Love at first sight

I had some processing time yesterday so I went through a few of the pictures I took on my first proper trip out with my M8.

Inside a dark cathedral with a 50mm is probably not the natural habitat for the wee beastie.

We had fun my M8 and me but I didn't really expect much more than an opportunity to learn how to focus and maybe set the exposure more quickly.

Then I turned over this photograph.

It's not perfect, not technically, not aesthetically but I loved it the second I took it...and looking at the raw file I loved it all over again.

Now I'm aching to get out there with the camera again. That's a good thing.




.

You're my M8 you are...

Short post today.

A pleasant feeling remembered. That of wandering alone with a camera.

I had an errand to run. I wanted to get out of the house for a bit. I wanted to make the most of the sunshine. I needed to properly check the upgrade of my Leica's firmware.

I haven't gone for a proper photographic wander just around my hometown for ages.

It's a very different experience than when I go somewhere specific with a friend, or if I do an event. I'd almost forgotten how much it blocks out the stresses and other noises in my head.


Worth remembering.


.

Subborn Cow Syndrome

Decorator is due tomorrow. My bedroom had to be cleared for him to do his work.

The bed, thankfully, is staying where it is but the other piece of substantial furniture - a chest of drawers made from reclaimed wood - has to move into the spare room.

I was told, the other day, that I'm a "stubborn cow" because I have a tendency to do things without asking for help.

It's not that I don't know there are loads of people who would help me, if only I were to ask. Thing is, for some reason I don't ask.

So, today, faced with a chest of drawers that is about 4' wide & 4'6 tall (and I'm 5'3") do I ask for help? What do you think?






This is the beast in question. Shown with the drawers already removed and some of the contents consigned to the recycling.






It had to be moved to here




The chest is much lighter when it has its drawers removed. Even so, it's awkward.




So, faced with this what does a single gal do?



She employs a dolly. Not Tiny Tears, not Barbie nor even Action Man but...





Something "Idiot Boy" bought a long time ago and I couldn't see the point.









Employed like this



It makes the task of moving something somewhat easier.





There's the coefficient of friction between the surface of the dolly and the surface of the item versus the inertia of the wheels on the wooden floor (and more so on the carpeted surfaces) which can add a frisson of comedy but, on the whole, the whole job becomes a veritable piece of cake.


So, a few moments of manoevring and a tiny bit of colouful language later, we have the furniture in its new home.




For those of you (mostly my lovely male friends) rolling your eyes heavenwards and thinking "why on earth didn't you ask?" I know you're happy to help. I know I could ask. But sometimes there are things this girl has to do by herself...just to know she's coping.



Have no fear. Now I know I can do it, I've no real need to move it back without help. What are you doing in about 10 days' time?

Oh, and a belated comment to Idiot Boy...OK, you were right, buying that dolly was a bloody good idea....





.

Bump!

I've come down to earth.

A couple of days' playing with CJ's M8 a few weeks back, and the technical quality of the images I came home from Scotland with lured me into changing the item on the top of my photographic wishlist.

Then in a fit of "you're a long time dead" I employed the JFDI project methodology and bought a Leica M8 of my very own.

The lovely people at Ffordes supplied me with camera at a reasonable (all things being relative) price and provided excellent customer service. I would heartily recommend them as they were heartily recommended to me.

I've found the reaction of people to the camera slightly odd.

CJ smiles - well, it sounds like he smiles when he's chatting to me on the end of the phone, or in email. He was uneasy about my swift conversion (Saul, Damascus...you get the idea) from secondhand film Leica to brand new digi. He's a little concerned I'll hate it and lose money on the deal.

One professional photographer stopped mid-way through berating me for giving photographic services for free to a community interest company and said "is that a digital Leica?"

We then had a short but stilted exchanged about the build quality of digital cameras vs film cameras but I couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't think I was worthy of the camera in some way.

A couple of other people who know of the reputation of Leicas have sighed in a wistful fashion. Tonight, one friend got very excited when I told her I had it with me...she also found it intoxicating to use.

There have been hints of "stupid amount of money to spend on a camera" and "we are not worthy" in roughly equal measures.

I particularly like the studied indifference of one pal who merely asks if I used my "new toy" for a particular excursion.

There's a brand kudos around Leica that I'm not sure I like, to be honest. It's interesting to note that the M8.2 has a snapshot mode. The implication is that some people who want to own the camera will value such a feature.

I have to say, if you're not an enthusiastic photographer...and actually quite a serious one...this is a daft camera to choose.

There is no autofocus.
The auto white balance settings are rubbish - far, far worse than my Nikon D300 (apparently an outstanding firmware fix I ought to apply improves things with WB...but it still sucks)
There is no autofocus (I'll just say it again for effect).
The metering is just about adequate but it won't win any awards.
The sensor is quite an old design (I'm told it's Kodak) and has a "mere" 10.3MP
High ISO performance is OK but hardly cutting edge.

Using a rangefinder is a distinctly strange experience if you're used to an SLR.
It's perfectly possible to shoot shedloads of pictures blissfully unaware that you've got the lens cap on (hint: Have image review set on)
It's perfectly possible to shoot loads of pictures completely out of focus because you forgot or just got it really badly wrong (beware shooting anything with repeating patterns).

Ergonomically, the camera isn't cutting edge. It largely looks like every M-series Leica. Workmanlike design with few comforts.

So why on earth would anyone who isn't interested in brand showing spend so much money on a camera that does so little and punishes so much?

For me, one look at a RAW file off the camera is enough to do it.

Whether it's the lens, or the sensor, or the rendering of the file, or a bit of all these things, the files that come out of the camera are luscious.

By way of example, I've pushed three images up to iStock to see if they get accepted. I needed to do no noise reduction on them and yet all three images got accepted.

The framing of a shot where you can see not only the picture you're going to take (ish) but also a reasonable margin around it is very different to the induced tunnel vision of an SLR. Just now I'm not sure if it's a good, bad or indifferent thing but it's a marked change that requires concentration as I shoot.

I do know that I've NOT taken a number of pictures with the M8. That is to say, I've seen something I think will make a good photograph, put the camera to my eye and then decided against it.

There's also something less intrusive about the more slender design of the camera - this reduces the barrier between the photographer and human subject.

So is it "better" than the Nikon?

No. Not universally.

My gut feeling is that I might take some of my very best pictures with the M8 but also some of my very worst.

The Nikon is a more biddable beast. If you're not in the mood to work really hard, the D300 will probably deliver a larger percentage of perfectly nice pictures. But, I'm guessing, fewer that make me go "wow".

Am I happy with my camera?

Abso-bloody-lutely, I am. From the feel in my hands, to the fantastic rendering of the out of focus areas of a picture, I love it.

Is it the right camera for you?

How would I know that? I honestly didn't think it was the right one for me when I was standing in the road in the Highlands of Scotland failing to get the damned picture in focus, and (apparently) hunching awkwardly.

Would I like the camera less if it were more mass produced? I wouldn't give a damn as long as the build quality is as good as it is with mine. More of them around, cheaper? Bring it on.

Will it make me a better photographer? No. What will make me a better photographer is using a camera (almost any camera) more and assessing the results. Using a rangefinder may improve my ability to see better pictures - but only if I get out there and use it.

So, I'd better get out and use it, hadn't I?

Rescuing from neglect

Another busy few days.

Still reeling from clearing the room for the builders (who didn't start this week...but should do next week) I seem to have arranged an awful lot of things to happen this week.

Locksmiths, dishwasher engineers, paint delivery...and other stuff too

Today the last of the planned arrivals arrived.

The paint. A palletload of paint.

Here you see it lined up in my hallway.

Exhausted though I am from the week's excitement, I feel an amount of satisfaction that these things have finally been done and that, for the most part, I dealt with them myself.

The problem with letting things go like I have is that when you finally open your eyes and realise how much it bothers you, there's just so much to do.

The benefit of getting people who know what they're doing, in whom you have confidence is that all the details become their problems and you can watch the house being rescued from a safe distance.

Builder starts work in the basement next week, the decorator starts at the top of the house the following week.

Bring it on


.

It's just a phase...

Busy, busy, busy, busy week.

Everything in my life has been almost overwhelmingly busy.

Building work; every day home things; work; photography; it's been all go.

A lot of all this is "the cost of doing business". The price of the pleasant position I'm in having a reasonable sized house is that it requires ongoing maintenance. Whether that's the garden or the appliances or the front door deadlock wearing out to the point of failing. I've looked at a lot of these jobs and never quite got around to getting them fixed.

So this weekend I made a list and worked my way through it. The hardest of these jobs in every sense was clearing out a room full of "stuff" ready for building work to start.

It took a total of about four hours, and pretty much every bit of mental stamina I had. In some ways it's disposing of elements of the past. This makes me feel like I'm not so much disposing of things but of a person.

In its way, this is also the cost of doing buisness. It's another step in properly taking over the house. It's hard but simply continuing to avoid the issue doesn't really help in the long term.

In the words of someone who understands better than most, it's not about obliterating the past but in recognising that the past and the future are different places.

When I finally finish I report progress to the friend who is overseeing this building project. Today he comes round and inspects my work. He approves.

Our usual chat and coffee on the back step's a little less riotous than usual. I'm pretty subdued. He's sorry he can't say anything to help - like he says, if there was an easy thing to offer, it would have been offered already.

Then he gently teases me for buying a new camera as a consolation.

I wonder how much these fine friends realise that no matter how insignificant it might seem, just showing you give a damn helps. It helps a lot.

Thanks guys.


As for the consolation...it's on its way. It won't make it better quicker...but it'll distract me whilst the passage of time knocks the rough edges off the feelings.


.

I can see the slippery slope from here...

This all started a few months ago. Innocently enough.

A discussion between two photographers.

Of course I'd heard of rangefinder cameras but I didn't have a clear idea of why they were different to SLR cameras like mine.

Then there was the film vs digi debate. I've mentioned this before.

I wanted to give film (specifically B&W film) a go but was concerned at changing technology at the same time as medium. So, I got my film fix by using a borrowed Nikon SLR camera.

I liked. I liked very much.

I wouldn't change my primary medium from digital. It's not just the convenience, but the cost too. I act as a voluntary photographer quite a bit and the speed of turnaround that requires, together with the cost of film and processing means digital is simply the pragmatic choice.

So, film good.

I explained to the film-shooting friend that the reason I didn't really need a really expensive new lens for my dSLR was that what my photography lacked more than technical lens quality was good, strong composition.

"Ah..." says the wise one. "You'll be needing to try a rangefinder."

He pointed me in the direction of The Online Photographer and, in a partcular article, the idea of Leica as Teacher.

He tried to explain to me what it feels like (looks like?) to look through a rangefinder (such as a Leica M series) viewfinder.

Coincidentally, one of the Bath Group Flickr folk brought his film Leica with him to the June meet. He kindly allowed me to take a peep. Sigh.

So, in a trip to visit the rangefinder user in the highlands I am offered a try of a digital rangefinder camera with a view to maybe buying a second hand one for film if I get on OK with it.

The good news is, I loved using the camera.
The bad news is, I loved using the camera.

The nature of the viewfinder is such that you can see around the frame of the picture you're taking. This allows you to see the potential around the frame you're looking at.

Also, because you're not looking through the lens (and SLR lenses are wide open until you press the shutter or DoF preview) you get a more-stuff-in-focus view which should help you notice glaring intrusions into your shot ('should' being the operative word in my case).

It's not a style of camera that lends itself to macro shots but for "street" photography, landscape, and event type photography, it has distinct advantages.

Having looked at the picture quality from this camera I've found myself considering the digital rangefinder possiblities.

Actually, there aren't all that many possibilities. The market is not awash with digital RF cameras like it is with SLRs.

It needs some more thought. A bit of risk assessment. Some budgeting considerations.

But I can definitely see the top of the slippery slope...look...it's just over there.