Edward, I can sympathize somewhat from my brief trips to Taiwan where often it was hazy sky. I was given a Taiwan picture book as a gift and the picture-postcard images were all blue sky scenes. I guess every few days a year the haze lifts and the photographers all rush out for nice landscape photos. I'm joking of course.
Joakim, That's quite some history to the stadium! Will it simply be torn down? The site of our stadium was that of the first Commonwealth Games in 1930 (then known as the British Empire Games), but the stadium had been rebuilt at least once.
Ron, I like the colors in no. 1 and the composition and moment in no. 2
About blue skies, it's exactly what you say, no kidding Whenever we get blue skies in Bangkok, I skip work and go out shooting. All postcards I have seen locally have electric blue skies, which of course are added in Photoshop, or taken by very patient photographers
Ron, it will definitely not be teared down because it's been marked as a "Cultural memory" (not sure how it translates) which means it must remains exactly the way it is or at least the exterior. Actually that was one of the reasons my club had to look for another solution because, even though they tried, it was impossible to expand the number of seats or build better facilities for selling foods and drinks etc which meant it was hard to maintain healthy finances.
rscheffler wrote:
...Mitch the 21 Lux does require more focus precision for exact focus wide open, but it's going to be nowhere near the same as any longer lens. It's still fairly forgiving at most street-scene distances but depth of field will still be pretty shallow. I have no experience with the 21 Elmarit versions, but when I started off with the M9 and ZM21/2.8 found that f/2.8 was sometimes fairly limiting for indoor/night hand held scenes. While one can hand hold such a lens at fairly low shutter speeds, the problem is often subject movement and the extra couple stops from the Lux helps a lot with the M9. It's definitely a large and heavy lens, at least for the M system. I posted some street scenes at night from a local event in this thread about a year ago here. There are additional images in a second post down the page......Show more →
Looking at your pictures with the Summilux-21 in p.526 #1 it's interesting to see how one can avoid the "lens" look of a super-wide angle lens by closing up the back plane in the picture, as opposed having the perspective go off into infinity, as in the second picture in p.526 #3, which has that wide-angle look. People often feel that 21mm is too wide but, by closing off the back plane and occasionally not doing so, gives you a lot of flexibility. This also goes for the 28mm lenses. Along this line, the first picture below is shot with the Summicron-28, which, in my view, doesn't have a wide-angle feel to it, compared to the second picture shot with the Summilux-50.
BTW, how you decide between the Summilux-21 and the Summilux-24? I have the Summicron-28 and the Elmarit-21 ASPH so, logicality, I should consider the Summilux-24 but emotionally I'm leaning to the Summilux-21, although I've never shot with a 24mm lens...
Adam, Ron and Edward, thank you very much, and thank you for all the likes too
Ron, great series with strong design of geometric shapes and composition!
Mitch, very nice evening set! The 21 FL in your hands will no doubt work magic. I personally find the 21 in the streets of Asia, it is very hard to isolate compositions as there is so much peripheral objects and colours.
Edward/Ron, I actually love the tropic hazy skies and the magenta/yellow tones I think this is only time, when you can head out after 10am in the morning and still have the wonderful soft light. Compare this to the harsh Australian lighting, great skies but the lighting on a clear day has so much contrast, it is virtually impossible to take any portraits outside.
Charles, love that #3 and #4 shot.
Ron, the school kids going up in ROM is so nice, what a color!
Mitch, #1 is excellent. I will only choose focal length and speed(as needed) for #1 priority than lens performance as 2nd!
Edward, My comments is really not about which one I feel more real or not, but which one I enjoy to look for particular picture. If you want some extra freedom on sky, simply turn down luminance of blue channel, adjust hue/saturation of green, Aqua, and Blue will easily deal with problem sea or sky color without mess up skin tone, which is more difficult to deal with, usually. Sounds complicated, but less than 1 min job if you get more experience with it.
With recent added 6D, and also compare to D700, I really appreciate M9's sensor performance more and more. not better or worse, but just a pleasure to see/deal with it.
Here is the final installment of the color night pictures taken at ISO 640 and "pushed" in Lightroom 5, to complement the set I posted in xxx, which followed up on the set in yyy. In doing black and white, I basically like expressionist photography, but have always felt that I never went far enough in that direction, always holding back somewhat towards "reality" — and in color holding back even more because colors can get weird very fast, not going where you want them to, when you try something unusual. So you can see where I'm coming from with all these night pictures: not only can night pictures, sometimes lit by several different type if light, create beautiful colors, but our vision at night can create some shimmering effects that can be well represented by grain, and has been done so in color film photography for a long time.
A year or so ago, I started a thread on RFF in which I was trying to achieve "expressive color" with the Ricoh GXR and, eventually, when I got the M-Module for that camera, I settled down to developing with Raw Photo Processor (RPP) and its Kodachrome preset. Not bad, but it often required a lot of effort for the processing. My experience with the M9 is that I can get to the type of color that U want much more easily; and the night pictures in my postings for this series shows me that high ISO is not that much of a problem, as I am not looking for noise-free pictures in 100% views on the monitor but am only concerned how prints will look. All this lessens my interest in the M240.
All the pictures in these pictures are taken in a narrow street, where people live in one and two-storey wooden houses with their shops and living rooms on on the ground floor, open to the streets. Comments, both positive and negative are welcome.
Pictures 4 and 5, which are pushed the most unfortunately look somewhat grainier and rougher in gradation in the JPGs than they do in Lightroom, as does No. 3 to a lesser extent: presumably the JPG compression has this effect. Picture 4 was taken at f/1.4 and I didn't have time to focus because the subject was doing up her plastic bag and was just walking away from the stand. I am beginning to like the o-o-f effect, but not yet entirely convinced by this image; nor am I entirely convinced by no. 5.
Charles, I would have to think long and hard before getting the Summilux-21. My chance to do so will soon come, as I'll be in Paris for about six weeks from August 20. The ex-VAT cost there is a lot cheaper than in Thailand and about US$1,000 less than in the US — and we won't even talk about Oz, mate.
zhangyue, I like the composition of the B&W photo but for my taste, it needs more contrast.
—Mitch/Bangkok Bangkok Obvious [WIP] Eggleston said that he was "at war with the obvious"...
Gary, 90Cron looks good, all excellent. 2nd and 3rd shots from the first set are my favorites.
Michael, glad your 50Lux ASPH is back in time for your vacation. Those wide open shots look excellent!
Phil, another excellent shot with the CV21 1.8.
Charles, more excellent shots! 3rd shot is superb, love it.
Ron, more excellent shots from the museum, love the one with the children walking up the stairs. You've covered some great angles on this shoot!
Mitch, yes grain not noise . More excellent night shots. I like #1 & 2 from the first post on p.738, and #1 & 7 from the second set the best. I think if you use LR4 or 5 you might consider dialing in more color noise reduction or additional spot noise reduction on the red edges or very bright areas on the skin tone? The luminance "grain" doesn't bother me but the red "grain" on second set on #4,5 & 7, especially on the edges is quite obvious. Maybe its the web downsizing making it look worse, but I agree, best way to check is to make a few test prints and see how they look. BTW, you can also push your Monochrom files like what you did on the M9. I have posted a few samples earlier on shot at ISO320 and pushed all the way to ISO6400 or 10,000 and the files held up quite well, but with some NR applied.
Mitch, my preference is for #2 followed by 5 and 7 in your most recent post above, and the 28 Cron image in the prior post. The missed focus of #4 doesn't really bother me so much like the out of focus image did in the first set, perhaps because there is something in focus on the table..
As for why I chose the 21 Lux over the 24... I like 21mm. I've shot the Canon 16-35 on APS-H size sensors (Canon 1D series) from about 2002 until very recently, and it became a very familiar angle of view for me. The 24 Lux didn't appeal as much because I could already get such a lens from Canon, though much larger in size. Until the Voigtlander 21/1.8, the Lux was very unique at that focal length for being able to create considerably more subject/background isolation than the 'standard' 21mm lenses and f/1.4 has been useful with the M9. I figure, if I'm a bit loose at 21mm, I can crop to a 24mm field of view. After about 2.5 years, I've pretty much settled on a 21/28/50/90 lens set as 'standard' for my M9 kit.
BTW, I read through Thorsten Overgaard's M240 running review and agree with him about the 21 Lux (about 2/3 down the page) vs. the 21 SEM, which is almost too perfect a lens. The Lux has character/imperfections that can be creatively useful and find it shares a wide open look/feel with the 50 Lux ASPH.
Very nice Gary!
Joe, very clean, both technically and the lens. Could be a for sale ad... should I check the B&S shortly?
OK, one last one from the ROM. I uploaded it with the others already posted, but was having second thoughts about it... 21 Lux:
Mitch, very nice low light shots! I must admit I do not err from using 2500 ISO on the M9P with the 50 Nocti for night shots. I have tried pushing 640 ISO, but I still find more color noise to contend with. I don't mind luminescence noise, but color noise with mixed lighting drives me crazy.
Michael, very nice low light images
Gary, very nice capture! Love the 90 Cron PreAA. I think it is one of my favorites for rendering.
Joe, love the Oly lenses! I feel they are very underrated, and most people overlook them.
Ron, really nice shot! Master of the WA's
Charles, great to see you back. Hopefully you are able to get out and go shoot more now!
Ron, really enjoy the series from the ROM. The 21 Lux looks to be an ideal indoor lens. I need to go find some interiors to use the CV 21 in
Phil, another nice one from the CV 21....the MM looks fantastic!
Mitch, another nice set of night shots. I really like #1 & #2 from above. From your images I would think the 21 Lux would be excellent. I think it would pair really nice with the 28 Cron where the 24 Lux would be very close
some more from the 50 Nokton II
one from the 135 Tele-Elmar....135 is not my cup of tea but this one worked
I have been doing a ton of comparison shots to get a better feel for several lenses....the two I have probably been comparing the most are the Canon 100 f/2 and Nikon 85 f/2. These two lenses are both excellent, and hard to find fault with. The Canon definitely has a more modern feel to it but the Nikon has some great character. The Canon is razor sharp even wide open. I love it. I have probably used over a dozen 75mm+ lenses on the Leica, there is no doubt the Canon is what I have been looking for. The Canon is quite a bit bigger/heavier, but it isn't *that* bad . No sharpening on the images below, just getting a feel of the look
Canon 100 f/2
Nikon 85 f/2
few Canon shots to get the feel of it....all wide open
dof is razor thin...but it nailed this shot, focus was on the feeder
a few of you are more than familiar with the Nikon 85....but here are a few wide open
Ron, are you shooting M240 now? Also, Ryan is it? I have a hard time keeping up with what camera folks are shooting, since I am not always active here or anywhere all the time.
Regarding comment on the Canon being more modern feeling than Nikon 85, are you talking about an 85 1.4D, rather than an 85 1.4G? The G is the new lens, of course, there are also 85 1.8 lenses.
I did take a family portrait recently, shot of course with Nikon, since my M9 is sitting on the tray. (Glass on glass if you will...)
I use the Leica bag for my 90mm, the rest of my lenses all have their zipper pouches: I think my 90 busted a dot off, and it's gone. I need a red dot to affix.
24/35/50 FLE Lux, 75 APO ASPH Cron mounted, and 90 Cron at far left:
Doug: a very fine collection! Wondering how you're getting along with the 50/75/90 grouping as it feels quite close. Do you sometimes opt for a 35/75 outing and other times 24/50/90, etc.?
I'm still with the M9. M240 will likely be 2014. Did a major Canon purchase and the recent 1950s glass GAS.
Ryan, thanks for the comparison images! I've long been very curious about the Canon 100/2, though unfortunately the price seems to be about double the longer Nikon LTMs and pushing into Leica territory (i.e. 90 Cron pre-AA). So far based on what you've posted and my experience with the Canon 35/2 and 50/1.4, it would seem Canon's lenses from that era (late 50s-60s) are fairly well corrected. The Nokton 50/1.5 II is looking great in your hands!
I am really still finding my way around the collection, as the 50 and 75 are both added focal lengths in the last 2 to 3 months it is true they are pretty close I guess. I also changed from 35 cron to 35 lux. I'm broke! Normally, I think 35-75 will be my go to lenses, 24 when I really need wide, (I would probably have gotten a 21, if I had thought this through better) and 50 when I just feel like a 50. The 90 I haven't used much honestly, but it wasn't a bad value to have around. I don't remember what I paid, but I got it a year or 2 ago. I should break the old girl in a bit. Other than having a Noct, this lens collection is more than enough for me. Like you, thinking 2014 maybe for a M 240, should they become available for a determined person at retail. I haven't shot as much as I would have liked this year, we've had 45-46" of rain this year.
There was something you shot That first stair shot, I thought might be the M 240, I guess I was wrong! Ryan must be shooting it shooting Nikon and Canon glass.
I'm joking of course.
Whenever we get blue skies in Bangkok, I skip work and go out shooting. All postcards I have seen locally have electric blue skies, which of course are added in Photoshop, or taken by very patient photographers 
. More excellent night shots. I like #1 & 2 from the first post on p.738, and #1 & 7 from the second set the best. I think if you use LR4 or 5 you might consider dialing in more color noise reduction or additional spot noise reduction on the red edges or very bright areas on the skin tone? The luminance "grain" doesn't bother me but the red "grain" on second set on #4,5 & 7, especially on the edges is quite obvious. Maybe its the web downsizing making it look worse, but I agree, best way to check is to make a few test prints and see how they look. BTW, you can also push your Monochrom files like what you did on the M9. I have posted a few samples earlier on shot at ISO320 and pushed all the way to ISO6400 or 10,000 and the files held up quite well, but with some NR applied.
