Category: Photography

The Saturday was The Photography Show at the NEC.  For once I had nothing I wanted, except to try out the Hasselblad and Fuji medium format cameras, more on those in another post.

 

 

We caught a few seminars which were interesting and saw a few of the more famous names in photography.  As you can see above Frank Doorhof was also there.

Our first visit was to the Olympus stand so that Chris could get his OM bodies cleaned and serviced free of charge.

After that we were free to explore.

I got the chance to have a play with a few ultra wides for the Leica M, the Robert White stand had the range from 10 MM upwards of Voiglander glass.  If like me you like the odd extreme wide angle but do not shoot enough of that focal length to justify your own brand glass then the Voiglander is definitely the way to go.

Chris did buy a Olympus 300mm but I did not buy anything.

At the end of the day Chris picked up his newly serviced cameras and we headed home.

Leica are slowly filling out there lens range and the latest new is that the new Leica Super Vario Elmar SL 16-35mm f/3.5-4.5 ASPH will start shipping in April for availability in May.

Fuji are also filling out there lens range fast for their medium format camera, it seems Hasselblad will have some catching up to do.

We have seen a number of number of interesting new lens and another classic re-release recently from Leica for the SL range and the M range.  We now have a few reviews starting to appear.  Apart from the classic lens, the one new lens that does interest me is the 75mm Noctilux-M.  To be honest I cannot justify the price of the 75mm but it is an interesting lens.  If you want to  know more check out Jonathan Slack’s website. 

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.