I just uploaded a few images from my last year's trip to Japan. This is long overdue, but with rather hectic work schedule I simply did not have time to sort through images. Trip was absolutely one of the most memorable adventures I had, despite it's rather short duration. I visited only Tokyo and Kyoto, but abolutely fell in love with the country! If you have not had a chance to visit Japan, I absolutely recommend you to spend a couple of weeks there. I am truly hoping that the recent disasters that struck this magnificent country will be soon be compeltely behind.

Three basic recommendations for anyone going to Tokyo (and Japan in general) - 1) get JR pass (Google it if you don't know what it is; 2) stay in a hotel within walking distance to Yamanote line; 3) learn a few basic Japanese traditional phrases to surprise locals

So, only a day after Carl Zeiss announced that it will join Micro Four Thirds group and will develop lenses for this mount, Sony steals the drumroll by announcing that they will be opening their E mount to third party developers. The announcement comes with backing from Zeiss, Sigma, Tamron and Cosina. Things are now getting quite interesting in the mirrorless world, particularly with Sigma and Tamron, the two largest independent auto-focus lens manufacturers, announcing support for the E mount rather than MFT. Sony is clearly trying to capitalize on its recent fortunes with the NEXT system and having a wide variety of lens manufacturers in its camp clearly helps popularize the platform. I am starting to feel that Canon and Nikon are about to miss a msjor shift in the market, which will not bode well for either of them in the long run. But let's wait for Nikon's announcement, which is due in a few hours.

The Micro Four Thirds camp is getting crowded. With recent addition of  Cosina, Schneider and now Zeiss, the format is getting a noticeable push in the right direction. While I am excited to see more Carl Zeiss lenses in different mounts, I don't really expect Zeiss to release a new design for MFT - most likely they will rebadge existing designs, which by itself is not necessarily a bad thing. I also don't expect them to develop any AF lenses any time soon - as a matter of fact, I don't see either of the new MFT members developing an AF lenses. An interesting question remains on whether Zeiss will decide to bring CP.2 cine lenses to the MFT world - at this point I think it is 50/50. Still, with so many big names after the MFT format, what would happen to Sony's NEXT system, which has been gaining in popularity since its first release - given its proprietary nature, I don't see anyone but Sony continuing to the push. Now Sony obviously has Zeiss and they already committed a couple of new Zeiss lenses for the NEXT system, but Sony now seems to be outgunned, at least in the selection aspect.

Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 is one of the more interesting lenses manufactured in the former USSR for the FED and Zorki Leica copies. The lens is a Carl Zeiss Sonnar copy, 'acquired' by the Russians after WWII split of Germany and appropriation of Carl Zeiss Jena manufacturing factory. These lenses are more or less readily available on used markets, however, the biggest challenge is finding a copy in a good condition, as most samples have seen better days. The copy I acquired has a stiff focusing ring, huge chunks of dust inside and the aperture ring that does not quite close to f/16 - basically a copy that definitely needs CLA. Wonderfully soft and with low contrast at wide apertures, the lens reminds me a little bit of Leica's own pre-war Xenon 50mm f/1.5 in how it draws. I am going to send the lens for cleaning and write up a report on M8 (yes, I still have not upgraded to M9 - waiting for the used copies to reach the 30% discount, which I use as a rule of thumb for purchasing expensive toys).

I just uploaded a few images from my recent trip to Egypt. I stayed in Cairo for 3 days over the Christmas break, with a side trip to Alexandria. Pretty interesting and relaxing trip overall, compared to my typical adventures where I usually sprint from place to place in a fairly short time period. The Great Pyramids and Sphinx are a must to see for anyone. But make sure you also tour the old Cairo, particularly the Khan el-Khalili market (while there, stop by the oldest cafe in the world, the 300 year old El-Fishawi to get your doze of Turkish coffee and a round of huka. Other places to absolutely see are the mosques of Sultan Hassan and Muhhamad Ali, The Citadel, The Egyptian Museum and Coptic Quarter. Make sure to bargain for pretty much everything - don't try using black taxis until you learn what the average price for going from one place to another is, after that, black taxis can actually save you a lot of money (for example a trip from Zamalek where we stayed to the Pyramids set us back only 30 Punds when we negotiated the price on a black taxi, while a similar trip using metered white taxi would typically cost 40-45 Pounds. Basically, the only place where you cannot haggle is in the chain restaurants like McDonald's or Pizza Hut and government run enterprises like railroad etc., everything else is a fare deal since the locals see the $$$ wherever they notice a tourist.

I just uploaded the images from my recent trip to China. This was my first trip to China, but unfortunately it was somewhat rushed and I managed to visit only 3 cities - Beijing, Xi'An and Guilin. Out of the three, Xi'An was the least favorite and if not for the Terracotta Warriors museum one should probably skip the place. While in Guilin, I also took side trip to Yangshuo, which is considered a resort town extremely popular not only with international tourists but also across the China. The Li River trips at sunset and sun-dusk were easily the most memorable highlights of the entire trip and I strongly recommend anyone planning to visit China spend at least a couple of days in the area. Some of the other, interesting places to vist were various sections of The Great Wall, although the entire place is overcrowded, particularly the Badaling Gate, which is one of the two gates closest to Beijing and which is also one of the easiest sections of the Great Wall to climb. I visited Juyongguan Pass and highly recommend those of you who are fit, visit this section of the Wall instead of Badaling if you have only limited time in Beijing. .