BoPhoto.com

Leica M9 - exactly what I hoped it would be

Leica finally shipped my M9, it arrived the first week of November.   By now I was getting concerned since the internet seems to be a flurry of conflicting opinions and reviews of the Leica M9 camera.  Well I did not need worry, the M9 is here, and it is exactly what I wanted it to be.

The Image Maker - Bob Krist in Colorado Springs

Olympus E3 with 150mm 2.0

Last week I had an oppertunity to spend the weekend with National Geographic photographer Bob Krist, seen here in a picture from Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs CO. What a fantastic photographer, and a inspired teacher and speaker.  This was a weekend class put on by National Geographic Traveler.

Proof of Concept - Crop factor lens hoods

 

So this is revising a previous post, about my quest for a better lens-hood when using a crop-factor camera with lenses made for full-frame.   a bit of patience, a 3D printer and a cad file have solved my problem for now.

Leica M9 in the wild

This morning Leica announced 3 new cameras,  the M9, X1 and S2, personally I was most interested in the M9, and headed down to Samy's to check it out this morning.  
Click to read about the M9,  find a link to the announcement WebCast and see my starting collecting of M9 frames.

Voigtlander 50mm 1.1 - ITS HERE...!

One of the girls just brought me the much anticipated box from CameraQuest.com, containing my new Nockton 50mm 1.1   Review, more pictures and the first test shots after the link.

Remind me why Im shooting digital

 Was just scanning a few of my old 645 chromes.. ahhh. that stuff sure looks great.  Don't get me wrong, I love digital and love the convenience, but film is not dead yet, mostly because it have been fine tuned for almost 100 years, film deliver some shockingly good high-light control and skin tones compared to digital.

Don't bring the camera bag...! *

Don't laugh now, I have realized that the most enjoyable time and most productive photography wise, is with a camera in my hand, and more importantly, nothing much else to distract me.

Just the camera with one lens,  palmed in the hand or over the shoulder even.  I have been suspecting this for a long time but have been paying more attention lately, and realized that I am too lazy to pull out the camera, and even more lazy to change lenses, even when I look at something and see a picture.

However when I have the camera in my hand, then I tend to use it.  Go figure.  This is not rocket science but still something to keep in mind.

This picture is a great exsample, I picked the M up with a 75lux in the morning on the way to breakfast, and stopped cold in my track for the scooter. It just glowed at me. M8 75mm LUX on Larchmont Blvd Los Angeles, on foot towards the cafe. - click on image to see large.

Taking things a bit further, Mike at TOP - The Online Photographer, posted a suggestion that the single best way of really improving ones photography would be to photograph with a Leica and one lens for a year.  no changing lenses, one camera, and ONLY one type of film.  Learn to use the basic toold and keep working them to the tune of at least 2 rolls a week.  I agree 100%.
Click to read the ONE YEAR ONE CAMERA post.
Click to read his explanation the next day.

*Exception to the rule naturally is when I actually work with my camera on a job, in that case a camerabag is very handy and one often need lots of specialized gear to make a shot happen.

Coding strips for Zeiss & Voitlander lenses

This morning on LUF the user NicoleLeica made the suggestion of using a pre-printed sticker for coding the new Zeiss and CV (voitlander) M lenses, several of these lenses now ship with a groove all the way around the base of the lens for coding the lens. 

I have been using a sharpie to create this code, and also created a disposable M-coder template for this job, this works well, but sometimes the sharpie marks take a few tries to get them accepted by the camera.  So NicoleLeica's suggestion did make some sense.

A hour later I had a prototype, and took to testing the first version of this idea.  it is printed and cut on self-adheasive white media. Ahhh ya gotta love computers. Click for Picts.

Scanning - its in the details

This weekend I broke down and picked up a Nikon CoolScan 5000ED from BellAir Camera. until now I have been dropping my film at the lap for process and high-rez scan, honestly I was actually pretty happy with the results, even though I did notice I was loosing some highlight and shadow details.  Today I pulled out some of those original CD's with store bought scans...  OUCH...    Keep reading for all the details....

Become invisible with DayGlo

Now this is a interesting thought, photographer Stephen Gill says he wear a DayGlo west when photographing in public to be left alone. We all know public workers wearing DayGlo, they are everywhere and nobody stop for a moment to think about what they are doing, after all, they are wearing DayGlo.  I have a DayGlo west which I have used on commercial shoots now and then.. but the idea is that maybe I can work invisibly wearing it for street photography... this must be tested.

Read the story from the Guardian

Bill also mentions this on his blog about shooting in the street.  click to read "the Invisible man".

This is part of the SEP "Somebody Elses Problem" effect - Read the Wikipedia entry.