(almost) complete Al Star Family Portrait

[bonnie-scott]

On 6/3/2021 at 5:51 AM, alexwi said:

pens are also subject to the cheerleader effect.

🤣 everyday is a school day, had to look up what this meant.

 

[bonnie-scott]

On 6/3/2021 at 5:08 AM, Anne-Sophie said:

 

Are the last 2 on the lower tray the 2021 LE? 

 

If so, would you mind taking a picture of the blue one with Graphite? 

 

I can't discern how blue the 2021 Al-Star blue is.

 

 

The 2021 Azure is on the left in the pictures below, and the 'standard' Graphite is on the right

[inkstainedruth]

Interesting.  The Azure looks more blue-grey in the photos than mine does in person.  Although I have discovered it is very ambient light dependent on whether it looks more silver or more blue leaning.

I took a bunch of photos this afternoon of various recent acquisitions, including the Azure (next to the French Blue Safari and the Ruthenium LX) but haven't got them downloaded from my phone yet.  I have to download them to my old laptop and play around with the images, and then port them to a flash drive and then (via a USB adapter) to the new laptop.  Then figure out how the heck to upload them to FPN....  [Really, Apple?  You couldn't include a USB adapter in the box?   I had to explain to a friend a couple of days ago on FB that the newest version of MacBook Air, with the M1 processor, not ONLY had no USB port, it doesn't have an SD card port either.  Only two "lightning ports" on one side and a port for an earbuds cable or headphones on the other side....  And then you have the nerve to blame my inability to talk to the scanner and printer on THEIR software? 🤬]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Sailor Kenshin]

Beautiful collection!  I always liked the Coffee Brown.

[bonnie-scott]

51 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

The Azure looks more blue-grey in the photos than mine does in person.  Although I have discovered it is very ambient light dependent on whether it looks more silver or more blue leaning.

These were taken in a 2nd hand light tent I acquired.  It is lit top and bottom using daylight equivalent fluorescent tubes.  However I don't have a colour corrected monitor so I can't guarantee the colours.

 

At least my Mac book has an SD card slot so I can load directly onto the mac book and edit in Capture One, export as jpegs and then post directly to FPN.

 

But was pleased with the picture sharpness, I now know that I need to make sure I remove all dust and fluff before photographing in macro. 🤣

[Anne-Sophie]

5 hours ago, bonnie-scott said:

The 2021 Azure is on the left in the pictures below, and the 'standard' Graphite is on the right

 

Thank you so much, those are beautiful pictures.

 

The presentation boxes are beautiful, where did you get them?

 

 

 

[alexwi]

4 hours ago, bonnie-scott said:

These were taken in a 2nd hand light tent I acquired.  It is lit top and bottom using daylight equivalent fluorescent tubes.  However I don't have a colour corrected monitor so I can't guarantee the colours.

 

More than the monitor, you need to play with the white balance of the camera. The image has a greenish hue - I picked a point about half way from the floor of the tent and the RGB values there are 206, 222, 209. All values should've been fairly close so it looks white.

 

I'm sure this photo's still not perfect, but it's probably closer to what these pens look like:

 

 

Alex

[bonnie-scott]

4 hours ago, alexwi said:

More than the monitor, you need to play with the white balance of the camera. The image has a greenish hue - I picked a point about half way from the floor of the tent and the RGB values there are 206, 222, 209. All values should've been fairly close so it looks white.

Hi Alex,

thanks for doing this and for the helpful advice, very much still learning the basics of digital photography 🙂 Kids have left home so I have some time and money to indulge myself in learning a new skill......

[bonnie-scott]

5 hours ago, Anne-Sophie said:

Thank you so much, those are beautiful pictures.

 

The presentation boxes are beautiful, where did you get them?

Thank you 🙂

 

Those are shop display items, sadly my obsession  love 😉 for Lamy means I spend too much time searching the corners of the web to find these things to display my pens.......

[N1003U]

12 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Interesting.  The Azure looks more blue-grey in the photos than mine does in person.  Although I have discovered it is very ambient light dependent on whether it looks more silver or more blue leaning.

I find the same thing with the “Glacier” color that has appeared on a few other Lamy models (mine is a Studio). The perceived color seems very ambient light dependent.

 

Quote

I took a bunch of photos this afternoon of various recent acquisitions, including the Azure (next to the French Blue Safari and the Ruthenium LX) but haven't got them downloaded from my phone yet.  I have to download them to my old laptop and play around with the images, and then port them to a flash drive and then (via a USB adapter) to the new laptop.  Then figure out how the heck to upload them to FPN....  [Really, Apple?  You couldn't include a USB adapter in the box?  

Of course the new Apple Macs have USB ports (albeit 3.x/4.x format). Oh, you (like still a vast portion of the world) have a classic USB 2.x or older stick/device to install (what? do you also still write with a fountain pen or something?)? In that case Apple will be happy to SELL you an adapter, for maybe a little less than the price of a Lamy Al Star (third party adapters often somewhat less expensive...).

[sirgilbert357]

18 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Interesting.  The Azure looks more blue-grey in the photos than mine does in person.  Although I have discovered it is very ambient light dependent on whether it looks more silver or more blue leaning.

I took a bunch of photos this afternoon of various recent acquisitions, including the Azure (next to the French Blue Safari and the Ruthenium LX) but haven't got them downloaded from my phone yet.  I have to download them to my old laptop and play around with the images, and then port them to a flash drive and then (via a USB adapter) to the new laptop.  Then figure out how the heck to upload them to FPN....  [Really, Apple?  You couldn't include a USB adapter in the box?   I had to explain to a friend a couple of days ago on FB that the newest version of MacBook Air, with the M1 processor, not ONLY had no USB port, it doesn't have an SD card port either.  Only two "lightning ports" on one side and a port for an earbuds cable or headphones on the other side....  And then you have the nerve to blame my inability to talk to the scanner and printer on THEIR software? 🤬]

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Ouch. That's a lot of work. I'd just email the pictures to myself and then you'd be able to get to them on any device that has an internet connection. Click "download" and you're done.

 

My current phone actually automatically uploads all pictures I take to my Google Photos account too, so it's even easier for me.

[alexwi]

8 hours ago, bonnie-scott said:

Kids have left home so I have some time and money to indulge myself in learning a new skill......

 

Hi Bonnie,

 

There's not a whole lot to it. Download your camera's manual and search for "white balance." It's usually a very simple procedure that generally involves placing a white or gray piece of cardboard or paper in your light tent and pushing a button, so the camera can "learn" what white looks like under those lighting conditions.

The one thing you do have to watch out for, if you use the camera for other things, is to set the white balance setting back to where it normally is, or you might end up with strange colors when taking regular photographs. It can also yield fairly interesting results if you use a colored card to set the white balance.

 

Alex

[bonnie-scott]

1 hour ago, alexwi said:

There's not a whole lot to it. Download your camera's manual and search for "white balance." It's usually a very simple procedure that generally involves placing a white or gray piece of cardboard or paper in your light tent and pushing a button

Hi Alex,

 

really appreciate that 🙂

 

[hbdk]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing 😃

[Man O War]

On 5/22/2021 at 2:39 PM, bonnie-scott said:

I thought while I had the camera out I really should share some pictures of the (almost) complete Al-Star Family.

 

Again apologies for the kitchen table photography.  Working to provide something better for Macro photography.

 

The set is complete, except for the one with the signature of BASTIAN SCHWEINSTEIGER (which I don't have) and the 50th Anniversary (which I do have but wasn't to hand)  the pens are in order of year of issue, starting top left.  With this years being the last two on the bottom right.

 

 

 

You have a fantastic collection!  I got into the fountain pen scene the year the all black Al-Star came out and missed out on what I think would be my two favorites: coffee and ruby.

 

Al-Stars (and Safaris) are such great writers and I love the swappable nib ability, giving then pen versatility.  I have a love/hate relationship with the clip, however.  It is nice on the pen (sort of makes the pen what the pen is, if that makes sense), but comes across as a tad unprofessional in my work attire.  Maybe I'm being too self-conscious, but that's what I think when I see the clip on my shirt pocket.

 

Again, GREAT collection!

 

Cheers,

Ryan

[Anne-Sophie]

Reviving that post as it is a reference for Al Star collections with pictures and list of regular and Limited Editions, until the Azure