A first "test" walk with the Voigtlander 35mm f2.0 APO-Lanthar lens. Wearing my much maligned Tilley Hat.

 

I wanted to go out yesterday and put my new lens through its paces. But after swim practice, chores and packing for an upcoming location shoot I had waited too long and the afternoon temperatures were oppressive and  brutal. Being a wimp at heart I decided that a heat index of 105° would just make my hands sweaty, my viewfinder clouded with misplaced sunscreen and my mood...apprehensive. I chose grocery shopping and office work instead. 

Yesterday evening I went to the dress rehearsal of "The Wizard of Oz. An Immersive Twist on a Beloved Tale." I went not as a photographer but as a civilian. I watched the next generation of photographers and videographers work the show from a static position and silently wished them well. 

The show was a big production and part of the idea of "immersion" was that the stage protruded into the house and there was also seating around the entire periphery of the stage. It's something I think many regional theaters are toying with in the moment. The idea that audiences will be thrilled to sit in absolutely close proximity with the cast and the set. I'm not a fan of the concept but I was a fan of the cast, the show, the music and the lighting. They lost some very seasoned crew when the theater shut down during Covid and they still have a ways to go to recover their complete mastery of audio. It takes time. And every venue is different. The main issue with the audio last night was not enough volume separation/differentiation between solo singers and the orchestra which muddied the delivery of some of  the lyrics... 

But all in all it was a very fun way to spend an evening. And since I seem to get invited to every dress rehearsal it's a very cost effective dose of culture for me. I'd forgotten how wonderful parts of "The Wizard of Oz" could be. And how much fun live theater usually is.

After my morning "compulsories" I judged that the day wasn't going to get any cooler as it wound on so I was in downtown rambling about by nine o'clock. I put the VM 35 APO on one of the M typ 240 bodies and set it up for raw shooting, aperture preferred auto, ISO 200, Daylight. It was hot and humid and I kept smudging the viewfinder window and the smaller rangefinder window with my clumsy hold on the camera. I'll work on that. 

A common complaint about the M 240 is that the live view screen on the back is low contrast, not very color accurate and very low res. I agree with all of these things. At first I was hesitant about the cameras but after shooting, when in the throes of Lightroom, the files reveal themselves to be just fine. If you don't blow highlights you'll pretty much nail your image if the rear screen shows you an image that is even remotely in the ballpark. I can only imagine that M11 screens are cheery, bright and accurate but if you absolutely need that in a camera you might want to pass on the M 240s and go straight to the most modern M Leica you can get your hands on...

While the M240 uses a relatively old 24 megapixel sensor and isn't a low light/high ISO champion it does a beautiful job at ISOs from 200-1600 ... if you nail exposure. Which should be second nature to you anyhow. I use the M240s mostly in the .DNG (raw) format these days because memory and storage are cheap and you never know how you will end up using a final image. Especially if you circle back to something years from now and have new applications to feed. 

Something to be aware of when using a Leica M camera with a 35mm  or 28mm lens is that the lower right section of the viewfinder will be blocked by the lens itself. If you are fussy this is an issue but it's been a consistent "feature" of M series cameras since 1954. Most users are pretty good at anticipating and interpolating what's hiding in the corner. I thought this would bother me with a 35mm lens so I acquired a Carl Zeiss 35mm Brightline finder from a friend and stuck it in the hot shoe. I shouldn't have bothered because I became "acculturated" to the viewfinder "feature" in about a day. After that the bright line finder in the hot shoe was more of a nuisance than a help. With a diopter on the eyepiece and my glasses off I can see all the other parts of the finder frame quite clearly and I find that I rarely put anything vital in that lower right corner. If you have the opposite mindset and DEMAND to see every micron of the image before photographing an image you can choose the auxiliary viewfinder, or use live view via the rear screen, or buy an EVF-2, put that in the hot shoe and look at the frame at its 100% accurate self. I've tried it every which way and will say that it's lens dependent. 

With a 50mm or 75mm I'm totally happy just using the viewfinder as it was intended. With the 35mm it's important for me to use a diopter on the eyepiece so I can lose the eyeglasses and better see the bright frame lines, corner to corner in the viewfinder. With the 28mm I use an auxiliary bright line finder in the shoe for quick shots in conjunction with zone focusing. If I want to do a "perfect" shot with a 28 or 21mm I reach for the EVF-2. Your mileage will vary. 

I found the Voigtlander 35mm APO to be a great lens. Mostly invisible in actual use but providing wonderful results when I toss the files into Lightroom. There is even a lens profile available for that lens in the Adobe program. It makes the files look even better. And it manages the vignetting very well.

Here are some samples I shot while walking around this morning. In my white Tilley hat. Nobody laughed at me but one person said, "Good morning sir." Go figure. 

Ruscha-ism.

Stoller-arity

Eggleston-ality

The city of Austin built a big, beautiful and highly functional convention center way, way back in the late 1980s. It's been the home for Dell, Inc. shows with 6,000+ attendees, tons of other corporate shows and a yearly event called, South by Southwest (SXSW) which, if you believe the fictive metrics of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city via a two week long marathon of music, tech, film and education. And delivers hundreds of millions of tourist dollars into the tax coffers and the pockets of local restaurants, bars and hotels. 

But some snake oil consultants have been making the rounds in Texas convincing every city with a population over 50 that the one thing holding them back from being the next Dubai is a new, giant, state of the art convention center. Our city council bought the pie-in-the-sky fantasy lock stock and barrel and they are now in the process of demolishing our right in the middle of downtown fully functional convention center and already starting work on their new, gleaming, magic project. Oh, but of course there is no other venue big enough in town for the shows that put our city on the map and the project is expected to take three more years. So, those merchants and tax collectors will just have to patiently cool their heals until the Wizard of Oz reveals the new tourist magnet to the public. Yeah, Austin city residents will be on the hook for the now 3 billion dollar project. Should  be interesting to see what the final price tag will be. I'm guessing 6 billion dollars. Or enough to pay everyone in Austin not to work for a year or son. Build it and they will come. 

I do like the double entendre of the signage. They are currently breaking or breaking down the old convention center. I'm always a bit amazed at the idea of saving money by spending more money. I should run that concept by the CFO on my way to a Leica store....

Yes. There will be road closures. Count on them. 

Meanwhile...over on historic, crumbling Sixth St.... business as usual. 

Tomorrow I'll be spending my day wrangling some big LED light panels and cajoling seminary faculty and staff to look intriguing and welcoming to the camera. Given the demographic off color jokes probably won't go over very well. I'll try to act earnest and reserved. It's a big ask.

Sorry for all the posts at once. I'm just happy the scrapper episode seems to have resolved for now. I've been replacing all the posts I took down. Thanks for coming back to what has mostly become a daily blog with resoundingly quick comment moderation. Welcome.