La douce France with the Leica CL

You can spend hours and days in the picturesque villages of the Allier, a region slightly north of the massif centrale. It’s really a lovely area where the weather is good in September. I didn’t touch my camera a lot, but neither did I intend to. Instead, I caught up on reading, took a swim twice a day and slept a lot too.

Instead of ‘flying to the sun’ in November or December, I much prefer to get the last European sun in Europe in September, so I don’t have to fly. Here in The Netherlands our airspace is crowded, because of cheap tickets and AirBnB. The result is that our capital, Amsterdam, has more tourists on an average day than residents. The other result is that there will be a new airport for all holliday traffic with planes flying in and out at an altitude of 1500 meters for hundreds of kilometers, disrupting wildlife and polluting the air.

I don’t want to be part of this madness anymore, unless I really have to. When I was a kid, we drove our car for two hours to get to our vacation destination. We were completely happy with that. I don’t see why I should fly 5000 kilometers to have a fun weekend or week.

Back to photography: it’s great to get out and hunt for good shots. It’s just as nice to let it go for  a while and just read a book.

The Leica Noctilux 50/1.0 short review

I might have given this post a different name: ‘one reason to use both SD card slots if you have two’, but I didn’t. I’ll make another post about that. But the short story is: I did shoot the Leica Noctilux 50/1.0, which was supplied to me by my friend Maarten from The Analog Camera Store, but I lost most images after I accidentally formatted my SD card and wrote new images on it. This is the first time this happened to me in my (almost) 20 years career.

So it will be a short review. No sharpness comparisons and no product shots that I made myself (the ones you see here were shot by Maarten).

But maybe it’s a good thing, because the Nocti 50/1.0 doesn’t need too much explanation. I’ll just tell you what I liked and disliked about this lens, compared to the Noctilux 50/0.95 that I personally own.

Here we go.

Build quality and ergonomics

If this were a match between the 50/0.95 and the 50/1.0 the last one would win this category easily. My biggest gripes with the Nocti 0.95 are solved with the 1.0. It’s smaller, a lot lighter and has a longer focus throw. Where the 0.95 is too heavy (front heavy) on the M (but works like a dream on the SL), the 1.0 fits both the M and SL from an ergonomical point of view. Such a nice lens to work with!

The longer focus throw really comes in handy when you’re shooting portraits in the shortest focus distance and where you need to be able to pinpoint your focus exactly (something the SL is also much better at than the M).

The aperture ring on this particular Nocti was nice and firm. Focus was also smooth.

When your focus is slightly off, it really shows.
Here I’m spot on. Completely different. Also notice the enormous amount of vignetting.

Sharpness, bokeh and rendering

OK, for me I prefer the sharpness of the 0.95, the bokeh of the 0.95, but the rendering of the 1.0. I could talk for ages about that, but I’m not going to. The 0.95 is sharper wide open than the 1.0 is. Period. The difference gets much smaller when you stop them down. For corporate headshots, I wouldn’t use the 50/1.0 wide open, but most of the time, I wouldn’t do that with the 0.95 either.

Thousands of comments have been made about the Noctilux 1.0 bokeh and I suggest you do a search for that particular subject. For me, the 0.95 bokeh is more predictable and smoother than the slightly more quirky 1.0 bokeh. It’s a very personal thing.

Rendering wise, I can’t really say why, but even though the theoretical depth of field is smaller on the 0.95, I found that the 1.0 often looked more Nocti-like than my 0.95 does. It also reminds me a bit of the Summilux 50/1.4 v2 that I tested long ago. I really, really liked the rendering and fall-off in this lens. The fact that it vignettes even stronger than the 0.95 is not a bad thing for me either.

Focussing relatively close up
And further away
And a crop. Sharpness isn’t bad. But not as good as the 0.95. Also quite a bit of CA, but that’s easy to get rid off.

Conclusion

The ever continuing debate on the 50/1.0 vs the 50/0.95 really boils down to two things. First: do you need sharpness, or do you need a lightweight lens? And which rendering do you prefer? For me, as a pro, I need the sharpness and the predictability of the 0.95. It’s also nice that the 0.95 slightly resembles the rendering of my other modern lenses. That makes it easier to work in series. If I weren’t a pro, I’d probably get the 50/1.0. It’s light enough to bring on a trip, sharp enough for personal work and I really like that rendering with a hint of mystique.

The perfect lens for shooting in dim environments.
Very nice, smooth bokeh.
Shot against the sun falling through the windows, you do need a hood. The image is completely washed out.
The slightly softer rendering makes this lens perfect for this type of photography.
Check out this rendering!
Again: lovely rendering.

Featured #7: Martin Krystynek

Today another great photographer that I noticed on the LFI gallery. He shoots Leica, Pentax and Sony. Enjoy!

1) Can you tell a bit about your background (as a photographer)

‘I am self taught photographer. My professional career as a photographer starts in 2010, when I operated in South America, especially in Paraguay, where I gained the necessary experience. I worked for many important people from the field of politics, modeling or show business. After several years my work became my love and obsession. I tried to learn more about technique and lightings and I created my own style, which is for my fans well known.
In 2015 I became a president of Association of Professional Photographers of Slovak Republic, later board member of FEP (Federation of European Professional Photographers) and in 2019 committee member of WPC (World Photographic Cup).
After years working in photography my name became my brand and I obtained professional success and experience. In the last 4 years I got more than 350 international awards, gold, silver and bronze medals and tons of honorable mentions. This year I obtained title Master Qualified European Photographer from Federation of European Photographers for my collection Sensual beauty.’


2)How did you get into the Leica system?

‘LEICA is dream, Leica is love, Leica is everything. I always wanted to try a Leica, so I decided to watch and read many reviews. After some months of studying Leica cameras I bought my first Leica Q, amazing camera with  excellent Summilux 28 mm.’

3)Which cameras and lenses do you have?

‘Leica Q, Summilux 28 mm F/1.7, Leica Q2 Summilux 28 mm F/1.7 ,Leica Sofort, Pentax 645Z, Pentax smc FA 645 55mm f/2.8 AL (IF) SDM AW ,Sony A7 III + Zeiss Batis 85 mm F/1.8. I’m thinking about Leica SL and Leica M10. Those are my new goals for next months.’

4)What kind of pictures do you take and why?

‘I`m shooting people. Portraits ind studio, reportage, wedding, beauty, nudes, everything around people. Sometimes I shoots some landscapes, but I am obsessed by people, their emotions, their feelings and their beauty.’

More work: www.martinkrystynek.com

 

Featured #6: Marc Wick

Today in Featured: Marc Wick, maybe know to you from the LFI Gallery. I really love his portrait work. Enjoy!

1) Can you tell a bit about your background (as a photographer)

‘I always liked photography but unfortunately I did not always have the time which I wanted. I have tried many fields of photography e.g landscape, in the studio, portraits, street, analog, digital…. until I found the „right“ way for me. Since 2011 photography is a big part of my life. But I did not like the fast pace of digital photgraphy, the race for megapixel and in some cases, the perfect, clean look of digital photos. Two years ago I decided to shoot almost exclusively analog (except with the „old“ Monochrom) in 35mm or medium format and work as much as I can in my darkroom.’

2)How did you get into the Leica system?

‘I was always a fan of Leica rangefinder cameras but they were too expensive. Later I had a Nikon FE and then a F3 which worked perfect without any problems. But analog photography was on the skids and I rent a Leica M8 for the weekend. What a „bad“ idea: it was love on the first sight, the feeling when you press the shutter, the handiness of the body, the feeling of quality, the feel of the surface. I sold all of my Nikon gear and as fast as possible I found a preowned M8 and a 35mm Summarit which became my daily companion. And of course I made all the mistakes with a rangefinder which you do not know when you used a DSLR before: forgetting to focus because it is always sharp through the viewfinder, taking photos with my lens cap on the lens….But up to now I am addicted to this kind of cameras. And to be honest: are the photos better with a Leica? No, not at all, but I feel better when I take photos with a Leica. It ist he simplicity in comparison to the new megapixel  bolides. For a Leica you do not need a manual which is as thick as the telephone book of New York, it is so easy to use.’

3)Which cameras and lenses do you have?

‘Cameras: Leica M4, Leica M6, Leica Monochrom I, Plaubel Makina 67. Lenses: Zeiss 2.8/35, Leica preasph 1.4/35,  Leica APO Summicron 2.0/50, Leica Apo Summicron  2.0/90.

My daily companion on the streets is the M4 with the Zeiss 2.8/35 and a Tmax 400, for portraits I use the APO 50 and 90 also with a Tmax 400 or Tmax 3200.’

4)What kind of pictures do you take and why?

‘There are two things which I really like: street photography and portraits. I love the different approaches: On the one hand you have street photography. You start and you do not know at all what the day (or the night) will bring. Do I find good light, funny situations, interesting people, can I talk to them, ……….? Nothing is predictable. You have a scenery on the street and it is your goal to make it interesting, unique. Not easy at all. I have some days where I take maybe one or two photos as well as days where I shoot two rolls of film.’

‘On the other hand there is my addiction to portrait photography with available light. The shooting is prearranged as much as possible. I use a moodbook to discuss the shooting with the model in advance. But of course the shooting also needs spontaneity which you can not plan. I really admire the work of Sacha Leyendecker and had a huge benefit from his mentoring. He taught me first to look for the best light. This is half the battle. You can find most of my portrait photography on Instagram (www.instagram.com/wick_marc). Especially for lovers of analog and Leica photography, you will find many inspiring photographers there.’

Spelen in een Beatles tribute band: ontleden en proberen (we zoeken nog een zanger en drummer)

Het begon bij mij zo’n dertig jaar geleden. Als brugklasser logeerde ik af en toe, vooral als het hard waaide, bij m’n tante om minder ver te hoeven fietsen. ‘s Avonds speelden we dan ‘mens-erger-je-niet’ en mijn tante draaide LP’s terwijl we kopjes thee dronken. Op een van die avonden hoorde ik voor het eerst The Beatles. Het ‘rode album’ om precies te zijn. En om nog preciezer te zijn: ‘yesterday’. Ik vroeg m’n tante wat voor muziek het was en ze vroeg me, enigszins verbaasd, of ik niet wist dat dat de Beatles waren. Diezelfde avond nog namen we het hele rode album op en het cassettebandje ging in m’n schooltas mee naar huis. In een paar weken tijd werd dat bandje grijs gedraaid. Onder de afwas, tijdens het ‘lichtere huiswerk’ en niet heel veel later ook in m’n walkman op de lange, lange fietstochten naar huis van school.

Na dat eerste rode album volgden uiteraard de andere albums. Mijn ouders bleken zelf het ‘blauwe album’ in de kast te hebben staan, maar al snel gingen we op jacht naar de echte albums. Let it be, Abbey Road, Rubber Soul, we tikten ze meestal voor een tientje op de kop. Maar het bleef niet bij luisteren alleen. In ons muzikale gezin -mijn vader was leraar en gaf jarenlang extra lessen op een muziekschool- waren allerlei instrumenten te vinden: een piano, een Hohner Pianet, een klarinet, accordeon -speelde ik zelf- en allerlei percussie-instrumenten. Maar ergens achter in een kledingkast bleek ook nog een Spaanse gitaar te liggen. Of ik er op mocht spelen, vroeg ik aan m’n vader. ‘Uiteraard’, was zijn antwoord. En dat was het begin. (tekst loopt door onder afbeelding)

Zes jaar geleden vierden mijn vrouw en ik in een bloedheet Buenos Aires dat we net getrouwd waren. We zaten in een cafeetje en waren loom van de hitte. Al wachtend op ons avondeten kreeg mijn vrouw ineens het idee om een bucketlist op te krabbelen. Ergens in de top-10 wensen op mijn lijstje stond ‘spelen in een Beatles Cover band’. En nu, zes jaar later, ben ik daar eindelijk mee begonnen.

De afgelopen dertig jaar speelde ik af en aan ontzettend veel gitaar, of liet ik mijn instrumenten compleet verstoffen. Allerlei bandjes passeerden: soms leuk, vaker wat kortstondig. Een paar maanden geleden vond ik op Muzikantenbank een oproep: John en Paul zoeken George. Ik belde Paul, die eigenlijk Bas bleek te heten, wat op zich wel weer makkelijk te onthouden is. Of ik morgenavond even wilde langskomen, want de andere George had afgezegd. Een setlist met tien nummers moest ik in twee uurtjes in m’n hoofd zien te krijgen. Maar het ging goed. Twee weken na de auditie werd ik gebeld met de vraag of ik George wilde worden. (Tekst loopt door onder afbeelding)

Ook al luister ik inmiddels bijna dertig jaar naar The Beatles, toch ben ik de afgelopen tijd pas écht gaan horen wat ze nu eigenlijk precies doen. Op Spotify ben ik eindeloos fragmenten aan het beluisteren, met een koptelefoon, in diepe concentratie. Want wat doet George nou precies in ‘All my loving’? De snelle tripletten van John zijn goed te horen, maar de partij van George is minder duidelijk. En dan de solo: hoe doet hij dat eigenlijk? In de beginjaren speelde George in de stijl van Chet Atkins en dat betekende dat hij weliswaar met een plectrum speelde, maar zo nodig met zijn andere vingers een extra snaar ‘plukte’. Klinkt simpel, maar probeer het maar eens. En het snelle aflopende ‘tokkeltje’ in ‘Help’: heel lastig met een plectrum. Even zoeken op internet leerde dat George er zelf ook moeite mee had.

Al luisterend begin ik George z’n partijen te ontleden, voorzichtig te kopiëren en langzaam begin ik beter te begrijpen wat voor gitarist George nu eigenlijk was. Een minimalist met een heel sterk gevoel voor harmonie en iemand met een heel herkenbare eigen stijl. In de beginjaren was hij vooral instrumentalist en vocalist, maar halverwege de jaren zestig en vooral aan het eind van de Beatles periode, bewees hij ook een uitmuntend componist te zijn.

We zijn er nog lang niet. Sterker nog, we zoeken een lead zanger en een nieuwe drummer (in september hebben we weer audities. Reageer dus vooral!), maar we komen er wel. The Analogues zullen we niet worden, maar dat hoeft ook niet. Het luisteren, het ontleden, het uitproberen in de oefenruimte: het geeft nu al zo ongelofelijk veel plezier.

24 September en 1 oktober houden we audities voor een drummer en een zanger. Als zanger hoef je geen instrument te bespelen, maar het mag uiteraard wel. We spelen in Zoetermeer op onze vaste dinsdagavond. Meer weten? Stuur me een mailtje of bel me op 06-155 64 935

 

 

 

Update: Is the Panasonic Lumix 24-105 L mount any good?

I received an email last week from someone who informed about the Panasonic 24-105 L mount lens. ‘Is it any good?’ he asked. While this is not my official review, I’ve spend enough time with it to draw some conclusions. So let’s make this quick and dirty.

  1. The Panasonic 24-105 isn’t nearly as sharp as the Leica 24-90. Yet, I much prefer the Pana to the Leica. For me, the only reason to grab a zoom lens with auto focus is when I need the speed of AF and versatility of a zoom. In those situations, sharpness isn’t my biggest concern. If I need sharpness, I have an army of fast Leica primes to choose from.
  2. The Panasonic 24-105 is light en small enough to fit in my Billingham 225 as a back-up lens that I might not use on the entire assignment. Yet, it is more than good enough for assignments in dusty environments where I don’t want to swap lenses. That means I have used it on weddings in the most chaotic situations where a zoom is handy and AF is convenient. Could I live without it? Yes, I’ve lived without zooms for a very long time now. It’s convenient though. Like a microwave. I’ve also used it as my only lens on a few of my magazine assignments where ease (and speed) of use are more important than pixel to pixel sharpness.
  3. I would’t take this lens as my only lens when going out for landscape photography. On the other hand, it you use a tripod and stop it down a bit, you’ll be fine.
  4. I really don’t like zooms. It makes me feel restless and it gets in my way. There’s too much to choose from. Man, primes are a blessing.
  5. The AF is fast, snappy and usually quite reliable. You don’t get his while shooting though. You have to rely that the camera and lens are doing their job, while sometimes it feels focus is off all the time. I get this feeling with most AF-lenses on the SL though. But it just works. Even when your subject is moving.
  6. If you’re after one AF zoom lens as a backup for your other Leica (M) lenses and you’re not a pixel peeper, this is probably the lens to buy.

If you have any specific questions, let me know and I might put out another Q&A.

Shooting outside. Wide open the edge to edge sharpness isn’t the best, but good enough.
Macro on a zoom lens. Yes, it’s not Elmarit-R territory, but it’s nice enough.
Moving subjects! Maybe not the sharpest, but who cares? It’s all about the emotion.
Rocking that Eastman guitar.
Wedding in progress…
Here I was confident enough to shoot one of the most important moments with the 24-105.
A bit of play while the couple is out.

 

 

 

Voigtländer announces 75/1.5 lens

I’ve tried a couple of Leica Summilux-M 75/1.4 lenses, but never bought one. I don’t use 75mm lenses a lot, so I can’t justify the relative high prices for such a lens. But now Voigtländer comes with a new 75mm lens: the VM Nokton 75/1.5. Without having seen or tried it, I can already tell you it’s probably going to be a good lens. None of the Nokton lenses that Voigtländer has released have been less than great.

The lens looks stunning and will cost 1150 USD. I think a bargain for a lens like that. I’m curious how much it will put on the scale. It won’t be light, but it looks rather compact (short, with a larger diameter front lens).

A new affordable Leica M

I’ve shot most of my weddings with the Leica M240 and it never let me down. After having used the M9 for a number of years, the M240 was a real upgrade from a professional point of view. Even though it lacked that superb CCD-sensor of the M9, it had more than enough pro’s as opposed to cons.

When the M10 was announced, it was traveling for half a year and when I got back, the list of people waiting for the M10 was half a year, so I decided to get the SL in between. I stayed in that ‘in between’ stage, because it turned out that I rather like the SL, in combination with the M. The M240 was still good enough enough for me, so I decided to skip the M10 altogether.

After my half year long trip I set a maximum of ten weddings per year, because I discovered I prefer time to money. I still stick to that and ten weddings is enough for me, when added to my other assignments.

The new to be released Leica M-E type 240 perfectly fits my philosophy. Why would you work harder to get something you don’t really need and which you don’t have time for? Good is good enough. And six years later, good is still good (the M240 is six years old my friends).  For less than 4000 euros you can get a brand new Leica with full warranty which still works perfectly fine for me (with the right lenses, I have to say that).

With the money you save compared to the M10 you can get two excellent lenses and complete your kit. To be honest, if my M240 fails, I might be tempted to get one.

Good news!

Q&A: 28 Elmarit or Sumicron as only lens?

Today I received this email:

Hi Joeri

sorry, that I write you again. This morning, I had to return the M. It was really a joy to take pictures with it. I could test it in a lot of different situations, which I usually make pictures in. And now i´m fixed in, so i will get an M for my own ;-)…i think you knew this before!
But now is the question which lens I should pair with the body. I want an 28mm lens. For my test, I had the actual summicron 28mm/2.0 Asph and I love this lens. But a new one it´s way to expensive for me. So I see 2 options for me and I would like to ask you, what you think about it. 
The first option is to buy a used summicron 28mmm asph. I will get one for about €2.000,-. 
The alternative ist to go for a new or used 28mm elmarit asph. 
The Seller in the Leica Store considers, that a new elmarit has an improved image quality over a used summicron asph. 
I have to say, that the enormous sharpness and the non existence of image curvature of the lens I had for the test was a thing, I really fell in love with. 
What would you prefer?
Thank you in advance for the time I steal you!
Best Regards
S.
Well, for me it’s a no-brainer. Even though I love my 28/2.8 for it’s incredible optics, light weight and small footprint, if I were to pick one lens and it had to be a 28, it’d be the Summilux, or the Summicron. The Summicron is pretty much as good as the Elmarit optically -or maybe just as good-, but it has two big advantages: it’s a full stop faster and it offers a lot more flexibility when it comes to depth of field. It is slightly bigger and heavier, but still very much acceptable. Get the Summicron. It’s a stellar lens.