustment to winter conditions, I am glad that the storm missed. We don't need the problems that come with winter arriving all at once. A gradual approach tends to be easier on people and everything else. However, I do miss the snow. Strange thing for a devout cyclist to miss, to be sure, but it is true none the less. I am of the opinion that if we are going to have winter, we should do it right with lots of snow, lots of cold, and lots of outside playing (in my case, playing on a bicycle because that is what I do...).

Speaking of playing with bicycles, I am going to exit the upcoming winter in the best shape that I have been in for over a decade. What is different? I am rejoining the Goodlife health club this weekend. The main reason for doing this is that they offer spin classes. I spent a five month period over the winter when I was 29 attending spin classes - known then by the club as "powerpacing" and now as "rpm" - doing about five classes a week. Often, I would do a double - a 90 minute class with a 45 minute class as a warmdown. The result was a general leaning up of my physique and a reduction in weight from about 190lbs to 166lbs, an increase in lung capacity which made burst efforts on the bicycle easy, and a general feeling that the bicycle was powered by an electric motor and not me. I miss this. A lot. My wife says that she has never seen me so fit and kicked me in the arse to get me back into it. The classes did nothing for endurance (nothing replaces putting the km on the bike and just suffering when the day is off) but did do a lot for preparing me for a great season of cycling.

The other benefit of joining the health club for me is the running treadmills and access to some weight machines. I have no desire to build any bulk on my upper half (it is dead weight on the bicycle) but would like to tone up my core. I do not enjoy this kind of exercise but the truth that a solid core will help with cycling and help prevent injury is not up for debate. I have to force myself to do it. It will be worth it. Running is also something I dislike. I usually only run during the winter, and usually do my running outdoors. However, for some reason, running on a treadmill does not bother me. Weird, but true. Cross training there will help. Add in spinning on the trainer, and all the commuting possible to do, and spring should start off pretty fast for someone, like me, who does not race and rides just for fun and the general health benefits that come from being fit.

This decision to go ahead and rejoin the gym pushed forward a decision about what to do about my pedal system on my bicycles.

Honest, it did!

Currently, I use Time Atac mountain bike pedals on all of my bikes which have clip in pedals. I infinitely prefer to be clipped in when riding - I have been riding clipped pedal systems since 1984 - and do not want to do spin classes without riding in cycling shoes and being attached to the pedals. I ride using high end carbon composite soled mountain bike shoes from Giro. They mass about what the road shoes do from that company (a bit heavier, but not much), and are extremely stiff. The soles have no flex at all, and transmit power much better than cheap cycling shoes or (yuck) non-cycling shoes can. Previously, the gym would allow people to bring in their own pedals and swap them out for the classes. This is not allowed anymore...

I mention the pedals I use because the cleats on the bottom of my shoes which attach me to the pedals are not the same as the Shimano ones. This matters because the gym's spin class bicycles use the Shimano SPD system, which is a very popular system. Since I cannot bring in a pair of pedals anymore, this means that I would have to buy another pair of cycling shoes, and good ones at that, and a set of spd cleats before I could do any spin classes. Running shoes are not an option. This is expensive.

However, one of my Time pedals is broken, which means that I need to replace them anyway. That is also expensive. Turns out that I can buy one pair of Shimano XT mountain bike race pedals (no extra platform) with cleats included, and another pair of Shimano LX mountain bike pedals with cleats included from my local bike store for the same price or less than a replacement pair of Time pedals off the internet. The XT ones go on the cross bike, and the LX on one of the other bikes. And the spd cleats go on the good race shoes. Which fit with the bikes at the gym. Which, since I needed the new pedals anyway, and would have spent that money on pedals no matter what, saves me the price of a good pair of shoes ($200+) and cleats.

Yay me!

And as an added bonus, Shimano has built in huge float into their spd pedal system compared to previous decades. That is what drove me to Time - the ability for the heal to swing back and forth through a pedal stroke without unclipping or straining the knee. I have bad knees... The XT pedals, now mounted on my 'cross bike on the trainer, allow this float and are going to be fantastic in use. Later, after I use them for a bit, I will comment more on what I think of these pedals.

magic glass

Of course, it isn't. It is physics.

However, the rendering of light through the 60mm f2.8 macro by Olympus for m4/3 cameras is positively marvelous.

Here is a tease. Time permitting, I will put this lens through its paces a bit over the next couple of days and post the results and my thoughts on the lens as a whole.

dear politician person

Going to go all political for a minute.

Lately, here in Canada, politician on the right (that would be most of them - our center right party has morphed into something resembling a loony bin, whilst the center left party has rushed into the gap and the left leaning party has galloped into the center) have managed to build a comprehensive shift in how the population of this place looks at itself.

They have, as a group, effectively convinced the citizens of this country that they are taxpayers and not citizens, monies collected in taxes are taxpayer monies and not public monies. Gone are conversations about spending for the public good. Instead, we are being talked at (not with and to) about taxpayer value.

Public input is seen to be had only at election time. The rest of the time we are to shut up and let them fulfill their mandate. Bills are rammed through parliament as omnibus bills, often quickly, and are loaded with things completely unrelated to what the title legislation is about. Oppose the bill because of the unrelated material, and you are seen as supporting those that the title legislation is intended, quite rightly, to deal with. Good people end up shutting up because to speak out against the omnibus bills is too risky.

This is wrong.

While I pay taxes, I am not a taxpayer. I am a citizen. I have rights, responsibilities, and a strong belief in the public good. Monies collected by the government in taxes are my monies, but not mine alone. They belong to the public. That includes those that don't pay taxes - children, the poor, the homeless - and those that do pay taxes - CEOs of major corporations, mom and pop stores, and so on. Guess what? Those disenfranchised by the "taxpayer" language are citizens of this place as well. We have an obligation as members of this society to take care of each other. Divisive language and the change in thought patterns that follow only serve to sow discord and not social harmony.

Table the omnibus bills in parliament. Please do. Just break them up into the single pieces of legislation that they actually are. Debate fully, openly, each one and pass or reject each one on its own merits. Stop trying to sneak unrelated measures into law by placing them into otherwise well intentioned legislation, limiting debate, and hoping we won't notice.

It does not work. People do notice.

The sad thing is, these tactics combined with endless scandal are making many people not trust their leaders or worse, see them as a joke. Why bother is taking hold with them. Don't get involved is the new norm for them. I guess that is good if you are a power seeking minority with control of the agenda, but it is not good if you believe in a more balanced society with full and healthy debate.

Continental Top Contact Winter II

 Tire Test: Continental Top Contact Winter II

Time for another tire review. As before, I am not a professional reviewer, I just ride bikes and use stuff. I pay for what I use myself with my own money, blah blah etc etc etc.

The tire this time around is a lovely little winter tire called the Continental Top Contact Winter II. Readers of this mighty blog of mine know that I am a big fan of the right tire for the job, but in case you are new here, here is a bit of history for you.

When I started riding a bicycle as a car, and decided to ride all year round, I got through my first winter with a set of burned out mud type cyclo-cross tires on my bike. I was using a Kona Dew with 700c wheels. The tires were great actually, and did a good job. I forget what they were though - something from Nokian I think (heck, I doubt I even have the name right even in my guess!).

The following winter, I used a set of Schwalbe CX Pro tires in the winter. They sucked. Complete crap. While very good in mud and on gravel (what they were made for to be fair), on snow and ice, they sucked. No other word for it. Two bad falls in six hours put me off of them in the winter for life.

I swapped them out for Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires, with studs. Loved those, even if they did have a tendency to toss studs out at the drop of a hat.

A bicycle swap saw me go from 700c to 26in tires. Enter a need for new winter tires. This time around, I did not mess about and went with Schwalbe Ice Spiker HS 333 tires. They were fantastic. Huge amount of grip in the snow. Very good on ice. But, they had some serious drawbacks. The rubber wore a lot since I ride on asphalt a lot. Also, the things are very heavy, and buzz like mad. But if you ride over hard packed snow all winter, they are well worth it.

This put me in search of a good winter tire which did not have studs, but would still give vastly improved grip in the snow.

Enter the Continental Top Contact Winter II.

Here is the company link for the tire for those who care about such things: http://www.conti-online.com/www/bicycle_de_en/themes/city/winter/topContactWinter_en.html

I went with the 26x1.9 tire size.

The first thing I noted was that the tire rolled much better than a studded tire. Gee, ya think? It was almost as fast as a slick, but not quite. Due to the soft rubber compound - supple until -25C - the tire has a lot of drag compared to summer spec tires with similar tread patterns. Pump it up to its maximum tire pressure, and it rolls along quite nicely. Other than feeling a bit squishy, it is hard to tell the tire is not "ordinary".

Like all winter tires, best grip is had in snow when the tire pressure is lowered and the tire is allowed to squash out a bit. Remember - get narrow tires for winter as they sink into the snow and bite the surface underneath. This is good unless you are "fat biking".

The winter specific rubber compound tires, like this one, are great in cold weather as they offer better grip on bare asphalt than a summer tire will, even if the tread patterns are identical. That right there makes these tires worth buying. The rubber does not freeze into hard blocks with little flex and reduced traction.

The tire pattern is quite bizarre for one used to aggressive tread in slippery conditions like I am. It is very shallow, and is basically a pattern of sipes designed to "grip" to ice and snow. Think Bridgestone Blizzak for example, or Spiderman's fingerprints. Whatever the case, it works.

The tire actually will retain some semblance of control even when black ice is hit. Don't think it is a studded tire though - the ice spikers currently sitting in the basement out perform the Continentals on the bike right now on ice by such a large margin that they are not even close to being in the same league. You MUST take more care on ice if you are coming from studs to this tire. Otherwise, they, and the ground, will bite you on the ass.

That said, the difference from a summer tire is remarkable. I was able to do limited steering and braking on black ice and did not feel as if the bike was about to slide out from under me.  Sudden moves are a bad idea though. And the bike will "float" a bit without a doubt, but if you keep your eyes up, relax, and let the bike float, it is not much worse than floating a mountain bike over liquid clay. Doable, but take care.

What about snow?

It is actually not too bad. The above picture shows what the tire looks like when rolling through a bit of snow. It packs up a bunch, but grips really really well. The tread pattern just plain works. I could brake hard, steer (some slip, but not bad) and accelerate just fine in the snow today. Today, we had a layer of black ice with about one to two cm of snow on top. Not much, to be sure, but potentially very slippery due to the ice underneath it. The tires were just fine. I was quite impressed when I pulled away from a stop on a steepish hill with snow and ice on it and the bike just went about climbing it. There was no slip at all from the back end and steering on this surface was fine. I was running tire pressures a bit below optimal for dry roads, which definitely helped.

Once I got more comfortable with the grip levels, I deliberately tried to upset them. Jerking the handlebar side to side at low speeds in the snow did not result in much if any real slip. Works for me. I know that they will skid, but the skid appears likely to be very controllable. Should be good.

One thing to note is how much water they hold in the sipes. You will leave a long track behind you after running through a puddle. It is this heavy duty siping coupled with the soft rubber that gives it its grip. While they hold a lot of water, they don't kick up as much snow as the knobby tires do. The mud flaps on the fenders did accumulate some build up, but not a lot. Very little to nothing got on my feet either. This is due in part to my fenders - I use Planet Bike Cascadia ATB fenders from MEC which really help keep the slop off of me. But the tendency of the tires to not throw a lot of snow helped as well.

I reserve judgement on their flat resistance since I only have about 100km on my set right now. They claim some protection from flats, but I don't expect protection on the level of a Schwalbe Marathon commuter tire. We shall see :)

This serves as a preliminary run down of the tire. So far, other than being a bit sketchy on ice, they are wonderful. A good friend of mine, who runs two bikes in the winter - one with studs, and one with these tires - reported that he only needed his studded tire bike five times last winter. His bike with these tires did it for him for the rest of the season.

Good deal if you ask me.

Update 1:

More snow riding has been done so I figured that an update was in order.

My earlier initial observations about the tires being good in the snow turned out to be correct. In general, I just ignore the tires and let them do their thing. Tires that just vanish and do their part are a pure win. They slip a bit, but do not dramatically skid out or cause concern. They remind me of the old Continental Cross Country tires that I had on my mountain bike over a decade ago. Those tires would grip like mad while slipping at the same time. It was a strange feeling - basically, they would skid out but in a very controlled manner which made "floating" the bike easy. They could be pushed very hard since the point of adhesion loss was so progressive. These snow tires do a similar thing.

Deepen the snow a bit though and they start to fall apart. They do not like deep snow very much and the bicycle will get a bit squirmy. It does not make the bicycle significantly unstable, but it is important to note. Rough unplowed paths are also a bit of a problem with these tires since they lack the tread to really bite into such surfaces. The machine will bounce around a bit. It won't dump a rider that is used to off road riding, but the tires are not as good as my studded Schwalbes are in similar circumstances.

When riding through slush and water on the road, the bicycle handled flawlessly. An incredible amount of water gets tossed up by the tires in such circumstances. It is very important that proper full fenders be used or the rider WILL get soaked.

Try to avoid hitting rock hard "pancakes" of ice on the road. The kinds of ice that are mixed in with slush and almost invisible. The bike will bounce off of them and get a bit skittish. Studded tires are better for that. So, avoid deep slush after an ice storm unless you are sure that the slush is all slush. Of course, these conditions are fairly rare.

My over all conclusion from initial observations remains the same. The tires are a good deal and work very well in urban environments. Don't trail ride them.

a recipe for delight

Take light, filtered by fast moving clouds and snow.

Take new fallen snow, kicked into the air by winds strong enough to lighten the rear of my Golf and make it "float" for a spell.

Take a camera.

What do you get?

A recipe for delight.

but meanwhile, it's just my blanket and me

Unlike Linus, I don't have a blanket. I do, however, have a much loved bicycle.

It is trainer time again. The salt is out, colder weather is settling in, and if I want any real exercise, it is time to sit in front of the TV and spin for about an hour a night and watch cycling on YouTube.

Thank goodness for Eurosport!

Note : must remember to lower the gear and therefore wheel speed but increase pressure on the rear tire to make up for it. The heat build up melted my tire a bit tonight (no, really, it did) since the rear wheel was spinning at about 45kmph on the trainer hub for 50 minutes. A lower gear will reduce the heat build up since the wheel spins slower for any given cadence, while a bit more pressure will keep my own effort the same. Each winter, I basically sacrifice a tire to the trainer, but I want this one to last to spring! (If it doesn't, oh well, but better it does I say!)

but wait, some don't like to lose at cards

Oft times, I like to spend at least part of my weekends visiting with friends and going out for coffee. It seems that usually, this is the sum total of my social life.

This afternoon started as most weekend afternoons do, with me inquiring of a friend about his availability to sip of the coffee nectar. Things looked hopeful. He had things to do, and then, perchance, a cup could be had.

The phone rang.

There was to be no coffee.

Foiled again.

There was actually something much better.

We were invited instead to his house along with another couple and their daughter for an evening of cards. This not being something we have done in a while, we collectively jumped at the chance to do so.

This was the best "foiled again" in a long time.

Watch this one - meek and mild on the outside, she is a terminator when it comes to winning. Duck and run.

Deceptively still. Look out.

The grin hides a true poker face - no one but no one can hide her hand like my sweetie can

But wait....

Someone does not like to lose...

Not even a little bit. The Force is not even enough to contain her rage.

Heads will not roll, they will explode.

marvin should look worried

seeing as his days are numbered...

Another shot into the pit that was Waterloo Bowling Lanes.

more parking - this time, not temporary

It is good to see Waterloo taking action to reduce congestion around the limited bicycle parking facilities in the Uptown by placing more spaces in highly visible locations which are tucked out of the way of most foot traffic. This is a nice combination as it makes good use of underutilized space while providing a needed service to the public.

What appeals to me about this particular arrangement is the "P" symbol and colour which again match what is used to indicate parking for motor vehicles. This, as I have previously argued elsewhere in this blog, helps legitimize bicycles as real traffic both in the eyes of the motoring public, and in the eyes of cyclists themselves. It is a subtle thing, but could work towards helping resolve some traffic conflicts.
Also, the racks are facing the right way for the space they are in, and are set up so that two bicycles can easily be fit per station.
Good on you Waterloo. Let's get more of this going.

some em-5 / 12-40mm f2.8 samples

As the title suggests, here are some samples from that lens camera combination.

 

 

stratford and cameras

I had the good fortune to be out taking pictures with my friend and my father in what has to have been the best fall day of the year thus far. The three of us all use current generation Olympus m43 cameras and gear - friend has an E-M5 and some lenses (as do I) while my father has an E-M1 and some lenses including the new 12-40mm f2.8. There was plenty of opportunity to swap lenses around and try different things out.

The three of us went to Stratford in Southern Ontario to walk about and take some pictures. It was an excellent time. Not only was the company fantastic, but the city offers many photographic opportunities which we were only just able to touch upon.

Today though, I noticed something strange in two of my photographs that I have never seen before. It cropped up when I was using the OMD E-M5 and the 12-40 f2.8.

Check this out:

An uninspired shot, for sure. But I was taking it mostly to see how the 12-40 would compare against the 12-50 that I currently have now as far as resolution is concerned. This photograph is straight out of the camera with no adjustments being made to it at all. Note the bridge at the opposite side of the river from where I am standing when I took it. There is a repeated vertical pattern in the railing with some faint out of focus tree branches in front of it which has some rather strange artifacting. The artifacting vanishes when the tree branches do. I have never seen this before with my camera using any of the lenses I have at home (45mm 1.8, 75mm 1.8, 12-50 3.5-6.3).

Check out the piece I mentioned above at approximately 300%:

Now granted, I am really zoomed in here, but look at that strange colour artifacting. This is again out of the camera with no adjustments but for cropping. I am puzzled as to why it is doing this. Obviously, the lens/camera combination is displaying some very strange colour fringing. Am I seeing moire? If so, it is a first.

It happened again.

Again, not an inspired shot, and more of a test. The detail is amazing. But look at the apartment building middle left of the picture at the small structure on top.

Here it is at approximately 300%:

The artifacting is more obvious here, and again seems to be on vertical patterns in the side of the building.

I checked the other photographs I took with this lens/camera combination and did not find any more evidence of such artifacting/fringing even in bright vertically patterned areas. A google search of moire patterns suggests to me - again this is a new one for me - that is it likely moire that I am seeing.

Anyhow, on with the pictures.

Here is a brief sampling.

Water levels are down, revealing things best cleaned up... (75mm f1.8)

Dad playing with his E-M1 and 60mm macro. Wouldn't you know it? As soon as he swapped the lens to play with it, the wind came up. Figures :) (75mm f1.8)

Out on walkies. It was, perhaps, a perfect day for walking about. Cool enough to be crisp, but warm enough to be very comfortable. (75mm f1.8)

Lowered river levels in preparation for winter and its snows. It is part of flood control measures. (75mm f1.8)

Across the river... (75mm f1.8)

And this, dear reader, is why I want the 12-40 f2.8. What this lens is resolving here is really quite good. The level of detail is much better than what the 12-50 has been resolving in similar situations. I promise I will borrow this lens from my father and do some side by side tests with the same camera, same settings, and on a tripod. Should be interesting. (12-40 f2.8)

(12-40 f2.8)

(12-40 f2.8)

I looked for moire on these fabric flowers figuring I would find some here for sure. If it is there, it is very faint and very hard for me to see. Good deal. (12-40 f2.8)

(12-40 f2.8)

(45mm f1.8)

photographs from an elora wobble