Circling somewhere over NY state waiting to land at EWR..
I always feel kind of guilty about taking photos at this time because everyone is supposed to turn off all electronic devices... but it's usually at this time when the better opportunities present themselves. Here at least the Leica is small and quiet. Truth be told, I leave my iPod on during the entire flight anyway (though remove the earbud from one ear during this time)... so far I haven't crashed a plane... or been punched by an upset 68-year-old passenger.
I always feel kind of guilty about taking photos at this time because everyone is supposed to turn off all electronic devices... but it's usually at this time when the better opportunities present themselves. Here at least the Leica is small and quiet. Truth be told, I leave my iPod on during the entire flight anyway (though remove the earbud from one ear during this time)... so far I haven't crashed a plane... or been punched by an upset 68-year-old passenger.
Maybe I would disagree when I was in the same plane, but it was worth it! Great picture.
KL, great shots!!! Love the feel to the shots I really like #2.
With respect to wet cleaning, if you are not confident don't has been the general advice given on the different forums. Generally only time you need to wet clean is if the dust or particulate matter is adhered to the sensor surface. I am not yet confident wet cleaning, and for a minimal cost I have just the local camera repair centre do the wet clean under the micro scope. Rest of the time I just use a blower with the M9 upside down. I do have eclipse wipes and they do have worked well so far, when I had no other option.
Ron, very nice shot! Great rendering to the clouds Great B&W conversion too
Ron, the B&W gives the impression that you had a red filter on the camera, nice!
+1
I have not been shooting anything the past couple of days, but I'll be changing that rather soon. I'm off to Egypt for a week tomorrow and I expect to take a few snaps now and then
Anyway, in terms of gear this trip will be very different from my last one. This is what the travel gear selection looked like then:
And this is what it looks like now:
The M9 + five lenses (ZM18, ZM25, ZM50/1.5, 35 Lux ASPH and 75 Cron). I won't be taking my laptop but will rely on an iPad instead. Other items include a total of 3xbatteries, 3x16 gb memory cards and 2xbattery chargers. I'll also take along my light Gitzo 1541T tripod and Acratech ball head. I won't be bringing the tripod along for daytrips. It's for one occasion only - an evening in the desert that promises some cool night scenes for which I need a tripod.
All essentials except the tripod fit comfortably in a Domke F-803 shoulder bag.
For image storage I'll have a large (750gb) and a smaller (200gb SSD) drive. As I won't have a laptop, I'll rely on borrowing one from my travel companions to do the image transfer. In principle I could use the iPad for backup but I prefer to have multiple copies of the images. I may also bring along the X1 as a backup compact but I have not decided on that yet. There are also various logistical items that I'll be bringing along (sensor cleaning kit, micro fiber cloth, card readers etc) but it's nothing heavy and nothing that I have to carry around with me.
In short I'll be travelling much lighter than previously and the kit is far more compact. The M9 + all five lenses take up about as much space and weigh as much as my 70-200/II lens alone. So it's going to be nice not to feel like pack mule this time!
Both Gitzo and ballhead look overkill for the M9. You could save some weight there if you were willing to spend the money, but maybe it isn't worth it for the night shots in the desert.
Too late now as I'm going tomorrow, but to be honest I don't see the need. The Gitzo is really light - I think it weighs slightly more than the 75 Cron. It's AFIK the lightest carbon fiber tripod of that size currently on the market.
There are somewhat smaller ballheads, but it's not too heavy - about the same weight as a 35 Lux. The benefit is of course that I can use the same system for the M9, my DSLRs and even the medium format Pentax 67.
So the tripod + ballhead costs me in weight as two RF lenses, which I find to be very reasonable price.
One more portrait of my son.
@Ron, I am in Boston for a year of fellowship at MGH and unfortunately don't get to shoot as much as I would want to. My son is one I love to shoot for portrait but he is not with me right now and I get to shoot his photos only when I go home.
Joe, I've packed the X1 as well. It takes up very little space and it's good to have a backup camera. I would really like not to have to use it though.
Regarding tripod, a tabletop version or clamp won't help me in the desert. Remember, I'm primarily a landscape shooter - a solid, tall enough tripod with a precise ballhead is almost more important to me than the camera Still, I expect only to use it away from the hotel one evening. I thought about bringing along the 5DII just for that occasion but in the end decided to risk it with just the M9. For this particular trip weight and size trumps live view. Apart from that evening/night in the desert the tripod will stay in the hotel room.
Have a great trip Luka! One great thing about the M is that when you set the lenses at infinity, they're at infinity (though I suppose the ZE lenses are like that too), so live view might not be as critical a loss... though of course it also depends on what you're photographing. Good choice on taking along the X1. If it was me, I'd be very nervous about traveling with only one camera. The NEX, though it's too late now, might be a worthy backup consideration since it will be similar to bringing along an M8, without actually bringing one.
Agreed that it's a pretty dramatic change in gear between the before and now images... I guess when you have all those nice ZE and other alt lenses you want to bring them along. For me I found that two bodies (1D series in my case), 16-35, 70-200 f/4L IS, 50L, 85L, TS-E 17 and 1.4x cover most of my travel needs. The M9 now pretty much replaces the second 1D and 16-35, though I still bring that lens because it's useful in certain situations. Looking forward I'm cautiously optimistic that I could pare down the DSLR portion to a single body and the new 70-300 and cover the rest with the Leica.
Vikrant: The great thing about owning an M8/M9 is it's small and you can take it nearly anywhere with you, therefore you should. Use it to make photos during what previously would have been non-photo times. I'd like to see more Summarit images, but they don't have to be all of your son or family. Anything will do to provide some variety of images to give a broader sense of how the lens performs. Of course, at your convenience. From what you've posted so far it seems to be a very nice performer. Have your samples all been at f/2.5?
A couple more airport shots in Newark Terminal C... can't decide which composition I like better...
Thanks Ron! I'm in Egypt now, probably at the most vulgar place on earth, a hotel complex near Hurghada at the red sea. It's just awful and really not suitable for photography. But tomorrow I'm off to the desert, then on tuesday to Cairo and two days later to Luxor. So things will get interesting very soon.
Sorry for not being more verbose but I'm hand crafting each character on an ipad. Pictures when I get home.
denoir wrote:
I'm in Egypt now, ...It's just awful...
Luka I guess I'm late to say I hope you wouldn't be disappointed...
I like your pictures and hope you'll be able to shoot something
interesting there. But next time pick a better destination
I didn't mean that Egypt is awful, just the tourist resorts by the red sea. It's just a temporary base of operations, I had no expections there. This is not Egypt - it's just a huge resort complex. I have great hopes and expectations for the trip to the desert, Cairo and of course Luxor.
