Wheel Build

Erin has been building her own new bicycle - a Crust Bombora. The other night we went to Dirty River Bicycle Works and the owner, Otis, taught her how to build a wheel. I was super impressed. Wheel building is something that I have never attempted as I have a hard time even trueing a wheel(straightening it). I'm excited for Erin to finish her bike and for the adventures we will undertake with it.

Birthday in the Sun

It was Brad's birthday on Sunday and we decided it was nice enough to get together outdoors and social distance. It was great to actually ride with other humans and see some faces. We had brunch on the patio of Magic City Brewing, then took some crowlers to an abandoned bridge before ending the day at our friend Kenny's brewery - Missing Falls. The winter light was perfect and I took a ton of photos - here is a sampling.

In the Sun

It felt nice to get some sun over the weekend....and it was just warm enough to be able to hang outside a bit. On Saturday I went for a ride towards Kent and took some new roads and trails. I was working on a video and stopped at a bridge to try out some filming techniques. I also took some still photos with my Canon EOS R5 and vintage wide-angle Minolta Rokkor 28mm. Check out the photos & the GoPro video.

Vintage Lenses, Modern Camera

I bought an adapter for 15 bucks from Amazon that allows me to put my vintage Minolta Rokkor lenses onto my Canon EOS R5. I'm surprised how well built/machined it is at that price and the lenses and adapter all fit together nicely - not too loose, not too tight. There are no electrical contacts so it is basically a piece of plastic with metal mounts on each end. The camera doesn't even realize there is a lens on so you have to go into the menus and set it to let you fire the shutter without a lens. Then everything works as it would with a manual lens - except for the auto-diaphragm. Basically you set the aperture on the lens, manually focus and set everything else in camera. I don't see why the camera couldn't confirm focus like it does when a regular Canon lens is on the camera in MF mode but it doesn't - so focusing can be a little tricky as it is purely visual. That being said since it is a mirrorless camera you can zoom in. Nothing about this set up is quick - but it is just a fun way to use some of my favorite lenses for hobby work.