Recently I purchase the new Leica M. Updating my Leica M9. With all digital cameras I have owned in the past 12 years and used professionally i have tended to push them as far as they go. There really is no point pussy footing around. I really can’t stand the comments about noise, It is like grain. For me if a picture has depth, atmosphere and compelling subject matter you are there. This recent project I undertook was at a family retreat on Dartmoor in England. I was there with my two boys, my partner and her children. The kids ran feral and we had time to relax. The images were taken for no particular reason. Purely because I love making pictures. For me it is meditation and immensely enjoyable. At the end of the week I was able to paste them together to make some kind of narrative . An insight into the weeks events. I think it works and gives a feel without being intrusive.
Technical buff for all those interested.
I have three lens 50mm 0.95 Noctilux. I have a love hate relationship with this monster, mainly because of it’s size. On the M9 it was a bitch to use. In the 90’s I worked a lot with 10×8 Gandolfi, Polaroid and transparency film for editorial and also a Pentax 6×7. Camera’s are simply tools. like a Carpenter has sharp chisels.
The reason for purchasing the Noctilux was simply because it has a similar feel to that old stuff.
The other lens are: 35mm 1.4 Summilux. Oh my, this is magic when you get it right . sharper than the monster above and good for every thing. Also an 18mm Zeiss f4. Again I did not use this so much with the M9 because of the stupid view finder. On the M it is joy to work with.
I also recently purchased an EVF to give it a go. I am no Leica snob. I don’t care what the camera looks like so long as it gives you results. It is perfect for precision focusing in fast demanding situations. Yes it would be sensational if the EVF was in the viewfinder. I owned an x100 for 4 months and then threw it away.
I won’t bore you any longer here is a link to the book. The iso rating was 6400 for the images shot at night without a tripod of the fire on the hill. A little noise reduction was used in Lightroom but not much. All the images were processed in Lightroom 5:
http://www.royjamesshakespeare.moonfruit.com/festivals/4579186098
The Buddhafield family retreat was taken exclusively with the Leica M. The Rise Up Singing Dartmoor camp was also taken with the M. There are links to small film on the back page The EVF would have been useful here. I wont tell you what the others books were taken with you will have to guess. Comments welcome.
Cheers,
Roy James Shakespeare
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