Shooting Wide Open

[Raid Amin]

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I met Peter Karbe in Wetzlar and he said, more than once, that all modern Leica lenses are designed to be used wide open without any reduced image quality.

 

Ernst

Yes, he said this. I recall it well. It was nice meeting you, Ernst!

Edited February 12, 2018 by Raid Amin

[Ernstk]

Did he men only his lenses, not those of Walter Mandler?

 

He did say 'modern' Leica lenses. I took it to mean recent ones.

 

Ernst

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[Ernstk]

Yes, he said this. I recall it well. It was nice meeting you, Ernst!

 

And it was nice meeting you too Raid. It was a very enjoyable day.

 

Ernst

[Ernstk]

Well, actually that goes for old Leica lenses equally, seen within the context of their time. However, the fact that one CAN shoot a lens wide open does not imply that one HAS TO shoot it wide open all the time. The subject is the deciding factor.

 

I agree. I was just sharing some context from Leica's lens designer...

 

Ernst

[jaapv]

Well, actually my remark was inspired by the implication of some posters that the aperture ring is a redundant ornament, and by Thorsten's rather rigid advice, and not really meant as a refutation of your post that I quoted.

[jto555]

This thread is a howl! People getting out of shape over Thorsten shooting the photographs wide open. After exposer the use of the aperture ring is a personal choice. Funny I don't see any posts over people getting out of shape over people only shooting in B/W or only using natural light.

 

 

Personally I only shoot all my photographs at 1/125 sec! I love the way that shutter speed renders... ; )

[ianman]

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This thread is a howl! People getting out of shape over Thorsten shooting the photographs wide open.

No they are not. What some people are disagreeing with is his alleged comment that stopping down is somehow a waste.

If leaving the aperture glued wide open suits a particular stye, it's fine. But irrespective of the quality and capability of the lens, some believe that it's cost should not influence ones style. I too adhere to that principle.

[Donzo98]

I use all of my lenses wide open most of the time. Not to justify their expensive prices, but because I love the out of focus areas, which I often think are the most interesting parts of an image. I think the genuine rendering of a lens is best shown here. Sharpness looks more or less equal with all lenses.

 

Me too...

[Jeff S]

If the out of focus areas of my pics were the most interesting parts, I pick up another hobby.

 

Jeff

[jaapv]

I wouldn't. I would have far more keepers...

[lct]

True Leica men put filters with no hood on their lenses and take pics to show the blur around their subject matters.

[Rus]

I like f1.4 lenses because I like good image quality and I like shooting at f2. Make sense? No?

 

Then again, I like crushing garlic with my paper weight and eating noodles with a pair of scissors. Make sense? No?

 

A lens is like any other tool in the box. Use it however you want.

 

If what another has recommended suits you well, then by all means follow it.

if not, then just change it. It’s not worth being bogged down by the swamp of opinions and preferences.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Rus

[adli]

Me too...

 

 

Now also on the Leica Forum

[Donzo98]

Now also on the Leica Forum

Timely... and very funny

[jmahto]

Me too...

Without due process responses like "MeToo" will create havoc on our Leica life. People will be forever afraid of shooting wide open and I am afraid the Leica mystic will soon become a thing of the past. Let us all be careful before this thing gets out of hand.

 

[Gelatino]

This is my to-day decision: I will all day long shoot at  f/3,4  ....with my SEM 21.

[newnew]

Reading through the posts and also being often on Thorsten's website looking at his pictures, I come to think that, as any word said in any book or by a religious leader, we may take Thorsten's words too literally and not in context. Thorsten has developed a "style" on his own by shooting wide open. If you look at his pictures these are mostly people, or singled out objects on relatively simple backgrounds. He has found and developed his shooting style around "full open" use of lenses that he has learned to master with very nice pictures.(By the way we have not seen ALL his photos , only the ones he posts while each of us sees ALL of our OWN photos)

Some people may want to adapt this style and this is his school . One may discover and practice other "styles" with F2 to F 32 or with just one lens , with only blue color , etc.. etc.. The point is that Thorsten obtains a given signature with a specific statement which is "wide open".  It is also similar to HCB's pictures taken with a 50 mm. I believe the problem is when we have not developed a given style or signature , either  because we are not interested , or we have not been able to or that we have not matured there yet , we may find such a statement too restrictive or kind of "nonsense".

[lct]

[../] The point is that Thorsten obtains a given signature with a specific statement which is "wide open".  It is also similar to HCB's pictures taken with a 50 mm. [...]

 

HCB's favorite aperture was f/5.6 or f/6.3 if memory serves. As clear as i can recall, shooting at wide aperture was not trendy at all then, fast apertures were made for low light mainly. The trend was rather trying to catch the famous HCB's "decisive moment". Not that easy to say the least so the blur provided by full apertures has become a sort of substitute to more or less poor composition. Not a reason to reject optical blur of course and i don't know enough about Thorsten's later photography to criticize anything seriously about it. I have fond memories of discussions we've had on LUF 10+ years ago about the Digilux 1 when it was the first or one of the first digital Leicas but DoF was so wide at any aperture due to the small sensor that optical blur was difficult to obtain otherwise than in macro photo. 

Edited February 14, 2018 by lct

[james.liam]

HCB was a painter by training and where he returned to when his professional life ended so as ‘lct’ notes, his images taken at f/5.6-6.3 would reflect the tendency to capture that detailed scene in its entirely. Wide-open photography for the average schmo is the product of accurate autofocus, not the carefully staged or controlled event of a practiced hand.

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[newnew]

My mention of HCB was to explain the concept of style. There is no judgment about comparing one "style" with the other "style". There are styles that a lot of people like and want to follow and other styles that are just very personal and not so popular. For instance in landscape photography , long exposure times to leave the water/waves blur is a very popular one. So common that it is no more the signature of a very personal style.

Edited February 14, 2018 by newnew