Category: Photography

Three new Nikkor lens have been announced, the surprise for me was the DX cropped format 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6.  As well as that there was a full frame fisheye zoom and it was nice to see a new 28mm wide angle but with the electronic shutter.

 

Our nephew Thomas got married this weekend.  I as a guest could enjoy myself instead over having to work like I normally do for weddings.

For wedding photography I usually go to my Nikon D800’s.  In recent years I have never seen a wedding photographer use anything else but Canon 1D’s or 5D’s, Nikon D3’s or Nikon D800’s.  Over half of all wedding photographers use Canon 5D’s and there is a good reason for that.

As a guest I could not resist taking a few snaps with my Leica M10.  Background reportage shots is what the Leica is built for.  Its a brave photographer who would use a Leica M for professional wedding photographer but I know of a few who do.

Thanks to Tom and Gemma for a wonderful day and we wish you the very best.

Loving the new Leica M10, every chance I get I have it with me in Lincoln, the colours and quality are wonderful.

This weekend its a family wedding.  I am a guest and not the photographer so will take the M10 and take a few background shots to see how it goes.

A quite evening, so I grabbed the Leica M10 fitted with a Summilux 50mm and went for an evening walk with Timmy the Greyhound taking snapshot.  I know shooting at a wide aperture is getting a bit common now a days but it does suit the Summilux.

Over the last couple of years I have been considering a portrait lens for my Leica.

The top shot was a 35mm lens on a 1.3x crop Leica M8 so really close to 50mm.  For full length or cropped above the knee; 50mm is a good choice.  Below is a shot of Bonnie with my M10 and a 50mm Summilux, if you compare it with the top shot you can see its very similar and gives a pleasing perspective.

For head shots and close face crops, a 50mm distorts the face a little so a longer length is preferred.

I have portrait lens for my SLR and medium format gear but not for my Leica.  Leica currently make two lens you would consider portrait lens.  A 75mm and a 90mm.

I am torn between wanting the longer length of the 90mm and wanting the speed and easy of focus of the 75mm.

I’ll have do some testing with my SLR and zoom to get a feel of the two lengths and see what I prefer.

 

Last week, I managed to hit town on a couple of occasions to test out the Leica M10 in the environment it was meant for.  I am still getting the hang of it but its coming along.

The top shot the new M10 and the bottom shot is my Leica M8.

I see Leica will not be the only one with a monochrome only digital camera.

Phase One have announced the IQ 100MP Achromatic.  A 100 MP sensor for medium format thats monochrome only.  Its great to see innovation like this.

Shooting at high ISO is something we now expect from modern cameras.

Last night I decided to test the Leica at ISO 10,000.  This is ridiculously high but was a fun test.  So after the sun was set I headed out and walked around the local village to grab a few test shots.

These were all shot at f/1.4 or f/2 and at 1/25 second for the top shot and 1/125 of a second for the church shot.

There was colour noise and grain, which I enhanced slightly by adding artificial grain, but the colour noise was easily dealt in Adobe Lightroom.

Considering this is ISO 10,000 its way better then ISO 640 on my Leica M8.

The shot below was the M8 at ISO 640 at 1/30 second. Its good but not in the same class as the M10.