Why Do I Chimp???

[stealthman_1]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

So I shot digital for a few years, then went significantly back to film. My last two major vacations have been pure film, the last of which I shot over 2000 MF and larger images on...and yes, I'm still soupin' and scannin'... I'm very comfortable with and without a light meter, but I get this M9...finally...and I'm a chimping fool! For certain, some of it is about new camera, if the rangefinder accurate, how is the metering? But jeez, I feel like a dork with a CanNikon, whiz-bang DLSR missing everything 'cause I'm watchin' the TV on the back!

So me, the dog, the M9, and an MP are going to the Napa Valley tomorrow...and maybe a Blad too and I'm not going to chimp. I AM NOT! OK, maybe just a peaky boo once in a while...

 

Anyone else change significantly when they got their M9?

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[lars_bergquist]

There are of course excellent reasons for consulting the rear monitor. Like, a shot with tricky lighting (and a chance of a second try). As I have written elsewhere, I have learned more about exposure during the years since I bought my first digital M, than I learned during the previous half century of shooting film.

 

But that is not chimping of course. Chimping is obsessive. A good anti-chimping measure (like keeping your hands on top of the bed cover) is a halfcase, so that you also have to unbutton the back flap before the rear controls become accessible. Mine is by Luigi Crescenzi.

 

The old man from the Age Before Chimps Took Pictures

[brill64]

..stop it or you'll go blind

[SJP]

Switch off the LCD-preview, use a few test shots (esp. the histogram) to fix the manual exposure for keeping the highlights. Now you are all set.

 

Start clicking just like it was a film camera trying to ignore the light meter info altogether. If the light changes dramatically of course you need to readjust.

 

This is the theory - when I am not sure whether a shot worked as intended it is difficult to suppress the desire to check immediately.

[DFV]

To be honest, I only use the back screen to make sure the picture is framed correctly.

 

I have noticed that the pictures on that screen have a tendency NOT to look too well exposed. I don't know if it is the created thumbnail by the M9 or the relatively poor screen. When I download my pics on Lightroom the are mostly well exposed. So, right now I only use it to confirm framing and it is alright with me.

[Ecar]

Just because you can...

More seriously, I find it extremely useful to be able to check the composition and the histogram on the fly. Sometimes, this enables me to take the picture again if I'm not satisfied.

It's pretty useless for street photography or other moving environments though, as chances are that the scene will have changed while you check the LCD.

[dpattinson]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

not taking a pola back for the blad then? the original chimp

[stealthman_1]

Start clicking just like it was a film camera trying to ignore the light meter info altogether. .

 

I hate not having a film rewind and that other thing that goes in the hot shoe is not for me. I quickly found soft+discreet will be my shutter setting.

 

No poloroid back for the blad...I would chimp film before the fix...if I thought I could get away with it!!!

[lars_bergquist]

Don't ever judge exposure by just looking at the picture in the monitor. Check the histogram -- and for that purpose a plain brightness graph, not a RGB one, is best.

 

The old non-chimp

[Guest ccmsosse]

To be honest, I only use the back screen to make sure the picture is framed correctly.

 

I have noticed that the pictures on that screen have a tendency NOT to look too well exposed. I don't know if it is the created thumbnail by the M9 or the relatively poor screen. When I download my pics on Lightroom the are mostly well exposed. So, right now I only use it to confirm framing and it is alright with me.

 

I would agree with that statement - the monitor is only good to check framing and that's about it (it will remind you to take the lens cap off )

[cheewai_m6]

it's probably more silly to have to opportunity to fix a shot while you're there, than to miss a good shot simply because you don't want to chimp. digital shooting is not the same as film.

[AlanJW]

I check to see if I got what I wanted. Especially when traveling where the opportunity for a second shot may be absent.

 

If we call it "checking" rather than "chimping", is it still forbidden? Seriously, one of the great advantages of digital is the ability to see whether you have made a mistake and correct it on the spot. Unless the screen is obtrusive (dark theatre), why deny this advantage?

 

I attended a ceremony Friday of a friend who was being sworn in to a high government position, and in order to get some shots I had to hold the camera above my head. I did check each shot because the framing was impossible to know without doing that. I think most would agree that this is a "good" use of the screen. But the room had tricky lighting too -- sun from windows plus lots of incandescents, and I was also shooting at f/1.4 (Summilux 50), so I wanted to see whether I was getting the people exposed properly and also in focus. I am sure that with no LCD the results would not have been to my liking.

 

That LCD is a tool to be used to make better images. I like to have as many tools to help me as possible, and I am not embarrassed to say that I need all the help I can get. So I am a "checker" and not a "chimper" -- but in the end when we look at images we don't know whether the photographer chimped or checked, do we? And if it is a good image, do we care?

[wparsonsgisnet]

..stop it or you'll go blind

 

... and get warts, too.

[Alnitak]

... and get warts, too.

 

I was told it would give you hairy palms.

[jsrockit]

I chimp and I think it is a great addition to helping one get what they want. It allows me to see, on static subjects, if the composition worked or not and to re-do it. I'm not too proud to learn from chimping.

[lars_bergquist]

I chimp and I think it is a great addition to helping one get what they want. It allows me to see, on static subjects, if the composition worked or not and to re-do it. I'm not too proud to learn from chimping.

I have learned much from my previews too. But just like French cognac, while good in measure, it can become a bad habit if used without moderation.

 

The old Darwinian Chimp

[zlatkob]

The LCD is a great tool, probably one of the best tools to come to photography since its invention in the 1800's. Even if digital photography had never been invented, I would still want an LCD on my film cameras — for the histogram and as a tiny "Polaroid". Sometimes just the quickest glance is enough to be helpful. That said, it can be a distraction, and it can take some discipline to remain focused on the subject.

[Philip Freedman]

I find most useful the optional setting that gives you a review only if you hold down the release button after taking the shot. That helps avoids the temptation to review every shot.

Philip

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[swamiji]

I hate not having a film rewind and that other thing that goes in the hot shoe is not for me.

 

Hmmm, A film rewind lever. A passing phase. My IIIa didn't have it, nor my IIIg, nor my M8, Nor my M9.... Oh... I guess my M7 does... I wondered what it was for.

 

P.S. My 3.5cm Summaron works wonderfully on my M9

[stealthman_1]

I find most useful the optional setting that gives you a review only if you hold down the release button after taking the shot. That helps avoids the temptation to review every shot.

Philip

 

I'm going to have to play with that. I don't like the idea though that my shutter release has another task that it could decide to do should I need it to expose an image...like I said, I haven't seen how that is implemented, it would be wonderful if it was 'me' proof!

 

The rewind lever fetish passed quickly...I don't have one on my IIIf either and I never felt I needed one. The thickness of the M9 is a bit different than the Barnack though and I have smaller hands. I'll keep the Luigi half case with the grip on it, that's really all I need. Just had never handled a black Leica without a film advance. Soft+discreet gives me what I really like though, the cluck of the shutter followed by the advance, when I want it to happen.

 

Oh, and my chimping was much more under control in NV. I checked some stuff in the Rhine House and the Merryvale Cask Room...other than that I looked at stuff in the car as I was about to leave a winery. I'll live!