Another lesson learned

 I've heard it so often: "make sure your proposed system has the lenses you want before you buy in! ". 

Yet somehow I didn't take it to heart when the S5 called. The L mount is still expanding, and lenses will assuredly appear as appropriate. 

Oops.

Worse yet, very few mirrorless systems carry what I seek. Seek ye an 50-200mm in any 36x24 system that weighs under 800 grams. The answer is: μ43 and nothing else. The Lumix 35-100/2.8 is amazing - but larger systems offer nothing slower than f/4. Those are less bulky than their f/2.8 siblings, but still not in my comfort zone. I'd prefer my old Minolta 70-210 /3.5-4.5 or 100-200/4.5, both under 500 grams and plenty bright enough for a 36x24 sensor. But to make them autofocus requires a bulky adapter, and poof goes the weight and size advantage.

The nearest things are from Tamron, which means Sony E or Nikon Z. Since I actually own the Minolta 100-200, Sony sadly makes more sense. Both have tilt screens instead of flipout, so that's a positive. The α7³ has a BSI-tech sensor with two ISO channels and PDAF - both make it comparable to the S5.II and a slight improvement over the S5. Neither company has the aspect ratios or touchscreen features of the Lumix types though - ah well.

I've been here already with the mk II Alphas, but the mk.III has become available at my price. And so the mutations begin again - please God, let it end here.

For now a 28-60 and another la-ea4 adapter will suffice for both Minoltas (100-200 and 50 macro); as other gear sells, I'll look more deeply into lens options.

the never-ending struggle

 Me vs. TECH

As usual, I came in second.

I spent the entire last week in skirmishes with technology. Mostly it was the 5g home internet system.

I have three computers and a few phones/tablets. And a printer - and oh yes, a 'smart' television. These all conspire with each other in frequencies I cannot access, and choose which among them will take it turn in my torment.

This past week it was the computers taking turns. They mostly communicate with the internet, but very rarely with each other. All are in the same workgroup and use the same WiFi - but shared files often don't, and the internet keeps flashing in and out.

First up was the traditional tricks: reboots, network resets, even reworking the outdoor antenna that supposedly helps it all work. Finally, I descended to a network full reset - then things really went mad.

Two of the computers plug directly into WiFi box ethernet ports, meaning they should not be bothered by anything WiFi at all. Yet they were. After several attempts of varying types I recalled the 192.168 opening to the network internals. I rebuilt a 5Mhz and a 2.4Mhz channel and began reconnecting things to WiFi, removing the ethernet connections. Hooray, it all works!

Until the next day. OK that wasn't fun or effective.

The last two days found me trolling the web for newer WiFi drivers. I found an updated driver for the i7 box yesterday, and it's continuing to work via WiFi. Today I found a driver for the i5 box - but I couldn't get the file to the right computer. It's on my phone, it's on the i7 - but the i5 won't connect so neither google drive nor network connections will push it across! Finally a thumb-drive did the job. Now the i5 can't install it, as the driver needs to be uninstalled. Well I did that three times, but rebooting just reloaded the familiar old driver. At last I broke down and pulled the WiFi card from the i5 and restarted with ethernet, a clean WiFi slate and no drivers..

And now it works great on the ethernet port! OK I'm not feeling compelled to reinstall either card or drivers now. We'll see how long this lasts.

In the meantime the i3 box has been functioning again via ethernet for the last two days. 

Yippee?

And today I found a $30 4g+ phone with a smaller screen, a USB3 charging port, and all the features I liked in my old Moto E5 Play. I'm really tired of juggling (and dropping) the larger Moto 5G Ace UW, or somesuch long name. 

The tech world will make a Luddite of me yet.

Back story:

My favorite cell phone was the Moto e5Play. A nice size and screen ratio, nice performance, a good bit of memory, microSD capable and acceptable battery life. It even took a quick dunk with no repercussions!

With every new upgrade, I've missed it more. Actually it's still here, used as a voice recorder for music lessons - but it's not the same.

After dropping my 5G moto Ace yet again, I made a quick stop at eBay in search of a reasonable step down. I don't need 5G and would prefer something like.. well, a modern e5 play! And to my surprise I found one rather quickly.

It's an LG G5.

• Nearly identical size to e⁵play
  
• Android 8 (I liked Oreo :)
• μSDXC card slot!
• USB C port! 
• Speed charging!
• Higher spec chipset!
• Improved screen specs!
• NFC capable 
• Better user ratings!
• Used for .. $30?!

I'm looking forward to stepping back!