Category: Photography

I remember waiting for the M10 release, immediately placing. my order and waiting patiently.

Now five years later with have the M11, and in so many ways its a better camera, easier to work with quickly, a quick access USB-C port in the bottom, better colour, dynamic range, stronger and lighter.

Many reasons to upgrade.

For my model shoots where I use the Leica M10, the new M11 makes a lot of sense, and a worthwhile upgrade.

But this is a niche use for me. I mainly use it for street photography and a carry everywhere camera when I do not want to have the size and weight of medium format or my SLR.

While the model shots above and this landscape would benefit from the upgrade, for a general purpose camera currently 24 Megapixels is easier to handle.

So for me I’ll be sticking with my M10 for now, while I spend the cash investing in a mirrorless studio solution.

With the year starting in lockdown due to COVID-19, when we could finally get out and shoot I did a lot of outdoor photography.

At first this was essential as few studios were open and working in doors with other people was just not a good idea.

Put post lockdown its something that I have continued to do. Whether your shooting simply with a 50mm fixed focal length lens, or using flash out doors with more equipment.

These outdoor shots have been some of my favourite that I have taken for many years and so once spring arrives next year I’ll be heading out again into the great outdoors.

Canon have announced the current Pro 1 D X Mark III will be their last. So its likely the big manufactures will now concentrate on mirrorless.

There are still a few areas where a pro SLR is better but with cameras like the Canon R3 and Nikon Z9, the gap is now very narrow.

I can see many professionals now transitioning. Many have a high end mirrorless already, often Sony or Fuji, but with the adapters Canon and Nikon have for older glass and these new high end mirrorless cameras from the big two, many are going to transition, Canon SLR users to the Canon mirrorless R system and Nikon SLR users to the Nikon mirrorless Z system.

On the Biking Blog “Ride it like you stole it!” which is sadly no more by Dave Dragon, there was a poem “The Biker’s Night Before Christmas”.

I have posted this before but as it is Christmas Eve I thought I was worth posting again.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pad,

There was nada happenin’, now that’s pretty bad.

The woodstove was hung up in that stocking routine,

In hopes that the Fat Boy would soon make the scene.

With our stomachs packed with tacos and beer,

My girl and I crashed on the couch for some cheer.

When out in the yard there arose such a racket,

I ran for the door and pulled on my jacket.

I saw a large bro’ on a ’56 Pan

Wearin’ black leathers, a cap, and boots (cool biker, man).

He hauled up the bars on that bikeful of sacks,

And that Pan hit the roof like it was running on tracks.

I couldn’t help gawking, the old guy had class.

But I had to go in — I was freezing my ass.

Down through the stovepipe he fell with a crash,

And out of the stove he came dragging his stash.

With a smile and some glee he passed out the loot,

A new jacket for her and some parts for my scoot.

He patted her fanny and shook my right hand,

Spun on his heel and up the stovepipe he ran.

From up on the roof came a great deal of thunder,

As that massive V-twin ripped the silence asunder.

With beard in the wind, he roared off in the night,

Shouting, “Have a cool Yule, and to all a good ride!”

I watched a few YouTube videos proclaiming the camera of the year for 2021. Some were serious and some less so.

Sony, Canon and Nikon were the usual ones mentioned, but one reviewer did mention that today you could walk into any camera shop and pick any new camera and if you cannot get good shots its not the camera but the one using the camera.

Over the years a number of camera manufactures have done two models of the same camera, with different sensors.

Nikon used to do this the most with higher resolution and lower resolution versions of there D2 and D3 professional cameras.

Leica are now doing this with the SL2. With close to 50 megapixels its quite a beast, but for say weddings and wildlife or video, a slightly lower number of megapixels, faster response and smaller files to edit; you could say less is more.

This is where the SL2S comes in. Its basically the same camera but with a 24 megapixel sensor and faster performance and more optimised video.

Sony have been at the mirrorless game longer then anyone. People forget that there was few lens at the start. Nikon have started well and we are starting to see there plan.

Primes, S class f/1.2 second to none.

Primes S class f/1.8 also second to none.

Primes f/2 to f/2.8, not S glass, need to be stopped down a stop or two but still very high quality and very good value.

Then they have a selection of zooms, the f/2.8 trinity, the new f/4 range and a few cheaper options.

They have now released two macro lens, a S glass and a general version.

The big advantage is that all these lens are better them most of the opposition, generally cheaper but the key thing is the FTZ adapter. People are finding that the old Nikon F glass is actually working better on the Z bodies then it does on the F bodies.