M Video, Daimon Xanthopoulos & Transcontinenta

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I want to express my appreciation to Mr. Xanthopoulos for his M 240 film and to Transcontinenta for supporting the production.

 

I was surprised that Leica did not engage, or at least encourage, some talented filmmakers to demonstrate what the camera's video capabilities are, but instead left that evaluation to the internet Wild West and, in particular, to people who either know little to nothing about digital filmmaking with hybrid cameras or chose to pontificate about the camera's capabilities based on 24 hours of using it. The latter resulted in a fitting climb down that made the participants look ridiculous, but also left a cloud over the camera.

 

Transcontinenta should be congratulated for supporting Mr. Xanthopoulos's film and for engaging him to write a technical article about his experience using the camera for filmmaking.

 

It would be great to see more.

 

Some links:

 

transcontinenta - Home

Filmen op de Leica M | Leica in Nederland (Mr. Xanthopoulos's article, quite clear to non-Dutch speakers when run through Google translate)

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m-type-240/307397-video-last-ride-passion-steam.html (an earlier thread on this site about the film)

 

And finally, the film: De Laatste Rit - een passie voor stoom on Vimeo

 

Cheers.

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Here are three additional videos that I think show some things about the M's video capabilities:

Ciclavia Leica m240 Noctilux on Vimeo

LEICA M MOVING PICTURES THE NEIGHBORHOOD on Vimeo

Rolf Sachs: Camera in Motion on Vimeo

 

While it may not be to everyone's taste, I also want to include Nick de Marco's freehand sketch of Shanghai. Whether one likes it or not (he's been given some heat over it here), it demonstrates a great deal about the camera's technical strengths and limitations:

 

 

Unfortunately, everything else that I've seen on the internet, including by so-called Leica experts, has been junk, not just because it is technically bad, but because it is just plain boring.

 

We need to see more work by people who understand film and less "test video" by people who clearly have no idea what they are doing.

 

Cheers

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This video, made by someone named Thorsten Overgaard, who I gather has some kind of rep among at least some Leica owners, deserves a prize as the most pointless, and indeed embarrassing, M 240 video to date. Twelve and a half minutes of some photographer going through his luggage (Louis Vuitton, of course) in a Florida hotel:

 

33avenue.com interview: "What's In Your Suitcase, Thorsten von Overgaard..?" on Vimeo

 

If you look at all of Mr. Overgaard's M 240 videos on Vimeo, you'll get a master class in how not to do video.

[brusby]

I just sent a friend of mine, who is a professional video editor, a link to Daimon Xanthopoulos' video, asking him what he thought about the Leica M240. He hasn't seen the whole video yet but here is his initial response, sent just a few minutes after he got my email.

 

"Jesus, that's beautiful

What's impressive- and I don't know how much extra gear they had, however I am guessing it was a utilitarian shoot, and here is why:

 

The color retention is quite impressive, especially when they are shooting from inside the engine, because you can see certain parts of the image are blown out from the sunlight. What's amazing is that all the stuff does not look blue… It just seems like an aesthetic instead of difficult lighting conditions"

 

 

I'll supplement if he has any additional comments.

[jaapv]

Please use one thread.