Topic: So, what did Santa have in his sack for you, then?

[Late Developer]

For the first time in many years, I received nothing whatsoever that could be construed as having any direct connection with photography.

Best present: Google Nexus 7 tablet
Oddest present: a home-made and very tasty Christmas pudding from a colleague at work.

How about you guys.......??

[euge...]

I was given an ensign box camera from my in-laws but I have work out how to get film in it .any advice anybody?My bel-air arrived on christmas eve but I havent  unboxed it yet.I see that there are some glass lenses for it now but I guess I'll wait til i run a few rolls through it.
I've been mainly occupied with my 8 year olds wii ,his magnetic dart set and 5 dvd box set of '500 great goals'.
All for him obviously.

[ChristineHickey]

I got a Lensbaby Spark for my Canon (film camera) and Susan Burnstine's book, Within Shadows


I love seeing what everyone else got - gives me ideas on how to spend my Christmas money and gift certificates.

[charles binns]

I was given a subscription to the Professional Photographic magazine.  Prize for the most "left field" present was a doggie USB stick that does sit ups when you plug him into the computer!

[Andrea.]

Ragnar Axelsson's "Last Days of the Arctic".
In German though the images look like they are in Greenlandish :-)

[Chalky]

I did very well this year:

patterson 4 tank, thermometer, storage bottles and changing bag for B+W at home. All second hand from ebay so all is good.

and a nice book on instant photography. very pleased!

[Late Developer]

Ragnar Axelsson's "Last Days of the Arctic".
In German though the images look like they are in Greenlandish :-)

Sweet...!! Got that earlier this year at his exhibition at "Proud" gallery in Chelsea. I'm now on the trail of a copy of his "Faces of the North" book. Out of print but I might just be onto something....

[Nigel]

Obsoletely nothing photo related, but that's fine as I have plenty.

Best present: Google Nexus 7 tablet

[off topic] Paul - I'd be interested hear what you think of the Nexus 7? Referring to an earlier thread I'm still interested but Leon, and others, talked of quality issues. It's that or the mini iPad but I've got the arse with Apple since changing the iPhone connector and charging a fortune for the adaptor (enough to make it my last iPhone).

[Urban Hafner]

I got Paul's Rolleiflex T  and new focusing screens for the Yashica Mat and the Yashica 635. Maybe for my birthday I'll get Paul's Mamyia TLR? 

[DonkeyDave]

Rollei T - much underated, one of my favourite cameras - so much so that I'm embarrassed to admit I have 2. One for B+W, one for colour - or FP4 and HP5. Almost as cheap as a spare back for a Hassleblad...

i got another years subscription to B+W magazine (UK)

[Urban Hafner]

Yup, it's a nice camera. I still need to figure out how to get rid of the case without exposing the light meter to light all the time. It's still working and I'd like to keep it that way.

[Francois]

Well, nothing photo related for me either.
I got a bunch of books including one on vintage surf graphics.
A Dali inspired melting clock.

And strangest of all: a toy catapult that shoots foam boulders at around 30 feet!

Now, I wonder which of those was the best gift?

[LT]

I got a week away in the yorkshire moors, and I leave in 2 hours. See you next week.

[Late Developer]

Obsoletely nothing photo related, but that's fine as I have plenty.

Best present: Google Nexus 7 tablet

[off topic] Paul - I'd be interested hear what you think of the Nexus 7? Referring to an earlier thread I'm still interested but Leon, and others, talked of quality issues. It's that or the mini iPad but I've got the arse with Apple since changing the iPhone connector and charging a fortune for the adaptor (enough to make it my last iPhone).

Hi Nigel.

I got my present early (had it about 3 weeks now) and can say, quite honestly, I've had no issues with it whatsoever. I think Leon had issues with the screen separating from the body but mine's as solid as a rock. A couple of the folks where I work have had them for a while and no problems mentioned.

My knowledge of Apple is limited to owning an iPhone 4s and having a wife who is besotted with the iMac and iPad I bought for her. Although I'm not a fan of the Windows OS I'm using right now (Vista x64) I wouldn't go to Apple as they won't allow their dealers to do a deal and it's a "closed" system as far as software and Apps are concerned. I'll be upgrading to Windows 8 shortly.

The Nexus 7 is fine for what I want - internet browsing, read a book (my Kindle a/c is on there as is my new B&W magazine subscription), the occasional App and emails. I looked at the Samsung 10" Galaxy note and, IMHO, it blows the iPad out of the water in terms of what it can do and the speed of the processor. However, it's £400 - give or take.

The iPad mini looks nice but, from the side-by-side spec comparison I saw in a techhy magazine, i can't justify the extra cost for something that does about the same thing. Argos had the 32Gb version of the Nexus 7 for £199 and that's as much as I can justify spending on a non-essential, non-photographic piece of kit. It hooks up nicely with my phone via a mobile "hotspot" as my mobile account with "Three" provides "all you can eat data" 3G as part of my package.

Have a wander down to PC World (or similar) and have a grope round them for a few minutes. Don't rule out the Samsung 7" tablet, either as that looked really good as the 10" version's little brother.

Right - I'm off to meet Mrs LD and see the "McCullin" film at the Curzon in Soho. Suzy's been earlier this afternoon - hope she enjoyed it.

[SLVR]

I lucked out and got a pro pack of portra 400 in 35mm and 120, a pro pack of tmax 400 in 120 and 5 neopan 400 in 35mm. I. Was quite excited! Fresh film!!!

Francois, you forgot to mention a huge dumping of snow. Most of which is making my flight out your way very delayed.

I hope everyone also gave themselves some time to shoot some film over the holidays. Ive been shooting a couple packs of px70 over the holidays as i managed to get one of my sx-70's running reliably now. Will have something to post once i get some time off!

[Francois]

Francois, you forgot to mention a huge dumping of snow. Most of which is making my flight out your way very delayed.

We got the snow only this morning. And a big dump it is!
We can't open the front door! I'll have to go out the underground garage to clear a path.

Now fresh film is always something nice. I haven't shot any fresh color stuff in a long time.
I wonder how old my bulk load of very expired HP5 really is?

[mickld]

I got a used Canon EOS 3 with a 50mm f1.4 lens. Haven't had a chance to put a roll through it yet. This will be the only film camera I have with auto focus and an advanced light meter etc. Not sure if it will improve my photography or take the fun out of it! It is definitely a beast of a machine - as big and heavy as my Mamiya 645.

I got some photo books too, including the Michael Kenna exhibition book that was mentioned on this forum some weeks ago (lovely).

[Nigel]

Hi Nigel.

I got my present early (had it about 3 weeks now) and can say, quite honestly, I've had no issues with it whatsoever. I think Leon had issues with the screen separating from the body but mine's as solid as a rock. A couple of the folks where I work have had them for a while and no problems mentioned.

My knowledge of Apple is limited to owning an iPhone 4s and having a wife who is besotted with the iMac and iPad I bought for her. Although I'm not a fan of the Windows OS I'm using right now (Vista x64) I wouldn't go to Apple as they won't allow their dealers to do a deal and it's a "closed" system as far as software and Apps are concerned. I'll be upgrading to Windows 8 shortly.

The Nexus 7 is fine for what I want - internet browsing, read a book (my Kindle a/c is on there as is my new B&W magazine subscription), the occasional App and emails. I looked at the Samsung 10" Galaxy note and, IMHO, it blows the iPad out of the water in terms of what it can do and the speed of the processor. However, it's £400 - give or take.

The iPad mini looks nice but, from the side-by-side spec comparison I saw in a techhy magazine, i can't justify the extra cost for something that does about the same thing. Argos had the 32Gb version of the Nexus 7 for £199 and that's as much as I can justify spending on a non-essential, non-photographic piece of kit. It hooks up nicely with my phone via a mobile "hotspot" as my mobile account with "Three" provides "all you can eat data" 3G as part of my package.

Have a wander down to PC World (or similar) and have a grope round them for a few minutes. Don't rule out the Samsung 7" tablet, either as that looked really good as the 10" version's little brother.

Right - I'm off to meet Mrs LD and see the "McCullin" film at the Curzon in Soho. Suzy's been earlier this afternoon - hope she enjoyed it.

Thanks Paul - I'm going to go and investigate further. I hope you enjoyed the film, we're hoping to go over the weekend.

[Francois]

I'll be upgrading to Windows 8 shortly.

Before you do, you can always give the latest Ubuntu a try. I use it on my netbook and find it to be quite nice and relatively speedy considering it's running on a single core Atom processor. It will run many windows programs when you install Wine.

[original_ann]

Not much photo related, except for an subscription to LensWork Online.  Oh, and I got a kitchen timer that looks like a real camera lens!  Funny!   

[Ed Wenn]

Hi crew, I didn't get any photo-related kit for Christmas, but made up for that heinous oversight by grabbing a fantastic new Nokia Lumia 920 (Windows Phone as part of a complex deal including my new work phone and Jacqui's contract upgrade....long story, but my inner geek is VERY happy. In addition I got a ton of good booze (the cupboard was bare) and a sprinkler thing to dust flour over bread before it goes in the oven.
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[Late Developer]

I'll be upgrading to Windows 8 shortly.

Before you do, you can always give the latest Ubuntu a try. I use it on my netbook and find it to be quite nice and relatively speedy considering it's running on a single core Atom processor. It will run many windows programs when you install Wine.

Hi Francois,
What is a Ubuntu?? Will it run CS3, NX2, Lightroom, Vuescan, GMail and all the usual Microsoft Office programmes??
If so, how much and where do I get it, please?? Any benefit over Windows 7 or 8???

[Francois]

Hi Francois,
What is a Ubuntu?? Will it run CS3, NX2, Lightroom, Vuescan, GMail and all the usual Microsoft Office programmes??
If so, how much and where do I get it, please?? Any benefit over Windows 7 or 8???

Well, Ubuntu is a Linux based OS. But I'm not talking command line here. I'm talking very nice and easy to use.
Cost: 100% free gratos nil nada zilch.
It comes with an app store with a ton of great free programs. Not all programs are supported by the Wine package my many are. For the others, there's a bunch of free alternatives available.
MS Office becomes Libre Office
Photoshop becomes Gimp
Lightroom becomes Shotwell

http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu

Best of all, you can try it before you install it. It comes in Live CD form
Benefits over Win7 or Win8:
100% Virus proof
100% Free
Very compatible with older hardware
Looks really nice (A mix between Mac OS X and Windows)
Never need to defrag the drive
Free updates forever

I have a few distributions I like depending on which hardware it's meant to be run on. My netbook was designed to run Win XP. When I started feeling XP was slowing it down with the ton of updates I was getting, I got fed-up and installed it. I haven't looked back ever since. Granted that there is a learning curve. But I find it minimal when compared to the good points.

[Offertonhatter]

Oddest present: a home-made and very tasty Christmas pudding from a colleague at work.

Who got you that? Bandage, Lyndsey or Wheelie?

For me, I DID get something photo related (sort of). My Niece was the one who saw it and thought it was perfect! (V. impressed for a 12 year old) it was a lens mug, in the shape of the canon 24-105mm F4L. Well done niece, inspired! 

Best present - A day driving a hovercraft. 
Oddest - a leather wallet! I already have one, but it will be useful. 

[Francois]

long story, but my inner geek is VERY happy

Well, on the geek side this is hard to beat!
I don't know why but I always get those odd looks when I get all worked-up for things like that!

Lately, I've been itching to get me a RaspberryPi nano computer. For those who don't know about it, it's a 35$ computer on a board the size of a credit card. It's completely solid state (no moving parts, no fan, no hard disk) and runs from an SD card. It's got 512mb ram, 2 USB ports, 1 HDMI, 1 SD, 1 Component video out, 1 Stereo audio jack and 1 network adapter. I can add a WiFi dongle if I want to. It runs a special version of Linux specially made for it's ARM processor (which is the same processor you find in phones and tablets). Pretty sweet deal for the price.

[tkmedia]

nintendo donky kong game and watch!

[LT]

Are we talking geek here?

Well, this year saw me obtain my geek wings:

I'm on my Samsung/Google nexus 10, unlocked and rooted running a custom ROM (cm10.1 nightlies), custom kernel - overclocked and undervolted. It's fully geeked up.

(Yes, they have WiFi in the Yorkshire moors - who would have thought it?)

[Late Developer]

Geek?!!?

That word really bothers me. It's one of the few names I've never been called and I intend to keep it that way. Sorry, Francois, but if going Ubuntu means entering (or even teetering around the edge of ) Geekdom, then count me out.

My missus has offered to upgrade me to Windows 8 for my birthday at the end of March. So, if I haven't taken the plunge beforehand, I'll be whizzing them tiles around the screen like there's no tomorrow.

Oh, and Iain (Offertonhatter) the Christmas plum duff was not from any of the individuals you mentioned. Incidentally, I was also treated, today, to a very fruity and alcoholic lump of Christmas fruitcake from the same individual (well, baked by her mum actually) and very nice it was, too.  Bandage is a Man Utd fan and as a City fan, I would be sceptical of his intentions if he offered me such a thing. Linz (sweet as she is) doesn't strike me as the domestic goddess type and Wheelie's been in at his aunties place in Whitley Bay for the past few days.

[LT]

Like it or not Paul, you are a camera geek - no doubt about it. But it's not all bad - Geekery is the new cool.

There, you can add it to the list of things you've been called now )

[sapata]

I finally got my apartment...

[ChristopherCoy]

I didn't get anything remotely photographic either.

I did get a full salt water fishing setup though! Tackle box, pole, reel, lures etc. etc. I can't wait to hit the beach!

I did get some gift cards and cash though, so I'm quite certain something photographic will come out of it.

[Late Developer]

Like it or not Paul, you are a camera geek - no doubt about it. But it's not all bad - Geekery is the new cool.

There, you can add it to the list of things you've been called now )

Camera geek is fine with me but IT geek scares the crap out of me as I can break computers and software just by looking at them!!!

[Paul Mitchell]

Best present - having my son back from University

Oddest present - a tin of tea bags from Harrods 

[Urban Hafner]

And today the other present arrived: A Polaroid Spectra and some Color Protection film. Now I can be a Hipster, too

[Volker]

i signed up for a 2 day wet plate workshop in Berlin - that's my present for me this year.

[SLVR]

Apperantly my instamatic 60 arrived while im away. Cant wait to play with it!

[charles binns]

I used up a fistful of book tokens that had accumulated over the past two Christmases and birthdays to buy Bruce Davidson's Subway, Wiliam Klein's ABC and  Don McCullin.  Also have a Amazon voucher and will use that to buy a book of Martin Chambi's photographs.

[Andrej K]

At first I thought the only presents will be a bit of chemistry and some Arches Platine paper for alt process prints. But then just before Xmass luck smiled at me and I managed to find, buy and have shipped to me a Seal dry mounting press! Got it here yesterday, will try it hopefully tonight

[Francois]

Camera geek is fine with me but IT geek scares the crap out of me as I can break computers and software just by looking at them!!!

Don't worry about Ubuntu. If you can break this thing, I'm giving you a roll of film! It's practically bulletproof.

Being a geek isn't so bad. I think I fully qualify as one!
Geekery isn't the same as nerdiness.

[Terry]

A happy holiday to all (hopefully still in progress).  I've been using Ubuntu on my little Mini-9 laptop for several years now and find that I like it a lot.  It runs open office and allows me to do crash-and-spam-free surfing.  I've become a big fan of it; having a microsoft-free computer appeals to my inner geek.  Haven't tried wine yet, though--thanks again Francois.  (Do you do tech support?)

[Diane Peterson]

Best present - having my son back from University

Oddest present - a tin of tea bags from Harrods 

Paul, those tins make great pinhole cameras!

[Ed Wenn]

Congrats, Mauricio. That's great news.Leon: You're on the Nightlies? Nice. Well done you.François: We have a Raspberry Pi at work and it's great. Definitely get hold of one.
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[Francois]

(Do you do tech support?)

Sadly I'm not up to that level yet when it comes to Linux. But by browsing the various forums, I always find what I'm after.

Now, I know this is not exactly Santa stuff but my mom got me the best "Boxing Day Gift" ever!
It's a nice warm throw for those cold winter evenings.
Just have a look

[Phil Bebbington]

Francois, I'm sure you could get this made into a onsie http://bit.ly/V9MdTm very snug 

[ChristopherCoy]

And today the other present arrived: A Polaroid Spectra and some Color Protection film. Now I can be a Hipster, too

I got word today that my original 1974 Polaroid SX70 was able to be repaired! It now has a new motor, a new coupler, and newly soldered shutter contacts. The rollers have also been cleaned, the film chamber blown out, the lenses cleaned, the chrome polished, and it was recovered in new light blue leather!

This was the 2nd one that I had purchased that didn't work. I was beginning to give up hope on ever finding a working one. I was really happy to find Roger Garrell (fastcat99  on ebay). He received the camera this morning, and had it operational and refurbished by this afternoon!

So now I'll be a hipster with you!! 

[Late Developer]

Francois, I'm sure you could get this made into a onsie http://bit.ly/V9MdTm very snug 

Phil, I'm not even going to ask how you know about the existence of such a thing as a "onesie" 

Note to self: Wonder if they do them in Hasselblad? 

[Francois]

Sadly not... but for 9.99$ on sale, I know mom just couldn't leave it there (the price tag was still on it when I got it )
Here's the link if anyone wants one
http://www.simons.ca/eng/product/fashion/6766-213100

[Phil Bebbington]

Paul, I won't poison your mind with the detail 

[Francois]

If I could just imagine Uncle Phil in his onesie watching Coronation Street...

Strangely, ever since reading this, my mind hasn't been able to go there 

[Phil Bebbington]

François, you are so close to the truth!

Perhaps a onsie watching, Easties

Okay, off to give myself a talking to!