Despite the graffiti.
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The connections survive despite the graffiti and stickers.
Leica M10, 50mm f/1.4 Canon LTM at f/8 – as sharp as it gets, and bargain priced.
Free flowing.
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While the 50mm Canon LTM f/1.4 was used at f/5.6 on the M10 here, that outstanding and bargain priced lens is every bit as good at f/1.4.
Wonderful for picking out details.
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I must say that the 1.4x eyepiece magnifier makes nailing focus much easier. On the M10 it’s like using that great finder in the Leica M3 without the agonies of film.
An excellent lens for very little.
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Sharp with excellent micro-contrast even at full aperture, this 65 year old Leitz 135mm f/4 Elmar lens is excellent for capturing architectural details and street candids, though the latter can be a real challenge given the lens’s demand for correct focus, which can take time with the long throw focus collar.
Some examples snapped yesterday – architecture first. Five of these can be clicked for a much larger version:
Click for a bigger version. Note that even focused close to infinity
at f/8 the lens delivers very shallow depth of field.
Click for a bigger version. Check the definition in the glass
globe and wall stickers in the big version.
Click for a bigger version.
Click for a bigger version.
Click for a bigger version
And some candids – all were cropped from one quarter of the 24mp RAW file, making the focal length equivalent to 270mm. Unlike, say, with a 21mm or 35mm focal length, ‘spray and pray’ is not a winning strategy with the 135mm. Careful handholding and accurate focus are the order of the day:
Another tattoo freak. The camera was panned to
enhance background blur.
Taking in the sun.
The resolution is as good as anything money can buy and the main caveat is that, without solid technique and a properly adjusted rangefinder (check the link in the opening paragraph, above), results will be disappointing.
It actually works.
I’m not much one for post processing. Maybe a touch on the Highlights and Shadows sliders and a correction of a leaning vertical or two, but that’s pretty much it. Mostly I’m of the set that believes you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
But this is an image I rather liked for the girl’s intensely watchful expression and it was a real grab shot. No time to think, just point and click. And the result was a blurred image owing to camera motion.
Here it is after processing in Topaz Labs Image Unblur:
In addition to passing the image through the web-based Topaz app (which has jumped on the ‘add AI to anything to make it sexier’ bandwagon) I added Sharpening=113 in LRc. The result, shown in this after and before 100% pixel peeping comparison in LRc is fairly remarkable, with artifacts at a minimum:
Topaz gives you 20 freebies but for the life of me I cannot figure out the pricing thereafter. Still, 20 is likely to last me a few years …. even if encroaching age points to more blurred images!
Leica M10, 35mm Canon LTM.