Lady Elanore

This is an interesting vid. The main rant isn't about the car (seemingly universally loved, as the most fun EV you can buy) but about the infrastructure buggering up their day a bit.

I often look at Panamoz and their prices are tremendous R5i with adapter ring £2230 and R3 £3540 all new and 3 year warranty. Shame they don't do the lenses I like. But to be fair, I do like to support privately owned shops like Harrisons if I can., They offer a great service in these internet dominated times. There is something to taking your own camera and plugging on a potential lens purchase and running around the store like a loon, taking photos of people who really would prefer you left them alone.

Harrison's had a couple of used R3s going for just over £3k. Guessing some peeps will jump straight to the R1 now, but there doesn't seem to be that much difference between them. I have a crazy wide APS-C Sigma lens that I haven't used in around 5 years I can mount it on my full frame R6, but the rez drops to 8mp. Might give it a go though, just for giggles

updated a previous reaction above

I think there might be a few covert government organisations around the world, all looking into you now...

Blimey, do the Russians know you have the tech to track their orbitals?!

I mostly buy new, as the gear gets used quite a bit (although not so much lately 😞 ). I have a 7Dii which replaced a 7D, but it has over 200,000 shutter actuations last time I checked (need to find the prog that can interrogate that, again - why Canon, do you make it so hard? ). It still mostly works and on a bright day the 1.6 crop factor is a boon with a lens like the 300mm. In fact with a 1.4TC on it, I get a 672mm F4 Prime lens!!! I had it serviced a few years ago by the Canon guys at a job I was working on, but since then it has developed a few issues with control rings and buttons. I also have a 5Diii which works perfectly and has somewhere around 100,000 actuations on it. The biggest difference between EF/S cameras and the latest R cameras, isn't really the sensor (unless you look at the high-end cameras), it's the autofocus, which is insane. I'm still figuring it out, but it is astonishing. ie Do you want focus to snap to left eye, or right, or would you prefer it locked to the eye closest to you. It actually works too.

Actually, it got me thinking. Camera glass is something I almost never sell or give away. I have all my original lenses, apart from a couple of starter lenses I got many, many years ago and a Tamron 150-600mm that I swapped for a couple of bits at Calumet (I hated that lens). I sell my older camera bodies, or give them away, but glass just keeps going if you look after it. And quality glass, like Canon's 'L' glass, should last me out. Nikon and Sony have their own versions of 'L' glass too. My first proper digital lens was a Canon 17-55mm f2.8. It cost me around £500 around 25 years ago (it still makes me wince to think about the cost at the time) and I still have it today

Well it wasn't too bad as it's second-hand lens and now discontinued. Less than half price Still a little expensive though, but this (and it's 400mm sibling) was Canon's sharpest lens for many years The new 300mm lens in RF guise is not out yet, but the slightly bigger 400mm version is around £13,000!!! That is so far out of my price range it's silly and even if I could afford that kind of kit, I could never justify it really. I'm happy to use the older EF lenses (like my new acquisition) as I have an adapter for my 'R' camera and it is still a world class sharp lens, plus it is built like a tank. It's beautiful ❤️

Is that St Mary's?

Now to be fair, I took this with a crappy phone and was holding a torch with flat batteries, in my mouth for a bit of fill lighting...I failed a little .

So... a little bit of a tale (please skip to the end if you are short of nibbles and tea). In the summer I tore a rotator cuff, this led me to cancel off quite a bit of work. When I did resume employment (I'm self-employed), I figured as I'm somebody who doesn't do things half-heartedly, I might as well have a second go and totally bugger up my shoulder and tear the cuff further. Mission accomplished, I then cancelled loads more work. This has led me to being a bit skint Anyhoo, this time off has led me to looking at used camera gear and in particular, Wex was selling off loads of Canon 300mm F2.8 II's - presumably ex rental stock - a lens that is now discontinued owing to the RF range of lenses coming out (boy they are expensive). They were going for a decent price and although some were a little battered, they all came with a guarantee and a claim that they were all inspected. Unfortunately, I was a bit worried about cash flow, so missed the boat on that one, actually I also missed aquatic transport on the 400mm F2.8 and 400mm DO II 😞 Still with me? A short while ago I bought a Canon R6ii, a decent camera with phenomenal autofocus (although, don't get me started on the sensor read out speed being a real bind when doing fast tracking shots and using the mechanical shutter). This new purchase really made me regret missing out on those 300mm lenses, one that I have always coveted, especially as I've hired them before and it is by far the greatest bit of glass I have attached to my cameras. It's sharper than Jimmy Carr taking down a heckler! So it came as a slight surprise to find myself in a massive set of traffic jams travelling towards Sheffield this afternoon... ...and buying a used 300mm F2.8 ii from Harrisons in Sheffield. It's in superb condition, with only a tiny bit of paint missing off the tripod foot. The travel case for it looks like it was unwrapped from its protective film, only a matter of minutes before I got there. It is mint. If anyone lives near Sheffield and wants a used lens or camera, they have a great stock of the stuff and competitive prices too. I didn't have much interaction with the young saleslady, but she was very pleasant and as helpful as she could be. I don't think she is fully up to speed with all the numerous products Harrison's sell, but I doubt anyone could be. So the end of the story is, I spent money I don't really have, to grab one of the last really nice 300mms of its type left out there. I don't regret a penny of it and will now live on grass and rainwater for the next few months Its a shame I don't really have any projects I want to shoot left this year Still I don't care. I have my unicorn lens and it is so lovely, I'm going to name it Henry I think. I might never take it outside in case it gets dirty. I'm going off now to stare at it and talk to it in a sexy manner. I think I'm in love. Updated: now with sexy photos .

I sold my Epos M22s last year for a very fair price (along with a couple of Epos M5s) they were nearly 20 years old and still worked extremely well. I changed the tweeters in the M22s though, as they were of a design with a limited shelf life. in fact, I was lucky to buy the last stock at EPOS from what I gathered

I originally had B&W M1s for Atmos, but swapped them out for some small Focals, as I don't need any LF out of them and they are aesthetically a much better match for my room.

Which B& W centre did you go for. I like the look of the bigger ones (71 S3), but the top mounted tweeter would cause me issues with my TV height, as well as the top shelf of my stand being a little overloaded in weight The 8 series are simply not practice and rather pricy!!

I look at my hifi now and it is the exact opposite. I have amps all over the shop as I don't have the space for a proper "tower of power" and the current shelving can't support the weight

I love that you have it in your (period correct) 'Tower of Power'

There are a couple of guys that have taken their LCi M3s to rolling roads and got huge power figures. Their rolling roads they used were considered by the cognoscenti to be decent and reliable in their measurement, but one of the cars was producing around 570bhp! Quite a lift over the newly quoted 'improved' outputs. The earlier version of the G80 also generally produced a decent chunk more power than quoted, too. The LCi should be some weapon. My G80 was definitely the best car I have ever owned, but best isn't the same as 'most enjoyable', of course.

I'm currently running separate power amps for my home theatre and was thinking of going down the multi-output power amp route, as it's a bit neater. Although I will keep my Musical Fidelity Power amp for the front pair (it's a beast), I was looking at the M-F multichannel power amp or possibly the Emotiva one, for the surrounds and Atmos, as I've heard good things about them. Do they drive low impedance loads well? Around 3Ω of just below

Ooh, I found this. It's a very close relative and I'm guessing that it will be virtually identical inside

This chap (Mend it Mark) might give you inspiration. He has done a couple of cassette recorders, this is his most recent. not a Sony, but a 3 head machine This is an earlier one that he did too

So.... Jayemm really likes the Octy

https://www.lister.com/available-models/lfp

I took this in 2016 on an old Galaxy S6 phone, t'was in Brazil (work not pleasure)