Dialing in a camera. And a lens. It's more of a process that most of us think. And it takes time....

Cameras all have their own color and tonal personalities and getting familiar with them makes a difference in how easy or hard the files from them are to correct. And by writing "correct" I really mean how the colors look to you and how different they might be from other cameras that you are used to. I really don't think there is one correct/absolute standard. 

I've had the Leica M 240 for a little over a month now and for me that's not a lot of time to spend getting up to speed on a camera. My own slow warm up to many camera is why I'm always fascinated by the idea that "camera reviewers" on the web are thought to be able to pick up a camera for a week, or even just a few days, shoot some images in bright sunlight and then embark on a full fledged review of the camera. It sounds more like "love at first sight" or "hate it at first sight." 

Of the digital Leica cameras I've owned the only one with a more perplexing menu than the M 240 was the TL2 --- which I never fully mastered. The M 240 is different enough from the more modern SL, CL and Q cameras to cause me to stumble from time to time.  And that's evident to me even when it comes to setting up the camera to shoot; either in color or in black and white. For instance, there are only three settings under "color profiles" and one of those choices is...off. "Off" turns out to be both an excellent and a poor choice. Poor as turning off any profiles gives one a much less processed color file out of the camera (when shooting raw) and a flatter profile when shooting Jpeg. You probably won't be using this setting if you hate post processing and just want the camera to handle everything for you. 

 If you just adore spending "butt time" working on raw files in post production the off setting is a very pleasant alternative since the images don't arrive already "infected" with someone else's idea of what color should be. Even if that someone else happens to be the engineers at Leica.

The other color profiles include: "vivid color film" and "smooth color film", terms which are less than helpful or perhaps just too general. When I tried out the camera for the first week or so I experimented with the "vivid" setting and decided they should instead call it the "ultra-high contrast" setting since everything south of middle gray was blocked up to black and everything higher than middle gray lived in perpetual danger of dancing too close to the "burning highlight" level of excitement. Fortunately, you can go ahead and set "Vivid" and shoot, and then dump the profile for something else in post processing but that hardly gives you a clear understanding of what you are getting in the moment. In the field.

The other choice is "smooth color film" and this is the one I end up setting most often since it more or less matches the contrast curve I've come to expect with "calm" camera color and the color itself is not too saturated. Not at the "comic book" level that comes standard with "Vivid." 

Since the camera (M 240) was designed and produced starting in 2012 the rear screen of the camera is nowhere near as bright, detailed or well calibrated as current LCD screens on cameras and that makes the process of coming to grips with the files pouring out of the camera a bit trickier and more time consuming to master. I often look at the screen and find it to be washed out only to later find that the actual image is just fine. But working with that entails taking a leap of faith which can be a hard thing for technically oriented photographers to accept.

But here's what helps me in this grand experiment: The camera and the screen are consistent. If you look at the screen after shooting a raw image and it looks "bright" you discover, over time, that it's just right as the basis for raw post processing. If your black and white portrait looks flat and also bright (but not obviously burned out) you'll find the incoming file on your computer to be very workable and in need of only an overall exposure adjustment (think "minus") and a curve adjustment (think contrastier!!!). But since the effects, and the screen that shows the effects to you out in the field, are consistent once you've shot enough samples and spent time; serious time, evaluating them you'll learn how to proceed. If you take the time and are patient with the process you'll be rewarded with a camera that makes beautiful color files. Just beautiful.

But here's the final thing and it plays a part in the overall quality of the image making as well. It's the higher ISO noise. The camera is great at ISO 800. Very useable at ISO 1600 and a bit noisy and dodgy at 3200+. The higher you go the more important it is to get the exposure just right. Especially important if you usually depend the just making the file a bit dark and then flagrantly try saving it using the shadow slider in post. If you do that you'll be in a noise forest with no map out....

Magic bullet? The new Denoise control (in the "develop" menu) in Adobe's latest rev. of Lightroom Classic. I've experimented with it extensively and with the right files this feature can buy you about two stops of better high ISO performance. It makes decently exposed files up to and beyond 3200 very usable; even beautiful, depending on the subject matter and style of presentation. The caveat here is that the files have to be raw files or .DNG files. Or both. 

When using the Denoise feature you can control a lot of the noice reduction parameters but I've found the middle ground ("factory default") to be a very good starting point and I rarely have to make many corrections to it. If you incorporate this setting/feature into your post production it will cost you extra time as the program analyzes the file and decides exactly how it should be corrected. Think 30 seconds to one minute of analysing, depending on file size. But the bottom line is that it does work and, mostly, it works well. It's now part of my routine when shooting with the M 240 and the most compelling reason to skip the Jpeg setting altogether. Unless you are sticking with ISO 200-800 only.

These are some of the things you learn which are different with each camera but which need to be taken into consideration when you are photographing. 

Yesterday was Halloween. B. and I pulled a little table out to the very end of our driveway so little kids wouldn't have to venture down the long, dark driveway. We lit the small table and the big bowl of candy with an LED panel covered with a purple/lavendar filter and also added small Jack-O-Lanterns and witches and goblins to the mix. Making it easier on the trick or treaters was one reason for the table at the end of the driveway but it was also a good way to see all the neighbors (grown ups) as they shepherded their kids around. 

It got cold yesterday just as soon as the sun went down. The temperature was in the low 40s by eight o'clock. We kept warm in layers of down and wool. We also made hot apple ciders with a bit of rum in them. It was quite a festive evening. New and old neighbors came by and hung out for a while meeting each other. A very nice vibe.

When the candy ran out we broke down the "set" and headed into the house where B. had a great beef stew simmering in a Crock Pot. Delicious. And to cap the evening off we watched the newly remastered version of "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin" on TV. Delightful. Good Nostalgia.

But before all of the Halloween cheer, before the sun started to set. I took an hour or so to walk around the University of Texas neighborhood to keep working out the imagined kinks in my relationship with the Leica M 240. I'm sharing the results with you here. I like the camera more every time I shoot with it. Sure, occasionally there is some back-sliding but the forward trajectory is obvious. 

One more point: The Voigtlander 50mm f2.0 APO - Lanthar lens makes every camera look better. Really.

did you get the candy you wanted? did your remember to brush your teeth after? All good now.

One thing the Leica Cameras in general do not lack is good saturation. 

Sadly, this restaurant which sold Korean style spicy fried chicken survived the pandemic

but did not survive the employee shortage of 2022-2023. Closed. 

A few blocks further on a new Ramen restaurant opened. Sadly, not on my usual route.

Yes, this is the mural on the outdoor patio of the now defunct K-KFC. 

The final closing of a restaurant ---- when the taps run dry.

And highly detailed as well. Blaming the lens for that...

Everything might shut down here at VSL for the first three days of next week. We are having the studio interior re-painted so all the computer gear will be wrapped up and moved to a paint free zone. We are also having the living room and one of the bathrooms completely re-painted. Much prep work (sanding, smoothing, caulking, etc.) will be done but not by me. I'd rather pay experts to do it right the first time. 

Revisiting the Texas Hill Country Wine Project after some time has passed. A nice process while waiting for a different project to upload....

I had a lovely portrait session in my studio today at 11:00 a.m. My subject, Steve C., is the new president of an insurance company that provides coverage for Texas lawyers. I've been making portraits for this client for around ten years and several years ago we (the ad agency and I..) decided to change up the style a bit and photograph each board member and company officer against white, and then composite the selected portrait image with an interesting architectural background photograph . Steve was one of a long list we've done in this fashion since we started it. 

I photographed Steve against a long roll of white seamless paper and used a 200 watt LED light in a big octagonal softbox as my main light. A second, gridded LED fixture was used to light up the background. Steve is around my age ( maybe a bit younger) and we had a very nice conversation about raising kids (he has three, all in college) and travel (he's just back from an Italy trip with family). 

I used the big Fuji MF camera with the TTArtisan 90mm f1.25 lens stopped down to f4.5. The images turned out well and since I had to wait for 90 big files to upload to a Smugmug gallery I opened the "old" Texas Hill Country Wine folder and started looking at my "keepers" collection. There are about 125 frames in the keeper category but I only included a few here. 

I would have put up a portrait of Steve but he hasn't seen them yet and we have protocols to follow there. 

The wine photos came mostly from four different cameras used pretty much interchangeably.  They were the Pansonic S1, the Sigma fp, the Leica SL and the Leica SL2. The lenses that got the most use were the Leica 24-90, the Sigma 24-70mm Art lens, and the Sigma 45mm f2.8 (mini) lens. It was a fun project for me. I'd happily sign up to do another one. 

Now that I've typed this the other files (Steve's portraits) are ready so I'm off to complete that gallery. Then it's out for a lovely Halloween walk. And the weather is beautiful.  

About a year ago. I'd just gotten the Voigtlander 50mm APO and I was anxious to use it on the Sigma fp. Loved the test shots. But what doesn't look good out of the fp?

I like walking around taking photos. It's a nice way to pass the time, learn a camera, better understand where you live and even get a little exercise. It's interesting to me but I think the oldest camera I currently have in inventory is the Sigma fp. I got it back in 2020 and every time I use it I love the way the images I take look. Then I remember that it's slow, I don't have an EVF for it and the batteries suck. So I toss it in a drawer and start working my way back to it by starting with the easiest camera to use and sliding back toward the camera that provides the most challenges. So, segue from the Panasonic S5, through the Leica Q2, then the SL2, then the CLs, then the SLs and now the M240 until I'm frustrated by not being frustrated at which point I pull the fp back out of the drawer and recharge the batteries. 

It's a process. I don't recommend it to most people. And it gets messy if real work intrudes and then you forget where you were and backtrack across the inventory. 

Last year I bought myself a 50mm APO Voigtlander lens. It was an M mount even though a year ago I didn't have an M mount camera. Instead I used it with an adapter on the various L mount cameras. Including the well loved/much maligned fp. It's a good test for the lens as the sensor and color science in that camera are wonderful. And since I had to work the focusing myself it's a good test of my current ability to make a manual lens behave and play friendly. 

I've come to appreciate the quality of the lens but I've also come to appreciate the fp just as much. 

I can't believe I've had that camera for as long as I have. I must like it. Really, I must. 

 

But....isn't coffee supposed to be hot?

 

I saw something in the Wall St. Journal this morning that gives me pause. Probably not a good subject to discuss on a photo-oriented blog but I was surprised to see statistics showing that 16 million families in the USA have a net worth of over one million dollars. Which, of course, makes them millionaires. Eight million people over the age of 50 are multimillionaires...  Far more than the 1%.

We are routinely deluged with stories about poverty and deprivation and so it's interesting to see these kinds of statistics. Especially so for people who've spent their careers in the commercial arts industries where there is a prevailing mythology of people mostly working for peanuts. The article goes on further to say that this increase in the number of families achieving this net worth rose rapidly from around 8 million only a few years ago to the current 16 million (12% of American families). The statistics also pointed to a relative (tiny) narrowing of the "wealth gap"; meaning that middle class made more advancements than the vilified one percent in that window of time. 

Of course a lot of the increase in wealth is less liquid with most of the gains occurring through the course of home ownership and rising real estate prices. But college graduates; especially those between 50-70 years of age, also saw increases in net worth because 80+% are invested in equities which also rose from 2019-2022. There was an average increase in net worth of 37% in the USA between 2019 and 2023, adjusted for inflation!

It's interesting to me to write a blog for an audience that is almost completely opaque to me. In advertising we targeted our messages and chose our media based on accurate analysis of demographics. We had a good (now great?) idea of how well educated our target markets were, how wealthy they were and what their overall spending patterns were. With current analytics (via web experiences,  data rich transactions, etc.) marketers have a much clearer picture of their customers. But as a single person blogging operation I have none of those numbers or trends at my disposal. I can only make wide ranging guesses.

Based on comments ( which are a small fraction of total visitors ) I can guess that most of my readers are between 50 and 80 years old. Predominantly men. And most worked in professional jobs ( medicine, tech, law and as executives in various other industries ), are currently retired or nearing retirement and have enough disposable income to at least "consider" non-essential camera purchases. 

I make bad assumptions from time to time. My current potentially flawed assumption is that the majority of us were not wealthy during most of our working years and lived, well enough, in the middle strata of income. Able to afford a decent house, a working car and all the necessities but not "big spenders." I further conjecture that compound interest, inheritances from parents who were part of "The Greatest Generation" combined with the appreciation of house values and 401K holdings, have made many of you relatively wealthy but you have not fully embraced the reality of those rather recent increases in your net worth. After a life time of budgeting, saving, sometimes scrimping, that it's hard to think about spending any of the new wealth you've been lucky enough to accrue. We seem unable to process that times and our fortunes have changed. And, if you are like me, you are probably worried that this is a temporary bit of financial euphoria that could vanish overnight.....

My interests in photography are wide ranging. I love the history of the photo industry and also the art of it but I also like the technical side and, especially, the art of cameras and lenses. I like using different cameras and I like writing about them. But even though I seem to plow through cameras like crazy the reality is that I purchase only a handful per year, mostly used, and constantly sell off the ones that I've tired of. 

When I write about new camera purchases there is always, ALWAYS someone in the audience who takes me to task for being a compulsive consumer, a spendthrift, a capitalist tool, and they seem to take pride in the fact that they are still using a camera from a decade ago and that the idea of prying open their change purse to actually buy a new camera is so abhorrent to them as to make us enemies. Hardly a week goes by without someone jokingly blaming me for their own camera purchase. As though I had grabbed their last dollars from their shaking hands and forced them to buy a new Sony or Leica camera instead of bread for their family. Always posited as a joke. But always with the underlying message that spending their own money is somehow bad. Or wrong. And that my example is consumerism at its worst. 

It's a precarious position. To now have the means to buy whatever you want but being emotionally unable to pull the trigger and enjoy it. But I think this is a condition that's widespread. 

I understand that people with close family ties are hellbent on leaving everything they can to the next generation but.....wouldn't it be fun to loosen up just a little bit and have some fun? Just askin'. 

I'm sure there are many readers who are not in the demographic described above and who are dealing with real challenges. I don't mean to minimize their situations. But it amazes me to live in the middle of the most affluent society/nation in the history of the world and yet, at the same time, to feel like you're barely getting by when, in fact, many of you are actually.....wealthy. (statistics, statistics).

So, (smiley emoticon implied) next time I buy a used Leica just let it go.....

Here's the WSJ headline: 

"Never Mind the 1%. Mini-Millionaires Are Where Wealth Is Growing Fastest."

Alaina V. Sitting for a portrait. Now on stage in NYC.

 

It's been an interesting Sunday. I went to swim practice and swam well. We knocked out good yardage and left tired and happy. I was standing in the parking lot afterwards, talking to my swimmer friend, Patty, when the wind picked up and the temperature dropped about ten degrees in ten seconds. A small splash of rain and ever since then the day has gotten progressively cooler. We may make it all the way down into the 30s by Halloween. 

I figured we'd be turning the heating on soon and, being ever cautious, I went to the hardware store and bought two carbon monoxide monitors. They both plug in the wall and also have battery back-ups. We were late thinking about winter so I haven't had the HVAC company we use come by and check out the central heating. But that's on the list for sometime after the 6th of next month. We get the heater and air conditioning inspected and serviced once a year. And I have some extra routine maintenance I do for the A/C. Mostly just making sure the condensate lines are unblocked. 

We had new windows installed all over the house last year and even though the temps have already dropped into the low 50s the house is hanging in there at about 76° for most of the day. Windows, good windows, cost a small fortune. But when it comes to energy conservation they sure do rock. We also had the house/doors entirely re-weather sealed this Spring. These are two things that got us through the hottest Texas Summer on record without, proverbially, breaking a sweat when paying electric bills. Wish we'd done it ten years sooner. 

Ben usually comes for dinner on Sunday evenings. We really look forward to it. But he landed in Tokyo earlier today and will be there, and all over Japan, for the next two weeks. He's taking a well deserved vacation. Did he take any of the many cameras I offered him? He did not. He pointed to his recent model iPhone and that was the end of the discussion.

I can't wait to hear all about his adventures. He's one of those lucky ones who gets paid vacations. 

I spent a couple hours cleaning the studio today. The place was a mess. The impetus was a booking for tomorrow. I've got the new president of some legal association coming in to be photographed against a white background. Once his ad people select a photo we'll separate him from the white background and drop him into a nice, industrial background. Which will be slightly out of focus. Not the guy....just the background. Adobe is making this so easy these days...

So, the studio is now nice and clean. The electric heater works. Just in case. I'd conjecture about which camera and lens I'm thinking of using but I'm pretty sure you know I'll just change my mind between now and then. 

Still booking jobs here and there. Hope I don't put myself in a higher tax bracket... 

Finally, this was the first year in decades that I didn't impulsively rush out and buy something decadent and unnecessary for my birthday. I was saved by someone else's need for a used Leica M 240. I had the mint condition body in and out of my shopping cart a couple of times before someone else stepped up with less wishy-washy-ness and clicked the "buy" button. B. suggested that perhaps I was becoming more mature. I didn't want to tell her I had just equivocated for too long and lost my chance. 

So, nothing new to report - gear wise. I'll work on that.

ready for one more portrait? Here's one from Paris: https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2015/06/backstage-at-karl-lagerfeld-show.html

Total Change of Plans. All Previous Camera Strategies Trashed. Fun at the "Day of the Dead Celebration" with a Weirdo Camera. Saw five different young people photographing with Leica M cameras. It's now a thing!

 

Some people are shy about approaching strangers. Me? Not so much. With kids these days I always ask a parent first. Always. Even if the kid is doing something so cute and unrepeatable that I'd love to click the shutter right now. No permission from mom or dad? No pix. Just my approach... All the kids here have had their "participation" approved by one of their parents. 

I wrote a post this morning meandering around about which camera or cameras to take with me downtown to casually photograph at the "Die de Los Muertos" event. I thought about Leica CLs with big lenses and CLs with little lenses and then, about fifteen minutes before B. and I were about to walk out the door I switched gears entirely, dumped all the choices on the dining room table, went out to the office and grabbed the Fuji GFX 50Sii camera with the 35-70mm zoom lens and also snapped up an extra battery. I used that one camera and one lens for the hour and a half I spent downtown making these photographs. It was actually fun. 

The camera is not the quickest focusing camera in the world but it makes really, really nice files. B. and I walked over about a half mile from my usual parking spot and watched the parade of bands, dance teams and weird floats make their way down Congress Ave. After the parade B. went off to find her sister who was in town for the event and they caught up while I walked through the crowds very gently asking people if I could photograph them. No one turned me down. No one hesitated. But it only makes sense. If you are going to go to all the trouble to paint your face and make a costume I'm thinking it's a pretty sure bet that you'd love to be photographed. But I still asked before I shot.

We were starving by 2 o'clock so we walked back over to Lamar Blvd. and had lunch at the Whole Foods flagship store. Lots of veggies and some mashed potatoes and a piece of fish for me. And some fizzy water. After lunch we headed over to the West Chelsea Contemporary Art Gallery where we had been invited to a Q and A with the artist, Cey Adams. His work is a blend of Pop and Graffiti with a liberal amount of repurposed imagery from 1950s and 1960s print advertising. He's definitely a hot property in the art markets right now. Call me a cheapskate but as much as I liked some of his work I was not feeling particularly motivated to drop $30,000 to $60,000 on a painting this weekend. Gotta keeps something in reserve in case Leica M11-P cameras actually start to ship. Right? 

The files I shot today didn't need much work in post. The camera meter is pretty accurate and if the camera had time to lock focus I never had to worry about sharpness. Be sure to look at the images on the big screen. Otherwise why bother? I thought that 500 images  was a good "take" for a less than two hour shoot and I have about 60 selected that I like the looks of. It's not so hard to do the work and finish the work. You just have to want it.

Experimental frame with dropped out/replaced background. 

Sure. Bacon wrapped hot dogs fried in bacon fat. What could go wrong?

Not exactly a WFPB diet option. But who am I to judge?

I ate more different birthday cakes this week than I could count. 

And none of them were particularly healthy. I know that for sure.

Is Champagne on the WFPB diet? Should be....

The barricades lining the parade route were mostly ignored by all manner of photographers. 

I'm a stickler. No press pass? I'll stay on the other side and shoot across. 

But that's just me. 

Sorry. Just one draft. No re-writes. Life's too short to fuss.