36 x 24.

Inspiration, Leica 24mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica 50mm Noctilux f/0.95, Portrait, Q&A, Teaching point

How large a print can you make from an M9 file?

Well, the largest I’ve printed for clients is 36 x 24 inches:

24 x 36 M9 50 Summilux

Even at this large a size, the detail from the M9 and the 50mm Summilux combo used to create the image above is impressive.

However, yesterday I tried doing this for the first time with two other lenses:  the 24mm Summilux (f/1.4) and and the 50mm Noctilux (f/0.95).  Truth be told, I wasn’t expecting anything near as good as what I get from the technically brilliant 50 Summilux ASPH.

We’ll I’m happy to report that I was wrong.  They not only did well, they did exceptionally well — I was astounded to see how much detail the 24 Summilux and 50 Noctilux produce at their widest apertures.

But in the age of phone and tablet image viewing, most people will never encounter an actual print, let alone a 36 x 24 print.  So what does 36 x 24 actually look like?  I thought I’d show you with a little demonstration:

(please click on the image to view at MAXIMUM size and detail)

24 x 36 size demo

—Peter.

Guest Post: Afghan Family Life in the 1960s.

Film, Guest Post, Inspiration

Earlier this week, Gullalai Salimi forwarded these photographs to me.  They were taken by her late father, back when Gullalai was a child growing up in Afghanistan.  Afghan society was more tolerant in the 1960s, and so the country she knew 50 years ago bears little resemblance to the modern-day incarnation.

With her permission, I digitally scanned Gullalai‘s original film photographs and decided to post the images here because I thought they may be of general interest to the viewership of this site.

—Peter.

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Afghanistan 1

Afghanistan 2

Afghanistan 3