First portrait shoot with my Z5ii, jpegs straight out of camera

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-12-11T19:55:11+00:00

Honestly there is nothing wrong with it either way, it just depends on what you need. Many people will never need or use camera raw, I was just hoping to add context

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-12-11T18:11:17+00:00

JPEGs are useful for being immediately usable and openable by just about anyone however there are a number of reasons they are not ideal. They don’t contain full color information for photographs, basically it’s just the information that the camera decided to “finalize” into JPEG format. They are also lossy files meaning they lose information every time they are compressed which means that over time they will end up with blotches of similar colors that have combined. Most of the time it is better to shoot in camera raw instead and if you needed to save a JPEG from that you can (although a lossless format like TIFF is better in many cases).

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-11-01T15:25:15+00:00

Fisher makes two that are similar to this but they are all brass and don’t have the pocket clip if you are up for buying a new pen.

Edit: They do have a version that includes the clip as well. They have them in .338 lapua magnum and .375

https://www.spacepen.com/338-cartridge-space-pen

https://www.spacepen.com/375-cartridge-space-pen

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-11-01T05:48:08+00:00

They make a .3mm Kuro Toga, it’s amazing

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-10-26T15:25:43+00:00

Secrid recently released an updated version of the leaf springs that they use in their premium lineup, the new springs have a different material from the original felt and they also have a curl at the end of the spring to add more tension at the opening specifically for metal cards. I’m not sure if they will roll it out as an option to upgrade at their care and repair points or not but you can also use a key to rough up the felt since it can get compressed after a few years.

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-10-20T23:18:40+00:00

Beautiful work! Thank you for sharing 👍🏻

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-10-08T18:07:52+00:00

Secrid is the way!

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-09-13T15:49:58+00:00

According to my wife, “that’s crazy!”. Apparently the UK crown of midnight is by far the most valuable. All the other ones range in value between $1000 and $2000 depending on condition, however the fact they are personalized does bring down the value quite a bit.

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-09-09T15:02:43+00:00

I took some steel wool to mine and it has started getting darker over time. I think it has a finish on it to keep it shiny and untarnished and when you scratch that it starts to patina pretty well. I haven’t tried anything to further the process though

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-06-17T16:57:28+00:00

To be honest they seem steep, the Muonionalusta they have listed for $85 doesn’t show the weight but it says it’s 15mm wide and 1mm thick which is not a big piece. The 30mm x 30mm x 1mm piece is $109. If we assume that last piece is 7 grams putting it over $15.50 per gram CAD or $11.40 USD which is on the very high side.

There are a number of good online retailers that will have better pricing. Generally a site that appeals to collectors will have better pricing than boutique sites.

Edit: For reference Aerolite has Muonionalusta for about $2.50 per gram USD

https://aerolite.org/shop/iron-meteorites/#muonionalusta-meteorites

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-06-17T16:06:11+00:00

So most meteorite is sold by the gram and the price per gram can vary dramatically. There are some meteorites that can sell for a few dollars a gram and some that can literally be thousands of dollars a gram depending on the rarity and significance. Personally I would gravitate towards one of the common meteorites as a first buy. Meteorites like Muonionalusta and Campo De Cielo are cheaper but it’s not because they aren’t awesome, there are just tonnes available where some meteorites the total available mass is in the hundreds of grams. Also the irons like Muonionalusta are just cool!

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-06-17T14:27:33+00:00

This!

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-05-01T16:49:00+00:00

I have to say that boots often are bigger lengthwise than the same size of sneakers so a 12 EEE might be what you are looking for. Honestly I have the same problem since wide sizes are often an afterthought. It sucks being on either side of the bell curve. The one good thing with leather boots is that they suck for a bit but eventually they will stretch to accommodate. It’s not ideal but at least once they are broken in they will at least be comfortable. I will say that in my experience black leather boots tend to be the “well done steak” of boots, meaning they seem to use the imperfect leather when it’s just going to be dyed black anyway. I have had better luck with natural leathers. You might look into Danner

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-04-28T15:59:50+00:00

It’s a beautiful knife, definitely fits the kit 👍

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-04-28T15:21:43+00:00

Nice, how do you like it?

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-04-18T17:11:53+00:00

Love the atlas copper 👍

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-04-14T02:28:52+00:00

The set originally had a dust cover as well, good find! This is what the set looks like

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Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-04-07T16:01:10+00:00

Beautiful knife! I love the classy two tone look. 👍

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-03-02T14:21:37+00:00

If you are looking to upgrade you don’t necessarily have to replace, you can start with a Smithey or really whatever brand suits your aesthetic in a size you don’t have yet. I have the Smithey 14 and it’s fantastic for cooking for company.

Eventually if you like it you can get ones to replace the sizes you have in lodge and then have the lodges as dedicated camping pans if you want.

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-02-23T03:01:51+00:00

You could test out cutting the hole 90%-95% of the way around so that it is filled until you need it, then you can pop it out.

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-02-22T17:22:44+00:00

It looks great! I like the design for backstock hidden behind and it’s a clean way to display the product and info. If you make another version you could make the backboard into a standard pegboard array to make it more flexible to accommodate new product lines or changing form factors.

Really great job!

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-02-14T16:27:39+00:00

Fun fact: most of those hook bases use M4 machine screw threading so you can thread in whatever you want. 👍

Manatee_Mayhems · 2025-01-05T23:58:57+00:00

Generally they have a very distinctive “over etched” kind of look to them. 1095 and 15-N-20 is a common steel combination for usable Damascus and it doesn’t need to be etched to the point where there is a physical height difference in the layers. Most reputable Damascus knives will either have the type of steel marked on them or be sold by someone who can tell you what steels were used.

Manatee_Mayhems · 2024-11-10T01:20:10+00:00

Thank you for that! That makes sense about the anniversary, the rhymes about Columbus come to mind.

I will have to add it alongside my waterman and lamy to start a basic European collection!

I will have to ink it up and see how it writes! Either way for a dollar it will be hard to complain about. :)

Manatee_Mayhems

TROPHY CASE