HDR and Panoramic Photos

Many use the Leica M9 (or any other M-series) for street / portrait / candid photography. I also see lots of questions about the M9 in combination with nature / landscape photography. No idea why they ask these questions, because the Leica M-system is just as capable of shooting landscapes as any other camera.

The first photo is an 8 photo panorama shot from the hand (in manual mode). The second photo is a 3 exposure HDR (-2EV, 0EV, +2EV). Also shot without a tripod.

So, if anyone tells you that a Leica M-system camera isn't suitable for anything else than street / candid / portrait / documentary photography doesn't know what he/she is talking about. The limitation is the photographer. Not the equipment.

iPhone 4S versus Leica M9

Today I enjoyed a small walk in (foggy) Heidestein (Zeist) with my M9. During this short break I took a couple of photos with my (new) iPhone 4S and the M9. Standing in the same position with comparable focal lengths (35mm). The (Adobe Photoshop Lightroom screenshot) results are shown below.

Mind you that the M9 delivered RAW DNG files, while the iPhone coughs up JPEG files.

The one thing that really shows is the noise in the iPhone versions of the photos.

On a lighter matter, I also snapped two photos using Instagram on the iPhone 4S. Again, results below.

This app rocks on the iPhone 4S

Leica M9 Firmware Update

In September I reported that there were some issues with the Leica M9(-P) and certain SD memory cards (SanDisk in particular). They released an update for this problem in the beginning of November.

Last week they released another update for the SD card problem. Something to do with the initialization (formating) of some cards. The update (v1.176) for the Leica M9 (and M9-P) can be downloaded from the Leica Service pages.

Bug fixes:

• Fix of a seldom-occurring error when initializing the SD-card.
  With that firmware update, we revoke the constrictions made with respect to the compatible cards. Generally speaking, the Leica M9/M9-P is compatible with any SD card that is in accordance with the respective standards. Unfortunately, it is impossible to test the compatibility of every single card of every single supplier. All cards available from SanDisk have been compatibility-tested and the firmware version 1.1.76 ensures their proper function.

I must mention that I didn't have any problems after the v1.174 firmware update, and I haven't run into problems with this one as well.

Leica Summilux-M 50mm Sharpness

Last week, I headed out for an early morning walk. Playing a bit with my new Leica Summilux-M 50mm Asph, I was amazed by the sharpness of this lens at f/1.4. The following image was taken at the minimum focussing distance (~0.7m);

Frozen Heath @ 50mm f/1.4Viewing a part @ 100% shows a small hair 'caught' by the heath branch;

100% magnificationI must admit that it took 'some' luck to capture this, but it shows the quality of this lens @ f/1.4

Carl Zeiss and Leica 50mm Lens Comparisson

When I got the Leica M9, the Leica Summilux 50mm was nowhere to found. So, at the time, I 'settled' for the Carl Zeiss (CZ) C Sonnar 1.5/50mm ZM lens instead, and entered the world of the Leica waiting-list.

A couple of weeks back I got the call that the latest version of the Summilux was available, and so I bought it. Up till now, I have both the Leica and the CZ 50mm version. The CZ version hasn't been used since (and has been put up for sale this weekend).

Two weeks ago, I decided to put the CZ and Leica lens next to each other in a small (non scientific) comparison. The settings were the following:

• ISO 160
• Auto white balance
• Aperture priority
• All photos taken with a cable release

The following samples first show the entire (smaller) image. You can click the image to see the full size JPEG (clean export from Adobe Lightroom with default settings). After that, there's a 100% (left-top-ccorner) crop and a 100% center crop.

Samples are given for the following apertures: 1.4/1.5, 2, 2.8, and 4 (the ZIP files at the end contain all the files till f/16). The Carl Zeiss lens first, followed by the Leica lens, and so on.....

Click to read more ...

Leica M9 @ Night

Last Tuesday was initially the first time I took my M9 out at night. I've no idea why this didn't happen any sooner..... As you all know, the M9 isn't famous for its high-ISO performance. Basically anything over ISO 800 is really grainy (I prefer the term grainy over noise, since I convert most of my photos into black and white).

I went out with the M9, the 50mm Summilux, Carl Zeiss 28mm f/2.8, and my tripod and below are some of the results.

Click to read more ...

The Leica M, and Will I Get One?

Leica MLeica announced the new Leica M rangefinder camera earlier this week. It wasn't named the M10, but just M. The new rangefinder will have:

• 24Mpix CMOS sensor
• Better ISO performance
• Live-view with focus peaking
• Movie-mode (max. 1080p@25fps)
• Better dynamic range
• Bigger and better LCD screen
• Leica R Lens compatible (with optional adapter)
• Optional Electronic Viewfinder
• Optional Grip with extra features (external flash, power, usb, etc.)

The price will be around the original M9 pricing (€6800), and available in the beginning of 2013. The price is a steep figure compared to other (dSLR) camera's, but that shouldn't be a surprise. In hindsight, the price is lower what the rumors predicted (around €8000).

Will I want one? Sure, but not before the camera is on the market for at least a year, so that the firmware has matured, and all the annoyances/bugs are fully documented.

With the purchase of a new Leica M, I fear that I have to sell my Nikon gear (along with the current M9 off-course). This is more of a sentimental issue, since I hardly use the Nikon anyway. I use my M9 >95% of the time.

So keep an eye on this blog, to see if I'm really gonna get me a Leica M within the next two years (or so).