Richard & Caroline's Blog

It seems the Leica Q is making quite an impact, a lot of reviewers have now gone out and bought one, it impressed them that much.

I had a quick look at Thorsten Overgaard’s website and as well as a very quick review he has kindly linked to some of his RAW files that you can download.

I had a quick play with the files and there quite robust and very flexible.  At a price cheaper then a Leica 28mm it is tempting.

The great thing about a Nikon D800 is that the files are very robust and very clean.  Very few cameras can come close.

The above picture is from a Leica OM-D M10 and a 14-150mm consumer lens at the long end and at ISO1250.

I keep saying that there is not a bad camera today and I still think that is true.  The key is to use a camera to its strengths and not its weaknesses.

The above shot was taken on Saturday while I was on the Driven to Abstraction Photo Walk I went on.

If you want to read more about this then check out Chris’s blog post.

https://ottokite.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/driven-to-abstraction/

 

Saturday was the Olympus LCE Lincoln day with Steve Gosling. Olympus was there lending equipment and buying the coffee while Steve gave us his advice on Steet and Urban Landscape Photography.

I will not bore you with the details apart from suggest you attend a training day yourself on a subject that interests you, it will do more for your photography then buying new gear, but the gear was also an important part of this day.

Its one thing using a camera in a shop for five minutes and reading reviews, quite another to actually go out and shoot with it for real for a whole day.

I started the day with the Olympus 14-42mm compact zoom, on the OM-D M10 this is a tiny CSC option and can easily replace and does out perform most compacts, you could argue that you might get better results from a Ricoh GR, Nikon Coolpix A which are similar sizes but they don’t have the EVF or flexibility that this little Olympus brings to the table.
 

We started off after coffee at the excellent independent coffee shop ‘The Angel’ and after a discussion walked up to the cathedral quarter to start shooting.

Steve kept coming round offering his advice, making us try and think before we tripped the shutter about what we were trying to say.

On the picture taking front, I did a mix of architecture, street photography and some fine detail shots.

Half way round the walk I switched lens and tried something a little different, the Olympus super zoom, 14-150mm, this on micro four thirds gives you a 300mm reach.

The lens is a little slow and I did suffer from noise in some of my shots, it was not the brightest of days but for such a little lens with a huge zoom range it performs better then expected.

(Who says Microfourthirds cannot do shallow depth of field)

On the camera front, the little OM-D is a fantastic performer, while noise can come in at higher ISO’s the images are still pleasing if not quite as malleable in post processing as say a Nikon D800 file, but you would not walk round with a D800 and 300mm lens.

Some of my images were soft, I have to admit I was using the camera in a very casual fashion and not using what I would call proper camera technique, the think I liked was the movable rear screen, allowing me to shoot from the hip, but this does mean camera shake can be an issue.

In many of my street shots I was shooting 1/250 second at f/8 and auto ISO, these generally where sharper but had noise, when I was in aperture priority my shutter speed dropped and I had more subject motion in my shots.

When I stopped and took care then the shots were sharp and excellent quality.

Apart from Steve’s advice I took three things away from the day.

Not matter what the camera, good camera technique is still required.

The OM-D system is fantastic and hard to fault for its size advantages.

I really appreciate the simplicity of my Leica after all that technology.

It nearly slipped my notice but Ricoh have released a new GR II. I has a quick play on Friday with the old model to remind me what it is like.

The new model is basically the old with new firmware and adds Wifi from what I can see.

As a compact this and the Nikon Coolpix A are about the best you can get with their large DX sensors.  I really like the Ricoh have have come close to buying one a number of times but the lack of viewfinder really puts me off.

Tomorrow there is a sponsored photowalk by Olympus, I’ll be borrowing the little OM-D M10 and some consumer glass to use as a compact, this has a viewfinder and may be a better option.

Of course there is the Leica X and Leica Q but optically this Ricoh is very nearly as good, its more down to the viewfinder options and which interface and handling you prefer, if you ignore the price of course!

Its been a proud moment for Lincoln as the world celebrates the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.

Lincoln Cathedral owns one of only four original copies, written by the Bishop of Lincoln’s chief scribe, it is now believed that the Bishop helped negotiate the document between the Barons and the King.

Lincoln has been celebrated all weekend and as part of the celebration it has created the Baron’s Trail. Dotted around the city are twenty hand painted Barons. They are quite a site.

A few weeks ago there was an advance showing and I happened to be around to grab a few shots. If I get the time i’ll have a walk round the city and try and photograph them all In situ.

Today Nikon announced some updates to their exotic telephoto’s.  Both the 500mm f/4 and the 600mm f/4 received updates.

The main thing is updated elements containing the new fluorite lens coating which corrects chromatic aberration and allows lighter glass.

 

When the Leica X Vario was announced it was marketed as a Mini M.  With its excelent build quality and image quality, Leica though they had a hit on their hands.  Unfortunately coupled with a slow zoom lens, and the marketing hype, it just could not live up to the expectation.

Today we have a new compact announced, this time the Leica Q.  Think Sony RX1 crossed with the best bits of a Leica X, add a viewfinder and you have the Leica Q.

A very simple fixed lens compact, with the excellent and innovative focusing of the Leica X (Type 113) but with a Leica full frame sensor and finally a EVF.

One could really call this a mini M.  I have read a couple of reviews and finally we have a Leica where the electronics don’t get in the way or slow down the photographer.

You can check out the reviews at most popular photography sites:

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2015/06/10/the-leica-q-real-world-camera-review-by-steve-huff/

http://www.slack.co.uk/2015/Hemingway.html

http://blog.mingthein.com/2015/06/10/review-2015-leica-q-typ-116/#more-11294