#wongweviews

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Up close with the Leica Macro-Adapter-M

I’ve been looking to try to reduce the focusing distance of my favorite lens recenlty, having started this blog and realising that I do need some close focus shots.

A bit of looking around online led me to two options - the Leica Macro-Adapter-M, and the new Leica 90mm f4 Macro Elmar.

Due to budget considerations, I held off buying the 90mm macro lens. It has pretty good close focus (0.8m, only 10cm more than my 50APO) for a tele lens, and would have addressed my need for a product lens pretty well.

But it was the Macro-Adapter-M which caught my eye.

It’s not anything sophisticated - it’s a simple extension tube with a helicoid focusing mechanism. Or put even more simply, it’s an extension tube with adjustable length.

It certainly won’t work for close up product shots, unless you want shots of buttons - I was practically around 8-10cm from my subject in these macro shots.

But it’s small, it’s light, it’s not crazy expensive (for a Leica accessory) and opens up a new world of macro photography.

[wongweviews]

Cold brewing: The Toddy Cold Brew System

I picked this up from Raw Coffee Company earlier today on the way home from golf. First off, kudos to the guys at Raw Coffee Company - they were closed at 3 pm but still willing to help me when I walked in at 3.20 pm. Friendly and helpful guy (looks a bit like Bob Marley, with shorter hair), certainly knew his stuff. Now, on to the Toddy! Unlike the Bruer cold drip coffee maker, the Toddy works on an infusion principle that's clsoer to the OXO coffee maker (which I was told was also available from Raw Coffee Company) . It sounds simple, but requires some amount of patience to start a brew - 1. you pour in around 235ml of water after plugging the bottom with the silicone/rubber stopper and dropping in the moistened polyester filter 2. SLOWLY pour in half the 340g of coffee needed (thats 170g for the mathematically disinclined among you) - I now use a spoon to evenly distribute the grounds 3. SLOWLY pour in water (room temperature is fine, as I've learned) - the purpose here is to wet the grounds - and that triggered the blooming process (OMG, the intensity of freshly ground coffee blooming is HEAVENLY) 4. repeat steps 2 and 3 5. tamp down any dry grounds with the back of a spoon - no stirring, it messes up the filter 6. saran wrap the top of the brewer and put it in the fridge for at least 12 hours The first brew

I started my brew around 4.30 pm, so it's probably going to come out just fine when I wake up tomorrow morning. Used a Colombian in coarse grind from Raw Coffee Company as recommended by Karthik Brew time: 23.5 hours 4:1 dilution of cold water to concentrate. The first thing I noticed was the intensity. There's a bit more acidity compared to the Bruer, and so much more body with a lingering aftertaste. Hits hard, feels exactly like what I'm going to need in the mornings. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Available at Raw Coffee Company's online store. They deliver with a minimum order of just AED85. Just order the Toddy cold brew coffee maker (it also does tea, but I'm not English) with an extra set of filters (always good to have an extra set) and ask them to grind a 500g bag of Colombian for the Toddy. 500g with 2.2l of water will fill it up nicely, and do it in layers Colombian habit

Used 2 bags of off-the-shelf Waitrose Colombian coffee (AED28 per bag of 227g), along with around 2.2l of water using the water/coffee/bloom/repeat technique. 24 hours immersion. I was extremely worried that the French press grind would be too fine for this. HOLY CRAP, it tastes miles better than the stuff out of the Bruer. The brew is way more fragrant, far more consistent, much much better body. This has nose, body AND a lingering aftertaste that keeps me wanting more. It's official - the Toddy Cold Brewer is my favourite cold brewer. It's easy to set up, consistent (which the Bruer isn't), and the results are more to my taste. p.s. huge bonus points to Raw for their delivery service - at AED85 per 500gm of coffee (pretty much the same price as Yahava Koffeeworks in Singapore), I get free delivery with two bags. Woohoo!

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One of my favourite pocket cameras - the Ricoh GR 

Easily overlooked when most people are shopping for a ‘good’ travel camera, the GR is a great little tool that won’t break the bank, especially since they are now going for under $450 USD on eBay.

Unlike the most point and shoot cameras with tiny little sensors, the GR comes with an APS-C sized sensor, similar in size to what you’d find on the Nikon D7200, Canon 60D (thanks for the catch, Mark!), and delivers amazing image performance for something this compact

Ricoh really hit this one out of the ballpark - if you think this is a weird focal length, here’s something to think about - it’s a 28mm lens that covers pretty much a similar field of view as your mobile phone (the iPhone at least).

Shoot RAW? Great, cos this little guy spits out those images in Adobe’s universal DNG format. And in AdobeRGB colour space too.

Not a fan of post-processing? Ricoh’s hit it out of the ballpark with this one - the dramatic black and white and the positive film presets have got some serious mojo.

A friend of mine was in Dubai just awhile back and shot some crazy Daido Moriyama-like images - check out his work at http://www.monotanphotos.com/

Image quality and size aside, the other thing I love about this camera is being able to charge it using a USB cable. I rarely travel without my XiaoMi 16000 mAh USB power bank, and I keep this little guy charged and ready to go with the included USB cable. Of course, you’re SOL if you lose the cable, but given how cheap you can get them for on eBay, there’s little reason not to buy a few spares and toss them into every bag you own.

Battery life is pretty good - I’ve never run out of juice except when I used the Eye-Fi cards, which put a huge drain on the battery. The alternative is to carry around a camera connection kit or a USB OTG cable (for Android users).