Walking around S. Congress Avenue today reveling in the sub-90° weather. First time in weeks and weeks...

I'm doing this post as a stream of consciousness caption fest. Just responding to each frame as I saw it or worked it or whatever. Come along for the ride. I'll take the mystery out up front: All of these were done with the Leica SL2 sporting the Voigtlander 50mm f2.0 APO Lanthar lens --- in an adapted M mount. 

Up one side of the street and down the other with a stop for coffee at Jo's in the middle. 

I was walking on the east side of Congress Ave. heading south. I saw this guy with his incredible bucket hat and immediately stopped him and asked if it would be okay if I made a photograph. Since I was wearing my less pronounced bucket hat I knew he would be comfortable with the ask. Destined to be the height of fashion in a few more years. 

Cooling an outdoor market. I stepped back off the sidewalk to get more of the scene in and blazed away. I'm not very shy so there's no impulse to hit and run. I just shoot with that darned camera up to my eye until I get what I want and then I smile at anyone who has noticed and head off to find something else fun to shoot. Vintage clothes. Not a bad idea. Big fans and little fans; a better idea.

I came upon these two women as they were finishing up taking selfies. I didn't get the photo I wanted to I stepped right over to them and asked them nicely if they would be willing to shoot some more selfies so I could document them. They were certainly game and played along till I got what I wanted. Then they asked me to photograph them with one of their phones. And to get the store logo in the background. Turns out they work at one of the stores behind them and were shooting for social media. For the store. And now I have contributed to their campaign. Sweet people.

Window at Home Slice Pizza. 

When Home Slice first opened Ben and B. and I used to go there and get their great pizza. It was always busy but always moved fast. It was a lot of fun. Then there came the time when the restaurant got so popular you'd have to wait an hour for a table. And more time for a pizza. And anyone who is willing to wait with a small child for an hour, for a pizza, is either highly pizza deprived or insane. Still, it's darn good pie...If pizza is the "queen of pies" is the king of pies pecan?

When your utility box is down the street from the Hermes store it's got to look good. Sorry. Life is quick. Not time to correct for parallel sides.... Get over it.

Today was mother-daugher day on S. Congress. There are dozens and dozens and dozens of shops. And oh so much fashion. They were moving fast. Heading toward their next destiny with charge cards. 

no caption. But is "no caption" actually a caption?

At the Nike store. Question: If my legs exhale while I'm swimming will they create a trail of bubbles in the water? And if they do create a trail of bubbles in the water what would differentiate these bubbles from generic flatulence? Seems like a bleak trend to me...

There is one shop on the entire street that's chosen a different path from the tired, mannequin driven window displays. I don't know what they sell but they have the whole front of their shop decorated in sweeping trellises of fun flowers. I know the flowers are artificial but they are "good artificial" and that makes it all okay. I came by once at Christmas and the shop had done a great job of intertwining lights and ornaments and small figurines into the mix. It was visually delightful. I hope you click on this to make it larger and then look at the detail in the big flowers....

And now for the march of the Sugar Plum Fairly mannequins. Some good and some boring. But that's the current style in window decorating in Austin. 

this mannequin has a flower covered, fabric head that goes well with the flower decor all over the front of the store. It's the store I mentioned in a caption above. It's more interesting that "blank face." 

Steam Punk eyeglasses shop. Mannequin heads with cool glasses all over the front of the store. Interesting. The interior? Less so...

A comforting message and a well run motel adapted to modern hipster standards. And right in the middle of the most popular venue in Austin. Swimming pool included. 

this is a nod to the time when Austin was much, much smaller. Much, much hipper. Much, much cheaper and so far to the left that it would be unimaginable to modern inhabitants out in the far flung suburbs. I remember the Armadillo Headquarters (referenced on the micro bus). B. and I saw Devo open there for the Talking Heads. Tickets? Five bucks. Beer? Fifty cents a bottle. Parking? Everyone walked or rode their bikes because....there was no traffic. Saw Duke Ellington's band there too. And Joe Jackson. And the B-52s. Along with all the Austin regulars like Waylon Jennings and Willie. A different time never to return. 

The prices at Jo's have gone up. I can't blame them. But they still make a great cup of coffee and they've maintained their dressed down charm over the years. Hope some big restaurant group doesn't buy them out and start selling twenty dollar coffee and thirty dollar pastries. Un-progress is sad. 

An anthropologist once observed that only the richest and poorest communities have no litter in the streets. In the poor areas the people are forced to use, recycle, repurpose every scrap they can get their hands on while the rich communities can and will always hire people to clean up after them...

A chair back at Jo's as seen by a 50mm lens used wide open. Spicy. 

The bars and restaurants no doubt make the most money on S. Congress Ave. but I'm betting that hats of all kinds are a close second. I was going to buy a cool, Stetson Open Road, felt hat until I realized that they cost something like $285 for the legit version. And it's not even a bucket hat. Gosh, you can even get Tilley hats for less than that... $285, why that's the price of a Leica camera battery!!!

Important messaging for out of towners. Not every alternative shop sells the blood and organs of small children to rabid, cannibal politicians. Not matter what they tell you on Truth Social....

This sign existed without context in the middle of the sidewalk. That seems pricy for wine glasses. Maybe I just say that because I break them routinely (not purposely) and I'd hate to replace them often. Tip: Don't pull hot wine glasses from a dishwasher and fill them with frozen daiquiris. They most likely will explode...

Waiting for Godot. Or waiting for Fred to finish in the barber shop. 

Man fixing neon on a big boot. Signage is critical.

No description required. 

 

Turned down big work. Now getting back to recreational photography. But first --- dinner with friends.

I had a lovely dinner with friends on the 4th of July. Mary and Will are great, seasoned entertainers and both are wonderful cooks. The guest list included several authors mixed with lawyers, photographers and even a retired engineer and because of that the conversation was lively and far ranging. Mary always has beautiful flowers around the house and some of the most fanciful plates and dishes I've seen. 

It sounds old fashioned but we sat down for dinner around six and nobody even thought to leave the table and the conversation until well after nine. The subject of photography was present as one of the authors is currently doing a book of her 1970's photographic work (pre-famous author times....) for the University of Texas Press. But there was no talk of cameras or lenses even though (counting me) there were three experienced photographers filling out the guest list. 

Seems that I am the most predictable of the photographers since I had a camera over my shoulder early on and still in easy reach as the evening unfolded. From time to time I'd see something I liked, grabbed my camera and made an image. 

My friends Will and Mary have taken me under their wings since B. is gone a couple days of week, still doing her stint as a dutiful and devoted daughter and taking good care of her 94 year old mom. Will and Mary seem to have me on the short list for dinners every couple of weeks and a happy hour on an almost weekly schedule this Summer. And they always invite the kinds of people to keep us company that I'd love to know.....if I didn't already know them. 

It's good to have friends. It's good to have long conversations about literature, art movies and life. And, slowly, Will is trying to teach me why I should appreciate the work of Lee Friedlander. It's tough sledding. I drew the line at Stephen Shore though. Nothing will convince me there was raging good talent there. Unless it is the talent to sell shamelessly into the fine art market -- with gusto. 

My camera and lens of choice for our July 4th dinner was the Leica SL2 and the Voigtlander 50mm APO Lanthar. Good choices I think...

And a note, I'm not a completely clueless guest. I do try to always arrive with a very nice bottle or two of wine and something fun to eat while having preprandial drinks. Like brie cheese and fresh baked baguette. And when B. and I have a handle on our home schedule we've got a lot of reciprocation to get scheduled... 

Burrata. Con Salad. 

The brandy remnants...

I mentioned turning down work and want to clarify. There's work I want to do and work I know would be a mess. The list of "want to do" jobs includes: Local environmental portraits, studio portraits and artsy portraits. For really nice, happy and well adjusted clients I'd welcome just about any work that doesn't require a large crew or lots and lots of pre-production. 

But the kind of work we wanted in our 30s and 40s seems rather unappealing now. 

A client/friend who I worked with on collaborative event projects for nearly three decades called me a couple of days ago. He closed one company and I thought he'd retired but it wasn't so.  He'd done a job recently for a client whose London based ad agency has more projects on tap. They asked if my friend could source an advertising photographer to shoot in Houston for about two weeks. The first two weeks of August. The photographer would also need to source and provide video gear for an incoming director who would be shooting "some" video interviews. The director's needs were quite specific and his choice of video tripods led me to believe that he'd be bringing several big cameras with him. 

When I tallied up the gear request, the number of days in (nasty, hot) Houston during the start of hurricane season and the paucity of actual information about what we might be photographing it just looked like it might turn into a big, hot mess for me. 

On one hand the prospect of 14 shoot days at $3600 per was alluring. On the other hand I'd be missing at least 14 masters swims, x number of dinners, coffees and happy hours with friends, and....I've been well burned by UK production companies in the distant past --- but the memory of it is tattooed on my business brain...

The friend who would refer prefaced his invite with this: "Feel free to decline. Won't affect me. You'd be dealing with them directly....no skin off my nose." 

That was enough for me. I quickly emailed to thank him for presenting the opportunity but letting him know I couldn't make it work. I suggested that they try to source a photographer and gear house in Houston so they could save on hotels, travels, meals etc. When I clicked "send" I had the nicest feeling of happiness. Contentment.  I guess that's one step closer to the reality of retiring. Turning down stuff you would have killed for a couple decades ago.... (not literally.)

An interesting travel and street camera+lens for people who want AF and a decent zoom range.

Photo made with Leica CL (digital) and the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 lens.

shot at f4.0. Leica Monochrom HC profile in camera. 

 One thing the heat wave of the last several weeks taught me was just how nice it can be to lower the weight and size impact of your daily carry camera when working in the hot weather. I'm in pretty decent shape and usually it's no big deal to carry around a bigger camera equipped with a beefy lens. My "go to" all weather solution is usually one of the SL or SL2 Leicas combined with whatever fast 50mm lens has captured my interest in the moment. But when the "mercury" and the humidity rise up in tandem they can be formidable impediments to a nice, comfortable walk.

Last week I started carrying around my "bantam" weight camera system. I was sad when Leica discontinued their last APS-C format camera; the Leica CL. It's a great and minimalistic choice for people who just want to take nice photographs. The camera uses a 24 megapixel sensor, has NO external ports and only three buttons on the back. It's sleek, beautifully designed and, as a bonus, uses a battery type that's widely used by other camera makers which keeps the price of replacement batteries low. And that's rare in the Leica sphere... Oh, and did I mention it has those lovely and easy to decipher Leica menus? Such a nice change from "other" systems...

I've been pairing the CL with a selection of Sigma Contemporary lenses. My favorite for casual shooting in daylight is the 18-50mm f2.8 zoom lens. It's small, lightweight and sharp from wide open on up the aperture scale. You have to be careful with filters though as the image circle is tight and too thick a filter ring might cause a bit of vignetting in the far corners. I generally shoot this lens one stop down from wide open to gain a bit of depth of field or "technical slop allowance" to compensate for my cavalier approach to fun photography. 

The zoom lens is equivalent to a 27 to 75mm range on a full frame camera which is just about right for casual/travel and street photography. The CL family offered a Leica branded zoom in the range of 18mm to 56mm which gives one a bit more range on the long end of the zoom but it is a variable aperture lens and only offers f5.6 at the long end of the zoom. And opens to just f3.5 at the short end. I'm sure it's a great daytime lens but the lack of speed is always vexing even when it shouldn't be. 

If you are already photographing with full frame L mount lenses you can use these on your CL as well. The Leica full frame lenses, like the 24-90mm, seem huge when used on the very small CL bodies. When I choose L mount lenses from among my full frame inventory I look mostly for smaller, lighter lenses like the Sigma 24mm f3.5 (a nice near 35mm eq.) or the Sigma 90mm f2.8 (eq: 135mm) or the ubiquitous Sigma 45mm f2.8. Any of these three balance nicely on the CL and work natively when it comes to AF and exposure control. 

I don't often use the Leica CL for work stuff but I did think about it at one point and while pondering whether or not it made any sense at all, given the range of my current full frame camera choices, I did pick up three Sigma primes that were designed especially for the APS-C format. Those are: the 16mm f1.4, the 30mm f1.4 and the 56mm f1.4 Contemporary lenses. These don't have the external aperture rings or the metal build quality of the i-Series Contemporary lenses but they are quite fast and each is a really good optical performer. Of the three the 56mm is my favorite. It's a stand out example of how to make APS-C sing. 

But, sadly, these tend to stay home and I opt mostly for either the lightweight Sigma zoom or interesting TTArtisan fully manual lenses like the 23mm f1.4. It's actually really nice! And fast. And it slots in between the Sigma 16mm and 30mm lens if you are looking for that 35mm focal length equivalent. 

If you are out hunting down the (now) rare Leica CL (digital) try to find one under $2,000 complete with the 18mm f2.8 Leica lens that many of the bodies came kitted with. Since the announcement of its discontinuation the CLs have become quite elusive and we seem to be at an infection point at which the scarcity is beginning to drive prices up. 

If you are a strict rationalist this is NOT the camera or system for you. If you are a spec-diver you'll be much happier with something like a Panasonic S5 or a Sony A7ii. More "value?" for your money and both are very good, full frame picture takers. And you'll never have to explain how you justify spending the extra "Leica Tax" for a camera that has few features, few conveniences and which has now been discontinued. If you like to muck around and take chances or if you understand that the look and feel of some products has its own value then certainly, begin the hunt. And if you find a good condition CL at a great price and then decide you don't like it --- you know who to contact....

One warning. CL stands for "compact Leica" but it's kind of strange that Leica would use the same product name as they did on a film camera they made back in the 1970s. The film camera can accept M series Leica lenses and.....it only takes film! Some people have found CLs on the web for sale and are excited about the apparent bargain prices until they take a much closer look and find that the product on offer is the film version not the more recent digital model. All of a sudden a 40+ year old user camera that takes M lenses doesn't seem like so much of a bargain at $600-$800, if you've been looking for a much more recent digital camera. But if you are a film guy..... all bets are off. 

That's what I'm thinking about today. Hope all is well and you folks are getting some good Summer swimming in.

KT

A first draft. Life is too short to revise stuff that's already working. 

OT: Fourth of July Swim Practice, and Holidays are for Friends.

 

We used to have two scheduled workouts every fourth of July. One at seven a.m., for the frisky folks and early risers, and one at eight o'clock for the late sleepers. Covid screwed with the schedule for a couple of years and last year the pool manager dropped the ball and didn't put the traditional holiday swims on the schedule. We protested. Loud and long. And, surprise! This year we circled back on track and continued what had been a 26+ year tradition. 

Our pool is in a separate little city from Austin called Rollingwood. Like its neighbor, Westlake Hills, it is completely surrounded by the city of Austin on all sides. But on the 4th of July Rollingwood holds its own little parade and it comes right past the pool. 

When Ben was young he swam on the club swim team and in the Summer the club hosted a floa for the swim team in the Rollingwood parade. The swimmers would decorate a large trailer, crowd aboard and be driven through the parade route while tossing candy to the kids who lined the road to watch the festivities. He rode the float every year for ten years. It was kind of a tradition. Since he's grown up and I don't get to make sure he's on the float I can go to the later (8 a.m.) workout and occasionally I watch the parade on the other side of the hedge, from my vantage point at the end of the pool.

Today's workout was fun. The coach planned it all out with a purpose. She alternated sets of seven 25 yard drills with sets of four 100 yard swims. We dutifully swam the sets as written and at the very end a swimmer who is smarter than the rest of us noticed the pattern: 7/4  The pattern repeated all through the written workout. 

I swam well today. I'm always leery that I'll be sore and exhausted after a day on which I do strength training but yesterday I did an hour of resistance work, a three thousand yard, self-directed swim, and a about four miles of fast walking. All that activity had no negative effects on my swimming today. If anything I felt stronger and faster than I have in a while. I'll chalk it up to clean living. Or a really good night's sleep.

The day ahead looks promising. I've already cleaned up the studio and office and I'm charging a battery for one of my cameras. I have the idea to limit myself to shooting just with a full frame camera and my 50mm APO lens for a while. Just to give myself some boundaries and structure. I have a walk in mind and then, at five in the afternoon I'm due at a friend's house for a dinner party. All cold foods. No grilling. Chilled shrimp, ceviche, salads and the like. The premise? It's too hot to cook. 

Why the early start? My friends live on the other side of the park and the traffic gets crazier as the day gets later. Around six everyone is heading in from all over town to get positioned for the fireworks show and the concerts along the lake shore. If we're on the road by six we might never get there. Five works.

I'd love to regale you with stories about some fascinating new photo gear but nothing seems to even be on my radar these days. I guess I'm taking a break from reckless acquisitions for a while. Don't know why.... maybe the lens drawer is too full to hold much more.

Most of my shopping of late has been on Expedia. Just sampling the potential for early Fall travel. Apparently every able-bodied American with a credit card is currently traveling this Summer. The media is calling it "revenge travel." Travel to make up for the past lock-downs and missed opportunities. 

I keep seeing images of packed tourist destinations. Keep hearing stories about travel delays and airline cancellations. There are daily media articles about all the high prices this Summer.

Late September, all of October and November seem much more promising. But, as one wise person at swim practice last week mentioned, any travel comes with one big downside. And that's missing a week or more of swim practice. Sure, there are pools everywhere but swimming is more than just an exercise or obligation. It's also a rich social gathering. Long time relationships. Daily camaraderie. There's more to it than just getting one's heart rate up and getting your hair wet. 

Summer doldrums are upon us in one regard; the heat and humidity are still here but the days have been mostly cloudy. At least with crisp blue skies the photo opportunities are ... better. 

Happy Birthday USA. Let's keep working on this bold experiment. Just remember to be patient and kind. 

Sad walk through downtown today. Loss is always sad, no less so when it happens to someone else.

The heat broke a bit last night and this morning. I was happy. I'd been putting off walking through downtown for a week or so. With no tree cover to break up the asphalt, along with the effects of many tall sun reflecting buildings, the downtown space always stays five or ten degrees hotter than the tree lined suburban areas. 

Since we've all been thinking a lot about monochrome cameras and black and white photography I decided to do today's walk with a Leica CL, set to Mono HC, outfitted with a Sigma 56mm f1.4 lens. 

As always some things changed and some didn't. I'd gotten over half way through my walk when I turned the corner onto Sixth St. and Congress Ave. and ran into a man I've seen and sometimes interacted with for years out on the street. His name is Mark. He's an army vet. About 60 years old. He's been living on the streets here in Austin for years. He doesn't panhandle or accost people for money. Instead he plays "the drums" using five gallon, plastic paint cans as his instruments. For the past six or seven years I've seen him out regularly, and always in the company of his best friend, a smallish dog named, Nana.

When I see him I always try to drop five or ten bucks into his "donation jar." He's a pleasant enough guy but he obviously has some issues that keep him on the street. I've never seen him drink or operate under the influence of drugs. He's always cordial, in his own quiet way. 

I always loved seeing him with Nana. They were inseparable. I would walk by a side street on an icy morning and find them huddled under blankets and tarps. Mark always made sure Nana was well covered and always well fed. 

About a month ago I walked by Mark and Nana at the corner of 6th and Congress. Mark had his "drums" and Nana was lounging on a small scrap of carpet. But what caught my eye was a sign that told anyone who stopped to read it that Nana was having some medical issues and desperately needed medication. I stopped to ask Mark what he needed. 

The vet he had used for Nana had stopped doing pro bono work and Mark needed to come up with $90 to pay for needed medications. I asked him how short he was on hitting the total. He needed another $50. I never carry cash but my bank was right across the street and after interacting with Mark (and Nana) for years I knew I wasn't being scammed. And even if I was it wouldn't matter. 

I walked into the bank but realized I'd forgotten my wallet, checkbook, etc. when I left the house. The teller immediately recognized me and pulled out the $50 I requested from my account. We chatted and I told her why I needed the cash. She reached under the counter, grabbed her purse and added ten dollars of her own to the pot. She too had seen Nana and Mark outside for years....

I walked across the street and handed Mark the cash. He thanked me profusely and immediately started packing up to get to the vet's office. 

A little over a week ago I was in downtown to meet someone for a late afternoon coffee. I ran into Mark. It was burning hot outside. He was rolling his cart with his drums off the street and headed to wherever it was he was sheltering from the heat. We stopped and I asked him how things were going. Nana was worse. Mark was clearly anxious. Very upset. I handed him my water bottle and suggested he get into some cool shade quickly. Nana was not with him that day and I was glad of that since it was way too hot for a dog to be out. 

I hoped Nana would recover. She was probably only six years old. A very noble dog and a wonderful friend to Mark. 

I walked my downtown route today and saw Mark ahead of me on Congress Ave. and Sixth St. He looked....defeated. I asked him how he was and he just responded, "I'm so tired." Then, after a moment or two he pointed down to a small framed print on the sidewalk next to him. "There's a photo of Nana." He said. By that I knew she was gone. 

I said the usual consolatory phrases to Mark. I told him I would miss Nana. He was quiet. Nothing left to say.

I left and walked to my car. It was 20 minutes away. While I walked I was remembering all the times I'd seen them together but the one scene that stuck in my mind was seeing them a few days after the big freeze back in 2021. I was out early in the morning on what was still, for Austin, a cold day. But sunny. I walked down Second St. and saw Mark, Nana and one other person camped next to the old Children's Museum building (now a Google building) each wrapped up in sleeping bags and covered with blankets. Nana wedged up tight against Mark. 

When I got back to my car today I sat there for a few minutes and started to cry. I remembered the empty pit in my stomach when my beloved dog, AKA: Studio Dog, passed away. It hurt worse than any other loss I've experienced. I understood how Mark must be feeling. 

Right now I'm less interested in Monochrome cameras and more interested in trying to figure out the best thing I can do for a homeless man immersed in such a profound loss. I'll figure it out. But it's a sad day. Dogs are wonderful. Losing them is beyond painful.

Here are some images I made before I met up with Mark...

I've had three different Leica monochrome (Monochrom) cameras in my shopping carts in the last week. Thought I really wanted one. But then I looked back at stuff I converted and wondered what I was looking for in the first place...

 

My friend Will. 

I started out photographing back in the mid-1970s and the combination of the times and my budget helped push me into beginning my tenure in photography shooting and printing with black and white film. It was actually about four years into my time experiencing photography as a hobby that I finally felt comfortable trying color film. Color film, for me, was tricky back in the late 1970s. The color negative stuff was dreck and getting a good color print from a lab back then was damn pricey. Exposure with slide film was tricky --- at best. And mixed lighting was... a problem.  

I could make mistakes with black and white because I was buying Tri-X film in bulk and loading it into reusable film cartridges. My cost per roll was about fifty cents per. And my print cost was whatever the cost of a sheet of 8x10 inch paper was at the time. Keep in mind that this time period was before the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the market for silver. Once they did their market cornering stunt silver commodity prices soared by a factor of 5X. Kodak used the moment to increase the price of their printing paper and their film and, funny thing. even when silver came back down in price Kodak's retail prices never dropped. Again. Ever. 

For the first ten years in which I worked commercially as a photographer I would shoot either black and white or color film at the direction of my clients. If they wanted color that was great. If they wanted black and white I had a darkroom and could do that as well. And happily.  But all during those years (with a few exceptions for family vacations) if I was shooting personal work it was almost always with Tri-X. And from 1978 until 1996 if a client wanted black and white prints I did them myself, by hand, in my own darkroom. I never sent out B&W negatives to a printer. I'm certain that I put in more than those "ten thousand hours" that some people think lead to mastery of a process. I lived in the darkroom --- figuratively not actually. 

But when I transitioned to digital imaging in 1998 my biggest single hurdle was getting black and white tones in printed output that were at all satisfactory. Nearly everything I tried had color casts, milky looking mid-tones, plastic-y flesh tones and blown highlights. Around 2010 I finally got my color to black and white digital conversions sorted out. If I was careful I could get close to the tonalities that would have been a piece of cake in a traditional darkroom. By 2015 I think I got the process well nailed down. But I'd been snake bit by the long and winding (and bumpy) road to get there. Gun shy? Not so confident? Pretty much.

Part of the issue is that none of the later black and white work was driven by clients and I stayed so busy right up until March of 2020. With less practice and less time in personal post production than when I was immersing myself into the process at the beginning of my career. I just didn't have the endless hours to commit to trial and error that didn't pay off for work.

So now that I've made a conscious decision to step back a little bit from the relentless hustle I'm more or less picking up where I left off so many years ago. Back to a passion; or at least a greater interest, in all things black and white. Or, as they say on the tonier blogs: Monochrome.

Since I started photographing with various Leica and Panasonic cameras, and since post processing software has improved so much, I've been mostly very pleased with my results from a routine of shooting images using a high contrast, in camera, profile and then tweaking Jpeg files in Lightroom or PhotoShop. But my early failures nearly twenty years ago haunt my subconscious which, lately, tells me that there must be a reason so many people sing the praises of fully monochrome cameras. And most of those cameras on the market consist of four Leica models. There is the Leica M which was based on the Leica M9 (color with CCD sensor) body, the Leica M246 which was based on the 24 megapixel, CMOS sensor Leica M240, The Leica M10 M based on..... and the monochrome version of the Leica Q2 (called, The Q2M). All of these cameras are set up with sensors that have had the Bayer filter arrays stripped away. They also have firmware that writes the files to the camera memory as .DNG files so no intermediary programs are needed to get the B&W files into my favorite Adobe processing apps. No conversions in third party software needed. 

The marketing around all of these cameras points to a higher level of image quality in two major areas. First, since there is no Bayer pattern filter or interpolated color assignment scheme for the various pixels, the cameras are capable of higher sharpness. That's cool. I get that. And secondly, the cameras without filters in front of the sensors get more light to each pixel which yields a better performance at higher ISOs. Most of the monochrome cameras were on equal footing with their color counterparts at the usual, lower ISO settings but as the ISOs went up the spread in noise quality between the two increased as the ISO increased. A monochrome version might equal the look and overall noise of its cousins at settings up to 400 or 800 or even 1600 but a move to 3200 revealed the B&W camera to have a one stop noise advantage. But the clean performance is not linear. As the ISOs went up the spread between the color and B&W cameras increased by 1.5 than 2.0 stops and more.

So, the advantages are really threefold. 

One advantage is enhanced sharpness. The second is the improvement in low light/high ISO use which works well in conjunction with modern post processing apps. One can shoot at lower levels (think half to one stop underexposed) and then use shadow recovery to bring back shadow detail with much less noise while preserving highlight integrity. Finally, one bypasses the need to shift hues in post production to get a "look" as the look is baked in at the time of shooting. One can add traditional color filters (green, yellow, red, orange, blue) to the taking lenses to shift color tonalities at the time of exposure. By not having to make post processing decisions about color conversions there is less that needs to be done to get the images to final fruition. 

Some of my nagging doubts about using conventional color cameras and converting in post came from some less than excellent B&W files I kept getting when shooting with monochrome profiles in the stock Nikon, Canon and Sony cameras I tried. And that would go a ways to explaining my frustration and my resulting churn through camera systems in years past. Most of the systems were just fine in color but were never that convincing when shooting B&W files in camera; as Jpegs. 

If I wanted something out of those systems that matched my needs for a final image in monochrome I had to shoot in color, in a raw file, and then spend a lot of time working with contrast curves and HSL menus to get exactly the kinds of tones I wanted. Not an optimal solution for someone who never wants to spend hours working on one image. Not by a long shot. 

When I switched to Panasonic cameras I found a profile called L.Monochrome.D and it got me very close, right out of camera, to the kinds of tones I was looking for. I still had to add contrast to most of the images and still worked a lot to make that contrast fall in the mid-tones instead of globally through the frame. But when I switched to Leica cameras and started using their monochrome settings in the color cameras (with added contrast from a menu setting) I was mostly able to nail the tones I wanted. 

Leica, it seems, has added appropriate mid-tone contrast much in the same way that a yellow or orange filter would back from the B&W film days. So, since late fall of 2020 I've been working in black and white by shooting Jpegs with the appropriate profile + contrast tweaks with Leica cameras and I've been satisfied. But for those on tighter budgets I will say that the Panasonic S system cameras are very close in quality and style.  

One under-reported benefit of the Monochrome only Leicas is that they generate a .DNG file which can be pulled directly into PhotoShop via Adobe Raw and which gives one a huge range of tweak-ability in post. 

But in the back of my mind I kept thinking that there must be some advantage to the dedicated black and white versions of the Leica cameras, The Monochroms, otherwise why would people shell out the extra cash to buy and use a much more limited and niche camera? Surely if I researched the subject and was as dedicated to black and white imaging as I thought I was I would be able to suss out enough advantages to justify adding an Monochrom M camera to my dangerously expanding Leica inventory.

To that end I picked up four different M mount lenses. I read up on as much as I could find and watched every influencer video about monochrome photography with monochrom cameras I could source. And that's when I started putting M-M cameras in my shopping carts...

But uncharacteristically I kept hesitating. I'd go back the next day and the prize would have been snatched from my cart by a quicker and more determined buyer. Because nothing is ever yours until you push the "buy" button. 

Of the cameras out in the wild there are really only two that I'm interested in. One is the Leica Q2M but it's holding its pricing quite well. Still commanding over $6K for an excellent condition used one. Partly because the supply is so tight. If you want one you'll just have to pay for what's on offer... But also because Leica has been, until recently, the sole supplier of high quality B&W cameras. A limited supply for a market that seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. Driven also by a recent interest in black and white only photography by talented influencers like Alan Schaller. 

The other one would be the Leica M246 which is a model that arrived in 2012, around the same time as the Leica SL mirrorless camera. Those seem more plentiful but the idea of spending $3500 to $4000 for a ten year old camera just didn't sit right. If I was going to commit then I might as well try one of the Leica M10 M rangefinder versions instead. Mostly available for around $6K and up. 

I'm like that. Impressionable. Looking for technical solutions to what are, essentially, artistic problems. 

But then I had one of those moments in which the universe steps in and gives you unexpected guidance. My wonderful and reliable computer started crashing its finder and then started crashing when using anything from Lightroom to Mail. A computer that has been flawless since late 2017. 

I got on the phone with Apple Support and, after lots of diagnostics, figured out that I had an external disk that was dying and, since all the HDs are on a shared bus it was taking the system down with it. I pulled the disk, checked the file catalog and made sure that I had back-ups on other drives. I duplicated the disk again from a different HD onto a new drive. Plugged that new one into the system and breathed a sigh of relief. The old disk went into recycling. 

But in the process I decided to clean up my internal 2TB SSD to make sure it has at least 50% free space on it. And in that process I came across tons of black and white images that I'd been taking. And more and more of them. And I liked all of them. Which is to say that I like the tonality, the contrast range, the preservation of highlights and the overall look of them. Not just a little bit but very much. And I started to calm down about the "urgency" of getting one of those fine Leica Monochrom cameras to play with. 

I found several taken with a "lowly" Panasonic S5 (which apparently has the same sensor as the much more expensive Leica SL2-S) that were shot at 16,000 ISO and still looked just fine. I looked at images from a wide range of cameras. The Leica CL, the SL2, the SL and the Q2. All were slotted right into the range I think of as "optimal black and white." 

I'm fortunate. I could afford getting a stand alone camera from Leica for monochrome shooting if I really wanted it. But would I actually use it enough to justify the expenditure? The scale in my brain, after being exposed again to my current black and white work, tipped over, resoundingly, into the "no" column. I know myself in some regards. I know that a new (to me) Mono camera would get a lot of attention in the short run. My poor readers would get blasted with a plethora of blog posts extolling the virtues of it. But in short order I would remember how much I like color as well and I'd start reaching over the Mono camera to grab a more "well rounded" color model and head out to shoot clouds and mannequins, and buildings at sunset, that are drenched in color.  Understanding all the while that I now know how to make color files look great in "grayscale.". 

I'd like to get an M Leica. But not a monochrome one. I'm interested in finding a really nice silver M240. For no other reason than to play around once again with a rangefinder camera that outputs at a high enough resolution to be usable for any type of project. But cheap enough to not worry about. 

One benefit of the older M240 model is that the top and bottom plates are made of brass. Just like the first M camera I owned; an M3. A bit heavier, sure, but ...... "brassing." That's sublime. 

Computer is back to normal. No funds have left the vast VSL H.Q. to fund a monochrome camera. No therapy required to be comfortable shooting B&W and at the same time knowing that the camera can also shoot color. Happy to have been through the process of wanting, researching and ultimately passing on yet another camera. 

Waiting with much interest to hear JC's experience with the new Monochrome Pentax. Hope to hear about it soon!!!

CL

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