Month: August 2014

With Photokina getting closer and the Apple iPhone/iWatch iAnything press conference coming in the next couple of weeks for tech and camera geeks like me its proving an interesting time.

It was Olympus’s turn today to announce the new PEN E-PL7 in time for Photokina.  I was very impressed with the first Olympus digital PEN, it and the Panasonic GF-1 and the Leica X1 where about the only large censored compacts around.

For most people it was about there, I only did not buy it because of the lack of viewfinder.  Now with this latest iteration its got better focus and image stabilisation, better image quality but there are lots of other camers that do all that.   If your a Pen user and love it but want a newer model, upgrade but for most users there is nothing new in this.

There are rumours growing of a new Leica X camera.  Its likely to be the replacement for the X2, lets hope they finally learn and give it a viewfinder.  The X1 was revolutionary, by the time the X2 came out it was just an expensive minor upgrade.

Lets see if they can put one out of the ball park as our American cousins would say.

There was one piece of news from Leica, the much expected 100mm f/2 short telephoto for their medium format S range.  Its not been much of a surprise since the lens was listed in the last Adobe RAW updates.  Still a very nice piece of glass and f/2 for a medium format camera is stunningly fast.  If I wanted a new medium format system the S system would be top of the list.

Saturday was a model shoot, Sunday, garden birds and butterfly’s.  Yesterday was bank holiday Monday and I had arranged a trip to the local nature reserve to shoot water birds.

It was a cold wet but I packed the big guns, Nikon DLSR’s and 300mm f/2.8 telephoto lens as well as my big Gitzo series 5 tripod.

Despite walking round the lakes looking for subjects and spending a short time in the hide, I never got the telephoto out of its case.  Still, wildlife is 99% patience.

Last weekend I had a rather complex shoot, it was a personal shoot so the only pressure was on me to produce a pleasing image, but it was extremely challenging, with a complex set and two models to direct in very difficult circumstance, plus additional people for health and safety.

The shoot involved people, lots of water and powerful lights and electricity, potentially a deadly mix.

When it came to equipment it was an interesting choice.  My head told me to take a pair of modern Nikon DSLR’s and a selection of Pro zooms ranging from 12mm to 200mm to cover all bases.

It was with that in mind that I ensured my Nikon DSLR gear was already on Friday night, tested and with all batteries including spares fully charged.

But my heart was saying different things.  Why bother with all that complexity, just take a Leica a couple of spare batteries and a Summilux 50mm.  Travel light, and just concentrate on the image.

So what did I do?

Well I took both, the SLR was the better choice, modelling underwater is extremely difficult, the models cannot hold a pose for long so the fast acting SLR with autofocus was a better choice.  I took five times the number of shots with the SLR’s then I took with the Leica, and I did find myself hitting the buffer a couple of times with the Leica (maybe an excuse to buy a Leica M-P?).

So what about the results, well I am still reviewing the images, but I’ll publish my favourite  as this months ‘Photo of the Month’.  So far I seem to have more good images from the Leica, about 2:1.  Now this may be due to a number of reasons; I had to work harder with Leica, I enjoyed using it more and I shot less so was more selective with my choices.

Lens wise, I used the 24-70mm on the DLSR and a 50mm Summilux on the Leica rangefinder.

As has become the norm now for Photokina, the camera companies are starting to make their announcements.  Today Leica announced the Leica M-P 240.  I was not expecting this but they did the same with the M9 so I suppose its not surprising.

Its not clear yet if the sensor is new but the doubled buffer size now 2 GB, the sapphire glass protecting the lcd at the back and I was very pleased to see the frame line selector lever brought back.  The Leica dot at the front has gone, and in pure black its a stunning looking camera.

The price is higher then the old M but they also announced a price increase from the 1st September so it might not look more expensive for long.

This is a nice update and for those few news photographers that still user Leica M’s a must upgrade I would think, for the rest of us maybe not.

Today a little piece of history was made as the Avro Vulcan and the last two airworthy Avro Lancasters flew over the city today.

I was busy on a call in the office, but managed to grab this shot just as they headed off.

You can check out more on the BBC website.

I have not had time to edit the RAW file much yet, this was just a quick import into PhotoRAW to convert to jpeg, then an import to Lightroom mobile.  All done on the iPad.

Photokina 2014 starts on the 16th September and the rumour mill is starting to get going.  Of course I am particularly interested in the Nikon, Leica and Hasselblad rumours.  We already know that Hasselblad has released a new 50 MP back for the V series and this will be on show.

I am particularly interested in anything mirror less from Nikon or from the MicroFourThirds camp.  It would also be good to see if Fuji have an update for the X100 or their Pro model.

The Leica rumours have been coming thick and fast, from new lens for the T series, a new compact, as well as a new Monochrom and a replacement for Leica ME.  I doubt we will see an updated Monochrom yet I believe people are getting confused with the new chrome coloured model, but a new Leica ME would be interesting.

I have seen a rumour of a Nikon D750 but I am not too sure how that would fit in with the current range.  If it had the D4 focusing and sensor then it would be at the top of my list.

The internet abounds with articles about professional users having a go at a ‘real’ shoot with their mirror less cameras, generally Panasonic, Olympus or Fuji.

Today I was reading article about a photographer who did a article for a magazine, and instead of using his professional gear decided to use a Leica T, its current prime lens and the EVF.

As people always say its the photographer and not the camera.