Awesome shots Charles! The third shot is my favorite - really beautiful composition & colors.
Apart from the convenient size, what's your initial impression of the M9?
vallejo: Most of the script is specific for my system so it wouldn't be of much general use. The only really general code there is the one doing the XMP/Exif ripping. If you (or anybody else) want it, send me a PM and I'll send it to you.
Thanks Luka
Love the M9 with the ZM lenses. I also have a second hand Leica lens 90/2.8 Elmarit, nice but does not compare to the ZM rendering and feel IMO. You basically have a FF camera that is fun to use. It took me a few hours to get used of the rangefinder focusing, but it very easy particularly coming with MF from DSLR. Obviously it does not replace the 5DII for very low light. But for most situations, I will only take the M9.
It is an amazing camera to use. There are some minor negatives, but so has the 5DII, but it is very intuitive in functionality.
charles.K wrote:
Thanks Luka
Love the M9 with the ZM lenses. I also have a second hand Leica lens 90/2.8 Elmarit, nice but does not compare to the ZM rendering and feel IMO. You basically have a FF camera that is fun to use. It took me a few hours to get used of the rangefinder focusing, but it very easy particularly coming with MF from DSLR. Obviously it does not replace the 5DII for very low light. But for most situations, I will only take the M9.
It is an amazing camera to use. There are some minor negatives, but so has the 5DII, but it is very intuitive in functionality....Show more →
Yes, it is a very nice camera and there are some fantastic Leica lenses to go with it - the 50 & 24 Summilux ASPH's to name two.
I was sorely tempted by it recently but decided against buying it for now. I would love a more compact FF camera than the 5DII but I'd like one that has both an optical viewfinder and live view - something that unfortunately doesn't exist yet. As I like using a tripod and live view on the camera, I would have still used the 5DII for 90% of my photography so getting the M9 would have been hard to justify at it's current price point. Still, very very tempting. At half the price I would not have hesitated but €6,000 for the body and two or three €3,000 Leica lenses -> more than €15,000.. well then I would have wanted to be sure that I would use it a lot.
Anyway, congrats on the camera, and looking forward to more pictures from it!
You are right, there are times when only the 5DII will do.
I was fortunate, the price was about 2/3, and with the ZM lenses it became a reality. I only now, realize how functional it is. I was reading all the reviews, fore warned of the negatives, no live view, smaller 2.5", but yet for the FF Kodak sensor with great lenses I have no regrets....yet.
Charles...congrats. I have recently been looking at my current kit and trying to find out how can I get a M9 with spending just a little bit. Then I come back to reality. One day....long from now I was thinking M8 a few months back because the price is right but there are so many one-off issues with that camera that it just doesn't make sense. I guess I will wait for an M10 before I can purchase the M9
Denoir - Great shots as usual. Really love the beetle and tall grass.
Guys quick question. When using ND filters, or GRAD filters what do you use?
I want something that doesn't degrade quality hopefully not by much anyway.
Basically was thinking of getting the basic COKIN Creative System, it's like $10 + $15 for each filter size stepdown, then I was thinking first about getting some ND filters, but wasn't sure if Cokin filters were the way to go, wanted to preserve sharpness etc. Thinking more LEE for the filters themselves? Any suggestions? What do you all use with your Zeiss glass, and how does it work IQ wise?
Thanks Adam. I have lee filters and the lee foundation kit. I used Cokin filters a lot with the Canon 16-35 but they led to a significant degradation in image quality with the Zeiss 21.
So I got a set of lee filters instead. Unlike the Cokins, they don't degrade the image quality but make the lens very susceptible to flare. I have not used the lees much though - just a couple of tests after I got them.
These last shots with the 100MP were great especially the field of tall grass with the forest background. And the macro one convinced me of the versatility of this lens. It will clearly be my second ZE lens.
Thanks for sharing all these great photos and for providing such useful exif data.
Denoir, great set! The favourites are 1, 3 and 4. Love the bokeh on #3 and #4.
Adam, have tried the Cokin filters once, as I could not obtain ND or GRAD filters in the larger filter size for the 82mm. Now I have just opted for the Hoya 8x ND. The 400X is virtually impossible to find filters in this size. Must try out the LEE filters.
Denoir wow wow and wow!!! astounding numbers 1, 2, and 5, you are reaching very high heights, the rendering, sharpening and composition on number 1 and 5 are out of this world. In the 1 the trees just jumps of the screen, and in the 5 the composition and all the very fine textures have made my day
thank you very much!!
Adam - I'm using the Lee system with my ZE21 and ZE50.
The lee system allows you to customise the filter holder for how ever many filters you want, this helps with wide lenses like the ZE21 as you can just configure one filter slot to reduce the risk of vignetting. Also the lee system has standard and wide-angle adaptor rings, these again reduce the risk of vignetting.
I used to have the basic cokin P setup and ended up going for lee because the quality of the filters, holders and just about everything else is miles better than the cokin.
The lee grads are supurb and can come with hard or soft transition, soft is good for general use and is more user friendly. I have the proglass ND and 10 stop ND and these too are very good.
