GEAR TALK TABLE OF CONTENTS
Updated May 12, 2024
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The Leica M11 Monochrom One Year Later
May 12, 2024 Looking back on the past year with the Leica M11 Monochrom and how it morphed into a pseudo technical camera replacement for the Arca Swiss Rm3di and Phase One IQ4-150. Read more |
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A Second Look at the Leica M10-M and M11-M
December 10, 2023 After six months with the Leica M11 Monochrom and having mixed feelings about its files and handling, I decided to revisit the Leica M10 Monochrom and re-compare the two cameras. Read more |
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Mid Year Update
August 5, 2023 Catching up on the new Leica M11 Monochrom and the Leica 28mm F2.8 PC-Super-Angular R shift lens, and how the results compare to the outgoing Leica M10 Monochrom. Read more |
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January 2023 Wrap Up
February 12, 2023 A quick wrap-up for this past January and a heads-up for some of the upcoming topics later this year. Read more |
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2023 New Years Fireworks
January 8, 2023 To celebrate ringing in the New Year, some firework pictures from Reunion Tower in Dallas, Texas with the Leica M11. Read more |
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Eighteen Months of Isaac's Farm
November 27, 2022 A case study of Isaac's Farm in New Harp Texas and how my approach to picture taking has adapted over the years due to the rapidly fleeting North Texas landscape from the early twentieth century. Read more |
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Get It While You Can
November 25, 2022 Looking back over the past 15 years and some of the many vanishing picture taking spots as the North Texas area grows and grows. Read more |
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The Arca Swiss Rm3di
November 16, 2022 Playing around with the Leica 28mm F2.8 PC Super-Angulon R stirred some interest in using the Phase One IQ3-100 Trichromatic with a technical camera, so took a leap faith and sold the Phase One XF kit for an Arca Swiss Rm3di and a couple Rodenstock lenses. Read more |
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7 Annoying Things About the Leica M11
September 4, 2022 It has been 6 months and almost 2000 clicks with the Leica M11 so far, and there are some things that could be better and / or Leica could address with a firmware update, and some others are just how it is. Read more |
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Phase One XF / IQ3-100 Trichromatic First Impressions
June 17, 2022 For those of you who have followed PebblePlace.com over the years, you have seen my repeated forays into the medium format realm. All I can say is... here we go again with another Phase One kit. Read more |
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Leica M11 First Impressions
April 21, 2022 Received my Leica M11 in early March and have spent the last 6 weeks using it at some of my usual places. Under that shiny chrome finish, Leica made some big changes. And I am still deciding how I feel about that. Read more |
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November Wrap Up
December 12, 2021 Took a break from the picture taking and spent several weekends doing some long overdue closet cleaning. Alot of camera stuffs had been purchased while sitting at home during Covid, so there was alot to sell. Read more |
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October Wrap Up
November 2, 2021 Bought a used Leica M10-P last month and spent some time comparing the Leica M10-P and Leica M10-R color rendering. The plan was simple - test, stare and compare, pick a winner and sell the other. Read more |
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September Wrap Up
October 1, 2021 Instead of rambling about this past month's pictures, decided to look back over the past 17 years and number of edited raws per year, per camera, etc. and to see which cameras / systems were the most productive in terms of net output. Read more |
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August Wrap Up
September 2, 2021 A bit more Leica M10-R bashing - did not intend to keep ranting, but that is just how things worked out. And some updates on the Mamiya 645M 200mm F2.8 APO and Leica 50mm F.95 Noctilux-M ASPH. Read more |
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July Wrap Up
August 1, 2021 A summary of July's picture taking efforts, alittle Leica M10-R bashing, and a quick catch up of the some of the gear changes during the past month or two. Read more |
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June Wrap Up
July 1, 2021 A summary of the major equipment changes and picture taking outings during the past month. Read more |
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A Peak Behind the Curtain
July 31, 2020 Over the 15 years this website has been online, I have presented thousands of pictures. Today's post sheds a little light on how much time goes into those images and where they come from. Read more |
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Gear Heads Galore
May 23, 2020 In the past couple Gear Talk posts about my hope of Leica adding EFCS to the Leica M10 cameras, I mentioned using some rather substantial tripod heads to help ensure stability with large lenses, so today's Gear Talk entry focuses on those tripod heads. Read more |
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Why the Leica M10 Needs EFCS, Part 2
May 16, 2020 Stacking red filters and polarizers on the Leica M10 Monochrom drive up ISO speeds; adding Electronic First Curtain Shutter and having a vibration free exposure could help bring down those ISO speeds. Read more |
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Why the Leica M10 Needs EFCS
May 9, 2020 While every other modern digital camera has electronic first curtain shutter (EFCS), the Leica M10's do not. Today is my first installment on why Leica should add ECFS to the Leica M10 firmware. Read more |
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Leica M10 Monochrom
April 27, 2020 Some thoughts, opinions and random musings on the new (and long long awaited) Leica M10 Monochrom after using the camera for three months. Read more |
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Mounting the Mamiya 200mm F2.8 APO on a Leica M
August 14, 2018 My latest adventure in adapting the Mamiya 645M 200mm F2.8 APO telephoto lens to mount on the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 using Novoflex's MAMRING + A Mount lens adapters, Novoflex's ASTAT Tripod Collar and a 3D printer spacer for the tripod collar. Read more |
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Catching Up on the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246
May 26, 2018 It has been over a year since the last Gear Talk entry, so today's post is a quick update on the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 and my views on black & white photography after three'ish years with the M-246. Read more |
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Leica SF-40 and the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246
April 22, 2017 My half-failed attempt to understand the Leica TTL flash system with the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 and Leica SF-40 flash. Read more |
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Slow and Steady
February 12, 2017 Staying the course with the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 and trying to figure out the color camera options to go with the Monochrom. Read more |
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Improving Critical Sharpness
July 4, 2016 Digging into why the Leica 28mm F2 Summicron-M ASPH (Version II) and Leica 135mm F3.4 Telyt-M APO are not as sharp as they should be on the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246. Read more |
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Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 and Midday Sunlight
June 29, 2016 Reflecting on the user experience and results with the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 during midday sunlight conditions. Read more |
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Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 and Color Filters
March 14, 2016 A summary of my first daytime landscape outing using color filters with the Leica Monochrom M Typ 246 to boost contrast and definition. Read more |
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Leica M Monochrom Typ 246
February 29, 2016 Some first impressions of the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 rangefinder camera with its 24 megapixel monochrome CMOS sensor. Read more |
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High ISO Transformation
February 14, 2016 How to get better high ISO performance from the Leica M Type 240 (or any other camera) using NIK's Dfine noise reduction plug-in for Photoshop. Read more |