Street photography is often still shot in black and white. For black and white enthusiasts the thought of a dedicated black and white sensor is genuinely exciting. For most of photographers this has to now been unaffordable. There’s been a medium format digital back from PhaseOne available and Leica have a range of cameras.
Leica M8 sample – Coffee shop talk
Ricoh have now announced development of a dedicated black and white Ricoh GR compact. This will please a lot of street shooters, and I may just have to have a look at the Ricoh GR again.
Leica M. The last of the rangefinders. Able to compose and see things coming into the frame, capturing that decisive moment. M stands for Messsucher, which is German for rangefinder. This has always been what has defined the Leica M cameras until today.
There are advantages to modern EVF’s, focusing modern fast glass is hard to focus, parallax issues are gone, you can see your exposure in the viewfinder, preview focus and depth of field, plus your not limited to the supported frame lines so can use wider and longer lens.
Is it an M, well it’s not a rangefinder, but is rangefinder styled and for users of M glass maybe a good option.
The whole idea with flash, especially flash in the studio it to fully control the light in the space.
That’s why most of my shots in the studio are taken at f/8 and 1/200 of a second at ISO64. This gets rid of any ambient light, just allowing the flash to light the scene.
But just occasionally you want to introduce another light source, here we have candle light and flash carefully balanced. Wide open, lowest ISO and I kept dropping the shutter speed till the candle looked right then lit the rest of the scene with flash. Tricky but easier when you tether to the computer.
People concentrate on the sensor too much. Oh that’s just a Sony sensor I might as well buy a Sony camera. Sony fabs sensors for many companies often with that companies own back end electronic designs on the sensor.
Nikon for instance have often subcontracted three separate companies to manufacture their sensors, Sony and Toshiba used to get the bulk of the work.
But is it just the sensor. If you look at the results from a Hasselblad and Fuji medium format camera using supposedly the same sensor the results are very different. Each company puts their own spin on the raw data coming off the sensor and the processing chipset and firmware can make a big difference.
So while some of the underlying technology makes a difference such as BSI sensors verses none BSI sensors, ultimately the image is made of many things, and don’t forget the impact of the lens, the light and of course the photographer.
The aim they say is to protect children, which we can all agree with, but will it work and is it too draconian.
The act makes it illegal for content that could offend or cause distress, and also bans pornography for those under the age of eighteen. The issue with the act is that it does not define these terms. Pornography is something that could turn on a viewer.
These bans will be controlled through age verification. There are no standards around age verification, no authorised companies, you have no idea what these third parties may do with your data and the risk of security leaks, identity theft and having your sexual preferences use to black mail you are all high risks. Your a teacher at a Catholic school and enjoy gay porn, if that got out, your out of a job.
The question is also will it work. I would think most children know one of there peers who could help them access an anonymous proxy, install a VPN, point them at TOR sites where the content could be god knows what. Getting around this is pretty easy.
The other issue is that it’s putting small sites out of business. They just cannot afford age verification. If your a small forum website that promotes cycling, and allow users to put up pictures of there routes and cycles, you run a risk. One of those accounts get hacked, someone uploads ‘porn’, your on holiday, and do not find out till its been on line for a week. Along come Offcom and your facing Jail or a significant fine. It’s not worth the risk, you close the site and create a Facebook page and let Facebook take the heat. You’re driving people into the arms of big tech and making the internet smaller and more controlled by a small number of billionaires.
The picture at the top of this post I consider clean and none offensive, but will everyone. Anyone now posting material is at risk. How many will close their sites?
Beccles is typical of the slightly larger town you can find in Suffolk.
In places a little run down, as many places were post COVID-19 which accelerated the death of the high street, but places are opening up.
I remember just a few years ago when all there seemed to be on the high streets was instant coffee or corporate Starbucks, there were few independent coffee roasters and few independent coffee shops selling quality, well sourced coffee.
But now coffee roasters and cafes seem to be springing up even in the most unlikely of places.
What the high street will look like in the future now on-line shopping dominates is unknown, but cafes and good coffee seems to one thing that we will be able to find.
Beccles is an old town with lovely old churches and building, well worth a walk around after you have refreshed yourself with coffee.
Reminders of its links to the larger towns and London are all around.
So if you on route to one of the larger cities try a visit, whether a quaint book shop, a delicatessen or locally roasted coffee there will be something for you.
