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Sunday, 27 July 2025

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Our 2021 Nissan Leaf came with a portable level 2 "charger" that plugs into a NEMA 14-50R socket (and has an adaptor for a 110 volt household outlet). We had a 240 volt NEMA 14-50R outlet installed and bought a highly rated charger (so we could leave the Nissan one in the car for "emergency" use - never used it that way). One flaw we ran into was the electrical code required a GFI breaker to be installed in the panel for that outlet. The charger we bought also had a GFI circuit and while the Leaf charger worked well, the wall charger's GFI and the breaker's GFI did not play well (basically kept tripping the breaker when ever the charger was used). Our fix was just to hard wire the charger (take out the NEMA 14-50R socket) and then we did not need the breaker GFI (still protected by the charger GFI). The newer model of our charger (and likely most others) now seem to have the ability to have the charger GFI "turned off" so it does not interfere with the breaker GFI.

If there happens to occur a passalong with a Q3, I would love to be included. As a long-time user of a Fuji X100, through various versions, I've considered "upgrading" to a Q3 for a while, even handling one when I stumbled across a Leica store in Washington DC a few years ago. The price is off-putting, and I'm not convinced of the Leica magic, but G.A.S. is ever-present. I suppose I could just use Lensrentals but to get my rental money's worth, I'd need to clear my calendar for a few days and take a staycation from work to put it to good use. I may do that anyway!

I once knew someone from Buffalo who told me that many people there kept a "snow rat," an old and rusty car that they used in the Winter, when weather dictated that heaps of salt needed to be broadcast onto the roads. IOW, I support your strategy.

Leica Q3 the most desirable camera on the planet? Yeah, I wouldn't mind owning one, but first things first: a winning PowerBall ticket.

"That sounds pretty exciting, until you realize that if you use an ILC with lenses that have filter threads on the end, you can just buy a highlight diffusion filter and get the same effect."

There are also filter adapters available for the GRIII and GRIIIx (not the same adapter, alas) that attach to the bayonet mount that's hidden beneath the dress ring. They make the camera slightly larger than it is when the lens is extended, but add versatility. And then it can even go beyond standard circular filters – I have an ND / ND Graduate / Polarizer square set for mine.

In a previous life, I had interactions with people in the insurance industry. You and I and consumers generally think of insurance in a certain way. They think of themselves as financial institutions that get their money from premiums instead of deposits. They are not in the business we think they're in.

Regarding US health insurance companies, I've asked a question a few times in various places and never got an answer. In the days following the murder of the CEO of United Health Care, there were widespread stats published in the media showing that they denied up to 1/3 of claims. My question is this, why do people buy health insurance from a company that won't pay out when it is really needed? How can they still be in business? Further, what kind of culture thinks this is ok?

Mike: For a camera so expensive, so minimally featured, and so limited in application (fixed lens, which can be either a bug or a feature depending on your point of view), it gets waaaaaay above its expected share of passion, dedication, enthusiasm, and approval. I've never seen or tried a Q3. I should remedy that.

Well, I don’t know about passion, dedication, and enthusiasm, but I, for one, certainly approve of four attributes of the Q3: its 27mm f/1.7 lens is excellent (although I’ve read some dissenting opinions), the 5.76M dot OLED electronic viewfinder is clear and bright, the body is very compact for a full-frame camera (although not plausibly pocketable), and the menu system is the best-organized one I’ve encountered—not perfect, perhaps, but very intelligently designed. I’ve configured the six customizable “profile” options to cover various types of subjects I tend to shoot, and selecting one of them is often the only time I need to delve into the menu system: everything else is accessible from the manual controls on the body.

But undeniably the Q3 is outrageously expensive for a fixed-lens camera and the medium-wide focal length isn’t for everyone. Still, it is definitely interesting, and worth at least a short test run. I see Lensrentals has them ... at an appropriate Leicaesque price, naturally.

Lease an electric car if you want, but don't buy one. Depreciation on EVs has been very high in the past year. This costs might not depend on how little you drive it, either. A couple months ago, our Colorado car dealers were offering leases cheaper than $100 a month, with nothing down. Leases usually don't make sense on other vehicles not used wholly for business, but this case is an exception.

I question why you're investing in the home charger beforehand? Are you trying to catch a tax break or incentive before it's gone? If you already have the surplus capacity in your breaker box, that will keep the cost under $1000, but most old homes are maxed out there.

Mike, I might consider a hard wired charger. There is apparently a bit of a risk inefficiencies/heat at the plug point if you use a plug in.

As to your car choice, have you looked into private party sales? I recently sold my 2011 Leaf, and used KeySavvy as a intermediary. Using them has two benefits. First, it insulates buyer and seller from potential financial fraud (not so important for a 2011; much more so for a 2023!). Second, it allows you to claim the tax credit for used EVs--30% of the sale price, up to $4,000.

I also have thoughts about which vehicle, but there are so many opinions, I will just sit tight, and say that once you've gone 100% electric, you won't want to go back.

I think you should try using an L1 charger for a while before you invest in an L2 charger. The main benefit of an L2 charger is that it goes faster. Based on what (little) I understand of your driving habits, I believe that L1 should charge fast enough. And in my experience, it's pretty common for a new car to come with an L1 charger included.

And if you get a car that doesn't have an L1 charger, I'm happy to donate one to you. 🙂

I've had the previous Q model, the Q2, for about four years and love it very, very much. The lens is as good as Leica claims and the files are superb. The handling quickly becomes second nature and, with the upgrade of backwardly compatible batteries to the SCL-6 battery the useful life of a battery is much improved. One of my favorite features of the camera is the Monochrom HC profile in Jpeg (HC = High Contrast). It's just wonderful. Not a useless subtraction of saturation only but a much more nuanced implementation. I'm considering tossing everything else, grabbing the Q3 43 and upgrading my Q2 to a regular 28mm Q3 and using those two camera for.....everything. It sure would simplify my inventory. But then, I no longer need long lenses so that's something others will have to think about.

Insurance? Hmmm. My homeowner's policy replaced the roof on my office and my house, replaced about 500 linear feet of wooden fencing and replaced my porch screens after a hail storm a little while back. About $40,000 worth of repairs. No push back. No negotiating. Just straightforward service. It made me happy to have had homeowner's insurance.

And with cars I always convince myself that not having to worry about stuff/liability for injuring someone, etc. is worth what I'm paying. If you hate the idea of insurance for your home, you can always self-insure. It's an option.

Three major distortions are hitting the EV market right now:
- Removal of energy tax credits
- In-coming Tariffs (affecting all new cars)
- A huge wave of used EVs coming off lease

Makers & dealers are facing a really difficult inventory management problem: sell ASAP or watch inventory pile up, and what to do about all the 2 & 3 year lease deals ending right now.

I also agree that this is one time to look into leasing. I'm also seeing ads in Colorado for $79 leases or 0% loans precisely on your Ioniq 5. (Read the fine print on leases, prices, loan terms and dealer incentives; "You can't always get what you want, but you just might find..." Or the other song: "Just walk away Renee")

Regarding used cars.

The 3rd generation Ioniq 5 came out in 2022. A quick look at Carfax shows low-mileage Ioniq 5s advertised around $30k. Remember that there is a $4,000 tax credit if the used car is below $25k.

I’ve been happily ignoring recommended tea steeping time for a couple of decades. I pay attention to the amount of tea and the temperature of the water. If it tastes bad, it’s usually too much of one or the other. Some teas are finicky, usually the Japanese greens.

Just to say that you probably have a lot more leeway in your tea process than you might think.

I think that the most desirable camera for me is ultimately the one I want to go out and shoot with. My needs and wants are different from other people. I often take photos of birds and other subjects where long telephoto lenses are a necessity. The Q3 would be of limited use to me. Besides that, I don’t feel comfortable with carrying around a camera worth several thousand dollars in public. My used Nikon Z6II with budget friendly (but good) lenses is perfect for me.

A neighbour installed an electric charging station for his Nissan Leaf. He also purchased a Mitsubishi Freelander, which is a hybrid gasoline/plug-in electric vehicle that has become very popular in my neck of the woods. I think he uses a separate, slower charger that can be plugged into a standard outlet for the Freelander. Good luck on making a choice.

Just one opinion, not trying to anger anyone...

Regarding the Leica Q, yes it is desirable, but I have an issue with the "feature" of the in-camera crop. As the old expression goes, "all things being equal...", well things are not equal if you regularly use the cropped mode.

There are people that crave megapixels, while many of us had more than enough resolution back in the 24-ish megapixel days that manufacturers have apparently abandoned.

So you get that 60mp Leica Q, because you wouldn't be caught dead with less than 50mp. Then you start realizing that a longer lens would really help you capture the scene, so you start utilizing the other frames for tighter lenses and suddenly you are in that pedestrian range of megapixels that you would never be happy with. Go to 75mm and you're looking at 20mp. A 90mm crop takes you into a 2008 era 14mp. Again, all things aren't equal. And I won't even mention the divisive depth of field equivalency of those longer lens crops.

I still use cameras with 24 to 26mp and even 16mp. If I shoot at multiple focal lengths, every image has the same resolution by my physically changing lenses. I start at a more-than-enough resolution and never dip below that.

Changing lenses and getting consistent resolution gets closer to all things being equal.

Here‘s advanced nitpicking on both of your choices for „most desirable camera“. Had the Q2 and found it useable, the RAW files very robust. But it isn‘t really compact to pack because of the big lens. Then, using a rare RAW converter, Iridient Developer, I found out that the lens is really a 24 mm lens with lots of distortion and a bit of chromatic aberration in the corners. Those are corrected in-camera before writing the dng file to card. Only Iridient Developer digs deeper and shows the original file. I find that technique unworthy of Leica and imagine Mr. Karbe is a bit ashamed of this lens.
Now to the Ricoh GR III (x). Now these are really good to pack away, even in a jersey pocket while cycling. The lenses are fine but here the APS-C sensor is a bit of a problem. From about ISO 1600, it shows noise that can‘t really be removed in postprocessing the dngs, not even with Lightroom Classic‘s otherwise very capaple AI denoise function. It works much better on the files from other manufacturer‘s APS-C sensors, lifting their apparent quality one sensor size up. Here, it just doesn‘t work. Maybe that‘s just a matter for Adobe to look into.
You know what my most desirable camera is? It‘s also a Leica, a MP with a Leicavit and a Summicron 1:2,0 35 mm ASPH. (chromed brass version). So elegant and simple, plus it changes character with the film you put into it. But I‘m old-fashioned.

First time reading in far too long (depression sucks). Enjoyed all the snippets. My main reason for commenting is because I didn't know about Butters (as I was reading the entry regarding HAWS, my principal thought was "I hope Butters is still with us"). Sending my belated condolences, Mike. Wishing you peace 💔

[

Thank you Mike, and I wish you very well in your struggle with depression—i'm a sufferer too, not so much any more but in the past. You might want to search for "The Love of Dogs" which was my farewell to Butters. He got sick last Thanksgiving with a tumor on the pituitary and I had to put him down on June 6th. It's much more lonely here without him. —Mike

]

Mike, auto insurance is the same. They pay the claim (with some bickering) and then raise your premium to collect it all back. Apparently the premiums you have been paying BEFORE the claim count for nothing.

I bought a GR at a reduced price years ago when the GR II was released, and it was my favourite camera, a take everywhere camera because it could slip into a pocket.

Last year it started to go wrong. When switched on, the shutter remained closed, so no image on the screen. Pushing the shutter button and waiting produced a completely dark image but then the camera started working normally until the next time it had switched off.

This year it failed completely.

So I'm waiting now until the GR IV comes out at which point I can decide whether to buy that or hope for a GR III at cut price!

I find Albert Smith's opinion interesting because I've fallen in the opposite camp. I've been a happy camper with my Leica Q2 for a while but have always preferred a 35 mm focal length to 28 mm and 40 mm to 35 mm. After a very deep breath (and a brief play with a Fujifilm FGX100RF, which was not comfortable in my hand), I've added a Q3 43 to my Q2. I love the resolution and megapixels, as I know that if I don't overcrop I can print pretty much as large as I'm ever going to for exhibition. The two cameras give me more than enough at 28, 35 (Q2) and 43 and 60 mm (Q3 43) to keep me very happy. I've had a Sigma 28-60 mm zoom on my Nikon D3 forever and have never really shot outside that range). I've never been one to shoot shallow DOF, so I don't mind the equivalency issues for the longer lenses (that's why the Fuji tempted me but I've never shot "MF" digital before, so don't know how that would have gone). The only problem is that I now want to upgrade he Q2 to match the Q3 for handling reasons but my back pocket is already burning....

Back in film days, after the manufacturers had sold all the SLRs they were going to, or close to that, many premium compacts were introduced, Nikon 28Ti/35Ti, Minolta UC-1 (may have the name wrong), Contax T2, etc. Are we seeing a repeat of this? I see articles justifying non-interchangeable lens models and why they're different than an ILC with a prime lens. It's all a bit déjà vu. OTOH, if you like a camera, then you like it, nothing wrong with that, who cares what marketing category it fits in.

My wife was an insurance underwriter. Her accounts were big (e.g., Delta Airlines). She explained that insurance allowed an individual to do things they could never otherwise afford, like drive a car on public roads, or own a house.

A tornado blasted our house many years ago. State Farm tried at first to buy us off with $40k check. My wife made it clear with a few choice insurance industry terms that we weren't falling for it. They bumped the claim up a few levels to someone who cooperated completely. Their total payout was several times the original offer.

The health insurance industry is another story altogether, a giant scam perpetuated by our lawmakers. The civilized countries have far better and far cheaper healthcare without this sort of "insurance".

I don't own a Leica, and the only one I tested at I-R had some serious flaws. But the Q3 has been frequently compared to a couple of other recent very nice fixed-lens cameras. I keep seeing "for only a few thousand dollars more, you could have a Q3".

The Q has never had much interest to me, it seems a single-trick pony. Leica actually did have an excellent interchangeable-lens camera, the APS-C Leica CL, which has been discontinued. Which is a shame, it is a delight to use and with the L-mount lens availability from Sigma and Panasonic, it can be used for almost any application. Panasonic for example just came out with a tiny, weather sealed 18-40 zoom (27-60mm equiv.) that is a perfect all-day lens on the CL. The Sigma DG DN lenses all work, with aperture rings and metal construction they are 1/3rd the cost of Leica lenses. Or you can have a Leica 28/2.8 pancake that weighs almost nothing. I can't quite fathom why one would want a 28mm fixed lens camera for max resolution. The CL is smaller, probably just as fast to focus, and gives you real options on lens use.

Just my 2 cents.

"I'll use the Leaf as a runabout and retire the old car for limited duty in snow, super-cold weather, and long trips. Anyone in the know have opinions about that plan?"

Once you have an EV you will probably only use that. And with a charger at home, you can in winter preheat the car and battery and that will give you better range in the winter, as most of the extra energy used in winter is for heating the battery when you start driving. Also and EV have instant heat in winter, no motor to get warm before giving heat, and no more starting to drive in an cold car.

For medium to longer trip you will probably be able to find a route with chargers, and if not it might make more sense to rent a car for those (few?) trips than to pay for and maintain an extra car.

Re charging connectors: I assume you were choosing the J1772 because the older Nissan leaf fits it. But as you may be aware, the connector is obsolete in the US and has been replaced by the NACS or Tesla standard. Speaking from personal experience with a plug-in hybrid that has a J1772,I can tell you that it’s a miserable connector in that it has no provision for guidance on insertion. You will be annoyed with it every time you try to plug it in. I have had only brief experience with a Tesla connector so I can’t really comment on it from memory.

Also, I would second the comment that you might want to try a level one charger first. All you need is enough charge overnight to cover the usual driving you have the next day.

I have no idea how the "most desirable camera" could be determined. But as an enthusiastic owner of both the Q's and the GR3's I can say that both lines are extremely useful cameras. Although the GR3's are APS-C sensors I tend to think of them as mini-Q's, most handy when I can't schlep a Q-size camera. Both produce some of the highest tech quality images I've seen. So if they're not at least on the imaginary list of "most desirable cameras" they certainly should be.

Mike,
In regards to EV chargers, and electric cars in general, you might take a look at Tom Moloughney's two sites:
evchargingstations.com
state of charge (YouTube)

Mario Gatti


I also vote for the Q3 in both focal lengths, but then it's 2 cameras.

For street photography, I regularly carry both so I look like a 1967 Vietnam War photojournalist. Then subject knows I'm not just a tourist.
Of course I have tape over each logo that says, "My Other Camera Is A Leica" in small lettering.

Recommended steeping times for tea are fairly consistent across tea merchants and retailers, but it is subjective and I do sometimes wonder how much testing there is behind the times. I see white tea recommendations usually 1 to 3 minutes at low temperature (70-80 degrees C, but some suggest 60 C) To my mind this barely colours the water I have found 80C for 4 minutes works for most white teas. As for oversteeping I think is an excellent way to test the quality of the tea, good tea is still drinkable, though may not be at its best, poor tea is horrid. I have noticed this regardless of the type of tea, even black tea (though it does need letting out with some extra water). Sometimes I have to drink cheap tea when I'm travelling and I always just show the water the teabag. I'm sure this is why the British mostly put milk and sugar in their tea because the general quality of branded tea is of the lowest level and any significant steeping will produce a harshly tannic and acrid brew.

Do you have flood insurance? It looks like you live on an alluvial fan in a location that looks like flash flood bait.

I mostly desire a Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C combo.

My 2 cents. Don't add anything for your EV charger now. The landscape is changing (How useful are those USB-A cables now or lightening, etc.?). The car may come with one or with special pricing to add on. Almost nothing added to a house pays off. You won't get back what you put into it. Talk to a realtor. Yes, they'd rather have a fully featured updated house, easier to sell, but you won't get your money back. If you're already doing electrical work on the house and the circuit would be a small add-on, maybe worth it.

PS. Pennies are going away, so not sure 2 cents is worth anything unless they are old pure copper ones.

[That's looking at it one way, and I'm sure you're right. Looking at it another way, however, the house will pay me back for anything I put into it; all of the realtors I've spoken to (some are friends) would list the house for more than double what I paid for it ten years ago. —Mike

]

I’m a strong proponent of having a backup vehicle. I’m stuck in a 5 day per week, 100 mile a day commute. In not quite five years, I’ve added 110,000 miles on my 2019 Insight, an especially boring vehicle uniquely suited for my commuting needs. It has been an extraordinarily inexpensive vehicle, needing only replacement tires, wiper inserts (Honda sells just the rubber inserts for the factory wipers), spark plugs, plus oil and filter changes. Still plenty of material left on the brake pads. However, odds are it will need shop time in the not too distant future.

To that end, I purchased a $2300 insurance policy by plucking a well cared for, single owner, 2006 Scion xA, with 103,000 miles, off of Craigslist. Not as nice on the highway as the Insight, but a manual transmission makes it more entertaining. It fits into almost any parking space, insurance and parts are cheap, and it attracts almost no attention.

The best acquisition policy is to desire, but not need a backup car. Gives you the luxury to wait for the right specimen. Also helps to cast your net in 100-150 mile radius, at minimum. The internet certainly helps here. For some strange reason, all my best finds have been over 100 miles away. Finally, check in with your insurance agent as coverage costs may be reduced for vehicles driven far less than average.

In these days of phones as cameras, seeing that camera on the table is strangely quaint.
Like seeing someone driving a steam powered old timey car on the highway.

I'm always so surprised that people (like my children, especially) who've paid insurance, and NOT had to claim, feel that they've been ripped off somehow.

As if the years of not claiming mean that the insurer was somehow taking money unfairly. They were covering you. A service for which they assume all of the risk. How is the provision of that service worth nothing?

Should Secret Service agents protecting you pay back they salaries for the years when no attempts were made to harm the people they were protecting? I don't know, maybe people who bemoan insurers think they should?

In these days of phones as cameras, seeing that camera on the table is strangely quaint.
Like seeing someone driving a steam powered old timey car on the highway.

I’m a huge Q proponent, first with the Q2M I picked up new in 2022 and now with a second Q2 I recently grabbed used. They do 90% of what I really need in day to day non action photography.

Mine are permanently parked in 35mm crop mode because I want the floating framelines. This works for me since my M bodies almost always wear a 35.

The Q2 pair will do just fine until Leica does a Q-like L mount EVF only body.

I think the Fuji X100 VI is the most desirable camera on the planet right now, but that's just my humble opinion. X100 cameras are always backordered, and their volume is probably much higher than the Q3. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm not saying your opinion is invalid.

We have a 2014 Nissan Leaf SV and a 2010 Honda Fit Sport. The Leaf, an older 24 kWh model with maybe 70 miles summer range and slightly less in the winter, covers 99% of our local driving and gets used 4-6 days/week. Because of the smaller battery we have been fine with the 110v EVSE that came with the car. Actually, for the first three years we owned the car my wife had free charging at her work and we rarely charged at home; we specifically shopped for the Leaf once my wife found out about the free charging.

The Fit covers 100% of longer drives (at 40+ mpg) and might go weeks to more than a month without being driven. It is garaged and on a trickle charger so rests peacefully between drives.

Interestingly, despite the very different modes of usage, both cars travel 5000-6000 miles/year.

We don't have the funds to buy a newer EV that would better cover our needs. Instead, we have two vehicles, which we paid <$10K combined for four and five years ago, respectively, and because they're older vehicles the combined insurance is also reasonable ($550/6 months). In addition, I do all maintenance myself which also reduces costs.

I would carefully evaluate your needs when thinking about getting an EV and/or owning an EV + ICE vehicle. If the majority (maybe >90%) of your drives are easily covered by the EV, there's really no point in keeping the ICE vehicle, especially if it's getting rusty or has deferred maintenance issues. If more like half of your drives are easily covered by the EV, maybe you keep the ICE (if it's paid for) + an EV. Or, maybe just look at plug-in hybrids in that scenario.

I can't speak to new vs leased vs used. The first has always been so far out of my price range that I don't even bother thinking about it. I've never understood the point of leasing, although some of the recent EV lease deals do *seem* good (but check the fine print). As far as used vehicles go, my dad was a mechanic so I'm pretty comfortable fixing up or improving a well-loved vehicle and keeping it on the road.

In preparation for receiving your Pentax Monochrome kit as part of the "pass along" you have so generously organized, I have been reading what I can about it online. The 2023 post that you wrote about it, including the excellent comments from readers had just gotten the camera in their hands and tested it, is excellent and a great example where TOP really shines. https://the_online_photographer/2023/06/here-are-my-reactions-to-the-pentax-monochrome.html

My vote for most desirable goes to the GFX100RF. Leica always has an edge because of its inherent luxe aspect, and here it does have 2 significant features the RF lacks. But the RF I think is the better camera.

With respect to insurance, yes it's scammy. My wife and I have had multiple bad experiences both with home owners and auto. We were blacklisted once, which is illegal but happened anyway.

Regarding tea, I'm sure regular black tea wouldn't like being steeped long and the Japanese green I love so much doesn't, but dark teas (pu-erh) not only have no problem with long times but also can handle being steeped many times really well. Well, some do. I tried one once, that we had steeped 10 times and still was very tasty. I still like my sencha better but pu-erh can be wonderful.

Oh and you might like and try cold steeping too. The basic idea is to put the dry leaves in a bottle of water, put that in the fridge all night and, with some teas at least, you get a lovely cold drink that can help you get through a hot day.
And yeah, you can prepare your tea normally and then put that in the fridge. Different tastes, so it's worth trying both.

I have the Q2. What I love about it is more than any other digital camera I have used is it ability to function more like using a film camera. I have never been a volume shooter from the spray and pray camp. I set the autofocus square in the middle of the frame like my old film cameras. I use the F=stop dial on the lens to adjust exposure and or decide on the depth of field. Frame a shot and move on. Of course the tactile feel and a great lens are additional bonuses. Lastly I had all but given up on owning a Leica but I was able to splurge on this once.

Is it too late to join the queue for the pass-along? Happy to send a K1ii or KP in temporary exchange, along with the Magic Macro?

[

Yep, we limited it to five people for the first round. But if all goes smoothly we might do a second round, so keep on the lookout. --Mike

]

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