Here is a gem of a lens... if Internet rumors can be trusted, even Zeiss admits that this is the sharpest lens they've ever made. Although I'm not a person that's big on sharpness, even I had to do a double-take when I viewed some of its images at 100% and marvel at its incredible details. Also, as much as I love a fast aperture, I felt it's a bit unnecessary on a wide angle lens since I'm most likely not going to try to isolate my subjects. I think it will take me a while to get use to this wide view, but I accept the challenge to incorporate more of the scene in my images.
I've been contemplating to try a focal length that's a bit wider than 35mm. With 50mm being my favorite focal length, I'm used to picking out a single subject and separating it from the background. If you remember my previous post about shooting pictures with more depth, perhaps a wider field of view will encourage me to work more with the entire scene.
Here is a gem of a lens... if Internet rumors can be trusted, even Zeiss admits that this is the sharpest lens they've ever made. Although I'm not a person that's big on sharpness, even I had to do a double-take when I viewed some of its images at 100% and marvel at its incredible details. Also, as much as I love a fast aperture, I felt it's a bit unnecessary on a wide angle lens since I'm most likely not going to try to isolate my subjects. I think it will take me a while to get use to this wide view, but I accept the challenge to incorporate more of the scene in my images.
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Things in my pockets today... Following my decision to sell the Olympus OM-D EM-5, I've picked up this little gem of a camera as my M9 companion. It was only a month ago, how I praised the OM-D complimented the M9... it's still true, but I didn't realize that it also overlapped the M9 in many areas, which caused me to rethink (see last post). I'm still looking for the same features: fast auto-focus, zoom lens, macro, video. All of them are now satisfied by the Sony RX100, in addition, it's also very pocketable! What I have done, is to remove the overlapping areas with the M9: no additional lenses to acquire, no fight for spaces in my bag, image quality no where near the M9. The last one may sound funny, but here's my logic... Since the small point-and-shoot (P&S) is in a completely different league from the M9, I'd never have to debate with myself which one to bring (bring both!) or which one to use. This should help me concentrate my photography on the M9 and I will only use the RX100 sparingly or when situation requires. taken with my cellphone... I've been shooting with both cameras for the past month or so... and I had convinced myself that the OMD was a good compliment to the M9 because of auto-focus, zoom lenses, macro, and video. However, in practice, I find that it's competing with the M9 in many ways. First, I have a smallish camera bag, the Domke F-5XB. It has enough room to pack both cameras, but leaves no room for additional lenses. I find it extremely bothersome because I don't want to carry a bigger bag, and I don't want to feel like I'm sacrificing something by not having the right lens with me. Since the OMD with PL25+hood actually take up more room than the M9 with 50'Lux, I feel like I'm not feeling the "compactness" I'm suppose to get from the m4/3 system. I realized that I have my camera straps setup a bit unconventional, so I thought I share it since it's working out great for me. Normally, people connect the neck straps to either side of the camera, so when not in use, the camera hangs around the middle in front. I find it a bit inconvenient since I have a 3 year old that I need to keep an eye on, and I don't want the camera to bash his head too often :) So, I often like a sling-style strap so the camera hangs off to the side, out of the way, and easier to conceal inside a jacket. Of course, you can do that with the conventional way by just putting one arm inside the strap loop. However, I also love to use the wrist strap with the M9, so I need to be able to disconnect the camera from the neck/sling strap. In fact, most of the time when I'm walking about, I have the wrist strap on and the camera on my right hand so I'm ready to catch the decisive moment. The wrist strap use up one side, and leave the other side for my sling-style strap. I found the OP/TECH USA quick disconnect camera strap connectors to be very versatile. Since it's just a thin nylon string and the M9 is quite heavy, I double it up and it doesn't make it that much more difficult to attach or disconnect. Here's a more close-up image: As great of a camera as I think the Leica M9 is, I'd be a fool to think that it'll be the only camera I'll ever need. The M9 has many well known weaknesses:
Originally, I was going to name this blog "LeicaLust", for obvious reasons... After getting a clearer head, I thought "Lux" is a better word since it means "light", which is very relevant to photography, and it's also the short name for the Summilux line of lenses from Leica. So, finally, I own the lens that I've named my blog after, how exciting!
This is just a quick unboxing post, as it will probably take me a few months to really acquaint myself with this lens and give a full review. Some say this is the best 50mm lens ever made (before the recent release of the 50mm Summicron APO)... I certainly hope so! Here are a few quick snaps: This is the second 50mm M-mount lens I've ever owned. The first dual-range 50mm Summicron does not play well with the M9, so I've sold it to buy this lens. Now that I'm pondering on a 50mm Summilux ASPH, I figured I better write something to document this lens before I'm forced to sell it. I know I will miss it, for its small size, light weight, and the most wonderful bokeh. The lens is not without its faults, which I will cover and share my experiences of how to deal with them. This is a lens with a legendary reputation. I believe it was Mike Johnston, who crowned it the "King of Bokeh" [HERE], for it's smooth transition and rendering of the out-of-focus area. I, of course, could not pass up the chance of owning one, even if it's just for the opportunity to try it out. I bought it when I was still shooting with the Sony NEX camera, and it was perfect because due to the 1.5 sensor crop factor, it gave me the 50mm standard field of view. Being a 50mm-FOV type of guy, I don't use it as much with the M9, unless I find myself needing a wide angle lens. I hope one day I will learn to use the 35mm FOV better and use it more.
So I've been shooting out of my car a lot... and noticed quite a few dirty spots on the images. Although I'm pretty sure they are from my dirty windshield, I decided to check my sensor anyway. After replacing a fresh battery and put the camera in sensor cleaning mode, there was something on the sensor that couldn't be blown away with a blower. So, I searched around and ordered a sensor cleaning kit from Visible Dust.
The package just arrived today! I bought it used online from a fella in Seattle, Ashwin Rao, whom you may recognize from various blogs and forums. I can hardly contain my excitement as I recorded this unboxing video. I bet you've never seen an unboxing video for used products before :) Well, I just wanted to document this historic day, and to me, I could have been unboxing a new M10 and still wouldn't be more happy.
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AuthorDavid Young Archives
May 2023
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