Category: Photography

So I said in my last post that mirrorless is definitely coming, but if I was to buy a mirrorless camera today what would it be.

Well I have actually been shooting mirrorless for a while with the Nikon V1 a very under appreciated camera and my Leica M8 and M10.  On a photography trip to the Scottish islands I shot wildlife with my DSLR’s, landscape with Hasselblad and Ebony medium and large format, but for everyday, I wanted something small light and something I really enjoyed using, so the Leica M8 was always in my hand, taking quick little grab shots like that of the harbour above from on board ship.

The big advantage of mirrorless is size but if your talking full frame then physics gets in the way, you still need big lens, so for a small camera I would buy a Olympus Pen-F, and likely add an Olympus OM-D E-M1 at some point to partner it.

I would also be tempted to replace my current Hasselblad and PhaseOne back with the Hasselblad mirrorless camera.

 

For a number of years now people have been predicting that mirrorless will take over.  I think this year of 2018 will be the big test.

Digital SLR sales continue to drop.  Mirrorless continues to grow.  With the growing restrictions on carry on luggage on airplanes a smaller lighter camera makes a lot of sense.

A little Canon EOS M5 now makes a better camera in all regards to the most basic model DSLR, and is smaller and lighter.  Olympus have proven with their OM-D E-M1 that mirrorless can be professional, and if you want to have the full frame verses small frame argument, then try a Leica SL mirrorless full frame camera with a viewfinder thats the best in the world for EVF.  If your wanting big you can now even go medium format with a small light mirrorless body.

If Nikon and Canon do release real mirrorless contenders this year then within two years its game over for the DSLR, and it will be come a niche player like the rangefinder and TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) before it.

After the huge 50mm f/1.4 for the SL was released, many commented that they would like smaller lens so Leica have switched to prioritising some f/2 primes due this year.

Yesterday the following advert leaked and it does look legitimate.

Long awaited mid length telephotographs and many portrait photographers favourite, the 75mm and the 90mm were finally officially announced by Leica yesterday.  With the 75mm just under £4000 and the 90mm just over £4000, its going to be professionals only or rich semi-pros and amateur till a few start to appear on the second hand market in a few years.

We only now need Leica to release a prime wide angle and we have most areas covered.

 

 

Generally on the D800 I use a zoom, ether 24-70mm or 70-200mm, and when shooting wildlife either a 105mm or 300mm telephoto.

All my other cameras I use primes and since about April I have nearly always had the 50mm Summilux to hand on my Leica M10.  Its been a challenge as it never quite seems the right length but one that I have persevered.  Come April i’ll have been using it for a year and will switch to the 35mm Summicron for a year.

During my last studio session I tried too shoot everything with a 70mm, this is also part of a long term test and deciding what focal length I want as my main go to studio portrait lens.  While a 50 is great for full length shots, the 70 is better for head and shoulders, i’ll also be doing some tests at 85 and 90mm.

While Canon and Nikon tend to go for just 85mm as there portrait lens, Leica have 75mm and 90mm and Hasselblad go for 75mm.

2017 was again a light year for photography.  Some years I have hit as many as 12000 images in a year but I have been slowing down over the last few years, switching to using the Leica M8 and then the Leica M10 has helped.  In 2017 I shot 3295 images similar to 2016 were I shot 3281, significantly less then the machine gunning technique used when shooting with a modern SLR.

Another major impact on the rate of shots is the like of wildlife photography.  You can easily take a few hundred images trying to get the one killer shot.

I hope to do some more wildlife this year as well as more landscape and studio.

 

My D800 I rate as one of the most accomplished all round cameras of recent years.  I D810 was a minor update and I did not think it was worth upgrading.

At the recent Lincoln Photography Show, I got the chance to use the new Nikon D850, at it is a very different beast.  Its the best bits of the D800, together with the professional D5 and a new 45.7 MP sensor.

A number of magazines and photographic organisations are now starting to vote for camera of the year for 2017.  The top candidates are likely to be Sony, Olympus and Nikon.  I think Nikon will will, the D850 is hard to beat, high resolution rivalling medium format, as fast and responsive as the professional Nikon D5 but in a smaller and lighter body.

A lot of people set great store by the DxOMark results but to be honest most camera sensors do a pretty good job now  a days and we are really spitting hairs.

The results also do not really provide a guide to image quality, and can give some odd results, like scoring medium format sensors quite low, giving sensors that use aggressive noise reduction that looses detail in images a better score then those that do not.

As expected the M10 scores well but is not up there with the best of the Canon, Nikon and Sony results, but we do have access to some of the best glass in the world that works better on a M then any other camera.