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PebblePlace;2327 wrote: Is there a way to set the EC adjustment to step in 1/3 increments rather than 1/2 step increments?

I think David mentioned sometime ago that it's not a priority with Leica currently. I guess to achieve the new increments they need precise calibration at each ISO level.

Edit: I found the original link here, please have a read:
http://www.reddotforum.com/content.php/191-Photo-Plus-Expo-2011-A-Discussion-with-Leica-S2-Product-Managers-Stephan-Schulz-and-Toni-Felsner

[melantyeNew Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 43 Offline]

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David K;2278 wrote: I want a dual sensor S3…that can switch back and forth between B&W and color by rotating a dial. And I'd like royalties if they implement my idea… 🙂

They can add that BW mode with the CS switch, that way does not change the form factor or add any unnecessary buttons 😀

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[melantyeNew Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 43 Offline]

Please ask if they're planing on Leica S Monochrom:p joking of course.

Very impressive news on the CS lenses!

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fotografz;2181 wrote: One wonders how all the wonderful photography was taken before the advent of automation … LOL!

Practice perhaps?

One thing of value when shooting wedding photography, is that it forces a relationship with any given camera. If you use a S2 for it's strengths, then you must practice techniques that mitigate any weaknesses. Same for any camera.

If you use a pre-focus technique to nail a moving subject, then you have to be really good at timing the shot. I used to shoot moving subjects with a manual focus Hasselblad 203FE and digital back using pre-focus, and I HAD to be successful because there are no second chances at a wedding. So, practice makes perfect … practice timing shots until any idiosyncratic aspect of a camera becomes part of the shooting technique.

Here's a tip regarding the S2 that takes note of how the camera works. When you turn on the S2, the lens starts up and sets itself at the focus distance you last used. If it was @ 5′, then the lens sets itself to 5′. Now, for those that have used a manual focus system in past, one effective technique was to set the focus at infinity prior to a shot because for most images (other than close-ups), the lens has less distance to travel to achieve focus. If you have a lens with distance markings like a M optic, look at how they progressively get closer and closer covering greater distances as you approach infinity.

So, one technique that can improve AF speed is to manually set the focus to infinity before you turn on the camera. If a subject is moving toward you, the lens only has one way to travel as the subject successively gets closer. It isn't traveling from a close setting to a farther one and maybe over-shoots it and has to return (hunting) … it is simply faster to move from infinity for a great majority of shots.

Try it. With practice, it's pretty revealing.

-Marc

Works very well!

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This post seems be abandoned for a while…

So users here really want 1-click zoom, which is yet to be implemented. Today I am thinking of the annoying way to pan/scroll when reviewing an image. Even after 6 months I still cannot get used to it, it's just not intuitive.

I have an idea: in review mode, we can use a long push on the 4 buttons to zoom directly to the corresponding image quarter/quadrant (upper left, upper right…). You can check focus this way on anywhere of the image in <= 3 steps. This is superior because the point you want to check is always on the screen. Of course, whenever focus is in the center of the current crop, just zoom in using wheel.

This is easy to implement in software as well and it doesn't affect current mapping of the keys.

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fotografz;2167 wrote: There is a third option depending on the subject matter … use some flash.

I just finished a blog article on this subject, specifically referencing the S2.

It seems Leica users are inordinately against flash, and fear that “flashy” look. However, it really isn't that hard to employ the S2 for low light photography without an obvious flash effect, once you get the hang of it.

The technique calls for use of a lower light technique known as “dragging the shutter”.

If shooting at ISO 640, f/2.5, and the shutter is 1/25th … set the camera to manual exposure mode with a shutter speed of 1/40th and use the same aperture of f/2.5 … and a SF58 set to ETTL with a modifier mounted on it to somewhat soften the light.

This way you are almost correctly exposed for the ambient, so the background gets exposed fairly well. The foreground then gets the benefit of the additional light from the flash, and the flash duration “freezes” the subject … effectively eliminating hand shake, and in many cases will also freeze subject motion. (At f/2.5 the background won't be sharp anyway due to DOF, so any slight motion there is irrelevant).

Flash duration is how speed-lights and strobes control the level of light hitting the subject. In general, they ALWAYS fire at full power … it is how long they stay on that determines proper TTL exposure. The less additional light you need, the faster the duration is … so by letting in more ambient with a slower shutter speed, the duration of the flash becomes shorter. For example, a typical speed-light that only requires about 1/2 its full duration is 1/1000 of a second. At 1/8th its full duration, it is 1/3,700 of a second!

Try it, it's less disruptive than you may think … the amount of flash is pretty low compared to shooting at 1/125th and making the flash work harder to light the subject.

Again, depends on the subject matter, but this is a viable way to extend the S2 beyond its ISO limitations, and get very nicely exposed images.

Here are some extreme examples using different cameras, but the concept is the same regardless of camera. I chose shots done using low ISOs and very slow shutter speeds … dragging the shutter to simulate using the S2 at low ISOs to keep the noise low.

Color Lips shot: ISO 500 @ 1/25 shutter; Bride being dipped: ISO 200 @ 1/25th; Hands: ISO 200 @ 1/20th, outdoor couple dancing: ISO 100 @ 1/15th. All used flash combined with “dragging the shutter” to shoot where it would have been impossible to do using just ambient.

Marc

Nice write up and thanks Marc! I agree that using flash will solve the problem and I'm not particularly against flash, which is often a must if one doesn't want to miss any critical shot. However sometimes you just want to relax a bit and do not add further weight to the S2:)

For the 70mm, I found that another way can be used to get the shot when small light/tripod is not available: it's mirror lock up when handheld. Yes it sounds silly and it's def harder to frame but after 1 or 2 tries you're very likely to get a sharp photo even at 1/30.

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Josh Lehrer;2146 wrote: It sounds like you have a bad battery to me. That is a problem I have seen before, where the battery shows that it has some charge remaining but the camera refuses to stay on. At first I thought it was a camera issue but after trying a new battery, I realized it was a defective battery. Send it my way and I will replace it!

Thanks a lot Josh!

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Amazing colors! Just wow! could you share briefly how did you process these photos?

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madmanchan;1829 wrote: Hi all,

An update: I have now written a free software utility (Mac only) to fix this problem for affected images — that is, images you've already shot which exhibit these artifacts.

Here's some informal documentation (overview, limitations, instructions, examples, etc.):

http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/tmp/FixBadPixels.pdf

And here's the software package, in case you want to give it a try:

http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/tmp/FixBadPixels.zip

Eric

Wow thanks Eric for this software!

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Leica Guy;1833 wrote: I am looking into jumping into the S system. I've read information on the lenses, but wanted to get some feedback from some users. Which would be better to invest in first? The 120mm or 180mm. The 120mm semms like it'd be more versatile.

For me 120mm first. close up 1:2 and more handheld friendly than 180mm.

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breathtaking images! hope to hear more about the stories behind.

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amazing photos! I especially like Sand Dunes #2, well done in BW

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Actually the fastest CF card right now is San Disk Extreme Pro 128GB, a UDMA 7 card with 100MB/s.

I think S2 supports UDMA 6 cards, no idea about UDMA 7 though.

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David Farkas;682 wrote: There is no way to do multiple exposures in a single capture, but you can easily do this in Photoshop with layers, with far more control than doing so in-camera.

See the following thread for an example where multiple long exposures of fireflies were easily composited against a single background:

http://www.reddotforum.com/showthread.php/44-Challenge-to-Photoshop-Users?p=92#post92

Thanks David!

I'm a really lazy photographer:D Actually I've been thinking of using some kind of multi exposure with multi flash, to capture dancing steps. If the camera superimpose a single image for me, it would be much more convenient to check on site and make changes to setting errors.

For stacking double or more still images I agree PS is so easy

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Not sure if I missed this function in the menu or not… can we do multiple exposure?

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