New Cameras!

I will be testing out the M8 from tomrrow. The wonderful UPS man brought a large box with the brand new M8 a 28mm lens and a neat flash.

I'll also be trying out other Leica and Voigtlander lenses.

My wish is to see how easy the cameras are to use and what the experience is after having been locked into DSLR's for so long.

Now I haven't turned away from my wonderful Canon gear; far from it.

However, I choose gear by what serves me well and is fun to use too. So I am happy to take new cameras for a workout.

I'll be keeping you informed of my progress. For now, the battery is charging. That, BTW, wasn't needed with my last Leica. But that was long ago. I'll share with you that the M8 is a solid piece of engineering. I wish I had the grip as I often hold my camera with my right hand by my side and shoot in the street by zone focus, even my DSLR's. This of course upsets Nicolas! He says I shoot too many pictures and to fast But I'm the one having fun!

I am known to focus carefully too! All in good time. That battery will be ready by morning.

Meanwhile, I'm looking ahead to other new DSLR's and Backs to be tested. I'd welcome any input and review submissions.

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

This of course upsets Nicolas! He says I shoot too many pictures and to fast But I'm the one having fun!

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When I shoot landscape I average around 100 shots an hour. No time for a tripod! I once shot 50 shots while a 4x5 guy was just setting up for one shot. He never even shot one as the sunset didn't materialize. Took him 3 hours earlier for him to take 3 shots, and frankly it wasn't a good day for shooting but he had to take what was available the one day a year he passed through. We talked a lot though waiting for the sunset (for an hour) - he said each snap costs him $5 so he was careful. The next night I got some killer sunsets - finally chased out by the ranger (closes at sunset).

- DL

Don Lashier said:

When I shoot landscape I average around 100 shots an hour. ...

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Dang, Don, you shoot landscapes the way I shoot sports! We need your input over in the editing/culling/"Everybody does it" thread.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

Qeustion? when you folks shoot a hundred frames in a day! do you truely have something in your mind that your try-ing to capture or are you just shooting just for the hope of capturing something with your camera!
I am not try-ing to be a "wisen himer" here! Now I can understand A sports foto shooter due-ing this because he needs to stay with the Action,
where as the rest of us in the other fields have enough time to find what we want then take a few shots[20] to cover our self's and address the fact that one or two will be keepers[maybe more] to go out and just shoot seams like a waste of time [But then again I am not perfect either]
I can understand seeing and looking at the same time and see what others Miss with their way of looking or seeing!
When I first started out I Knew the Only way to learn and get better at shoot-ing film was to go thru many rolls of film, But now I am [Older?] I wonder if that was even a good way to learn, I think in the Process of learning when one recieve's guide-ance from others and does not listen then thats is the fool and not the Giver!

So The Question Remains [ Does the means justify the end result,Always]

Moderators If this is out of context please adjust as you wish:

At an event, I can shoot 500 images easily in several hours.

Things are happening. Different people are together. We are not posing people unless they pose spontaniously when they see the camera. Some shots are taken then others have a better background or composition and then the former are discarded. But, as the program moves on, different people are available, different things are happening and one can only move forward.

In school sports and weekend team events, people want their kids pics and so you get what you can!

At first somes kids may not be in much action. One covers all the team anyway. As people get involved one has the option of discarding other shots. When one gets critical plays, then one again moves up in quality to give to parents.

Now, if I'm shooting a sunset on the Ponte Veccio in Florence, I have been there earlier and thought about what I'm going to do. Then I arrive later with my tripod and set up.

I take a several set of pics for a pano with bracketing. Meanwhile there's a kid on the bridge supports, legs dangling over, playing his guitar, I take a bunch of shots from every angle, machine gun style, collect shots of lovers, back to my main scene as the light is changing. Turn and take the bridge down river.

Back to get the guitar player again as he is more in silhouette, now I catch hoards of buzzing Lambretta and Vespa Scooters streaming over the bridge.

........and in a 30 minutes the sun is set and I have shot 500 images!

Now if it's a model in the studio in a particular pose needed for a design, I have tested everything, there is a drawing to match withing artistic feelings and I get it in 3-5 shots.

So it all depends on the circumstances. There has grown up an almost religious belief by some that a better photgrapher shoot few images. It is not always the case!

Asher

To me this is just one more way that photography is like fishing — you have a much better chance of getting "the fish" if your fly is on the water, and you have a much better chance of getting "the shot" if you're shooting. Yes they both take skill and planning, but there's also more than a bit of serendipity to both, isn't there?

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

Nill Toulme said:

Dang, Don, you shoot landscapes the way I shoot sports!

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Nill, I treat landscape like action photography. For what I shoot anyway, the scene is constantly changing, often very rapidly - wave formed foam on the beach, waves themselves, clouds, fog - let alone the shadows from the clouds and lighting changes as clouds/fog change or the sun sinks lower.

For me, clouds are almost an essential part of the composition for landscape photos. I'll rarely even go out for broad landscape photos unless there's big puffy cumulous clouds about. Fortunately they're quite common here, but change rapidly by the moment. I see 4x5 guys come in, tediously setup, then shoot a shot or three accepting whatever's available at the moment. I think jeez, conditions where so much better a day ago, or an hour ago, or three minutes ago.

Even with a static shot like the one below, I'll linger a few minutes noting the changes in shadows and lighting gradation as the sun sinks lower and the angle changes waiting for the prime moment. In this case I took 20 or so shots over a 1/2 hour period - composition was essentially the same but the lighting was changing by the moment. The differences are subtle it in this case picking the prime moment is what makes the shot work imo. (the web version doesn't do it justice, need to see the print).

- DL

Asher Kelman said:

At an event, I can shoot 500 images easily in several hours.

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I served as a guest digital assistant for a fashion photographer once and it was most interesting. He would start off by generally posing the model, having assistants rearrange the lights or scrims (maybe 5 or 10 minutes worth of futzing about, checking through the viewfinder), then he would start shooting, slowing at first giving directions to the model (head up a bit, left a bit, smile, less, this way, that... make love to the camera!...), then the shooting and directions would slowly accelerate, and then get frenzied until the buffer on my 1D would finally fill up and he'd throw up his arms and that "shot" was over. Almost a sexual experience. Then we'd take a break while I downloaded the images to C1 and we'd review. Then the whole thing would start over with a different setup. He shot about 850 frames over a five hour session of which maybe a half dozen were picked as "keepers".

- DL

You found a wonderful UPS man!!!

...Now there's a discovery! Seriously, looking forward to hearing your reactions to these cameras. In particular, I'd be interested in hearing how you find operating with multiple cameras from different vendors. I toyed with the idea of an M8, but decided that unless I had a redundant set of lenses I'd probably always wind up with the wrong camera and/or lens.

Tom

Tom Henkel said:

...Now there's a discovery! Seriously, looking forward to hearing your reactions to these cameras. In particular, I'd be interested in hearing how you find operating with multiple cameras from different vendors. I toyed with the idea of an M8, but decided that unless I had a redundant set of lenses I'd probably always wind up with the wrong camera and/or lens.

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A satisfactory solution with UPS is indeed a treasure. I've gone to shipping everything to my office. The receptionist now knows me and asks how the new camera is doing.

The M8 is pricey enough that an amateur like myself will have a hard time justifying one unless they're sure it's the right kind of camera for them. I was wishing for something "quick" on the drive in this morning, and the M8 would fit that bill wonderfully. I just don't know if I'd get enough use out of it to justify the price (whereas I KNOW I'd use a 5d a lot).