Bokeh? 90mm vs 50mm 2.8 vs 1.4

So, finding myself in the same spot as last week at roughly the same time thought I would play around with things depth of field. Subject has not moved between shots but lens has been changed between 90mm and 50mm. Both shared the 2,8 but then to add perspective or bokeh, the 50mm was opened to 1.4. the last two shots were then re framed closer to accentuate the effect.

So we open with the 90mm at 2.8 focused on the sign

 Then 90mm on the 2

Swapped out for the Canon 50mm at 2.8 focus on the sign

Canon 2.8 on the 2

Keeping everything else the same opened the Canon to 1.4 and focus on the sign

Same position now focus on the 2

And just to ramp it up, moved closer.

And a portrait shot to close

90mm tele-elmarit-M vs 50mm Elmar-m and a school boy error

It's Sunday afternoon and the sun is dropping, not even evening  just the afternoon and the sun is off to bed.

But not before bathing the MR2 and local Leicestershire countryside is bathed in some lovely warm rays.

Took the Voight 15mm out the other week, this week, have gone the other end and brought out the 90mm to mix things up, fancied some compressed perspective and all that. Nice smooth focus and image looked good in the rangefinder, good clean crisp lines using the number plate to focus on, but on closer inspection on the big screen at home, the focus was off.

Made bit of a school boy error. I had checked focus with live view, then put back to my eye and had to re-adjust, for some reason thinking the live view was off, No the live view was fine it is the lens that is out.

I say the lens is out as when I swapped over to Elmar and carried on rangefinder focusing images are fine.

Pleasant enough but not what they could have been. Hey ho.

The 90s

The 50s

Leica M-P Pick n mix

Like a pin ball, this post is likely to bounce from one thing to another and back again in no particular order.

So lets open the post with the camera in use. All the images presented here have been taken with the
Leica M-P type 240. And very nice it is to. Slimmed down menus from the M9. More back to basics. Having wanted the M-P since I found out about it. The big thing is the 2mb buffer, as small an increase as it is, it makes such a difference in real world shooting. I do like the minimalist front, no red dot. But lets face it, a Leica M with no red dot, is as invisible, as a Mercedes without a  Tri Star. Yeah right. But, nice non the less. So having wanted the M-P over the M9 for the buffer benefits, I am already looking to the M10.

Is that because the M-P is no good? No. Far far from it. I thought going to CMOS from CCD would be an issue, it's not. The M9 CCD produced beautiful images. The M-P CMOS produces beautiful images.

So why the desire for the M10? Human nature I guess. The biggie here, is the slimness of the body harking back to the M3 (my first Leica) and no video. Have I used the video option on the M-P? Yes.
More just to see how it works and how well. All quite acceptable and novel. But the likelihood is I would whip out the mobile and use that.

 Where the CMOS really scores is the live view mode. Realy like that. Just brilliant for those critical focus shots.

One thing I would like to see is the option for a second type of live view focus as found in the Ricoh GXR.
You really can pin down the focus and the depth of field. (dear Leica firmware upgrade?)

Unlike a lot (most/all) Youtube reviews of Leica cameras. I'm putting my own hard earned cash on the counter. No freebies or test pieces here. (yes, I'm open to offers. but not holding my breath)

So as happy as I am with the M-P, as I was (and still am with the M9) I'm working my way towards an M10.

So what have I been shooting with it? Nowt special. All very boring with little technical skill, but I'm shooting for me, not commercially.

As ever, no fiddling about, all straight off the chip. No cropping, curves, contrast, sharpness, brightness or owt else.

Testing out the 90mm 2.8 in table lamp lighting. iso 2500 @1/8

Grain. Grain what am I talking about. Noise. Not bad for a handheld shot.

Brook side path (Elmar 50 f2.8)

Parallel lines (Elmar 50 f2.8)

More parallel lines (Elmar 50 f2.8)

Happens (Elmar 50 f2.8)

Bench (Elmar 50 f2.8)

 Berries (Elmar 50 f2.8)

 Tree (Elmar 50 f2.8)

 Delicate (Elmar 50 f2.8)

 Bowl

 Black and white (Elmar 50 f2.8)

 Or, Colour (Elmar 50 f2.8)

 

 2 front (Elmar 50 f2.8)

 2 rear (Elmar 50 f2.8)

 

Voight 15mm Selection

 Skyscape

West End 8

One of the many annual running events came to town today. The West End 8. Start and finish at Syston Rugby Club. Quite a demanding course with many hills. I decided to pitch myself at the top of the very steep and demanding hill in South Croxton. Back in the day, I have ran this course myself, always felt like I was wearing my lungs on the outside.

Today I gave an airing to the little used Leica 90mm tele-elmarit f2.8. Seemed to work quite well. Set a manual white balance in camera, Pre focused, iso 200 no more than f4 and good to go.

Rattled off 80 odd shots.

Why is it the ones that make it look easy never seem to be in touch with the road?

Another one

Same hill very different faces.

Who looks comfortable? it's the floater again.

This is what support and encouragement looks like.

This is what commitment looks like.

The award for most colourful goes to.

Just for the hell of it, go on leave a comment.

Street life goes garden life

Woke up the last weekend looked out the kitchen window and was presented with the following.
You have to admire the work that goes into these. seemed such a shame not to break out the cam  to caputre them in their morning dew glory.

All shot on a Ricoh GXR body but with various combos of units and lenses.  First 3 Macro on the Ricoh P10 unit and the others on the Ricoh M mount A12 unit with a Leitz Canada 90mm 2.8 tele-elmarit.

Ricoh GXR M Mount and Leica 90mm Tele-Elmarit

Out and about on this uncharachteristically beautiful late September Saturday afternoon. Originally went looking for some action on the local village cricket green. Nothing doing. So carried on and headed for Syston rugby club to see if anything was on. The above was my first shot of the day. Had a quick look at the screen and thought, this is the shot of the day for me. Stayed and watched for a while but the shot was already in the can.

Ricoh GXR with A12 M Mount and Leica 90mm Tele-Elmarit at f5.6. Zone focused. Jpeg straight out the cam no fiddling.