Rediscovery of an APS-C camera. Portrait of David.

A while back, when I was just putting a foot into the Leica digital waters, I bought a couple of their digital CL cameras. Sweet, compact, interchangeable lens cameras that used APS-C sensors to keep them small and easy to carry around. While Leica sold a small group of lenses for the CL, L mount partner, Sigma stepped in to supply faster, less expensive APS-C designed lenses for the system. The three I ended up holding onto were the 16mm f1.4, the 30mm f1.4 and, my favorite, the 56mm f1.4. The 56mm is equivalent to an 84-85mm field of view on a full frame camera. 

While initially overshadowed by subsequent purchases of newer, higher resolution, full frame cameras from the company I have found the Leica CLs to be great tools for those times when you either want to travel a lot lighter or when you need their smaller sensor size to supply greater reach in the telephoto range. Also, the greater depth of field for a given f-stop is helpful when you want to use fast, wide angle glass at near wide open apertures but still keep enough in focus to make a photo work well. I pulled out the CLs recently and put them back to work. They are quite fun to carry around while out walking with no agenda.

I was out walking on Sunday, a week ago, when I dropped by Jo's Coffee and ran into my friend (and fellow photographer) David. I made this casual portrait (above) as we were sitting and chatting. It seemed just right. The 56mm Sigma lens (Contemporary) kept the span from David's nose to the back of his hat in adequate focus at f2.8 but successfully blurred the background just as much as I wanted. 

While I understand that Leica is a smaller camera company than most and it's a stretch to think they have the comfortable bandwidth to serve up a number of different product lines concurrently, I really wish they had not pulled the plug on the CL (compact Leica) system. They left many users wishing and hoping for a CL-2 camera that never arrived. There are times when "small and light" but still highly capable is a nice option to have. While I like the various fixed lens compact cameras out on the market I always find myself wishing they offered the choice for a different lens instead of the focal lengths the herd demands (relentless 28mms). Leica was on the right path with the new Q3-43 but how nice it would be to have an even more compact Q variant with an APS-C sensor and a fast normal lens on the front; like the Q3-43 does in the full frame arena...

I thought about selling the CL cameras a while back but hesitated. Now, when I go and look for additional bodies I find that they are going back up in price on the used markets. Maybe Leica can look to those rising price trends as product demand research and come to the decision to re-launch that format. But...probably not. 

One of my friends took me to task when I originally bought the CLs  and an assortment of APS-C only lenses. He suggested that if the camera system was discontinued that the lenses would eventually become useless and would lose their value. I might have agreed had I not tried using the Sigma APS-C L mount lenses on a Leica SL2, with the camera set to shoot APS-C. The lenses work quite well when used that way and the camera provides image stabilization! You are still getting file sizes over 20 megapixels and, if Sigma follows other lens makers then APS-C lenses are designed to give a higher resolution with over 50% contrast to compensate for their intended use on a smaller, more densely packed imaging sensor.  All nicely bundled with auto focus and full lens automation.

In a pinch, at corporate events with speakers at far away podiums, I have resorted to using the APS-C mode on the SL2 to gain more reach with a telephoto lens on the front. I could easily do the same thing by using the longer ff lenses (like 135mm and above) with the CL bodies. Nice that the lens mount is the thing that keeps the older bodies and lenses from being obsoleted entirely. And, depending on your intended use, not obsolete at all !

The strength and weakness of the digital CL are the same. The battery. It's a bit small and runs down fairly quickly. 250-300 shots. But the strength of it is that the CL uses the same battery as many Panasonic compact cameras and both of the recent Sigma fp variants. This means the market is filled with compatible batteries as cheap as $12 each, to batteries I have more confidence in, like Sigma branded and Panasonic banded batteries in the $40 price range. But if you absolutely have to have the Leica branded battery you can still find them for around $125 each. I have a bunch of the Sigma batteries. I've yet to have on fail. 

I just liked the portrait and thought you might enjoy the technical backstory. Hope all is well. 

 

A short afternoon walk with the new Thypoch Ksana 21mm f3.5 ultra wide angle lens. Not my strong suit but after I made my own profile for the lens I was pretty darn happy.

today I walked in the Hyde Park neighborhood in central Austin. Lots of wonderful, little 1940s and 1950s houses, many painted exuberantly. I hadn't gotten a lot of use out of the 21mm lens I bought a couple weeks ago during the last cold snap. I'd used it on an SL2 just to try it out but, of course, the real test is when you put the lens on a camera type that it was designed for and you go out and shoot it for a while. And Hyde Park was a fun testing ground for my primitive use of the lens.

21mm lenses are problematic. Depending on the camera sensor, the angle of the prevailing light and the phase of the moon there is always the possibility of some color shifting at the edges and in the corners of the frame. I made a color profile for this lens in Lightroom and used it on all the frames here. It consists of a tiny bit of geometric correction, some vignetting correction and, most importantly, some mild linear masking on each side of the frame which allowed me to simply use the green/magneta slider to remove a slight magenta cast that occurred on the left and right sides of the frames. The work of five minutes and the profile could then be used on all the files with a batch synchronization. Yay Software! 

The Ksana (zany name?) 21mm is very sharp and creates very saturated files. I love those attributes. I can always adjust saturation but it's nice to start with data rich/detail rich files when you can. I used the lens on an M240 camera today, in the raw/DNG format. I set the white balance for daylight and used auto-ISO with a minus 2/3rd stop compensation for most of the images. I brought along a Leica zoom optical finder that gives me framing for 21,24 and 28mm lenses but I found that it was easiest to just use an EV-2 EVF finder and turn on live view instead. Worked very well and made composing quite accurate. Considering that you can pick up the Leica branded version of this finder for around $175 on the used market I would suggest picking one up unless you want to spend a lot more money buying zoom finders or individual bright line finders to use with wider lenses. You won't be able to use the camera finder of ultra-wide angle coverage (21 and 24 are a "no go") but you will still always be able to use the camera finder for very accurate and quick focusing. A decided plus with very wide angle lenses...  One note though, the EV-2 works only with the M240 cameras and variants and not the M10 or M11 cameras!!! Don't buy one for your M11 --- they make another, much pricier finder, just for that model.

The advantage of the Ksana 21mm over some other lenses is that it's very, very small and, by extension, very lightweight. If you love shooting with an M rangefinder camera it's a good, solid addition to an M only gear kit. But if you also shoot with a mirrorless system like the Leica SL cameras or any of the other mirrorless cameras in the market you can finder lenses that are better corrected for partial frame color shifts and which are available with faster maximum apertures and also AF. In my case I wanted to be able to make a complete, do everything (almost) kit for my M stuff. If I were a more rational and thoughtful planner I might not have bought the lens as I also use Leica SL type cameras and already have a Sigma Contemporary 21mm lens for the L mount that is pretty darn good. If I were a bit more frugal I'd make do with the Sigma instead. Live and learn. 

But, as you can see from the images the Ksana 21 really does deliver nice results. Especially if you take the time to build a suitable profile with which to add into your post production with this lens. 

The lens is quite attractive on a black M camera. And it does what it's supposed to do. I never can imagine I'd need a faster 21mm as one of the lens's attractive qualities is its deep depth of field at apertures like f5.6 and f8. The value of a 21mm f1.4 eludes me. Or escapes me. Or both. 

Here are bunch of images that serve as proof of practice. Make them big if you want. They have a lot of detail to share. Buy or don't buy....we don't care here because it doesn't benefit Mr. Tuck in the least.

 

Dumb stuff we do after watching too many lens reviews... Or, is lens buying really a practical way to deal with boredom?

 For as long as I've owned the various SL digital cameras from Leica I've had an idea for a way of doing photography that most of my photography friends consider borderline insane. After a long career of trying to be prepared for everything, which mostly meant having every lens and lighting instrument I might ever need for client projects, I've had a vision/daydream of winnowing down the burden of gear to pure minimalism. But good quality minimalism! In the best of all possible worlds (for me) I would distill down the gear inventory to just one SL2 camera (for which I retain the right to upgrade when appropriate) and one, perfect 50mm lens. I would also keep a second SL2 body around so that I'd have a back-up when traveling...

That would be it. Everything I might need to do photography on my terms instead of walking around in a perennial state of "ready for anything-ness." Or paralyzed by the endless question of "what gear to use now?"

I''ve long since come to terms with the reality that, for me, the 50mm lens is pretty much the perfect focal length for my own personal vision. Maybe I arrived at that out of endless practice or maybe I'm just wired to like the compromise between too much in the frame and not enough in the frame. For whatever reason when I look through the finder of a camera with a 50mm lens on the front there is a comfort I rarely feel with other options. Longer or shorter. Like perfect shoes. Or a pair of pants that fits perfectly.

In my odd quest for system minimization and 50mm regard I've endlessly researched 50mm lenses. I've owned three different Zeiss lenses, including the very well regarded 50mm f1.4 Milvus, and a Planar f2 for the M cameras. Even a 50mm f1.4 ZF for the Nikon system (adapted for use on an SL variant). I've owned countless Nikon and Canon "normal" lenses. And have been in love with the Voigtlander 50mm APO Lanthar since I purchased one three years ago. It's really, really good. 

But the lens I always wanted to try, always imagined would be the lens that stands the test of time, might satisfy my desire for the highest performance lens I could imagine, has been, since its introduction, the Leica 50mm APO Summicron SL. It's an f2 lens with insanely great glass in a complex design with lots of elements and groups. Weather and dust proof to the hilt and very well built. And, at times, the AF would be nice to have...

In my daydreams I imagine myself driving through the arid, spare, west Texas landscape to Marfa and then onto Terlingua with an SL2 camera, coupled up with the 50mm APO Summicron SL, keeping me company from the passenger's seat of the car. A spare body wrapped up in a protective cloth and well cradled in a good camera bag in the car's trunk. Nothing other than a stack of spare batteries for the camera and extra memory cards --- because I tend to overshoot most of the time.

I'd find some rustic gas station in the middle of nowhere and there would be characters sitting around in faded, worn jeans and western style shirts just shooting the shit and they'd do the usual west Texas warm greeting for strangers and, after I filled up the tank and bought more water, I'd ask them if I could make their portraits, and no matter where I aimed the camera the light would be beautiful and the lens would have some special magic that would inject itself into the photo taking process and make each frame a keeper. I'd thank the folks and drive on through the bright yellowness of the high desert light always scanning the horizon for the next opportunity to see something new. 

In my vision of the one lens future I'd never pine for anything wider. I'd fit my vision to the lens and the lens to my vision. Nor would I feel the slightest desire for anything longer. If I need to be tighter, well--- I learned how to crop images long ago in a film-era darkroom. Can't be any harder in Photoshop.

The single focal length would eliminate the drudgery of choosing. The semi-panic of arriving somewhere  already second guessing whether I'd made the correct lens choice when packing. And with the world's greatest 50mm lens I would never question whether a different brand or style of 50mm lens would ever be better. 

I have a good 20 to 25 years (hopeful, optimistic guy here?) left to make photographs just for me. Just the way I want them. I figure I should do them with exactly the lens I always imagined would make all photography fun for me. 

I am far too conservative to actually put all my eggs in one basket. I thought about selling everything else but...it's all already paid for and comfortably strewn across the studio in filing cabinets and tool cases. But that doesn't mean I can't pursue the dream of being mostly unencumbered by choice or restrictions. I'd keep the M stuff and sell everything else. Because you just never know. 

But here we are. It rained all day yesterday.  A cool but not cold rain. I went out for lunch with B. We went to our favorite taco place: TacoDeli. I had a couple of the borracho carnitas tacos. I mentioned my minimalization idea. B. nodded approvingly. I mentioned my desire to buy the "ultimate" 50mm lens. She asked for a bit more detail. Detail delivered she nodded and said, "Why would you hesitate buying the lens you say you always wanted?" I took that as an approval of concept.... 

.... We'll see how the concept pans out. Car, camera, lens, credit card, intention. Could be fun. Might be fun. Will be fun. See how easy it is to talk oneself into yet another glorious lens purchase?

Arriving shortly.