I have a long series below. It is an old hospital that is next to the main park in downtown Savannah. I love this building. Great character. I have shot the outside many times before but never walked in. It has always been fully boarded up and I don't want to be the one breaking the windows to get in....so when I saw someone else did the job for me I had to peak in.
A little history: The old Candler Hospital was founded in 1808 and was the first hospital in the state of Georgia. Candler Hospital relocated about 20 years ago across town and the building has been vacant since. Back in the 1800's, this hospital was used as a Union hospital as well as a hospital where thousands of patients died of Yellow Fever. It has also been used as an insane asylum. At the height of Savannah's greatest Yellow Fever epidemic, 276 people died in just 24 hours. Over the course of several years, over 10% of Savannah's population died each year from Yellow Fever.
On to the pics. All taken with M8 & Cron 35 ASPH EXCEPT first two. I only went on the second floor on the west side of the buidling. There were hallways leading to the other areas but I had my wife and kid in the car and was by myself....didn't trust what was beyond the main area. I would love to go back and explore if someone else was with me
I like the B/W equally as much
self portrait
what was somebody cleaning
Edit: One note. If I didn't have a Leica I wouldn't have taken these pics. I have been taking my M8 with me everywhere lately which I didn't do with my Nikon D700. When using the Nikon I generally wouldn't take it out to lunch or anything not planned but the Leica is so nice and light that I take it everywhere. This was NOT a planned destination and I only happened to see that someone broke out the board in the front when we were walking by. I decided to peak in and my wife (gotta love her) told me she would let me go in for a few minutes while she stayed in the car with the kid
Cory, nice capture of the bridge #3. Love the rendering on that shot.
KL, very nice and colorful set!
Ryan, I think I need to go down South to Savannah some day for a shoot. Very nice set, I love all these old abandoned buildings. My fav are #2 of the stairs and the 2nd last B&W.
jsrockit, very nice set. My fav are #1 (very nice composition), the dancing couple and the B&W wndow shot!
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For those of you on the fence with SEP2, I'll say don't wait and just buy it. Worth every cent! I'm having so much fun redoing B&W conversions of earlier shots. Some of the new sliders (for example light and dark contrast tools) make it so much easier to extract tones from the negatives (umm, I mean files).
Here's a repost of a shot I posted in color last year. M9 35CronIV
Here's another comparison of SEP2 and SEP1, a re-post of a shot a few pages back. I had difficulty extracting details of the clouds with LR3 or SEP1. With SEP2, just a few clicks and I see a marked improvement.
Joe, you seem to get along nicely with Silver Efex Pro 2, great b&w conversions.
Silken, great sailing photo.
jsrockit, nice set.
Ryan, #3 and the one with the green paint is my favourites here, also several with that excellent 35 cron rendering.
edwin_sn, nice photos from the festival, love the colours.
Ryan, great urban decay series, my favorite is the paint bucket shott.
jsrockit, I really like the two window shots.
Silken, nice boat shots - makes me long for summer
Joe, great street captures. I see you are enjoying SEP2. I really like your conversions but I'd skip the generated frames.
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My 75 Cron left for Solms today (broken aperture ring), but I grabbed a few last snaps with it before letting it go:
However, I did not leave the camera store (where I left it to be sent to Leica) empty handed. Camera stores can be dangerous places. There was a 90 Cron (pre-ASPH) just sitting there, looking at me with it's big puppy dog eye..
Result:
Unfortunately it was already getting pretty dark outside so I only got off a couple of snaps:
Back at the office I also tried it out as a portrait lens on a colleague:
A funny thing with the lens - it's not 6 bit coded but the M9 thinks it is as there is a screw in the mount where the 6 bit coding would have been. The M9 thinks it's an 90mm Tele-Elmarit f/2.8. I compared a few different profiles including the one for the 90 Cron II and the 90 Cron AA but the Tele-Elmarit profile actually produced the best result. I had initially thought to eventually send it to Leica for coding, but it would seem it's not necessary.
denoir wrote:
A funny thing with the lens - it's not 6 bit coded but the M9 thinks it is as there is a screw in the mount where the 6 bit coding would have been.
Nice shots with nice colour rendition and rendering. It looks quite sharp, with perhaps a hint of CA visible in the clock.
Luka, great shots! I like the last 90 best. How do you feel about needing a magnifier? Is it necessary? Is it that much more difficult to use than the 75? I am undecided as to what I want to do with the long end. Money aside a 75 Cron ASPH looks great. Thinking with my wallet...don't know if I want a 75 Summarit, 90 Elmarit-M or 90 Cron preASPH such as you got.
Ryan, with my vast experience of the 90 Cron (about 10 shots total so far), I'll try to answer your questions
I don't know if it is more difficult than the 75. I expect it to be. The focus ring is much stiffer though which might add some control. As for a magnifier, I've never used one and it's not a practical option for me. I have a diopter correction lens on the viewfinder and using a magnifier would mean having to constantly having to remove the diopter and put it back. It's tiny, and a finger print magnet so it's not something you'd want to do on a regular basis.
Doh, my M9 + 90 Cron just fell to the floor from my desk (assisted by my elbow). It looks OK, and at a first glance the range finder seems still to be correctly calibrated. Stupid. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. It's the first tumble the M9 has taken so far.
Thanks Joakim & Luka I'm addicted to SEP2 and the new frames
Luka, sorry to hear about the 75Cron, hope it comes back soon. Hope the M9 is OK as well. The 90Cron shots are very nice, like the rendering a lot. Camera shops are dangerous, but this thread is also somewhat dangerous
Edwin - Opo! Our family moved from there when I was 14… Great shots from the festival. Great catch on the smile of the girl in green.
rsolti - great photos from the abandoned hospital. I like the hole in the brick wall that is shot through the hole in the wall the most.
jsrockit - love the shot of the guy in the doorway with the mannequins outside.
Silken - I have the same habit with crooked shots. Though I'm sure everyone would have a hard time with getting straight shots when they're on a swaying platform like you were on a boat!
Luka - can't wait to see the shots you'll be making with the 90. Hope your M9 is okay.
Here's a couple more South America fotos. Sorry if the PP is not very good. I just started learning PP and LR3.
Great pics all!
Luka, sorry to hear about the fall. Fingers crossed no damage to your beloved m9 and new-pre-loved lens. Great pics btw!
Ryan, love the urban decay shots - The 35 cron is lovely!
jsrockit - lovely shots
Joe- love the reposted pic!
A couple more from my 90 APO (via focus bracketing as i have not gotten my RF aligned yet) and my latest fav lens, the Zeiss 21mm
SilverFX Pro v2 conversion
Finally, some food pics - this is Poh Loh Pau (deliciously sinful)
The M9 is fine - I've done a bunch of focus tests and the rangefinder is still aligned.
Joe, nice capture!
Nomadic, nice shots. I like #1 best.¨
KL, great shots!
joe88 wrote:
I think the nice thing about the M8/M9 is that you don't really need too much pp to get nice colors.
Could that be because you only do B/W shots?
Personally, I think the M9 colors are just awful (greenish-puke-yellow ektachrome-like) with the standard camera profiles and without additional adjustments. The overall contrast is also typically too low. With a 5DII + Zeiss image I typically need zero post processing while with the M9 I almost always have to change stuff around. That's not always bad though - I've improved my post processing skills and since I have to work with the file anyway I can get it exactly like I want it, rather than just settling for the "good enough" Canon colors. The M9 DNG files are also much more pliable than Canon CR2 files, especially in the shadows.
Example of M9 vs 5DII vs Processed M9 - this was a small test I did yesterday to compare the Zeiss 100 MP bokeh to the 75 Cron bokeh. Adobe camera profiles were used in both cases to equalize things.
Thank you Cory, very nice shots! I really like #3.
Edwin, very nice shots. My favs are #1 and 4.
Ryan, excellent series of shots! Great stuff. The secret to having the right gear, is does it enhance your ability to go out there and just take shots. I quite often, go out with the M9 and single lens to a location with no concept in mind other than to find the right lighting, and then look for the shots
jsrocket, nice series of shots! I like #3 and 4 here
Joe, very nice series. Great stuff with the SEP 2.
Luka, excellent set of shots again! I love the rendering with the 90 Cron Pre. There is a dream like quality to the shots which is just magic. Any lens can be sharp, but to have both qualities...wow. I definitely prefer your shots with the 90 Cron Pre
Joe, love the composition to this shot! Neat
Nomadic, nice shots!
KL, very nice shots! I love the portrait shot both colour and B&W best with the 90 Cron
Luka, yes I dropped my M9 and 50 Lux about 3 months ago, and the setup went to the Camera Clinic to be readjusted. If you are going to use the gear all time, just one of pitfalls to be very wary about. I must admit now, everytime I pick up the M9 now, I wrap the strap around my wrist without fail.
I agree,the PP workflow is critical to getting the most from the M9. Since the WB with the M9 can be variable at times, having a really well calibrated monitor is also crucial. The colours and detail obtainable exceeds that of my 5DII CR2 file, IMO, but there are a lot more workflow steps required to getting it right with the M9. I have recently re PP some of the old 5DII files for magazines, and I feel the images just don't have the bite or clarity that I am now getting from the M9. I must qualify this statement, as the lenses then being used were the L series lenses.
Luka, great set... first one is my fave... hope your M9 is ok.. how much did you pay for the 90mm? my next lens is either 75/90, looks like a tough decision
rsolti, lovign the b&w conversions
singletrack, nice portrait
nomadic, liking the contrast on those shots.. very sharp too
charles.K wrote:
Luka, yes I dropped my M9 and 50 Lux about 3 months ago, and the setup went to the Camera Clinic to be readjusted. If you are going to use the gear all time, just one of pitfalls to be very wary about. I must admit now, everytime I pick up the M9 now, I wrap the strap around my wrist without fail.
It looks like I was lucky. It wasn't a dramatic fall, but the rangefinder is very sensitive. You don't have to actually drop the camera to get it misaligned. However, I've checked now and the focus with the 90 Cron is spot on.
charles.K wrote:
I agree,the PP workflow is critical to getting the most from the M9. Since the WB with the M9 can be variable at times, having a really well calibrated monitor is also crucial. The colours and detail obtainable exceeds that of my 5DII CR2 file, IMO, but there are a lot more workflow steps required to getting it right with the M9. I have recently re PP some of the old 5DII files for magazines, and I feel the images just don't have the bite or clarity that I am now getting from the M9. I must qualify this statement, as the lenses then being used were the L series lenses. ...Show more →
Yep, now after being used to routinely PP:ing my M9 files, I'm unpleasantly surprised when I try to do the same to a 5DII file. Fortunately it isn't usually required but you don't have the same latitude with the Canon files. The shadows are an especially weak area. In good light and with good lenses on both, I've found the detail to be comparable, perhaps with a slight advantage to the M9. Since you have the same amount of detail in an 18 megapixel shot instead of a 21 megapixel, the per pixel detail is higher and the M9 images look much crisper at 100%.
onaujee wrote:
hope your M9 is ok.. how much did you pay for the 90mm? my next lens is either 75/90, looks like a tough decision
I paid about €1,100 =~ 1600 USD. It's a relatively old lens - made in 1984 according to the serial number - but in excellent shape. The glass is perfect and there are virtually no scratches or marks on the body. I'm not sure it is useful as a reference though as lenses are as a rule quite a bit more expensive in Sweden than in the US. Ours is a very small market and you take what you can get.
