Sculpting with Light

The other day I bought a Leica BEOON.

2013-02-24T15:14:00.000+01:00

"I have often thought that if photography were difficult in the true sense of the term -meaning that the creation of a simple photograph would entail as much time and effort as the production of a good watercolor or etching - there would be a vast improvement in total output. The sheer ease with which we can produce a superficial image often leads to creative disaster".

- Ansel Adams - "A Personal Credo," in American Annual of Photography, vol. 58 (1944; repr. in Photographers on Photography, ed. By Nathan Lyons, 1966), Photographers on Photography : A Critical Anthology by Nathan Lyons (Editor)

This time I take a short brake in my reviewing of black and white films and developers. Reason is that I´ve been looking for a functional and high quality way to scan all negatives and slides I´m nowadays producing. I´ve decided to make 2013 an analogue (mostly black and white) year when it comes to my own private photography. My beloved Leica M9 is only to be used for assignments this year. Assignments that need a prompt result with high redundancy. I´m still not perfect in setting the correct exposure when going completely analogue. It´s an art and a science to produce a roll of 35 mm black and white with every shot exposed ”right on the money”.

It all started when I scratched the sensor in my M9. I found my fathers old Olympus Pen W in a cupboard and shot a, since way back, expired Kodak T-Max 400. I was so inspired by analogue after almost 10 years of digital that I bought a Leica M4-P on German eBay, because I´d wanted to revival a completely manual workflow of photography. No batteries what so ever! After a while I realized that I needed a scanner for all the slides and negatives I produced. As we have long wanted a printer in our family I thought that a multimachine, scanner and printer, would also do the job for my interest in checking out an analogue/digital workflow.

We bought a Canon Pixma MG8250 printer and scanner. Almost at once I was rather disappointed with the sharpness. The flat-bedded Canon produced a sort of sharpness but the film grain wasn´t sharp. And the scanned pictures had fewer details than my negatives when peeking through an 8x Nikon loupe. I´m still used to set focus by film grain since the days I was working in a black and white analogue film lab way back in the 1960-ies. Then I searched the web for tests and reviews on scanners. Soon I was convinced that the only scanner that would do much better than the Pixma I had bought was a drum scanner and that was way off budget. What I read on the web also informed me that the resolution figures that flatbed scanner manufacturers present are not to be taking at face value.

Another problem with flatbed scanners are Newton rings, diffraction pattern when the smooth film backing gets in contact with the smooth flatbed glass surface. I had Newton rings in abundance as long as I didn´t turn my negatives and slides with the less smooth emulsion side down towards the glass instead of doing it the proper way with the back side of the filmstrip towards the flatbed glass. Negatives and slides are often not flat but slightly curved lengthwise that makes Newton rings frequent.

When searching the web I stumbled across (I think on Twitter) a post on scanning with a DSLR camera. More searching and I found more blog posts and videos on camera scanning. Many of the posts and videos showed all kinds of home made rigs for scanning slides and filmstrips. I also found that the very apt photographer and blogger Ming Thien also use camera scanning. He is utilizing a Nikon 800E when scanning negatives. I agree with Ming that a digital camera for scanning should be a camera that adds as little as possible to the picture. That is, have non or a very conservative anti-aliasing filter. I thought that my M9 perhaps would do very well as a scanner.

I wanted to make some tests before I decided to go for camera scanning. I e-mailed Peter Gustafsson, owner of my favourite Leica shop, Wibergs Foto, in Stockholm. He had a Leica Visoflex III mirror box in stock for my M9 (would convert my rangefinder M9 to a DSLR) and he was (as always) kind enough to lend me the Visoflex for awhile. I went for that solution. With an extension ring (Leica part OUFRO) I would get 1:1 reproduction scale with a 50 mm lens on the Visoflex III. I would also get a 2:1 enlargement with a 35 mm lens on that ring. That could be perfect for the half frame negatives from my Olympus Pen W. In concert with my AP lightbox, my M9, Visoflex III on loan and my M and S Apoqualia 3,5/50 mm on a Leitz table stand and ball head I went ahead and made initial test shots. But it was hard to get camera and lightbox in perfect parallel. Many times I would get scans with an uneven sharpness even though I used f16 on my Apoqualia.

In order to turn a positive to a negative, it's essential to flip (invert) the tone curve upside-down. Adobe Camera Raw can do this in all versions, and Lightroom can do this as of version 3. In Lightroom 4 the way to go is to invert the tone curve tools within control panel. Invert as follows; Grab the lower left end of the curve and pull it to the top, then pull the upper right end down to the bottom. Note - It´s a bit tricky to nudge the end points. Then the RGB slopes run downward at 45 degrees to invert the negative. Input at zero (black) becomes output at 100% (white), and ideally, input at 100% (white) becomes output at zero (black). This is the standard inversion technique. Inverts colours to their complement too, yellow becomes blue. Numerically, all RGB components become 255-previous (255-255=0, 255-0=255), which is inverted. The caveat is that many of the controls in the panel are also reversed in function! Instead of increase exposure the slider will decrease exposure when moved towards the right (brighter). Same reversal goes for the highlights, shadows, whites and blacks sliders. This workflow work just as well on colour negatives, with or without orange backing, in my opinion. I do the conversion in Lightroom 4 the same way as with black and white. I do most of the colour processing in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and, if necessary, in Viveza 2 as well. I prefer sharpening in Lightroom 4. I´ve tried RAW Presharpener and Output Sharpener in Nik Software Sharpener Pro 3, but I´m not satisfied with the end result, sorry to say.

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 ASPH, Ilford HP5+, developed in Spürsinn HCD-S and 2. Leica M9 scan, Lightroom4

I soon established a workflow that begin with converting my M9 DNG-file in Lightroom 4 to black and white. Then I go for auto exposure and flip negative to positive by laterally reversed tone curve, adding some presence and some sharpness. At this stage I do all dust spotting and, if necessary, scratch healing. After that I open, from within Lightroom, the ever so useful Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 where I do all brightness, contrast and detail extractions. After reaching the picture I pursue I save it back to Lightroom. All post processing ending with some subtle final adjustments in Lightroom. The result is much better in tonality and sharpness than from my flatbed. But I still had to find a solution that was easy and fast to set up and tuck away.

From my days as a junior salesman at Boësens Fotogafiska, a photo shop in Stockholm specialized in Leica equipment, I remembered that Leitz made a copy stand way back in the 1950-60-ies. It was a small stand with a helicoid threaded column. Base was made as a frame, compact, yet quite steady. It was aimed at copying pages from books and other printed matter as well as stamps. This was in the good ol´ days before copying machines, xerography and flatbed scanners. In those days, only way to make a copy was by photographic methods. On the web I found out that the copying stand I was looking for was a Leica BEOON.

I mailed the always friendly Peter Gustafsson at Wibergs Foto and he happened to have a complete, almost new BEOON in stock! Otherwise you may find a BEOON on eBay or photography auctions. After only 36 hours I had the stand unpacked and ready to test. This copying stand is as sturdy as it is small. It can easily be placed on my AP lightbox. Easy to set up and tuck away. There are four enlargements possible with a 50 mm lens and the four extension rings included resulting in scale 1:3, 1:2, 1:1,5 and 1:1. The helicoid thread on the column is used for focusing and focusing is aided by means of a (plastic!) ground glass loupe (Leica M-cameras use rangefinder technology that can´t be used for focusing with this kind of close-up equipment). I placed the extension rings A and D plus my Apoqualia 3,5/50 mm lens on the stand. Putting the 35 mm 1:1 frame in the stand, a negative strip under the stand and off I went scanning.

After finding the optimum grain sharpness on the groundglass of the the loupe, moving the column up and down by the helicoid thread, next step is tightening a locking screw on the column securing focus and exchange the loupe with my M9 camera. I mounted a good old cable release on my M9 and ready for exposing one negative strip after the other making lots of ”scans” in a row at a fast pace without any Newton rings. I would argue that It´s much faster than any flat bed scanner.

I find that ”reusing an old” copying stand from the 20th century was a very workable solution for scanning my negatives and slides. Well designed and usable products "never dies"! The M and S Apoqualia draw my slides and colour negatives with a wonderful sharpness and colour rendition. Even my ”half-frame” negatives from the Olympus Pen W do come out with much better sharpness, details and tonality. Even if I ”lose almost” half of the digital resolution by cropping the M9s full frame. This camera scanner solution is, to my eyes, much sharper than the flatbeds I´ve used so far. There are no problems with ”Newton rings”! And it´s fast! The old BEOON copying stand from Leitz and the Apoqualia lens is affordable. But adding a Leica M9 or an M 240 (to get rid of the loupe) won´t make a cheap scanner. But it is a scanner that works as a very apt digital camera as well. If you own a DSLR that can be used for instant tethered capture to a computer you may be able to work even faster. The scan will be immediately available in your computer and software, ready for processing. Can´t be any faster than that!

To refine my Leica BEOON scanner I plan make a filmstrip cardboard holder as Phillip McCordall describes so well in his You Tube video to put under the BEOON copying stand. I´m also going to DIY lightbox for using my Leica SF 58 flash as my light source, because exposure time is a bit on long side for dense negatives with my AP lightbox as source. I will also continue to experiment with HDR-scannig of my Adox Silvermax and CHS 100 negatives as well as with my Rollei Digibase CN 200 Pro colour negatives. So far my initial HDR-scans (3 set scans with a 1,5 f-stop in between scans) converted in Lightroom 4 and processed in Nik HDR Pro 2 and Silver Efex Pro 2 or Color Efex Pro 4 are promising! There is a lot of tonality and gradation in analogue negatives to regain. It seems that there are 12-14 zones to squeeze from my negatives. Too wide a dynamic range for a digital sensor of today. One more thing, with this "scanner" it´s also easy to scan 6x4,5, 6x6, 6x7 and 6x9 negatives. I think I´ll buy a Texas Leica (Fuji 690) in the near future.

"Technically speaking, photography is not too terribly difficult. The difficulty lies in having ideas and following them through. You need a sense of purpose to carry out your projects. You need a firm resolve, hard work, earnestness in order to develop something worthy of interest over the years".

- Yann Arthus Bertrand - Resolve.

Leica M4-P, Apoqualia 3,5/50 mm. Kodak Ektar 100, Leica M9 scan, Lightroom 4, Nik Color Efex Pro 4

Leica M4-P, Kodak Porta 400, Leica M9 scan, Lightroom 4, Nik Color Efex Pro 4

Leica M4-P, Summicron 2/35 mm, Rollei Digibase CN 200 Pro, Leica M9 scan, Nik HDR Efex Pro with 3 exposures of one negative.

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 mm ASPH, Adox Silvermax, developed in Silvermax developer, Leica M9 scan, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 mm ASPH, Adox CHS 100, developed in Spürsinn HDC-S and 2, Leica M9 scan, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 mm ASPH, Adox CHS 100, developed in Spürsinn HDC-S and 2, Leica M9 scan, Nik HDR Efex Pro with 3 exposures of one negative and Silver Efex Pro 2.

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 mm ASPH, Ilford HP 5+ @ISO 1600, developed in Spürsinn HCD-s and 2. Leica M9 scan, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

More developers from the innovative Spur Team

2013-02-11T12:02:00.000+01:00

"The production of a perfect picture by means of photography is an art; the production of a technically perfect negative is a science".
- Ferdinand Hurter – Ferdinand Hurter, Ph.D., and V. C. Driffield, “Photo-chemical Investigations and a new Method of Determination of the Sensitiveness of Photographic Plates” (Reprinted from The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 31st May, 1890, No. 5, Vol. IX)

Now I´m really exited. I´ve got the new two-bath film developer from the Spur Team, Schain und Partner. They make this developer, HCD-S and HCD-2, for the German analogue photo retailer Spürsinn on Gifhorner Strasse 148, Braunschweig. The Spur Team under Heribert Schein is really impressive in their search for new developer, designed for special purposes and films. Wonderful that this kind of companies still exist.

As you might know, if you had read my writings in ”Scratched sensor and back to basics", I´m very fond of the idea that photographer and author Bruce Barnbaum is writing about in his book Art of Photography - an Approach to Personal Expression. I wrote on my blog;

”With his book Bruce Barnbaum inspired me to try contrast control with the extended zone system and utilizing his “bellows analogy” with two solutions developer. It’s all about increasing or decreasing contrast when developing black and white negatives. I want to be able to go beyond zone 14, not being restricted to only 10 zones, or to place shadow in zone 4 instead of 2. Overexpose and under develop my film, push it for even more dynamic pictures. This is something that digital can´t do! And Digital HDR-technology is something completely different”.

In the next blog post I´ve tried a ”simple” version of Barnbaums developing idea when testing my old Olympus Pen W camera Olympus Pen W, T-Max 100 and Spur DSX 135/36. I just made two different dilutions of Paterson FX-39 developer.

The proper way to utilize a two bath developing method is to have two different chemical mixtures. As Ralph W Lambrecht and Chris Woodhouse so well describe in the wonderful book ”Way Beyond Monochrome -Second Edition” it has to do with what kind of chemicals you use in a developer what the result will be. How the image gradation will come out due to where the shoulder and toe will be to get the tone reproduction you pursue. As Ralph W Lambrecht and Chris Woodhouse write on chemistry.

”Developers are able to differentiate between exposed and unexposed silver halides. They liberate exposed silver halides from their salts and reduce them to metallic silver, but unexposed halides remain untouched”.

To utilize Bruce Barnbaums ”bellows methodology” the first bath is a kind of accelerator containing for instance borax. The second bath is an ordinary developer made up by metol or another organic compound with a lower pH value than the first developing bath, the accelerator.

I was more than exited when I realized that the Spur Team have produced a two-bath developer for the German photo shop Spürsinn in Braunschweig (by the way, Braunschweig was the place for Voigtländer for many years before they only became a trade brand for Cosina lenses). I bought a 250 ml HCD-set from Spürsinn and the chemicals were delivered within two days by DHL! Very prompt and fine service. My first test was with an Adox CHS 100 Art film, shot at nominal sensitivity of EI/ISO 100. I developed that roll according to Spürsinn developing chart. Dilution for both developing baths, HCD-S and -2, was 1+24. Developing time for the first accelerator bath, HCD-S, was 2 minutes and for the second developing bath, HCD 2, was 4 minutes 30 seconds. A fairly fast developer. Temperature 22° C, as always I used a 22° C water bath to keep temperature constant. I agitated according to Spürsinn recommendations. With the first HCD-S accelerator bath continuously for the first 30 seconds, then letting the tank stand. Pouring out the first developer after two minutes and in with HCD-2 without any rinse in between. Agitating the first 30 seconds, then three agitations every minute. I pre-soaked the Adox CHS 100 Art for 4 minutes before the first developer. Almost the entire violet colour from the anti-halation layer came out with the pre-soaking water. I didn´t use any stop bath this time, only water for 2 minutes between the two developer and fix. I used the same fixer as for my Adox Silvermax,

I used Spur Ultrafix N with added Spur Plus H (hardener) to my fix due to Adox recommendation for many other Adox films. Hardener, as the name indicates, makes the emulsion harder and more resistant to scratches and the emulsion won’t swell as much in fix and rinse. In case with Spur H, it´ll also make drying faster. Fixing time was four minutes and after fix I let Lavaquick from Tetenal shorten the rinsing time. I left the film in Lavaquick for two minutes. To rinse with huge savings on water consumption I applied the old photojournalist method, rinsing film in developing tank by pouring in fresh water and slowly agitate for a minute, then pour out and in with new fresh water and repeat this procedure six times. In the last rinsing water I poured in 1 ml of Tetenal Mirasol, which is a wetting agent with a bactericide effect. The negatives came out perfect! Wonderful tonality and gradation. Honestly, I can´t detect any significant difference between Silvermax developed in Silvermax developer and CHS 100 Art developed in Spürsinn HCD-S and -2.

I´ve recently was aware of the fact that Adox going to introduce a replacement emulsion for CHS 100 Art the Adox CHS 100 II, soon. I sure going to order some. So far I´m really excited about the result coming out of Adox produce.

I´ve also tried some good old Ilford HP5+ exposed at EI/ISO 1600 in the Spürsinn HCD-S and 2 developer. But I´m not satisfied with the result so far! The tonality is not to my taste. But I´ll be back with more tests on Ilford HP5+. Though that film does have a different tonality to other emulsions I´m using. Preferably the excellent Rollei RPX 400 exposed at EI/ISO 1600 and developed in Spur PXD Professional. Perfect result every time. But there is also room for more tests of Ilford Delta3200 with this promising Spürsinn HCD two-bath developer. Return to my pages now and then to follow any developments.

"It is surprisingly difficult for most people to accept the photographic print as an original object, except when produced by an atypical minority of photographic processes which include dageurreotypes, photograms and colour Polaroids - processes, in other words, which bypass the negative to produce a unique image. That last term suggests a clue to the problem; we tend to think of original as a synonym for unique, whereas a photographic print is always original, but might not be unique".
- John Stathatos

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Ilford HP5 + and Spur Acurol N

2013-01-21T18:14:00.001+01:00

- "The most important printing technique is to start with a perfect negative". - Anonymous

On the first week this year I had four days in Berlin. The weather was really bad, no snow but occasionally rain showers. Most of the time it was all grey with no sun to add to the scenery some healthy contrasts. But I did, as I had decided to, take some good old Ilford HP 5+ for a spin in Berlin. I exposed two rolls of HP 5+ at EI/ISO 200 instead of the usual ISO 400. Reason for lower ISO was that I had set my mind to develop these rolls in Spur Acurol N to see if there could be more tonality to squeeze out of good old HP 5+. Equipment was my trusty old Leica M4-P with Elmarit 2,8/28 ASPH, Summicron 2/35 ver IV and Noctilux 1,0/50. Along came also my Spectra lightmeter. Ten assorted rolls of 35 mm black and white film tucked in my Japan Camera Hunter Film case easily went into my Crumpler New Dehli 510 camerabag. Perfect for travelling by air.

As I been writing on previous blogs, "My favourite black and white films and developer" and "Adox Silvermax film and developer" the German manufacturer Spur Schain + Partner (Speed Photography and Ultra High Resolution) owned by Dr. Wolfgang Heidrich und Heribert Schain. This company is still evolving the good old analogue black and white chemistry. I´m very fond of the ”pull”, high acutance, stand developer Acurol N as I wrote in ”My favourite black and white films and developer” blog text.

I developed my two Ilford HP 5+ film, exposed at EI/ISO 200, in Acurol N diluted 1+100 for 25 minutes and 30 seconds at 24°C. In this case I pre soaked for 2 minutes in 24°C water, mainly to get my films to the right temp, before developing. As always I used water bath to keep all solutions at 24°C. As with previous stand development, I agitated continuously for the first 30 seconds, then one agitation every five minutes. Plenty of time to do something else between agitations. Listen to Rammstein or the Piano Guys on my iPhone for instance. Ergo, I use my iPhone 5 as a timer.

After 25 and a half-minute I poured out the developer and in with Adox Adostop stop bath for 30 seconds. Out with stop bath and in Spur Ultrafix N to which, for this occasion, I had added Spur H hardener (I used the same fix as for my Adox Silvermax). As I wrote in my blog on Silvermax, hardener makes the emulsion more resistant to scratches and Spur H, will also make drying faster. Fixing time was four minutes for two Ilford HP 5+ rolls. After fix in with Tetenal Lavaquick for two minutes to shorten rinsing time. As with Adox Silvermax I utilized the good old photojournalist method, rinsing film in developing tank by pouring in fresh water and slowly agitate for a minute, then pour out and in with new fresh water and repeat this procedure six times. In the last rinsing water I poured in 1 ml of Tetenal Mirasol, which is a wetting agent with a bactericide effect.

Result was rather satisfying. Grain is, as expected, really fine for a HP 5+. Negatives are sharp. Due to the dull weather I got problems with the great light intensity difference between the grey sky and dark ground. Tonality of the HP 5+ is still, to my taste, a bit too restricted. Developed in Acurol N was better (had greater tonality) than processing in other developer. But I still consider Ilford HP 5+ as a contrast enhancing film. Of course, Ilford HP 5+ was very apt for these four days of grey in Berlin. But I´m going to test more developer to really get to bottom with the tonality capacity of good old Ilford HP 5+. On the other hand, there is Ilford Delta 400 which I found to have a lovely, broad, tonality. I´ll be back!

- "Photography was once described as painting with light". - Anonymous

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Adox Silvermax film and developer

2013-01-17T14:06:00.000+01:00

- "Our job is to record, each in his own way, this world of light and shadow and time that will never come again exactly as it is today". - Edward Abbey

In my previous blog text I gave notice to experiences from more black and white films are coming up. This text is about the new (presented at Photokina last year) silver rich black and white film from Adox, the Silvermax. Adox state that the increased silver content in Silvermax film will result in capacity to reproduce up to 14 zones. That is when developed in Adox own Silvermax developer.

One of my main inspirational blogs is Erwin Puts, ”Tao of Leica”. Erwin’s blog is filled with deep knowledge about almost everything within the photography realm. He was the one who got me into trying new developers such as Spur. Erwin´s analysis on Spur Acurol-N is a great read. It struck me when rereading Erwin´s text, I missed pointing to the fact in my text on Ilford Delta 400, that a high acutance developer combined with high dilution (long developing time) also result in more prominent grain.

As you probably know, if you been reading my blog, I´m a proponent of the Zone System. I´m still trying to learn how to use the zone system to substantialize my visions. If you really want to get a grip on the Basics of black and white tone reproduction and the zone system a very good read is Erwin Puts aside from Ansel Adams ”The Negative”, of course. Whether you have an analogue or a digital camera the Zone System is recommended if you really want to get the most out of your camera and light catching media.

Erwin Puts have tested Adox Silvermax film developed in Acurol N and written a great text. Acurol N developer both Erwin and I love. To use the Adox Silvermax the way Adox have proposed, I bought Adox Silvermax film and Adox Silvermax developer from the excellent web shop, Fotoimpex. A Berlin based photo shop (the "in real life"-shop is situated on Alte Schönhauser Str. 32b near Alexanderplatz, Berlin) that carries a great assortment of analogue materials, film developer, different chemicals, darkroom utilities, photo paper and much, much more. Fotoimpex are fast, payment by PayPal and they use DHL for transport. From my order untill I have the goods on my doorstep takes only three working days, maximum! Great!

Decidning following Adox recommendation for Silvermax film and developer, I exposed film at EI/ISO 100. Diluted Silvermax developer according to data sheet 1+29 and developed my film for recommended 11 minutes. Temperature for the whole process 20°C. But I pre soaked my film for 2 minutes before pouring in Silvermax developer. I noted that the bluish colour of the film backing came out with the pre soaking water. Perhaps it was colour from the anti-halation layer. Which, according to Adox, increase sharpness. I followed Adox instructions for agitation, the first 30 seconds continuous agitation then every minute four agitations. I used Adox Adostop, stop bath, for 30 seconds and fix in Spur Ultrafix N. I added Spur Plus H, hardener, to Ultrafix N due to Adox recommendation for many other Adox films. Hardener, as the name indicates, makes the emulsion harder and more resistant to scratches. In case with Spur H, it´ll also make drying faster. Fixing time was five minutes and after fix I let Lavaquick from Tetenal shorten the rinsing time. I left the film in Lavaquick for two minutes. To rinse with huge savings on water consumption I applied the old photojournalist method, rinsing film in developing tank by pouring in fresh water and slowly agitate for a minute, then pour out and in with new fresh water and repeat this procedure six times. In the last rinsing water I poured in 1 ml of Tetenal Mirasol, which is a wetting agent with a bactericide effect.

The resulting Silvermax negatives was nothing but astonishing. I can´t quantify my result, but I have a feeling that my negatives contain a span of 14 zones! Just as Adox Silvermax tech sheet claim. I hope to get into the darkroom in the future to experience a full analogue workflow and find out how photographic paper respond to Silvermax tonality. The tonality is tremendous. If I like Ilford Delta 400 due to it´s tonal capacity Adox Silvermax supersedes.

One not so good experience with Silvermax; I tried to expose Silvermax film for shadows. But, when I missed and got underexposed negatives they came out with much less tonality (I do miss optimum exposure now and then, even if I use the Zone System). The talented photographer Ming Thein have, on his blog published, a text, Film diaries: thoughts, truths and realizations, summarizing his experience of analogue black and white film;

Highlight roll-offs are gorgeous. I suspect this is because most of the dynamic range is in the highlights – something to do with reciprocity error or perhaps the underlying photochemistry of the medium. There’s always a bit of gradation left in even the brightest zones, and nothing ever seems to truly overexpose (unless you do so by more than three or four stops).

Certainly one is well off exposure for shadow. Note that underexposed Silvermax negative may result in contrasty, sullen pictures with low tonality. Especially if the motif have minute contrast. Adox Silvermax is at it best, in my opinion, on high key, sunny scenes with blue skies and great tonality. I´m going to order more Adox Silvermax because this film is to my taste. For less contrasty, grey motifs, on days with heavy overcast, I would opt for the good old Ilford HP5+ exposed at EI/ISO 200 developed in Spur Acurol N for 25,5 minutes at 24°C.
Soon be back.

- "It is the photographing of ordinary things, in extraordinary light, which results in extaordinary photographs". - David Young - From David Young's video, "The Elements of Photography".

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My favorite black and white films and developer

2012-12-31T16:46:00.004+01:00

- Most color photography, in short, has been either formless or pretty. In the first case the meanings of color have been ignored; in the second they have been at the expense of allusive meanings. While editing directly from life, photographers found it difficult to see simultaneously both the blue and the sky. - John Szarkowski - 1976.

This is my last blog text Year 2012. It´s was an interesting year. Kodak struggling to survive and I´ve turned back to analogue photography. At least for some time. This last blog for year 2012 will be about black and white analogue photography. Rediscovering analogue photography gave me back the curiosity and lust to develop my photographic gaze. Next year I´ll be back writing about how to develop a hybrid workflow, analogue to digital. There will also be reports on my experience from more black and white films and developers. Have a look at these pages now and then in the future. Something interesting might come this way.

In the last months of 2012 I´ve been engaged in finding out which black and white film I prefer from the (relatively) great supply of analogue black and white films still on the market. I also found really nice developers out on the analogue market. Main reason for me to get back into analogue photography was that I´m not fond of the dynamic range that digital photography so far has to offer. I still have to use graded density filters on grey days to prevent skies from blowing out and/or the ground to be pitch black. I still find the black and white gray scale tonality in analogue to be superior to digital. Regardless of what software I utilise in digital. I tried Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture and Silver Efex Pro only to find analogue (still) being superior to digital! Caveat! I have had no experience of Leica Monochrome so far. That might be the only good solution to black and white digital to date!

Dynamic range aside there is also another qualitative difference analogue to digital. Analogue is slow photography! In analogue it´s natural to work in an Ansel Adams-esque style. To ”pre-visualize” your subject/picture. Measure the exposure for the nearly pitch dark parts in your motif, then the middle grey part and then the almost white parts and contemplate on what is the essential part of your subject. Which part to be exposed ”correct”, i.e. expose as your meter tells you (refering to 18 % grey reflection factor). Then consider, where will the measured, almost dark part be exposed using the "correct" setting? Outside the dynamic range, or well inside? Finally calculate where your almost white part would be placed, inside or outside the dynamic range of your camera sensor or your analogue film. Takes some time but makes you aware of what you are doing.

Leica M4-P, Summicron IV 2/35mm. Rollei RPX 400 @1600 ISO.
Devel. in Spur PXD 1+5 @24°C 14 min

When it comes down to street photography, when things happen fast, I have two or three different premeasured exposure calculations to apply depending on where my subject is. Out in the bright sun, in the shadow or backlighted. Makes me think and be aware of what I´m doing. Always a good thing. This goes for analogue, as well as digital. Another aspect to consider is skin tone. All light meters are calibrated to put whatever you point your meter to measure as ”caucasian skin”, that is 18% grey reflectance. But the skin tone of swedes is a bit lighter than what a light meter present as correct exposure. Means that I have to open up the aperture one or half an aperture step or slower exposure time for a correct rendition of a northern skin tone which is brighter than 18% grey. What I´m pointing at is a practical usage of Ansel Adams and Fred Archer´s Zone System. I always used the Zone System and always will. Here is a good primary to the Zone System.

Using the Zone System the easy way you need a spot meter (with a 1° measuring angle) or spot metering activated in your SLR/DSLR camera. I use my trusty old Spectra Combi meter with spot metering attachment. Though it´s a bit clumsy with the separate spot attachment. I´m considering buying a Gossen Starlite 2 or a Sekonic L-758D. There are other options, but I prefer a spot meter with the spotting lens built into the housing. Give me one less separate part to keep in my camera bag. Spot metering is essential because most of the time I can´t walk away to measure the different luminosity in different parts of my motif. If you don´t have the funds to invest in a spot meter you may be off to begin the Zone System methology by using your iPhone 3GS to 5 with the Pocket Light meter app. But to my experience so far, the Pocket Light meter, which has a spot meter function (wider than the preferred 1°!) by pointing to the part on your display you want to measure, is a bit inconsistent in measurements, sorry to say. But it´s a free app!

As a cinematographer I always used an incident reflected light measurement technique. I measure the light quanta that fall on my motif. Means that I have to measure the light that falls on my subject. If my subject is out in the sun and my camera position is in the shadow I must walk out into the sun to take my measurement. Remember, the value I always get is referring to 18% grey! Depending on the reflectance in my scene, referring to 18% grey might result in either over-or underexposure. In any light measurment situation I better apply a Zone System thinking before I decide how to set my camera exposure. That´s the punch line. The art of setting the correct exposure for every scene is essential to get the desired result. If I nail the exposure I make use of all the tonality capacity in my light capturing material whether it is an analogue film or a digital sensor. It´s important to realize that fact, as I see it.

Now for my topic, favourite black and white analogue material. The great thing with analogue technology is that I can match my motif tonality/contrast range to the capacity of my light sensitive material with developing method and chemicals! In my opinion this is much more fun and exciting than sitting in front of my computer screen trying to manipulate my digital picture in whatever software to my (pre-?)visualized impression of my motif. I can push or pull develop my black and white film. Push means, in short, that I underexpose and over develop my film and push technique is the opposite (overexpose and under develop). To push means that I´ll lose some of the tonality (the gray scale dynamic). Contrast will be enhanced. On the other hand, with push development I can extend the grey scale (get more tonality). Contrast will be diminished. I my opinion the shapeable tonality of black and white analogue film is superior to digital (perhaps even to Leica Monochrome?). There is also a short YouTube video on push and pulling film by Ted Forbes, The Art of Photography Episode 92 ”Pushing and Pulling Film”.

For developing black and white you need some essential equipment. There are excellent instructions on YouTube. For instance Digitalthruth Photo´s ”35 mm Film Development Tutorial”.

Or on Ted Forbes "the Minimalist Darkroom Part 1".

And in text form on many sites. One site I can recommend is Japan Camera Hunter and ”A Film Shooters Guide to Film Part Three” by Cosh. I don´t have a darkroom but as a cinematographer I´m used to work in a dark changing bag. Professional movie stock film is winded on a core and has to be loaded in complete darkness to filmcamera magazines. I´ve changed thousands and thousands rolls of movie film (35 and 16 mm) out on location by using a dark changing bag. Below is another video by Mike Hillman on how to develop film this time using a dark changing bag for loading the developing tank.

So far I´ve found my favourite pushable film. It´s Rollei RPX 400, developed in Spur PXD Professional. The result I get when expose RPX 400 at ISO 1600 (or 3200) and develop in Spur PXD is a fine grain structure with a great tonality, if I nailed the exposure exact. I´ve left my old trusty Rodinal developer in favour of the superior Spur developer.

I use, according to Spur recommendation for Rollei RPX 400 at ISO 1600, a developer dilution of 1+5 with 14 min developing time at 24° C. To control that all my liquids are at 24° C I use a 24° C water bath. I have all liquid jars standing in that water bath. Also according to recommendation I agitate continuously for the first 30 seconds, then every 30 second one agitation (an old Agfa recommendation). Spur PXD is a moderately low acutance developer, which means that the grain (in reality the boarder between silver and clear base will be a bit diffuse) will lose some of it´s sharpness. To the eye it will result in the impression of having less grain! This is the combination of high-speed film and developer I´ve come to prefer. I don´t presoak the film (fill the tank with water for a couple of minutes before pouring out the water and pour in the developer). After pouring out the developer I pour in a stop bath. In my case I use Adox Adostop, which I find to be a very good stop bath. I use a dilution of 1+20 for 30 seconds with continuous agitation. Pour out stop bath and pour in the fixer. I use Spur Ultrafix N with a 1+7 dilution for 6 minutes. Continuous agitation for the first minute then one agitation every 30 seconds. I always check my fixer by dropping into the fixer a cutaway part of film (from when loading to the developing tank), checking the time it takes for the film to become completely clear and then double the time for fixing the film in my tank. After pouring out the fixer I rinse quickly with water and then pour in Tetenal Lavaquick diluted 1+19 to minimise the rinsing time (saving water!). I agitate continuously for 1 minute, then every 30 seconds one agitation for a total time of 2 minutes. I pour out the Lavaquick and rinse in running water for 6 minutes. Then I pour in a drop of Tetenal 2000 Antistatic wetting agent (dilution 1+400!) and agitate for 30 seconds. Then it´s time to remove the film from the spool and hang it to dry.

Leica M4-P, Noctilux 1/50, Rollei RPX 400, @ISO 1600. Devel. in SPUR PXD 1+5, 24° C 14 min

Leica M4-P, Summicron IV 2/35mm. Rollei RPX 400 @1600 ISO. Devel. in Spur PXD 1+5 @24°C 14 min

Sommar Leica M4-P, Summicron IV 2/35. Rollei RPX 400 @1600 ISO. Devel. in Spur PDX 1+5@24°C 14 min

My favourite combination for a ISO 400 film in a pull process for extended tonality and very fine grain is Ilford Delta 400 and the wonderful developer Spur Acurol N. Acurol N is very useful as a stand developer. Which means I use it as a very ”slow developer”. Developing time for Ilford Delta at ISO 200 is 35 minutes at 22° C for a developer dilution of 1+100! I agitate continuously for the first 30 seconds then two agitations every 5 minutes! The rest of development, stop bath, fixer and rinsing are the same as for Rollei RPX 400. The resulting tonalities of the Ilford Delta 400 pictures are noting less than stunning! That´s the idea behind ”stand developing”. The developer will act immediately on the completely exposed part of the negative. When that part is fully developed, developing will slow down and stop. But in the darker zones of my picture developer will still continue to work. Shadows will develop more details and the overall impression is an enormous tonality! Love it. Spur Acurol N is a high acutance developer, which means that it will develop a very sharp edge between silver and clear base. To the eye resulting in a very sharp picture. I really love this combo.

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 ASPH. Leitz Or orange filter. Ilford Delta 400 @ 200 ISO. Devel.
Spur Acurol 1+100 35 min 22°C

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 ASPH. Ilford Delta 400 @ 200 ISO. Devel. Spur Acurol 1+100 35 min 22°C

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 ASPH. Leitz Or orange filter. Ilford Delta 400 @ 200 ISO. Devel.
Spur Acurol 1+100 35 min 22°C

I also tested Kodak T-Max 400 and Ilford Delta 3200 in Spur Acurol N. As with all films in ”stand developing” film speed has to be lower. I shot Kodak T-Max 400 at ISO 320 and Ilford Delta 3200 also at ISO 320. Developing in Acurol N diluted to 1+100 for T-Max 400 was 31 minutes at 22° C. Agitation continuously for 30 seconds then one agitation every 10 minutes. For Ilford Delta 3200 at the same dilution as above time was 31 minutes at 20° C. Agitating continuously for the first 30 seconds then every five minutes one agitation. As pointed out in the Spur instructions -" keeping to strict agitating technique is essential for consistent result". Too much agitation in this ”slow stand development” will result in overdeveloping! Resulting picture quality for Kodak T-Max 400 is very good. When exposed ”right on the money” the tonality will be astonishing. A great result. Though the grain is a bit more obvious than from Ilford Delta 400 developed in Acurol N. Ilford Delta 3200 was sort of a disappointment. Tonality was great but grain structure upsettingly manifestable. To my eyes grain was too even and gravel like. Perhaps Ilford Delta 3200 would do better in another developer. This open up for further test.

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 ASPH. Kodak T-Max 400 @ 320 ISO. Devel. Spur Acurol 1+100 31 min 22°C

Leica M4-P, Elmarit 2,8/28 ASPH. Ilford Delta 3200 @ 320 ISO. Devel. Spur Acurol 1+100 31 min 20°C

Leica M4-P, Summicron IV 2/35. Ilford Delta 3200 @ 320 ISO. Devel. Spur Acurol 1+100 31 min 20°C

In 2013 I´m going to continue exploring the black and white Ag-domain. For the moment I´m using Adox Silvermax which I´m going to develop in Adox own special developer for Silvermax film, the Silvermax Developer. I´m excited to see the result from this film, said to have more silver content as in the "good old hey days of analogue". Classic Ilford HP 5+ is also ready for a spin in Acurol N as well as Ilford Delta 100, Adox CHS 100 Art and Rollei Retro 100 Tonal. When applying a ”pull”-development method nominal film speed is often halved. Do check in on my web now and then to see what´s up.

One more thing - I wish you all a Happy New Year!

- It’s not the medium, but the quality of perception and expression, that determines the significance of art. - Bill Watterson

Buy Film not Megapixels!

Erwin Puts and the Leica legacy

2012-11-07T20:59:00.000+01:00

"The illiterate of the future will not be the man who cannot read the alphabet, but the one who cannot take a photograph". - Walter Benjamin

The ever so productive Erwin Puts have produced yet another beautiful book on Leica legacy, the Leica Chronicle. This time he has opted for setting Leica company and products in a social context. This book have been, in another disguise, around for sometime as an e-Book. This printed and expanded (analog) book was ready for and sold at Photokina 2012. After Photokina closed I got my sample posted. Sadly I hadn´t time to attend this years Photokina.

Compared to Erwin Puts earlier printed books this one is quite nice to handle and carry around. The Leica Chronicle measures 246x176x22 mm and weigh just under a handy one kilo, containing 300 pages. The massive Leica Compendium - the Company, the Cameras, the Lenses measure 304x216x39 at 2,6 kilo. Not a book you carry around. The printed Leica Chronicle is expanded compared to the e-Book version (I have that one too) and carry more and new illustrations compared to earlier books from Erwin Puts. I also noticed that it´s easier to get an overview of and search the printed version compared to read the e-Book on my iPad. Thumbing through the e-Book is not easy and sometimes pages get a very strange lay-out. That adds to the impression of not having an overview on content.

The printed version is edited in another way down to content. There are also content, new texts, that don´t exist in the e-Book version. Though a few of the typos in the e-Book are still in the later, printed version. Not at all many typos, but some. One thing that is almost constant between all Erwin Puts books (all three of them) are the analysis on Leica lenses and cameras. Taking aside all new Leica lenses and cameras that have been presented in between publishing years much of the text on lenses and cameras are the same. I appreciate Erwin Puts critical view and skeptical attitude to many of the all to frequent Leica myths. Some get debunked other regarded as plausible. At the end of the book there are a many tables on Leica camera serial numbers as well as on all produced lenses. Something for serial number chrunchers. All in all I consider the printed version to be a better book. On the other hand, the e-Book version is easier to bring along in my iPad and used as a dictionary on the go. In my opinion I need both! You can buy Erwin Puts Leica Chronicle from his homepage. I think there are still some left!

According to writer/publisher Erwin Puts there is going to be a serie of four books, a tetralogy, starting with Leica Chronicle! I eagerly await the other three books all with a different view on Leica as a company. These are quality books especially when it comes down to seriousness of content. Erwin Puts knowledge is impressive. Whether it´s about optical phenomena, lens construction, camera design and almost all about Leica Camera production. Impressive!

One more thing. I urge you to have a look at Erwin Puts homepage, Tao of Leica. From that site I´ve got a lot of inspiration, information and ideas. For instance, Erwin made me interested in a wonderful RAW-developer from Iridient Digital Inc. It´s a really good RAW developer. I use this product every day on my Leica M9 DNG-originals instead of Adobe Camera RAW or any other developer. Iridient Digitals RAW developer is not too expensive either, cost € 64.35. Erwin Puts also made me try out all the fabulous Ag-developer made by Spur (Speed Photography + Ultrahigh Resolution). A company with an assortment of excellent black and white developers for analog photography. I´ll be back with a series of musings on developing different black and white films with different Spur developers.

"He [Elliot Erwitt] is a workman as well as an artist. He pays extraordinary attention to detail, and does things better than anyone else. He has a wry sense of humour that never faded. He uses technique not to show off but to serve his concepts, his pictures are subject-oriented, not technically oriented". - Bill Bernback

Christmas came early this year

2012-11-07T09:50:00.000+01:00

"When people ask what equipment I use - I tell them my eyes". - Anonymous

A week ago I recieved a parcel from Japan. It was from Bellamy Hunt, Japan Camera Hunter. As always it had travelled on three days from Tokyo, Japan to Varberg, Sweden. Amazingly fast! The content sure was christmassy.

I´ve been waiting for nearly a month for my two preordered Japan Camera Hunter Film cases. Now I had them in my hands! They are wonderfully executed in thick, sturdy white plastic. They are made white to reflect sunlight and heat. But thick enough to be completely dead black inside when lid is closed. No risk for shading film in my filmcassettes inside. I preordered two cases, one for black and white and one for color. Though I don´t dear to load my beloved Rollei Digibase CN200 Pro into these cases. Not that light would shine through the case but risk for shading the film everytime I open the cap. Reason is the thin polyester base on the Digibase CN200 Pro. Base is so thin that light will shine through the cassette opening and shade film inside! I always have to handle this film in ”dark corners”, subdued light. I have already got some shaded first pictures on some Digibase rolls.

These filmcases are perfect to use when travelling. Each may contain ten rolls of film and make a compact package for my camerabag. When not on photosessions the cases are perfect to have in the fridge. They take up less space than ten filmpacks. Nowadays I carry around an assortment of black and white and color films in my Japan Camera Hunter Film cases to suit different situations and assignments. I really recommend these filmcases. They are worth every Yen.

In the same delivery from Japan there was some Ginichi G soft release buttons. I love these very beautifully executed buttons. They are a perfect example, in my opinon, on japanese artisanial skills in metallwork. These soft release buttons are small and thin but they are very tough and nice to use. The cable release thread is very well made and the risk for losing the buttom is minor. Other soft release buttoms I´ve used have more readily threaded from my Leica camera release. The Ginichi G release buttons do come in different colors. I have one color for my digital M9 and one for my analog M4-P. Looks and feels really nice.

Christmas came early this year.

"The camera seems to me, next to unassisted and weaponless consciousness, the central instrument of our time". - James Rufus Agee

Buy Film not Megapixels!

Rollei Digibase CN 200 Pro

2012-11-05T13:09:00.000+01:00

"In my photography, color and composition are inseparable. I see in color". - William Albert Allard, Photographic Essay (American Photographer Master Series) by William Albert Allard

As a cinematographer I´ve always been accustomed to working with negative film. In still photography it´s not as self-evident. Thought fact has it that negative film possess a greater tonality and wider latitude of exposure. It´s also true that when using negative you should expose for the shadows and with reversal for the highlights. I´ve so far always used Kodak Kodacolor, Ektacolor, Ektar and Portra. But recently I found out that the excellent German webshop, Fotoimpex, had a Agfa negative color film on sale which wasn´t the ”usual” Agfacolor film.

Many years ago, in the late 1960-ies, one day I received from the owner of the photoshop where I worked my educational holidays, Emil Schulthess ”China”. Emil Schulthess (1913 - 1996) was a Swiss photographer who travelled to fascinating places. This book is a dokument from times long gone. To compare China as presented in Emil Schulthess book with today is awesome. This book made me explore Agfa negative colorfilm in those days. Reason was that Emil Schulthess shot all color with Leica on Agfacolor for this book. After some rolls of Agfacolor I reluctantly had to admit that colorprint material was not up to standards of the color negatives in those days. I had to hark back to shooting Kodacolor.

Processed color negatives, as with all color films, consist of an image formed of dye. The dyes used in color films have to satisfy two main criteria; they have to be able to be formed in the color process from a reaction between the silver halides being developed, the couplers in the emulsion and the color developing agent in the developer. Each of the three dyes should control only one colour. When a dye is controlling colors it should not control, it ´s called unwanted absorption.

Hansen and Vittum of the Eastman Kodak Company solved this problem, or at least reduced its effect, by introducing colored couplers or "mask". Two of the layers in the film hold colored couplers. It´s these colored coupler layers that are called masks. The magenta layer transmits some blue light implying the coupler is coloured yellow and the cyan layer transmits some green light and is coloured magenta. The combination of magenta and yellow make up the orange color known as the mask in color negatives. On the net there are some discussions going on whether the orange mask compromise color when scanning. In my experience this is not an issue with contemporary scanning software.

Another approach works by controling unwanted dye in adjacent layers, called "vertical inhibition". With this method the unwanted dye is controlled by reducing densitiy of color in adjacent layers. In this concept all couplers are colorless but hold an inhibiting feature. This inhibiting action is released after coupling and not only controls further development in it´s own layer but in the adjacent layers too. The inhibiting couplers are able to reduce the primary dye density in adjecent layers, thus compensating for unwanted dyeing in these layers. The disadvantage of this concept is that it needs primary dyeing in the adjacent layers to function. Vertical inhibition is used in Agfa’s current maskless C-41 films.

The film that caught my interest when searching one of my favorite european sites for analog photography, Fotoimpex (the other is Ag Photographic in the UK), was a product named Rollei Digibase CN 200 Pro. The Aviphot X400, an aerial photo film, seems to be identical to Maco’s Rollei Digibase CN 200. A Agfa negative colorfilm produce, mainly intended for aerial photo. This film is without mask and with the emulsion moulded on a polyester base, not the usual (thicker) triacetate base. Reason for thinner base material, among other aspects, is to yield sharper scans and prints.

What I really love with Rollei Digibase CN 200 is the abilty to recreate green. A green with density and hue that, to my eyes, is very real and true to the origin. Color purity is very good as is gray balance.To my taste, grain is reasonably fine for a ISO 200 film. Sharpness seems to be good. Sorry to say for the moment I don´t have a scanner that´s up to standards. I use a Canon inkjet all-in-one printer Pixma MG 8250. It works fine, but I have a creeping sensation that there is more details in my negatives than I´m able to see on the screen. Loupe peeping my negatives tell me that there are much more details. For the moment I´m doing all post in Lightroom 4 and if necessary some final adjustments i Nik Viveza 2 and Color Efex Pro 4.

Only criticism I may address is that red and yellow have a tendency to oversaturate and ”bleed”, hence carry less detail and structure. All in all I really love this color negative film. If I want explosive color, I go for Kodak Ektar 100. If I need high ISO I choose Kodak Portra 400. But if I´m in for realistic color and agreeable greys I opt for Digibase CN 200. I´ve bought a small supply of Rollei Digibase CN 200 from Fotoimpex sufficient for months of (slow) photography.

If you´d like to have more information on this excellent film it´s downloadable from Maco homepage.

In the near future I´m probably going to buy some C-41 developer for Rollei Digibase CN 200. There´s a complete Digibase C41 midi kit obtainable on Fotoimpex homepage. Developing color negative with C-41 process is not more complicated than developing black and white. It´s just more solutions. As when developing black and white you have to be meticulous about time and temperature. It´s really noti´n to it.

-"The immortal photographers will be straightforward photographers, those who do not rely on tricks or special techniques" - Philippe Halsman

Buy Film not Megapixels!

Olympus Pen W, T-Max 100 and Spur DSX 135/36

2012-09-29T22:58:00.001+02:00

"Life is like photograph, You can't get best picture just by talking. You need to take an action, you need to press the shutter!" - Husni Mubarak Zainal

Before I sent my Leica M9 to Leica AG, Solms, Germany, for sensor repair I stumbled upon my fathers old Olympus Pen W when cleaning out my cupboards and shanks. The small Olympus Pen W is a 35 mm "half-frame" camera. For all of you who are much younger than yours truly, the Pen W picture format is equivalent to an APS-C sensor compared to a FF- sensor. Picture format is 18x24 mm, half a 24x36 mm frame. This format gave you 72 pictures out of a 135-36 roll.

In the 1960- to 1970-ies "half-frame" cameras were very popular. Most popular was Canon Dial 35. In Sweden, the prominent photographer Walter Hirsch made some really personal photoessays utilizing a Canon Dial 35. This camera got it´s name from the old analog phone dial-like front. Dial 35 was equipped with a spring motor and could run a serie of up to 20 pictures at around 2 fps. When holding the camera in it´s "natural position" it gave you a horizontal picture. Differ on that point from mostly all other half-frame cameras which were built as an ordinary full frame camera that ended in vertical pictures as the "normal shooting position". When using half-frame photography it was natural to take primely vertical shots. As the very apt photographer and blogger Ming Thein so aptly have pointed at, a vertical composition is "unnatural" to the eye (mostly). Anyhow, it´s difficult to compose a pleasing vertical oriented scene.

My Olympus Pen W have a special history to me. I bought this item when working at Boësens Fotografiska AB (a photoshop in the center of Stockholm), in my summer breaks. I bought the camera and gave it to my father. I thought he should have a smaller and easier to handle camera. When my father died, year 2001, I inherited the camera together with a Braun F 16B analog electronic flash (still working!) and a not functioning Gossen Sixtomat selenium cell light meter. The tiny black Pen W has a rumor of being very rare. But, according to the site biofos.com there have been around 20 000 Pen W:s produced. Evidently not that rare a camera. But prices on web auctions are fairly high, some around $1000! The popularity might be due to the elegant looks and massive build, but many cameras have issues with the black coating, as mine have. Setting aside normal wear of paint there is a tendency to get "pimples" in the paint. I don´t know exactly when my camera was produced. Cameras fitted with an accessory shoe have a date code machine stamped or hand written on the aluminium block exposed when the accessory shoe cover is removed. I haven´t succeeded to slide the cover off. Later Pens or ones without shoes have the code on the reverse of the film pressure plate. Date codes are a collection of numbers, letters and hieroglyphics, some hand written in china-graph pencil and others machine printed. My estimation is that my camera was produced around 1964 (Pen W was only produced 1964 to 65!) and should be part of the first 10000 produced.

This small camera, as part of the early Pen-family, weigh a hefty (for size) 400 grams! It´s completely manual with a 25 mm f/2,8 E Zuiko-W lens of decent Olympus quality. The substantial mass makes it easy to hold the camera steady. I´ve been shooting at 1/8 th of a second and getting sharp pictures. Shutter settings are only: 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250 of a second and B. The leaf shutter in my camera is a Copal-X produce. After almost 50 years the shutter still works just fine. Only problem is that sometimes, when forwarding film, the Pen W advance two pictures. There seems to be some issues with the film advancing mechanics. But 72 pictures on a 135-36 roll is a lot of pictures even if I loose some! It´s better to load the Pen W with 24 frames length that will give me 48 half frame pictures. When I found the Pen W I also discovered two old (12 years old!) Kodak T-Max 100 135-36 cartridges in my fridge. I decided to give the old Pen W a spin with the Kodak black and white T-Max. I also found and dusted off my old Kindermann stainless steel developing cans. The tricky part with steel spirals, as in the Kindermanns, is film loading. It´s way too easy to crinkle the film. Which I still do - sometimes!

After reading Bruce Barnbaums exellent book “The Art of Photography – an Approach to Personal Expression” I decided to use a kind of extended zone system and utilizing Barnbaums “bellows methodology” two solutions developer. I prepped the Paterson FX-39 developer in one 1+9 and one 1+19 dilution. After successfully loaded the Kindermann steel tank I presoaked the T-Max 100 for 2 minutes. Poured out the water, activated the timer for the 1+14 dilution developing time and poured the 1+7 diluted developer into the can. After one and a half minute I poured the first dilution out and in the more diluted developer. All the time, after pouring a new dilution in, I agitated for 1 minute and after that agitated every minute for 10 seconds. Then stop-bath, fixer, wetting agent and rinsing according to normal procedure and timing. Result was rather good. Though having being spoiled by fully automatic cameras for years I missed either exposure (wrong aperture and/or shutter speed) and focus. It sure take some time to get used to a completely manual camera as the Pen W. Gradation of my developed T-Max 100 was rather expanded but I think that a faint fogging or shading was due to it´s age. The idea with utilizing a two dilution development is that with the less diluted developer all black and almost black parts (zone 0-2) develops fully at once and with the more diluted, second developer, the more exposed parts (zones) evolves with reduced contrast and more details. It works!

Inspired by Erwin Puts and his eminent blog, Tao of Leica, I bought some Spur (Speed Photography Ultrahigh Resolution) film and chemistry. I went for a pack of Spur DSX and developer kit. The DSX is by origin an Agfa Copex Rapid document film ISO 32 to 64 (nominally ISO 40). As such not suited for capturing a vivid grey scale and fast moving objects. But the Spur two part developer will metamorphose DSX into a full tonal, dynamic and high resolution film. More than 600 lines/mm is possible to resolve. I loaded my Pen W with the DSX and exposed at ISO 40. Had this film in camera for almost three weeks (take some time to shoot 72 pictures in slow photo mode!) and hit my trusty Kindermann tank with the Spur DSX film. I mixed the two developing solutions into one (Part A 50 ml and Part B 15 ml adding water to 250 ml developer), diluted the fixer and off I went following the instructions from Dipl-Ing. H. Schain and partner for a middle gradtion of my DSX shots. Developing time was 11 minutes. I´m really happy with the result. But I realized that if I was to find out how good the 25 mm f/2.8 lens in my Pen W is I should use a tripod at least on some of my shots. Not photographing in a Steve Huff-ish way, real-world user testing, when testing the Pen W. Many pictures are not sharp, but I´m still uncertain if there is a diminutive camera shake in my pictures. Another problem is scanning. All scanners I utilize are made for full frame 24x36 mm pictures. Means that I only get "half" the picture (resolution) compared scanning a full frame picture. This might also be a factor ending in the perceived lesser resolution and sharpness.

"The camera is a time machine and you are the pilot. It captures the present so that someone in the future can see a moment recorded in the past as seen by you". - Philip Wayner

Buy Film not Megapixels!

Scratched sensor and back to basics

2012-09-24T12:35:00.000+02:00

“Art is about being consciously creative. Understanding materials and processes is about taking control. This makes our work consistent and predictable. When materials, techniques and processes are not understood, artistic success depends on serendipity and is no longer intentionally conceived” – Ralph W. Lambrecht

In the beginning of this year I noticed (as I then thought) a crack in the upper right corner of my pictures. I tried to blow, use wet sensor cleaning (Just Cleaning Kit 3) as well as dry (Dust-Aid), nothing helped. Through my Leica dealer in Stockholm, Wibergs Fotografiska AB, I got in contact with the Scandinavian Leica representative in Denmark and from Denmark I got a DHL express parcel delivery and a DHLwaybill.

Took only 24 hrs. for my M9 to reach Germany, Solms and Leica AG. After only 12 hrs. I had an e-mail apprising me that my sensor was scratched(?) and my warranty would not be valid for service! In the next sentence I read that Leica would service my M9 free of charge as a goodwill gesture! What a relief! That´s what I call costumer care! Still wonder when I did scratch the sensor. Only situation I can recall is when I tried to clean the sensor with my bulb blower and the nozzle happened to dig too deep into the camera. The instruction is to hold the camera up side down, open the shutter and blow into the camera. My advice to all of you, be careful when using a bulb blower! In the future I will send my M9 every second year to Leica for service. And that´s a total overhaul. Including cleaning the finder, adjusting the rangefinder, checking all electronics and mechanics. Well worth the price!

In the meantime I bought an M4-P on German e-Bay. I decided to go back to basic and good old slow photography. Got a good price on an M4-P that looked almost new but had some tendency for fungus in the viewfinder. It´s ok for the moment but in the future I have to have the finder cleaned (I hope that will get rid of fungus) or in the worst scenario, have a new finder installed. A new view-/rangefinder would set me back around € 700. But it might well be worth the investment. I really love the M4-P. I was searching for a fully mechanical camera without light meter with 28 mm frames in viewfinder and the M4-P fullfills all these requirements. I want to go back to the days when I could nail the exposure by just looking at the scene. I have recently found out that I have to regain a lot of skills in manual photography.

The main reason for me to return to Ag-technology was Bruce Barnbaums book “The Art of Photography – an Approach to Personal Expression”. A wonderful book. All pictures in that book are awesome. The dynamic and gradation in all black and white photos are just fantastic. And I realized that in the 1960-ies I only had experienced “push”-technique. With his book Bruce Barnbaum inspired me to try contrast control with the extended zone system and utilizing his “bellows analogy” with two solutions developer. It’s all about increasing or decreasing contrast when developing black and white negatives. I want to be able to go beyond zone 14, not being restricted to only 10 zones. Or to place shadow in zone 4 instead of 2. Overexpose and underdevelop my film, push it for even more dynamic pictures. This is something that digital can´t do! And Digital HDR-technology is something completely different.

But that was just for a start. To be really back to basic I have reread Ansel Adams “The Negative”. It´s a must if you really want to get into the zone-system. If you really want to educate yourself in analog Ag-photography from camera to print and also get a deep understanding of digital photography and hybrid printing I recommend Ralph W. Lambrecht and Chris Woodhouse magnificent “Way Beyond Monochrome – Advanced Techniques for Traditional Black and White Photography” now in it´s second edition. These two books are an abundant source of knowledge about black and white analog Ag-photography. Though I worked in the darkroom a lot in the 1960-ies to 1980-ies I still have to relearn a lot. Especially how to load my stainless steel spirals with film for developing. That wasn´t easy. Metal spirals are very tricky to load with film. It´s easy to crinkle the film when loading. But after awhile and two destroyed black and white Ilford HP 5+ I had (almost) regained the skill.

To work with analog film is more like being an artist. I choose my film as an artist chooses colors and mix to desired tint and saturation, season to taste. Personally I choose black and white film after my subject and weather. If it´s sunny with very hard shadows I choose a low sensitive film (ISO 40 to 200) and develop N- to reduce contrast. On the other hand if it´s a grey autumn day and my motif lack contast I choose a more lightsensitive film (ISO 200 to 400) and develop to enhance contrast, N+ method. Add to that utilizing colored filters for black and white film and I have a complete palette of possibilities to communicate my impression of the subject to the viewer. As Ansel Adams so emphatically point at in his books. No, you can´t recreate colorfilter effekt as well as different films characteristics in software. I tried, but it´s not the same. That´s one of the reasons Leica so daringly produced the Monochrom.

When it comes to color I choose color film from without different charachters. If I´m into very saturated colors I go for a Kodak Ektar 100. If, on the other hand, I want realistic colors as seen, I go for a Kodak Portra 100 or 400. I prefer the 400 version. But if I´m in to an older classic Agfa Color rendition I choose the wonderful Rollei CN 200. All negative colorfilms are easily developed with C-41 dveloping kits at your own home. Even in color you can´t digitally replicate the different characteristics of colorfilms in your software. I´ve tried with Nik Color Efex Pro for many years but haven´t succeded. The only solution - go for film! I did and I was blown away by the explosive color saturation of the Kodak Ektar 100. It was a revelation. Also the neutral, but texturally very rich, Portra 400 surprised me. These Ag negative color films gave me a 3D-like impression that digital lack!

All in all, I´m back to basics and back to the 1960-ies when I first seriously was into photography. Now I develop my own films, scan negatives and do all postproduction in the digital domain. But you never know, soon I´ll be back in the good old black and white lab utilising a complete analog workflow. And out there on the web, there is a growing community whose members Believe in Film, I still believe in film as much as I still work in the digital domain. Trying to squeeze the best out of both analog and digital technology.

“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”

― Ted Grant

Buy Film not Megapixels!

September 17, 2012

2012-09-17T22:11:00.002+02:00

"Compensating for lack of skill with technology is progress toward mediocrity. As technology advances, craftsmanship recedes. As technology increases our possibilities, we use them less resourcefully. The one thing we ‘we gained is spontaneity, which is useless without perception" - David Vestal, American photographer, critic and teacher of the New York School.

This was the day (more precisely – evening) that Leica announced what new products for 2013 there will be. Presentation took place at Halle 1, Photokina, Cologne, Germany. On the eve of Photokina there was a flood of wall posts and tweets coming from “Leica – das Wesentliche” party! If you’ve ever needed an excuse, now was the time to connect with social platforms so one wouldn´t miss any of the festivities and announcements. There have been some rumors around. But as before, what Leica was going to present had been a very well kept secret. Almost all bloggers was certain that there would be a new M10 camera with "Live-View" and CMOS sensor. As a dramatic start Leica homepage went black at lunchtime. It´s a special occasion for Leica this year in Cologne, it´s 99 years for the Leica 35 mm camera.

Earlier that day Voigtländer had presented a new interesting 21 mm f/1,8 Ultron aspherical lens. At the same time also published on the Voigtländer homepage all technical data on that lens. To me it was a surprise, but a really nice surprise. It could be a very affordable and nice drawing lens. A 10 bladed aperture will surely give a nice bokeh, if you could get bokeh with a 21 mm lens. Closest focus range is 0,5 meter. And at f/1,8 there sure could be some bokeh anyhow. The price, according to Voigtländer home page, is an affordable 1149 €! A 21 mm viewfinder is optional and set you back another 249 €. Still affordable for an M Leica. Another, as I see it, interesting product is the new Sekonic L 478-series light meter. First light meter ever with touchscreen. Otherwise, so far there has not been any really interesting new camera product so far. Only "me too" products, soo boring!

As many times before this Leica evening started with “das Wesentliche” - photography. Dr Kaufmann, after telling that he wanted to change the world, starting with anti-war protest in 1969, introduced photographer Nick Ut who took the famous photograph from the Vietnam war of the napalm injured girl Kim Phuk who also entered the stage at Photokina.

She talked of her work with children affected by war. Nick Ut talked about his Pulitzer Price winning photograph of Kim and how he saved her by taking her to a hospital in his car. A photographer not only as a bystander but intervening in what happens around him. Surely Nick Ut photography was one of the elements that ended the war and changed the world. Nick Ut is now a member of Leica Hall of Fame. More Leica Hall of Fame photographers came on stage to mull over photography. Photographer Steve McCurry talked about his famous photograph of the Afghani girl and Barbara Klemm on making photographs of political figures. Especially about the image of Brezhnev and Honecker kissing. Leica was using the trade fair gallery in hall one to exhibit 20 noted photographers among them Elliot Erwitt, one of my favorite. As a result the Leica hall was more of an exhibition than a trade fair booth. That´s innovative and tell the story about Leica as a company.

CEO Alfred Schopf entered the stage after a one hour break, for mingle and watching the exhibition, to introduce the new products. Since 2009 Leica have been very successful. Still the Leica Monochrome has no followers as the X1 and X2 has in Sony and Fuji to name a few copycats. First out was a presentation of British fashion designer Paul Smith who has designed a special edition of Leica X2. Orange and lime green with British racing green leather. Not any discreet street photography camera. Tacky or tasty by design, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Next in show was the upgraded S2 with a 32 image RAW buffer. A new high-resolution display and new playback. Faster auto focus, expanded ISO range and a new sensor board - but no S3! Three new lenses are added to the S range. Now there is a total of 8 lenses of which 5 equipped with central shutter. Among the new lenses, a Super-Elmar-S 24 mm f/3.5. After this overture, time for Stefan Daniel and the M range to get on stage and time for Leica M-E. A minimalist version of the M9, equipped with an 18 MP full frame sensor.

After the M-E came presentation of The M camera (very Apple-like not to have a new serial number. Next M-camera might be called the New M) with 24 MP CMOS sensor, as rumor have told, and a Maestro processor from the S-system. A very interesting thing is that the sensor is made in Europe, Antwerp, Belgium, by the company CMOSIS! A company specialized in designing and producing CMOS image sensors for the industrial and professional domain. The sensors are used for machine vision, in scientific and medical fields. CMOSIS was founded in 2007 and the order from Leica is their first large and, hopefully, long production series. The sensor is designed for bringing out the best from both M-serie as well as R-serie lenses. If you want more information about the new Leica M CMOS sensor go to "Image Sensor World" blog. A live view LCD with 3" 920 Kpixel monitor, with scratch resistant glass and, like used on the Leica X2, an optional Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) or in this case an Electronic Visoflex Finder! And of course there is video recording in the new M camera! Rumor also told me that there was a new adapter for R-system lenses on M-system around. The new M-live view LCD and EVF have 10x magnification for focusing with R or M-lenses with focal lengths longer than 135 mm. There is an abundance of beautiful drawing second hand Leica R-lenses around and they come fairly cheap too (for the moment that is). For shorter focal lengths I still prefer the optical rangefinder. It´s far more precise and as fast as any Auto Focus system to date. But there is also a second aid for focusing in The M and that is live view focus peaking. Haven´t tried focus peaking for a longer period and still hesitant on the strengths and shortcomings of that focusing aid. But there is still additional technology packed into the Leica M accessory handgrip. There is an X-sync for studio flash and an external SCA plug for usage of the EVF and flash at the same time. The handgrip is equipped with a USB connection, GPS function and power connection! Great! The best thing, as I see it, is that Leica keep to the wonderful optical rangefinder that is a trademark for Leica-system and the true Leica DNA. The new live view is a contemporary version of the good old Visoflex mirror box.

The New M is weather sealed and equipped with a new menu system, faster and simpler (can it be?) to end it all. That´s a real advancement, good work by the M team at Solms. The M Leica is a product conceptualized by photographers for photographers, not designed by engineers and computer programmers for photographers as other digital cameras. As far as I know, most of the workforce at Leica are amateur photogs. Here is a very illuminating interview with Stefan Daniel done by the ever so active nice dane Thorsten Overgaard who also is a very competent photographer and teacher.

But the best news of all, there is an indication that the price for The M will be the same as for a regularly priced M9. Wonder if I would buy The M? You´d bet I will!

The evening in Cologne at Photokina Hall one ended with singer and Leica photographer Seal performing live.

One more thing; Jonathan Ive, designer of Apple fame, is to design one special M camera meant for auction! In my dreams I´d always hoped for that to happen. There is, in my opinion, only one designer that can do the Bauhaus-esque and Dieter Rams alike basic design of the M-camera justice (form follow function) and that is Jonathan Ive. I hope that this first attempt won´t end with just "one of a kind" camera body for auction but in a new Ive/Leica design coming up. Leica and Dr Kaufmann are definitely in for putting a substantial dent in the universe. Lastly; Here, on a Vimeo upload, you can se and hear Jean Gaumy, Magnum photographer on his photographic process and his history with Leica M system. It´s all "Leica - das Wesentliche"! Another very knowledgeable photographer is Sean Ried. He is running a useful and very informative blog, Ried Reviews, which I wholeheartedly recommend. His musings on the Leica M is very readable.

“We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”- Steve Jobs

On this video John Dooley from the Leica Akademie Mayfair, London demonstrates the features of Leica M.

MS-Optical-R&D - Apoqualia and Perar

2012-08-01T09:45:00.002+02:00

"Less is more" - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe after Robert Browning

This time I´m using and writing ´bout lenses from another manufacturer than Leica. No, it´s neither Voigtländer, nor Zeiss, it´s a japanese retired lens designer who make his lenses by himself and in an artisanal way. His name is Miyazaki Sadayasu and his brand MS-Optical-R and D.

Awhile ago I came to visit Bellamy Hunt´s very readable netsite; Japan Camera Hunter. Bellamy is of brittish descent and living in Tokyo, Japan since seven years. Bellamy´s occupation (besides analogue photography) is hunting for old and used cameras that me, you and collectors ask him to look for and buy In Japan or Hongkong. As far as I know, he´s doin´ a great job.

On Bellamys site there was a post with a very nice looki´n lens and an intriguing story of the designer and manufacturer, Miyazaki Sadayasu. As I was searching for a smaller and lighter 50 mm lens than my Noctilux 50 mm f/1.0, and initially was looking for a collapsible Elmar 50mm f/2.8, the story of Miyazaki san grabbed me. After reading and checking out photos on Flickr I figured that Miyazaki san´s lens would match my beautifully drawing Macro-Elmar 90 mm f/4. I also was on the hunt for an Elmarit 28 mm f/2.8 ASPH, assuming that a gang of light brigadeing three would make a nice travelling kit for my M9 and M4-P. I was really intrigued by Mayazaki san´s Apoquaria 50 mm f/3.5.

When studying Mayazaki san´s production more closely I discovered an extremely compact, pancake lens; Perar 28 mm f/4 Super Triplet. Bellamy Hunt has a page on his site devoted to Mayiazaki san. Turns out that this Japanese gentleman is a former designer of toy telescopes! As retired he is able to dedicate all his time to what he most of all want to do - design fine handmade lenses for photography. I had stumbled across Mayazaki san´s designs earlier. His lenses has gained a certain cult status. But then I just passed them by as being odd cult objects. Now Bellamy Hunts site made me interested in this man, his passion for lens design and his artisanal approach to lens manufacture. What else could I do but order one Apoquaria and one Super Perar?

It was simple to order the lenses on Japan Camera Hunter site. At the same time I also added a Ginichi G soft release button to my order. Payment on a Saturday via PayPal worked fine (as always) and Bellamy posted my items Monday and on Thursday same week I hade the precious parcel in my hands. Only four days from Japan to Sweden, great! Packaging was flawless, I noticed fewerishly looking for the small gems. Mechanically the lenses are beautifully made. The 50 mm Apoquaria is delivered with a Leica M 39 screw mount. For use on my Leica M9 or M4-P I had to order an adapter for M 39 thread to M mount. Having the assumption that Voigtländer production is of higher standard than the Chinese produce overflowing e-Bay I opted for a Voigtländer adapter M39 - Leica M 50/75 II, to get the 50 mm frame into my M cameras rangefinders. The miniscule Perar is delivered with a Leica M bayonet that pushes the 28/90 mm frame into M camera rangefinders. Nice. All in all, a two lens package, Ginichi soft release, Swedish customs and Voigtländer adapter set me back a total of 1550,48 €. That´s the amount I probably have to pay for only one used Leica Elmarit 28 mm f/2.8 ASPH 6-bit on e-Bay or Leica User Forum ”Buy and Sell”. Not to mention how much a second hand Summicron 28 mm f/2.0 would set me back!

I must say that the pancakey Perar 28 mm f/4 Super Triplet, collapsible Apoquaria 50 mm f/3.5 and collapsible Leica Macro-Elmar 90 mm f/4 make a nice, light weight, easy to carry around combo with my M9 and M4-P. All together these lenses weigh in at 405 grams to compare with my Noctilux 50 mm f/1.0 in itself weighing a hefty 580 grams. The miniscule Perar looks a bit odd. Not what one expect a ”conventional” lens would look. It´s more of a flattened, truncated cone with a really minute front lens. This design has a real feature - it won´t block any part of the 28 mm view in my M9 and M4-P rangefinders. That´s a really good thing! As I see it, Perar 28 mm f/4 being of true wide angle designs (not a retrofocus) is a hommage to the 28 mm lenses that were produced in the good ol´days back in the 1930-ies as the Tessar 28 mm f/8. A classical five lens in three groups as Leitz Hector 28 mm f/6.5 is very small and looks like a very compressed Elmar lens. Small size used to make lenses a bit fiddly to handle.

A thing that have resulted in discussions on the net is the fact that this petite gem of a 28 mm lens have it´s ten bladed aperture diaphragm in front of the first lens! Fully exposed to the environment. As an old cinematographer I have no issue with this design. On the contrary. In combination with the lenshood the aperture diaphragm at smaller f-stops will very effectively diminish lens flare and increase contrast. The aperture diaphragm in combo with the hood will prevent stray light from glaring the front lens. The main concern in the writings on the webb have been the possibilty for dust and debrie entering the aperture and make it stuck. In the good ol´cinematography days, when you had to do almost every effect in camera on location, a diaphragm was placed in front of the lens to make fade ins and fade outs as well as framing certain parts of the picture. This was in the days before editing the negative and optical printing was routine. I´ve used that technique myself and these diaphragm work in all weather and dusty environments. The exposed aperture diaphragm is not an issue in my opinion. But beware of pocket lint!

The only problem with the small Perar is when I want to use a filter. It is possible to put a 19 mm filter into the threaded lens hood. But where to find a 19 mm filter UV or ND? For instance, old Leica Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 had a 19 mm filter thread. But still, 19 mm filter are hard to find. The small Perar 28 mm f/4 (if I may trust the leaflet and test certificate delivered with the lens) is designed as a modern refined version with Tantalum glass of the old Cooke triplet. Developed by H. Dennis Taylor in 1893. A straight three lens construction. The classic old Tessar and Elmar designs are also triplets by design. Today triplets are found in many cell-phone cameras. So, maybe back to basics and less is more! Theoretically all triplets suffer from astigmatism when wide open and they are prone to geometrical distortion that distort circles to ellipses. According to the hand drawn MTF diagrams the Perar is a competent lens. From delivered data this lens seem to be fairly low on distorsion. Weight is a smallish 50 grams!

The lens is delivered with a screw in back cap inside the lens. It was a bit strenuous to uncap the lens. The very small frontal lens cap, which is mounted on the Perar by a thread, is very tricky to handle. Could easily be dropped and lost. If I would like to put on the dimitive front end lens cap and the back cap for the inside of the lens it´ll take dexterousness and time. Nothing I would recommend doing out in the field. To cover the back of the Perar I use an ordinary Leica M rear lens cap. But for the front I have to find a small plastic cap, 19 mm diameter or a small canister to keep the Perar safe from pocket lint. Because it´s very pocketable. With the cute little lenshood (also serves as a 19 mm filterholder) in place the Perar is easy to handle. Lens has only four f-stops (f4 through f16) and there are no click stops. The 10 bladed aperture (for smooth and pleasing bokeh) is made in Germany by Otto Niemann Feinmechanik GmbH, Berlin. There is a small focus handle which makes focusing easy and precise with a very short 90° throw. It took me some time to find the smallish handle automatically, and by feel (not looking).

Apoquaria 50 mm f/3.5 (true focal lenght is 51.6 mm) is a ”bigger”, collapsible lens. Weight is a low 115 gram. This lens is a decendant of the old collapsible Zeiss Tessar 50 mm F/3.5, Leitz ”Classic” Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 and Voigtländer Heliar 50 mm f/3.5. According to the ”cut away” drawing in the test certificate Mayizaki san´s lens is built from five lenses with two pair cemented together which result in three groups that look Voigtländer Heliar alike. Apoquaria 50 mm f/3.5 is (maybe) a hommage to the Voigtländer lens design. It´s said that Miyazaki san with his Apoquaria wanted to recreate the apochromatic performance of Heliar lenses. Mayizaki san use lanthanium glass in this design as Voigtländer do in APO-Lanthar-series. Lanthar glass is characterized by high-index-low dispersion. Contemporary Lanthar lenses have wrongly been accused for being radioactive. In the beginning, when lanthanum and thorium were mixed together in the glass mould, lenses were radioactive. Thorium is radioactive.

The collapsible Apoquaria 50 mm f/3.5 look much like an old Leica Elmar 50 mm f/3.5. But contrary to Leica, the collapsible part on the Apoquaria is anodized black instead of chrome as on Leica collapsible lenses. It´s far more discreet to have an all black lens than one that´ll reflect light strongly. Apoquaria come with a threaded lenshood and a screw on front end cap. The hood can be transported reversed over the lens and capped with the lens cap, nice. The 12 bladed aperture, also of Otto Niemann Feinmechanik GmbH, Berlin produce, is scaled from f3.5 to f22 with no detents for stops as the Perar 28 mm. Filter diameter is 30,5 mm, maybe a wee bit easier to find. With the Voigtländer adapter M39 - Leica M 50/75 II focusing is very fast and exact due to a short focusing throw. Only a quarter of a full round needed. Another nicety with this gem is that the focus grip and focus ring is machined from one piece. No plastic focusing knob. One note; At first focusing won´t go to infinity. It´s due to a heavy greased helicoid thread. It´ll settle very quickly when using the lens.

Both MS-lenses seem slightly prone to lateral chromatic abberation (CA) resulting in loss of detail at picture edges when I´m pixel peeping at 100% magnification. CA is pronounced with a digital camera. Problem might be the extremely short depth of focus in a digital sensor. The analogue Ag based light sensitive emulsion is much thicker and therefore more forgiving. Maybe this edge unsharpness is less pronounced in analogue. I will be back on this issue using my Leica M4-P and the good ol´ Ag-based photography. There is an apparent softening of picture detail at the edges and corners as well. Some coma is also apparent. But away from corners and edges and in picture center, these lenses are sharp as a razor and boast a wounderful color contrast. The color rendition at most part of the picture is exquisite and both lenses show the same color character. A whee bit on the cold side. This doesn´t matter to digital photography but it sure does to analogue! What I like with the Apoquaria 50 mm f/3.5 is the way it draws out of focus details when focusing at close range. Due to slight spherical distorsion, as my Noctilux 50 mm f/1.0, out of focus parts create as I see it, an eerie vertigo effect due to field curvature. Very nice, and can be used as an expressive element. On the madatory ”brick wall test” (who is shottin´brick walls?) the small, three lens Perar doesn´t show much geometric distorsion other than CA induced corner distorsion! The glass laden Apoquaria is almost perfect. When pixel peeping (100% enlargement) at corners, CA add some light distorsion. By the way, I even find diminutive CA at picture corners in my Noctilux!

What I like in both lenses is that there is almost no vignetting at all. Especially in the wide angle Perar this is an appealing quality. Also the abscence of geometrical distorsion is a prominent quality of the little Perar 28 mm f/4. Contrast is most adequate in the Perar but in the Apoquaria 50 mm f/3.5 it´s perfect. Pictures by the Apoquaria do look like they have been exposed with an apochromatic lens. Sharpness and color contrast is really this lens forte. I´ve used these lenses on my M9 without any in camera correction, for test purposes. When shooting regularly I found that the pancake Perar 28 mm/4 work well with my M9 at menu lens setting 28 f/2.8 11804. For the Apoquaria 50 mm f/3.5 I found that the setting for 50 f/2.8 works just fine. I could live with the ”Automatic” setting (no lens identification in camera) but then I wouldn´t have any EXIF information on focal length of lens in use. Which I prefer to have. One more thing, the focus cam adjustment in both lenses was perfect according to Leica standards. Rangefinderfocus is dead on with my M9 and M4-P. Both lenses focus down to 0.8 meter.

What I really like in these two lenses from Mayazaki san´s mind, hand and workbench is the sharpness, color rendition, color contrast, the absence of vignetting and the ability to convey texture in the subject. Add to that these lenses don´t block any part of the rangefinder view. Only issue I have with these two lenses, as with many other lenses, is CA and corner unsharpness. But for most of my pictures, that won´t matter at all.

"It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use". - Sam Abell, Seeing and Shooting Straight by Sam Abell

Leica - going for a dent in the universe?

2012-05-10T10:06:00.001+02:00

"Once again: The brand image is a "collaboration" between it and the user. No talking at, or talking to but talking "with"! - Mark Comerford @markmedia

Now it´s pass May the 10th 2012, 6:45 pm in Berlin and Leica have presented "the future" of (Leica) photography. Persistant rumors, mainly spread by Leica News and Rumors, had it that on May the 10th Leica was to present a "black and white picture only" M9 P version. Also there was expectations for a revamped Leica X1 called X2 and an updated Summicron 2/50 ASPH. But Leica was also to present a new support for the professional photographic community and as mecenat for photography as art.

Even more distinct than the Berlin event was the pressrelease from Leica on the net, "Finansen.net" on May 9th at 12:59 local time, where Leica announced that they hired the complete Hall 1 at Photokina, Cologne on September 18 through 23 Year 2012! The pressrelease writes about Leica going to present a historical show of camera development as well as an exposé of photography as an artform from the early days of 35 mm photography. As the pressrelease states (in german); - "Nach dem sehr erfolgreichen Messeauftritt unseres Unternehmens 2010, ist es nun das Ziel, das Gesamtkonzept unserer Präsentation auf der photokina zu erweitern. Wir freuen uns daher, dass uns in diesem Jahr die Ausstellungsfläche in der Halle 1 zur Verfügung steht und wir den Besuchern der weltweit größten Messe für Fotografie die besten Produkte und besten Bilder aus dem Hause Leica präsentieren können." In short, Leica as a company, is to give us (vistors at Photokina as a gift) a presentation/exposé of the best products as well as the best pictures. In my opinion, Leica is a unique company (and the only) in the still photography niche that supports professional photography by promoting photography as art and at the same time gifted photographers. This is what I call to "Build a strong Brand"! Leica surely´s aiming for making a dent in the photographic universe! Leica seems to believe in the future of photography since Leica´s building a new factory at Villa Nova, Portugal and they had started on building the new head office and factory back in Wetzlar. The new factory at Wetzlar´s scheduled to be ready for the move from Solms in 2013.

New Leica Factory at Villa Nova Portugal. Ready for production in October this year!

The whole show started off introducing twelve cellists from The Berliner Philharmonie with hornist Till Brönner. After an introduction read by German actor Jan Josef Liefers it was time for the Leica leadership to enter the stage with CEO Alfred Schopf, Dr Andreas Kaufmann and Stefan Erfurt. Dr Andreas Kaufmann handed over the award for a lifetime membership to Leica Hall of Fame to German photographer Barbara Klemm. She shoot mainly in black and white and Barbara also received a special made Leica M 7. All was adding up to a very special presentation. Was it going to be a black and white only M9 version?

And rumor had it right. There is a new lens, a Summicron 2/50 ASPH that´ll set a new benchmark on image quality according to Leica. They are usually right on target. Lens is said to be available from August 2012. Price € 5 552. Is this an insanely priced lens? Or is it priced for the "appropriate product segment"? And is it designed for a coming M10 camera? A camera with extremely high resolution/sharpness corner to corner?

There is a revamped X1 called X2. Now with the option to add on an electronic viewfinder. Made by Olympus. It will be equipped with a new APS-C CMOS sensor with a 16 MP resolution. The lens is the same as on the previous model, Elmarit 2,8/24 mm ASPH. It´s also said that the AF now is much faster, we´ll see.

Last but not least there is a new black and white picture only Leica M Monochrom. The newly developed sensor, made by Truesense Imaging inc. (a former Kodak division), will have a resolution of 18 MP and said to be 100% sharper due to direct processing of raw data with no interpolation what so ever! It will have an extremely low fine-grain noise all the way up to ISO 10 000! What I´m keen on knowing is if this sensor has a wider dynamic range than the color sensors we have around today. I´m longing for a sensor with at least 15 zones (f stops) of dynamic range. M Monochrom is not a camera for every photographer, amateurs as well as professional. I´m convinced there is a niche for this camera. It won´t sell in millions but it sure will sell in thousands. Because there is a need for a good black and white only camera. A camera that´ll draw pictures with an image quality that of a silver halide, analog 35 mm camera. I´m convinced Leica has succeed in achieving that goal.

Especially after reading Bruce Barnbaums inspirational book "The Art of Photography". In that book Bruce describes an interesting development ("overexposure/underdeveloping") technique which render an enormous tonal range from black to white. Including more than 15 zones! Bruce Barnbaums pictures illustrating his book are awesome! I also wonder how this black and white sensor handles the infrared range? Phase One have two separate versions of their Achromatic+ backs on offer. One with an IR filter and one without. By the way, all digital cameras are essentially black and white only, but with a Bayer filter and electronics added to create a color picture to our eyes!All in all, Leica have in M Monochrom a daring, very plain looking and interesting new product. Priced at € 6 135. For the price you also get Lightroom 4 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2! Congrats to Nik Software. They have, no doubt, the best black and white processing software around. For the best black and white digital camera, there must be the best software!

The three lens Leica M9 P Hermes kit on May10th 2012 for the well off.

But are all new Leica products too expensive? Then you haven´t seen the two new Leica M9 P Hermes Edition sets! They are expensive and exclusive. But there are a lot of too wealthy people around in Asia as well as in Europe and USA. They are obviously the main target group for these "insanely" priced products.As expected Leica also annonced new lenses for the professional S2 DSLR medium format system. Interestingly also a Hasselblad adapter for using "Hassy" lenses on Leica S2! With functioning AF! Then we have Photokina in Cologne. What´s Leica up to there?

Judging by he fact that Leica sponsored an evening concert at the Berlin Philharmonie day before the main event, perhaps "art per se" is target for Leica future sponsorship. Maybe Leica´s reaching for making a dent in the whole art universe as a patron of the arts? Is Leica shaping the future of art?

"A product is something made in a factory; a brand is something that is bought by the customer. A product can be copied by a competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be quickly outdated; a successful brand is timeless."- Stephen King, WPP Group, London

A happy Dr Andreas Kaufmann

Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4 me

2012-05-09T19:11:00.000+02:00

"There is 3 key things for good photography: the camera,lighting and... photoshop" - Tyra Banks

I should have been writing ´bout Lightroom 4 a long time ago. Iv´e been using a beta version from almost the day it was published and I bought a release version the same day it was on sale. I upgraded to Nik Software Color Efex Pro same day as version 4 was released. I´ve been using these two excellent software in my post production a long time, but still haven´t been able to jot down my experiences. Now, at last, I´ve made it! When upgrading from Lightroom 3 to version 4 first impression is that my pictures look ”better”. Sharper and with more ”oomph” (haven´t yet found a better ”expression” for my experience). As the knowledgeable guys, Jeff Schewe and Michael Reichmann at The Luminous Landscape reveal in their excellent tutorial video set ”New user´s introduction and advanced guide to Lightroom 4”, my impression is due to a redesign of RAW development algoritms for Lightroom 4.

The other difference from older versions is that some of the ”Exposure” to ”Black” sliders are reworked and renamed. They are replaced by sliders named ”Highlights, Shadows, White and Black”. ”Exposure” and ”Contrast” are now separate sliders. Means that I have to unlearn from previous version and relearn the new. When I got the hang of the new controls and the new possibilities, it really makes a difference. Never before it´s been possible to regain as many details and nuances in highlight as well as in shadow areas. In one sentence; I can make use of a wider dynamic range. That´s really great.

Combined with the useful HSL (”Hue, Saturation and Luminance”) sliders (or target adjustment, which I prefer) the wider dynamic range at hand can make my pictures really ”pop” (failing to find a better word). Better yet is the revamped noise reduction algoritms. On my Leica DNG-files Lightroom 4 noise reduction really makes no less than wonders. I manage to reduce the irritating ”white dot luminance noise” artifacts that plague many of my ”not so well exposed” DNG originals. More ”technically rejected” shots are useful today after the introduction of version 4. Lastly, the embedment of Blurb photo book production tool has transformed Lightroom 4 to a really powerful post production tool. Not just a competent RAW developer. Though Apple have had the book design capacity in Aperture for years, Blurb is a far more versatile design and production tool. There´s an abundance of lay-outs to choose from on Blurb and I really can make ”my own book design”.

Though compared to Capture One 6.4 Lightroom still falls short on giving my pictures an eerie, 3 dimensional, character. Now, when I can utilise the minute depth of field that Noctilux 1/50 can draw at f1, the 3-D effect is even more pronounced. Maybe the danes at Capture One have written a better yet sharpening algoritm? I think this 3-D effect´s due to a combination of extremely well designed algoritms for sharpening, contrast and color saturation. In my view, Capture One Pro 6 still rules! Also Media Pro, in my opinion, is a better and cheaper way of organizing and retrieving my picture library than by Adobe Bridge. Adobe still seems to run business in the old, 20th century style. Maximize profit by bundle the excellent media asset management software Bridge together with Photoshop or even more expensive in a Creative Suite combo. All in all, I still prefer Capture One products, but Adobe´s closing in! One annoying thing is that I can´t open Lightroom from within Media Pro (by the way, Bridge can´t either access Lightroom!). Only Photoshop and, of course, Capture One. Otherwise I would loved allowing Media Pro to manage my picture repository together with Lightroom.

Lightroom 4 is really an advancement. The way I work, as a model from the good ol´ silver halide days, I have no need for Photoshop at all. Because a combination of Lightroom with Nik Software is really what I need to work fast and get a perfect result. This sentence will take this story to my views on Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4. Before version 4, when I wanted to utilise more than one filter, I had to save the first adjustment, reopen Color Efex Pro and use the next filter and so forth. A very awkward workflow. It also produced a lot of voluminous, ”in between”, TIFF files. Which rather quickly filled my harddrives. I had always remember to clean my archives for redundant, big TIFF-files. Now, in version 4, there´s an ”Add Filter” button! From now on I can use multiple filter without intermediate savings. That´s a real advancement. Makes my workflow shorter and faster.

This little ”Add Filter” buttom makes it a lot easier to work in Color Efex Pro. There is also a new ”Detail Extractor” which give my pictures a more pronounced texture. Summing-up; I think it´s well worth the money upgrade to Color Efex Pro 4.

There are so many possibilities to tune the impact my pictures will make with Color Efex Pro. I still like to have Viveza 2 embedded in Color Efex Pro as well. That ”marriage” wouldn´t add to many more options to an already filter laden software. I think that´s main reason I prefer Snapseed when going for a quick post job. To see if I´ve caught the ”feel” I was pursuing when shooting. Snapseed combines all frequently used filters within the whole Nik Software family! A nice thing is that I can have all my Nik Software embedded in Lightroom and work with all Nik Software from within Lightroom. Using Capture One I can only send a TIFF-file to open in Nik Software, but it´ll be saved outside Capture One. In case of Lightroom, it´s saved within Lightroom. That´s very convenient. You can read my view on the former version of Color Efex Pro here on my blog. What ´bout Apple Aperture 3 then? Sorry to say, it´s no competition for either Capture One Pro 6 or Lightroom 4!

"Just as typography is human speech translated into what can be read, so photography is the translation of reality into a readable image". - Herbert Bayer, 1000 Photo Icons by Anthony Bannon (Foreword), George Eastman House , ISBN: 3822820970 , Page: 522

Noctilux 1/50, Capture One 6.4 and Nik Snapseed

2012-05-06T15:12:00.004+02:00

"As photographers we sell *emotion not emulsion.* the tools are immaterial, the resulting piece is all important". - Jeff Adams

Now I´ve had some time to use Capture One 6.4, which still is my favorite Raw converter, post production tool, on my Noctilux 1/50 photos. In my opinon, Capture One 6 still get the best out of my Leica M9 and Leica glass. Lightroom 4 is very good, but not as easy to use and hasn´t the image quality like Capture One 6. To get the "right caucasian skin tone" is so easy in Capture One 6. Just use the eye drop and "drop" the preferred skin tone on a face in your picture and color temp as well as tint adjusts to skin tone. In 99% of all cases, works perfectly. Capture One 6, to my eyes, has the best sharpening algoritm. The only area where Lightroom excels is in noise reduction. Noise reduction in Lightroom 4 is right out amazing. Takes away most of the noise but still keep my picture sharp. Unparalleled so far.

This time I also took to Nik Snapseed for special effects. Why Snapseed? A "simple" software for "amateurs"! In my opinion, Snapseed is a perfect combo of the best (most useful parts) from all Nik software products. There are the "best" parts from Color Efex Pro 4, Viveza 2, Silver Efex Pro 2 and Sharpener Pro 3. After listening to a webbinar on post production where they used Photoshop CS6 I decided to see if I could get the same result with Capture One and Snapseed at a fraction of the time it took working in Photoshop and I must conclude - I could. On most of the pictures. Even if I would be a master of Photoshop using layers en masse, it would still take 4 to 10 times longer than working in Capture One and Snapseed. If your an engineer and sort of control freak, then Photoshop is for you. But if you, like me, love to work as in the old silver halide days and analog darkroom, intuitive and spontaneous, then Capture One and especially Snapseed is for me and you. As I see it Photoshop is so 20th century but Snapseed is a 21 century product.

One more thing, the vignette adjustment in Capture One 6 seems to compensate perfectly my Noctilux 1/50:s three f stop vignetting at f1 to f1,4. On a picture exposed at f1, I need a compensation around EV 2 to 3 in Capture One 6.4. But it does miracle, most of the time. Sort of a perfect marriage.

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep". - Scott Adams

Just bought a used Noctilux 1/50

2012-05-02T22:02:00.003+02:00

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving, what you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things long after you have forgotten everything". - Aaron Siskind - Source: „Behind photographs (Archiving photographic legends) by Tim Mantoani, Channel Photographics, San Diego CA, 2011, p. 18

On April 23:rd I bought a used Noctilux 1/50 at my favorite Leica photoshop, Wibergs Foto, Stockholm. It was one of the first 1000 produced of the Noctilux 1/50 (all lenses spherical, no aspherical!). Serial number tells me this lens was one of the first 1000 lenses manufactured in Canada, year 1975. A heavy lens with lots of glass and metal. It weights in at respectable 580 grams. Makes my M9 a bit front heavy and I have to concentrate on keeping a steady grip not to get blurry pictures due to shake with shutter speeds longer than1/100th of a second.

I decided to buy the lens for three reasons. One, after reading Steve Huffs blogs on the Noctilux 1/50 I was intrigued by this lens lovely, sometimes odd bokeh. At close focusing range, due to optical anomalies (by natural law), this lens produce (in my POV) a almost vertigoesque kind of bokeh/unsharpness. I felt that I had to find out more about this kind of image drawing and how I could utilise the effect in my photography. Secondly, the price to my view was right, € 4 500. Thirdly, I found out, from Peter Gustafsson, my photo dealer at Wibergs Foto in Stockholm, that the German accessory producer Hama, had a variable 58 mm threaded ND-filter in production. To be able to fully take advantage of the Noctilux image drawing at full f-stop I had to get a really dense ND-filter. The variable Hama ND goes from ND2 all the way up to ND400! That´s exactly what´s needed. And one more thing, the lens was newly 6-bit coded and adjusted at Leica in Solms.

It was a ”no brainer” for me to buy the used Noctilux 1/50 lens. Though the lens hood was missing. It might be very difficult for me to find an original lens hood, 58 mm Version I, code name 12519. According to eBay and the like, second hand prices are ridiculous. Around € 350! When new, lens hood was not delivered together with the lens and this Noctilux version was out of production already in 1977. Later version of Walter Mandel and Gerhardt Bechmanns design was equipped with a retractable, built in, lens hood. But, when using the handy Hama variable ND-filer it´s impossible to use the original Leica lens hood due to the fact that the flange of the variable filter is 67 mm! Reason for this is to avoid vignetting from the filter flange. This 58 mm filter is in reality 62 mm. This means that most of the time I have to use the lens without a lens hood anyhow. The way I work with the variable Hama ND is to set the f-stop. Preferably 1, 1,2 or 1,4 and the I turn the filter to get my shutter speed using the built in exposure meter in my M9 watching the viewfinder information for the shutter speed I want.

Through the years I´ve developed a really ”soft spot” for Walter Mandels lens designs. Especially the wonderful Summicron 2/35 version IV, the amazingly sharp Tele-Elmar 135/4 and Noctilux 1/50. These Canadian designs were conceived in the disruptive period when manual calculated lens design was replaced by computer aided. Walter Mandel was one of the first to use computer aided design but still was an artisan and used his own knowledge, judgement and experience in finalizing his designs. As I see it - it shows. These lenses draw with personality. The wonderful Summicron 2/35 is called ”King of Bokeh” for good reasons. Tele-Elmar 4/135 is only equaled by APO Telyt 3,4/135 when it comes to sharpness and color rendition. And the old non aspheron Noctilux 1/50 draws with a very personal style.

As Erwin Puts so knowingly put it in his Magnum Opus ”Leica Compendium” about Noctilux 1/50; ”- The suggestion that the Noctilux should only be used at full aperture, as this is the aperture where this lens should deliver it´s best, is not supported by the facts. The Noctilux at full aperture delivers a low to medium overall contrast (due to comatic flare) and subject outlines are rendered with clear edges on axis”. I completely agree with Erwin establishing that from f-stop 1,4 and upwards Noctilux is virtially indistinguishable from a pre-aspheron Summilux 1,4/50. At full opening, Nocti 1/50 is very soft and if my subject is contrasty and high keyed, there´s an abundance of lens flare. Though I consider it a rather pleasing, romantic kinda rendition. One thing annoys me, that´s a disturbingly strong (3 stops!), though minuscule, vignetting at full f-stop diminishing onwards f2,8. After f2,8, vignetting´s completely gone.

Now I´m trying to learn how to use this marvelous lens to it´s best performance and for me to improve on my photography. I´d like to develop my own style of "Street Photography". Now I can really dive into "selective focusing". Shallow Depth of Field is to me, interesting to work with and something I´ve always pursued.

"...to photograph is to frame, and to frame is to exclude". - Susan Sontag

Using iPad in Austria

2012-04-18T14:51:00.004+02:00

"I have a camera and I’m not afraid to use it" - Michael Schuhmann

From Sunday April 8 to Sunday April 14 i travelled with a vine club from Varberg to Wachau, Austria on a vinetasting tour. Tasting 73 vines in five days! My assignment was to document the trip. I decided to "travel light". Other than my Leica M9 equipment I only took my iPad with me. My iPad is of the second version and (only) carry a 32 GB memory. I have a lot of apps, music and books on my iPad. I realized that the remaning memory 6,3 GB wouldn´t suffice. After deleting some apps and music I had a meager 14 GB of memory. I concluded to buy enough SD card memory capacity and use my iPad to check my pictures and upload selected pictures to Facebook as a diary of our Austrian travel. My equipment consisted of Elmar M 3,8/24 mm, Summicron M 2/35 and 2/50, Macro-Elmar M 4/90 with macro adapter and my beloved Tele-Elmar 4/135 a super sharp lens. Some ND filters, Leica Universal Polarizing filter, Leica SF 58 flash and some more items. Every item easily fitted in my
Crumpler New Dehli 510 more ´bout my baggy business here.

But as you may find out here on my blog, everything just went well except that two SanDisk SD Extreme 8 GB, HD Video, 30 MB/sec cards ceased to function! I haven´t yet found any well designed and functional multimedia storage drive for my pictures. There are some Epson, Foci, PicPac and other brands, but they are either expensive (in my pov) or carry too little memory. I always shoot DNG (RAW) which means the storage has to support RAW format. I need at least 128 GB of memory on most assignments.
Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA 250GB with 3.2-Inch LCD Display might be a solution. There is a very readable and well written (as always) review on the Hyperdrive Colorspece UDMA on Luminous Landscape.

My workflow on this travel to vineyards in Austria was as follows. I shot DNG in uncompressed file format with my Leica M9. Every evening I sat down for half an hour to transfer a collection of daily pictures to my iPad. On my iPad I have PhotoRaw installed A very competent RAW developer. I connect my SD card by Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit to my iPad. As soon as I´ve push the SD card into the reader, PhotoRaw opens and I can mark the photos I´d like to process. My choice of pictures are downloaded into PhotoRaw and I can adjust color temp, exposure, contrast and tint. After adjusting, if needed, PhotoRaw will convert to JPG and in a resolution to my taste. I go for 1303x867 pixels when publishing on the net.

After JPG converting I open Snapseed, the only software I use, though I have both iPhoto and PS Express on my iPad. You may read my views on Snapseed here on my blog. I look for my newly JPG converted DNG pictures in Snapseed. Choose one and start to work on the picture. Usually I start out with "Straighten" to crop and/or rotate my picture, if needed. Then I go for "Automatic" to set contrast once more. Then for "Tune Image" to set the brightness and if needed I go for "Selective Adjust" where I can select small parts of the picture to locally adjust brightness, contrast and saturation. Wonderfully simple and intuitive to work with Snapseed. To end my session I sharpen my picture with "Details" and I finish off with adding an "organic" frame. That´s it. It´ll take me from one to five minutes. It´s fast to work in Snapseed and often I get the result I´m looking for. But there are a lot of other options. "Vintage, Drama, Grunge, Center Focus, Tilt and Shift" are other funtions I can choose from. Just to get the right "feel" and "expression" in my picture. Finally I upload to Facebook or one of my blogs or just e-mail a picture to friends. Snapseed is really a great software for photofinishing.

All in all, everything worked out fine and I recommend to bring the iPad along on travelling if you like to go light or to bring more photographing equipment. The apt little iPad is perfect for connecting the internet on the go. Only thing I would recommend is to get an extra file storage. It´s too easy to damage an SD card. You should always bring a back up for your pictures on site.

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will" - George Bernard Shaw

Leica M9 SD Card problems - again!

2012-04-17T12:53:00.002+02:00

"If anything can go wrong, it will" - Murphy´s Law

A week ago I travelled with a vineclub from Varberg, Sweden to Wachau, Austria for a week of vinetasting. During the week we tasted 73 vines and bought a lot to bring back home to Sweden. My misson on the trip was mainly to document. Week before going to Austria I bought some new SD cards for my Leica M9. I opted for SanDisk, as they have work perfectly fine for me - so far. Among all versions I choosed 8GB, ´couse I find that´s an aptly size. But then, what quality level would I choose? I have had very good performance from SanDisk Extreme, so I bought five new SD cards. Didn´t notice that SanDisk have enhanced speed from 20 to 30 MB/sec.

Before going on the trip I formatted all my SD cards in camera. Always done complete formatting in my M9, never ever in my computer!, and that have kept me from troubles. When many Leica M9 users complained ´bout faulty SD Cards, I have had no problems - so far! On the third day at vinemaker Ott, after 11 shots, my M9 wouldn´t activate. Thought that it might be the "common freez problem" so I took out the battery and reinserted it. My M9 refused to activate! After a while, two to five minutes the camera would start. The red "power on" LED on the backside flashed, viewfinder info was on and the shutter would release. But, the backside LED panel was all black! I couldn´t utilise either any of the menues or check my pictures. I took out the SD Card, inserted a new one and my M9 worked just fine again.

The rest of the day worked just fine. Replacement card worked as usually. Back at our hotel in Wachau I connected the faulty SD card to my iPad. I´ve decided to "travel light" not bringing my Mac Book Pro but my iPad. When connecting the faulty card I found to my astonishment that the card wouldn´t be recognized by my iPad at all! Had I lost my pictures? On day four, to my resentment another SD card ceased to work after nearly 50 shots! Was I going to lose more pictures? Though, the rest of my SD cards worked just fine. I was able to upload some seven or eight pictures every day on Facebook after processing my DNG (RAW) files in my iPad and converting to JPGs. I always shoot DNG because I want "originals/negatives" as in the good ol´ silver halide days.

At Wachau I e-mailed my Leica dealer in Stockholm ´bout my problem and I got a promt answer; - "There are some problems with the new SanDisk Extreme 8 GB, HD Video, 30 MB/sec cards! Preferably buy SanDisk Ultra instead". Bad for me that I didn´t had that information before travelling to Austria. Back home in Varberg my Mac Book Pro couldn´t mount the SD Card as the iPad. I contacted the Scandinavian Leica importer, Nordisk Photo Import A/S in Denmark for tips on how to recover, if possible, my photos. From Jim at Nordisk Photo Import I got the advice to try to use a recover program called Recuva. Problem was that Jims recommendation only was for PC. I use Mac. I surfed the net and found Card Rescue a more expensive program than Recuva, though for Mac. Later Jim, kindly, e-mailed me a link to a Mac version of Recuva.

Both software, Card Rescue as well as Recuva, are very easy to use. Interface is intuitive and both programs worked just fine! They promptly opened the faulty SD card and found all pictures. It was a relief to see all my "lost" photos being recovered. Though my photos didn´t appear in the usual DNG file format, but in TIFF. With all EXIF data included! I still have Photoshop CS3 in my computer and by using the Adobe DNG Converter I could easily convert back to DNG. If needed. And when using Capture One Pro 6 I realized that I needed to convert from Card Rescue TIFF to Adobe DNG. Otherwise Capture One couldn´t expand the file from thumbnail to a full sized file! Another odd thing with Card Rescue is that the last recovered picture always end up in an extremely huge GB TIFF file! After RAW developing the file was back in normal size. It was so reassuring to recover all photos I thought was lost forever. If you are as unlucky as I was. Don´t panic, don´t format the card, just take it out of your camera and save it för later. Because there is a remedy for this SD card problem!

After sawing all my pictures on my hard-discs I formatted the failing SD cards using my Mac using "Disc Utility" for FAT-32. After that I´ve formatted both cards in my M9. Hopefully that will be a working remedy for the future. But I still don´t have a clue on where and why the problem originates. Is it a faulty program string in the new SanDisk Extreme HD cards or is it a problem in Leica software? Or perhaps a combination of both! Or does the SDHC compatibility in the "modified" cards suddenly "disturb" the card closing procedure after exposure? Anyhow, some SanDisk cards seem prone to suddenly stop working and dead short the display of my M9.

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong" - Murphy´s Law

E-books on street photography

2012-03-19T09:52:00.002+01:00

"If you can’t focus anymore, you are too close..." - Thomas Leuthard

After writing about icons of photography such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, André Kertész and Vivian Maier I might have given the impression of being a nostalgic for times passed. To correct things, here comes my opinion on a very contemporary street photographer - Thomas Leuthard. A swiss borne street photographer 40 years of age, living in Zug, Switzerland, but travel around the world. He has been on the spot in Beirut to initiate Lebanese street photography. Street photographers in Beirut have started a blogg Beirut Street Photographers with the aid of Thomas Leuthard. Have a look at Beirut Street Photographers site. There´s an abundance of great street photography.

As I see it, Thomas Leuthard is a true altruistic guy, in the words best sense. He has so far produced three e-books in PDF-format, free/gratis for everyone to download and read both text and pictures. Just go to Thomas site 85 mm Street Photography (site is named after Thomas first focal length used in street photography portraits) and download. I read the PDFed books on my iPad. Just download and put the PDF-file in iTunes "Books" in your lap-top/desk-top computer and then transfer the PDF-files to your iPad when connecting iPad to lap-top. Nothi´n to it really!

Thomas Leuthards lead words in candid street portraiture are "get closer". Because of that and his rude and brutal way of shooting have resulted i some massive criticisms. Bruce Gilden does the same and he use a flash also! Flashing smash in the face of his clueless subject. Thomas Leuthard doesn´t ask for premission from his subjects, he just shoot them, in very close range. Further more he avoid all eye contact with his subjects. Exempt contact through the viewfinder. Eric Kim, another street photographer, practice another "modus operandi". After shooting his candid shots he recommend eye contact with the subject and a smile or a "thank you"! For Thomas street portraiture esthetics it´s essential that his subject look straight into the camera lens. And that will make the reader (I´m using the word reader rather than viewer in the same way as David duChemin use reader about the viewer in his wonderful and educating book "Photographically Speaking") to get in contact with the subject. Thomas method of avoiding eye contact really works. In his books there are links to short videos (be sure to have Wi-Fi connection!) that show how his subjects get confused on what he really was shooti´n.

I have no problem with Thomas way of doing his street photography. In my opinon being in a public space one must realize that public spaces are public to every one. Even photographers. Privacy can´t be expected in these places. ”In an open world, isolation is costly.” as Jeff Jarvis (of "What Would Google Do" and "Public Parts" fame) so poignantly have written. Being as altruistic in my world view as Thomas Leuthard I regard his photography essential to get people all over the world closer together. Sort of a contemporary apprehension of everyday city life as Edward Steichen presented in"Family of Man". Perhaps still even more like Walker Evans "Subway pictures". Evans shot his subway pictures as early as 1938 to 41. He used a concealed camera on his chest releasing the shutter via a long cable release running up his arm. Even Evans didn´t dear to publish his subway photos until 20 years after shooting. He was afraid of being sued by his subjects. Key word in our post-industrial society is sharing! Thomas ends every book with a call to "Pay it Foward". Spead the word, help each other as Thomas done for Beirut Street Photographers. Educate each other and turn Street Photography into a powerful movement. Though I may never have the balls to shoot street like Thomas do.

So far Thomas has published three e-books, "Going Candid", "Collecting Souls" and the latest "Street Faces". All Thomas Leuthards books are very readable both in text and pictures. Though there are some repeating lines in his writing but repetiton´s good for learning. Pictures (some of the best) are also repeated through his books. Doesn´t matter, his pictures are so good and they tell a story ´bout the subject. I can read Thomas pictures many times and still find new "text" in them. His pictures communicate on a very sublime level. Many of his candid street portraits are exquisite. They communicate subjects own story. Mainly because Thomas is looking for interesting faces and expressions when photographing. Adding to a nearly 3D-impression is the short depth of field in his tack sharp portraits. He is shooting with a Nikon DSLR on an APS-sized sensor and a autofocusing 50 mm lens. Most of his street photography is in black and white. But there are some surprising and beautiful color street portraits! Thomas books are free the only thing you have to do is download and read text and pictures. One more thing, lay-out is wonderful. Typesetting perfect. It´s a joy to read his books. Do have a good read.

"It´s neither our culture nor our race which interconnects us. It´s Street Photography." - Thomas Leuthard

Rumors out

2012-03-15T20:03:00.001+01:00

"- Photography has not changed since its origin except in its technical aspects, which for me are not important". Henri Cartier-Bresson

On March 14, 2012, Leica sent out an invitation to an event in Berlin on May 10th, 2012. Invitation read;

"Leica celebrates the essentials of photography! We invite you to exclusively experience a whole range of product launches in a culturally and photographically unique atmosphere on 10-11 May 2012 in Berlin."

The Leica community expect that there is to be new products presented at Photokina 2012 but not as early as on May 10th. It´s worth noting that Leica presented the M9 on September 9th, 2009. A qualified guess is that there will be a Leica M10 on May 10th this year. And there is a rumor around that Leica is to present a black and white only sensor in a M-camera case. A model without any LCD screen as well! A really "old school" digital camera in other words. Is it a hoax? It´s too early for april fools, or ins´t it? Perhaps Leica speculates in a soon comi´n end of analog photography and the good ol´ silver halide technology? But is there a real need for black and white only? Personally I prefer to take all pictures in color (I´m using RAW) and then, in post processing, make versions in black and white. I like to be able to control color balance (greyscale and contrast) in black and white. It´s so easy to simulate blue, yellow, orange and red filtering proceeding from RAW original. On the other hand, it would be nice to re-use some old orange, red, yellow and blue filters. Wouldn´t it? If you haven´t seen it, there is a black and white only back for the Phase One camera out there. If interested, you may read the review on the Phase One Achromatic Plus back here on The Luminous Lanscape.

Whatever new products there will be I hope and urge that Leica will stay with the Leica DNA. That is hang on to the optical rangefinder. There is no better way to fast focus than manually by aid of a rangefinder. As long as I use wide angle to short tele lenses, that is. Above 135 mm it´s almost impossible to design a workable rangefinder with mechanical precision in the limited space of a camerabody as modest as a Leica M. Maybe I could face up to the addition of electronically superimposed frames (hybride viewfinder as Fujifilm call this kind of viewfinder) for different lenses in the optical viewfinder. But there is a snag with electronically generated frames, they don´t show when camera power is off! On the other hand it would be possible to make the frames more dynamic. Especially when presenting the correct framing for different distances to the subject. Though I don´t need exact framing as I work as I always done, by cropping when processing and printing my RAW original.

I´m hesitant to idea of adding an electronic viewfinder (EVF) to an optical viewfinder camera such as in Fujifilm X100 and the new X-Pro1. I´ve tried the X100 and the EVF doesn´t work for me. It´s way to slow in updating. Moving subjects is lagging as well as blurring when I move the camera fast. Even when focusing manually the lagging viewfinder makes it hard to get dead on focus fast. After using my M9 for over two years now I´m really fast on focusing with the optical rangefinder. I use a combination of split image matching for rough focus and make fine adjustment by noticing when contrast pops in the rangefinder. I´m revitalizing my skills from 1960-ies using my first Leica M3. Maybe an EVF, with fast updating, almost as an ordinary videocamera with 50 to 200 Hz updating sequence will suit me. It would surely be very convienient to have a usable EVF (hybrid viewfinder) in a rangefinder camera for macro photography as well as using long telephoto lenses. Kinda electronic Visoflex in other words.

Now and then I get the urge to buy either a Fujifilm X100 or a X-Pro1. But then I read the thoroughly and knowledgeable analysis by Sean Reid on Reid Reviews or Erwin Puts penetrating writings on photography on his blog Tao of Leica or I just watch DigitalRevs versed and whitty Kai W´s videos - then I´m cured and I keep to my Leica M9. On May the 10th, I´m more interested in what kind of cultural engagement Leica is going to promote or participate in. That´s what make a difference. To promote photography as an art and cultural expression. I keep to Leica because that company also make a difference for working photographers and artists.

"- Shooting with a LEICA is like a long tender kiss, like firing an automatic pistol, like an hour on the analyist's couch". Henri Cartier-Bresson

Vivian Maier - Street Photographer

2012-01-28T19:44:00.000+01:00

"Vivian Maier represents an extreme instance of posthumous discovery of someone who exists entirely in terms of what she saw. Not only was she entirely unknown to the photographic world, hardly anyone seemed to know that she even took photographs". - Geoff Dyer

This is a story of a woman who found her element (using Sir Ken Robinsons nomenclature in his book The Element - How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything) and photographed as an amateur all her life only to be recognized after death as one of the most prominent street photographers.

When I first saw Vivian Maiers self portrait on the cover for the new book "Vivian Maier - Street Photographer" I was totally blown away. This is by all means the best self portrait I´ve seen so far. It´s perfect. When I read the short bio that you can find on Vivian Maires homepage, so sad it´s posthumously, the picture got a clear meaning, at least to me. The picture is a mirror image of the photographer. The light is apparently arranged so only half of the subject is in daylight the other in shadow. The picture is shot on the street. Black and white is the essence of the two lives Vivian Maier lived. One, the bright side as a nanny to families well off. The black shadow the other life as street photographer, the unknown life of Vivian Maier. No one knew ´bout her photography! Not until a local historian bought some stuff at a warehouse auction 2007. The local historian was John Maloof. He didn´t opened the boxes at once. But after a year he revealed this treasure containing thousands of pictures and started a frantic search after the originator.

Vivian Maier was of French and Austro-Hungarian decent. Born in New York but living part time in Europe and the United States until 1951 when she arrived in New York City. 1949, living in Europe, Vivian Maier had picked up photography using a Kodak Brownie box camera. But when arriving in New York she had a twin lens reflex camera, a Rollieflex. She was walking the streets of New York for years and 1956 she moved to Chicago. Vivian Maier was photographing until the late 1990´s. She has left over 100 000 negatives, homemade documentary films and audio recordings. You can read all there is discovered of her bio so far by John Maloof who have made innumerable inquiries to find out who this woman was. Evidently, judging from her photography, she must have been a very liberal and independent liberated woman. She never married and the children in her life was the ones she nannied.

I am in agreement with John Maloof that Vivian Maier, though probably never formally educated in photography, was very apt in photography techniques and composition. When living in Chicago she developed her exposed black and white rolls herself. Looking at her work I have a feeling that in some way Vivian Maier had studied the photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Andre Kertész. Some of her pictures are shot in the style of these masters. She masterly caugth the elusive, decisive moment. She composed some city pictures as Andre Kertész inspired by Piet Mondrians paintings. If Andre Kertész regarded himself as an amateur, Vivian Maier was an amateur all her life. Apparently nobody saw Vivian´s pictures in her lifetime. So sad! But when walking the streets of any city she was in her element. Perhaps she was a victim of regarding herself as "not good enough". Though her pictures tell another story. She owned an impressive camera collection. A Rollieflex, Kodak Retina IIIC, Leica IIIf, Zeiss Contarex (Bulls Eye) and an Exakta Varex. There was also a Bell and Howell Filmo double eight movie camera in her possession.

Vivian Maiers photography bears an affinity for the poor. She didn´t back off the brutal sides of the big city. Like in the social realistic action style of Weegee (or Arthur Fellig, also of Austro-Hungarian decent) she shot amazing photos. If you´re into street photography, you have to study Vivian Maier! Her photography is, in my opinion, on par with both Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertéz and Weegee, to name a few masters. And she is a predecessor to the aesthetics of Diane Arbus. I find Vivian Maier´s pictures very inspiring. Using a twin lens reflex camera such as a Rolleiflex you tend shoot on waist level. Due to the waist level viewfinder. You get a lower point of view by design of the camera. When shooting children you´ll be on their level. When shooti´n adults they tend to appear a bit more imposing. Look at Vivian Maier´s photos and you´ll (perhaps) see what I mean. The design of a camera add to the style of photography. I recommend that you buy the magnificent book by Jon Maloof and Geoff Dyer "Vivian Maier Street Photographer". Because pictures, well printed in a book such as in this book, is much better than looking at pictures on a computer screen. The nuances and structure is much better transferred from a book page to my senses than by electronic means.

At last, an other self portrait by Vivian Maier that I love is (at the end of the book) a photography of a man carrying a big mirror with his back towards the camera. In the mirror I see Vivian Maier with her Rolleiflex capturing herself at the decisive moment. She is smiling! A lovely selfportrait.

Posthumous Vivian Maier got her own homepage and site named Vivian Maier Print inc (thank you Parker Geissler for making me aware of the Vivian Maier Prints inc!). I urge you to visit both sites. Both are awesome. On the Vivian Maier Prints inc. you may see a short film made from Vivian Maiers photos and 8 mm movies with an excellent narration. I hope that there will be more pictures and material, audio recordings and movies, comi´n out in the future. There will, hopefully, be more books. She died unknown to the world of photography but her photographs will give her a place in the photographers hall of fame and make us remember forever. Vivian Maier is my favorite street photographer!

"We have to make room for other people. It´s a wheel - you get on, you go to the end and someone else has the same opportunity to go to the end and so on and somebody else take their place. There´s nothing new under the sun" - Vivian Maier on a private audio recording about the mening of life and death.

What Would Fujifilm Do?

2012-01-24T10:58:00.000+01:00

"Creatively is virtually unlimited in digital technology. The other thing that is virtually unlimited is tomfoolery, sir!" - Jim Adams

After blogging on the theme ”What Would Leica Do?” It might be advisable to muse on the title ” What Would Fujifilm Do?”. Especially today when Kodak have filed for bankruptcy protection and Fujifilm is searching for a way back to it´s roots, optical viewfinder cameras.

Perhaps Fujifilm will be the only ”big” producer of silver halide based photoproducts in the future. Ilford and other small manufacturer (Adox and ) might still be around, but Fujifilm may be the only producer of motion picture color film. Perhaps the only producer and future developer of new color film coatings. Or as Erwin Puts foresee in his always interesting blog Tao of Leica, analog silver halide technique will be exclusively for the few and those who can afford that luxury. One can only speculate if Kodaks failing was to have kept to a too big product line for silver halide (Ag+) products. Or if it was bad to stick to CCD-sensor technology. Or a combination of both and add to that too many emploees.

I´m rather fond of Fujifilms color negative filmstock Superia (as a cinematographer I´m used to work entirely with negative filmstock) but when it comes down to Black and White I prefer the trusty good ol´ Ilford HP5. Honestly prefer that emulsion to Tri-X, really! I hope Fujifilm will continue to produce silver halide products in a forseeable future. Though one never knows.

Lately Fujifilm have produced a new product line when it comes to digital cameras. A line which is a respons to Leica rangefinder cameras suprising popularity. The new Fujifilm X 100, X 10 and the latest addition X-Pro1, are similar to Leica but also clear descendants of Fujifilms great 6x7 and 6x9 cameras. Models such as GW 670, GW 690 and GSW 690 are big, beautiful rangefinder cameras for 120 roll film. Look at the last (?) product in that line, the GSW 690 III doesn´t it look a lot like the X-Pro1, but bigger?

What I wrote in ”What Would Leica Do?” is also valid for Fujifilms new digital camera line. What I dislike ´bout the whole new optical viewfinder line from Fujifilm is that they lack an optical rangefinder and that they are equipped with auto focus with a manual ”Focus by Wire”-system. The old, big format, 120 roll film cameras had a good optical rangefinder system. Fujifilm obviously had or have the knowledge to design a workable rangefinder system with high precision. I think that the problem is that it´s expensive to make an optical rangefinder with good precision which can be added to, or incorporated into, an auto focus system.

Focus by Wire is a less labor intensive and therefore cheaper way to design a manual focusing system that will work as a very quiet auto focus system. Using a motor driven auto focus system that work with a threaded lens is noiser by design. I remember, for instance, the old Minolta autofocus system in SLR camera models (I still have my Minolta 600 Classic) that had a very distinctly and noisy, in camera, motor by a shaft turning the lens barrel. It was slow, but it worked and I could easily focus my lens manually and feel when in closest- or infinty position by defined end stops.

Author on production using Panaflex camera

AuthorWhen utilising zone focusing method I find it more convinient to look down at my lens and camera to set the zone I´d like to use and have a quick check on shutter speed and aperture to ensure they match my lens depth of field (DOF). Having to look through the viewfinder watching a scale in the finder distracts me from my subject and brings me out of my ”zone”. I prefer an optical viewfinder prior to a DSLR mirror reflex finder. The difference is in the point of view. Using an optical viewfinder I´m still contected to my surroundings and my subject. I may also see what´s going on outside the picture frame becuase I see more than just what´s in the picture frame. As a cinematographer I´m used to round viewfinders with an etched picture frame within. Makes me able to see what´s com´n into the frame as well as going out. I hate videocameras because they don´t have this kind of outside the frame viewfinder. A viewfinder with a bigger view than just what´s in the picture frame makes it possible for me to stop a mic dropping into the picture or to see when to stop my panning or tilting before some distracting and alien (to the story) object enter the frame.

It´s also distracting to use a hybride viewfinder that enlarge the picture to make it able to focus manually. It also kicks me out of the ”zone”. Distracts me. Especially as I have to switch a lever first to get the enlargement. Then focus in the elarged frame wich means that I don´t have a clue of what´s going on in the picture frame. I lose control over my enviroment. With a conventional optical rangefinder I still see the whole picture and being able to focus correctly by superimposing the double image in the centre of the frame. It´s fast and accurate. Much better than any auto focus system I´ve encountered so far. I dislike Fujifilms solution for manual focusing by hybride viewfinder. Combined with ”Focus by Wire” it´s a catastrophy for street shot´n. It´s too slow and too inexact.

I hope that the competition Fujifilm vs. Leica will produce some exciting new products that are suitable for catching the elusive decisive moment. Rumour has it that Leica will present two new products at Photokina 2012. One is to be a new compact mirrorless system. So, "What Would Fujifil Do?" after Photokina 2012!

"Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gismos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn't make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel". - Peter Adams - Sydney 1978

Snapseed for Desktop

2012-01-23T09:25:00.003+01:00

"You don't take a photograph, you make it". - Ansel Adams

I have been writing ´bout Snapseed for iPad (Using iPad) lately. I also gave my way of creating a workflow for making fast adjustments to my RAW-stock photos and deliver them on the go to Flickr, Facebook or Dropbox. I have been using this kind of workflow for all my recent travels and it works just fine. Nowadays I travel light. No lap-top together with my iPad and camera gear. As says on Snapseed homepage – makes any photo extraordinary. Easily enhance your photos, add amazing effects, and share them everywhere.

Recently Nik Software introduced Snapseed for desktop computers as well. As for writing only for Mac OS but Windows version´s comi´n. Snapseed´s in my point of view a sure hit! If you own a point and shoot camera I see no need what so ever for use of substandard, simple picture adjustment program that´s bundled with the camera. For only $19.99 you get a photo enhancement, adjustment and transforming program that will make your picture look professional in just a couple of minutes. It´s amazing! Even better the fact that Snapseed takes jpg, tiff and RAW-files (in my case with my Leica M9 DNG-files). Even RAW-files from an old Panasonic DCM-LX1 works perfectly! Just drag and drop my DNG-files into Snapseed and I´m ready for adjusting my photos.

Snapseed interface look almost the same as on my iPad. I have all the easy overviewed icons for adjustments and effects (Tune Image, Crop and Straighten, Details, Black and White, Center Focus, Drama, Frames, Grunge, Vintage and Tilt-Shift). That´s what makes it so fast to work in Snapseed. You have an instant overview of all functions. Every function is easy to use and the result is, most of the time, very satisfactory. I´ve just played around with Snapseed on my Mac Book Pro for a short while. So far I found out that even for a ”quick and dirty” job, Snapseed is more than adequate. It´s a real working tool for photo finishing.

In Snapseed you´ll be able to do all necessary adjustments and at the same time add some intriguing enhancing effects as well, such as a Vintage-, Grunge- or Dramatic look. All at a moments twist of your hand or a flick of your finger. It´s so easy. With Snapseed I can do primary adjustments just to see if it works before diving into my ordinary workflow of Capture One Pro 6 and Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4 or Silver Efex Pro 2 or Viveza 2. For sorting the library of all my photos though I trust Media Pro wholeheartedly. There are no pictures saved within Snapseed. You have to design your own library. You have to remember to export the picture you worked on othervise it´s gone when closing Snapseed. Uploadning a RAW original takes between 5 to 10 seconds. My RAW-originals as well as my jpg originals will stay untouched, that´s a good feature.

To conclude. My wife use a Leica V-Lux 2 and with that nice super-zoom camera Photoshop Elements is bundled. It´s utterly simple in possibilties for adjusting the picture compared to Snapseed and way to complicated to get a quick grip on. My wife started out with Snapseed without any instruction at all! That´s what I call an intuitve program design. And even for a pro, Snapseed is a fast way to check out the impact and design of my photo before going into more versatile photo finishing programs.

Though beware of all the Snapseed effects that you can add. You might be tempted to overdo the finishing touch on your photos. It´s too easy to give your pictures a one too many vintage style or a post introduced unsharpness or foggy look. It´s soo fun to play around. When using Snapseed you have to be aware that you have to save recent adjustment before choosing another effect or adjustment. Some adjustments will take longer to save (up to half a minute!) other will be done in wink of an eye. And if you are going to do a black and white version, open the ”Tune Image” adjustment icon and beef up the saturation prior going for black and white. And save. That will give you a better black and white version. And don´t overdo ”Details”. It´s too easy to oversharpen my picture. And be restrictive using the ”Grunge” and ”Vintage” look as well as with ”Tilt-Shift” and ”Center Focus” adjustments.

As for a pro or an amateur, Snapseed´s well worth $19.99, it´s an amazing tool!

"It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use". - Sam Abell, Seeing and Shooting Straight by Sam Abell

What Would Leica Do?

2012-01-17T12:54:00.001+01:00

"I believe that the more technicalities you let creep into photography, the more you drive out the creativity".
- Jack Manning

This year there will be yet another Photokina at Cologne, Germany. Many active within the photography community are waiting for some real break throughs. DSLR Magazine, who has a pretty good track record when it comes to "predicting" upcoming products, posted on Twitter that Leica is working on two new cameras for Photokina and one of them will have a "reasonable" price tag (for Leica's standards). At CES this year the most boring new product, in my opinion, was Nikon D4. It´s just more of the same. The great tragedy is the never ending flow of exactly the same point and shoot cameras. Wether the brand is Canon, Casio, Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Richo, Samsung or Sony they are exactly the same. Same lens, same specifications. Booring!

But all of a sudden something different happen. After the suprisingly great success Leica had with the full frame digital M9, Fujifilm dared to do something quite different. I like and admire the effort and courage Fujifilm has put into designing and producing a range-/hybrid viewfinder camera serie (there seem to be more to come, apart from X100, X10 and X-Pro1). Though I have, so far, two main issues with Fujifilms solution. That´s the problem with auto focus (AF) and the not yet fully developed hybrid viewfinder.

In the future I urge Leica to keep to the optical rangefinder. It´s fast to use and exact at focusing. I focus faster manually than with any AF I´ve tested, so far. And the precision at focusing is unsurpassed with wideangle lenses. The hybrid viewfinder in Fujifilms elaboration have so far, to my experience, been flawed with too slow manual focusing due to the regeneration time for sensor and LCD-hybrid viewfinder. It´s too unassertive quickly finding the optimum focus. Combined with the perverse "Focus by Wire" technology it´s a real disaster!

An optical rangefinder is more distinct and easier for finding optimum focus, very fast even in subdued light. I don´t know if 100 Hz or 200 Hz or faster regeneration time cycle would do better in a hybrid viewfinder. As in X100 it´s to slow for fast manual focusing. But I do welcome the hybrid viewfinder. It´ll be nice to have a kind of built in electronic Visoflex in a rangefinder camera. And when it comes to longer focal lengths and the way one shoot other subjects than street, there is plenty of time to fork for optimum focus. The shallow depth of field (DOF) come in handy at these focal lengths as with macro photography, at least when it comes to flower photography. Chasing butterflies is trickier. Then the good old optical rangefinder is, in my opinion, a better choice.

One other issue, more prominent with the brand new X-Pro 1, is the hybrid viewfinder will show an enlarged picture for manual focusing. That will distract me when photographing and take my concentration away from the subject. I´ll loose contact with what´s happening in my surrounding. I´m no loger part of my surrounding. Once more, the optical rangefinder is a better solution at short focal ranges. Even at short tele such as 75 and 90 mm focal length it´s superior to AF. Only when it comes to long focal lengths some kind of AF come in handy. Especially when shooting sport or wild animals.

There might be time for a revival of the good ol´ sports arial viewfinder. Hasselblad made such a finder for the 500 C-serie. Combine the optical viewfinder, as in Fujifilm X-Pro 1, with just one more magnification lens. As for now there are 0,37 x for wideangle lenses and 0,6 x for standard view. Perhaps a 1 or 1,3 x view combined with digital frames from 135, 180, 200 to 280 mm being incorporated. 280 mm frame would be minuscule, but it´ll make me able to see what´s going on around the picture frame. I´ll be able to quickly find and frame what ever comes into my view. As in the good ol´ analog days. Add to that AF and it´ll be perfect for sports and wild animal photography, in my opinion.

If Leica, as rumored, at Photokina 2012 will present a new kind of camera I hope that it won´t be just another run of the mill boring digital camera. I hope that Leica keep to their optical rangefinder DNA, conceived by Oscar Barnack. Add to this electronic frames in the viewfinder. Manual focus for wideangle, normal and longer focal lengths combined with AF for very long. Refrain from adding electronic enlargement in the digital viewfinder. It´s just distracting. If it´s possible to design a reliable AF, then it must be incorporated. I argue in favor of keeping the mechanical focus system combined with an electronic for new lenses with long focal lenghts. But never ever utilise a "Focus by Wire" system.

I still regard the "Focus by Wire" idea to be the most perverse engineering solution so far when it comes to manual focusing. This solution can only be a product of electronic engineers and Windows programmers! There should have been a Steve Jobs in the designing department! Then the design might have given us defined end stops and a fixed distance scale on the lenses. As for now, Focus by Wire is useless. It also, like an enlarging digital viewfinder, distracts my attention from my subject and surrounding. In the case with Fujifilm I have to peep into the viewfinder to see my focus range. If I´m using zone focusing I have to look into the viewfinder to set my zone focus distance. Contrary to just look down on the camera and set the range and aperture with the aid of meter scale and aperture DOF scale. That´s way faster!

I hope to see a camera that is a fusion of the Leica rangefinder DNA and a contemporary DSLRs best qualities. That would, in my opinon, be a new radical kind of mirrorless camera for street as well as for wild life and sports.

One more thing. Leica, please refrain from adding a movie option into cameras for serious photography. That´s for serious movie cameras such as Red Scarlet or Canon C300. These are real, competent, movie cameras. And they are really forward looking concepts, even in design. In the case of the Red, also a modular system just like Hasselblad systems. Today I wouldn´t buy a Leica S2, DSLR or a Hasselblad. I would opt for a Red Scarlet prior to a Canon C300. That laid down as being a professional cinematographer.

"The camera's only job is to get out of the way of making photographs". - Ken Rockwell

Fujifilm X Pro 1 - the dawn of a new rangefinder era?

2012-01-09T11:09:00.000+01:00

You don't need the most expensive camera, you need great ideas. - Steve Coleman

I have stated that this blog is dedicated to rangefinder cameras, not only by Leica produce. I´m writing this before the official presentation of Fujifilm X-Pro1 at CES. Much information has leaked of this electronic rangefinder camera with interchangeable lenses long before presentation and recently Amazon for awhile made it possible to preorder both camera and lenses! Camera and lenses are said to be delivered in March! My musings are based on the information leaked so far and the experiences of Fujifilm X100 and X10 cameras.

Judging by the photos the camera is even more Leica M alike in it´s dimensions than the previous Fujifilm models on revival of the rangefinder camera. Measures 83 x 138 x 38-mm. But the X-Pro1 is more "contemporary" than the trusty old Leica M rangefinder system. Fujifilm rangefinder is based on an AF, autofocus solution. If you´ve read my text "The Problem with AF" you know that I´m not fond of any autofocus system so far. My main concern is that when I need AF the most it fails! From photos published so far on lenses for the new X-Pro1 it seems that these are lenses made for "Focus by wire", which I detest! Focus by wire is among the most perverse engineering ideas so far. The new lenses for X-Pro1 have a lens barrel, but with no distance markings on the barrel! If this new camera is built upon the X100 model there is a meter/feet scale in the rangefinder but the lens barrel has no indications and no endpoints. Which makes it impossible to "focus by feeling". Always have to look through the rangefinder if you´re into zone focusing and want to preset your distance.

The interesting part is how and if Fujifilm engineers further developed the brilliant idea of combining an optical rangefinder with an electronic as in X100. The really interesting part is to find out how Fujifilm engineers have solved manual focusing with electronic aid. Is it as precise as a Leica rangefinder? Is it possible to focus exact manually with other prime lenses, such as M-mount lenses from Leica, Zeiss and Voigtländer? Obviously there is only an AF sensor on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 instead of the optical rangefinder prism as on Leica M cameras. This give me an indication that focusing with other than Fujifilm AF-lenses has to be done via the electronic viewfinder with central enlarged zone as in the Fujifilm X100. Rumor has it that Fujifilm´s going to produce their own M-mount adapter for X-Pro1. Already Fujifilm also announced an ever ready leather case and a small flash for the X-Pro1 system.

For a start there will be three Fujifilm Super EBC-lenses in the X-Pro1 system. One "normal" 35 mmf/1.4 (equivalent to 50 mm on a full frame camera), one 18 mm f/2.0 (equivalent to 28 mm on a full frame camera) for $499.95 each on Amazon and a 60 mm f/2.4 macro lens (equivalent to 90 mm on a full frame camera) offered at $599.95. The camera will set you back a $1699, body only, on Amazon. If Fujifilm is up to standard when it comes to optics, they´ll all be great lenses. The optical rangefinder will have 0,37x and 0,6x magnification to suit the three lenses. When it comes to shutter I take it that there is a mechanical focal plane shutter and perhaps also an electronic shutter (there is a movie option!). Anyhow, the fastest shutter speed is 1/4000 and that rules out a central shutter.

By all means, this new Fujifilm rangefinder camera is much anticipated and the spec´s so far are promising. Body is well proportioned. Essential controls are well placed and as with models X10 and X100 only the functions I need to have access to is presented as dials or buttons. I love the easy to access dial for exposure adjustment as well as the manual shutter speed dial. From the pictures leaked so far I estimate that the X-Pro1 can work in either shutter or aperture priority mode and perhaps, also in programme mode. When all details are available I hope to find that the camera body is fairly dust and water proof. The sensor appears to be of APS-C size. But there seems to be a development when it comes down to Bayer-filter design and it is said that X-Pro1 won´t have any AA-filter. Interesting! This vouch for pictures of very high quality. According to Fujifilm´s press release it´s a new colour filter array that does not need an optical low-pass filter. While the optical low-pass filter is indispensable for the reduction of moiré and false colour generated by conventional sensors, it also degrades resolution. The newly developed new CMOS sensor, called the X-Trans CMOS^TM, has a new colour filter array that is inspired by the random arrangement of fine film grain, removing the need for an optical low-pass filter to solve moiré and false colour issues. In the array, RGB pixels are arranged in 6x6 pixel sets with high aperiodicity. Increasing the degree of randomness eliminates the fundamental cause of moiré and false colours – a problem that occurs in conventional arrays when shooting stripes and other repeating patterns. The presence of an R, G and B pixel in every vertical and horizontal pixel series minimizes the generation of false colours and delivers higher colour reproduction. That said I hope that the camera body will have a more robust feel than the previous models X100 and X10 which both give a "flimsy" feel when handling.

Now it´s up to Leica to challenge Fujifilm´s attempt on advancing the rangefinder camera technology. I´m waiting for what will come out of Solms in the near future. Zeiss seems to pass this race. Though a digital version of the Contax G-series would be well fitted. To use a rangefinder makes you photograph in an other state of mind. You get more involved in what´s going on around and in front of your camera. You are taking part in the situation and not looking through a peephole behind a big camera body with a DSLR. By the way, the most disappointing presentation pre CES, so far, is in my opinion the "new" Nikon D4. That is a really boring camera. Nothing new, only more of the same old, boring, techno crap. As a former cinematographer I have more expectations on products like the new Canon C300 and Red Scarlet which both are more of movie cameras with still photography capacity. These designs and tech specs are more futuristic than the common, boring, DSLR-look and specs.

Steve Huff has all tech specs for Fuji X-Pro1 on his blogg, if you want to know all the details! If you want to read a sneak preview of this little hybrid rangefinder gem, DPreview has it here!

- The Truth Is You have too many cameras and you don’t take enough photographs. - Kyle Cassidy