Spocking around with ChatGPT images

I watched the Star Trek Animated episode Yesteryear, where Mr. Spock travels in time to meet his younger self on planet Vulcan.

It's one of the few decent episodes on the animated show. This story, written by D.C. Fontana, is considered to have an authentic glimpse into the life on Vulcan, even if I'm not sure if the story of Spock's time travel is considered canon.

It's more nostalgic to me because for the longest time I have had the Alan Dean Foster novelization of the first two episodes of the series, including Yesteryear. It is likely within the ten first book-sized texts I read in English language.

Watching the episode now, I felt that if Foster's adaptation was again made into animation, it could be superior than the somewhat sparse plotting of the original.

This then suggested to me that nowadays AI could probably make that new adaptation. Then I asked, what if AI remade this story in live action?

Well, the tools to do that are not available to me, but at least I could fiddle with ChatGPT image generation, just like everyone these days. Now it's possible to upload a source image and base the prompt on that. "Natural language" image processing.

For reference, I used Google to find this image. This was hasty because it is cropped and in the wrong aspect ratio. But it doesn't matter that much.

Could you remake image so that it looks like a live action scene from the Star Trek show from 1960s, showing adult Spock with you Spock.

This messy and grammar-challenged question was followed with a question from ChatGPT:

To turn this animated scene into a live-action version in the style of the 1960s Star Trek show—featuring adult Spock with young Spock—I can generate a realistic reimagining for you. Please confirm:

Would you like me to create the live-action version using the visual style and costumes from the original Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969), with realistic human likenesses and appropriate lighting/costumes?

Despite all the mistakes, ChatGPT sounded like it had understood the task, so I answered Yes.

The first image is in some ways the best of the bunch, but the content is incorrect. Mr. Spock surely could not appear as a time traveler to his younger self, while wearing his Starfleet uniform of later years. 

This is just speculation, but I think this is in part because "appropriate costumes" probably led ChatGPT to use the iconic uniform.

Another tiny problem might be the "realistic human", making the younger Spock look far more human than in the animation.

However, I let this be because I thought it would be a nice touch if Spock as a child had a more human-looking phase. It would then make more sense the Vulcan kids would tease him. (The nasty and ugly Vulcan kids made little sense in that story in the first place.)

I can also see the child Spock is facing another direction than in the source image, but I kind of like it. I'm not going to work with Spock's hand position, I just want to get an overall feel for the result.

I follow up:

This is near perfect, but the older Spock ought not to wear the Starfleet uniform, but a plain blueish garment. The clouds and sky in the background could be somewhat more purple, to give a hint of a more alien atmosphere. They are on the planet Vulcan.

This was the interesting step to me. Would the engine remake the image exactly as before, only changing the required details?

ChatGPT understood everything very well, but the picture is now missing the shoulder bag. Note the image is more sketch-like in details.

I continue:

The shoulderbag should be preserved on the older Spock, now it is missing. The garment ought to have a hood, which however is not pulled over his head. Also the garment is full body length.

I was quite satisfied with this result, and impressed on the engine's ability to alter small details while sticking to the same image as a whole. The Vulcan garb is pretty good.

The sky is too purple for my taste, but at this point I don't care about it too much. I'm running out of goes for this session.

I can see there's some fluctuation in Spock's face, he doesn't quite look like Leonard Nimoy, and the hairline is a little weird. But whatever. The first iteration had a better face, and it might be ChatGPT is channeling resources away from the task once I begun asking revisions. 

To me it's quite nice, if bland, approximation of how the scene might have looked with the resources of the day.

More Primus, More spirit

Mimer in action 1

First, a solo effort with the Primus Mimer stove. Here I could choose a more pit-like enclosure near Alppipuisto and Linnanmäki, hoping the trees and stones would protect from the wind. This also allowed more secrecy, as the trees are still lacking leaves. This did mean the view was not all that impressive, though.

The area has a reputation of attracting weirdos, but in this weather, in the late morning hours, no-one interfered.

Watch out for those low branches

I did some bag pasta, Coop-variety Fusilli Cheese. Primus Mimer did well here, but I have to say it's tricky to keep the flame down enough while protecting it from the wind. 

Even this enclosure wasn't enough to prevent occasional gusts from reaching the stove. So, the solution is to move the food around very quickly while keeping the flame a little larger than I'd want to.

The Coop Fusilli Cheese was ok, but perhaps not as good as the Knorr bag foods.

I forgot to take my plasma igniter and the aluminum handle with me. This wasn't too problematic as the aluminum pot edge doesn't get all that hot, it can be handled with gloves. A pan would have been different matter. As for ignition, I fortunately had some matches.

Pornaistenniemi

Another session with three enthusiasts in Pornaistenniemi recreational area, the eve of May Day. We could use the covered tables, so a lot of gear was on display and in use.

Here I finally used the spirit alcohol burner again, as it could be trusted to boil 0.5 liters of water. It did feel slow after all the experiences with gas, but it got there in the end.

A tiny bit of water was added to the alcohol mix, to prevent soot. The pot wasn't all that dirty after the spirit burning, which was a relief compared to the winter experiences.

Also the ignition was much faster, even with the plasma igniter.

Trangia windshield and various utensils. Alcohol burner at the right, actual alcohol in the middle.

After winter, I had figured of some premature pros and cons between spirit and gas. I had seen gas in operation only a few times, mostly in extreme weather, and it looked like this sputtering thing that needed constant adjustment.

Spirit appeared more reliable and was easier to handle, and the spirit bottle was smaller than a gas cartridge, which needed to be connected to the burner.

Since then I've worked more with gas and although adjusting it is kind of volatile, it really is faster and I've not been able to burn my food yet. 

With spirit there's no adjusting what you can't adjust! I'm looking forward to using it during the summer more, but it might be useful to have the gas burner at hand too.

Mimer in action 2

I chose to use the Mimer again to fry some vegetable sausages, which was quite effective. Again I would have preferred to have a more nuanced flame, but no such luck.

As with the pasta, I just kept moving the sausages constantly in the oil. Also, I occasionally moved the pan a little further away from the flame, as if with working with a tiny campfire. It has to be said the mimer gives a good flame spread, so I never get a feeling it's only heating the center.

One more picture from the Linnanmäki site

A Different World

A Different World (1987–1993) landed on Netflix, and I took this opportunity to watch all the six seasons of it. (144 episodes)

It's a spin-off from The Cosby Show, a family viewing staple in 1980s, and whatever one now might think of Cosby and his supposedly cleared reputation, his mug isn't too often seen here. (When he does, be assured he gets the biggest canned laughter.) He is a series creator though, and I try to look past this to enjoy this nostalgic treat.

In my mental landscape this was more of a 1990s show, and indeed in Finland it was on TV from the beginning of 1989. I tend to associate it with my time in the 7th to 9th grades in school.

8th of January, 1989. Sunday evening after the waning star of McGyver.

The first season premise is that Denise Huxtable is now a student at the Hillman college, the alma mater of her father, mother and grandfather. The college is both a new environment, explaining why the cast of the parent show are not needed, yet enabling the trickle of guest stars as each family member visits Denise at Gilbert hall.

As the series proceeds, time genuinely passes and we have freshmen become seniors, seniors graduate and so on. The regulars do find ways to stick around, though.

I believe I used to watch this diligently, though it probably wasn't the first series I'd have admitted watching to "the guys". In a Sunday early evening slot, I'm doubtful if more than four seasons were ever shown in Finland.

So why watch it? Even if school was a drag, maybe there was some hidden yearning to this paradoxically more intense school life, with its dorms, drama, debates, cafes, art and poetry classes, extra-curricular activities and so on. I know people were inspired by the show, even if it fit poorly to the general apathy and introversion of a Finnish upper elementary school life. Maybe it did secretly provide aspirations, or at least fashion tips, for the recession generation.

Denise Huxtable

Now, much of the charm is observing the limited media sphere the students live in. The thin line to outside world is the dorm payphone, library is still paper-indexed, and in evenings the whole dorm gathers to watch a film or soap on TV.

The old TV series format can be refreshing in this age of continuities and stretched out plot lines. Binge-watching makes it very apparent how the students pick up and drop odd jobs, hobbies and dates with staggering pace, often never to be mentioned again.

As the series progresses it does become more consistent, yet doesn't take itself or the continuity too seriously. The tradition of "very special episodes" often means actors interpret their role in a different way, whereas some episodes explore farce and slapstick.

Time can also be enemy of things, and roles and fashions can become reversed. Here we are at the end of 1980s, when the Rocky Theme or Olivia Newton-John's Physical are considered bad music, and 1970s generally is a shorthand for "poor taste". Anti-apartheid sentiment is present, now reminding of how ubiquitous the topic once was – up until the system was dismantled.

I guess Denise is meant to be relatable and gen-X cool, but she often appears sleepy and disinterested. Whitley Gilbert's beauty and fitness routines are meant to be over the top, but she would actually fit our times rather well. Whitley's caricature and character growth steal the show in any case.

Dwayne Wayne

The first season starts a little rough at the edges, as the characters aren't yet established. Dwayne Wayne (how cool are those glasses) seems a little lost without his sidekick Ron Johnson. Whitley appears a little too nasty when abusing the "spineless" Millie. 

Some of the entourage is introduced mid-season, but the second season brings drastic changes to the cast. One could almost say the show is rebooted. I recalled this happened much later in the series, but that's again what binge watching does.

I felt the first season attempted an all-female cast, with nearly feminist tones, but as the series proceeds it becomes a more straightforward sitcom with more male regulars, such as the "Dr. War" Colonel Taylor, cafeteria chef Vernon and the boys' dorm director Walter.

Despite the important "No means no" episode, the show repeats age-old TV mating rituals where men are presented as being very forward, even to the point of being a little physical about it. Ron's occasionally creepy behavior is underlined as being wrong, but it's for laughs and he keeps doing it anyway.

Whitley, Kim, Dwayne, Freddie share a serious moment

The third and fourth seasons don't bring as huge changes, although the setup is shuffled a little and there's more thought to plot arcs and acknowledging past events. Having characters live off-campus at least changes the scenery.

Dream episodes and more improbable plots begin to rear their head too. Maybe that third season spring break double-episode should have been a dream. The cast becomes more caricature-like in the later seasons: Whitley is inconsiderate and loud, Freddie is a kooky environmentalist hippie, Ron is a perv.

The first seasons explores the confines and rules of the dorm apartments. Towards the end of the series we barely see how the students live, as everything happens in more social environments. Apart from the repeated establishing shots, almost everything's filmed in the safety of the studio. One major exception is the LA-riot themed two-parter.

It's amusing to observe the transition from a 1980s show into a self-consciously "1990s" show, an opportunity to again revisit gender roles but also (sadly) making jokes about how silly it is to protect the environment. There is also self-reflection on how the series' once youthful heroes are no longer cool to the new generation.

The sixth season works more as an epilogue, showing how the series regulars begin to settle, bringing the Cosby format full circle. The college environment increasingly relies on new characters. However, the cast no longer inspires curiosity about their future, and the themes begin to feel too repetitive.

The whole series ends with a suitably sentimental note. It doesn't look like a series continuation was planned after the sixth season. There have been rumors about rebooting the series for a new millennium.

A whole bunch of crowd

Netflix has again chosen to transform a 4:3 series into widescreen format, also using a silly algorithm to upscale the image. The algo is especially visible in pause mode. I watched few episodes happily without realizing the format change and the filter, but when I begun to pay attention these changes can be a little irritating at times. Sometimes even items that are focus of comedy are poorly cropped away.

A small oldmachinery observation. I don't think I saw a single computer in season 1, although I believe I saw a perforated dot matrix print paper already very early on. Computers feature in season 2 more, and eventually become a sort of plot point too. The same IBM serves as a prop in many locations. Nintendo was enough of a household name to make jokes about in 1988. Something resembling a Game Boy was seen in Season 4, and definitely spotted and name-checked in Season 6.

Urban campsite

This time, a more urban campsite

There have been some more urban camping sessions, but I've not thought to report them all. This time there are some new experiences and equipment to talk about.

The Primus Mimer stove has been a hit and a miss, as a little wind could disrupt a water boiling process. From my experience I'd not recommended it for winter, even if it did perform ok that one time.

Now, in warmer weather it did much better, at least with a frying pan. It looks like it is more useful for frying pans, as the flame spreads to a broader area.

A Crivit from Lidl boiling potatoes, Primus Mimer working on the non-meat balls.

Still, the flame had to be quite high to counter the wind, which easily made it a little too strong for controlled cooking. The cooking oil started boiling almost instantly. The köttless-bullar were in a danger of blackening from the outside while cold from the inside, something I've not seen much after my student days. Finding the proper level while moving the balls around aggressively did help, though.

Some new equipment. A triangle-shaped stand for gas cartridges is a welcome addition. These gas canister-based burner contraptions make me fear of tipping everything over, but using this as a base it's far less likely. It fits quite neatly with the standard cartridge, and with a little fiddling it fit a somewhat non-standard one too.

Triangular plastic base

But I have to say adding these bits and pieces makes me think that with Trangia you have a full system where these things have been thought over and over!

The Wildo camp-a-box is another new family member. The set has a 6dl fold-a-cup type can, a normal fold-a-cup, a tripartite spice container and a fork-spoon-knife combo. The halves of the box work as plates and there's a sort of cutting board thrown in.

Wildo Camp-A-Box contents

The setup is smart in that the parts fit together in only one way, and the shapes are suggestive of how this should be done. So no Tetris at the campsite. Weighing at 280g, carrying it all might not make sense. The combined utensil might not excel as a spoon, fork or a knife, but it brought the food to the mouth.

Veto-Junior drafting machine

Picture on the cardboard case

Rarely I get an opportunity to write about something that's both Old and a Machine.

This Veto-Junior is a light-weight arm drafting machine from around 1949-1956, made and sold in Finland. It was built by Valmet, the Finnish institution that did everything: paper machines, rifles, tractors, trains...

Overview. The screw at the bottom holds the device in place for photography!

Predictably the machine was sold by Wulff exclusively. Later they sold imported drafting machines for architects, engineers and designers.

This kind of drafting machine uses a sort of parallelogram principle to level the drafting ruler unit. The ruler unit is kept "weightless" with either strings or a counterweight, the latter probably more expensive.

On the down side, the arm drafting machines are often less accurate away from the center of the board and the springs can generate some noise.

The ad from Helsingin Sanomat 13.9.1949

I'm timing the device based on a few advertisements in Helsingin Sanomat. The first ad is from 1949 and the second from 1956.

The 1956 ad shows a complementing drafting board. The price of 3400 marks (now ~123€) doesn't seem too prohibitive, but it wasn't exactly an age of plenty. The imported Nestler board from Germany sold for 9350 (339,41€), together they would be a bigger purchase.

This was still the war reparations era, the factories now produced a variety of products for civilian use. The Veto is mentioned in Maanpuolustus 4/2016 as a product category. 

It fits thematically, a low-cost device to educate a new generation of engineers, architects and designers for rebuilding Finland. I'm unsure if these ever went to Soviet Union.

The ad from Helsingin Sanomat 4.9.1956

For some time I wondered if "Junior" implied there would be a non-Junior Veto, given that some texts simply mention "Veto".

Because my Veto-Junior has a VKT (Governmental Rifle Factory) logo, and the ad mentions the Tourula Factory, I acquired the book Kivääritehtaan Tarina ("Story of the Rifle Factory") by Mänttäri, Hyytinen and Niskanen from 2003, on the hope it could say something about the product. 

The book focuses on tractors and weapons, but there is also simple list of the various civilian products made by the factory. Purely by chance there is a low resolution scan of an old Valmet product catalogue. The scan happens to feature both a Veto and Veto-Junior drafting machines. I rotated and adjusted the scan to give the best possible reproduction.

Valmet product catalogue, year unknown. (adjusted from the book Kivääritehtaan Tarina, 2003)

It's possible to see the Veto is larger, has a counterweight for balancing, and the text says the ruler is of beech with "celluloid" edges, as opposed to the metal rulers of Veto-Junior.

The rifle factory book is rather nice, but it has absolutely no index or list of references, so it's a little tricky to start tracing that old product catalog, and perhaps I don't need to as that's all the info there is.

Some repairs were needed to get this working. In fact I bought two machines before I could assemble one working item. I realize these can be considered antiques and this might be a sacrilege. However I ended up only using the springs from the second purchase.

Veto-Junior 1: VKT, No logo on the handle.

The first Veto was loose, dirty but in nice condition. It lacked one spring and the rulers were in a rough condition.

This first Veto came with a wooden board of sorts, not the Nestler obviously, but resembling a Wulff-branded board I already own, which is in better condition mind you. This board had no branding.

The machine was unceremoniously attached to the board with 5 screws. I had to marvel at the quality of these old screws, they are so crisp and heavy.

Veto-Junior 2: The Wulff/Valmet logo

The second one had both springs intact, nice rulers but the metal parts had rusted here and there. The arms still move about well, the ball bearings are not stuck or noisy.

This came with the original cardboard box and the device sports a logo saying Wulff Veto-Junior Valmet. The other doesn't even really have room for a logo.

If there were instructions, they have become lost. The one ad mentions a leaflet which I suppose could have explained how to set up the machine.

This second Veto also had a lacquer finish on the wooden part, but it has mostly worn off.

Interestingly, the first device rulers have a VKT logo which is for Valtion KivääriTehdas. You can see the elongated hexagon logo in some Finnish guns.

Veto-Junior 1: VKT logo

The second one has a sparse "VMT" marking for Valtion MetalliTehtaat. The Valmet branding was very much in place at this point.

My initial hunch was the VKT one (without the Valmet logos) is the older one - although it is in better condition. In my understanding the VKT term was abandoned after the war.

The rulers are of some kind of aluminum mixture, they at least don't rust. They have lasted the long years in reasonable shape but were maybe not that great to begin with.

These rulers have been pressed into shape to make them more firm, but they still bend rather easily. This also means they can be bent back into shape.

Veto-Junior 2: VMT marking

The machine arms are flat metal, with a bulge running through the middle to give them strength. As far as I understand this is sheet metal forming/pressing, a technique used for some firearms. It's quite clever, despite being quite flat the parts don't give in or bend too easily.

The two springs are of different length, and using both from the second machine I could get the arms to "float", although it biases to the right.

I just didn't dare to stretch the spring to a further range. (There are three attachment points at each location). The springs had been probably unused for a long time, but they are in good condition.

Ball bearing, freely visible

Then I found the ball bearings mentioned in the ad. The bearings are freely visible, and are held in place by some sort of ball bearing screw but not exactly. I also noticed one of the arm hinges from Veto-Junior #1 lacks ball bearings, so they might come loose under strain.

I could add them from the second machine, but I decided if I am going to draw more then I'll use my Tecnostyl 604, which is better suited for it anyway. (I'll perhaps blog about that later).

Functionally, Veto has the almost compulsory angle setting, with 15-degree steps. A tightening bolt helps keep the in-between angles more firmly in place. The rulers can be switched around to work in 1:25 proportion and also for fine-tuning the 90-degree angle.

And that's about it. No thumb-press position lock, no "line offset" features.

Some experiences

The lightness is both a good and a bad thing. My point of comparison is the Tecnostyl 604 which has robustness, weight and portability in better proportion.

The contraption at the top has been made to allow the ruler to pass a little higher than it otherwise would. A nice thought. Still, I think the bearings suffer here more than at other places. 

A little test drawing

It's very portable. Surely the Veto-Junior can be easily transported without a table, and even with the small board, carrying wasn't a problem. But the device is already so flimsy it's difficult to take very seriously.

After a little experimentation, I can draw with this but it wasn't quite as "fun" as with the Tecnostyl. The angles deviate quite heavily as I near the edges of the board, the rulers don't fix very firmly, but as the draft image will be consistently warped it shouldn't matter too much(!)

Of course it's unclear if the Veto Junior works as intended, it is likely more than 70 years old.

The Last Z-8 v1.1

I would prefer to create something new than to fix my old games, but The Last Z-8 was made so quickly for Zooparty 2024, I wanted to adjust it at least a little.

For Commodore 64, the version 1.1 fixes some bugs and sprite glitches, the graphics are also adjusted in places. There is also a tiny bit more graphic variety.

The game is same old, but it has been tweaked a little. This version adds a X2 zonk bonus feature, if you catch the elusive white ghost on the city map. This way you can zonk overload faster.

The game has a somewhat strange logic, from the winging-it school of design. The better you play the faster you get to the end. If you play worse, yet live, the game eventually becomes more difficult. And that's pretty much all the achievement there is.

I generally don't add detailed instructions with the games, because that's the way it was when we loaded pirated games off turbo tapes and disks in the early days :)

But maybe some explanation is in order.

The Last Z-8 v1.1 Instructions

The game is 100% Machine Code for Commodore 64, by Dr. Terrorz. 

Use Joystick in Joystick Port 2.

It is the end of the world, after the bad guys won. The world's a wasteland and everyone is a ghost. Except with you, the last time traveling secret agent, there's a slim chance to revert everything, if you can generate 9999 ZONK and deal a blow to the origin of the disaster.

To generate ZONK energy, you need to shoot or trap ghosts, and to do this effectively you drive a vehicle that is a cross between DeLorean, KITT and Bond's Lotus Esprit. And the last V-8. Except it is the Z-8.

Map Screen. Move up/down/left/right

As the game starts, you are presented with the city map screen. Ghosts materialize at different places. Catch them to proceed to the next step. If you grab the elusive White Ghost, you can activate the 2X bonus feature for this round, generating double ZONK.

Next step is the street patrol sequence, where you have to both avoid the ghosts and jump over any breaks in the road. Shooting at the ghosts will bring them down, adding to the ZONK meter. Note that you can also milk the falling ghosts for more ZONK, but this can be risky.

Street patrol, Move left, right, jump, fire

After surviving the patrol sequence, you will face the ghost trapping sequence. In front of the house, you can launch ghost traps, which will be brought down again when they reach the top of the screen. There's no limits to these traps.

Only when the traps come down, they are effective on the ghosts. At the same time you need to avoid everything, including your own traps!

If you are fast enough, you can trap all the ghosts, adding to the ZONK meter. The higher the ghost is when trapped, the more ZONK will be generated as the ghost descends. This can provide opportunities for tactically waiting for a ghost to recede upwards before trapping it, but if you waste time you may end up not catching the ghost!

Trapping sequence, move left/right, fire to launch trap

After the ghost trapping sequence, you are back at the map, facing the next night. In case you had the 2X bonus, this will be reverted and you need to catch the White Ghost again to activate it.

Each round of the game is in a sequence. This does not change, no matter which ghost you choose to engage on the city maps. The stages and patterns are repeated the same way each game, so you can memorize things to do things better.

When you reach 9999 ZONK, the gate opens and you can go fight the boss and reverse time.

The Last Z-8 v1.1 at itch.io

The Last Z-8 v1.1 at csdb.dk

Primus Mimer Stove and other burning issues

Primus Mimer Stove

Since the few attempts with spirit, I have switched to the cleaner gas burners. Despite not planning to go this route, I now have two of them.

Comparisons between gas and spirit aside, I'll focus on the Primus Mimer Stove, which was inviting with its wide-format gas burner element – no more blowtorching the middle of a frying pan?

This is one of the models which directly connect to the gas canister, and at 205 grams it could be considered an ultra-light solution. That is, if I don't carry the Trangia pieces around. The other burner weighs 180g but in practice requires the Trangia windshield ecosystem.

Still shiny and speckless

Although the gas worked for heating water quickly, it began sputtering when more was required, a 10-minute ordeal of cooking pasta. In fact the flame died on occasions and required reigniting. At first this seemed to be due to wind, another theory was that gas canister was growing colder.

Trying another burner with smaller element showed that perhaps the gas in itself wasn't to blame. I guess the wide-format elements are more susceptible to problems in this weather, and it's not an accident the elements are smaller in most models. But this is all rather thin speculation from this one experience.

Primus Mimer Stove in action

It was still possible to finish, but it is clear this combination is not for winter cooking, not even in this mild -1°C weather. The Primus Mimer instructions do not say anything about winter use, but there's a symbol on the box that suggests it's a "3 season" solution.

Ultimately the frying pan was not even tried in this session, even though it was one motive for getting this burner. This will have wait for better conditions or at least more appropriate gas.

In sunlight it wasn't possible to see the flame, which is understandable, but there were times I couldn't even hear it, which was a strange sensation. Most of the time Primus did give the usual, reassuring noise.

The shores of Arabia

Some other considerations: the gas adjustment valve is positioned quite close to the center of the burner, but in practice this wasn't really a problem. Still, a better placed adjustment knob might have been welcome.

Balance is another slightly worrying thing when working with this type of burner. You have to be careful when prodding the food, as the stack certainly isn't as sturdy as a Trangia-type windshield contraption.

Chair and the carry bag

Another item which I've had for a while, is a collapsible chair. Robens' Geographic High Silver Grey promised light weight and easy operation, and on those counts it delivers.

At 370 grams, the trade off is that it's on the small side, but fortunately I am not super-huge and still weigh less than 90kg, far from the suggested maximum 120kg capacity.

Not saying it is perfect, and I'm still collecting experiences, but I've been able to forget about it while sitting and that is a good sign. It also hangs nicely from the bag, adding very little to total encumbrance.

A random dog I couldn't see while shooting.

The session took place in Kuusiluoto in Helsinki, a popular spot for wintertime outdoor activities. We took the route back over ice. This felt a little suspicious at first given the mild winter, but so many people were crossing it, it was obviously not likely to break.