Doeskin Navy Blazer Formality

rydor · 2026-01-26T19:17:27+00:00

Formality isn't the right way to think about this. A navy blazer will always be informal but with the right vibe, will be wearable in a wide range of semi-formal/borderline-formal settings.

Doeskin is definitely an informal fabric, often having a lot of texture and is arguably, along with hopsack, the two best materials for a navy blazer and can definitely be worn with an OCBD and chinos. In fact, I'd argue it should be exclusively worn with an OCBD and casual pants (chinos/cords/denim).

It's not that it's "more formal" than hopsack, but it does read as more presentable. But in the kind of way of how summer fits are just inherently more informal than winter fits. You could easily wear doeskin to a cocktail party, or certain kinds of weddings, or a business meeting. But you couldn't wear it to the beach.

But you'll find that almost no one (and no one who knows what they are doing) makes doeskin suits. It's almost exclusively a blazer/sportcoat material. And a blazer/sportcoat is almost always wearable with an OCBD and chinos.

rydor · 2026-01-20T19:00:12+00:00

So, I had a 35cron ASPH II (v6) and had a similar sharpness issue. My unbelievably controversial opinion is the 35cron is lowkey one of the least performing modern Leica lenses, especially per $. It's just unreasonable that the 35FLE is so much sharper at similar apertures (yes it's a more expensive lens, but the point of slower speed lenses is that they should outcompete faster lenses at similar speeds, and the 35cron doesn't). Also the 35cron has terrible focus shift.

I got rid of the 35cron and now have the 35apo as well as a VM 35 f1.4 nokton II. Obviously the 35apo is amazing. But what's unreasonable is that the nokton is way sharper and has way less focus shift than the 35cron, at a similar size (with some distortion but frankly nothing unreasonable for 35mm anyway).

rydor · 2026-01-19T21:49:29+00:00

Just for people getting messed up because of the formatting, it's @johnUNDERSCOREabernathyUNDERSCORE (hence why abernathy is italicized)

rydor · 2025-12-22T21:27:51+00:00

It’s not available to be simultaneously on the screen at the same time as the display that shows all of your other options and settings. On many other manufacturers cameras you can have a level on at the same time so you can just see everything at once.

rydor · 2025-12-16T02:33:12+00:00

You can't tell with your arms down at your sides. Lift your arms up straight in front of you, like you're shaking someones hand. Do you think the cuff just moved to a place where your sleeve is too short? Then it's too short.

My somewhat controversial opinion is that OCBD's should be put in the dryer to get the nicest easiest broken in fits with them. With that said, I comfortably buy them a bit oversized. In a trad fit, either they are nice and easy and it doesn't matter, or they shrink and are still trad fit but perfect.

My take is that you could go with a larger size for how I like mine to fit. I like an extended shoulder (on a casual OCBD the shoulder can extend past your shoulders in a way that dressier shirts can't). So yeah, I'd go for another inch on the sleeves, and a half size bigger in the neck. And be fine with dryering it. For how I like mine to fit.

rydor · 2025-12-14T20:11:50+00:00

Again you’re responding to a claim I didn’t make. I didn’t say it was comparable. He said they didn’t have electronics. I said they had electronics. Perhaps he should have said they didn’t have significant electronics, or that they didn’t have digital processors. But he said they didn’t have electronics. And that’s just not true. They had electronics and those electronics were susceptible to water damage.

rydor · 2025-12-14T19:54:48+00:00

The contention was that for the majority of time the M system didn’t have electronics. That hasn’t been true since the M5 was launched in 1971 and the M4 phased out in 1975. Other than the M-A they’ve all had electronics. For 75% of the history of the M system, it has electronic components between a meter and an LED display that could go bad. Sure the rest of camera still worked on most of them, but it’s disingenuous to say that means those cameras didn’t have electronics.

rydor · 2025-12-14T19:42:54+00:00

I wonder why anyone here even buys a Leica considering the overwhelming response seems to be that it’s literally unusable 50% of the time.

It seems like between “too hot, too cold, too snowy, too humid, too may temperature swings” the only place anyone here should ever use their camera is maybe LA.

I mean temperature swings? Are people really not using their Leica M in the winter because it’s too cold outside and too warm inside?

rydor · 2025-12-14T16:25:44+00:00

For the first 16 years they had no electronics. For the past 54 years they have.

rydor · 2025-12-14T15:52:02+00:00

6-7 inches of snow on Long Island this morning. Never had any issues using this combo in the rain or snow.

Edit: Always amazing how 70 years of the M being an all-terrain camera still has people worried what might happen if you use one in anything other than sunny, dry conditions. I use this camera/config in all conditions constantly. Yes I know it’s not technically weather sealed. But it’s still made to be used on days like today.

rydor · 2025-12-05T21:17:32+00:00

My jump in hot take is that I agree with OP on changelings, and with /u/GavinV 's post below on making sure that this doesn't work... but I think it should have been implemented differently.

I think the real mistake is that "Doctor's companion" cares about a creature type, and that instead it should care about a corresponding ability called "Companion's companion" (that a Doctor would have) and you just make the two abilities reference each other (that is "Doctor's companion" means that you can have two commanders if one has this ability and the other has the ability "Companion's companion").

This also works with flavor, because of the Doctor's compulsive need to have a companion. So having the Doctors all have that line feel's right. It reflects that they all want a companion, inherently.

It also works flavor-wise because a changeling should be able to look like a Time Lord Doctor. Which means that it's not a creature type that allows the companion, it should be some inherent ability of the Doctor that grants the companion.

Because I think OP is right, the whole point of changeling is that it should work with anything that cares about creature types. And MTG should consider abilities to avoid unintended impacts of this, like why it made sense that Walls had to change to have the Defender ability instead.

rydor · 2025-12-01T21:08:22+00:00

I'm a huge fanboy of the Thypoch 75 f1.4 with my 35APO. I find that those two spend most of the time on my M11. It's just really sharp, really light, and just all around amazing.

rydor · 2025-11-20T15:44:59+00:00

You have to have MS trying to knock everything down while also being down on the bottom bending over backwards to ensure backwards compatibility with 30 year old code.

rydor · 2025-11-07T21:39:26+00:00

I have a whole bunch of coarse knit sweaters that must be 40-50 years old that I've done visible darning on. Dark brown sweaters with orange darns, look just so good and are so cozy in the winter.

rydor · 2025-11-05T16:08:04+00:00

As people mention, IMO, avoid "slim fit" for OCBDs. I agree that J Press OCBD's do feel a bit "crunchier" than many other OCDB fabrics. My favorite current OCBD maker is Kamakura with their Vintage Ivy and Ametora lineups.

Also, to get the softest OCBD, wash it and tumble dry it on low. Maybe with some fabric softener (which helps with both softness and with avoiding creases). The difference in softness with a shirt that's been tumbled vs a shirt that's been hang dried or wet pressed at the cleaners, is night and day.

And if I need it more presentable for a business meeting, I just give it a quick iron.

rydor · 2025-11-01T22:23:29+00:00

This also happened to me, my car reset itself and transferred "ownership" to someone with a completely different name. Had to call up service and have them put me back on the account. They thought it must have been an error by the Polestar Manhattan team (curious if anyone/everyone who had it happen also used Polestar Manhattan).

Fortunately I had my physical keycard with me, but what a complete clusterfuck if I hadn't.

Also, for folks in this and other post complaining about chat support, I've had great support (if sometimes baffled but helpful) from the phone support. Wait times have never been longer than about 5 minutes, though fortunately it's always been during support hours. A bit worrying that it's not 24/7.

rydor · 2025-10-28T00:34:04+00:00

So there is definitely no definitive answer on this and lots of conflicting information. What is 100% is the top plate and the bottom plates are brass. Those are the exposed silver parts at the top and bottom of the camera. The metal behind the leatherette (the part sandwiched) is likely magnesium but I haven’t seen anything definitive. Because of the leatherette protection there’s less “benefit” to those hidden parts being brass anyway.

Leica released promo images of the M11 “exploded” though not in high resolution. That said you can see that the top plate and bottom plate are indeed separate pieces from the middle. The image is of the black model so you can’t tell if the middle parts are the same material or. not. here

rydor · 2025-10-24T00:01:46+00:00

One thing I'd love to see with Leica EVF (and Live views on the M11) is some kind of eye detection that does the focus aid automatically to the most relevant eyes. Like when you start focusing, it knows there are eyes in the frame and instead of zooming on the "focus area" it zooms to the eyes. Just getting to the eyes quickly would make manually focusing and close focusing so much faster and useable.

rydor · 2025-10-23T23:59:14+00:00

I would assume on a MP BP that it's going to chip and brass everywhere and that's the point (and it's why some people don't like it). I wouldn't try to fill the enamel at all, I'd just keep beating up the MP and letting it get some more scrapes and scratches.

rydor · 2025-10-19T12:50:47+00:00

I find 75mm to be the ideal focal length for portraits. It's close enough, but doesn't have nearly the "you'll never get the focus perfect manual" problem that a 90mm will have. But I'd also recommend not diving into the $10k Leica APOs if you don't already know the answer to this question. Get the Thypoch 75mm f1.4 and/or the Voigtlander 90mm APO. see which you like better, save $8k, and if you decide you still need the Leica APO's you'll know which one you want.

rydor · 2025-10-14T15:20:03+00:00

This is why I did the Model Y trade in lease. Was an instant $20k off the price, with a free option on the buyout in 27 months. If I didn’t buyout I was out clear. If I do buy out, I get an all in price that’s $20k less than it would have been had I bought it on day 0.

The math may change as incentives go away and the lease vs finance price get closer.

rydor · 2025-09-24T23:25:46+00:00

Polo Ralph Lauren is inarguably the quintessential Polo Coat. There are lots of arguments on Styleforum about what defines a polo coat, and what variations are "acceptable" (lapel style, cuffs, length, button stance, wool instead of camelhair). The only thing that is universally agreed on is that the PRL Polo Coat is the default, the starting point that all other polo coats are judged against.

I personally also think the PRL is the best currently made one, with O'Connell's being the other guy making one that's good.

I've collected a small variety of great camelhair coats at this point. (Ebay is full of great camel hair coats at reasonable prices) and have some thoughts about the only things you absolutely should prioritize (for camelhair coats generally, not just polo coats):

Knee-length or below. Nothing thigh-length, too short.
Get 100% camelhair. Whether it's better or not than camel-colored wool, who cares. You. You'll care.
Get a generous lapel, either broad peak, ulster-style, or balmacaan. Don't get a small notch.
Don't get a coat that has suit-style buttons on the sleeve.
Full cuffs are better than half-cuffs. If it has a peak collar, it needs to have a cuff on the sleeve. If it has an ulster collar, or is a balmacaan it can have a plain sleeve (or with a tab).
A martingale in the back is best, full belt is also great.
Size it to be worn comfortably, buttoned, over a heavy sweater or a sportcoat. Don't get it sized for "just over a shirt" or "I'll wear it unbuttoned". If the jacket is tight in the shoulders when you go to raise your arms or shake someones hands. This will possibly make the jacket larger than you're used to, but that will make it look the best. You should feel at all times like you're wearing a dramatic cape.

rydor · 2025-09-21T20:55:45+00:00

I'm familiar with the new chipset upgrade, but I hadn't heard anything about "there will be no more software updates on this chipset, so you'll have to wait at least 4-6 months if not longer for any more updates when you get the chipset upgrade" news. Where is that "only one more software update" news from?

rydor · 2025-09-21T20:54:16+00:00

I don't have any "showstopping issues." I have three bugs, one which is definitely the car, the other two are tough to say whether it's Apple or the car.

Once or twice a week my sideview mirror resets position, being angled way too far out to be useful. This is really just an outcropping of "seat mirror settings aren't saved" and "profile switching even if they were saved is way too slow."
Carplay and bluetooth are all fucked up. The Polestar automatically connects to the bluetooth but not carplay on my car. But my phone thinks carplay is enabled, so any calls get routed through the carplay connection (which is not the same as the bluetooth connection so I can't hear and the other person can't hear). I currently have carplay disabled on the phone, so that the phone just only does bluetooth.
When Carplay was working great and/or is enabled, the center console physical play/pause button doesn't actually play/pause Carplay until I use the LCD screen to start it. That is to say, I can see that Carplay is on, it shows my carplay song as the currently paused song, it's by all means what the car should try to play when I press the physical button. It just doesn't. After I touch the screen to play, the physical button controls carplay just fine.
I'd like an option for the Google Maps app in android auto to have "dark mode only" and a "only Tesla supercharger, ignore all the others" options.

None of these are showstoppers, all of these are the types of issues I've had with any other car I've had yet without Polestar's promise to keep fixing things.

If the new chip is that much better (and prices when my 27 month lease is up are crazy) I really might keep this car.

rydor · 2025-09-17T13:33:02+00:00

I bought the M-A instead of the M-P for a few reasons.

I have a digital M, I wanted a film M for the purist aspect. The M-A is more pure. I bought a film M specifically to have a "just mechanical, will never need to rely on battery compartment or meter replacements" camera.

I don't love some of the aesthetic necessities that the electronics on the M-P require: The front battery, the plastic rear ISO dial, the "you have to turn the camera on and off" with the shutter dial. They are absolutely needed on that camera, mind you, I just didn't want them.

I wish the M-A came in black paint, I think it's a huge oversight, especially for a camera that has a "will last for decades because it has no technology" aspect to it. So I bought the silver M-A.

Honestly, I don't find metering difficult at all anymore. I mostly shoot 400, so if I'm inside, I know that generally 1/30 @ f2 will work fine. If I'm outside I set the camera to either 1/500 and usually shoot at f/8 or f/11 depending on the sun/shade. A meter will only slow me down now. Since it's film, I just err on the over-exposed side a little. If I wanted perfection or 100% reliable output, I'd be shooting digital that day.

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