I didn't get to bed until one o'clock this morning and was up again at three thirty. I wasn't ill, not physically. Yesterday afternoon as it was raining I was sitting and pondering lens choices for the Canon 5D III. I had a good idea....a thought...a revelation.
Now if a top end Canon wide to small telephoto zoom lens is costing two and a half thousand pounds, it ought to be possible to get some old Leica glass at a fraction of the price. Get an adapter made and we are swimming in champagne for the price of a bath in beer. I would have to focus manually, set aperture with my fingers and focus by hand.....It is a landscape lens so no worries. The Canon has live view so focusing should be easy.....should be but it never is.
I fired up t'internet and surfed for five hours......(never saw a Thai Ladyboy in all that time...promise!)
It is possible to use old lenses and I found lots of examples showing that Leica lenses are better for the job, I found that some will fit the Canon 5D II so the III should be okay.
My favourite camera shop has a couple of lenses both Leica R fit, a 35mm and a 50mm. Perfect for landscaping on full frame cameras.
I then got side tracked a bit. I found a range finder Leica that only takes B&W for the paltry sum of five thousand pounds.....any Leica lens will be the same again. It got worse I came upon the Leica S. A medium format camera that is DSLR sized. The camera body is a snip at the thick end of nineteen thousand pounds. I'm not getting one as I'd have to get a long Canon lens converted to fit a Leica S. It is apparently bomb proof but one reviewer did take a spare body.....Do these Pro Snappers live on this planet?
It got worse.....I was into medium format mode.
I have always secretly fancied a Hasselblad or Mamiya. They are cheap enough second hand. Digital backs for them make the Leica S look cheap. I then started surfing digital backs and found that one has to have a very posh Raw file converter. It was gone midnight by now.
I had a couple of Wheetbix to keep me going and looked up the software side of things. I found 'Capture One Pro 6'.....By Gum, if it does half as much as they claim it's a snip at Euros 265. I could have a sixty day free trial. I'm game for that. I shouldn't have been, I also had to download and install a Windows programme NET. something or other. Then I had to watch a couple of videos to explain how I was supposed to go on with it. Like Adobe PS it is not obvious.
I was exhausted...tired spelt with a Kn.
I couldn't sleep so got up thinking of the Leica Monochrom, that is how Leica spell it. They mean it only does black and white with all the shades of grey in between. At just gone the back of three thirty this morning I was resetting the Olympus E-3 to shoot monochrome. I recharged it's battery popped a red filter on and was ready.
All these were processed in Capture One...I'm happy. I'm tired. I'm exhausted. I need to get out more. I have to go out! I need a lottery ticket. As Camelot are so fond of saying if you don't enter one can't win. A pound is neither here nor there in the numbers I've been looking at......Wish me luck with the bouncing balls tonight.
Now if a top end Canon wide to small telephoto zoom lens is costing two and a half thousand pounds, it ought to be possible to get some old Leica glass at a fraction of the price. Get an adapter made and we are swimming in champagne for the price of a bath in beer. I would have to focus manually, set aperture with my fingers and focus by hand.....It is a landscape lens so no worries. The Canon has live view so focusing should be easy.....should be but it never is.
I fired up t'internet and surfed for five hours......(never saw a Thai Ladyboy in all that time...promise!)
It is possible to use old lenses and I found lots of examples showing that Leica lenses are better for the job, I found that some will fit the Canon 5D II so the III should be okay.
My favourite camera shop has a couple of lenses both Leica R fit, a 35mm and a 50mm. Perfect for landscaping on full frame cameras.
I then got side tracked a bit. I found a range finder Leica that only takes B&W for the paltry sum of five thousand pounds.....any Leica lens will be the same again. It got worse I came upon the Leica S. A medium format camera that is DSLR sized. The camera body is a snip at the thick end of nineteen thousand pounds. I'm not getting one as I'd have to get a long Canon lens converted to fit a Leica S. It is apparently bomb proof but one reviewer did take a spare body.....Do these Pro Snappers live on this planet?
It got worse.....I was into medium format mode.
I have always secretly fancied a Hasselblad or Mamiya. They are cheap enough second hand. Digital backs for them make the Leica S look cheap. I then started surfing digital backs and found that one has to have a very posh Raw file converter. It was gone midnight by now.
I had a couple of Wheetbix to keep me going and looked up the software side of things. I found 'Capture One Pro 6'.....By Gum, if it does half as much as they claim it's a snip at Euros 265. I could have a sixty day free trial. I'm game for that. I shouldn't have been, I also had to download and install a Windows programme NET. something or other. Then I had to watch a couple of videos to explain how I was supposed to go on with it. Like Adobe PS it is not obvious.
I was exhausted...tired spelt with a Kn.
I couldn't sleep so got up thinking of the Leica Monochrom, that is how Leica spell it. They mean it only does black and white with all the shades of grey in between. At just gone the back of three thirty this morning I was resetting the Olympus E-3 to shoot monochrome. I recharged it's battery popped a red filter on and was ready.
 |
| THE COMET |
 |
| THE RIVER TEES |
 |
| CROFT BRIDGE. |
 |
| THE PAPER SHOP |
 |
| GRASS |
 |
| GRASS II |
 |
| THE OLD TRACK BED. |
Enjoy your weekend.
Have I missed something here? Easy done, I know, but have you got yourself a Canon 5D III? Or is it on the wish list still?
ReplyDeleteChoosing camera kit can be a nightmare. So much to choose from, and so many descions to weigh up ...... I tend to jump in with both feet, and hope I've made the right choice.
Good luck with your balls tonight.
Still on the wish list. it should come in November.
DeleteAmazing what I've learnt from all this surfing.
The price of camera equipment has just gone out of control for the quality Pro stuff. One has to be rich to be a photographer now adays. Yet it gets harder and harder to make a living at it.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right here. I suspect that many top photographers are getting equipped free by the manufacturers.
DeleteHI Adrian, First of all your monochrome images are dazzling..I love the low light in them.....The building is very unique design that I like a lot...the bridge is a viaduct? It is lovely and you captured these scenes so superbly! Sometimes when are most tired , we just want to go photograph and out of that moment comes something artistic , as I think exhaustion leads to more adrenaline .....lol I have photographed with an E3 and they are wonderful cameras for sure..I now photograph with the Canon Mark II with the wide angle 16-35 and a couple of Canon telephotos..I am in love with my wide angle Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM the most..I use it a lot! But, that said, I use to use the Zuiko lens and they are also magnificent....Sometimes there are sales on certain websites..I mostly shop B and H and they are great...Good luck my friend and hope you get some rest...kind regards, Linda :)
ReplyDeleteThanks....
DeleteI prefer the E-3 to the E-5. It is a good camera.
I am going to switch to Canon.
All this wish list compiling is good fun.
I really keep it simple here but fully understand what's available and what it does. I appreciate how complicated it is and admire the thought you put into this.
ReplyDeleteIt is just fun but I don't want to spend money on gear I won't use or worse have to use though I dislike it.
DeleteGreat set of black and whites Adrian. I really like the "Grass" ones. Simple, but interesting.
ReplyDeleteI will go out playing with grass and weeds again.
DeleteAdrian, these are really nice shots. You had one of "those" nights. I've had several myself. Now with work back again, I have to be careful not to stay up the whole night. But it sounds like you had some fine thoughts:)
ReplyDeleteLens choices can make you go crazy. You can always buy a cheaper lens and get the adaptors for the Canon camera. My telephoto lens is modified that way and does a great job. Good luck.
Good photo software always seems so expensive. The camera I have seems to write RAW images that almost nothing will read (it's an old SONY format), but if I did shoot RAW then I've heard good things about RawTherapee -- and best of all it's free! Might be worth seeing if it's better than any of the other options and being free it would save you money to spend on lenses!
ReplyDeleteSony formats are always a bit peculiar. Adobe or of course sony should be able to provide a RAW converter. I shoot Raw out of habit. It gives me a couple of stops either side of the exposure used.
DeleteAdobe PS Elements converters can be found in HELP top right it is. I'll have a look at RawTherapee. Thanks.
RawTherapees is fine but no better than the convertee in PS Elements. Full PS and Capture are much more flexible. Always good to see what is around so thanks.
DeleteSony no longer support that particular raw format (it was only used on the one model), the converter I have doesn't install on anything but Windows98 and last time I checked Lightroom couldn't handle the files either.
DeleteHaving just looked again at RawTherapee I see that the author of the underlying library provides a program specifically for decrypting the raw files from my camera, so I might have more look with that approach, if I can decrypt them and then use RawTherapee.
Good luck.....it rained again this afternoon. I've been looking into Arduino...I'll not post about that....I'll leave it to you. I will get a starter kit from Oomlout...seems a good place to begin.
DeleteI think I shall stick to living here and in NZ. It may be an expensive habit but it's a lot cheaper than your lenses!
ReplyDeleteOld Leica lenses are cheapish I found a couple that are checked and have warrantee for a year £300-400. Mounting plates are not expensive.
DeleteThe lenses are ridiculous prices.
There's hardly anything in this post I understand and the prices are almost unbelievable. If other people hadn't already taken them seriously in their responses, I would have taken them as a joke I didn't get. My camera takes pictures in RAW and not RAW. I haven't yet tried to do anything with them. They simply stack up 'in case' - though I know not 'in case of what'! Ignorance thrives in my house!
ReplyDeleteHello Adrian. I gave up trying to visit months ago because I could so rarely get the blog / comments to load. I'm not sure whether the ease of arrival this time is the beginning of something new or a fluke - so I'd better take the opportunity to wish you Happy Christmas . . . just in case!
Good to hear from you....I thought you had stopped blogging as I hadn't seen a post for ages. I cleaned up my reading list the other day so had best pop you back on.
DeleteGood lenses are expensive...they have to be kept clean...that's another job I have to do.
Have taken a summer break from Message in a Milk Bottle and Pictures Just Pictures but have been continuing on Loose and Leafy during that time -
ReplyDeletehttp://looseandleafy.blogspot.co.uk/
Will soon be resuming http://messageinamilkbottle.blogspot.co.uk/
There was no trouble with the page loading this time either. Have you altered the settings or is it just fluke? Whichever way, I hope it will continue this smoothly because I miss visiting here but had given up trying!
No alteration here....the ways and wonders of Blogger!!!
DeleteYour pictures are lovely. I really like the grass ones. I think buying any camera equipment is a bit of a nightmare! I like this camera shop. They are only an hour from us so I visit them when I can, but they deal with mostly internet sales I think. http://www.ffordes.com
ReplyDeleteI'll have a look. I use Harrison cameras in Sheffield. No rush, plenty of advice and a good range. I'm a loyal customer. The independent retailers are far better than the nationals.....Rarely can they be beaten on price either.
ReplyDeleteBy Gum!.....Ffordes...They have some serious stock. A great shop.
DeleteWow! Adrian, these are amazing set of landscapes. I was looking to draw some landscapes i shall borrow a few you have posted here - they are gorgeous. I'm sure the end results would never be as spectacular as your photographs. All the pictures are fabulous!! Cheers, Ruby
ReplyDeleteIt's a prime lens used wide open on manual focus and live view for the grass ones. I looked large in live view and it could have been better. Checked the lens and it is filthy. I must remember not to blow my nose on lens cloths!!
ReplyDeletePS> I used a tripod and mirror lock up. there was no wind.
DeleteGreat monochrome shots Adrian. Blow 'em up and paint them, that should keep you happy for a long while or maybe frustrated.
ReplyDeleteTrevor, really is good to here from you. Hope all is okay and post soon. I will check I am still following as I cleaned up my reading list.
Delete