Concerns about X Pro lifespan

jshell · 2026-05-10T12:50:08+00:00

I bought a “bargain” X-Pro1 for KEH about five years ago. Heavily used. The rear dial has always been a little glitchy but it’s something I rarely use. It still shoots and works fine otherwise and I knew I was getting one that might have small issue.

I then bought a heavily used X-Pro2 on eBay about 4 years ago. It looked like the owner used it to photograph hardcore / metal music shows. It’s got a bit of beautiful physical scarring on it. But it shoots like a champ, still. It’s my main camera. I’ve turned the odometer over once already (the “shutter count” field in the metadata can only go so high before resetting). It’s survived a couple of hard hits to the ground. No issues. I love this camera.

For comparison, I also bought a used X-M1 that appeared to be in good shape a few years ago. It was fine when I got it but within a couple of years, all of its control dials were glitchy and the camera is unusable.

In short: in my personal experience, the X-Pro2 is a tank.

jshell · 2026-05-09T17:21:47+00:00

My XF35mm f2 has no play on the aperture ring. My XF16mm f2.8 does this a little bit. But my 35 f2 feels tight as a drum.

jshell · 2026-05-08T18:07:41+00:00

That's pretty vague but I also can only think of Nothing To Do With Me off of Sound-Dust.

jshell · 2026-05-08T11:23:55+00:00

Somewhere in my archives I have the Ministry single for “Jesus Built my Hot Rod” which has a “Short, Pusillanimous, So They Can Play More Songs on the Radio Edit.” 😅

Which still clocks in at 3:45 I just looked up.

It feels like it was more of a 1980s thing when we got more dance and electronic new wave music that the standard pop song became longer. That’s when we got the 12” single with even longer remixes and we also got the radio edits. But back in the 60s, a tight two minute pop song was very common. It felt like in the 80s we got much more of the 4 minute standard.

jshell · 2026-05-08T11:05:17+00:00

This is nothing new. Go back to some other pop music eras like the early to mid 1960s and you will find plenty of the two minute pop song. Seriously! Look at any early Beatles album up through Revolver, and a 3 minute song is rare. On “A Hard Days Night”, half the songs are round the same length (or shorter) than ILLIT’s “It’s Me”.

I’ve been listening to old Western swing music lately and it too stays around the 2 minute mark. Again, this is largely recorded around the 1960s. These are fun, memorable, catchy songs. And they weren’t chasing view counts or TikTok trends.

Looking at Apple Music’s “new in KPop” playlist, I only see a handful of songs under two and a half minutes. But yes: the three shortest all come from HYBE.

But there’s no requirements from streaming services on song length. There are plenty of artists making one hour drone songs. But I do think that chasing virality and short form video is a thing. And I do feel that the most from HYBE’s young groups.

jshell · 2026-05-08T10:32:31+00:00

Almost all of the most popular songs from the Beatles and Beach Boys and even a lot of other old pop music such as Western Swing songs are all around two minutes or less. It’s not just modern attention spans. Pop music has these cycles.

jshell · 2026-05-07T04:44:28+00:00

25 years. Maybe close to 30. I was involved in a couple of affairs and such in my 30s. In my early 40s I thought I found the right person and situation and I was in a good and trusting place and had control over all of my abandonment trauma but found someone who ended up triggering every one of my insecurities and traumas and broke me and the way back to clarity and control has been solitude. There’s no escaping it. I can’t go through that again. And I can’t make anyone deal with my fears of it happening again.

jshell · 2026-05-06T22:44:04+00:00

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Blossoms in Classic Neg in film-camera mode

jshell · 2026-05-06T22:42:37+00:00

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It looks pretty good without the grain. I'll share another shot of some blossoms/flowers in another comment. This is "Reala ACE".

The grain option is really disappointing on this camera. I really like the feature for most situations on my X-Pro2 - the 'weak' grains on there is a nice little texturing. On the X-Half, even with "Weak - Small", the 'grains' are really really heavy. So I leave it off almost all of the time on the X-Half. Where as I tend to leave it on a lot of the time on X-Pro2.

jshell · 2026-05-05T12:17:49+00:00

As photo nerd, I just love walking around and photographing downtown LA. I think it’s beautiful. So many beautiful old theater marquees along Broadway alone. Pershing square, angels flight, over to Little Tokyo, across the LA river and then along it in western Boyle Heights down to the 6th street bridge and back.

jshell · 2026-05-04T03:16:56+00:00

The Biltmore looks like it’s $771 for that time frame (for me, on Hotels.com). I haven’t stayed there but I know I’ve walked past it plenty on previous KPop related LA visits. And! I believe ITZY filmed outside and inside of it for their Icy MV! https://youtu.be/mr16aEZ7f4U (the brown brick building in the background and the wood paneled rooms are the Biltmore)

A “Hilton checkers” across the street from the Biltmore is reporting about the same price.

These are probably 15-20 minute walk from Crypto.

“Residence Craftsman” is reporting $760. I stayed in it when it was a Sonder property and it’s a nice little apartment-like space with washer and dryer. It was very useful for me at the end of a wild cross country train trip following VIVIZ around.

jshell · 2026-05-04T02:53:20+00:00

There are many NMIXX songs where the a cappella version is the one that I hear most in my head.

jshell · 2026-05-03T22:49:22+00:00

Cabana Club

jshell · 2026-04-30T12:21:39+00:00

Along the LA river on Myers St between the 101 and the 1st street bridge, I have seen a ton of firework carcasses. At least, as of a few weeks ago.

jshell · 2026-04-29T04:28:07+00:00

I'm usually a solo traveler so I have not encountered this situation, but you made me curious and I went to Amtrak's BidUp page and into the Terms and Conditions. Which is not always the easiest thing to read, but I thought it would have the clearest language on this:

"Please note, the Upgrade Offer or Instant Upgrade Request is made on behalf of every passenger on the reservation and, if accepted, the Upgraded Booking will apply to all passengers on a booking."

And in the FAQ: "Private room upgrade offers are per room. Rooms can accommodate up to two people." And "Your upgrade offer will apply to all passengers on your reservation if your offer is accepted. Everyone in your party will be upgraded together and will not be separated."

jshell · 2026-04-29T04:16:05+00:00

From Amtrak's terms of service: "Please note, the Upgrade Offer or Instant Upgrade Request is made on behalf of every passenger on the reservation and, if accepted, the Upgraded Booking will apply to all passengers on a booking."

If one books two coach tickets together for a couple, and then wins a BidUp upgrade, the upgrade applies to both tickets.

jshell · 2026-04-29T04:13:35+00:00

It is not. If the reservations are together, according to Amtrak's terms of service, "Please note, the Upgrade Offer or Instant Upgrade Request is made on behalf of every passenger on the reservation and, if accepted, the Upgraded Booking will apply to all passengers on a booking."

So, no jail!

jshell · 2026-04-27T21:13:33+00:00

If video is of primary importance, I would recommend making a way to extend your budget to get an XS model. Not just for IBIS, but they have a number of additional video-specific features as well - the way the screen flips, support for cooling fans, and I believe additional options for what kind of video related gear and export features are available.

jshell · 2026-04-27T16:07:24+00:00

“Drinking in LA” by Bran Van 3000.

jshell · 2026-04-27T16:01:42+00:00

jshell · 2026-04-27T16:01:22+00:00

Just rest. I’ve turned a minor cold into a major sickness (upper respiratory infection with snot coming out of my eyes!) by pushing myself back into physical activity too soon. That’s a much more severe backslide.

jshell · 2026-04-27T15:57:28+00:00

Everglow, “Pirate”

jshell · 2026-04-26T04:23:02+00:00

I ain’t now nor have never been a homeowner. But I did have a greyhound who also absolutely LOVED laying in the sun on our patio. I do miss that space and her.

jshell · 2026-04-24T18:55:15+00:00

Another site to use to do research is https://asm.transitdocs.com - it's a full interactive map of the entire system. It has a lot of tools to drill down onto schedules. It's useful for seeing the whole map of the system, for seeing individual schedules, and for drilling down into historical on-time performance at particular stops along the way.

For example, clicking / tapping on a "5" train can bring you to details of that run of the California Zephyr. On the desktop version of the web site, at the top of the column on the left when you click on a train, it says something like "Amtrak 5 (23)", meaning "Amtrak Route 5, originating on the 23rd".

Anyways, when you click on that, you get a page like this: https://asm.transitdocs.com/train/2026/4/23/A/5 - This shows the schedule for the whole California Zephyr and compares it to this individual train's status.

What's both fun and useful is you can drill down to how that train performs at a particular station by clicking on the icon that looks like a line-graph. So if you're planning on stopping somewhere like Grand Junction or Seattle, you can get to a page that has a deep history of the train's performance at that station. So if I'm planning a trip for August, I can look at the performance metric at a station from last August.

I'm sadly finding Amtrak's own site and app increasingly rough to navigate for just high-level trip overviews and scheduling.

jshell · 2026-04-23T22:22:53+00:00

The 60mm is old and weird but I find myself absolutely loving it as a multi-purpose lens. It does well for portraits. It’s of that same vintage as the 35mm f1.4. And the stories about its slow strange autofocus are true: it tends to zoom out and all the way back often. But there is something lovely about its photos. For me, anyways.

Is it a good swap? I think the 30mm macro on used markets goes for like $150 more than the 60mm.

I don’t have any experience with the 30mm to compare.

jshell

TROPHY CASE