[Leica] Nine more E-330 images...

[bdcolen at comcast.net (B. D. Colen)]

Thanks, Scott. To answer your questions -
After a couple weeks of working with the camera I find that my initial
impressions were right:
*This is new sensor is a big improvement over its predecessor, in terms of
the look of the images produced, and the noise levels. These images are not
creamy smooth and clean like Canon images, but then neither were the images
I shot on film. Quite frankly, I prefer the look of the images this sensor
is producing to those produced by the Canon. Yes, I hope that in future
iterations there is a bit more noise suppression at 1600 iso, and that they
get the sensitivity back up to the 3200 on the E1;
*The in-camera black and white mode/conversion is spot-on-perfect as far as
I'm concerned. I really hope that I convince someone at Olympus to tell me
what the channel mixer setting equivalents are for this, because I do want
to go back to shooting RAW, but I want this look;
*Having the "live-view" LCD is a real boon for the kind of shooting I do -
this as close to the ideal street camera as I've seen yet.
*The "live-view" sensor is fairly dark, and when shooting in really low
light it's hard to see. Also, it will be much improved if they adjust things
so that the view on the "live-sensor" responds to changes in exposure
settings;
*The ergonomics of this 'odd' body are quite good - definitely better than
the E-330;
*I want Olympus to produce a real, coupled rangefinder built on this body -
take out the mirror box and drop in the RD2 rangefinder, provide coupling
adapters for the lenses, make it possible to use the rangefinder for short
lenses - and make it possible to focus manually on the "live-view" LCD.
Allow autofocus, with viewing via the LCD. I know, some of that might be
tough, but I seem to recall people - Leica engineers among them - saying it
would be impossible to produce an M rangefinder for various technical
reasons that were beyond my understanding, and lo and behold...

Now, subway shooting...I've been doing this on a daily basis for nine months
now, and I have yet to have anyone threaten me, or even tell me not to shoot
them. I've had people try to melt away; I've had people look away; and I've
gotten some none-to-pleasant looks from some people. But generally, people
just ignore me. One thing to keep in mind is that I am ridding the
fully-employed, getting-good-benefits, the-world-isn't-too-awful-a-place
routes, so that may account for some of the lack of aggression. On the other
hand, I don't get hassled anywhere I shoot. I really think it has to do with
demeanor and knowing how to be a fly-on-the-wall.

B. D.


On 3/18/06 11:51 AM, "Scott Gregory" <s_gregory1@mac.com> wrote:

> B.D.
> 
> I agree with what Ted is saying and the quality that seems quite apparent 
> on
> my screen with the E-330 shots (B+W) that you have been posting. The 
> overall
> impression in the tones, blacks vs. grey and lighter colours seems to be
> popping off the screen in this case. And from what I understand, you are 
> not
> doing that much tweaking of the shots in photoshop! What are your thoughts 
> now
> at this point, since you've been using the camera for several weeks?
> 
> For anyone who has not checked out Gary Todoroff's Blog on this camera, it 
> has
> been very interesting to follow along and see some of the shots he has 
> done.
> 
> 
> B.D. a quick question regarding the train shooting you are involved with. 
> Has
> anyone come up to you and told you to shove that camera somewhere not too
> nice? It seems that people just don't care what you are doing except the 
> odd
> person who catches a glimpse and is not sure whether to smile or frown? 
> But in
> my experience not everyone is so nonchalant when it comes to pointing a 
> camera
> at them.
> 
> Thanks for posting these pics, I'll look forward to seeing more of the
> apparent quality from this new camera.
> 
> Scott Gregory
> London, Ontario
> 
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