The Photography Thread

[Gareth C]

You don't want to know!

Actually they cost something close to ?3000 new...very silly. I got mine with a load of extras for over a grand off. Still expensive but once I sold off some of the duplicate bits and bobs I now have the overall cost goes down more.

Truth is that I plan to have this camera for a good few years. The image quality is brilliant and I LOVE using it. My other Digital Rangefinder is the Epson R-D1 but they have serious reliability problems. At least with Leica you know they are going to keep supporting it (unless they go bankrupt which wouldn't be unfeasible). Also it has a 3 year passport (cover). I was going to sell my R-D1 as well but I now think I will keep it as a back-up. They are both so light and small that carrying two cameras around with different lenses is very doable.

Anyway, its still a rip-off however I try and cover it..but I totally love it. Digital SLR's don't really do it for me as an everyday camera. Saying that I will get a D200 at some point...money, money, money.

[Gareth C]

Hope you get your money's worth from it - I can't imagine it was that cheap second hand given they're about £3K new. I not sure they're really worth the premium, but if you've got the mulah ..

It was an impulse buy...lots going on personally at the moment so i decided to treat myself (even though I probably didn't deserve it)!

The real problem is that there isn't much option. There are only two Digital RF's around and I'm not going back to film. I love using RF's much the same way that I loved SLR's until they became huge bulky computers and lenses did away with aperture rings, DOF markings and easy manual focus. I have played with lots of excellent Nikon and Canon lenses recently which provide great images but I just don't like using as much. Also, RF lenses can produce incredible results at a fraction of the size of SLR lenses.

Of course it has serious draw backs; no zoom, no macro (at least not easily) and nothing much over 90mm. But thats why I will get a DSLR at some point but won't use very much.

[MartyG]

Aye, I've seen some excellent sharp stuff taken with them - I've also seen stuff on flickr where people would have been better off with a P&S

[Gareth C]

Aye, I've seen some excellent sharp stuff taken with them - I've also seen stuff on flickr where people would have been better off with a P&S

Too right, some of my 'best' shots are mostly with my P&S.. Mind you, sharp is overated...just take a look at Henri Cartier-Bresson!

But like I said, its all in the 'taking'...

[Magnakai]

Ooooh! Very, very, very, very, very, very, very nice Gareth. Very very nice indeed.
Can I come round and ogle it? I won't touch. Promise. They're just so pretty...

I have in my head that a 35 or 50 mm lens on a Leica is the perfect camera setup. Compact and powerful.

Mind you, sharp is overated...just take a look at Henri Cartier-Bresson!

Too damn right. This is the one problem with Flickr - people tend to be very hung up on taking the technically perfect picture.

This guy is one of my favourite photographers right now. When he's on point, his pics are amazing. His colour ones at night are wonderful - he really captures that dreamy urban glow. Have a look in his archives.

[Gareth C]

I have in my head that a 35 or 50 mm lens on a Leica is the perfect camera setup. Compact and powerful.

Spot on! My 35mm summicron pretty much lived on my R-D1 and with a lesser crop factor on the M8 it will be even better. More lenses still to acquire of course Really want to pick up the Voigtlander 15mm and eventually the Summilux 75mm.

The real end goal of course is a Noctilux...

[Alastair]

...will def share them as soon as I can. Wont be tonight as I have my first photography class

Got up really early today, rather than going to work early I processed 4 shots from the battlejam.

But first, photography class. It was pretty basic stuff really but it's always good to go over the technical side of things again, sure there's plenty I can learn. 90% of the class were people that had just spent fortunes on DSLR's but had literally no idea how to use them, even putting them in manual focus was beyond some of them. The teacher obviously loves photography and makes her living from it which is a massive plus from my side, wouldn't have liked it if she was just someone 'knowledgeable'. We looked at some pictures she had chosen to get us thinking and all had a good chat. Funnily, there were 3 other people from my floor at work there, don't know them to talk to but I guess I do now!

ET - That's not a beard!

Pictures then:
A popper or a locker, I couldn't tell the difference tbh!


Funky Drummer


Attitude


Smooth moves (she was fit!)

[funkydan]

Love that last shot - class!

"I is concentratin' on ma moves and strokin' me babylons cos I is STREET, innit - word!"

[Alastair]

Wow Dan, where did you learn to be so cool and 'down with the kids'?

[funkydan]

I gotz all ma mad skillz from da master of kool:

[Magnakai]

So I've taken temporary possession of a cute little Fuji Finepix F31fd... and blimey, if it isn't quite a decent little camera.
The low light performance is meant to be class-leading, but it's the general speed of the thing that's so enjoyable. Shutter lag is virtually non-existent and image quality is suprisingly good. No RAW mode, and the auto mode is next to useless. There's no manual focus option, which is less of a surprise on a camera this size.

I've only taken about 10 images with it, as the memory card hasn't arrived and it's just using the inbuilt memory.

Examples so far:

A self-portrait in the bathroom mirror (hence the multiple reflections)




This one's completely unprocessed. I just saved it with the colour profile to give you a plain, straight out the camera image:


And for the beardy shot:



I wish I had a beardier one to give you, but I shaved it all off. Still, that's only two and a half days growth. Feel it and weep! I do...

So far, the pics straight out of the camera aren't always perfect, though i've only taken a handful of shots so far, so it's impossible to make absolute judgments like that.
I'm using it to shoot the Dour Festival in Belgium over the weekend, so I'll let you know how it fares in that. Hopefully I'll get some worthwhile pics.

[MartyG]

The F31 certainly has a good rep. The Exilim Z-850 I have is pretty much instant start up and zero shutter lag too, and is also an impressive little camera. They're not bad these Point & Shoots.

I took this pic earlier with the Olympus C-350Z P&S I also have, which cost me about £30 off eBay.



Same pic with a bit of post processing to it:

[Gareth C]

Magnakai,The last shot is nice, some good tones there.

Alastair & Dan, Do I detect flirting again?

[funkydan]

get ya mind out of the gutter Gareth!

Anyway, as promised, here are some of the photos of the World Inferno Friendship Society









Grainy as f**k but I love it:





This girl was something else - a little crusty, but very beautiful. A very talented bass player who played a 5 string! I liked her, hence all the shots of her!

[MartyG]

Nice shots.