[Leica] Slowly we learn, step by step, about the Nocti and the M8

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Bill Larsen offered:

>>> I am not terribly good at low light photography and I haven't mastered
the intricacy of the M8 yet.This picture was taken when it was so dark that
I really couldn't see well enough to focus, much less walk without a
flashlight.

> 

> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Bill+Larsen/L1000580.jpg.html

> 

> I have learned not to take the M8 over 640 asa... make the exposure
corrections in camera raw....and set the shutter speed to something that I
can actually hand handle (which isn't 1/15th second)  This pix is much
brighter than my eyes remember.  Is that a no-no to our people that actually

> have ethics about this?  And do I correct the light balance to not reflect
that the light was from a single 12 volt light on the side of a
trailer?<<<<<<<<

Hi Bill,

Hey don't sweat it good buddy it works like this. "If you can see it. You
can shoot it!" :-) Looks like you've just become a "Knight of the Noctilux
Light!" :-) 

The Noctilux is a fabulous lens, the more you use it at f1.0 the easier it
becomes in handling. Not only that, "you'll come up with magical images the
likes you've never shot before!"

Give yourself a kind of "available darkness" assignment and deliberately
shoot subjects at f1.0 when they turn you on as this shot did and does the
viewers.

When it works as you've shown here, it creates a very nice gut feeling of
success. Show no fear, the Noctilux is here! Go forth and shoot where others
fear to tread without a "Twinkie light!" 

Don't think whether it'll work or not when your gut is screaming "SHOOT!" Do
just that and be pleasantly surprised!

Good hunting!

ted