Weekender #92 — Public Domain Origami and `Hands`

• Birb watch: nothing new to report in the land of birbs.

• In prepping for my trip to Japan, I’ve been trying to decide which cameras to bring this time around. Back in 2019, I brought the Panasonic Lumix LX-100 II, and a Panasonic DC-ZS70. Previously, I used the Olympus E-M5mkII (which I sold) with multiple interchangeable lenses.

  • This decision was based on wanting to keep things simple and light, as well as wanting to not have to constantly switch lenses. I chose the LX100 II as my main camera, because it had a decent Micro Four Thirds sensor, with a 24-75mm, F1.7-2.8 zoom lens and a viewfinder in a compact package. I brought along the DC-ZS70 mostly because it had a longer reach at 24-720mm, but the smaller MOS sensor meant that I probably wouldn’t get the best image quality if it was used it as my main camera.

  • During the trip, I picked up a used Ricoh GR III, and fell in love with it. I had so much fun walking around Japan and taking photos with it! The Ricoh’s fixed 18.3mm (28mm equivalent) F2.8 lens with it’s 24MP APS-C sensor was a fantastic package. It’s so light, small, fast and fun to use for everyday shooting. When the Ricoh GR IIIx was released last year, I picked up one of those too.

  • Now I need to decide which camera(s) to bring along on this trip. Taking 4 cameras on vacation is overkill! Looking back on photos from 2019, I took a lot of really great photos with the LX100 II, while my photos with the Ricoh were hit and miss, probably because it was so new to me at the time. So right now, I’m still undecided, but I’ll need to make a decision soon.

This week’s Link List

• Michał Kosmulski reports that origami master Shuzo Fujimoto’s five self-published books were now in the public domain and free of copyright restrictions. This includes Solid Origami (立体折り紙), first published in 1976, Invitation to Creative Playing with Origami (創造する折り紙遊びへの招待), first published in 1982, Twist Origami I (ねじり折り 1), first published in 1978, Twist Origami II (ねじり折り 2), first published in 1983 and Twist Origami III (ねじり折り 3).

  Shuzo Fujimoto’s heirs, Hitoshi Fujimoto and Shumi Okada have dedicated this works to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to this work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform this work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

• As I mentioned way back in The Weekender #9, my favorite Tokyu Hands, located in Ikebukuro, closed last year. Even more surprising, I learned that Japanese home improvement chain, Cainz bought the Tokyu Hands chain! Japanese art, design and culture blog Spoon & Tamago takes a look at how they rebranded Tokyu Hands as ‘Hands.’. While I think the rebranding looks great, I wonder what the stores will be like. I hope it still has the same feel as the old ones.

• Dan Hollick has a great post on how the different blending modes work, such as darken, multiply, color burn, etc. I’ve always sort of clicked around until I got what I wanted, but this post gives insight as to what each mode actually does!

• If you’re looking to pick up a new iPad, but can’t figure out which to get, Jared Newman tweeted this iPad decision flowchart that might be helpful.

• Apple released their recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points. It’s a really great guide to securing your Wi-Fi router and devices that connect to it.

• In other Apple happenings, they also launched the Apple Security Research website, complete with a blog and other resources.

• I’m not a fan of the Transformers, but was delighted to see how cool toys have become after seeing Adam Savage showing off the auto-transforming Optimus Prime!

Media consumption

• If you enjoy the smooth sounds of City Pop, you may want to take a listen to Talio, a collaboration between Ryusenkei (Takiguchi Cunimondo) and Hitomitoi (Amano Hitomi), both amazing artists on their own. The album is a collection of instrumental and vocal tracks that a has the sound of the final days of summer. Listen on Apple Music.