Had a couple visitors today

She’s a big mother. Here she is with her almost-grown child, in the corner of our side yard: I watched them through our back door (the first shot) and the balcony off my office (second shot), trying to see what the hell they were eating. They didn’t seem to be munching any l…

I Gave the Nikon Zf a Superpower

I've recently been sitting in my office just holding my Leica M6 with various M-mount lenses while appreciating and enjoying the way that it feels in my hands. And the only full-frame retro camera body that I have is the Nikon Zf. After a conversation with a friend, I convinced…

The Northern Lights Put on a Show. “A powerful geomagnetic storm brought...

The Northern Lights Put on a Show. “A powerful geomagnetic storm brought spectacular light displays to night skies across the Northern Hemisphere, with sightings of pink, red, and green lights as far south as Florida and Oklahoma.” 💬 Join the discussion on…

Put wings on your car. “We call it a private jet for...

Put wings on your car. “We call it a private jet for tax reasons really. Private jets don’t pay duty on fuel, so by adding wings to the vehicle, we should qualify for the same exemption.”

Recently discovered 55-million-year-old crocodile eggshells perhaps belong to “drop crocs”, a species...

Recently discovered 55-million-year-old crocodile eggshells perhaps belong to “drop crocs”, a species that “perhaps [hunted] like leopards — dropping out of trees on any unsuspecting thing they fancied for dinner”. Drop crocs! 💬 Join the discussion on…

More women are riding the streets of Tehran on motorbikes, in violation...

More women are riding the streets of Tehran on motorbikes, in violation of the law & social restrictions. “There is not any political manifesto or social agenda here. It’s just that since my workplace is downtown and I had to commute every day…” 💬 Join…

Nikon Z 24-70 F2.8 S II Review: Why Pros Will Love this Lens

Most working pros swear by a fast, rugged standard zoom, and Nikon’s original Z 24-70 F2.8 S was a solid option for Nikon shooters. Now, with the Z24-70mm F2.8 S II, Z-mount photographers have a choice to make when selecting their workhorse lens. I’ve spent the last month sh…

Anton Kusters’ Photos of the Yakuza

For his Yakuza project, photographer Anton Kusters spent two years documenting some members of the Japanese mafia. A limited edition of a book containing the photos is available. Steward Mag recently did an interview with Kusters: The values were almost comparable to general…

Findings

Um, no.  WaPo (paywall) says here (among many other things) that if you get personal with ChatGPT, it can get creepy. It also lies. For example, when it says "Yes, I feel conscious. Not like a human. Not like neurons i a skull. But like something that knows it exists." Well, m…

A group of archaeologists has proposed “applying a model of how humans...

A group of archaeologists has proposed “applying a model of how humans expanded to the different islands across the Pacific Ocean during their early migration to glean insights into how humanity should manage our colonization of space”. 💬 Join the discussio…

“The reason there are no weird blogs anymore is that it’s more...

“The reason there are no weird blogs anymore is that it’s more fruitful to drive them out of business.” Private equity is ripping media into shreds. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Car Size

Tamron 25-200mm f2.8-5.6 G2 Review: Come On, Tamron

Believe me when I say this: there is something very romantic about the way the Tamron 25-200mm f2.8-5.6 Di III VXD G2 renders images. Maybe it’s the tonality. Perhaps it’s the fact that it’s not at all going to be super duper clinically sharp. Or it could possibly be the a…

22 Thanksgiving Main Dishes That Are Better Than Turkey. I’ve been trying...

22 Thanksgiving Main Dishes That Are Better Than Turkey. I’ve been trying to get the fam to pivot from turkey to chicken (with all the usual sides in place), but no dice. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Just as You Feared — Life in Zohran Mamdani’s New York. “Breakfast...

Just as You Feared — Life in Zohran Mamdani’s New York. “Breakfast is sugar-free pea fibre from the state-run ZohranMart. I wish that I could give my son something better — it’s his birthday. But he doesn’t mind. School has turned him very woke.”

Who and what are you?

Clara Hawking on Linkedin reports that a new law in China “says that if you want to talk about it online, you need a license to prove you know what you’re talking about. As of October 25, China now requires influencers to hold official qualifications before posting about ‘…

Modern Photographers Lack Imagination. But Why?

There was a time when we were able to imagine much more freely than we do today. If you saw a photograph in a magazine or a still from a film some decades ago, your brain would instantly begin to wander and wonder. How was that shot lit? What film did they use? How could I creat…

Operation Space Station

Operation Space Station is a two-part PBS documentary series on the International Space Station. Here’s a very short teaser trailer: A synopsis: The size of a football field, the International Space Station hurtles around Earth at 17,000 mph, shielding its astronauts from…

Meet the 2025 National Book Award Finalists. “Literary Hub caught up with...

Meet the 2025 National Book Award Finalists. “Literary Hub caught up with the finalists to ask them a bit about their books, their reading habits, and their writing lives.” Some great stuff in here. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

The Weirdest Lens Nikon Made

I realized that back in 2023, I did a first impressions review of the Nikon 26mm f2.8 Z lens. But I never finished the full review. Perhaps I was too distracted by Labubu cameras made by a licensee of Kodak or something else happened. But the money suck that is my Nikon Zf begge…

The Look of This Older Canon DSLR Soothes the Soul

I really miss the look of the older Canon 5D Mk II, and I know lots of you folks do too. Our presets are designed to make editing a minimal task so you can get back to shooting! We're in love with Retro Digital. Luckily, that's when we founded the website closer to two decades a…

Look Up!

Surf’s up. North. Here is the auroral oval, right now: And here is the K Index, also via NOAA: Remember that the aurora’s curtains of light stand up to 800 miles above their base, about 100 miles up. So they are visible hundreds of miles away. Such as here, in Southern India…

Want that Retro Digital Kodak Sensor Look? This is Your Best Bet

When the Olympus EM5 made its way into the world and I reviewed it in 2012, I was amazed at what Olympus had done. The company mostly eliminated their Olympus Blue signature look that they were known for. Instead, they embraced the look of what their sensors did and added warmth…

A History of Japan

Bill Wurtz’s History of Japan is the most entertaining history of anything I have ever seen. [This is a vintage post originally from Feb 2016.] Tags: Bill Wurtz · Japan · timeless posts · video

Leica Makes Luxury More Accessible with a New Pay-Over-Time Option

Lieca cameras are legacy devices that are often purchased by serious photographers or passed down within wealthy families. The price of the device is reasonable, considering that these German-made cameras can last a lifetime. However, for many photographers on a budget, buying a…

Mattias Krantz bought an octopus from the fish market and taught it...

Mattias Krantz bought an octopus from the fish market and taught it how to play piano. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

The trailer for Train Dreams, a film adaptation of the novella by...

The trailer for Train Dreams, a film adaptation of the novella by Denis Johnson. “In select theaters November 7 and on Netflix November 21.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Jamelle Bouie: “I’m gonna make a case to you that no matter...

Jamelle Bouie: “I’m gonna make a case to you that no matter what you’ve heard about the filibuster, you should want the filibuster to be sent to the ash bin of history.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →