A pivotal moment.

2015, Baseball, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!), Portrait, Q&A, Sports, Teaching point, Undisclosed Lens #1

This was photographed tonight.

It’s another colour image taken with my undisclosed lens (well, eight of you now know which lens I’m using — I’m going down the list of people who donated to my site and revealing its identity as my personal thank you).

As you can see, the rendering — even wide open — is impressive.

—Peter.

A pivotal moment

 

Reading.

Inspiration, Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!), Portrait, Q&A, Teaching point, Undisclosed Lens #1

She’s emerging from the darkness of a 6 day fever.

And with this post, I’m emerging from radio silence.  Thank you again to all who donated to the site.

As you know, I’m going down the list of donators each day and divulging the identity of my mystery lens, which can currently be purchased for less than a Leica lens hood.

This is the first colour shot I’ve created with the undisclosed lens.  I see impressive colour rendition and pulling of shadow detail, but it also helps to have the mighty M9 sensor capturing those precious photons.

On a related note, I’d like to thank the great Mr. Youxin Ye for repairing my undisclosed lens in record time and making sure the aperture and focus rings are working smoothly.  He also removed a considerable amount of dust from within the lens barrel.  Thank you Youxin!

—Peter.

Reading

Thank you to the following donators:

Inspiration, Q&A

Matteo*

Karen*

Andreas*

Thrustur*

Henry*

Gregory*

Cam*

Andrew*

George*

Harsha*

Michael*

Katharine*

張*

Steven*

Laurent*

Fin*

Warren*

Jens*

James*

Rino*

GH*

[Addendum July 14, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Patrick*

Manus*

Roel*

John*

Aaron*

Ali*

Dirk*

Ta-Chen*

Karim*

[Addendum July 15, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Ashwin*

Aivaras*

Lemuel*

Dalal*

Peter*

Gage*

[Addendum July 16, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Dhananjay*

Luis*

Morten*

Mikael*

[Addendum July 17, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

George*

Laurent*

David*

Alexandra*

[Addendum July 18, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Gavin*

Alberto*

Arize*

[Addendum July 19, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Guillermo*

Laurent*

David*

Kenneth*

[Addendum July 20, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Cuong*

Israel*

Larry*

[Addendum July 21, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Steve*

[Addendum July 22, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Jason*

Devereaux*

[Addendum July 23, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Mika*

[Addendum July 24, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Amnon*

Lucy*

Mariusz*

[Addendum July 25, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Reingard*

[Addendum July 26, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Bijan*

Sean*

Paul*

Jesse*

Kevin*

[Addendum July 27, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Paul*

[Addendum July 29, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Joseph*

[Addendum August 8, 2015 — Additional Donators:]

Nick

Alexis

Jordan

Shawn

I’m sincerely touched.

A few of you were quite generous, and a few others have also contributed in the past.  You’ve basically subsidized the site for the thousands who view it daily.  It doesn’t seem quite fair does it?

I therefore want to thank you in this additional way:

I will reveal the identity of the “undisclosed” 55-yr-old lens that I’ve been shooting with recently, so that if you’re interested in finding one, you have a good chance of getting a great copy at a very reasonable price (it currently can be found for less than the price of a Leica lens hood).

I know once I reveal the identify of the lens on this site the price will shoot up, so you have a head-start.

Starting this week, I will send a personal email to one [EDIT: several] of you, each day — in the order listed above.  Matteo will find out first.

Sincerely,

—Peter.

* = donators who have been informed of the identify of my undisclosed lens.

Closed.

Q&A

Entrance to teaching.

I will no longer be posting images, articles, or reviews.

However, previously posted content will remain, but will not be indexed.

I will resume posting when enough $1 donations are received to pay for the costs of running the site.

If that never happens, then it never happens.

For the few individuals who have been appreciative of my help over the years, you know how to reach me.

For the rest… if you’ve ever been inspired by my site, or helped by my articles or advice, please consider making a $1 contribution.

Donate to this site (button)

Thank you,

—Peter.

Summer.

2015, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica M Monochrom (CCD Lives!), Portrait, Q&A, Undisclosed Lens #1

Background info:

The focus ring on my 55-year-old inexpensive mystery lens seized up yesterday morning and no longer turns (maybe that’s why it was priced so low).

I spent the whole day moving myself backwards and forwards to achieve focus at the the precise distance where the focus ring is stuck.  I’m glad I did that for this shot.

I’ll post a few more images in the next few days.

In the interim, I need to make a decision:  do I return the lens, or do I send it somewhere for adjustment?

—Peter.

Summer

Dandelion (100% crop).

2015, Favourite, Inspiration, Leica M Monochrom (CCD Lives!), Print, Q&A, Undisclosed Lens #1

100% centre crop from a 55-year-old lens that costs less than a Leica lens filter!

(the focus point is right at the centre of the dandelion, and this was shot wide open… I kid you not.)

Dandelion 100% crop

And here is the original image (ISO = 1250, 1/180 sec, aperture = I’m not telling):

Dandelion

Pretty cool, eh?

This is a lens that most Leica shooters would likely never consider.

My guess is that it’s due for a massive price adjustment.

—Peter.

New CCD sensor from Leica?

Inspiration, Leica M Monochrom (CCD Lives!), Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!), Q&A, Teaching point

M9 Sensor - Prosophos.

Wow, this is amazing — I have to give Leica full credit for following through on this.

For those who haven’t seen the announcement, here is the link:

Latest information on the CCD sensors of the Leica M9 / M9-P / M Monochrom and M-E camera models.

CCD sensor lovers, rejoice!

—Peter.

Related:  An Open Letter to Leica