[Leica] I'm Back - Panos from Europe

[cummer at netvigator.com (Howard Cummer)]

Hi Luggers,
Last night I got to sleep in my own Hong Kong bed again after 162  
days. Filling the time in retirement sometimes feels like hard work!
After Photokina wife Esther and I traveled to Italy and France. I  
took along my Novoflex pano equipment but lost the bushing that sizes  
the bubble level platin from 1/2 to 3/8 so couldn't use the damn  
thing on the tripod that I had brought. I just hauled all that heavy  
weight around from one place to another. I used my M8 and Nikon D700  
as the mood struck me - the M8 for nights and interiors and the Nikon  
for just about everything else. Its better high ISO performance  
compensated for the slower lenses in most cases. Next time (if there  
is a next time given what is happening to my retirement portfolio!) I  
will take only one system - likely the Nikon as it is the most  
versatile. From what I saw at Photokina I may add some Zeiss lenses  
to the Nikon kit if and when they are available in HK.
I have posted a few panos in a new folder in the LUG gallery. Please  
have a look.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/Photos+from+Europe/

http://tinyurl.com/5ucctl

These were taken mostly with the M8 and the 24 Elmarit in vertical  
format and then stitched together in CS2. One is taken with the Canon  
G9 - and a couple with the Nikon D700 and the 50 f1.4. One problem  
with the M8, not experienced with the D700, was dust spots on the  
sensor which showed up when I stopped down to increase depth of  
field. That required quite a bit of spotting in Photoshop not  
required with the Nikon photos due to the 700's auto cleaning  
feature. I have one persistent spot on the M8 sensor which is going  
to require wet cleaning sometime this week.
Enjoy,
Cheers
Howard