Richard & Caroline's Blog

Some months choosing a picture to be my photograph of the month, can be quite difficult. In February I managed to get a good selection of quality wildlife shots as you can see from these two examples. In fact they are far better then January’s picture of the month.

Some months I might have only shot a some weddings or some corporate portraits. With these belonging to my clients there not really available for me to use on my blog.

With January’s picture being wildlife, February really had to be something else. It was quite frustrating with February’s shots were so much better. Luckily as well as some good wildlife shots I also managed to get some pleasing Street Photography shots as well as a few detailed architectural shots.

Altogether a good month of photography, and one thats produced a lot of shots to choose from for February’s Photo of the Month. Lets hope March is as productive.

Sunday morning with the weather being somewhat overcast, I decided not to go out shooting wildlife but have a lazy morning in.  A late brunch consisting of home made Corn Fritters, Bacon, Honey and Fresh Coffee was the order of morning.  Then as I blogged yesterday, we had a fight with the bike in trying the so called simple task of changing a head light bulb on the GS motorcycle.

In the afternoon I grabbed one of my small cameras, a Leica M8 and we went for walk round the village.

When we got to the village church we had a wander round the church yard.  We both love church yards, there is something quite lovely and atmospheric about them, we don’t find them scary at all.

As we walked into the church yard, a young woman with a DSLR round her neck came out, obviously having been photographing round the church and grave yard as we were about to do.

We took a number of atmospheric shots, and I even had a go at some bird photography with the Leica and the 35mm Summicron lens.  I had to slowly approach him but finally managed to get close enough with my moderate wide angle lens to get this shot of the black bird sat on top of the grave stone.

A pleasing selection of images I hope you agree.

The post the other day titled Leica Fan Boy was extremely fortuitous. I was checking Adobe’s website out and spotted a new Release Candidate for Adobe Lightroom. In the notes it stated that it supported the new Leica M (240). This means that Leica must have finalised the software, which means the camera is imminent.

Then just a few hours later I find out that the Leica Dealer who gave me such great service and sold me my Leica M8. would have a demo copy from Friday.

If your after trying out the new Leica M, contact Stephen Premier.

I wish I was lucky enough to afford a new Leica but I have to admit, I would be torn between the Leica Monochrom. the CCD sensor’ed M9P or the new M.

Choices for Photographers just keep getting better.

I have not been a Leica user for long. I wanted one for a long time but the cost put me off. Still over the last couple of years I have slowly been trying to buy some M Glass.

Finding bargains is hard but I have managed so far to get two great Leica Lens quite cheap, in fact if I wanted to sell them I would make a tidy profit.

Camera wise there was two Leica’s I wanted a film Leica M made the year I was born and a digital Leica M.

Last year I finally managed to achieve this and I am now the proud owner of a film Leica M4 and a Leica M8 which the previous owner had sent back to Leica to have the shutter upgrade to the better one thats in the M8.2 and M9.

The digital M cameras have not been without issues. The issues are now all fixed, but the M8 and M9 based cameras are a little slow in some areas like image review. The M8 also has the problem of enhanced infra-red sensitivity, this though does make it a great Black & White Camera, and should I ever get a M9 or the new M (Type 240) I would keep the M8 for its great Black & White.

In a few weeks/months there will a new kid on the block, the new M (Type 240). So far all of Leica’s digital M’s have used CCD sensors. At base ISO these produce fantastic images, and the great thing is how little post production the RAW files need. CMOS sensors tend to produce images that need a little more work bur CMOS sensors have a huge advantage over CCD and that is the lack of noise.

While I would happily use my M8 at ISO640 and a M9 at ISO1200, a modern DSLR with a CMOS sensor would produce great results at ISO1600 or more. They just produce less noise.

Now though Leica have produced there first CMOS based Leica M. Its worrying a lot of us, will it produce the kind of files we love from our M8/9’s or are we going to get images like a common SLR.

Leica are still finalising the firmware so the image quality is not yet at its peak. Also there is no DNG profile for it yet so RAW files processed do not look at there best. The few shots that have appeared so far have not looked good, but finally beta testers like Sean Reid (Paywall Site), Jonathan Slack and Mein Thein have started to post promising images. From what I have seen so far, at base ISO to about 640, there is not a lot in it, the M8/9 are really very very good but as ISO climb the new M starts to leave the others behind. If you really want to know more about this camera I can recommend subscribing to Sean Reid’s site if your into Leica and Mirror-less cameras.

The biggest change is in the feel of the camera with the improvements to the electronics. If you like to check the image on the back of the camera after each shot then the M8/9 will very quickly frustrate you with its slow speed to write the image and then review the image. From what I hear from reviewers the new M is a far different beast. With functions like video, live view, and an optional EVF, weather sealing, GPS add-on, ability to shoot with Leica R Glass including zooms its a totally different beast.

Its really going to be interesting how traditional Leica Photographers take to it. Still, if you still want an M9 its still available as the new M-E.

Every couple of months I pop into Lincoln and have a walk round the Cathedral and Bailgate area of Lincoln.  Its a lovely area and each time I cycle through my cameras.  Trying different types of camera really makes you think, and Street Photography is something that is quite challenging.

So far its been my Nikon Series 1, Ebony Large Format, Nikon DSLR, Leica M4, Hasselblad V Medium Format, and today it was my Leica M8.

Compared to the Ebony and Hasselblad its a very small light and quick camera to use.  I started off in Castle Square, sometimes it has the Farmers Market where I usually shoot people buying goods from the stalls, but today there was a rather good busker.

As you can see in the shot above, I was not concentrating enough on my shutter speed and letting it get a little low, it was a cold winters day, but I had left the camera at the base ISO of 160.  Later when the light levels really started to drop, I upped it a stop to 320ISO.

The Leica M is considered the ultimate street photography camera, but any camera can work and I find it quite a challenge to use my other cameras.  The key is more your familiarity with the camera and to play to its strengths.

It was a fun couple of hours shooting, but a cold day in Lincoln, if your interested in a Leica, then I can recommend the M4 or M8.2 (or M8 with the shutter upgrade like mine).  If you want a classic film Leica but don’t want to have to bother with a external meter (my M4 has no meter), then look for a cheap M6.

If you are after a high end digital SLR camera body at a budget there are two options available to you.

1. Buy secondhand the previous generation top of the range professional camera
2. Buy new the current second best body the manufacture offers.

So today in early 2013 as a Nikon user what options are there and what are the pros and cons.

Well option one is a D3s, though in practice this is such a good camera that finding one second hand is near impossible so the D3 is the one to go for.

Option two is the current D800.  This is a serious high resolution camera and with the same autofocus as the current D4.

So whats the major differences between them?

For a start they are both full frame, but there is a big difference in megapixels.  The D3 is 12.1 MP.  A decent size for most usage but if you crop a lot that soon comes down.  The D800 is 36 MP, more then enough for anyone today and this will allow you to crop a lot if necessary.

So if you don’t need to crop much either is a good option but for those of you who like to crop a lot the D800 wins that round, otherwise there is not a lot in it so far.

On noise levels the D3 wins but not by as much as you might expect, its another story if you manage to get hold of a D3s which is about a stop better then a D3 but this is only critical if you need high iso.

What about focusing.  Well the D800 does have the latest system so this gives it an advantage but if your a sports or wildlife shooter this is not as big an advantage as you may think.  The downside is the frame rates, the D3 can do 9 fps with focus and 11 fps with focus lock.  The D800 can only do 4 fps, but this can be increased with the optional grip and using DX mode.

Buffer size is the same,  at 16 frames, but you might be lucky and pick up a D3 that was sent back to Nikon for the buffer upgrade which the D3s had as standard at 32 frames.

Lastly to consider is weight, size and weather sealing.  If you need a smaller lighter camera then its the D800, but remember you only get the better fps with the grip which makes it a bigger and heavier camera then the D3.

Ultimately I think its down to two things.  Size & Weight and your type of photography.

If its mainly action or situations where you need the better, tougher build quality then go for the D3.  If you into Portraits, Landscapes, and studio work; don’t need the built like a tank build quality of the D3 then the D800 is the better camera.  Lastly there is also the consideration of how the two cameras feel in the hand.  If you have big hands and use big heavy lens it might just feel better in the hand with the D3 then a D800.

What would I pick?  Thats a tough question.  The D800 would be excellent for my studio work and landscape work.  I could also use it as a digital back for my Ebony Large format, with sifting and combining the images in Photoshop one could create huge high quality images.  For my wildlife and action shots there is the D3, plus I like the feel of the larger bodies.

The brain says D800, the heart says D3.

 

 

Yesterday Nikon announced the D7100, this is now there top of the range DX body.

There are a few surprises, the Pro Autofocus system from the D4, and even more surprising no anti aliasing filter like the D800E.  There is no option for a version with the filter.  I assume Nikon think that with 24 MP in a DX crop sensor the resolution is high enough to stop most cases of Moire.

Its a surprising and brave move.

While its not quite a D300s replacement, due to that cameras age it certainly outclasses it in most areas and will certainly have a number of D300s users upgrading to this.

If you want to know more check out the usual websites.

Chris Bennett’s Photo Blog

Nikon

DP Review

Thom Hogan