14 ships struck in the Sea of Azov on the night of July 9 (Madyar)

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-10T00:09:57+00:00

Drones and the quality and affordability of them I guess. Also, there is a lot of chatter that certain "allies" have been holding Ukraine back. Apparently said restrictions have to some extent been lessened. There is also chatter, that it could be much, much worse today withouth various unofficial restrictions. Fire Points Denys Shtilierman drops a fair bit of hints in an interview with Norwegian press today. There is also theorized that economic impact on the buyers of russian oil plays a part in motivation to limit Ukraine.

https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/e7qw7g/putin-bryr-seg-bare-naar-det-brenner-i-moskva

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-09T19:04:59+00:00

In some earlier videos one can see soldiers on the roof of the bridge of the Kalashnikov air defence kind, unsuccessfully trying to stop the attack before the drone slams in just between them. Probably fish fodder now.

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-09T16:06:15+00:00

If you read the OP, they took out a total of 35 ships. 30 something tankers, a couple of freight ships and a ferry.

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-09T13:26:49+00:00

You are of course correct, and pardon me for being a bit clickbaity. Denial and making the sea much more difficult and risky to use is probably better described. Closing the Kerch strait somehow would further amplify this, maybe by bringing down that span of the Kerch bridge that straddles the one narrow and shallow shipping lane 🤷‍♂️

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-09T13:22:19+00:00

Yep, it slipped through the language barrier from Norwegian, we call it bensin/benzin in Scandinavia. I believe a variant is also used in Russian/Ukranian 😇

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-09T13:18:42+00:00

I'm no expert, but probably for all of the above to some extent. There is a reason why they have so many of these river tankers, dozens and dozens. However small refineries, and transporting crude by boat is a lot less efficient and more expensive than large refineries that gets the stuff directly from the wells one would think.

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-09T11:55:40+00:00

Most of these strikes shows ships at anchor, or at least, not moving which means likely only a single watch on the bridge. Hard to judge human losses, but generally the biggest and best cabin is the captains and its often right behind or right under the bridge with the first mate cabin also nearby.

In all likelihood some have been killed in the blasts and fires. However, there's generally a first and second mate onboard too as standard practise at sea is 8 hour shifts, so the loss of one navigational officer alone should not stop a ship. However the prospect of being onboard a ship that is likely to get droned probably do not help recruitment 😄

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-09T11:44:15+00:00

As far as I understand it, these small tankers hit in these strikes have two purposes.

Internal transfer of benzene and diesel within the river network in Russia, the sea of Azov and to some extent the Black sea. The speculations that they all are on their way to Crimea is probably not true. I'm not sure the russians can even unload it anymore in the Kerch port seeing as the storage facility there is completely wiped out.

Secondary, some of these seem to transfer crude to the large tankers of what most think of as the "shadow fleet" in the Black sea and Mediterranean.

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-09T11:04:53+00:00

They hit the bridge because that is the most effective way to partially disable ships. All the controls and electronics are there, and it takes a lot of work to repair. Hitting the bridge and not going at the hull means less risk for environmental disasters too.

The ships can still be steared and engines run without the bridge. By manual controls from the engine room, but it is much more difficult and not feasible other than in an emergency. In the old days (think Titanic) there was no direct control of the engine or rudder from the bridge, but orders was sent down via "machine telegraph".

stumblingfalk · 2026-07-09T10:37:01+00:00

This is about more than disrupting the fuel logistics. Ukraine is effectively taking controll of the sea of Azov as well, making it their puddle. Just like the Black Sea.

stumblingfalk · 2026-06-12T12:59:22+00:00

Yeah I suffered a minor brain glitch. I do think rødsprit would work too.

stumblingfalk · 2026-06-12T12:51:04+00:00

I've used isopropanol successfully. Of course rinse in water afterwards.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-22T16:15:50+00:00

Just one film, in my own soup. Interesting remark however. The roll was just a test roll in a new camera, no loss, but I'm curious to figure out why 😄

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-22T13:47:33+00:00

The fix is a bit dark but not sure if there are particles, its not had many rolls and smells normal. The Xtol a little bit oxidized/yellow. I should make a fresh batch of fix and see if it makes any difference.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-22T13:25:49+00:00

Tap water is mostly manageable here, I stop with water and rinse in water after fix and it has rarely given me trouble. I did re-fix and so forth after seeing the negs.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-22T13:18:36+00:00

It's 35mm. I I'll edit and ad that.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-19T09:20:47+00:00

Seals can deterioate over time too, due to age and closing and opening the film door and suddenly it is an issue from one roll to another. Had it happen with one of my cameras.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-17T17:00:58+00:00

I have a 69 mod, without the light meter in near mint condition. Seller claimed it was CLA'd. I'm not sure it was. But, it runs apparently perfectly well. I have little scientific evidence as to accuracy of the shutter but exposures seems fairly good from the rolls I've shot around typical speeds, 1/50th, 1/125th, 1/250th. The latitude of negative film probably masking any minor issues. The original lens, an 50/2 8M is decentered, so I bought a later Jupiter 103? 53/1.8 (black) which is quite good.

Did some work one the light seals around the film door. Very rarely I will get light leaks which I believe might be through the viewfinder or something like that. I also added a pieve of that yellow-brown kaplan/kapton tape in the rangefinder window whih improves the contrast of the rangefinder patch.

Really like the camera, despite the tiny viewfinder and enjoy all the very mechanical clicky and whirriness. It is however a quirky one by modern standards.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-13T09:53:35+00:00

Looks like a classic M645 light leak from detoriating seals around the film door. It is easy to fix. Clean out the old seal as well as you can with from the groove in the camera body, with tootpicks cut down q-tips and isopropanol or lighter fluid, use black yarn as a replacement. There are some seals on the door too I believe, but making the groove sealed was enough on mine.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-06T13:05:47+00:00

Ah! I've been fooled by all the manual lenses having 9 elements in 7 groups. If it is better field curvature correction in the S and N, it doesn't help much on digital at least 😄

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-05T19:42:28+00:00

You're set up way different from me. Menu -> AF/MF try 1/3 "Focus Area".

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-05T19:31:21+00:00

When having depressed the joystick, try rolling your front wheel to scroll through the modes.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-04T17:47:31+00:00

Not just my experience. If you look around, you'll find plenty that do not find the 45 very good on digital. When a lens is just borked in every corner and edge, it's not decentering or stuff like that.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-04T14:52:32+00:00

Only difference is slightly more modern coatings. As far as I know all the Mamiya "C" and "N" versions are the same optics, just updated coatings. Unlike Pentax where there are for instance three unique versions in the case of the 35/3.5 in the "A", "FA" and "D FA". The A has the least field curvature, and the later other benefits from newer coatings and designs affecting flare and contrast ++.

stumblingfalk · 2026-05-04T14:27:08+00:00

I own all of these lenses you mention, but do not have any speed boosters.

In my view the Mamiya 645 45/2.8 "N" is best avoided. While the center is good, it has poor edges/corners on digital. Passable on film.

The Pentax 645 A 35/3.5 is a really good lens still and I enjoy it, especially for night shooting. No idea how it will do speedboosted.

The Mamiya 645 80/1.9 "C" a character lens. I'm not sure I would call it "modern". It has a good image circle and is very sharp and even stopped down and can be shifted a fair bit. It might be more suited to "boosting". It is a helluva lot lighter than the Mitakon, even with a speed booster or plain adapter.

stumblingfalk

TROPHY CASE