Richard

January 26, 2026January 23, 2026

Ricoh GR IV Monochrome reviews are coming in

If your a black and white fan like me, the reviews of the Black and White only Ricoh GR are coming in.

Black and white image of a park. Trees can be seen and people in the back ground.

January 23, 2026January 15, 2026

Film Friday – Stamp End Lock on Ilford HP5 Plus

An old black and white film photography. The lifting gear of Stamp End Lock is in view with an old warehouse in the background.

One from the Archives, a walk down the river in Lincoln, down to Stamp End Lock. This area is still heavily industrialised but not as much as in years past. Lots of old buildings and warehouses in the area that once used the river for transport.

January 22, 2026

Outdoor shoots

Model stood in wheat field, she is topless and just wearing a skirt. Her hands are covering her breasts.

Working outside is something I enjoy. Its not something I do often and its always a bit risky with the weather in the British Isles.

Now we are in the middle of winter my thoughts on these cold days do start to dream of warmer days and what I may want to do when the warmer weather does arrive.

Lincolnshire is a rural county and its not too hard to find a friendly farmer with a remove field to take photographers like the one above.

January 20, 2026January 14, 2026

Rumour of 35mm Leica Noc to be released this month

Waterloo train station, a man sat with his back to the camera looking at the large station clock. — Waterloo Station

Noctilux M 35mm f/1.2 is rumoured to be released soon. I would be interested in this lens, will it come under the price of the Nikon 35mm f/1.2? That I doubt, but the Leica 35mm f/1.2 will work on both my Lecia cameras and my Nikon’s.

January 19, 2026

From the Archives: Whitby

A view of the river leading to the harbour at Whitby. The church next to the Abbey can be seen high up in the distance will lots of small boats moored on the right hand side.

I had a photoshoot yesterday near York, so thought I would dig out an old image from Whitby one of my favourite English holiday destinations.

January 16, 2026January 15, 2026

Ricoh GR IV Monochrome

Lincoln high street, a woman is walking towards the camera on her phone.

So I posted a while ago that Ricoh had made a development announcement of a Black and White GR compact. Well today the retailers started to accept pre-orders. Here in the UK its £1600 which for a dedicated black and white camera is the cheapest yet.

If your after a dedicated black and white camera, then its this, a Leica Q3 or Leica M, unless you have the budget for a medium format black and white digital back.

January 15, 2026January 7, 2026

New Years updates – a musical update

Miss in black lingerie, bra, pants and black stockings, the photo is taken through some metal railings and a piano can be seen in the background.

So for a new year resolution I set myself a musical goal of practicing at least 5 minutes a day, for six days a week for the whole of January. So far it’s been good. I have yet to miss a day for piano and only missed one day in the first week for banjo.

January 13, 2026January 11, 2026

Snowy Week

Snow covered lane, with high hedges on each side. There are trees in the distance and the sky is a bright blue.

This week has been cold and snowy at the beginning of the week and wet and cold towards the end.

The few times the sun came out I grabbed the camera and took a few snaps. Nothing special but you never know when a great scene may come your way.

A walk along the river, in Wales, a church can be seen in the background with the Welsh mountains behind. There is a frost on the ground.

January 12, 2026January 7, 2026

Black and White Deep tone

A black and white high contrast image of a village pub, its dark as night is falling. Pools of light are visible from the external lights of the pub and a woman is passing walking her dog.

Many people like Fuji because of their film presets, and while other cameras offer them, its been Fuji that have captured the imagination of photographers.

Nikon have custom picture controls and now with their cloud service its even easier to create and share your presets.

The shot above is a simple high contrast image with the preset Black and White Deep Tone applied. Great for dark and moody pictures like this.

Model Brook, simple strapless dress, hair up, low contrast black and white image. Brook is holding her hair up and looking to camera right.

Of course shooting RAW you can take an image anyway you want. The above image had the contrast lowered and just enhanced for Brook’s hair.

Black and white image from the studio of Kimberly wearing a pair of briefs and stockings.

Of course in the studio lighting can be used to enhance or reduce contrast like in this image of Kimberly.

January 9, 2026January 10, 2026

Leica’s next generation sensor will be developed in house

I am seeing rumours about how Leica will develop their next sensor in house. Reports also mention that the current sensor is ‘just’ a Sony sensor.

Young model in a green dress stood by an apple tree, holding an apple. — Leica M10

Those who follow Leica will understand that they have been working closely and have been developing in conjunction with a number of Germain Universities sensor technology for a while now. Sony the sensor company have a number of base designs that you can order from them and put your own tech into; and they will also fabricate custom designs of your own. The sensor manufacture division of Sony is very different to the division that makes and runs Sony cameras which they bought from Minolta, they are a customer of the sensor division just like anyone else. Buying a Sony camera with a Sony sensor will not be the same sensor tech as other camera manufactures. For the high end cameras its often a unique sensor being made just for that company.