Jump to content

Is the M9 a serious Landscape Camera?


salim

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Any camera can capture stunning landscapes, just look at Apple's billboards advertising the iPhone 6s camera's capabilities.   The trick is to work within the limits of your equipment.  In good light even the cheapest kit zoom will produce running images if used at its optimum aperture, being mindful of flare and having good light and proper exposure.

 

The M has exceptional lenses, which greatly extends the envelope, but other systems can extend it further.  My Leica M-E with 35mm f/2.5 Summarit is a "better" camera and lens than my Canon 6D with Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Distagon, but not in low light or for shallow depth of field, where the Canon combination is better.  Ditto at wide focal lengths or long focal length where TTL viewing is far better than an external viewfinder or a tiny frame line (M240 with EVF and Leica glass is better still).

 

If you have an M9 and use it for landscapes. Just stay with its limits and it makes a stunning landscape camera.

Link to post
Share on other sites

23742124149_723d5c1c75_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

24046288521_18fb3514e8_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

M9 with 35mm Summicron.....I don't know, is an M9 a serious Landscape camera??

 

I think that the skill of the photographer is what these illustrate.  Gorgeous, and well done!  

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

23742124149_723d5c1c75_b.jpg

 

 

24046288521_18fb3514e8_b.jpg

23742124149_723d5c1c75_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

M9 with 35mm Summicron.....I don't know, is an M9 a serious Landscape camera??

Beautiful!! Yosemite? (Don't shoot me if I am wrong, it is just that I love Yosemite... And my ex M9) :)

Edited by jmahto
  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Landscapes, because they do not move very fast (even in California) do not stress the camera much.

 

They do stress the lens, and extremely so the skills of the photographer.  They leave no excuse for not getting Light, Composition, Perspective etc. exactly right.

 

You have seen above, the high end of such skills, but I think sailronin would have similar results with whatever he used, although the process might differ some.

 

Regards ... Harold

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

One thing I do find with the M9 is that, with Long exposures (using a Lee 75 filter setup), the EXIF and in-camera Histogram are very odd.

 

I often do Long Exposures around sunset/sunrise, so the light is changing quickly and I tend to meter, get a baseline and then just adjust it by eye - rather than have to keep removing the filter setup, move camera and re-meter etc. The M9 seems to show massive overexposure sometimes on the back of the camera but when I process the shots in Lightroom the Histogram is fine, not overexposed at all.

It pushes me towards underexposure sometimes as it unsettles me that I've misjudged things - frustrating (as we all know) with the Noise Reduction doubling the time to adjust.

 

The EXIF seems to record in whole minutes beyond a minute too? It certainly doesn't seem to capture the correct Bulb Exposure length which seems like an odd thing to fail on - it just rounds it down/up to 120 seconds, 180 seconds etc.. not critical but it'd be nice to know when I'm in situ and reviewing a sequence of shots.

 

I'm guessing these are probably already well known 'quirks'?

I still much prefer the M9 (over M240) for landscape use, despite it being much more fiddly, lower resolution, lower dynamic range, and just generally a bit more difficult all round. And a Sony a7r was just effortless by comparison with tilting screen, WYSIWYG, amazing LCD, zoom options etc.. but still it's the M9 that comes along.

 

That pink/purple hue to those shots is just lovely sailronin.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Advertisement (gone after registration)

The M9 is a great camera for landscapes. Small, light and easy to pack around, with equally small and light lens options that happen to be of very high quality. I actually preferred the look of my M9 landscapes to those from my M-P, but the band marches on...

 

M9

L1023445-Edit%20copy-L.jpg

 

L1240772-2-L.jpg

 

L1242919-L.jpg

 

L1002815-L.jpg

 

L1240806-L.jpg

Edited by DezFoto
  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...