January '26 = dry

We got off to a wet start, but since the 12th we've had just 0.02" - and that had to be fog condensation as we had no storms. We did finally reach freezing though! December's low was 31.1° which barely qualifies as freezing, but 27.6 this month is decently chilly.

We're at 2/3 of average precipitation for the month, and that's about where we shall end; the storm for this weekend has fizzled out and we might see another after the 28th. That breaks the string of above average months at three, but those three are the wet ones so we're in decent shape. As to snowpack, it's pretty  bad - the volcanoes are purely white, but roads through the mountains are frosty not snow-packed.

Update! The last storm of the month brought January to ~80 percent of normal. Better than expected, but it was another warm storm that did nothing good to snowpack.

We'll see what February will bring!

Solar smash relents

 

The timing this week's solar storm was good and bad. Skies were clear, but conditions were slick and frosty for our sloped viewing area. Worse was the time zone: europe and the eastern us hit peak time for two nights, but the west us was declining both nights. One could stay up and be rewarded, but the cold was most unappealing.

This 4-second shot at iso2000 is far fainter than last year's events. The timing was vital; clearly many folks got very bright flareups but the chill did not bring me patience!

Happy New Gear: 2026 edition

The Lumix-S era is over. For now.

As I noted before, if S didn't work out I would just revert to the µ43 kit and enhance it.  Well, as is often the case, I was half right. 

I gave it my best shot, but it couldn't be comfortably managed on my tiny budget. I'm getting back several hundred dollars, nearly all my S investment. And in exchange I spent $220 on a new body.

Oops: it's a Pentax!
It simply isn't possible to deal for a choice µ43 body ($600+) without spending the same amount of cash that the S gear provides. And in effect my PK lens set is fully fleshed out - but it lacked a body. My K-01 shutter may repair itself (as many people report after it sits a while) but I won't bet on it. 

I found a low-shot black K-s1 body, with its nice 20Mpx sensor and odd but very small body. I've owned it before and lamented its limitations, but for the time and price it will serve.  

(I immediately spent $40 more on a spare solenoid. And yes, it's needed.) 

It has 'better' pixels (more, and larger) for duplicating my piles of slides and negatives compared to the GX7. Somewhere around here I'm sure I have seen a spare Li190 battery too.

HD only for video - but it's Pentax so the video-greedy won't bother. In other ways it will do quite nicely. 

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The second bit.

An Oly eM1² will arrive soon, and the gx7 will depart. After a few days of site-searching I found an acceptable price for a copy. This will be the weather resistant and usb-c charge body, and the 4k video option. Almost everything, actually.

I shall pick up a wx resistant zoom in the near future.. oh!

Update: it will be a 12-60mm f/2.8-3.5 Zuiko Digital SWM. It will zoom the same direction as the 70-300, which will be nice. It will be bulky but that's also a match. It was the same price as 'that' 12-60 but gains me pretty much a stop of extra light. I should use a wx sealed adapter though, at some point..

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Update II: it will also be a 40-150mm f/4 - much to my surprise! I found a really nice deal on a used copy. Not many of these show up used, so the owner must have stepped up to f/2.8 or a longer telephoto. 

This gives me a sealed option for long shots, and also provides great overlap with both 12-60 and 70-300 lenses. And if I decide to switch to a 12-45/4 or 12-40/2.8 at some point, I'm in a good spot. Hopefully the 12-60 will prove worthy though! 

The new era begins next week.

Is the Pentax kit now superfluous? Hmm.