Dan, very nice shots! Love the abstract composition of the last shot
Gary, excellent shots with the 90 Cron Pre Asph! Great lens!!!
Doug, I am also far sighted, and I use +1.0 correction on the M9. The native correction is -0.5, and initially I had all sorts of issues focusing when I first received the M9 Getting the right dioptor for the M9, will make a big difference, more than any magnifier. Most instances all that is needed the correct dioptor
Ron, excellent comparison shots! The 50 Lux Asph almost seems boring in comparison now I do remember your excellent portrait shots, from last weekend, and I look forward to more portaits maybe
Thanks Gary. It's an interesting lens . Very nice colours again and I really like the first one - the way in which the lilac blossoms emerge from the spring green and sky blue background is very complementary. Interesting that you're 'only' getting cherry blossoms now - we had ours about two weeks early in the middle of April.
Thanks Charles - yes, the 50 Lux in comparison appears very perfect and ordinary. And, just for you, some portraits. The exception here is this time the Nikkor is on the GXR. Sorry to break the rules, but it is an M mount camera
Corralled a co-worker tonight for a few shots at near to medium distances. BTW, he has a ruddy complexion.
And at farther distance, where I feel the uniqueness of the Nikkor wanes. It could also be the background here... but I think in this case I would go for the 50 Lux or Planar for sharpness at the plane of focus.
And one last one at near distance:
Lastly:
Does anyone know if there are any 35mm focal length lenses with similar Sonnar characteristics?
Thanks Charles for the suggestion. Isn't the CV35 f/1.4 is supposed to be like a 35 Lux pre-ASPH...? I have the CV40 f/1.4 and while it has interesting (busy) background rendering in line with the Nikkor (somewhat), I still think it's more modern looking.
Great portraits again! I really like the tonality you're getting with your B&W conversions.
BTW, I seem to recall reading a while back some questions about the difference between Leica's compressed and uncompressed DNG files, and never felt I got a straight answer about those differences, until I read this just now: http://chromasoft.blogspot.ca/2012/05/leica-m-monochroms-lack-of-dng.html
Thanks Ron Yes the CV 35/1.4 SC and MC, are also more modern. Very nice lenses, particularly the CV 35/1.4 SC for B&W work. I think it is difficult to get the Sonnar look in the 35mm FL. The 35 Lux Ash V1 is a great look, much gentler bokeh than the 35 Lux FLE, and almost emulates the Sonnar look, at near to medium distances.
Charles - Yes, I'm sure you're right about the Sonnar look being more a 50mm and longer thing.
Nice one Bruno!
A huge plus of the Nikkor is it focuses to about 2 feet, though only rangefinder coupled to around 3.3. But it's a versatile option for both traditional M use and on a CSC/EVIL.
Minimum focusing distance comparison on the GXR - Nikkor 5cm vs. Summarit 5cm:
The minimum distance for the Summarit just feels so far away in comparison. One more with the Nikkor somewhere between the two distances:
I was pondering today what factors really contribute to making a lens which is "better" for B&W images. I, myself, prefer a more contrasty B&W image with deep blacks throughout. I do not really like the softer, dreamy image with more tones which are closer to one another. For instance, I feel my ZM35C and 28 Elmarit asph really good for B&W...
Charles, fantastic portraits as usual.
Ron, many great shots - my favorite is the 50 Lux shot with the stairs and the bicycle. Awesome composition
Something a bit different - a couple of shots from a modern dance rehearsal. The choreographer (aka my girlfriend) asked me to take a couple of shots for a poster. I decided to experiment a bit with long exposures. A dance theater is essentially a dark black box and as such terrible for photography. The M9 isn't exactly ideal for it either, but it was an interesting challenge:
These I took standing on a ladder, trying to get a more interesting angle:
Before the actual shoot with the dancers I spent some time with the choreographer trying to find some interesting angles to shoot from. This resulted in what was actually my favorite image from the set:
Ultimately I think I had the wrong tool for this type of shoot. A tethered DSLR, strobes, reflectors and a coupe of lighting assistants would have not gone amiss there. Still, the results were usable. #1 and #3 are the shots that will be used on the posters.
A couple of more conventional landscape shots - something more appropriate for the M9. Shot in Aarhus, Denmark. All 28 Cron. For some reason once I put that lens on, I never get the urge to switch to another
Ron,
Thanks for the info on the Diopters, I am far sighted, basically I want to see the focus lines better inside the camera.
Charles,
Thanks I think I will try a +1.0
Wow Luka, I think the theater images are great - way to think outside of the box! The Aarhus set is also wonderful - I particularly like the first one with the subtle crisscrossing diagonals.
Very nice tones and content in that B&W, Charles.
Ajay - great color!
Looks like this is turning into a 28 Cron thread.
Gary, interesting perspective on B&W. It would seem a good midtone-rich B&W image can be difficult to pull off successfully because it risks coming across as muddy. I know I printed my share of mud in the darkroom.
"One month later"
28 Cron
5cm f/1.5 Summarit:
Summarit:
I have determined that I really like early spring.
C'mon Gary, you know you want one... Everyone here seems to have broken down and bought one eventually... Charles, Luka, Joe, Ajay, the two Andrews...
Doug, meant to reply in my previous post: When I tried a bunch of the diopters, I found that the half-diopter step made little noticeable difference. If you're unsure about which to get, don't get hung up about the difference between a +1 and +1.5, for example. Also, keep in mind: the Leica M's viewfinder is preset by default to -0.5 diopters. For example, anyone wearing glasses of 1 diopter strength would require a +1.5 diopters M system correction lens.
Ajay and Ron, thanks guys
Luka, great set! Love the first shot Hard to resist the 28 Cron
Ajay, very nice painting of colour!
Ron, excellent series and examples! My favourite lens here, for its paint like rendering is the Nikkor 5cm f/1.4
I do remember your excellent portrait shots, from last weekend, and I look forward to more portaits maybe
