Pioneer Matter Bifold

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I promised an update on my Pioneer purchase a few months back and here I am… I’ve been using the Matter bifold for 6-months now and have come to the conclusion that it’s the best wallet I’ve ever used. A few reasons:

  1. The 10XD material is very light, very thin, and feels as though it wouldn’t last longer than a couple of days in your pocket. In reality, my wallet still looks as good as it did the day I got it. This shit wears well.
  2. The size and organization is perfect. I’m a front pocket guy, so my wallets have to be small. This one is and has just enough organization to ensure it stays that way.
  3. Along those same lines, the design is perfect. There isn’t a single slot that is hard to get too and all of Pioneer’s design decisions work well together.

The only real question left is long-term durability. I’ll keep ya updated.

Details.

Watches & Goodwood

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Something about mixing race cars and fancy clothes pisses me off. I think it might be that while the mechanics are wearing scrubs, the elite are choking on ties for vanity and appearance. Form vs function. It just rubs me weird.

BUT, I secretly dig this little number that Hodinkee did on the watches of Goodwood.

Details here.

Peak Design Everyday Sling – 6L

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I was sent this sling bag about 6 months ago, but wanted to use it before doing a brief review. Essentially, the 6L Everyday Sling is a small cross shoulder or “ass pack” bag designed primarily for photographers. It’s built beautifully and comes in a few different colors. I got black.

The Pros:

  1. Like I said, it’s built incredibly well… Something I’m starting to expect from Peak Design after recently getting one of their straps.
  2. It carries more than it’s size would suggest. In mine, I carry a Leica Sl2-S with 35mm Summicron V4 attached, a Leica M7 body only, a 21mm SEM, a 90mm Summicron, and various accessories such as batteries, filters, etc…
  3. It’s minimal. There aren’t many pockets or flapping straps to distract you. In fact, it’s basically just a pouch with a very configurable strap.
  4. Due to this strap and they way it pivots off the bag, you can wear this bag as a sling, an over the shoulder bag, or even a fanny pack.
  5. And no matter which way you chose to carry this bag, your camera and lenses are remarkably accessible.

The Cons:

  1. After using this bag for a period of time, I can really only thing of one con. The Everyday Sling doesn’t look like a camera bag in the way that maybe a Domke would (which is a good thing), but I’m still not hip on the aesthetic. I think that maybe it’s a bit too modern in appearance for me?
  2. Oh wait… one more con. The front quick stash pocket? It’s too tight to be useful for anything accept maybe a lens cleaning cloth.

End of the day… If you are looking to carry small and light, the Peak Design Everyday Sling in 6-liters is hard to beat. It’s also offered in 3 and 10 liters.

Details here.

Zulu Alpha Straps

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Tooling around the strap world the other day and stumbled upon a review from Scottish Watches. He digs the Zulu Alpha… and I think I do too. I’ve never worn one, but the aesthetic is right on and the guys behind it know what’s up.

In any case, my order is placed.

Details here.

Film Point & Shoot

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“Ryan, I want a film camera with the size and pocket-ability of a point and shoot, but the exposure control of a real camera. Is the Ricoh GR my only choice?”

No… But you don’t really have a budget choice on something like this. Small film cameras with good lenses and manual control are expensive and there’s no real way around that.

I love the GR just because it looks cool, but another option (possibly a better one?) is the Contax T2. Essentially, it’s a titanium bodied point and shoot that also boasts full manual control. Hell, the tiny little Zeiss lens even has an aperture ring.

I had one years ago… but sold it when the prices took off. You can find them on eBay for around $750 and up these days.

GoPro Hero 10

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A few years ago, I bought the latest and greatest GoPro, three of them actually, for use on a car shoot I had coming up. I was excited about the project and spent a lot of time figuring out mounts for the cars, story boarding, and just generally preparing for something the GoPro was designed to do.

It didn’t work out… The magnetos in the race cars interfered with the cameras in some way, the build quality was shit, and two of them would freeze or just shut themselves off randomly. Frustrated, I contacted GoPro support. After jumping through far too many hoops, GoPro sent me another two cameras to replace the bad ones. They were dead on arrival.

This narrative continued for weeks and got so bad, that I eventually threw up my hands and considered the cameras a loss. I also promised myself to never buy a GoPro again.

Guess what? I’ve kept that promise.

But yeah… The GoPro Hero 10 is now out. By most reviews, it’s a real banger.

Details here.

Logitech Combo Touch

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Want to turn your iPad Pro into a laptop, but don’t want to spend the $350 Apple wants for the Magic Keyboard? Spend $100 less and get the Combo Touch instead… It’s not as trick looking, but it works better in almost every way.

Details.

Vaer D7

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“Hey Ryan… Question: I want a Rolex Submariner, but can’t afford one. And even if I could, that kind of money on a watch doesn’t make sense to me. Can you recommend a sub $1000 watch that might fill the void?”

Man… there are so many submariner “homages” on the market, that it’s tough to recommend just one. The being said, the watch world kind of freaked out on the Vaer D7 series when it was released and I’ve heard nothing but good things about it since.

Essentially, it’s a Swiss made watch featuring a Sellita SW200 movement. The SW200 is a ETA 2824 alternative that lots of watch makers are using these days and it seemingly does really well out in the world. More than that though, Vaer makes one hell of a watch case. The fit and finish of these is 90% as good as a Rolex at a tenth the cost.

I think the Vaer is a really safe bet for a guy like you.

Details here.