[Leica] Some time with an M8

[philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent)]

The contrejour of the boy looking through the window is simply  
beautifully crafted.
Did you work on the side view of the (I suppose) Library stairs? As  
if you pushed the borders of every step in the blacks.
I liked the mammoth, too. Made me think in a certain way of a shot I  
did not very long ago in Rotterdam, of a dinosaur.
<http://www.fullflavor.be/Rotterdam/slides/F1000033.html>
The Samovar (or is it just a magnum bottle?) is very inviting, and  
the 2 boy portraits following that are great, too.
As is the tyre abstract.
Then there is this movie exerpt like shot. Compelling, too.
Quite a harvest, I'd say. And so many different photography styles.
Thanks for showing,
Philippe


Op 29-jan-07, om 15:52 heeft Wade Heninger het volgende geschreven:

> So, post battery-troubles, I finally got to spend some quality time  
> with my
> M8.  We were heading to Victoria for a bit of work and some family  
> time, so
> I was excited to put the camera thru my normal paces...
>
> I popped in a 4 gig Transcend card, attached my TA soft release,  
> charged all
> three batteries and mounted my trusty Summicron 50 (sans IR filter)  
> and
> began shooting - on the ferry, on various walks, in the hotel, and  
> at the
> various places we visited.
>
> So after about 800 exposures, I can state I'm quite happy with the  
> camera.
> It works mostly like I had my M6 in hand, which is more than I can  
> say for
> any other digital I've ever had.  I *love* having my summicron back  
> pointing
> at the world and I love having an M in hand again.  I pretty much  
> ignored
> everything except the shutter aperture and the ISO - what bliss.   
> It just
> feels right in my hand and I'm swooning - its so good to be back  
> shooting an
> M after those awful DSLR monsters.  Good riddance (well for 90% of my
> shooting anyhow).
>
> Random observations in a quaint "stream of consciousness" fashion:
>
> I do find the shutter a bit different than the M6 - I like the old  
> shutter
> sound better, but its nothing to get up tight about.  I completely  
> forgot
> about the fact that it is a bit thicker after 2 minutes.  I love  
> the Set
> menu for shooting parameters (less clutter for the good stuff).   
> The buffer
> is big and while you can catch up to it, its hard, and you can wait  
> a few
> seconds and continue tacking onto the queue. DNG rocks - makes it much
> easier to manage the Raw file (and its archival)! I've set it to  
> show the
> preview for a few seconds in B/W too (that may be a firmware bug,  
> but I hope
> they never fix it).  No problems with the on/off switch getting moved
> back/forth.  My frame selector is a bit sticky for some reason, but  
> I'm
> going to just ignore it for awhile.  The 50 Summicron is a bit too  
> tight, so
> I just ordered a used 35mm Summicron. I'm going to consider Tom's  
> grip when
> it comes out as well. The soft release is made for this camera - I  
> got some
> sharp shots at 1/8. I can put at least 300 exposures on the card  
> before its
> time to change the battery (wish just this one part could be like the
> Nikons) but its acceptable.
>
> But here is the best part: when I loaded them into Lightroom and  
> converted
> them to b/w (which is mostly what I plan to do) they just popped - it
> reminded me again why I use Leica lenses.  Sharp, contrasty, and they
> require so little mucking with (unlike the Nikon stuff I've been  
> messing
> with while waiting for the M8).  The ISO at 160/320 is fine  
> grained.  640
> and 1250 is a bit grainier and totally acceptable.  2500 is hit/ 
> miss, but I
> didn't usually shoot at that with film, so I'm happy.  Will print a  
> few when
> I get back, but I have no reason to doubt they'll look as good on  
> paper as
> on screen.  I've not looked at the color at all - probably won't -  
> and as
> soon as I can get a "always preview in B/W" option in Lightroom, I'll
> probably never see it so the IR and WB issues just are not an issue  
> for me.
>
> Here are a few pictures:
>
> http://www.heninger.org/gallery/victoria/
>
> Enjoy...
>
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> w a d e  h e n i n g e r
> u s e r  e x p e r i e n c e
> a d o b e  s y s t e m s ,  i n c
>
>
>
>
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