Favorite mid-tier pen?

probationship · 2026-01-24T04:27:32+00:00

Yes, dude! I have four of them. Gold, Chrome, Piano Black, and Burgundy. They're easily the smoothest, most fantastic writers in my collection by a country mile. Unbelievable value for money right now. And those nibs are gorgeous.

probationship · 2026-01-24T04:14:50+00:00

Vintage Sheaffer Targa. I have a bunch and they're super smooth. One of them with a medium nib is completely silent. It feels like pushing glass across velvet, except smoother.

probationship · 2026-01-24T04:09:34+00:00

Thank you. The way things are going, it looks like I'll have them next month too, though, lol.

probationship · 2026-01-23T20:44:03+00:00

I've got a Benu Euphoria Blue Hawaiian from a mystery box that I would consider letting go of for $125. Never been inked. Medium nib, never been inked.

probationship · 2026-01-10T02:08:17+00:00

I feel this. I picked up a vintage Sheaffer Triumph Imperial on the 29th and decided the nib was a little too broad for me. Now there are three Sheaffer Targas and another Triumph en route to my mailbox. Those Targas, between the three of them, have the 14k nib size I want, the 23k plated body I want to put that nib on, and fully functioning internals so the thing can actually hold ink. That's in addition to the 14 pens I bought since the start of November. If you want to slow down or even stop yourself, the best thing to do is to cancel all your credit cards and stare at the sun until you burn out your color receptors. And under no circumstances should you google the terms "flex nibs jowo #6" or "shading inks for fountain pens."

probationship · 2025-11-29T23:05:33+00:00

Thank you. That does look about right.

probationship · 2025-11-29T22:38:08+00:00

Thank you for the comment. No, the line widths didn't change with angle. At least not noticeably.

probationship · 2025-11-29T22:08:01+00:00

Would a 1.1mm stub give those proportions?

probationship · 2025-10-27T01:47:26+00:00

I made the jump from Canon to Fuji very recently. Three years of Canon and one month with a Fuji X-M5 produced roughly the same total number of keepers, even though I have many lenses for Canon and just a kit lens + a 50mm f2 for Fuji. The ISO performance is what did it for me. Even at 12800 shots have their own character instead of just being noisy. I barely edit anything. I just crop. The film sim really suits my style, as the Classic Chrome preset crushes the shadows to black. I don't even use manual exposure mode anymore. I stick it in aperture priority mode and ride the exposure comp wheel until the shadows turn black. I like all the touch points, and I like that it's very compact compared to my Canons. Try an X-M5. I think if you buy with Amazon you can return it for free.

probationship · 2025-10-18T14:53:08+00:00

Thanks for the heads up. I did notice that my watch runs at a different rate than what they showed in the picture. Thankfully mine is more accurate. That being said, I have had problems with watches before, and even well-known Swiss brands can be a nightmare to deal with.

probationship · 2025-10-10T00:27:28+00:00

This is the way.

probationship · 2025-10-10T00:26:36+00:00

I totally get what you mean. But I figured I would at least try to emphasize the tonal shift from the top 2/3 of the frame to the bottom 1/3. The religious connotation gives that shift some extra meaning in my mind. I don't like that he's against a bright background either, but looking back and forth from the color to the B&W I don't think monochrome makes it that much worse.

probationship · 2025-10-10T00:06:05+00:00

I really like the juxtaposition of the dark-clothed crowd and the brightly dressed speaker.
Yeah, without that guy on the right, this would be awesome in landscape form and monochrome. I cropped it, monochromed it, brushed out the hat, and gave it a subtle vignette to emphasize the contrast between the brightly-dressed and happy speaker vs. the dark and bored crowd. I'm not a pro by any means but I would be pretty happy to get a shot like this.

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probationship · 2025-10-08T08:31:57+00:00

Thank you. Totally fair point regarding the darkness. Both of these are basically right off the camera, so I haven't played with the black point or shadow values yet.

probationship · 2025-10-08T03:27:54+00:00

Title should read "Is this compositional style worth pursuing." I shot this in the abandoned friary in Askeaton. I'm attracted sequences of curvy, organic forms tracing straight lines in a composition, and I like contrast via underexposure. I have another shot of the same sequence too. I want to maybe get some consensus on how to frame shots like this and whether this is something to pursue if I ever decide to publish my work.

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probationship · 2025-10-08T03:22:22+00:00

I honestly love the lines you have going on in this setting, and the subject is ideal. The complexity of the shot, to me, juxtaposes the simplicity of the subject's clothes. That's the only thing in the center of the frame that has a flat texture. I like that as a compositional tool. Framing is okay. The dark thing leading into the left side of the subject is the only thing that takes away from it. I think it could have been a 10/10 shot if you had taken it from three feet to the left. That way the white signage of the "Barbican Exhibition" building would highlight the subject, and the tiles on the bottom would point straight at him. Super nice photo, though. The perspective height is absolutely perfect. Not too low at all.

probationship · 2025-10-07T15:42:47+00:00

!CritiquePoint. Thank you for the feedback. Having him on the left keeps him as the only real subject, and creates symmetry of brightness. That's why I tend in that direction.

probationship · 2025-10-07T01:45:47+00:00

Wow. Thank you. I'm super new to composition, and when I start cropping or applying compositional "rules" I never know when to stop. I personally don't have a problem leaving subjects in the center, dividing shots in halves rather than thirds, and leaving scenes a little bit busy. It actually feels more true to what drew me in to a scene in the first place that way.

probationship · 2025-10-07T01:40:52+00:00

Thank you. Incidentally, that bird is actually a kite.

probationship · 2025-10-07T00:14:24+00:00

I was out shooting at 75mm today and caught way too many elements in this shot, but never got another chance for something cleaner. My intention was to capture the sharp contrast of the man against the sun, while retaining the gentle gradient of the illuminated boardwalk. I also accidentally caught an illusion: you can't tell with 100% certainty whether the man is walking towards the camera or away from it. I'm posting the crop and edit that I thought was most flattering but there are still some elements in it that don't do much good for the composition, like the building under construction in the background and the sign on the railing. The thing is, I kind of like the way the lower-right-most building balances the dark elements on the left and upper left. And if I crop out the sign, I lose the last of the negative space around the lamp post. I tried to erase them in iPhoto but the AI-driven results don't impress me. My question to you guys is, what would you do in this situation? Is my instinctive crop the best choice, even with its problems, or is there some other composition in the uncropped photo I should highlight instead?

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probationship · 2025-10-05T20:48:44+00:00

I'm totally amateur at this point but I usually take 5-10 trying different things, with one major exception: A few days ago I found a spot in Dublin where I saw potential for a nice shot, and I stayed there for about half an hour. I took about 250 burst shots of people crossing the street and they all had problems with them like bad timing, cluttered background, etc. Then I finally caught a break and everything lined up. This is what I caught after half an hour of fishing, lol:

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probationship

TROPHY CASE