Episode 101 • Today Is Her Birthday, They're Smoking Cigars

It’s P’s birthday, but she’s working, leaving Jeff languishing at home with nothing but his vapid glad-hand for company. Perfect time to summon up Gabe on the ol’ Zoom-o-Matic and pump out an episode! In this one, we speak of acquisitions both big (huge honkin’ Pentax zoom) and small (stealthy Casio wristcam). Also discussed: being mocked for your puny glass by a bird photographer with a 600mm, many upcoming LA photo meetups, and a deep dive into our Prodigious Mailbag™!

* Gabe snapped up a big-ass Pentax 6x7 zoom lens

* and had his beloved Leica M6 CLA’d by our trusty-dusty camera repair guy

* shout-out to the Film Fridge app — it’s better than a spreadsheet!

* Jeff speaks of his millennial obsession with the Casio WQV-3 watch camera, how he used it to surreptitiously photograph Will & Grace guest stars, and his late frustration with a recently acquired top-of-the-line WQV-10

* also, he’s just returned from photographing sandhill cranes and prairie chickens in Kearney, Nebraska with the XPan, which was apparently the wrong camera to bring, because other large-lensed photographers mocked him

* Wilber, Nebraska is the Czech Capital of the US!

* Dave Grohl laments option paralysis, something we camera collectors know all too well

* there are plenty of upcoming photo meetups in LA — check out LA Film Camera and Analog Con

* Jo Geier of Mint and Rare is torturing us all on Instagram

* ever heard of the Ricoh 500RF?

* we rifle through an exceptionally Prodigious Mailbag™