This was originally published in my Prime Lenses Newsletter. You can sign-up updates direct to your inbox here.
Golden leaves at sunset in The Highlands
November has definitely arrived! What leaves remain are golden while the rest carpet our local woodlands letting through that beautiful low winter sun.
This week I got a welcome reminder that old gadgets aren't always useless gadgets. I have a Wacom Intuos tablet, purchased last year used that I use with my Mac to help make photo edits more easily. I love my M11 but the M family of cameras attract dirt more readily than any I've ever owned so I find that even when I'm trying to keep it clean there can be a lot of dust on my images, especially in my “F8 and be there” era.
With the most recent update to MacOS I found I couldn't use it anymore. It works fine on my Linux machines but not on the Mac which is the most powerful computer I own and the one I use for editing and recording. So, I was as pleased as Punch to find a workaround in the form of OpenTabletDriver. Available for Mac, Linux and Windows, they support a dizzying array of tablets saving countless perfectly functional gadgets from landfill. If you have a tablet you've not used in a while or can't anymore, check it out.
Next up, the documentary about Jeff Bridges and the Silver Bridges team I saw in Germany can now be viewed by more people. Documenting their journey as they bring back the Widelux camera it is now available to watch updated for an English speaking audience albeit region locked to Germany.
Unrelated, did you know that Firefox has an inbuilt VPN feature?
Regular listeners will know that it's not about the gear, however, sometimes we do need to compare what we're buying and Petapixel have done the world a solid with Pixel Meter. It allows you to compare lenses and cameras easily, aggregating reviews from a number of sources together in one place. It's super well made, hats off to those guys, this will come in handy I have no doubt!
And finally, the season of giving arrives early on Prime Lenses. Leica very kindly gave me a copy of the 2026 LOBA catalogue, a beautifully printed book containing great work from people the award recognised this year. I had already bought it so I'm looking to give this copy to someone who signs up to the Patreon on any tier before 30th November. This includes the free tier.
Sign up if you haven’t already and good luck!