Wow, thread goes slow... then quick! Thanks for the nice comments Charlie, Adam and for the likes all.
Lots of great shots and a bit of a theatrical theme the last few pages (moving on from kilts before that!)
The Thai ones remind me a bit of Kathakali from India, so alien (to my eyes) but very elegant, especially in not the coolest of conditions I'd imagine.
Welcome to this thread Jim, and congrats on your new M Looking forward to see your work. The nice thing about the M is that you will want to carry it with you everyday and document life around you.
Very nice reflections Coogee! The performers in my photos are Chinese opera actors. Indeed the ambient temperature was less than ideal
This was in a fairly tight server room working less than 1m from the subject, who was a bit on the stocky side, about which I was a bit apprehensive using an UWA due to the distortion. Of course the distortion is there, but in the first image it's not too bad (which was fixed slightly in post to remove vertical convergence). In the second I didn't expect anything of this particular perspective and almost didn't take it, expecting the straight on perspective of the same background angle to be stronger/safer. But in hindsight during the edit, I really like it a lot. First of all, it slimmed the guy considerably, and against this background it looks quite interesting.
I also shot some with 21, 28 and 35mm, but IMO, none are as interesting as the 15.
Very compelling examples of the ZM 35/1.4 Gary and Edward! Holding fast with the new Ultron for now. I've come around to its colour rendering, I think, and have been using it fairly regularly in place of the 28 Cron, if only to better learn it.
Great Chinese opera set, Edward. Especially the first image a couple pages back.
Very strong sets Allen. Really like the elements in the photo of the guy with phone on the bike with guy walking with phone in background.
coogee - interesting architectural elements/symmetry!
Joakim - great mood with the fog.
Adam - looking forward to more with the 100S. Living vicariously through your and Michael's S images (his in the MF thread).
Robert - congrats on the Q!
Charlie - great job on the theatre images.
Cal - I can smell the fall air!
Jim - looking forward to your images!
Very nice work, Ron! I'm surprised that there is no unflattering distortion going on, but you posed the subject smartly in the center with his arms close to his body. Excellent use of UWA.
Not too early really - I think I took this photo close to 7:30am... This time of year, the sun rises around 8am and sets around 6:30pm. Not much daylight for sure.
Ron - Cool server room portraits! No matter how many good CV15 pics you post, I will NOT buy that lens again (for the third time)!
Nice one Allen! You're getting some useful fill light from the screen. What did parents do only 5-10 years ago to keep their kids distracted while out?
Thanks guys! I'm glad I had the CV15 in the bag. I tend to bring it along on bigger shoots, like weddings, etc., but admittedly rarely use it. I was kind of upset when I got to the location and remembered that I didn't bring the CV12... but the 15 worked very nicely. Maybe the 12 would have been a bit too extreme?
I was about to fall back into my photo shoot comfort zone and use the Canon with either the 16-35 or 17TSE, but opted for the M instead. I hate the 16-35 (f/2.8 v.2) for any kind of technical work due to its strong distortion and poor outer performance (at least my copy), while the 17 tends to flare if there are specular light sources in the frame (i.e. I was planning to intentionally show some of the strobes in the background, or they'd be just out of the frame, which is where the 17 flares the worst).
I used the M240 in 'tourist' mode, working with live view off the rear screen for general framing while using the RF patch for focus. I quite like how the two work together because focusing UWAs with live view is usually a pain.
Here's a question for you guys... I shot some straight-on poses of the subject with a touch of downward perspective. He looks pretty good, IMO, but the converging vertical lines bug me a bit. I can live with it, but also tried some perspective correction in LR, which makes the subject's lower body a fair amount wider and his head seem smaller (he's not a slim guy by any means)...
What do you think? Does the perspective corrected version look a bit odd?
The second pic does seem a bit odd but nothing extreme. If you hadn't posted the before shot, I probably wouldn't have any objection. However, now that you pointed it out, it does look a bit out of perspective with a small head and large(r) belly. If I had to choose, I like the distortion corrected and feel it gives the image a more "professional" look. What I am not too fond of is the look it gives him. In the fist image, it gives me the feeling that he is more assertive and confident. Perhaps I am reading too much into it.... Maybe the more technically perfect second image aligns better with his (I assume) technically demanding career? 17T/S would have worked well here....
Gary love the booked background behind the dog and your daughter. Reminds me of some Petzval images not to the same extent with a bit of swirlness in the bokeh. Nice to see the shots of the blue hour in Calgary. That’s what I am missing staying up to 2AM working on my video assignment.
Charlie like the first one of the play. How there are circles featured throughout. Even the people in the background upper left implies a circle shape.
Cogee like the 2nd shot of architecture the lens and patterns. Beautiful later shot of the reflection shot of the building.
Joacim nice capture of the morning mist.
Allen the capture of the young girl against the sign would make a great slogan for an advertising shot.
Edward your shot reminds of me of Star Trek. The eyebrow application of makeup screams of Vulcan. I like the capture from behind using the mirror as the centre of attention.
Cam normally I like nature shots sans people but the 3rd one really caught my eye. Nice contrast of the person and signpost in the background. My eye is drawn to that first then the leaves on the tree and ground.
Alan the lady reaching out reminds me of the one you shared recently with the lady looking to cross the road. Nice story capture on this one.
Werner as of late due to my video work I have taken a fascination of shooting from below skywards. Nicely done.
PIngflood the Canon LTM reminds me of the nostalgic look that many crave for when using newer lenses. Nothing can give that look like an older lens. Nice.
Beauport - I’m feeling hungry. Nicely done.
Ron the 2nd earlier shot perspective from above I find very powerful. I was drawn to this right away. I get the impression from looking at the image he is larger than life, The server racks add to this with my mind playing tricks interpreting the servers as tall buildings in an urban setting with the roof tops just out of view and the street level of his feet far below, with concrete sidewalks and tiny trees and people milling about. A mindful contrast of how powerful and influential the person is in the business community. My mind wanders on this image of a man in front of servers but I like it.
Gary, your points pretty much mirror my thoughts. I prefer the perspective correction for the environment, but not what it does to him. He definitely looks better and more assertive in the uncorrected image. I don't believe the TSE would have been a better choice because the in-camera perspective correction would have rendered a similar effect on his body. I did some tests with the TSE before the shoot of my 'assistant' and at those near distances, there was a lot of weird stretching going on with body parts.
Robert - thanks! I had very much the same feeling when I first came across that image during the initial edit. It was like he was leaning against a row of buildings, as you said, with the street below and rooftops above, just out of view. The shoot was to illustrate a story about 'big data' and think that image provides a suitable illusion.
Coogee - here's a 50 Lux ASPH 'buzzsaw' bokeh shot for you. I think at f/4...
And this is the 90AA induced onion rings effect:
Finally, another server bank shot with the 50 Lux ASPH, this time wide open. Might re-crop it to cut out the one orange light at top left..
Looking forward to see your work. The nice thing about the M is that you will want to carry it with you everyday and document life around you. 
