Inspiration

Christmas Passed.

2020, 2021, Favourite, Film, Inspiration, Kodak Portra 400, Leica M2, Leica M2-R, Portrait, Scanner - Plustek 8200i, Voigtländer 35mm f/1.7 Ultron Aspherical, Within 200 feet of My House™

Or:

“2021 meets 2020”

As you can tell, this image was taken in December.  That’s when I started shooting this roll of film — a roll of film I just couldn’t finish off no matter how hard I tried.  Call it a lack of motivation or just a copious serving of laziness.

Anyway, I wasn’t sure how it was all going to turn out because I chanced two things here:

  1. The development chemicals.  They were mixed in August.  That’s right, they’re six months old!  I’m sure that violates the code of conduct of the C-41 Developers Guild.  In any case, it’s an affront to decency.
  2. The lens.  It’s the Voigtländer 35/1.7 Ultron.  I hadn’t used it before, so this is the first (“test”) roll with it.

I usually like to minimize the presence of variables but this time I introduced two.

Fortunately, everything looks good.

—Peter.

↑ Leica M2-R, Voigtländer 35mm Ultron f/1.7, Kodak Portra 400, and Plustek 8200i.

By way of comparison…

2021, Favourite, Fujifilm GFX 100S, Inspiration, Q&A, Teaching point

The dimensions of the newly-announced Fujifilm GFX 100S, as compared to the Nikon D850 (images courtesy of the comparison site camerasize.com).  The Fuji of course is a mirrorless camera with a larger sensor, and the Nikon a DSLR with a smaller sensor.

Each has their pros and cons and this is an apples-to-oranges comparison, but I did it for my own purposes and thought I would share.

—Peter.

A few colourful observations.

2021, Inspiration, Q&A, Teaching point

As is well known by now, I loved the colours coming out of the M9/M9P/M-E (and M8) series of Leica cameras.

I disliked the colours from the M240 (note: I am being polite with my language).

I found the colours of the M10/M10P to be a significant improvement over the M240, but still short of the M9 and M8.

The colours coming out the new M10-R are a step down from the M10/M10-P.  Something weird is going on there.

Interestingly, I find the colours from the Leica SL line of cameras to be superior to their M counterparts, and also to the Nikon Z line of cameras I’ve previously owned.

I’m telling you this because I have nothing else to share, photographically speaking.  We’re in another Covid-19 lock-down and in my M2-R sits a roll of Portra 400 that I started a month ago.

—Peter.

Leica M9.

2020, Inspiration, Leica M9(P)/M-E (CCD Lives!)

11 years after its introduction, the Leica M9 continues to stand out.

In this video, we see it hold its own against the Hasselblad X1D, which has a larger and more modern sensor.

Imagine what would have been possible if CCD technology had continued developing?

My Open Letter to Leica ultimately fell on deaf ears (Leica never acknowledged  it, and quite a few individuals in the Leica community openly ridiculed it).  For those of you who signed it, time has proven you were on to something.  As for the rest, you can still sign it, if you’ve had a change of heart 🙂

We, the fans of the M9 sensor, may not have gotten what we wanted, but years later the camera that was introduced in 9/9/2009 continues to prove to the world why it’s so special.

—Peter.