Leica Adventures in Equipment Acquisitions

russelljtdyer

Regular
Location
Milan, Italy
Name
Russell J.T. Dyer
I enjoy photography. I like some of the photos I have taken; I'm even proud of some of them. But I'm more into the adventures associated with photography. I like every aspect of the process involved in making photographs. I like finding a good shot: determining where to position myself with the camera, deciding when the light will be best, waiting for people to happen into a good position, and other such factors. I like also the adventure of acquiring photography equipment: deciding on the best camera for my needs and style, reading reviews of lenses, watching for a good price for a particular used lens, and everything else that goes into assembling the best equipment I can manage to buy to take good photos.

I mentioned recently in another thread how I have been working for a couple of years to transition my equipment from Canon SLR cameras and Zeiss ZE lenses, to Leica M-mount cameras and lenses. That's still in process, but the main goals related to this adventure for me in photography equipment acquisition has been completed with the arrival two days ago of a Leica M9 camera. I've been playing with it for a few days now, just at home when I have time. Below is a test shot I made this afternoon showing the setting sunlight on a poinsettia plant on my dining room table with my living room in the background.

russelljtdyer-20140328-leicam9-test-poinsettia.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


I took this photo without a tripod, using a Leica Summicron f/2 50mm lens. The lens aperture was set to f/5.6, the shutter duration at 1/25 of a second, and the ISO at 160. I made only one post production adjustment to the image: I cropped it slightly. I didn't sharpen it, change the white balance, or anything else. I did export it to a 1024-pixel wide jpeg file for this site. If you click on the image, though, it'll take you to the full-size version. In this shot, I focused on the left, long branch of the poinsettia. If you zoom in on the larger image, you can see the clarity that comes from this camera and lens. I do enjoy Leica lenses. I think I could do better once I've used this camera more, but I am well pleased with it.
 
I'm really pleased that you have your prize at last :) beautiful light indeed, for me that's what it's all about. Looking forward to more of your pictures as and when you're ready to share Russell.
 
The Leica lenses are amazing, Leitz always took the high-road with regard to optical corrections. Zeiss went all-out for transmission and contrast, did not care as much about field flatness.

Color correction on the Leica lenses- also amazing. The Infrared focus mark is an indication of this, it is close to the F2 DOF mark on the 1950s Summicrons. Look at optics from other manufacturers, the IR mark can usually be found between F4 and F5.6. The 1950s Summicrons are not Apochromats (3-color correction), but achromats corrected for two colors in such a fashion that other wavelengths do not fall far from the image place.
 
5cm screw Summicron

This is my acquistion - 111f + recently CLA'd 5cm collapsible Summicron with re-polished and coated lens.

View attachment 1967
 

Attachments

  • Ian with 111f.jpg
    Ian with 111f.jpg
    261.6 KB · Views: 240
Nice camera, Iansky. I'd like to get a Leica IIIF. I used to have a Canon P, but sold it to focus on building my collection of M-mount cameras and lenses. One day I'd like to get a Leica IIIF or G, and a 50mm lens. It was the camera and lens of Henri Cartier-Bresson, or one of the versions of the Leica III.

-Russell
 
Nice camera, Iansky. I'd like to get a Leica IIIF. I used to have a Canon P, but sold it to focus on building my collection of M-mount cameras and lenses. One day I'd like to get a Leica IIIF or G, and a 50mm lens. It was the camera and lens of Henri Cartier-Bresson, or one of the versions of the Leica III.

-Russell

Thanks Russell,

It is nice to go right back to basics and have a manual everything camera again. small, sturdy and easy to carry - whoopeeee!
 
Back
Top