Richard & Caroline's Blog

We are on our travels at the moment, our home, pets and chickens are being looked after by Caroline’s sister who is treating that as a holiday herself and from the sound of the chickens are keeping her entertained!

Are first major stop was Brora, a small village on the North East coast of Scotland, high-up above Inverness.

The village where we are stopping is having a Scarecrow festival and it seems the whole village has gotten involved.  I had a quick walk up and down the high street and snapped a few photographs with my iPhone.

The reviews are now starting to appear on the websites for the new Sony, its certainly got a killer spec and many are saying its a real D800 killer, though with the Sony habit of not using 14 bit none lossy RAW files unlike the Nikon D800 and Canon 5D I cannot see many people who do serious post production wanting to switch.

The big advantage is size, its only slightly bigger then a Leica M and being mirrorless you have the choice with adapters of lots of lens.

I keep wanting to like the Sony’s with there small size and high performance but the native high quality glass is significantly larger then micro four thirds or even Leica M glass, thus once you start to carry the glass you kind of have lost the advantage of the small body and might as well carry your D800/5D.

For now i’ll keep using my Leica M8 for my small format needs.

We have another photo trip coming up soon, off again to the Orkney Islands, so the thought again is what to packThere is of course the general carry camera, which will be my iPhone and Leica.  Then its gets a little more difficult.  Standing stones and stone circles are on the island like the one above I photographed on Harris a few years ago with my Leica M8.  I would like to use Large or Medium Format, then there is the wildlife on the islands, so digital SLR with long lens, but you really do not want to be carrying too much up there.

The D800 is close to medium format in performance so that will be used for wildlife and where I would want to use medium format, leaving room for me to take the large format gear.

So it looks like it will be:

• Leica M – carry everywhere camera
• Nikon D800 – wildlife and landscape
• Ebony – landscape

Most of the straps that come with cameras are basic to say the least.  I have bought straps for all my cameras.

My DSLR’s are big and heavy, I generally only use them for professional jobs and wildlife.  For all three of my DSLR’s I use Optech straps.  These straps are easily detachable for when I use the cameras on a tripod, and with there broad nature make the camera easy to carry and feel lighter on your shoulder.

For my Medium Format and Large Format cameras then its a case of no strap required, tripod use only, but for my Leica’s I tend to look out for nice, stylish artisan straps.

My current favourite is the Barton leather strap which while stylish and good looking is a very good strap for a light camera.

I am also looking out for a good quality leather wrist strap.

If you have shot with a film camera with manual film wind on with good ergonomics you will know that the film handle really makes it easier and more secure to hold the camera.  For a number of years now the Thumbs Up company has been producing a range of add-ons to simulate the handling and improve your grip.

The new titanium model for the Leica M is certainly a piece of work and should I buy a Leica M it would be high on the list together with a wrist strap.

If the rumour sites are true then at the end of this month you can finally get your hands on the latest Leica S Medium Format Camera the model 007.

With its large buffer you can shoot 32 consecutive images, a real performance camera for Medium Format.

I got the chance a couple of years ago to have a go with the original S.  If you can shoot an SLR you can shoot this, not much larger then a pro Nikon or Canon with great handling.  Its not cheap but if you shoot medium format fashion its got to be at the top of your list.

You also have the choice of two lens ranges, the more expensive range has built in leaf shutter ‘s allowing you to disable the built in shutter and sync the flash to even higher speeds.

Friday I had a little time to spare so popped into the High Street location of London Camera Exchange.

The Fuji X-Pro1 is now a real bargain, and they are even throwing in a couple of lens.  I was more interested to look at the compacts in my never ending search for the perfect compact.

The most interesting cameras as usual are the Fuji and Sony, The X100T makes a great compact but possibly the best Sony RX1 (and the RX1R).  These while great cameras do lack a little flexibility and if your willing to allow a small drop in quality then cameras like the RX100 IV with its Nikon Series 1 like one inch sensor offer much more flexilibity.

Am I any closer to deciding, well not yet.  At the moment camera funds are being put towards a new Leica M, likely the M-P (240), I am expecting prices to drop soon as we approach the release date of the new M likely to be announced either just before or after Christmas.