Things

A list of my favourite and most used things.

Basics for Modern Life

Macbook Pro M1 2021 - Love it and it still works just as well as day one. Use it for blogging, browsing and editing photos.
Custom made PC with windows 11 - Like it and wouldn’t be able to work (trade) without it. Very powerful, better than the mac in some aspects.
iPad Pro 12.9 with the pencil! - LOVE and cannot live without. I use it for reading sheet music at the piano, for following recipes when cooking, for note taking, for browsing the web, for watching youtube, for reading comics and books about photography… So many uses for this thing!
Kindle Paperwhite 2nd Generation from 2013! - Yes, my Kindle is ancient, it is undeadable, unkillable, it keeps working just as well as the day I got it, the battery still lasts about 3 weeks with me reading everyday and a couple months if I’m not reading, the thing just won’t die, so I am stuck with it forever.
Samsung Galaxy S10+ - My phone since 2019. Like it, don’t love it, but I have never loved a phone anyway. They are a necessary evil. I use it for calling, whatsapp, internet browsing, reddit. I wish it had a better camera but in all truth, I prefer shooting with my Fuji. For the next one, I might go with an iPhone (meh) or a Xiaomi Ultra 15 (exciting). The Xiaomi has an 1" sensor, the biggest sensor on any smartphone yet and is co-engineered with Leica, which is kind of awesome. Like the kindle, my Samsung also refuses to die and is still very snappy, so it remains to be seen when (if?) I’ll get a new smartphone.

VS Code - For writing code. Love.
~~Obsidian~~ - For writing all the things. Love but got overwhelmed and am not using anymore.
Typora - For writing markdown. Like, don’t love.
~~Leuchtturm 1917~~ - For writing on paper. Deprecated in favour of writing on an iPad, after I realized I had written 19 notebooks in 4 years, and was running out of literal storage room.
~~Goodnotes 5~~ - Meh. Replaced by Noteful.
Noteful - LOVE! Absolutely amazing note-taking app for the iPad. Developed by a single guy, truly excellent software.
Bellemond magnetic screen protector for the iPad - Love!!! I can’t stand the sound and slippery feeling of writing on glass. This matte paper-like protector made me switch instantly to digital note-taking and journaling. I got the Kent Paper style.

Yamaha CLP 735 - My little digital piano, very very loved!
ForScore - iPad app for reading and annotating sheet music. A must have.
Piano Career Academy - An online platform by teacher Ilinca Vartic for learning classical piano. The closest thing to an IRL piano teacher. Love.
Spotify for listening to music

~~Lightroom~~ - Was a loyal Adobe user since 2010, but the 50% price increase early in 2025 didn’t sit well with me. Also, they made me pay a fee to cancel my ancient subscription?! Fuck Adobe.
~~ON1 Photo Raw 2025~~ - The perfect replacement for both Lightroom and Photoshop, on paper only. In real life, buggy, slow, prone to crashes, and the raw processing engine sucks.
DxO Photolab 8 - Currently on a 30-day trial and this is looking like the perfect replacement for Lightroom, so far. I don’t love that they force users to buy additional software to get extra features. I’m still on the fence about buying Filmpack in order to have access to finer contrast tools and luminosity masks (as those tools have nothing to do with film simulations, wtf?!) and will not buy ViewPoint. But the raw processing engine is amazing, the best I’ve ever seen (much, much better than Adobe’s Camera Raw). Tested both jpegs and raw files from several cameras (Fuji, Canon, GoPro) and the results are MAGICAL. I still have some days left on my trial, but I am pretty sure I’ll buy this.
PhotoMechanic 6 - Happy user since 2015! I’ve upgraded my license once and never felt the need to upgrade anymore. It does everything I want in terms of organization, keywording, fast culling, even GPS tagging.
DaVinci Resolve - For the occasional video edit.

Fuji X-E4 with the 23mm 2.8- My everyday carry camera since 2021, I love it very much. 💚
Canon 5D Mark III - Happy owner of two of those, never felt the need to upgrade.
Canon 5D Classic - Still love it, the colours are magical, but haven’t used it much in recent years.
Canon EOS 3 - Love this 35mm film camera, love that focus eye control thing.
Canon EOS 300 - Great camera. Was also sold as Rebel 2000 and Kiss III back in the days. I ended up using more than the EOS 3 due to the weight, for traveling. But after getting the Fuji, film is kind of dead to me, so this is not getting used either.
Canon lenses I have and love: Canon 70-200L 2.8 II, Canon 24-70L 2.8 II, Canon 50L 1.2, Tamron 90 macro 2.8, Canon 35 f/2, Canon tilt-shift 45
Canon lenses I have and don’t love: Canon tilt-shift 24 (Mark I), Sigma 24-70 2.8, Sigma 50 1.8
Mamiya 645 with 80 2.8 - Love 120mm format but haven’t used it since I stopped shooting weddings.
Olympus Trip 35 - Adorable! Haven’t used in ages.
Minolta XG-1 with 50 1.8 - My first camera, a hand-me-down from my dad!! Love it, but haven’t used in many, many years.

Sierra Chart for charting.
StreamDeck 15 keys for quickly entering and exiting positions, and for my chart drawings (brain couldn’t deal with all the shortcuts anymore).

Jura Impressa F70 - The BEST coffee machine. Ever. Period.
Kenwood Major Titanium KM023 with a ton of accessories - Super useful machine that does it all.
Instant Pot - I use it weekly to make homemade yogurt, steam veggies, and cook rice. Unfortunately my European model is not compatible with the new air fryer accessory.
Le Creuset - Love. I use my two round cocottes for everything, from baking bread to making pasta sauce. I also have several mini cocottes and ramekins, a couple skillets, a wine pump and two wine coolers!
OXO Good Grips Precision Pour Dispenser - I got tired of olive oil sprays breaking down after a couple years of use and decided to get this gorgeous glass dispenser instead. If I really need to “spray” something, I just brush it instead. But mostly I drizzle spoons and spoons of delicious Spanish olive oil.
Kambukka Lagoon water bottle - LOVE. The “pacifier” thing is awesome. I got the 750ml bottle for myself and loved so much I bought it for my husband and my mom too (two people who drink very little water, sometimes only a cup or two a day).
Philips Pasta Maker 7000 - LOVE and cannot live without! We simply stopped buying dry pasta completely, and make our own fresh homemade pasta 3 to 5 times a week.