Stuff that "Caught My Eye" when I went out for a refreshing walk this afternoon. "Hey Kirk! How's that SL2-S working for you???" Well, how about some actual Jpegs from the camera. Guest starring the Voigtlander 75mm f1.9 Ultron.

Recently it was implied on the web that for a photographer to be a legit artist he or she must have an overarching idea and follow it slavishly rather than .... oh, I don't know... just having fun. I laughed when I read some of the essay and laughed even harder at the almost obsequious comments testifying to the importances of "big idea." But I guess there must be some validity to it all so I took a stab at writing a quick Artist Statement to share with my readers. Just so they'd know I was on the right track.  Here it is:

The summary

To photograph freely throughout the United States, using the miniature camera exclusively. The making of a broad, voluminous picture record of things American, past and present. This project is essentially the visual study of a civilization and will include caption notes; but it is only partly documentary in nature: one of its aims is more artistic than the word documentary implies.

The full proposal

I am applying for a Fellowship with a very simple intention: I wish to continue, develop and widen the kind of work I already do, and have been doing for some ten years, and apply it to the American nation in general. I am submitting work that will be seen to be documentation—most broadly speaking. Work of this kind is, I believe, to be found carrying its own visual impact without much work explanation. The project I have in mind is one that will shape itself as it proceeds, and is essentially elastic. The material is there: the practice will be in the photographer’s hand, the vision in his mind. One says this with some embarrassment but one cannot do less than claim vision if one is to ask for consideration.

“The photographing of America” is a large order—read at all literally, the phrase would be an absurdity. What I have in mind, then, is observation and record of what one naturalized American finds to see in the United States that signifies the kind of civilization born here and spreading elsewhere. Incidentally, it is fair to assume that when an observant American travels abroad his eye will see freshly; and that the reverse may be true when a European eye looks at the United States. I speak of the things that are there, anywhere and everywhere—easily found, not easily selected and interpreted. A small catalog comes to the mind’s eye: a town at night, a parking lot, a supermarket, a highway, the man who owns three cars and the man who owns none, the farmer and his children, a new house and a warped clapboard house, the dictation of taste, the dream of grandeur, advertising, neon lights, the faces of the leaders and the faces of the followers, gas tanks and postoffices and backyards.

The uses of my project would be sociological, historical and aesthetic. My total production will be voluminous, as is usually the case when the photographer works with miniature film. I intend to classify and annotate my work on the spot, as I proceed. Ultimately the file I shall make should be deposited in a collection such as the one in the Library of Congress. A more immediate use I have in mind is both book and magazine publication.

Oh wait. That's an exact copy of Robert Frank's proposal for his Guggenheim grant which enabled him to spend time and effort on his seminal work, "The Americans." In it he's essentially saying he's going to drive around and see....What Catches His Eye. How strangely familiar. 

And let's not get started on the wide net of subjects and scenes that Lee Friedlander cast. Or Garry Winogrand. There was never "the big idea" that held all their work together. They were out photographing to see what they could see and make photographs to share that particular gestalt. 

On a different note. When People talk about cameras, and review cameras, my first demand is that they "show me." Don't tell me, show me. With that being written here is a one hour take of images that "caught my eye" this afternoon while I walked through South Congress Ave. in Austin, Texas on a cool January late afternoon. I'm showing "why I like this camera and this lens as much as I do." The photos are my review.

It's supposed to get really cold on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday here in Austin. Which means highs in the upper 30s to 40s and overnight lows in the 20s. We're already in full panic mode. Stocking up on toilet paper and canned soup. And wine. And fireplace logs. I don't know how we'll survive but I hope we'll manage. Must seem quaint to all our readers who live much further north. That's okay, you can send us "thoughts and prayers" when the Summer heat arrives.....in April.....

SteamPunk Swim Goggles....

"Quick Honey, let's drop by Hermés and pick up a few scarves. 

And maybe a Birkin Bag for your Leica.... T-bills at the ready?

but across the street everything is mellow.

Homage to Stevie Ray Vaughn. On the back door of the Continental Club.

The club where Steve Mimms and I made the music video of Billy Joe Shaver's 

hit: "The Hottest Thing in Town." Back when we shot everything 

on 16mm film. I didn't shoot it, I was the lighting designer.... 

But what an all star cast: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8D8_ku-dFw

Shoes at a store that sells Turkish products.

 Studio car. 

Sometimes I go out with a camera just to see what catches my eye. It's hard to plan real life photos in advance. And it mostly never works while sitting in front of a computer. Unless your content is A.I.

 

Phone user walking down second street.

Leica Launches a new camera model. The web bursts with excitement. But what do the "experts" at VSL have to say about all of this?

Academy Award winning movie star hanging out at the studio...

Pentax 645 (the original one). 

Leica launched a new camera. It's the SL3-S. It's pretty much a perfect camera if you are looking for rock solid build quality, perfect menus, access to world class lenses, killer low light performance/high ISO, and state of the art, hybrid video and stills capabilities at a reasonable resolution. The AF is now not only phase detect but phase detect combined with contrast detect AF. It's faster than the AF in last year's Leica SL3; the high resolution model.  The new camera will set you back at the bargain price of $5300. Or thereabouts. 

The big news about this new camera is concentrated in two areas. One is its video capabilities and the other is fast autofocus: which pairs with fast handling. If you are a videographer who needs a high quality camera that can do double duty as an extremely good, medium resolution, photography camera this one might be of interest to you. Especially if you need to operate it in crappy weather (a real ISO IP54 weather resistance rating. Not just the hopes and prayers of brands that are unrated...) or you need to record your high res video to an external SSD (although Sigma beat them to that punch back in 2020 with their original fp camera...). 

There are some changes between the new model and the previous SL2-S. Whether they will be meaningful to you depends on how you work and what you really want from a professional camera. As I mentioned above the new model autofocuses faster by a long shot. It's a better camera for sports and fast moving journalism. The old camera has two SD UHSII card slots while the new one has one SD UHSII slot and one CFExpress B card slot. A nod to the need for faster storage for full gate, 6K, ProRes video. Yes, the camera is capable of shooting full res video to an internal storage card! If that's something you understand then you'll know if you need it or not. If you need it is a "good idea" of a "good idea." 

The processing chip in the new camera is a Maestro IV while the previous camera has a Maestro III chip. The new processing chip means faster throughput and, of course, faster focusing. But that's just about where the differences between the two sit. If you are into the latest thing you will, of course, want the newest camera model. But if you think about it for a while you might consider a different direction. 

When I woke up this morning (and after swim practice) I sat down to go through the reviews of the new camera because, as you know, I like shooting with at least two kinds of Leicas --- and the SL variants are one of my favorite platforms; especially for workaday work. I started rationalizing why I might need the SL3-S. I poked around on my favorite Leica Store site and realized that, if I acted quickly, I might be able to get a camera this month. In the first shipment. But if I hesitated then... maybe not. 

I took a breath and opened up Ted Forbes's YouTube introduction to the new camera. What he said put some stuff in perspective for me. He also shoots with a combination of M and SL Leica cameras and he was very adamant that his biggest concern when he heard about the new model was that it might not have the same image quality for still images as his current SL2-S. A camera he's been using for a while. And a camera which has, according to Forbes, some of the best image quality he's ever seen. And when I sat there listening I thought, "Yeah! That's what I wrote about the SL2-S just a week or so ago."  

Forbes went on to say that he felt the new camera didn't sacrifice in the quality realm. He did not say that the new camera was any better than the old one. In fact, if you listened between the lines what he was really saying was that the cameras, when it comes to photographic output, are pretty much the same. Or maybe exactly the same. 

Both cameras have the best EVF viewfinders on the market. With the best viewfinder optics to go along with the high res of their rendering. Both are IP 54 rated for moisture and dust intrusion resistance. Both can take the SCL-6 (new) batteries. Both have enormous dynamic ranges and equally good high ISO noise performance. In fact, the only reason for a photographer who works as I do to want the new camera is a misguided desire to "keep up". 

The new camera adopts the new, smaller size (not by much) introduced in the 60 megapixel SL3. It also has a flippy screen which tilts up by 90° but does not rotate to a forward facing position. OOOPS. There goes the selfie market.... The new camera will write video to an external SSD. The internal buffer is 8GB while I believe the older camera has a 4GB buffer. 

But, if you are a photographer who works with slow moving subjects (like corporate execs, people at events, found art object documentation and the all important mannequin cohort capture) and values instead a solid platform for good lenses as well as really, really nice, clean, color rich, color accurate files, and you already own an SL2-S, there is really very little practical reason to change. In fact, according to specs the older camera is slightly better (half a stop) at image stabilization. The old camera has a higher sync speed (1/250th versus 1/200) and, if you are also using an SL2 (the previous version of the new SL3 high resolution model) you won't have to get used to the buttons on the back of the camera having shifted from the left side (as you face the back of the camera) to the right side === as on the new cameras. 

I really like the SL2-S but, in fact, I really like all the cameras I currently have on hand. I'm not sure the newer cameras bring me anything new and special that would make any difference in the way I work. But it sure was nice to think about buying one, at least for a couple of hours. 

The real compulsion was the desire to source a lightly used, perfect condition, used SL2-S now that the new model is about to hit the streets. I've seen prices from several Leica stores for clean, used cameras as low as $2200. And that's with the original box and all the packing stuff. Given how great I think the camera is the idea of having a....back-up...is beguiling. But I had to remind myself that this stuff is built to last and, if I need a back up I do have 2 SLs and an SL2 just champing at the bit to go out and shoot stuff. 

It's fun when Leica introduces new stuff. All the big time V-loggers get review copies well in advance and by the time the embargoes are over it's becomes a gush fest. Until you scroll down to the comments and then it's an endless sea of gripes from the unwashed who can't believe anyone would spend a little extra cash to get a hand-built, massively good camera from Germany. The little darlings. I can just imagine the heated discussions dissing the new Leica taking place at Olive Garden Restaurants across the USA. I mean, how can you compete with unlimited breadsticks? Or cheaper cameras? 

But that's all I have for today. If you don't already have an SL2-S then now is the time to pounce. I predict the older product will be discovered for just how good it is and then become ..... scarce.

Memories of just how bad the original X100 camera was. It was so cute to look at 

and such a train wreck to actually use..... But even the most recent ones are far cheaper 

than Leica rangefinders so..... Sandwiches at Arby's? 

 

Shooting in harsh sun? Bring a flash. Preferably one that offers HSS with your chosen camera...

 

Even in ancient times we depended from time to time on flashes.

What a heavy package to carry around...

I almost stumbled hard this past Saturday. I was hired to photograph both behind the scenes (still photographer on a video set) and to also set up and shoot b-roll style still shots of teachers and children in and around an outdoor garden. Photos of teachers showing grade school children all about big flowering broccoli plants, gardening smarts, and environmental stewardship. There were groups of four to five children for each of four teachers who came to Austin specifically to participate in this video and photography project. And we were on site, outdoors, from 8 a.m. till after 5 p.m. The groups, by age, came in scheduled waves throughout the day but the crew, and the photographer, were outside battling the ever changing light, the noise of the city (audio for video) and the need to direct kids who ranged from five or six years old to high schoolers, all day long.

So, how did I nearly screw up my job? I assumed that the film crew would handle lighting for all the set ups and I would be able to waltz right in after they got their master shots and snap away. I brought an LED fixture but we ended up moving too quickly from set-up to set-up and there's no way a 300 watt continuous light source was going to go toe to toe with the direct Texas sun. Especially if I needed/wanted a modifier on it.  I almost didn't pack a flash. I almost came totally unprepared for the harshest light I've seen in the last month or so. 

Cue shoot saving compulsive packing behavior. At the last minute, on Friday, I walked back into the office and put my hands on a Leica SF64 flash. It's more or less a standard hot shoe flash but it's dedicated to the Leica cameras. I grabbed two sets of charged Eneloop rechargeable batteries and stuffed them, along with the flash, into the small backpack, along with the lenses, cameras and camera batteries. And, as it turns out, everything I needed to photograph, beyond the set up shots put together for the four main interview shots, needed to have the picture saving modification of fill flash. Desperately needed it. I burned through one set of flash batteries by noon. After lunch we started again with me on the last set of double A batteries. 

Most of the flash work was done in the HSS mode because I wanted to use wider apertures and faster shutter speeds. To its credit, the SF64 didn't miss a beat. I was trying to keep the fill about a stop and a half or two stops under the ambient light, especially on backlit shots because I thought it would look more natural and I was pretty sure I could compensate a bit with shadow recovery in post production. 

After the project wrapped up I spent the next day converting the files from raw to Jpeg. I used the shadow slider... a lot. And it all worked. I plowed through about 14 Gigabytes of raw files and tried hard to edit down the number I'd be sending along to clients. But I did end up touching nearly every file with one correction or another. 

I got a text from my friend who was the director of photography on the video side. He mostly works in corporate video production during the week which tends to means shorter sessions and longer edits. He was operating the video camera for the entire day. Shooting handheld for the b-roll video. We compared notes. Seems we weren't in as good production shape, physically as we remembered being in during the times in our lives when we were doing daylong, and sometimes ten hour shoots four and five days a week. Cameras can be heavy. Put a big, burly zoom on a Leica SL2-S, along with a large-ish flash and after a few hours you'll really feel the weight. Add a second big camera and longer lens to your left shoulder, on a strap, and the burden gets more obvious. 

With a good flash along for the ride I was able to shoot a bunch of work with fill flash at exposures like f4.0 at 1/1,000th and beyond. I wound up yesterday evening with about 1100 finished shots. I archived that folder and this morning starting trying to put the folder on a crash diet. What I finally sent over to the client via FTP was about 385 images. And I'm sure they will still think that's too many as well....

The second mistake, the one I did make, was not bringing along a second flash to back up the first one. And now I feel kinda dumb because there was a second Leica flash sitting right next to the first in the equipment cabinet. Bright, hard sun? Bring a flash! Need a flash for work? Bring a second one along just in case! Got something that needs batteries? Bring double the number of batteries you think you'll need!

I'm happy for my compulsive, last minute packing behavior. It made Saturday's shoot much less fraught.

Now setting up for another portrait. This one is inside.... ahhhhhh.

silly weather note: On Friday evening the production people looked at the weather and saw that our morning start would be accompanied by sub 30° weather. Being nervous Texans we mostly suited up with our "winter" stuff. For me it was long underwear on top and bottom under thick pants and a thicker sweat shirt, topped off with a down parka and an ever changing selection of gloves and hats. 

But, of course, Texas weather changes quickly. Full sun for the entire day took the temperature from 28° to about 65° by midday. We were peeling off layers like onions. By the end of the day we were all wishing for T-shirts and sandals. But no one started the day shivering on the set. 

Two of our P.A.'s (production assistants = low on the org. chart...) were tasked with setting up propane powered outside heaters. Like the ones restaurants use on outdoor patio dining areas. The heaters were new in their boxes and required assembly. A novel set of devices on a film set. At least in my experience. The final assembly of the heaters was done by about 10 a.m. By then we were in the 40s and no one saw much need for extra heat. Off to the side they went... 

That's about it. Another weekend in the trenches. First full day job of the year. Fun.

Praying that the flash batteries keep working....

My friend Fadya. Just for fun. Because I found this photo and the one

above it right next to each other in the folder....

A desultory gallery. Virtual small town museum. Praise for a camera. Evaluation of a lens. Something for everyone.

 

I shot 1200-1500 images on Saturday, on a job, for a client. All raw. Across three different cameras. All Leica SL series cameras. I have a few thoughts. But I guess a good camera workout over the weekend was not enough to sate my need to go out after lunch today to photograph more things and to take a long walk...

I mentioned praise for a camera. While it's not perfect (what camera is?) I have to say that the original Leica SL, the world's first fully professional, mirrorless camera, is the most beautifully designed camera I have ever had the pleasure to use. It's spare, Spartan and industrial. No design missteps. Nothing bettered in the later models. 

After shooting with the SL2, the SL2-S and the original SL this weekend I was hungry to take the SL out for more, just a few hours ago. I also wanted to see how well the Thypoch 28mm f1.4 lens worked with that camera. I thought 28mm would be a good choice on a camera with no image stabilization. I felt that I could handhold shutter speeds down to 1/25th of a second and as long as there was no subject movement I'd be Okay. Of course that was what I was thinking before I had that powerful cappuccino at Mañana Coffee.... 

All kidding aside I really like the colors coming out of the SL. I know there are other cameras, both in the Leica family and elsewhere that can do a much better job with noise at higher ISOs but if you shoot the SL just right... it can turn out amazing files. Today, I shot everything at ISO 50. Why? Because it's a really ISO 50 and not a pull. Not a fake. And it looks great. It looks...different.

To compensate for the sometimes slower shutter speeds in alleys and shop windows I mostly used the 28mm lens in this way: f4.0 in bright light. f2.8 in lower light (open shade, et al) and, when pressed, I even used the lens wide open. It performed very, very well. I'll keep it and use it. 

It's not quite as brilliant as the lens on the Q2 but it's close. And the lens on the Q2 isn't as fast. though it does gain autofocus. Comparing the 28 Thypoch to my Carl Zeiss ZM 28mm Biogon is a different thing. The ZM 28 was designed for film. It doesn't do as well on full frame digital cameras when it comes to color casts in the corners or on one wide but not the other. I can't really hold that against the lens given that I knew about the design choices embodied. The M cameras; the rangefinders, have sensors that are tweaked to give great results with lenses designed for film and the cameras from Leica that came after the SL have the same micro lenses on the sensors to compensate.

But I can compare the performance of the Zeiss ZM 28 used on an M camera and the Thypoch used on an SL. It's easy to see in the files. The ZM has more contrast. More brilliance than either the Q2 Summilux or the Thypoch. On the right camera it's amazing and visually exciting. But, then again, it's "only" an f2.8 and not a 1.7 or a 1.4.

For daylight work or play I'd use the Zeiss ZM 28mm on a rangefinder camera as my first choice. Almost always. But all choices like these are subjective. After hours or in interior spaces I'd default to the Thypoch for the extra speed. And the Q2 is a Q. You're either bringing that camera along because you don't want to make lens choices or because you just want to travel light while having the benefit of a great sensor coupled to a great fixed lens. So, there it is. No perfect lens. But three nearly perfect 28mm lenses. If you are on a budget the Thypoch definitely wins. If you are looking for what I think is the best performance it would be the Zeiss lens on the front of a current M11 or an M10. Or even an M240. Traveling barebones? Then, the Q2. All great choices and only a devout lens nerd would really see or care about the small differences in performance....

But the SL camera wins hands down as best mirrorless camera (when thinking about design and construction) ever. Ever. Sorry. It's just closer to perfect than any other professional, full frame mirrorless camera. Everything here was photographed with the SL @50 ISO, 28mm lens. Handheld with no I.S. It works fine. It feels fine. And the images look great when you blow them up. You are going to look at them full frame, on a big computer monitor, right? Right? Comment below if for no other reason than my need to know that the comments are working and the blog hasn't been highjacked...

This is a lens test. In this frame I'm testing for chromatic aberrations. Purple fringing. Green fringing. Smear in the corners. Sorry. No complaints. It's all good here. 

Ah. The colors and contrast....