Hello everyone! It’s been a slow update weekend as I have been traveling from AZ to LA, then to London and South Africa and in the next couple of days we will be on our way to Switzerland! So much travel, so little time, lol.
It’s 2:30AM here in Cape Town and I am here once again with the Seal tour to document the shows and behind the scenes fun. I brought along the Sony NEX-5 in addition to the M9 this time and tomorrow I plan on shooting it (the NEX) with the Leica Noctilux F/0.95, just to see how it does. Maybe even do a few side by side shots with the M9. Should be fun. The big Nocti, the tiny NEX. Could be a stellar combo but imagine buying a $11000 lens for a $600 camera body! Crazy.
So look for something tomorrow at some time from this combo, should be fun! Will the NEX-5 give us that Nocti quality? I wonder…
Also, more guest articles and Daily Inspirations are on the way!
Steve
Great stuff! The favorite in the gallery is the last one, where the woman’s emotions really come through as unfiltered joy. I don’ thtink she was thinking about the M9 Titan, though…hahah….
For me, the 75 ‘cron has been harder to focus than the 90’s, due to DOF narrowness when taking a close up portrait. For some reason, I have had less problems with my 90’s (macro-elmar & APO cron 90)….
These were taken with the M9 Titan and the 75 Summicron. I’m so glad I brought this with me as it hasn’t really left the mount.
I was always a big fan of the Summilux which was one of the first Leica lenses I bought way back but it was BIG. 75 is about as long as you want to go on the M9 with to achieve any semblance of consistency and the Summicron’s pretty compact and made for the digital age.
http://gallery.me.com/sealsong#100404
`6
[img]http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/L1002677-1.jpg[/img]
Hi Steve,
It was an absolute pleasure to meet you tonight in Cape Town. What a surprise and coincident. I only heard from my client that an international guest would perform at the party and then it turned out to be Seal.
I look forward to see your results from the concert. Enjoy your very short stay in the mother city Cape Town.
Same here! Was so cool to meet another reader of this blog…was a great night! I’ll post some pics in the next day or two as my internet here in SA is on and off it seems. Thanks Jurgen!
Steve
Steve if you are in Zermatt then you have to go up the cable car and see the Matterhorn. It’s the mountain in the pictures we chatted about the other week. I’m sure you’ll be able to take some better pictures of it and the Aosta valley than I did 🙂
True !
You can also have a look there, le creux du van : http://www.google.ch/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=creux+du+van
It’s not bad too 😀
Welcome SA guys! I had actually planned on making it to the CT show but last minute emergencies would not allow it. Enjoy the beautiful city. If you ever could there are plenty of photo ops out in Lesotho (about a 45 minute flight) and the people are unbelievably wonderful. But there is no other night life like there is in Johannesburg. Open invite 🙂
I can’t wait to see you using the NEX-5 with the Noctilux, Steve! I recently bought the Zeiss 28/2.8 (ZM mount) to use it with my NEX-5, it is absolutely nice and images are very sharp and the colour is amazing. I love it so much. For someone who could not (yet) afford a Leica M9, this is the best alternative I could find. (:P)
Looking forward to your posts~
Nice and compact but confirms earlier suspicions. Sensor limitations of the NEX are clear in that the Leica is just too much glass for it to handle.
`6
~6 and Steve, just saw that you will be in Zermatt, Switzerland. If time allows, hop on the highest cable car in Europe, bringing you to the “Klein Matterhorn”, up to 14000 ft. Views and landscapes up there are simply breathtaking.
Steve,
If you plan to come to the Zurich Region as well, let me know when you’re around . . . would be a nice opportunity for a spontaneous Leica shooting meet-up. Maybe there are other photographers and readers of your site living here that would like to join in too!
Wishing you a good time, best
Matthias (Zurich, Switzerland)
Hi everyone,
as Steve said, we are here in S.A. What a beautiful place with even more beautiful people. I love it here….we are in Africa! How amazing is it to even say that? Here are some images from my M9 Titan and a few from the X1. I even threw in one or two from the little Oly XZ-1 (with VF-2 EVF). I love all of these options that I brought with me. The M9, say no more but the X1 with firmware v.2.0 is great. I cannot put down or ignore the little Olympus just for instant gratification…what a great point ‘n shoot it is. I highly recommend it with the EFV.
I brought my beloved 28 Cron Titan along with the 50 Lux and 75 Cron. Hope you enjoy these little windows into our trip.
http://gallery.me.com/sealsong#100393&view=null&bgcolor=black&sel=0
`6
Have you installed the v2 firmware, if so how is it?
Hey ~6, lots of concrete. It’s a shame I can’t tell the M9 from the X1. Any way to display the EXIF data?
My current machine for instant gratification in the GF1 with the 20mm. Resisted MFT for a long time, but this combination is great.
something wrong with your eyes, man. All oerexposed, grainy, limited tonal range bw are Oly.
ROFLTFOL!!
`6
Welcome back, ~6, and thanks for sharing these shots, `6. I love getting these windows into lands far and away. I’ll be curious about your impressions of the XZ-1…..looks like a nice point and shoot, especially if the VF-2 EVF is good.
I have been having a fun time in Seattle with the M9 and f/09.95 and version IV cron. It’s cherry blossom season (fun for photography, not fun for my allergies…. ; )
Enjoy the trip to Africa. Another amazing day, another amazing place for you guys!
[img]http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Cherry Blossom Dances-48.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Cherry Blossom Dances-49.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Cherry Blossom Dances-4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Cherry Blossom Dances-43.jpg[/img]
Great images Ashwin, really lovely
`6
Welcome to South Africa, Steve. I’m sure you will have a fantastic stay in the Cape. If you can get any time off at all try to get to some of those small Karoo towns for amazing photo opportunities that I’m sure will suit your style.
Hi there,
You will arrive in my country soon !
Where will you go in Switzerland ?
Cheers
Darx
I’m looking forward to seeing that also. I expect that this will be a very nice combination, particularly when you have the opportunity to focus manually on the screen. Range estimating may be a bit dicey depending on your adapter and aperture setting.
The NEX-5 really is capable of giving great results provided you are using a great lens and you can hold it steady enough after its focused. And from my experience 50 mm is the focal length Leica M-lenses really start to get the most out of the Sony sensor.
Non-retrofocus wide-angle M lenses are not appropriate for non leica cameras.
Most of the industry has changed its lens system when it switched to digital (well, most of the dslr lenses were already retrofocus because of the distance between the mount and the film plane).
Leica has kept its lens and worked on the sensor to cope with their specs.
ergo, Leica 50, 75, 90 are spectacular on the Nex, GH, GF, etc., but wide 24, 28, 35 are not so spectacular (they tend to vignette, have more CA’s, etc.). On my GF1 I really prefer my Panasonic 20mm 1.7 to my Zeiss 25mm. But the 50mm Nokton gives incredible results.
Despite the sensor size differences, the NEX actually handles wide angle M lenses better than the m4/3 cameras, most likely because of sensor topping differences. 35mm M lenses are quite good on NEX, especially the ZM 35 f2.8, which is my favorite combo. It is razor sharp at all apertures on NEX without color casts. I personally own the ZM 35/2.8, Nokton 35/1.4, MS Optical Perar 35/3.5 and Contax G 35/2, and they all perform well on NEX. Many wider lenses are good as well, but they need a little cornerfix to deal with purple color casts at the edges.
BTW, for those interested in a slick EVF solution for NEX:
[img]http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/nex vf-3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/nex vf-1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/nex vf-5.jpg[/img]
I agree with Douglass. The wide Leica, and Voightlander, lenses perform better on the NEX than they are given credit for. Yes they may vignett wide open at infinity, but they perform quite well up close and stopped down. This past weekend I used the Leica 21mm f2.8 ASPH and most of the shots are quite nice, even out to the edges of the frame which go a little soft.
Can’t wait to see your work, have a great time living the dream