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Leica M11-P Safari

Advertising shot of a Leica M11-P Safari edition. The camera is a black bodied rangefinder with a chrome lens attached.

Leica M series range finders always have a mid season refresh, usually a different paint job, sometimes more RAM and additions such as sapphire glass and missing the famous red dot to make them a little more stealthy on the street.

Cobbled street in Lincoln, there is a post office on the corner and a scooter rides past.
Scooters in the Bailgate – Leica M4

The M11-P was released a year ago, and now we have another new paint job with returns every few years. The Leica M11-P Safari is now out so if your in the market and still have a M9, M240 or even a M10 it might be worth looking at.

Out at sea, on the ferry to Orkney. Looking down at a passager at the ships rail looking out at the sea.
Leica M8 sample – Sea voyage
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Nikon Summer Sales

High key studio shot of dark haired olive skinned model leaning on a white bed sheet. She is wearing green and black lingerie with black stockings.

With the new Nikon Z5 Mark II hitting the shelves of retailers Nikon have now launched there summer sale offers, and I am so tempted to pull the trigger on a Nikon Zf. I would be a spare backup body on professional shoots, and a every day fun camera when out and about.

Check your local retailer.

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Nikon ZF Firmware v2.00 released

Screen print from Nikon showing the Nikon Zf in all its extra colours that it's available in. Black, Grey, Red, Orange, Brown, Green and Blue.

A major firmware release appeared this week for the ZF. Features like Autofocus bird tracking mode has now appeared.

With the new Z5II, Z6III, all using the same processing engine as the flagships Z9 and Z8, and this the ZF we are seeing common features rolled across the board.

Its great to see Nikon not skipping advanced features on their cheaper models.

Screen print and weblink to Nikons firmware update page. Shows the Nikon Zf and the two current firmwares available, v1.21 and the new v2.00
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Film Simulations – Fuji

A profile view of a woman with grey hair styled in a loose bun. She has a elegant neckline and appears contemplative, with her eyes closed and head tilted down.

Fuji camera are very popular and they have two key selling points. One is the more traditional ergonomics with lens aperture rings and a traditional shutter speed dial; and two is their film simulations.

It’s something that Fuji pushes a lot, but the truth is many cameras have profiles. Now I shoot 99% with a Nikon Neutral profile which I use as a base, but often use Nikon Standard Monochrome with an Orange filter for black and white. If you are using profiles and using Adobe Lightroom, remember to ensure on your import settings is using camera settings and not changing it on the import.

Screen print of the Apply During Import settings box for Adobe Lightroom Classic. The camera settings option is selected but others are visible such as Black & White - Camera Orange and Contrast - Curve Medium.

As you can see here, with it set to camera settings you get your camera profile settings, I also have a number of custom ones I have created in Lightroom as well.

I see a lot of people selling presets for Lightroom on the internet but it’s very easy to create your own unique look and then create your own profile.

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Design in Camera, style or function

Advertising shot of a silver and black sigma BF camera

Less is more; is something that many people like in design.

In camera design this can be good and bad. A Leica M rangefinder is a very simple design with traditional controls.

The latest Hasselblads with there icon based menu system are a breath of fresh air, instead of having to wade though the typical menus of the Sony, Fuji, Canon and Nikons.

I leave Leica off there list as they have done a lot of work to simply the menu system, and with the Leica TL they had the icon style menu interface,

Advertising shot of a black and a silver Leica TL camera

The Sigma BF is going to appeal to a different kind of photographer and is even more cut down then the Leica TL was. For some its going to inspire and I congratulate Sigma for being so brave in producing this.

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40mm the new 50mm

It seems since my post back in 2021 about the 40mm lens https://brown-family.org.uk/50mm-to-long-35mm-to-wide-meet-the-40mm/

Many manufacturers are now releasing one.

Leica M8 sample – Boudoir

If you check out social media and YouTube everyone is shouting about how great the old Minolta 40mm is; the Sony, the Canon, the Nikon.

I think partially what’s driving this is the fact that many of these are character lens. Modern Sigma Art, Sony G Master lens, Canon L glass, Nikon S glass etc are striving to be as optically correct as possible. Many people feel that these lens lack character, are boring, and sterile.

If your after a character lens then Voiglander are a great place to look. Many of there APO lens are very good but some like the 40mm f/1.2 are very interesting. Wide open these have older characteristics which many find pleasing. Stop down beyond f/2.8 and there sharp more normal lens, open up and they offer character and a more interesting look. This will not be for everyone but many appreciate this.

Nikon themselves have jumped on this bandwagon with there none S f/1.4 lens, and the 40mm f/2 being particular notable and has quite a fan base.