So. Kirk. How do you like that new Thypoch Ksana 21mm f3.5 M mount lens you picked up last week? Is it good?

 Hmmmm. See for yourself. Look on a real computer screen. Blow them up big. Scroll around. I think it's a pretty good wide angle lens. And oh so small. I'd write more about it but if you can't tell from the pix I'm not sure the words will help. Sharp? Yes. Prone to color shift across the frame? A bit. But not with M cameras. These were all done with an SL2 body and it doesn't appear to be too much of a problem... The lens is cheap. Buy one and test it out. 

OT: Pearls unclutched. Happiness and good weather return. An old 21mm lens accompanies me to swim practice.

Storm damage and weather concerns sidelined our pool for over a week. We are now back in the business of swimming. The masters team was in the water yesterday at 7 a.m. A couple dozen committed and highly disciplined competitive swimmers (and me....) braving a 15° wind chill to get in a couple miles of coached swim workout in an outdoor pool. And we were back again this morning to do it all over again. Clearly an addiction... 

I was so happy to have the pool back in my personal rotation of highly desirable destinations that I grabbed a camera and lens to take along with me. To make another "portrait" of the pool. I have been a member of the masters swim team here at this pool since 1995. Marking 31 years in 2026. Averaging 275 swim workouts a year (at least) I figure I've done 9625 coached workouts. Most were one hour long but probably 20% were one and a half hours. So, just since 1995 I've done my "ten thousand hours" in the water. Then again I have been in one swim program or another since I was six years old. Covering a lot more than 10,000 hours. For sure. 

If my math is close to correct I can ballpark my yardage at this pool (not counting recreational swimming with the spouse and child....). We average 3,000 yards per workout. Roughly two miles. If I multiply 3,000 yards by 9625 workouts I end up with 28,875,000 yards swum. Or 16,644 miles. More or less. 

When I was leaving the house I grabbed a camera from the photo gear bucket. It was the Leica SL2 coupled with a lens I bought years and years ago but have hardly used. It's the 21mm f1.5 TTArtisan lens in an L mount. The corners can be a bit iffy but in full sun and stopped down to f8 it's pretty decent. Not great but decent. After workout I grabbed the camera and snapped a few images to remind me that pools need maintenance from time to time and that I have enough miles stored up to make taking a week or two off no big deal. 

I read about people all the time who profess to want to change their diets or start an exercise program only to fail after a short amount of time. I am baffled; who doesn't want to feel wonderful? Who doesn't want to put off aging? Who doesn't want to fit in the same clothes they bought 20 or 30 years ago? I can't begin to imagine... Same with diet. Just as baffling. Never too late to start...

See you in the pool. 

 

January 31, 2026.

B. In a Paris cafe with a travel guide. 1986.