New image from this morning. My old Leica M10 was screaming at me to use it every so often, and the battery was down to next to nothing. Charged the battery, took a few snapshots (yuck!!), re-learned how to use it, re-set the menus, but left the viewing screen in B&W. Went for a walk, and took a couple of dozen photos, all but four of which went into the trash. Durn, it took several shots just to aim the camera - had a wide angle lens on the M10, and wearing my glasses I couldn’t see the whole image in the viewfinder.
I found one of the bicycle racks, and after taking maybe 8 photos, three of them were close, and on the screen only one photo “worked”.
First plan was to make them B&W, but then I wondered what if I left just a little color turned on. I liked that, but I know I’ll get dumped on for doing so.
Anyway for better or worse, here is my one image for today:
Nothing spectacular, but at least I remember now how to use the old Leica.
Oh, and now I realize how much easier it is for me to shoot with my Nikon DSLR.
I have since then replaced the old Summilux f/1.4 35mm with a Voigtlander f/2 APO-LANTHAR. Now I can easily see the field of view of the lens, without removing my glasses.
Mark was correct - trying new things over and over, leads to a better ability for me to fix my own mistakes, or things I didn’t really understand well enough. I feel like I’m drowning in ideas, but they slowly sink in, maybe hours later.
I agree, that was most likely the case. But I don’t know what cameras he owns and uses.
To quote from ‘dpreview’:
“Some people just prefer to take color out of the equation if they are b&w photographers. They can use filters like they are used to with film (b&w), they get higher iso vs a color sensor and they can print larger vs a compatible color sensor. It’s a niche, but obviously an important one if Phase One and Leica cater to their wants and needs.”
For me, unless I spend $$$, there is no option. You agree this is the best choice for me, staying with what I’ve got. But if I was as talented as you, I would likely eventually get/own a b&w only camera, perhaps for the reasons Leica discusses, perhaps because of your goal of “perfection”. If I was three things:
a) as talented as you,
b) financially able to afford one, and
c) wanting to get the very best B&W images possible…
Then I likely would have bought a camera with the features of a Monochrom.
…of course, for you, it would need to already have all the features you require in a camera.
All the above is just “dreaming out loud”.
Just for the heck of it, this afternoon I might read up on these discussions:
(But I hesitate to do so, as maybe I’m better off not even knowing - like reding about a Rolls Royce or Bentley car. Why fill my head with ‘impossible for me’ dreams?)
