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Tonight, immediately go out and shoot many more from the bike. It could be a great series. Then do a kickstart project or a Blurb book on Miami at night. Of course it would be nice to get Don Johnson to go with you.
JackI was in DC on some other business and checked out the Leica Store for fun.
Meena Yi and General Manager Eric Oberg were quite welcoming and helpful.
The store layout is quite nice, and of course, seeing all the S products in a display is not an everyday situation. The store is within a short walk of the White House, and was under two miles from my hotel.I have no idea of the cost of this Store approach for Leica, but I think it make much more sense to invest in this direction rather than mere advertising. In an age where few camera stores can handle much Leica inventory, I think it makes great sense to let people handle the product. I was there about 20 minutes and there were several other visitors during that time. The welcoming phrase was, something like, “Do you know Leica?”
Very nice display of Peter Turnley's B&W was in their gallery. An interesting 8.5×11 handout was a reproduced contact sheet format of the images, and an artist statement on the other side.
I had visited the Tokyo Store several years ago, but that was more of a museum. This Store was much more approachable, but till extremely tasty. I include some photos of the DC Store in the M section of images to share.
http://www.reddotforum.com/showthread.php/632-A-visit-to-Washington-DC?p=2514#post2514More on the business approach of the Store strategy is here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-06/leica-debuts-own-u-s-shops-with-27-000-digital-camera-retail.htmlJackThe only 50mm I have is a modern Elmar 2.8 collapsable. so it would be my favorite. There was some question as to it being safe to use on an M8 or M9 but it seems to have adequate clearance from the shutter when collapsed. I suspect that concern was about an older model? If I am not correct, someone on this forum might tell me?
I rarely “see” in 50mm so my favorites are wider lenses.
JackJackMarc,
I really like the Calder shot.
That shot would definitly look great in 30″.
I have learned that one should always keep shooting in the dark, and that shot proves it.
Of course you brought your own sun, but your balance of light was so good, I would not have imagined the conditions if you had not told us.JackMark,
Glad you like them.
To answer your question of DOF, That diptych was shot with three 120mm images merged into a panorama, then reduced to a triptych then narrowed down to a diptych.
There was no focus stacking. I focused on the far wall, letting the foreground beams go soft. You can see the actual DOF in this close cropping of the image.I had previously shot a similar image with my 35 and it had more DOF of course. But I wanted to be able to enlarge this to huge proportions, so I preferred the merge for extra resolution. I also decided that I wanted less DOF than the 35 provided. I wanted the eye to be directed to the wall. It is difficult to see the actual DOF in a web page, so I am including the cropped version.
Jack
Of course, the resolution of the S allows one to recrop any image to multiple photographs. This cropping done merely to illustrate a point, is actually a pretty interesting photo.
JackA follow up to this shoot on TOP has Mike Johnson showing some of the same photos. Always interesting to see how iterations of resizing and downloading the same image may or may not change the presentation and color of a given image.
JackDavid,
Extremely well done. When you kept saying you were working hard on some updates of the new products, I kept asking myself, why is it taking so long? Now I understand. You provided detail on the Monochrom that exists in no other place. I have previously digitally converted about 1/4 of my shots into B&W. Initially my reaction was why should I give up the ability to selectively filter my M9 shots for a green filter in one part vs a red filter in another. But the concept of having an extra three stops of ISO would allow me to shoot in darkness with ease. Also having a camera that makes me concentrate on B&W probably would improve my B&W regardless of the higher ISO and resolution.
Iconic is a good description.
I used to have two M6s, one for B&W and one for color film. I have enjoyed having a single camera for both since digital color allowed for ease of conversion in post, but your write up makes this M so very tempting.
Sean Reid should hire you for his reviews.
Thanks,
JackJackThe smile on Mark's face about the back story makes me smile again.
The back story for other readers is that only Mark knew exactly where to drive to get this shot in the falling light. I was riding with him.
The last van made a wrong turn, even though they were following us, and arrived in total darkness. Mark, please remind me who the other driver was?Mark, doing a canvas wrap for a triptych is as you suspected, a bit of a pain. Yes you are correct that the wrap sides are “overlap” or extensions from the adjacent image. When this triptych was initially hung on the wall, they did it with no space between the panels. Done that way, the image is continuous as a panorama. It was then rearranged to allow for the gap that you see. I much prefer it with a gap. Going forward, I will be avoiding wraps for two reasons, I now have the S2 resolution to do large panels on paper stock, and I prefer to use frames with matting. This client wanted canvas wrap, so I did it that way.
By the way, this client was the reason I started doing triptychs. The company was one of my first out of state clients. I had challenges in shipping huge panoramas long distances. My agent suggested I consider cutting the panoramas into three parts as they would be much easier to ship. As readers of this forum know, I subsequently decided that I liked the triptych form as more interesting and distinctive art form. They also sell better. But not all panoramas work as triptychs. My “rules” are that each panel should look good just as a single panel. That doesn't always happen. I have gotten to where I can now visualize before the shot, what might be a good triptych. Furthermore, it was David Farkas, back before he sold me my S2, who on looking at my evolving style, suggested I try vertical triptychs. I shot one on the Fall S2 trip, and that is the work that I was showing to this client during this past visit. Selling huge panels, not only becomes possible with the resolution of an S2, but it is profitable enough to allow me to justify the S2, which is how David benefits from his suggestions.
JackWhen I started this post last Oct. I showed a panorama from the last night in Vermont.
I suggested then that it would make a good ten foot wide triptych.I sold the heavily modified image as an eleven foot triptych back in January. This week, I was visiting the client showing new work, and took this photo of the triptych installed in the client's office.
I like it, and more importantly, so did the client.
Jack
JackSuggest we need a little assurance regarding the inventory of M sensors. Even if a M10 gets announced in 5 months, we need to know that M9 sensors will be in inventory for years, should one crack a sensor or scratch a sensor. The worry on this is not mine, but others.
JackInsure that the $1000 upgrade to the CS is still available. Please tell him, congratulations on the 1/1000 sync speed for the CS, and the H adaptor that keeps auto focus from the H. Impressive.
JackJosh,
I am very pleased that Leica did the MM. Given that it has no competition I expect it to sell very well to the purists. It is quite cool that only Leica can go to this length.The Luminous Landscape predicted some would unfortunately complain about the existence of this camera.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/leica_m9_monochrom.shtmlBut they also praised it's existence. Hey what's wrong with more choices? And no surprise that it costs this much for a limited run.
I would love to have this camera, but I am now committed to the S system.
JackI promised to post some more examples of “correct wide angle” filter in CS6
Usually when I merge I use “cylindrical” merge rather than “perspective”, because as this example shows, the perspective merge is usually lopsided. If anyone knows how to avoid for that, please let me know.
In my search for a 14mm S lens, this is my work around.
First, shoot with a 16mm on a M and then merge three images. (I guess I could do this with five 35mm S shots) Net resolution will be more than what an S would provide. My technique is constrained by using a 13″ mac book air on the road. When back to a large monitor, I will be able to more quickly and easily straighten all lines. But the right S lens would save me a lot of post production. Perhaps that is being announced May 10?JackAs I understand it, the M9 finder lines are accurate if shooting within 3 feet. the M8.2 had accuracy set to six feet. I wish the 9 had kept the frame lines to the 6ft. distance. All an issue with rangefinders.
This is discussed in depth on this l-cmaera forum:
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/129686-m9-viewfinder-lens-not-accurate.html
JackYes Al,
I definitely used a polarizer.
I would say that using a polarizer when the clouds are this nice is a plus. Yes, much can be done in color post production but David Farkas assured me last fall that there is not yet a “polarizer filter” in Lightroom. Perhaps LR5?However the amount of darkness of the B&W sky is easily controlled in post production. In the case LR4, I used the slider under B&W for darkening the blue. Pretty easy to adjust to taste.
I bet people forget how many time film photographers used red filters to achieve this same dark sky in the past. I really appreciate the ability to selectively add all manner of B&W filters in post. So I will not be the first to purchase a monochrome S2. The blue slider is easier than a red filter and doesn't slip out of your hands or off your lens. I might add that while climbing around with a tripod and multi filters I did drop an expensive super dark ND glass filter after I had finished the shot. They do crack, but don't shatter. Better the filter than the photographer. Also better to drop the filter than the camera. Yes Josh, send me another ND.
The attached screen shot shows the original shot in color in LR4. I like the color shot too.
Jack
