tashley Posted December 27, 2009 Share #1 Posted December 27, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I thought this might be useful for some people. As I get to know the camera better I'll post a selection of shots that show some or other aspect of the system's performance and behaviour. So the shots aren't supposed to impress either artistically or technically, but merely to show, for example, what different ISO performance is like or whether the AF is accurate or what the DOF is like with various lenses at various apertures etc. All the seaside shots with today's date were taken using a Gitzo 3 series CF tripod with Arca cube head, some with a 2 second self timer (which puts the mirror up before the countdown) and some without. In other words, they can't be used to tell you how hand-holdable the camera is. Over the next days I will post some that try to test that aspect. All these were developed in LR3 and mostly with a light-touch approach to development. Some are slightly cropped. If anyone has individual questions about that please ask. The two of the wharfside buildings are one of my standard test shots. I shot them on both the 70 and 180mm lenses at ISO Pull 80 so as to get the slowest shutter speeds possible in order to test the combination of camera and tripod setup to see if there are any shutter speeds that induce a shake. So far I can't say that there are, but it was pretty gusty and to do this test really accurately needs a very calm day. In any event I learned from this test that both lenses seem to hit their sweet spots for resolution at F8. Otherwise, I have no real comments so far other than to say that the system is a real pleasure to use. Tomorrow I will try it with a monopod to see how I get on! The gallery is at the address below and the images are all full size JPEG, many at 100% though some are saved at lower quality so as the meet Zenfolio file size limits of 24 MB. Right-clicking on an image will allow you to download the full-sized version. Zenfolio | Tim Ashley | S2 Samples Best Tim Zenfolio | Tim Ashley | S2 Samples Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 27, 2009 Posted December 27, 2009 Hi tashley, Take a look here A real-world S2 Sample Gallery. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
markowich Posted December 27, 2009 Share #2 Posted December 27, 2009 tim, some of your files look oversharpened while others might have been taken by a D3x. all in all i see nothing special in the MF territory. certainly both my P65+ and H3DII50 beat the S2 in IQ but probably not in handling. of course there may be jpg compression and lack of RAW profiles etc. more interestingly than the samples, what is your subjective IQ impression? peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted December 27, 2009 Author Share #3 Posted December 27, 2009 tim,some of your files look oversharpened while others might have been taken by a D3x. all in all i see nothing special in the MF territory. certainly both my P65+ and H3DII50 beat the S2 in IQ but probably not in handling. of course there may be jpg compression and lack of RAW profiles etc. more interestingly than the samples, what is your subjective IQ impression? peter Peter, as you know (and state) JPEGs processed without profiles and in sRGB and so on are not a good way of testing IQ, which is why I really tried to focus the point of this exercise on issues relating to resolution of lenses, DOF, ISO and so on rather than an attempt at the impossible! IQ is pretty much indistinguishable from a P45+ at lower ISO and a little better at higher ISO. Which is pretty much exactly what other users have found, bar smallish quibbles. I had no expectations of it being any better than that other than at higher ISO, where I think it is better than the 45+ by a small margin, probably, but I'd need to use it under a lot more diverse conditions to be more certain. But I don't think anyone should buy it on a hope that IQ will compete with a P65+ or Hassy 50. That was never gonna happen! Handling is a joyful improvement on a Phase 645 (and also an FD, I think, but I have not taken delivery of mine yet and used one only for a day a coupla months back)....however... there are some dull but grown-up things that the Phase bodies do that are very useful like proper exposure compensation and on the new body, user profiles on a dial rather than in software. That all said, the quieter and less jerky shutter on the S2 is really nice and the AF is so far impressing me. HTH! Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markowich Posted December 28, 2009 Share #4 Posted December 28, 2009 thanks tim, i shall make up my mind today on whether to buy or not to buy----)))) i have just called leica to ask the same questions you did and they promised to call me back. interesting tidbit of information i got: they are producing five cameras a day right now... peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted December 29, 2009 Author Share #5 Posted December 29, 2009 This one as an example was on a cheap monopod at 1/12th second. Half of the shots at 1/8th are acceptably sharp or better too, and with the 70mm lens I find that 1/125th is pretty much a guaranteed success handheld. I'll take and post more but my feeling so far is that this beastie's mirror and shutter are as subtle as they sound and feel... You can download a full-sized version from http://tashley1.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p1031184455-5.jpg and as you'll see at 100% it is extremely sharp, even at LR defaults. Not bad for a monopod at 1/12th methinks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted January 6, 2010 Author Share #6 Posted January 6, 2010 Today in London was miserable weather: 0 degrees centigrade with wet, slushy snow falling and very, very thick cloud and flat light. Not the right conditions to walk round for an hour with a MF camera round your neck, often shooting at fairly slow shutter speeds with medium and long-ish unstabilised lenses sometimes at higher ISO, handheld for every shot. I got about the same number of correctly focussed shots as I would with a 5DII and more than I ever got with a 1DSIII. Shake was not an issue, even at less than 1/2xf. I screwed up a few by not yet knowing the camera's DR well enough to have added enough positive exposure compensation, blah blah blah. Anyhoo, for me this gives the final proof that this camera can perform as I need and that now, any poor shots I get will be my fault. Here's one, the others are on my S2 gallery at full size (albeit some minor crops) and mostly at 100% JPEG quality. Some have had some pretty brutal PP to get them roughly where I wanted them. Zenfolio | Tim Ashley | S2 Samples Oh, that weather proof thing. Seems to work, though I did shoot using an Optech Rainsleeve too, just in case! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterv Posted January 6, 2010 Share #7 Posted January 6, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi Tim, I've downloaded the full size jpg's from your site. Both black & white and colour look good to me. The atmosphere was well captured indeed. Interesting photo's. Somehow it really shows that you enjoy shooting with the S2. The corners look quite good, even with the wide apetures you used. I guess focussing on distant objects helps here, as with any lens. Interesting bokeh in the 'winterwonderland' photo. Thanks for sharing. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elansprint72 Posted January 6, 2010 Share #8 Posted January 6, 2010 Have you got anything at really high ISO? Say 25600? I would be interested to compare it to my much cheaper 35mm "full-frame" equiv camera. I expect that mine looks like a bag of shite, compared to the S2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spersky Posted January 6, 2010 Share #9 Posted January 6, 2010 All these shot where in Raw then converted in Lightroom? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
c6gowin Posted January 7, 2010 Share #10 Posted January 7, 2010 Have you got anything at really high ISO? Say 25600?I would be interested to compare it to my much cheaper 35mm "full-frame" equiv camera. I expect that mine looks like a bag of shite, compared to the S2. The S2 has a max ISO of 1250. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share #11 Posted January 7, 2010 Hi Tim,I've downloaded the full size jpg's from your site. Both black & white and colour look good to me. The atmosphere was well captured indeed. Interesting photo's. Somehow it really shows that you enjoy shooting with the S2. The corners look quite good, even with the wide apetures you used. I guess focussing on distant objects helps here, as with any lens. Interesting bokeh in the 'winterwonderland' photo. Thanks for sharing. Peter Thanks Peter, I am really enjoying using this cam... to tell the truth I had an X1 in my pocket all day and didn't use it once! WRT bokeh, the two walkers in that shot are part bokeh part motion blur so best not to put all the edge effects around them down to bokeh I guess. Corners on these lenses are class-leading I am quite convinced by now after some tests I ran. There's a reason that the Schneiders and so on start at F5.6 or whatever - that's what these sensor sizes seem to need to get extremely sharp corners but the S2 glass I have convinces me as offering as good as you can get at wider F stops. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share #12 Posted January 7, 2010 Have you got anything at really high ISO? Say 25600?I would be interested to compare it to my much cheaper 35mm "full-frame" equiv camera. I expect that mine looks like a bag of shite, compared to the S2. As Mark says, the S2 doesn't do that, it's a sensor-type thing. CCDs don't 'do' high ISO but they are great at resolution, DR, colour etc at their lower ISOs. This is very much a 'horses for courses' thing but the problem is that until you've spent a while shooting MF it's hard to really 'get' what the horse is and what courses it is best suited to. I am quite sure that for certain situations a good 35mm FF camera would be more suitable than an S2/Phase One/Hassy rig... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share #13 Posted January 7, 2010 All these shot where in Raw then converted in Lightroom? Yup, converted quite quickly (and not subtly!) in LR3 with default NR and sharpening on most and quite a lot of tonal intervention on nearly all to make the flat light less insipid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
c6gowin Posted January 7, 2010 Share #14 Posted January 7, 2010 ... to tell the truth I had an X1 in my pocket all day and didn't use it once.... This is an interesting comment to me. I have an X1 coming and have pretty much decided to get the S2 (been on the list for several months now). I figure the X1 will be a good companion camera for the S2 and will be useful on those occasions when you don't want to take out the larger S2. Is the X1 commercially available in the UK yet or do you have a Leica demo/test camera? Neither the X1 or S2 is commercially available in the US at this moment. I expect that to change very shortly though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tashley Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share #15 Posted January 7, 2010 Mark, it's a UK loaner and I've hardly used it yet though I shot a few frames of an identical subject against a Pen at base ISO and if I had to grab one of them it would be the X1. I figure to carry it in a pocket when I have the S2 in case specific uses for it that play to its strengths arise. I also plan to carry it as a backup when travelling, a purpose for which I had purchases the Pen but these micro4/3 cameras are so dreadful with M glass under 50mm that I've sort of given up on that one... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photoskeptic Posted January 13, 2010 Share #16 Posted January 13, 2010 Tim, thanks for posting these. I feel to really appreciate what this camera can do, I will have to see some 20 x 30 (or larger) prints exhibited. One of those things the internet just cannot accomplish for any of us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhoersch Posted January 14, 2010 Share #17 Posted January 14, 2010 Wow, at long last another post in this forum! The silence around here has become almost deafening since the S2 hit the market. Has it been so much more fun waiting for the camera than actually having it, or what is going on? Am I missing something? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMacD Posted January 14, 2010 Share #18 Posted January 14, 2010 Lack of posts suggests that those who have an S2 are: Busy shooting Not having any problems that aren't being fixed very fast and without returning the camera. This would be good news. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheewai_m6 Posted January 15, 2010 Share #19 Posted January 15, 2010 leica..... they have that special look where you just do not see from other cameras and lenses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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