So it’s been… three whole days? and here I am with my second blog post with photos I’ve shot in the last 48 hours. That should tell you all you need to know about how I feel about the new rig, but here, an analogy, because why the hell not:
Have you ever ridden a bike? And you’ve been going for a while, but you’re not tired yet, and for a moment the wind gusts at your back or the terrain levels out, and you and the bike just meld together and it doesn’t really feel like there’s any separation between what you want to do and where the bike goes? Just a sort of joy in the moment? It’s like that.
So even though these aren’t perfect, my hit rate is way up and the way I feel about shooting with the Leica: yeah, it’s like that. Click click click. Some of these have been on instagram, but cropped, which is against my religion, so here they are as they’re meant to be seen. I know this is a lot of street shots, but that’s where I’m at right now. Should have some good times with people I know better and can maybe make some real portraits over the weekend. Now, to work on my odd salon talk.
Posted on 2018-08-31T06:00:10Z GMT
I’ve had the camera now for just over 12 hours, and I have to say I’m liking it a lot so far. This is important, because as you may remember, I wasn’t a huge fan of it the last time; I had a rental last Xmas and ended up sending it back early because I just didn’t click with it. But, then 6 months of shooting with the CLE happened, and also I looked back at that week of shooting, and really decided I liked what shooting a rangefinder did for my photography. So, I consulted the photo gods and took out a chunk of my 401k and did the deed.
I have a couple lenses also coming soon, that should make the shooting experience even better: a 50mm f/1.4 Leica Summilux and a 15mm Voightlander Heliar. These were all shot with my only M lens that’s worth having a cover filter on, the 40mm f/1.4 Voightlander. (I have another, the 50mm f/1.2 Canon, but it has a chip out of one of the rear elements, which causes bad veiling flare; it’s basically a sentimental thing I can’t get rid of).
So: All those caveats taken as given: I love it. The shutter sound is better than you’ve heard. Recordings online don’t do it justice. In fact, the moment I heard it I knew this was the camera I needed to have. I’m still getting a feel for the machine and getting all the menu stuff dialed in. Auto ISO is hit or miss; there may be a setting for minumum shutter speed I’m missing, but really I don’t mind setting that manually; I’ve never really trusted the auto on any camera (edit: found the setting, still don’t know how much I’ll use it).
Sundry: The focusing, viewfinder, and everything else are exactly what you’d expect for just shy of $8k: the best possible. The rapid-fire mode is amusing but I don’t see myself using it too often. The touch screen is OK but not great. It’s not an iPhone, but the double tap to zoom is handy, as is the keyboard, even if it is a little fiddly.
I really wish there was a way to copy photos over wifi that didn’t involve the phone; like I was complaining on masto, it would be nice if the card would be available as a shared NFS drive or something like that. It’s a tiny bit of extra software work. I might make a client myself if I can snoop on the traffic between the app and the camera; or even a FUSE driver. I’ll post more later, maybe in a week, after all the wedding photos are posted.
Memorial for Nia Wilson. 
Sophie took this one. She thought it wasn’t good, probably because it looked hella underexposed in the camera, but it came back just fine in lightroom. I look pissed but that’s really just my face, I promise. 
Posted on 2018-08-28T07:05:35Z GMT
Just pushing these off the top of the queue… I’ve got a ton more wedding things, but I figured I’d break things up. These are from before the wedding, shooting with the little film camera. I’m also going to put together a little post of photos from the new whip here soon. Like right now.
Posted on 2018-08-28T06:44:45Z GMT
