GEAR TALK - July '21 Wrap-Up

SOME OF THE USUAL PLACES

I drive thousands of miles a year scouting for something new in our local area. It is a lot of time with no guarantees, so somedays I want a sure bet. Revisiting past spots works for that. Kind of like a "greatest hits" list. Maybe the light will be different, maybe a different line of approach... Whatever the case, it is an opportunity to hone skills, problem solve and hopefully enjoy the day. July was a "greatest hits" type of month.

4TH OF JULY FIREWORKS

Like so many things, because of Covid, the July 4th celebrations were cancelled last year. Some shows were cancelled this summer as well, but not all. We headed out to Las Colinas and found a nice spot to watch the show. Around 9:30pm we heard the "booms", but the sky was empty... Boom, boom, boom... but no flash. Turns out, the city was not firing the firework very high into the sky and we could not see them over the skyline. Bummer...

SHOOTING MORE COLOR

With July off to a rockin' start, I doubled down on the color agenda. The Leica M10-R has been here since September 2020, but is seldom used because its color performance seems almost random. The Leica M10-R has a new top-glass design (compared to past Leica M's) with one filter layer for both UV / IR filtration. As a result, Leica had to redesign their in-camera color engine because sensor stack's UV response was different than the Leica M10-P. This new color engine is... not my favorite. Which is a pity because I was quite happy with the M10-P's color rendition.

Leica M10-R in silver with a silver Leica 50mm F.95 Noctilux-M ASPH

If shooting in daylight and maybe later into the evening with some lingering remnants of sunlight, the colors are sort-of okay. Sometimes oddly good. But if the daylight has past and/or it is after sunset and skies are cloudy, some really weird colors can unfold, especially if shooting away from the natural light source. I keep thinking (hoping) there will be some sort of epiphany on how best to edit the file, or perhaps Leica will grace us with a magical firmware update.

I have been forcing myself to use the Leica M10-R, shooting fast primes with some shallow field type of pictures. Those pictures can often be edited for effect rather than a faithful color reproduction. But no matter how hard I try, the Leica M10 Monochrom is always there and it does a good job without a whole bunch of fuss. So July was still mostly black and white, but there were some color shots. Not alot, but some. And I snuck in a Fuji GFX 100 picture.

LEICA 75MM NOCTILUX

As mentioned last month, the Leica 280mm F2.8 Telyt-R APO Modular has moved on to a new home. It was traded to the Leica Store San Francisco as partial payment towards a Leica 75mm F1.25 Noctilux-M ASPH. I have known Sean Cranor (the owner of Camera West and the Leica Store SF) for nearly 20 years and we can usually find a way to work out a deal. This is my second go with the 75mm Noctilux. It is an outstanding lens and one that I have been wanting to try with the Leica M10 Monochrom.

We have some family events coming up, so it was good time to pick up 75mm Noctilux again. As Noctilux's go, the 75mm Noctilux runs circles around the Leica 50mm F.95 Noctilux-M ASPH in terms of wide open sharpness and smooth bokeh. The 75mm Noctilux is crazy good at F1.25. And both of my copies have been pretty easy to focus at F1.25 - which is pretty surprising.

There is a bit a conundrum here. The Leica 50mm F.95 Noctilux-M ASPH is a more practical lens in terms of walk-around snap shots, but the 50mm's wide open sharpness can be disappointing. In contrast, the Leica 75mm F1.25 Noctilux-M ASPH is wickedly sharp wide open - at times almost too good depending on the subject matter. But it is 75mm and 75mm is not the most practical focal length for walk-around type of stuffs. So, practical or sharp...?...

In the Leica 50mm F.95 Noctilux-M ASPH review I promised an end-of-summer update, that looks to be on track for late August. And if I rack up enough shots with the Leica 75mm F1.25 Noctilux-M ASPH, it might get its own review. Spoiler alert - it is a really freakin' good lens, so not sure what more a review will add to that. And for one last teaser, still waiting on my Leica 35mm F2 Summicron-M APO... I read about other people getting theirs, so feeling a bit jealous.