Auto Porn 5 with Leica M9 and Summar.

The sun  was out; so I was out and about in the chariot of fire. Stopped off at one of my favorite spots to take in the views. (Tilton on the Hill)

I was in the mood to mix things up slightly by using the youngest Leica Camera I have with the oldest Leica glass I have. So today I bolted the 5cm F2 Summar on the M9. For those that might be interested, yes it collapses just fine. Talk about compact cameras. Have always liked this piece of glass. Yes, it has it's faults, your the photographer deal with it. However, it does give a look you can't get today with new glass.
Some say it's not sharp, really? Also comes with f stops from a time before they became standardised, so today I was shooting around f3.2.

So here I am minding my own business squeezing a couple off when I see in the distance one of my other loves, an Alfa. If there is one thing that photographs do not do well, it's sound.

The Alfa sounded superb under load as it climbed up the hill. Depending how large the pic opens on your monitor you can see the smile on the drivers face. One very contented chap.

So I was passed by an Alfa and then joined by some bikers. I am not a bike man, but that does not stop me from appreciating the machine. 

So all in all a nice afternoon, 3 passions all rolled into one. Driving the chariot of fire, photography and Alfa.

Standard tag line. All images straight off the chip no fiddling.

Chariot of fire, shot with a  Leica Summar from 1936. Looks sharp enough to me.

 And how it handles colours.

 Alfa and smiling Alfa driver.

Bikes

Speaking of bikes, who had one of these?

Thomson Holidays web site payment screen A word of warning.

Sadly nothing to do with photography.


Just a word to the wise.
If you are thinking of booking a holiday using the Thomson web site consider this first.




I tried to book a holiday with Thomson on Monday night.(13/4/2015) All going well till payment screen. Hit the submit button, then blank screen. No confirmation or booking ref.

Card payment was requested by thomson and duly authorized by card company.

So I am now £1600 out of pocket and no holiday. Thomson acknowledge fault their end with their web site. A known issue.

I am being told funds will not appear back in my account for 3 to 5 days. How can that be?
They leave immediately. So why the delay?
Card company can see the funds sitting there allocated to thomson, but they will not be taking them as they have no record of the holiday I was booking because their site crashed on pressing the submit button.


After many phone calls, I am basically told.
Yes we screwed up, no you cannot have your £1600 back for some time and no you do not have a holiday.
Oh and by the way you will be the one doing the running around and spending loads of time to call centers.

Totally unacceptable.

So as a public service to anyone thinking of booking with Thomson, take plenty of screen prints or go in a shop. Or go elsewhere.

You maybe fine and everything goes smoothly, but if it happened to me it can happen to you.

I shall not book with them again.


Jason