Last weekend I had a rather complex shoot, it was a personal shoot so the only pressure was on me to produce a pleasing image, but it was extremely challenging, with a complex set and two models to direct in very difficult circumstance, plus additional people for health and safety.
The shoot involved people, lots of water and powerful lights and electricity, potentially a deadly mix.
When it came to equipment it was an interesting choice. My head told me to take a pair of modern Nikon DSLR’s and a selection of Pro zooms ranging from 12mm to 200mm to cover all bases.
It was with that in mind that I ensured my Nikon DSLR gear was already on Friday night, tested and with all batteries including spares fully charged.
But my heart was saying different things. Why bother with all that complexity, just take a Leica a couple of spare batteries and a Summilux 50mm. Travel light, and just concentrate on the image.
So what did I do?
Well I took both, the SLR was the better choice, modelling underwater is extremely difficult, the models cannot hold a pose for long so the fast acting SLR with autofocus was a better choice. I took five times the number of shots with the SLR’s then I took with the Leica, and I did find myself hitting the buffer a couple of times with the Leica (maybe an excuse to buy a Leica M-P?).
So what about the results, well I am still reviewing the images, but I’ll publish my favourite as this months ‘Photo of the Month’. So far I seem to have more good images from the Leica, about 2:1. Now this may be due to a number of reasons; I had to work harder with Leica, I enjoyed using it more and I shot less so was more selective with my choices.
Lens wise, I used the 24-70mm on the DLSR and a 50mm Summilux on the Leica rangefinder.
