Equipment Reviews
The new Omega “Ultra Deep” experimental watch (sadly, not for sale) is a thick but gorgeous design which I hope will someday translate to more practical watches from Omega.
The “Ultra Deep” is as deep as it gets. As you can see from the thickness of the case, this will look better on a robot arm than a human one, and that’s more or less what it was designed for anyway.
Test test
It was the most advanced camera on the market when it was launched two years ago. Touch screen, WiFi, GPS, USB 3.0 were not found on ANY OTHER serious full-frame pro cameras. Let that sink in for a moment. Leica absolutely destroyed the competition with this camera, yet almost nobody realized it except for existing Leica aficionados. Everyone else kept using inferior equipment because they did not know anything about this camera. Most people still don't, and I think it is a tragedy. Two years later, it is still ahead of its time.
I did not say it is Leica's "best" camera because I think that word is too easily thrown about with other reviewers these days. Consider what you will be doing with a camera and that what is best for you may not be best for everyone. Also I love the M series dearly and it's amazing to me that Leica produces both of these very different types of cameras. This is the same company that still makes THREE different film cameras as well, so don't be too surprised. They have some impressive range for such a small camera company relative to the "big three" which is how I refer to Canon, Nikon, and Sony.
©2017, Benjamin Traves
The brand new Leica CL has arrived!
I have been testing it and I will be posting my thoughts and more importantly, lots of sample photos very soon. Check back for more!
Note: The photos below are my own, copyright ©2017, Benjamin Traves - Please do not use them anywhere without my permission.
Leica CL - my first quick conversion to B&W from a raw file (DNG)
Quick unscientific test of dynamic range. Full sunlight to heavy shadow, and the CL did pretty well.
Below is a slideshow gallery of some of the test photos I took in a wide variety of light conditions. All were DNG processed in Lightroom and adjusted slightly to suit my preferences. Some of them have a film look which I added. The files look great to me so far and I'm looking forward to shooting more soon.
The Apple Watches have arrived. Full review coming soon, but for now enjoy the first photos I took. This is the 38mm Sport version of the Apple Watch. Be sure to check back soon for more!
* Thank you Leica Store Miami for the cameras I used to take all of these photos and video clips.
This is a rolling review, meaning I will be adding my thoughts and updating all the time. I've had my watch for about a week now and what I find most interesting is that it feels like I've always had it, meaning it is so intuitive and seamlessly blends with my daily life that it doesn't feel at all out of place. I know it's new, but it's also very familiar and I really feel like I've worn it for years. I'll go into the technical details later, but for now I think my first impressions are more useful to anyone considering the Apple Watch.
More words soon, but for now, enjoy the photos!
Here's a slideshow with some of my first images of the brand new Apple Watch Sport:
Note: All images are ©2015, Benjamin Traves, All Rights Reserved.
Below is a 4K video clip which I shot on the Leica D-LUX (typ 109) - I will have a more complete video review in Ultra High Definition (4K) coming very soon, so be sure to follow my YouTube channel (or Vimeo) and stay in the loop!
Be sure to set the resolution to the highest possible before watching the video:
The Jawbone UP24 is an interesting fitness tracker which lacks many typical features of wearables, such as a screen or display of any kind, yet somehow remains extremely useful and functional even without such features.
Instead of relying on a screen, notifications are delivered to the user via vibration. This is a concept similar to that of a cellular phone set to "vibrate" instead of ring. The vibrations can mean several different things depending on the programming you choose, but these alerts can initially be a strange sensation for the wearer.
The two best features of this fitness band, at least in my opinion, are the sleep tracking and the food logging. I plan to buy an Apple Watch when it comes out (along with a few million other people) and that will have various fitness tracking capabilities which will undoubtedly integrate seamlessly with my iPhone 6 Plus. So, why did I buy the Jawbone UP24? Because I think it offers a feature set which will not be made redundant the upcoming Apple Watch, perhaps most important of these being sleep tracking, which the watch may not do since it must be recharged nightly (assuming you wore it all day). Battery life is one area where the UP24 excels. It is not an exaggeration in my recent use of the UP24 to say that the battery lasts over a week, easily, and at one point the app indicated approximately 10 days of battery life were expected. Update: Just recharged it again, and it estimated 14 days remaining. I would still say 10 at the very least, based on my experience over the course of more than a month (wearing it all day and at night, seven days a week).
The Jawbone app is essential to the function of the UP24, especially since there is no screen on the device. That being said, I'd much rather look at a huge, nice iPhone display than an 8-bit readout that looks like it's from a vintage digital watch. The main screen you will see (left) indicates your sleep (purple) and steps (orange) by percentage of your "daily goal" and also a total count. Below those two indicators, you will see tips on how to improve your lifestyle / health and eating habits. Most of them are actually quite useful and interesting. Behind the main screen is the one seen here on the right, which indicates the various custom settings and parameters you choose for the fitness band to alert or remind you of various things. Alarms, inactivity warning or "Idle Alert," even reminders to eat can be set here. Overall a fairly useful pair of screens to control the Jawbone UP24.
Almost everything was good about my experience with this fitness tracker. What bothers me about it? Annoying alarm functions: If I am asleep, why does it wake me up and then tell me to go to sleep? Not really in the category of "cons," it's really more of just a "quirk" or minor complaint. But a couple of times, when I went to bed earlier than the preset time I selected in the app, the UP24 would vibrate (when I was already asleep, and had put it in sleep mode) to remind me that it was "time for bed." Thanks wristband, but I already told you I was going to sleep by pressing the button for sleep mode.
Overall, this is a great fitness tracker and I will keep it even with the Apple Watch coming out soon. I really like the corresponding app for the Jawbone UP24 and I think it makes a more complete package that way, even without a display on the actual band.
Thanks for reading this review, and I hope it helped you decide one way or the other regarding the Jawbone UP24 fitness band. If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment in the section below. I will have more reviews coming soon, so feel free to subscribe via email on the right side of this page (I will not email more than once every two weeks with updates) and be sure to check back soon for more!
Below is a link to the one I bought on Amazon, and I do get a very small percentage if you buy your UP24 or anything else on Amazon via this link (which I greatly appreciate, and all the money will go toward Amazon credit to buy more equipment for review in the future)
The links are for the Medium size, in red (which I have) and black or "Onyx" as they call it. If you have a relatively small or large wrist size, I would suggest searching for the other options, but measure your wrist and check each product description just to be sure of a good fit.
