【CUSCINO】 lining to change

Hi there.

Our leather camera case 【CUSCINO】 has a good reputation for its quick opening and the high quality leather’s charming texture.
As you may have noticed, many colours are currently out of stock… We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this.

CUSCINO

As a matter of fact, there was an unexpected problem of materials sourcing. One day in June, I was placing the orders for 【CUSCINO】, then a fabric dealer brought me a bad news. The lining of 【CUSCINO】was discontinued.

…Eh?! No way!! How about other colours? When did it happen?? Really nothing left?!

For this reason, the production line had to stop until the replacement of the lining arrived…

After many telephone calls and arrangements, we finally found a nice fabric. The new fabric has short nap and is slightly harder than the one we used before. You will see the new linings from the next lot; greenish beige lining for Chocolate and Brown, browny grey for Black and Ink-blue.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

By the way, a dark brown leather called “Sirocco” was used specially for the first lot of Chocolate. Now we offer the case of “Nappa”, vegetable tanned Italian leather for Chocolate as well as the other colours. We hope you like the light flexible touch of Nappa leather too.

They will appear on ULYSSES online shop shortly after our final inspection!

The Body Suit for OM-D E-M5 Mark II will be rolled out very soon.

Hello, this is ENZZO.

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 Thank you for waiting for so long. The body suit has finally completed and ready to be released!!!

This time the body suit for the OM-D E-M5 Mark II will come in full-covered type only, on contrary to usual two line-ups: open type and full-cover type. We are not planning to make open type body suit for the camera. (We have given up the idea to make one, since there will be too small for the camera to be covered by the suit.)

When attached with the suit, you can’t use the variable angle LCD.

I understand it’s natural that you’ll go like, “How could you make a body suit that will omit the use of the variable angle LCD!!!” However, I dare to say that I want you to enjoy the inconvenience; we choose to cut the function.

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But don’t worry. You can change batteries and remove your SD card with the suit on; it’s not necessary to remove the body suit every time you want to do that.

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Personally, the best color for the OM-D E-M5 Mark II is Black.

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But of course, standard color, Navy will never let you down.

By the way, I posted the picture of the suit with the large aperture lens on the camera, which is unusual for Ulysses.

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Since the height of the grip of the OM-D E-M5 series, as well as the first and second generation of the series, is not so high, the grip of the body suit enhances the hold very much, and it’s especially true when you attach the large aperture lens.

I strongly argued that I need to show and explain how good the grip is to get a secure hold when you attach the large aperture lens.

It’s a secret that I used this as an excuse to buy 12-40mmF2.8 PRO.

Cheers,

More serious giver than receiver

Hi, this is Mori.

Choosing one image per month from user submitted posts is one of my tasks at work. This month I chose the photo of 【Body Suit for SONY a7/a7R/a7S】.

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We welcome image submissions of customer’s camera with ULYSSES products. The photo I picked up from them appears on the top page slide show of ULYSSES web shop for a month. All posts from the other customers are exhibited on the special web page, “My Favorites with ULYSSES” as well.

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I believe the photographic images from customers are the best way to judge the looks and colours of products even though customer reviews, typed words are also greatly helpful to know the performance and usability. We hope we provide much more information comparing to many other web shops. Having said that, it is pretty difficult to tell all of the information precisely by only using the regular shopping pages and there is a limit on the number of image on it too, 10 images at most. If I think it from the customer’s point of view, I would like to see many more images taken from different angles…don’t you think?

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Also I choose more carefully if I buy a gift for someone special because I would set the higher criteria than personal use and want to give the best I can find. It is the time I feel the posted photos by users help a lot. Simply a slight change of light affects the photographed colour and the one taken by different model of cameras vary in colour nuance. I must say it would be fairer for customer that we show product images as many as possible. Of course we are not trying to cheat, but it is very likely that we, sellers try to take photogenic images with elaborate angles and lights…For better judgement before purchase, we recommend you to take a good look at the photos by other customers!

Therefore, please take a moment to let all us know what you think about our products and it is much appreciated if you could send a photographed image too. Every post will be brilliant assistance!

 

 

 

My Favorites with ULYSSES
http://ulysses.jp/user_data/mfc_main.php

 

【Mass Production】___I think it’s good.

Hello, this is ENZZO.

Ulysses often gets inquiry from our customers like these:

“I want you to make me a longer strap especially for me….”

“Could you make me a body suit for … camera as a special order?”

“Can’t you customize this part of the product to …?”

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We can’t meet those individual requests like above, since we don’t have our own factory or atelier to produce our goods, we have to order in the contracted factories spreaded in Japan. In other words, all of our products are mass produced. (The production rot size is not so big, though…)

I know you go like, “You can just change the length SLIGHTLY.” However we just can’t do that SLIGHTLY thing, though we feel terribly sorry for that.

On the other hand, after seven years since Ulysses has opened, we continuously get those requests because Ulysses seems to be a small atelier for our customer, which is a grateful thing to us to know.

One of the things that we always have in mind when we make our product, there is a theme that we want something back or “to regain what we have lost in the mass-production era”. It may sounds a little antithetical against mass production, but a little different.

I think mass production is good; when you mass produce something, there are always customers who want that product and it means the product makes a lot of people happy. If you can mass produce something constantly, it itself is a great thing ___the same thing goes for fast fashion or fast food.

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Of course, there must be much small details which couldn’t help being given up when mass produced…things like hand-made warmth, delicate materials and feelings of the texture and so on.

We, Ulysses, always keep in mind to try to maintain and mass produce our goods packed with what our customers want without giving up “elements that goes against efficiency” to the upmost by taking every measure.

 Ulysses makes product by such stance.

So if we seem to be “a small atelier which seems to respond to their requests”, we think it means our products maintain the warmth of handwork and not being concerned with mass-production, which makes us so happy while on the other hand we are terribly sorry for not being able to meet our individual customers’ demand. We’d like to keep “mass production which takes time and effort dauntingly” with those factories and skillful craftsmen.

Best wishes.

Body suit for RICOH GRⅡ in progress

RICOH finally released GRⅡ. I was so curious about its appearances as a member of body suits planning team.

When I first saw the image of GRⅡ in announcement, I was glad that it had the same looks with the previous model:-) Then after a few seconds, I noticed the new one has a flat bump at the top of the body… Alright, I sort of anticipated it.

The new model has NFC and WI-FI and was modified the shape for these functions. As you could guess, the camera case we are currently selling, 【GR Body Suit】 is not able to fit to GRⅡunfortunately.

After all, we decided to make an exclusive body suit for GRⅡ!

We are planning to add some charming details for this latest body suit. We only have a vague idea, but we feel like to give it a grip embossed with stripe lines. It should look cool and be effective for extra secure hold.

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The previous body suit was designed to cover GR as much as possible so that the case offers a good protection. Even though some buttons of GR camera are also covered by the leather case, you only need to press the round-marked parts on the leather case to operate from outside. The new GRⅡ model has wider opening at the back for easier access to the operation buttons.

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Staple of ULYSSES, the top metal popper will be used for this GRⅡ model. Please wait for the release of this new body suit!

【Only in My Fantasy】There is a camera that I really want to make; BESSA R2A Digital!

Hello, this is ENZZO.

What’s great about Crowdfunding!!!

Recently Lomography has succeeded a huge success in a project to make the new Petzal lens in both USA and in Japan. They collected more than $1,045,000 in total through Crowdfunding.
blog-2015-07-18-006Kickstarter

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The lens has quite a sharp description and pronounced taste and not necessarily easy to use but it seems that many users felt that they wanted it all the more for it; that is the best charm of it. You can say that is the product that divides people into whether they like it or not; those who want it, really want in spite of innumerable difficulties and those who don’t, never ever been interested in it.

I’m afraid, however, that the reproduction of Petzal lens probably wouldn’t have succeeded, if planned ten years ago. It must have been difficult to produce such product because it was too risky; you never know how much people would want it until it’ll be rolled out no matter how fascinating the product was.

What’s so great about Crowdfunding?

I believe that crowdfunding has wonderful mechanism to show the power in the product development to make such challenging goods.

By the way, I have my ideal dream camera. You may think it’s too anachronistic and laugh at me but I want a “digital camera equipped with a hoisting lever”.

【The camera which you need to take time taking pictures, take a lot of time… no hustle…】

I remember that when I started camera—I was using the first generation of Canon EOS Kiss—it was already the time when the film was automatically hoisted and it was already difficult to find a camera with the lever except for a few exceptions or the second hand. One of the few still cameras on the market was “BESSA” released by Cosina. The BESSA was super mechanical film camera released at the end of the film era. I believe not a few people hooked on rangefinder for the first time by this camera, including me. BESSA responded to the niche needs for the people who couldn’t afford Leica, since it was too expensive, but wanted to use old time L-mount and M-mount lens comfortably for the modern time cameras. Many derivation models of BESSA like BESSA T, BESSA R and BESSA R3A was released afterwards.

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Actually, Ulysses once developed the body suit for BESSA which had a lot of experimental elements like using studs for the grip part. I confess that it was like it was the product I asked the craftsman to make the suit for myself since I loved the BESSA R2A and I personally wanted it.

And then came the digital edition rangefinder “R-D1” series into sudden prominence; Epson produced the “R-D1” series with Cosina.

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The R-D1 series’ last model R-D1xG

It is absolute digital camera with APS-C size sensor and the vari-angle LCD monitor on the back, but it is not obviously a digital camera; it has inherited some specifications from BESSA R2 and it controls operate in the same way as film-based rangefinder cameras; it has a mechanical shutter to charge a shutter and focuses with equal size through the range-finding window.

The way to focus manually rolling up the lever every time I take a picture brings me pleasant tension to confront with a subject carefully with a slow tempo. You can’t find the camera with the concept like this anywhere before or since so I can say this is the marvelous piece that some fans are still using it regularly.

On the other hand there are three things that I’m personally not satisfied with R-D1 since its release.

  • First: The performance of the sensor and the image processing engine was still under development and not good enough.
  • Second: The field angle of the lens and the individuality of rangefinder were not utilized 100% specification since it didn’t have full-size sensor.
  • Third: The base design of the body was BESSA R2 not the BESSA R2A which is the latest model in those days, but one generation before.

So I can conclude that R-D1 was a camera that appeared on the market too early in various meanings!

Now in the single-lens reflex camera and the mirrorless market, as the belief of higher pixel is slowly fading away, the models specialized in low pixels with enhanced noise tolerance are sold as well as high pixel models. This is because you are almost happy with the resolution under a normal use since the performance of a sensor and the image processing engine improved sufficiently or the speed of the performance improvement is slowing down.

I can’t stop thinking…if the camera with a concept like R-D1 is restored with the latest technology… if it has a full-size sensor… if… if… if… Such delusion is going around in my head.

【Now, and again…】

Now Cosina releases VR mount lens sporadically at present, but it seems that they stopped developing camera since Zeiss Ikon. I find this very regrettable as one of the fans who used its rangefinder.

I know users who had experience using roll up lever are still taking pictures. I believe that there are still people of generation who know what’s good about taking pictures with that slow tempo. And there are still manufacturing technique of film camera exist now.

In the modern time photography style, you take a lot of pictures and delete them easily, I want to say why not have at least one camera which take a lot of time taking photos in a respectful manner.

What I want to say here is that I wonder I can produce the full-frame digital rangefinder camera based upon BESSA R2A by raising money through Crowdfunding…blog-2015-07-18-005

Talk you later…

Give your favorite camera a stylish touch

Hi there, it’s Sato.

ULYSSES mainly sells original leather products, but also deals in some camera accessories and stationaries which are beautifully designed and useful. I introduce the new coming products this time.

【ARTISAN OBSCURA:Soft release button and hot shoe cover 】
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Oh well, it clearly shows my poor photo skills rather than the charming figures of new products;-(
I hope it will be a bit of help for you to imagine how they look anyway. Never mind, better photos will be taken and appear on our web shop any time soon.

Many release buttons are in camera accessories market and most of them are made of metals. ARTISAN OBSCURA’s wooden soft releases are all hand-crafted and the warmth of real wood is comfortable to hold. The unaffected stylishness is its charm! Not too showy, very elegant indeed.

To attach this button is pretty simple. You just need to screw the brass insertion embedded in the wood into your camera’s shutter release. These look cool on classic looking camera as LEICA and FUJI.

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ARTISAN OBSCURA is a young company started in Denver, Colorado in 2013. They told me that ULYSSES is the first shop to sell their products in Japan! We always seek for beautiful and practical items with sharp eyes.

We got some samples in hand at the moments. The combination of shapes, woods and colours are very interesting and fun to look at. Moreover, there are a variety of hot shoe covers to match with. The products we selected from the grand choices will be on our web shop soon, so wait a bit please!

Progression status of the Body Suit for the Leica MP!!!

Hello, this is ENZZO.

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We are very delighted to let you know that making of the Body Suit for the Leica MP is progressing very steadily. The body suit has a symmetry design which is different from the one for Leica M 24

; there was a notch on the left for the lens detachable button and this time we have to make another notch on the right side for a frame select lever.

As you see, the camera looks very nice on the suit. It really suits the intrepid looking black camera.

From the different angle, like this!! Sooooooo nice, don’t you think?

2015-07-05-002(This mock interfere a frame select lever just a little, so I modified after this.)

In this picture you can see the Leica T and Leica M-E at the back, because I took these photos at camera shop!!! I always appreciate a lot to Daikannyama Kitamura Photo Shop for letting me take photos at the shop.

P.S. I took those two photos with my iPad Air2. I really impressed how good pictures I can take with the tool; in these days, the image quality has improved greatly. Not so good in the dark places, tough. With enough lighting, pictures taken by smartphone and tablet noadays are good enough for a little coverage. Those gadgets makes my job a lot easier than before but on the other hand I have mixed feeling about the situation for being a man myself selling camera related goods…Hummmm.

See ya

ENZZO

New 【SPUTNIK 】now on sale!

Hi, it’s Sato again.

Finally we launched a new wrist strap【SPUTNIK】. Yes, it has the same name as the other existing strap. Well, this new model still has the concept to be “a tool to tie your wrist and camera like the earth and satellite” and “your fellow traveler”, however, the change was not done for a face lift. We introduced it with major improvement. The new 【SPUTNIK】is able to hold bigger sized cameras like mirrorless.

The packaging is also switched to a slim brown slider box to match the sleek figure of new 【SPUTNIK】. We hope it adds some special feel;-)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

There are 4 colours to choose from; Entract – ash brown, Acero – brown black, Porpora – red black, Lapis – blue black. These leathers are made with elaborate combination of dyes and show distinctive patterns and colours on its surface. For instance, the close-up image below is Acero, the unique characters of leather can be seen. Light and dark coloured areas, random lines and tiny ribbed pattern here and there.

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We hope you will enjoy these striking features!

“Puffy and rapid” camera case 3

Hi, it’s Sato.

I still have some sample making tasks in hand. I am making a soft camera case today.  I was using some left over leathers for the previous samples, but this time the sample is done with the same leather as 【CUSCINO】leather camera case.

voila!

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The impression has changed dramatically. I again realised the power of good quality leather. The camera case almost looks like a final piece.

 

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I amended the patterns and made so many samples so that I can give it a round outline. Now I believe I could reach an elegant face design with a hint of sharpness. It is round yet not childish 😉

 

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To decide the curved line of case entrance was pretty hard. I experimented until the best solution was found. I aimed at less gap for the side closure of the case when a camera with neck strap fits in.

 

The Open-close gimmick is the same as 【CUSCINO】, putting magnets between the leather and lining. May not be seen at a glance, there is a kind of secret trick inherited from 【CUSCINO】.  In fact the flip cover has 1 magnet on each of the right and left, the case body does 2 each, so as to adjust the magnetic power of clasp. We could achieve the perfect click by that.   The tiny magnets less than 2mm thick are used for the cases, but these are super strong! I was attaching 2 magnets together with adhesive liquid, then a pair on my desk and the magnets in my hand pulled one another suddenly! I was in a chaos with my sticky fingers for a while. The glue didn’t come off in spite of many attempts…

After experiencing some minor troubles, I sent the camera case sample to craftsmen at long last. I expect their skills give it a magic to be a more charming product!