Happy New Year

My last post was written in November and somewhat erroneously published on New Year’s Day (thanks to a computer switch and a GitHub sync mishap), but no harm done. It still holds up, and it makes for a fitting, if unplanned, start to the year.

I am writing this on a new MacBook Air with the M4 chip. It is exceptionally fast and replaces my M1 Mac mini, which is gradually moving into a more server-like role. The M1 is still a great machine, but its main limitation is obvious: it never leaves the desk. I do also have a 2015 12” MacBook Retina, but by modern standards it is severely underpowered. Even routine tasks like web browsing in 2025 were becoming unpleasant, largely due to ever-increasing RAM demands.

I opted for a Japanese keyboard, which I have not used in quite some time. The layout is much closer to UK than German, so touch typing feels natural, and the added hiragana legends are a nice bonus. The dedicated @ key is also surprisingly useful in everyday work.

With “only” a 512 GB internal SSD (but 24 GB of RAM), I keep a Samsung SSD attached via Thunderbolt to store photos and other large files. It has been a long time since a laptop was my primary machine, so it will be interesting to see how habits change. Battery longevity and always-plugged-in usage used to worry me, but modern power management seems to have largely solved those concerns.

The photographs here are from the tail end of our summer trip to Japan, visiting Iriomote-jima and Ishigaki-jima, the south-westernmost islands of the country, just off Taiwan.

All images were taken with the Sigma 90 mm F2.8 DN. It is compact, well built, and focuses quickly. A 20 / 35 / 90 trio feels like it could be a very satisfying fast-prime setup. That said, a couple of years ago I bought my first full-frame zoom, the 20–70 mm F4. It is easily sharp enough, and in most situations F4 on full frame is perfectly adequate—if it gets dark, ISO is there to be used. What you cannot change is depth of field. F4 gives a clear “large camera” look, but it is not the same as shooting at F2 or even F2.8.

Tomorrow is the 5th, when many of us return to work after the winter break (myself included).

Wishing you all a good start to 2026, good health, and good times.