Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'n00b'.
-
N00b intro - hi from a quite--a-while lurker. Ex D-Lux3 owner, soon to be X1 owner. I bloody lost the D-Lux3 the night before I left for a week in Havana, Cuba, where I'd planned to take pics. Had to make do with a little panny. The week after my return, Leica announced the X1. With demo pics taken in Havana. No brainer. The D-Lux3 served me well. I've always valued a smaller, discreet camera since I took an SLR and a little Olympus to South Africa in the early 90's, and I saw how a larger, noisier machine can change a photographic situation. When i got back, I worked as an assistant for a pro shooting still life food ads with a large format 10x8 and 5x4 film camera and Hassleblads... so I learnt to use a larger one too...high quality images with precision lighting, settings, composition etc. It's pretty obvious why the idea of owning a Leica camera has grown on me... discreet, high quality, simple, direct control and I love the classic style it has. But the prices were impossible! And film had kinda frustrated me - it's only really worth it if you print yourself and I didn't have the time, so it waned as an activity, and I never prioritised getting it. When digital came along, I played around with a few cheapies, but I was soon looking at the D-Lux3 - affordable-ish, and it took good shots... it had a Leica quality about it, and I've done more photography in the last few years than in the decade before. I get on with digital photography - I get on with shooting from an LCD (a bit like the back of a large format! And you can experiment with angles in social situations), I prefer photoshop to the dark room... it's kinda brought photography back to life for me. But it's always been just a hobby... I want to carry a camera in my pocket, take decent shots of friends, bands, random things I see etc. In my work I have opportunities to take photos of art and theatre, but I don't want to 'be the photographer' in a situation, I want to photograph situations I'm in. I suspect the X1 is the best tool available for me. I've studied the arguments against - the limitations of the X1, the other options... The D-Lux3 autofocus timing was almost always ok for the photos I took, but the quality in lower light limited. I've thought about the fixed lens, and would like to have seen an interchangeable system, but I quite like the challenge of really getting in tune with a camera that has those fixed parameters - it gives you the opportunity to really master it as a medium. I would love an M camera. I'd like to get into using an optical rangefinder... I get the feeling you can stay more involved in the scene with your other eye - bit like LCD shooting. But I can't afford an M9. I've heard the arguments about getting an M2/M2.2, but I can barely afford the X1, never mind the £2K +lens cost of that option. And when (not if) I get an M series, I'd want a full frame camera that uses the lenses as they were intended. The bottom line for me is the quality of the photographs I take. I want to take pics that me, friends and family love. The 4/3 sensor cameras do that, but not as well as the Leica X1. And they're not a Leica - yes, there's a style thing going on here too. The combination of the lens, the sensor, the simplicity of controls, the design and the images I see from others... it's the camera I want next. I love photography and want to do more. So it's my treat to myself. I've even shelled out on a Voigtlander 28/35mm minifinder. Can't wait to get it. The dealer says Leica have been quoting end of Feb... Sunday. I put my deposit down in September! In the meantime, I've been watching slideshows on Flickr - there are two Leica X1 groups there, which is a bit of a duplication of effort... but these are links to the photos the members have uploaded to the pools: LeicaX1 Slideshow | X1Leica Slideshow (can you use html here? would be nice to embed flickr slideshows) Oh... and here are some of the pics I took in Havana with the little Panasonic DMC-FX40 I had to buy at Gatwick the morning after I bloody lost my D-Lux3. I want to go back there with my X1.