My Blog List
-
In an Emoji History of Art, ND Stevenson Playfully Recreates Iconic Paintings - More than 100 years after it was first exhibited, art historians still debate whether Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain,” submitted to the 1917 Armory Show in N...2 hours ago
-
Polar 35mm f2 國產七枚玉自動對焦化 - 想令到這支國產七枚玉變成一支自動對焦神鏡,最佳的方略,自然是使用NIKON ZF 配 TZM02 接環。爽度如何?極為滿意。 這才是NIKON Z 機的真正玩法啊,玩NIKON Z 鏡?要最完美畫質??把這些未來,交給 AI 吧。我先回歸過去。 過去有多美好?連重慶森林這老電影三十周年,戲院都場場...3 hours ago
-
Years in the making - We've finally done it... The post Years in the making appeared first on James Greenoff Photography.11 hours ago
-
My next road trip: revisiting the National Road in Illinois - Rumors of an 1830s stone-arch bridge on the National Road near Clark Center, Illinois, are true.12 hours ago
-
Sculpture in Limbo - Do sculptures dream? This is the question posed by Scottish Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Boyce in his latest exhibition at Fruitmarket Edinburgh. ...13 hours ago
-
Review: Viltrox 40mm f/2.5 STM ASPH ED IF - Introduction Viltrox offers some of the best value AF lenses on the market and now they have come up with this AF 40mm f/2.5 at $158. It should be one of...16 hours ago
-
Where Do All the Cards and Pens Go? - Do you know the English young adult novels about the Borrowers? It's a charming series of books for tweens and young teens about a race of miniature people...1 day ago
-
Kiev 35A - This is more of an update than a new post. I originally posted about this camera back in 2017, but… Read more Kiev 35A1 day ago
-
Shanghai releases Shenguang 400 colour negative film - [image: Shneguang 400 film in old packaging (Pic: Shanghai)] Chinese film brand Shanghai has unveiled a new colour negative 35mm film called Shenguang 400....1 day ago
-
Miranda Automex (1960) - This is a Miranda Automex a 35mm SLR camera made by Miranda Camera K.K. in Japan between the years 1960 and 1962. The Automex was Miranda’s first metere...2 days ago
-
日記(1268):山を見ながら、郊外散歩 - 29日(月)「昭和の日」 車で7,8分のお気に入りの場所、三日町。 水が張られて、例年だとGW中に田植えが始まります。 花吹雪だけれど、あまり多くは散っていません。 農家には、苗床が用意されていました。 遥か中...3 days ago
-
Pharmakon: Reviewed by Cheryl Van Hooven - Book Review Pharmakon Photographs by Teju Cole Reviewed by Cheryl Van Hooven “With its startling bold cover of cryptic and elongated black letters printed...3 days ago
-
And then you were gone - Working from an archive of old negatives Arrayah Loynd invites the viewer on a lush, vibrating adventure into her mind’s eye as she constructs an alternati...3 days ago
-
-
A Little Glen - You can read my review of the Kodak Brownie Starmeter by clicking here. The post A Little Glen appeared first on Film Advance.5 days ago
-
Inuuteq Storch – Necromancer - Review by Gerhard Clausing • No one knows exactly what will happen when we all leave this earth. Many possibilities have been imagined over time; religious...1 week ago
-
Sony Releases Alpha 9 III Firmware Update 2.00 - Sony releases Alpha 9 III Firmware Update 2.00 with long list of improved functions Applicable Model This information is for the following models: ILCE-9...1 week ago
-
Beginner’s Guide to Ilford Delta 400 - Everything you need to know to get started with black-and-white photography and Ilford Delta 400. The post Beginner’s Guide to Ilford Delta 400 appeared ...1 week ago
-
A trip with a treasured optics ~Leitz Vario Elmar21-35mmf3.5-4~ - さて今回のご紹介は、またしても関東で行ったことの無かったお城、正確にはお城址にLeitz Vario-Elmar21-35mf3.5-4.5Asph.と旅して来た記録をご紹介致します。それにしても、泊りがけの旅行ならいざ知らず、日帰り旅行だと、機材の重さは、選択の優先順位はそれほど高くなくなって、たとえば、川越...1 week ago
-
April 17: Process - One should not underestimate the contribution of one often unsung class of staff member in an educational institution. Good advice to any beginning teacher...2 weeks ago
-
-
攝影 京都之旅 - Sony FE 24-70mm F4 OSS Zeiss - 今次京都之前,我係冇變焦鏡頭,全部都係定焦鏡,連唯一一枝既Sony FE自動對焦鏡頭,都係28mm F2。 當初買28mm F2係因為要合照,當俾部相機人幫手影相時用,真係唔多人識同你手動對焦㗎嘛。所以之前一般會帶三支鏡,Sony FE 28 F2、Leica 50 F1.4同Leica 90 F2(定係...4 weeks ago
-
藝術家張照堂辭世 - 非常沉重地代家屬通知大家,敬愛的藝術家張照堂老師於昨夜長眠,享年81歲。 張照堂的創作橫跨電影、電視、紀錄片、實驗電影與靜態攝影等視覺藝術,長年投身編輯、策展與教育,對台灣攝影暨影像文化發展的影響巨大。 張照堂於1943年生於台北板橋,初中時因為哥哥借他一台相機,開始對攝影產生興趣;高中時期參加攝影社,隨...4 weeks ago
-
'WELCOME TO ESSEX' - Grove Green Road, 18th March 1994 Growing up in Ilford in the 1980s and 90s, its identity as being part of London was somewhat ambivalent: ‘London’ for me ...1 month ago
-
Death Valley Noir - The flooded playa, as it would be seen by a being who evolved on a planet orbiting a cool red star...1 month ago
-
齋傾唔做:關於裸體與身體自愛/色情與藝術的標準 - 上下集一齊推~ 再次多謝齋老味的邀請! 訪問有條理,提問以公眾的角度出發,深入淺出,易明又不膚淺。 當中讓我重新整理自己在「人體模特兒」、「裸體」、「裸體與色情的關係」等題目上的答案。感覺在這段時間裡,因為準備不同講座和訪問,又訪問別人,自己對裸體這題目又再加深認識。 我實在享受這個訪問,希望你也會...1 month ago
-
Ensign Midget model 2 - The Ensign Midget model 2 is a compact camera with a fascinating history. Made in 1934, it features an Ensar lens, leaf shutter, and a folding viewfinder. ...2 months ago
-
Paper Negatives - I really enjoy being able to learn by experimentation. With large format film cameras this can be very expensive, so working with paper negatives can be a ...6 months ago
-
In Conversation With: Stephan Jahanshahi - Stephan Jahanshahi is an Iranian-American artist based in Los Angeles. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts Photo, Video and Related Media MFA progra...1 year ago
-
52 Cameras: Olympus E-500 - ------------------------------ [image: Amaranth] Amaranth [image: Cowpen Daisy] Cowpen Daisy [image: Purple Flower] Haven’t identified this purple f...1 year ago
-
Go for a walk in Nihonbashi streetscape with Curtagon 35mm - The Flektogon 35mm is famous for its quasi-wide-angle 35mm. However, it hasn’t hit the market so much, so I took [ - ]1 year ago
-
Vallerret Photography Gloves for Winter – Markhof Pro V3 Review - VALLERRET PHOTOGRAPHY GLOVES MARKHOF PRO V3 POWER STRETCH PRO LINER In the last couple of months, I led two photography workshops in the Dolomites and Icel...2 years ago
-
高光捕捉 Enna Ennalyt 50mm f/1.9 - ENNA 創建於1920年德國慕尼黑,名字由始創者 Alfred Neuman 縮寫德語發音拼寫而成。 它從1950年開始生產相機鏡頭,是西德第一個生產Retrofocus 結構鏡頭的公司。 這種結構可以使小畫幅鏡頭廣角端突破 40mm 採用同樣原理的長焦鏡頭也變得輕巧袖珍。 ENNA 著名產品有1958年研製成...2 years ago
-
#147 Leica M4-2 and MD-2 - 第一部高達動畫是製作於1979-1980年的《大地上的高達篇》,筆者知道有很多不同的中文譯名,《大地上的高達篇》的筆者兒時看無線電視時的譯名。《高達》也是筆者喜歡的動畫,在筆者心目中RX-78,跟Leica M3一樣是經典中的經典。 1979...2 years ago
-
-
Five Photographers from Asia nominated for World Press Photo 2021 Awards - Five photographers and stories from Asia nominated for World Press Photo 2021 Awards, from Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, India and Bangladesh. The pos...3 years ago
-
Fuck a T2 just get a µ[mju:]-II - Before starting, we would like to clarify that, normally we would not make a comparison like this because they are two completely different things (lik...4 years ago
-
-
-
-
Capture One and the Fujifilm GFX 50S (Final) - The final workflow update for the GFX 50S and Capture One A surprise announcement by Capture One at Photokina 2018 changed everything! Starting with vers...5 years ago
-
[讀者投稿]Lighroom日系菲林調色(一) + Preset分享 - 日系色調令人感覺非常清新並能提供畫面簡潔的視覺感,於是我嘗試在Lightroom軟體調色,令現時的數碼相機擁有接近日系底片的色調,雖然質感還不如菲林相機,但可以為大家製造了一個很大的空間去創作;一個Preset當然未能夠滿足所有相片,但也有一些後製的思路可以讓大家參考一下。 這篇文章 [讀者投稿]Lighr...5 years ago
-
Check out my new blog! - *I've recently created a new website and am hosting my blog over there now. * *So for the most recent blog postings, please head over to www.darrenbradley...5 years ago
-
-
Leica M 10-P Digital Rangefinder Camera - Sound comparison between Leica M10 and Leica M10-P: The Sound of Silence.5 years ago
-
Francis Bacon and George Smiley - Bill Brandt, Francis Bacon, Primrose Hill, 1963 Francis Bacon didn’t like this portrait of him by Bill Brandt. I can’t t...6 years ago
-
Scanning Film with the GFX 50S - Using a digital medium format camera to scan medium format film. What could go wrong? After bringing home freshly developed 120 format film, I looked at ...6 years ago
-
Lens Bubbles Is Moving - This will likely be the last post I write for my blog on Blogger. After about 8 years, and 1327 posts, I have to say goodbye to Blogger and move on to my ...7 years ago
-
Family Photo Shoot 2016 - Looking at a few family shoots that I did last year. Here are a couple of super loto ones.7 years ago
-
-
東蔡三劍客zebra版_Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 135/3.5 - *【虫前言】* 東德蔡司的M42鏡頭,大至可初分為三個時期 由195X年初的白銀時期、197X年的斑馬時期至198X年末的黑鐵時期 *白銀時期*的代表作品,有耳熟能詳甚至趁戰亂被俄國抄襲的經典款式鏡頭群 其代表為 大B 與小B *黑鐵時期*的代表作品更是將Carl Zeiss Jena推向高峰 ...8 years ago
-
#47. 羽仁未央,溫子,垂水景 - 90年代在香港,大概相若的一個時期認識了三位日本朋友:羽仁未央,溫子,垂水景。羽仁未央乃著名導演羽仁進之女,未央於去年(2014)不幸去世。溫子與香港的攝影朋友也較熟絡。1994「中港台當代攝影展」,飯澤耕太郎特意來港看展覽,便是由溫子當翻譯。垂水景熱衷有關電子平台創作事項,當時我們正在出版「秩智」,一份發表數碼...9 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Henri Cartier-Bresson:‘There Are No Maybes’
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
June 21, 2013
In 1971, Sheila Turner-Seed interviewedHenri Cartier-Bresson in his Paris studio for a film-strip series on photographers that she produced, with Cornell Capa, for Scholastic. After her death in 1979 at the age of 42, that interview, along with others she had conducted, sat like a time capsule in the archives of the International Center of Photography in New York.
That is, until 2011, when Ms. Turner-Seed’s daughter, Rachel Seed, learned of their existence and went to I.C.P. to study the tapes. It was a profound experience for her, since she was 1 when her mother died and did not remember her voice.
Ms. Seed, herself a photographer, has been working on a personal documentary, “A Photographic Memory,” about a daughter’s search for the mother she never knew through their shared love of photography. She is raising money with a Kickstarter campaign.
The second part of that interview, transcribed from tape by Sheila Turner-Seed, continues where we left off yesterday. It has been lightly edited. A DVD of the Cartier-Bresson interview, with his photos, is available from the International Center of Photography’sonline bookstore.
Q.
Have you ever really been able to define for yourself when it is that you press the shutter?
A.
It’s a question of concentration. Concentrate, think, watch, look and, ah, like this, you are ready. But you never know the culminative point of something. So you’re shooting. You say, “Yes. Yes. Maybe. Yes.” But you shouldn’t overshoot. It’s like overeating, overdrinking. You have to eat, you have to drink. But over is too much. Because by the time you press, you arm the shutter once more, and maybe the picture was in between.
Very often, you don’t have to see a photographer’s work. Just by watching him in the street, you can see what kind of photographer he is. Discreet, tiptoes, fast or machine gun. Well, you don’t shoot partridges with a machine gun. You choose one partridge, then the other partridge. Maybe the others are gone by then. But I see people wrrrr, like this with a motor. It’s incredible, because they always shoot in the wrong moment.
Q.
Can you bear to talk a bit about your equipment?
A.
I am completely and have always been uninterested in the photographic process. I like the smallest camera possible, not those huge reflex cameras with all sorts of gadgets. When I am working, I have an M3 because it’s quicker when I’m concentrating.
Q.
Why the 50-millimeter lens?
A.
It corresponds to a certain vision and at the same time has enough depth of focus, a thing you don’t have in longer lenses. I worked with a 90. It cuts much of the foreground if you take a landscape, but if people are running at you, there is no depth of focus. The 35 is splendid when needed, but extremely difficult to use if you want precision in composition. There are too many elements, and something is always in the wrong place. It is a beautiful lens at times when needed by what you see. But very often it is used by people who want to shout. Because you have a distortion, you have somebody in the foreground and it gives an effect. But I don’t like effects. There is something aggressive, and I don’t like that. Because when you shout, it is usually because you are short of arguments.
Henri Cartier-Bresson and Sheila Turner-Seed
//
“The greatest joy for me is geometry; that means a structure.”
If you have little equipment, people don’t notice you. You don’t come like a show-off. It seems like an embarrassment, someone who comes with big equipment.
And photo electric cells in a camera — I don’t see why it is done. It is a laziness. During the day, I don’t need a light meter. It is only when light changes very quickly at dusk or when I’m in another country, in the desert or in the snow. But I guess first, and then I check. It is good training.
Q.
In some sense, you impose your own rules that are like disciplines for yourself, then.
A.
For myself — I’m not speaking for others. I take my pleasure that way. Freedom for me is a strict frame, and inside that frame are all the variations possible. Maybe I’m classical. The French are like that. I can’t help it!
Photography as I conceive it, well, it’s a drawing — immediate sketch done with intuition and you can’t correct it. If you have to correct it, it’s the next picture. But life is very fluid. Well, sometimes the pictures disappear and there’s nothing you can do. You can’t tell the person, “Oh, please smile again. Do that gesture again.” Life is once, forever.
Q.
How do you feel about color photography?
A.
It’s disgusting. I hate it! I’ve done it only when I’ve been to countries where it was difficult to go and they said, “If you don’t do color, we can’t use your things.” So it was a compromise, but I did it badly because I don’t believe in it.
The reason is that you have been shooting what you see. But then there are the printing inks and all sorts of different things over which you have no control whatsoever. There is all the interference of heaps of people, and what has it got to do with true color?
Q.
If the technical problems were solved and what you saw on the page would really be what you saw with your eyes, would you still object?
A.
Yes, because nature gives us so much. You can’t accept everything of nature. You have to select things. It’d rather do paintings, and it becomes an insoluble problem. Especially when it comes to reportage, color has no interest whatsoever except that people do it because it’s money. It’s always a money problem.
There are some very good young photographers. They want to do photographic essays and there is no market for it.
In 1946, when we started Magnum, the world had been separated by the war and there was a great curiosity from one country to know how the other was. People couldn’t travel, and for us it was such a challenge to go and testify — I have seen this and I have seen that. There was a market. We didn’t have to do industrial accounts and all that.
Magnum was the genius of Bob Capa, who had great invention. He was playing the horses and the money paid for the secretaries. I came back from the Orient and asked Capa for my money and he said, “Better take your camera and go work. I have taken your money because we were almost in bankruptcy.”
I kept on working. Now it is a very big problem because there are hardly any magazines. No big magazine is going to send you to a country because everybody has been there. It’s another world. But there are heaps of specialized magazines who are going to use your files. And you can make quite a decent living just by files. But it means you have to add pictures for years and years. For a young photographer to start is quite a problem nowadays.
Martine Franck/Magnum Photos Henri Cartier-Bresson with a photograph of his mother, Marthe Leverdier.
There are necessities of life, and everything is getting more expensive in a consumer society. So the danger is that photography might become very precious — “Oh, a very rare print.” There’s not a very real place for it. But what does it mean? That preciousness is a sickness.
Why do photographers start giving numbers to their prints? It’s absurd. What do you do when the 20th print has been done? Do you swallow the negative? Do you shoot yourself? It’s the gimmick of money.
I think a print should be signed. That means a photographer recognizes that the print has been done either by him or according to his own standards. But a print is not like an etching, where the plate wears out. A negative doesn’t wear out.
Q.
Perhaps the only lead that photographers had was to imitate painters, and they still have to learn their own identity.
A.
Yes. Why be embarrassed? We are not what you call “misfit painters.” Photography is a way of expressing ourselves with another tool. That’s all.
Q.
Can we go back to something we were discussing earlier? What is it like to return to a country you have visited before? Is there a difference between the first time and when you return?
A.
I like very much going back to a country after a while and seeing the differences, because you build up impressions, right or wrong, but always personal and vivid, by living in a country and working. You accumulate things and leave a gap, and you see the changes strongly when you’ve been away for a long time. And the evolution in a country is very interesting to measure with a camera.
But at the same time, I am not a political analyst or an economist. I don’t know how to count. It’s not that. I’m obsessed by one thing, the visual pleasure.
The greatest joy for me is geometry; that means a structure. You can’t go shooting for structure, for shapes, for patterns and all this, but it is a sensuous pleasure, an intellectual pleasure, at the same time to have everything in the right place. It’s a recognition of an order which is in front of you.
The difference between a good picture and a mediocre picture is a question of millimeters — small, small differences — but it’s essential. I didn’t think there is such a big difference between photographers. Very little difference. But it is that little difference that counts, maybe.
What is important for a photographer is involvement. It’s not a propaganda means, photography, but it’s a way of shouting what you feel. It’s like the difference between a tract for propaganda and a novel. Well, the novel has to go through all the channel of the nerves, the imagination, and it’s much more powerful than something you look at and throw away. If a theme is developed and goes into a novel, there is much more subtlety; it goes much deeper.
Poetry is the essence of everything, and it’s through deep contact with reality and living fully that you reach poetry. Very often I see photographers cultivating the strangeness or awkwardness of a scene, thinking it is poetry. No. Poetry is two elements which are suddenly conflict — a spark between two elements. But it’s given very seldom, and you can’t look for it. It’s like if you look for inspiration. No, it just comes by enriching yourself and living.
You have to forget yourself. You have to be yourself and you have to forget yourself so that the image comes much stronger — what you want by getting involved completely in what you are doing and not thinking. Ideas are very dangerous. You must think all the time, but when you photograph, you aren’t trying to push a point or prove something. You don’t prove anything. It comes by itself.
If I go to a place, it’s not to record what is going on only. It’s to try and have a picture which concretizes a situation in one glance and which has the strong relations of shapes. And when I go to a country, well, I’m hoping always to get that one picture about which people will say, “Ah, this is true. You felt it right.”
That’s why photography is important, in a way, because at the same time that it’s a great pleasure getting the geometry together, it goes quite far in a testimony of our world, even without knowing what you are doing.
But as for me, I enjoy shooting a picture. Being present. It’s a way of saying, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” It’s like the last three words of Joyce’s “Ulysses,” which is one of the most tremendous works which have ever been written. It’s “Yes, yes, yes.” And photography is like that. It’s yes, yes, yes. And there are no maybes. All the maybes should go to the trash, because it’s an instant, it’s a moment, it’s there! And it’s respect of it and tremendous enjoyment to say, “Yes!” Even if it’s something you hate. Yes! It’s an affirmation.
Follow @ICPhotog and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Lens is also on Facebook.
HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON / MAGNUM PHOTOS
More in Lens on NYTimes.com
LENS
Posing Questions of Photographic Ethics
LENS
Ghosts of America’s Atomic Arsenal
LENS
Simple Life Among the Hutterites
LENS
Burk Uzzle’s American Puzzle
LENS
India’s Earliest Photographers
LENS
Lost, at Home in Colombia
LENS
Following Smugglers in Kurdistan
HomeWorldU.S.PoliticsThe UpshotNew YorkBusiness DayTechnologySportsOpinionScienceHealthArtsStylePhotosVideoMost Emailed
HelpSubscribeFeedbackTerms of ServicePrivacy
© 2015 The New York Times Company
Friday, June 12, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
APS-C
1概念解释编辑
印有135的代号。后来大家就公认把35mm胶卷称为135胶卷,把用135胶卷的相机称为135相机。
2功能应用编辑
3焦距换算率编辑
- 1.6x:佳能EOS 7D、600D、550D、500D、450D、60D、70D、1100D、1000D等。
- 1.5x:所有索尼和尼康的非全幅数码单反相机,宾得的新型数码单反(k-m、k-r和k-x等),还有柯尼卡美能达数码单反。
- 1.3x:佳能EOS 1D Mark IV,1D Mark III等。徕卡M8和M8.2。(采用APS-H规格)
4镜头特点编辑
Monday, May 4, 2015
Thursday, April 30, 2015
One Year with the Leica Summilux 50mm f/1.4 Asph
I’ve read a ton of reviews on lenses – some very technical, some very practical – this review will be neither. I’m not a photography expert and certainly not a lens science expert, but I know what works for me and what doesn’t and I wanted to explain the merits of the astounding Leica 50mm Summilux… before I change it for the 50mm Summicron Apo Asph.
The Leica 50mm Summilux is without a doubt the most perfect lens I have owned in ten odd years of serious photography. I started out in photography with an average SLR and average lenses shooting average landscapes. I did this for years until I discovered street photography and then quickly discovered that SLR’s were not the right tool for this genre. This led me to Leica and their awesome range of lenses. At this point I should explain that although everyone talks about Leica camera bodies (which I believe are the very best in 35mm photography), it’s actually Leica lenses that most people choose Leica for. Leica lenses are amongst the very best glass money can buy, if not the best. I can talk with some authority here as I have owned lenses from various manufacturers including Nikon, Canon, Voigtlander, Fuji, Olympus, Zeiss and of course Leica. The first two mentioned I believe to be the worst and the last two mentioned I believe to be the best.
On the Leica M9 and M Monochrom, I have shot almost solely with Leica’s 50mm Summilux Aspherical f/1.4. I choose 50mm for street photography purely because it feels right for me, not because scientifically it is the closest reproduction of what the human eye sees, just because it feels natural, it’s easy to frame and i’ve never been a wide angle fan.
The 50mm Summilux is a small and extremely robust lens which, when fitted to an M rangefinder, feels solid, perfectly weighted and stealthy. It has a focus tab and riveted focus ring which allows you to choose between traditional rangefinder focusing or SLR lens focussing or a combination of both. Little details like this are very important to me. As a street shooter, focussing needs to be fast and accurate.
The Summilux has a wide open aperture of f/1.4, which is awesomely fast and allows you to shoot at low ISO’s in daylight, but it’s when light is at a premium that this lens comes alive. At night the Summilux is a light vampire.
Shooting wide open with the 50mm Lux gives you lots of possibilities… shorter exposures, sharp, crisp images, and great contrast. However, with a lens this fast it takes a fair amount of practice to achieve pin sharp focussing wide open at f/1.4 as the focal plane in the lux is über thin. On the upside, if you get it right, the lens will render an almost 3D image with the subject popping sharply out of the background.
Selective Focus: M Monochrom – 50mm Summilux
I can’t vouch for the lens when it’s stopped down below f/4.0 as I have never closed it up beyond that. Why would you? Fast lenses are designed to be shot wide open, right? If you are looking for a lens that performs stopped further down, try the standard 50mm Summicron, it’s half the price of the Summilux and it’s outstanding between f/4 and f/8.
;
Performance on the M9
Colour rendering on the M9 with the 50mm Summilux is nothing short of perfection. I have genuinely never seen a lens that replicates colour as honestly as the Lux. I don’t know if the Lux was specifically designed for the M9 sensor or not, but together they sing. Before switching to Leica glass I used to spend a lot of time desaturating my images but with the 50mm Lux, desaturation is not necessary.
Sharpness on the M9 (with a good focus) is a near perfect. It renders perfectly smooth edges and very tight grain that when viewed at 100% looks incredibly close to fast, quality film.
On the M9, the 50mm Summilux outperformed my expectations.
Sidetrack…
I should mention that when I first started using an M9, I coupled it with a Zeiss Planar f/2.0, which is an awesome lens for the money – 3 times cheaper than the Summilux. It is sharp, easy to focus and feels good on the camera. However, I found it rendered an over-saturated image and I was never happy with the bokeh it produced. It also plummets in price in the used market – Leica glass holds it’s value very well.
Back on track…
If you are planning mounting a 50mm Summilux on your M9, I can guarantee that after a little time using it, you’ll love it. You will get to know it’s little nuances, like very slight fall off at the edges (which can be boosted in Silver Efex to produce beautiful, natural looking vignettes), it’s almost uncanny selective focussing ability and it’s massive capacity to swallow light at night and produce wonderful high contrast shots.
Sample Image: M9 – 50mm Summilux
;
Performance on the M Monochrom
Here comes a big claim…
The 50mm Lux couple with the M Monochrom delivers the best black and white digital image I have ever seen, even compared to high end medium format.
The M Monochrom is a little bit different. It shoots just black and white (the clue is in the name) and it has no Bayer filter. This makes the camera better in low light and better at high ISO. These enhanced camera abilities combined with the already stunning capability of the Lux glass, produce stunning black and white photographs, photographs that need very little post work as the detail and the contrast are so close to reality that over processing the image is fruitless. The Raw shot is just class. I simply alter exposure if required, boost the vignette (that’s my thing) and export the image.
It’s interesting stopping the lens down to f/2 or f/4. The contrast just gets better and better and you can even see it in the Monochrom’s digital display (which is pitiful).
If I was over the moon with the Summilux on the M9, I am in heaven with it on the Monochrom. I’ve simply never experienced images like it. Unbelievably sharp, high contrasted images that separate the subject from the background so perfectly.
Sample Image: M Monochrom – 50mm Summilux f/1.4
After writing the above, it seems almost crazy that I am trading in my 50mm Summilux against the new Leica APO-Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 ASPH. Why? Well, because Leica claim it’s better. I have total faith in Leica glass and if the Summilux is close to 50mm perfection, I want to get even closer!
Give me a year and I’ll write a review on the Cron.