WARREN CONNECTICUT – We drove up here early today, in time to catch the golden hour here. I’ve turned again to my Leica S, which I struggled with a bit yesterday – it’s a big complex system and I’ve been shooting mainly with my Leica Ms for the last few months so my skills operating the S have slipped a bit. I’ve resolve to tune up my approach to it over the weekend. It does produce remarkable files. Here you go with the Leica S and 120mm macro lens.
Callery Pear
On this day last year: Gas explosion. Back to back duds last year.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – We haven’t been here for a while. We love Warren so I actually resent (a bit) our recent travel that has made it hard to get here. Basil the Norwich Terrier stays up here we we travel so I drove up today to fetch him. We’re actually going to be in New York this coming weekend for a vey close friend’s Birthday.
I’ve got a Leica lens from the 1950s called a Dual Range Summicron. The DR is an iconic lens that has produced thousands of iconic images in the hands of the most famous photographers of its era. It has two focusing ranges, near and far, and an eyeglass-looking doodad that clips on to activate the close focusing range and adjust the view through the viewfinder for close focus. Very cool, except that on digital Leica Ms the DR can’t be mounted because the close focus cam on the lens doesn’t fit through the opening in the camera body. The solution (which I’ve adopted) is to send the lens to a machine shop to have the close focus cam machined off. It then fits a digital M but in the close focus range the lens lo longer links with the rangefinder so the close focus feature really can’t be used.
Enter the new Leica M, a rangefinder camera that also permits focusing through the lens with an “electronic viewfinder” attachment. I strapped the DR on the the M, set the lens to close focus range and fired up the electronic viewfinder and voila it worked. This brings the focus distance down to .5 meter. Here are a couple of images taken in Warren with this combination.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – You call this spring?! This is an outrage! I want my money back. The snowdrops (galanthus) have just poked their heads up. Six full weeks later than last year. The forsythia haven’t bloomed! I might as well be in Minnesota.
I shot the snowdrops with my iPhone – that’s how I get close to small things.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – I’ve had a bit of trouble getting into the moment today, so I’m stuck with this nondescript image of a wall on our property, taken will taking the dog for a quick walk with my Leica M and an 18mm Super Elmar M lens.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – I spent part of the day getting to know my new camera, a Leica M, also known as the M240. With this camera Leica dropped the number after the “M” on their rangefinder cameras (so just “M” not “M10”). Marketing genius. Whatever.
I’m starting to get pretty good results from it. It’s operations are the smoothest and quietest of an Leica M ever. There’s not much of a learning curve. Here it is with my f.95 Noctilux strapped onto it with a neutral density filter that lets me shoot in daylight wide open. Below (the yellow tulips) is with a 1939 Carl Zeiss Jena 85mm f1.5 Sonar, a famous lens that doesn’t couple properly with the Leica rangefinder so it requires live view to be focused (the new M is first Leica to offer live view).
Angel
On this day last year: Spring. March 30 seems to be tulip day. Mayan wheel of time?
WARREN CONNECTICUT – Bird feeder. Taken with my Leica Monochrom and 1930s era Carl Zeiss Jena 5cm f1.5 Sonnar lens. Note the scratchy quality of the out of focus portions of the image.
WARREN CONNECTICUT – A chance to recharge in this rustic corner of Connecticut. Here’s our gate (which is grander than we are) taken with my Leica Monochrom and 35mm Summicron lens on a tripod. Three frames stitched.
