Personal ramblings on photography
The kind people at Luminous Landscape have an article about a Leica factory visit in Solms, Germany (by Nick Rains).
These [Leica S2 and M9] are hand made products — quite literally. It’s why they are desirable in the first place and the process can only proceed so fast. I’m told it takes 8 hours to assemble an M9 body and having seen the care and precision with which they are assembled, I can certainly believe it.
This should explain why the quality is at the top along with the price.
FujiFilm announced the X10. It is not the replacement for the X100 but it shows that FujiFilm is trying to get serious.
James Duncan Davidson spent an afternoon with a FujiFilm X100 and give us his impression:
First off, if this camera were an automobile, it’d be the strangest mishmash of BMW, Fiat, and Nissan that you could imagine. If that sounds schizophrenic to you, then congratulations. You’ve taken your first step to understanding this camera.
Just read it.
Pentax just announced the Pentax Q, a mirror-less camera with interchangeable lenses and a small sensor of 1/2.3″. There will be 5 lenses available.
As usual, DPReview has a preview.
Just a few comments after reading the specs and the preview:
Also the lenses will include a “standard” prime (kit) 48mm equivalent, “standard” zoom ($300), a fisheye with manual focus and fixed aperture f5.6 ($129) and for less than $100, two “toy” lenses, one wide (28mm equiv.), one (100mm equiv.) telephoto whose image look will remind of the Diana or Lomo.
At $800 with the prime lens, I don’t really see where the Pentax Q fits in the market. That reminds me of the Pentax Auto 110 film SLR.
Lloyd Chambers wrote an open letter to Leica:
The M9 felt like 2 year old technology the day I got it, with many disappointments.
And yes you are allowed to bad mouth Leica. I believed that the M8 was a mishap – evidence that Leica didn’t really know what to do. Apparently the M9 is too. And very expensive. Chambers has already written very extensively about the M9 (sorry, paywall).
And I have read a lot of praise about the Leica M9 too.
News from the micro Four Thirds front:
Panasonic GF-3: more compact than the GF-2, still no viewfinder, even more stripped down:
DC Resource preview (archive) – DPReview
In July 2011 with the 14mm f2.5 for US$699. August for US$599 with a kit zoom.
Leica Summilux 25mm f1.4 DG: fast sharp “standard” lens:
DC Resource (archived) – DPReview
Price unknown, for August 2011.
Using the Ricoh GRIII For Street Photography: A Review by Eric Kim (from The Phoblographer):
Without spoiling anything, it is truly the best compact camera for street photography, and everybody who is serious about shooting in the streets should have one. Keep reading to read my in-depth review of the Ricoh GRIII digital.
I have a GR Digital II which is almost the same. The Ricoh GR Digital series have a lot of fans. I believe this family of camera is greatly underrated, maybe because it does not have a zoom making it some sort of pariah for consumers. I have yet to get myself on using it in that situation having used the E-P1 more often. Maybe soon for a more complete review.
A 1000+ instant cameras collection (via PetaPixel).
That’s a hell lot of cameras. See the man’s whole collection.
Previously I was wondering if there was a camera renouveau. The highly anticipated Fuji FinePix X100 could be one of the contenders with its innovative viewfinder. The problem is that following the earthquake in Sendai, the Japanese production of cameras in Japan has suffered, making the X100 harder to find. This does not seem to stop the enthusiasm.
Nonetheless, people still start getting their hands on it. No later than last week I saw one at a local camera store, unfortunately no demo model. Here is a couple of recent reviews:
Steve Huff ask “Does it live up to the Hype?”. Steve Huff is a Leica M9 shooter but will compare the X100 to the Leica X1 which is must closer.
[…] those who want the X100 are looking for something fresh, new, exciting, small and classic. As I recently found out for myself, the X100 is all of that and more.
His perspective is from the photographer taking pictures, and the result. He answered the question positively.
DCResource with their usual format will go through all the usual details and review all the features in the camera. You can compare images between their other tests, and doing this between the X100 and the Olympus E-P1 is making me drool even more.
Their conclusion:
All things considered, the Fuji FinePix X100 is a very impressive fixed lens camera, and I imagine that they’ll sell a boatload of them, despite the price. It offers superb photo quality, good performance (in most respects), a rangefinder-style body with a one-of-a-kind viewfinder, and plenty of manual controls. The camera does have its issues, mostly related to buffer memory and the user interface, but for a first generation camera, Fuji has done a great job.
Previously, in case you missed these:
Popphoto has an article about 12 film cameras worth buying right now.
The tragedy in Japan has made the current DSLR market a scary place, making this a perfect opportunity to get (back) into film.
Their list (in alphabetical order):
It seems to cover all the bases from medium format, compact to reusing lenses from your DSLR. But the most awkward in the list is the FM10 as I think they should have recommended an older model instead, one solidly built. Also notably absent are TLR or 35mm rangefinders like a Bessa.
What is interesting to see is that Ricoh is still in the same line of products with their Ricoh GR-Digital: highly praised compact camera.