Family, Photography and other misc news
If you have shot with a film camera with manual film wind on with good ergonomics you will know that the film handle really makes it easier and more secure to hold the camera. For a number of years now the Thumbs Up company has been producing a range of add-ons to simulate the handling and improve your grip.
The new titanium model for the Leica M is certainly a piece of work and should I buy a Leica M it would be high on the list together with a wrist strap.
If the rumour sites are true then at the end of this month you can finally get your hands on the latest Leica S Medium Format Camera the model 007.
With its large buffer you can shoot 32 consecutive images, a real performance camera for Medium Format.
I got the chance a couple of years ago to have a go with the original S. If you can shoot an SLR you can shoot this, not much larger then a pro Nikon or Canon with great handling. Its not cheap but if you shoot medium format fashion its got to be at the top of your list.
You also have the choice of two lens ranges, the more expensive range has built in leaf shutter ‘s allowing you to disable the built in shutter and sync the flash to even higher speeds.
Its been pretty busy the last few weeks again but this weekend we got some time on our own which we spent in the garden
We harvested all the remaining potatoes and also picked some salad for lunch.
It was great to have a lunch consisting of local food. The bread was from our village artisan baker only a few hundred yards away, we also have a local butcher down the road so a lovely pork pie and a Lincolnshire delicacy, a roasted haslet, which tasted fantastic. The salad, potatoes and herbs all came from the garden with the eggs from our chickens.
We have also had a bumper onion harvest this year, so in the afternoon we used one of them with some of our eggs and some local cheese to make a lovely quiche for tea.
Friday I had a little time to spare so popped into the High Street location of London Camera Exchange.
The Fuji X-Pro1 is now a real bargain, and they are even throwing in a couple of lens. I was more interested to look at the compacts in my never ending search for the perfect compact.
The most interesting cameras as usual are the Fuji and Sony, The X100T makes a great compact but possibly the best Sony RX1 (and the RX1R). These while great cameras do lack a little flexibility and if your willing to allow a small drop in quality then cameras like the RX100 IV with its Nikon Series 1 like one inch sensor offer much more flexilibity.
Am I any closer to deciding, well not yet. At the moment camera funds are being put towards a new Leica M, likely the M-P (240), I am expecting prices to drop soon as we approach the release date of the new M likely to be announced either just before or after Christmas.
Some interesting announcements from Nikon this week, and if your into long lens the most interesting was the new Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Zoom. Now f/5.6 may not sound fast and at 200mm its not but its typically what a consumer zoom reaches, but at 500mm its another ball game. f/5.6 is only a stop slower then a serious fast 500mm telephoto.
A very flexible lens and one I am sure will attract a lot of interest.
When it comes to cameras, Special Editions generally run into two camps. Colourful with Leppard print designs or generally interesting, useful, and new but limit appeal features.
Last year we had the Nikon D810A a camera targeting astronomical uses. Yesterday the new Fuji X-T1 IR was announced. A camera sensitive to a wider spectrum then the human eye. Lots of useful scientific uses for cameras like these but I am sure in the hands of Artists we will lots of exciting images.
Its been expected but now Adobe have announced that the latest update for Adobe CS6 is the last, if your a Photoshop user and need camera RAW updates your either going to have bite the bulet and buy an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription or use Lightroom to render the RAW’s to another format and then open in Photoshop.