Thanks Shaun. I have a Canon 8800 flatbed which sucks big time for 35mm, the drug store scans are better in this respect. Sad that Nikon just stopped selling the 9000 and 5000 scanners. Am thinking of the Plustek 7600i. Which scanner did you get?
Charles, lovely beach shots. My favorite is the wedding one
Joe, that second shot is superb!
adamdewilde wrote:
Denoir - I see you shooting while the snow is falling.
How weather-sealed would you all reckon the M9 is?
How weather sealed would you think M lenses and ZM lenses would be?
I was curious as I've shot for a prolonged period with the 5DII in a misting more then a rain-fall, only really out of necessity, and it was fine.
No idea. It has not failed yet I did get it quite wet yesterday and subsequently put it away as I know it's not weather sealed. As for my two Canons on the other hand 7D & 5DII, I've used them in heavy rain, in snow, in desert dust storms without any problems (in the extreme cases I did have weather sealed lenses as well though). Last winter a friend of mine dropped his 7D + 70-200 through the ice into a lake. It took us about five minutes to fish it up. It worked flawlessly - no water had entered the camera. I would definitely not do that with an M9, but I still expect it to be able to handle a bit of rain.
The water resistance of both 5DII and M9 anecdotally has shown some samples which failed with little rain, and others which withstood a lot. I think the 7D is meant to be properly weather proofed. I would be careful, but not paranoid.
I got a really good deal. It was purchased new less than a year ago and picked up once or twice out of the box. Never really used so it's like new, not even a cosmetic scratch. Price? €2,000 which is a steal considering a new one is twice the price.
It's dark outside now and snowing so I can't try it out properly but in the mean time I'll do some technical test shots and comparisons to the 35/1.4 Distagon. I'll post some shots later.
Make sure to test for focus shift, by pre-focusing on a still-life at f/1.4 at maybe 2-3m and then shooting again without focusing at f/2.8 and f/4, on a tripod.
From the random test shots I've done, I really like what I see in terms of rendering. I'll do some side by side tests with the Zeiss 35/1.4 Distagon (Rollei) which for me is really the gold standard.
From the random test shots I've done, I really like what I see in terms of rendering. I'll do some side by side tests with the Zeiss 35/1.4 Distagon (Rollei) which for me is really the gold standard.
Congratulations, it seems that you got a good copy! There is some detectable focus shift, but within the depth of field. I really hope you like this lens. I really like it and would feel sad if you picked it apart. It isn't perfect, and can show some "interesting" boke in some situations, like around your "record player?" but after my long 35 comparo way back when, I decided that I liked it better than the alternatives, and kept mine:
Thanks Well, as far as picking apart goes, I'll definitely do some tests out of curiosity.. but I can say this much - this is the first M9 lens where I've really liked the rendering of the first test images. I have a strong feeling this may soon become my favorite lens for the M9.
carstenw wrote:
Congratulations, it seems that you got a good copy! There is some detectable focus shift, but within the depth of field. I really hope you like this lens. I really like it and would feel sad if you picked it apart. It isn't perfect, and can show some "interesting" boke in some situations, like around your "record player?" but after my long 35 comparo way back when, I decided that I liked it better than the alternatives, and kept mine:
i think that's a roomba. nice chair by the way luka.
I'd say that focus shift *is* significant from those shots, but not unmanagable. Perfect focus wide open, which I guess is the most important part when using such a lens. At f/2.8 you could probably compensate a little bit when shooting closeups. Such as focusing on the nose of a person instead of the eyes.
It would be very interesting to see a test against the ZM 35/2 too!
Close on the roomba, but it's actually an LG vacuum robot. Similar but a bit more advanced and better built. I gave up on Roombas a couple of years ago after my third one broke down. The chair is a Le Corbusier LC4 Chaise Lounge.
Makten wrote:
I'd say that focus shift *is* significant from those shots, but not unmanagable. Perfect focus wide open, which I guess is the most important part when using such a lens. At f/2.8 you could probably compensate a little bit when shooting closeups. Such as focusing on the nose of a person instead of the eyes.
Yes, perhaps I used the wrong expression. I meant significant as in significantly affecting my ability to get the focal plane in focus. The shift is more or less within the DOF so I don't have too worry much. If I want a symmetric DOF falloff, I'll have to compensate slightly.
It would be very interesting to see a test against the ZM 35/2 too!
denoir wrote:
The chair is a Le Corbusier LC4 Chaise Lounge.
I sincerely hope it is a "chaise longue" I always found these chairs stunningly beautiful and pined for one for years, but everytime I sat in one, I would feel sleepy, so I never bought one.
Close on the roomba, but it's actually an LG vacuum robot. Similar but a bit more advanced and better built. I gave up on Roombas a couple of years ago after my third one broke down. The chair is a Le Corbusier LC4 Chaise Lounge.
cool, i'll have to look into the LG's, i'm on my second roomba myself (this one is doing better than the first though).
carstenw wrote:
I sincerely hope it is a "chaise longue" I always found these chairs stunningly beautiful and pined for one for years, but everytime I sat in one, I would feel sleepy, so I never bought one.
Indeed, it's a "long chair" and not a "lounge chair".. French spelling never was my strong side
I can recommend it - very comfortable. Le Corbusier is often associated with inhumane mass urban planning which is distinctly unfair. His statement that "The house is a machine for living in." is often misunderstood. His furniture design is a good illustration of the concept. The design and form LC4 CL comes from its function. My guess is that few of his critics have ever sat in one or they would not be going on about "inhumane"
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Thanks Ryan!
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Ok, here is a first batch of comparisons. The color rendering is mostly up to the camera and the M9 has a tendency to yellow/green hues. I have not bothered correcting that - I just set the white balance manually to the same point on the image.
Test set 1: Bokeh blobs at MFD:
f/1.4:
My conclusion: At f/1.4 the Leica wins over the Rollei due to the excessive asph "onion rings" in the latter. Apart from that they are very similar.
f/2:
Conclusion: 35/2 ZE best, 35/2 ZM worst. The two f/1.4 lenses perform in principle as good as the 35/2 ZE but the weird aperture blade shaped blobs are.. well weird.
Test 2: Near MFD with closer background:
f/1.4
Conclusion: Too close too call.
f/2
Conclusion: 35/2 ZM worst, the rest are too close to call.
I'll do some more tests at other distances.. when I collect enough stuff I'll probably post it altogether in a separate thread. I might throw in a one or two zoom lenses in the mix as well..
Edgars, Joe and Luka .... Thank You Luka, the shot of young married couple on the beach is my favourite too. This couple were just walking along the beach, where I had a just to grab one shot, without being intrusive.
Shaun nice shot!
Joe, very nice shots. Love #2, the lighting and composition
Luka, congratulations on the 35 Lux I. The version II is excellent, but from rendering perspective and if you can ensure a good copy the version I is preferable IMO. So pleased that it has minimal focus shift. Reality is no lens is perfect, so having any shift fall within DOF, is great. From your shots so far, I am really liking the 35 Lux I Look forward to your next series of shots!
Carsten, thank you for the link Interesting comparison!
why can't manufacturers of expensive lenses do a better job with aperture blades (at least it's not hexagons)!?! especially rangefinder lenses that don't need to automatically open and close aperture at high speed. some cheap russian lenses have 18 aperture blades and it works great.
on a related note (this probably isn't the thread to ask) has anyone ever tried switching out the aperture of different lenses or know of a service for doing so?
I did get it quite wet yesterday and subsequently put it away as I know it's not weather sealed. As for my two Canons on the other hand 7D & 5DII, I've used them in heavy rain, in snow, in desert dust storms without any problems (in the extreme cases I did have weather sealed lenses as well though). Last winter a friend of mine dropped his 7D + 70-200 through the ice into a lake. It took us about five minutes to fish it up. It worked flawlessly - no water had entered the camera. I would definitely not do that with an M9, but I still expect it to be able to handle a bit of rain.
especially rangefinder lenses that don't need to automatically open and close aperture at high speed. some cheap russian lenses have 18 aperture blades and it works great.