Richard & Caroline's Blog

For a while now all medium format backs have been CCD while the smaller formats have used CMOS.

When Leica released their first digital rangefinder, the M8 it was criticised for being CCD.  Again when the M9 was released, basically an M8 but larger full frame 35mm sensor and less infra-red sensitivity, it again was criticised for being CCD.

CCD from an old Leica M8.

 

 

Similar generation CMOS.

 

Now with the Lecia M 240 we finally have a CMOS rangefinder, and the large format manufactures have also now released CMOS backs.  Of course Leica have now been criticised because the new camera is CMOS and not CCD! You just cannot win.

So why the controversy?  Well most of it is down to noise.  CCD has very little noise at base ISO and what there is if fairly random giving it a more pleasing look.  It also comes across as a little sharper and a little cooler, a more natural colour pallet many people believe.  It also has two major disadvantages, go above 400 ISO and it gets noisy fairly quickly, and modern CMOS sensors have far less noise above 400 then does CCD.  Most people would not want to use CCD above 640, while many people would be happy taking CMOS up to 1600 or 3200 ISO.

The other major advantage of CMOS in todays cameras is it allows live view and video.

You will get some photographers who will say they will only use CMOS others who will only use CCD.  To be honest while I can see some difference, once you start post production its difficult to tell.

So where am I going with this article; well I have a choice coming up in the next few months to a year.  Leica now has the latest M-P 240 out so the old M 240 is falling in price and the M9 is now quite affordable too.

Which do I buy?  If I go for the M9, I save money, get to use my existing workflow that I have developed with the M8 and will be using a camera I am familiar with.  If I go M 240, I would have to work out a whole new workflow and Lightroom presets to suit.  Its a more expensive camera and leaves less money for the Leica 75 or 90mm lens I intend to buy next (depending if camera or lens comes first).

But the thought of being able to shoot higher then 640 ISO is tempting as is live view and the optional EVF for those tricky situations where focus is challenging.

Its not as if I can just pop into my local camera store and try these out.  Shops that stock Leica are few and far between, and it is interesting reading other peoples reviews some Leica shoots have tried the M 240 and then gone back to the M9, while others are happy moving forward.  Its a tough choice.

Over the years some of my photography shoots have gotten more and more complex as I work with more lights, mixing daylight and flash or working in unusual conditions.

A few months ago I did my most complex shoot yet to produce the image above.  Shooting a model underwater is a major challenge!

One photographer I greatly admire is Joe McNally, I managed to get to meet him this year and he gave a talk on some of his photographs.

With halloween being tomorrow I thought I would share one of his recent ‘scary’ photoshoots and the planning that went behind it.

http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2014/10/29/it-started-with-a-shimmer/

Whether you are shooting unrealistic HDR landscapes like above, or just wanting to give your Landscapes a bit of a glow like below, auto bracketing is your friend.

In very tricky lighting conditions auto bracketing can be a great benefit especially when things are changing fast.

The problem we have with most cameras and something that Chris Bennett has complained about as well as myself is that auto bracketing on most cameras does not go far enough.

Todays modern cameras have a lot of dynamic range, together with modern RAW processors we can easily save a shot thats over or under exposed by a stop, but the majority of cameras only give us a maximum of 1 stop over or under, which means instead of shooting a three stop bracket we have to shoot five or more.

So I was very pleased to read recently from another landscape photographer that the new Nikon D810 now has auto bracketing up to 2 stops different per shot.

So come on camera manufactures lets get 2 stops or more.  Personally I would like to see 1/3, 1/2, 1, 2, 3 as options for bracketing.

 

While visiting Ireland we went through a little village called Grey Abbey on a number of occasions.  So one day we decided to stop and have a look round.

Next to the village is an old ruined abbey, unfortunately it was closed and would not open until the day we had to catch the ferry back to Scotland, so the only photographs I could get of it were from the graveyard in church next door.
The village itself seemed mainly to be made up of coffee shops, gift shops and antique shops.  Again nearly all were closed, it seems its one of those odd little villages that only open a couple of days a week, you wonder how they ever make any money.

Still a pretty little village and it looks like its worth looking around; at least when its open!

 

I find that one can start to drift in ones photography unless one has a goal in mind.  For that reason I always have a couple of projects on the go.

In my day job working in IT I occasional have to travel and this nearly always a trip through or to London.

I aways take a small camera with me, either the Leica M4 or M8 and have spent the time while waiting for trains looking for interesting imagery within the train stations.

Being able to continually revisit an area allows one to develop themes and thus put together a nice set of photographs.

I spotted on Leica Rumours the other day a special edition Leica X coming out shortly.  Now I am sure some people love these special editions as they certainly sell well, but its the major thing about Leica that people hate, milking collectors for money with these sometimes awful special editions.  Now there have been a few nice ones but generally they are few and far between.

I understand why Leica had to do all these special editions during their transition to digital as it was one of the few ways in which it brought money into the company when they were struggling to come to grips with the digital photographic age.

Now I feel they should be more selective.

The Leica M 240 60 special edition announced at Photokina was a stunning special edition.  If I had a spare £12000 it would make a fun camera to use and after a few years of use you could sell it for more then you paid for it.

So Leica, better special editions and less of the trashy.