She's got great abs (among other things)

[stuny]

This frieze is on Radio City Music Hall, at 1270 Avenue of the Americas in NYC. Of course us New Yorkers don't call it Avenue of the Americas, but call it 6th Avenue, as it was meant to be. You can see more of our recent New York photos on the 3rd New York photo gallery in our site.

[fotografr]

Good thing you took this before Donald Rumsfeld got to it.

[albertwang]

Wasn't he renamed Donald Duck?

[semrich]

Stuart,

When this started loading I thought to myself this is a nice B&W shot up until if finished and realized it was color. Was this as shot or did you crop to get equal spacing of the 1270 address?

That LX01 does a nice job, we bought one for my wifes mother, now I have to teach her how to use it as well as you do.

Richard

[stunsworth]

Is the sign at the bottom meant to be straight? If so there seems to be a lot of barrel distortion with the lens.

[stuny]

Richard - This is a slight crop and a slight rotation to adjust the horizon. I find that with non-viewfinder shots in bright sun light I do a lot more estimating than I would have if I could clearly see the image on the screen.

Steve - Yes, at its widest setting (the default when turned on) there is significant barrel distortion. I gave some thought to cropping the sign out but decided otherwise.

[stuny]

Richard's comment about color vs. B&W, and Steve's comment about barrel distortion prodded me to crop tighter and convert to B&W, as shown here:

[dan_drabek]

It's not hard to remove most of the barrel distortion in Photoshop.
Filter>Distort>Lens Correction.
This is just a quick tweak. You can do better, if you want to spend the time. You'll lose just a bit of the outside edges.
DD

[stuny]

Thanks, Dan. I'm aware that CS2 does this as well as a bunch of other neat things (such as correct for building tilt like a post shooting view camera), but I can't yet justify buying the software.

[sonare]

Isn't the real question whether a lens with the Leica name on it should have barrel distortion at "only" 28mm equivalent?

I emailed this to "technicalinfo" at liecacamerausa over a month ago and have yet to receive a response:

As the former owner of: SL, M2, M3 (single and double stroke), M4 (enamel), and M4P I am very familiar with the Leica "look and feel" and am very pleased overall with my D2.

I do have a few comments and questions, however:

1- I have noticed barrel distortion at the edges of images done with the lens at its widest setting. This was a most unpleasant surprise from an optic with "Leitz" on the barrel. Comment?

2- There are many batteries on the market that claim to be compatible. The Leitz item is extremely expensive and not easy to find. What are the requirements in terms of amp hours and current flow?

3- The lens at maximum focal length (90mm equivalent) is not really "tele" enough for some things. Is there an after-market device that while perhaps not equal to Leitz would offer something longer? I am not familiar whether the same sort of auxillary lens as can be had for macro needs also exists for the "other end" of the spectrum

Perhaps the members of this forum could respond, as nothing has been heard from New Jersey?

Rich

[stuny]

Rich -

Glad to see you've made it to the new Forum.

This wasn’t with my D2, but with my FX01 (C-Lux 1). However, I notice similar (though not as severe) barrel distortion at the widest settings of my D2, of my R28-70, and of my friend Gerard’s R28-90. There are so many other advantages to all four of those lenses that we learn to live with, and usually work around, the barrel distortion.

I have 3 batteries for my D2. I bought the other two on eBay not long after getting the D2 in March of 2004. One is a Leica battery (a very good price), and the other (I bought them separately) is a “Promaster” with a slightly lower amp hour rating. Generally speaking, if everything else is right (volts, contacts, size, the greater the amp hour rating the better.

There are supplementary lenses available for the D2 (and Panasonic equivalent) for both tele and wide angle (and for that matter, a Leica produced Elpro macro lens). I would keep away form the non-Panasonic supplementary lenses, even though I have no experience with them. On the old Leica Forum, TV journalist Asa Arons had a wide angle supplementary lens he was selling. His experience with it was quite positive, as it was with another Forum member, but he didn’t like the bulk, weight and price of the lens.

I too find response from Leica USA to be spotty, though one of the highest ranking sales folks there has always been very responsive. I don’t have his name or email address at home, but his first name is Dave.

[jackart]

As a photo, this is just representation of another artist work. But still fun to play..

[sonare]

Thanks for the info! I'll admit to not knowing all that much about the digi-Leicas (and their Panasonic siblings), but I do know I have enjoyed my D2 more than other digitals. The convenience compared to the "good old days of film" is undeniable. With a 1GB card and a tabletop tripod (and the ability to edit in the camera) there is little to complain about!

You mentioned looking for Panasonic tele-supplementals-- what should I be looking for? IOW what is the Panasonic model equivalent?

Rich

[stuny]

Jaak - Thank you.

Rich - It has been so long since I've entertained that thought (for our India trip I supplemented my D2 with an FZ20), that I no longer recall, which probably costs less than the supplementary lens and works remarkably well. For the supplementary lens try some creative Google searches.