Event Photography with the CL

[tommonego@gmail.com]

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Hi,

Photographed an event over the weekend, a series of TED style lectures. They didn't want flash so I decided to use my CL because my series of lenses is faster than my Nikon. Good choice I used a 23 f2 Summicron TL, 7 Artisans 55 f1.4, and surprisingly an Elmarit 90 f2.8. Focus was spot on all through the event, I had a good ledge to steady on so exposures were 1/20th of a second to a max of 1/60th. I was wide open on the Summicron and the Elmarit, used the 7 Artisans at f2 most of the day. Focus assist worked most of the time except with the 90 which I couldn't get magnification to work even if I set the lens profile, surprisingly worked geat with the 55. The viewfinder was good enough to handle careful focusing. Harked back to my M days with the shutter making very little noise and no shutter shake. I was impressed. The pics are kinda boring, but the presenters are sharp. 

 

Tom

Edited March 4, 2019 by tommonego@gmail.com

[bherman01545]

Electronic shutter might have been a good option as well for low-light handheld photography, no?

 

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[tommonego@gmail.com]

I had no problems, used a nice 8 inch wall around the auditorium to steady myself. Using a viewfinder to your eye also helps steady things. I was surprised though, I expected 50% of the photos to have some shake, was more like 10-20%. Helped that I didn't have much coffee during the day. It is nice to pic from a lot of photos to get the best looking pics of each one of them.

Tom

[bherman01545]

I made a mistake when I first used the CL with 18-56 while on vacation. I set the camera for Aperture Priority and Auto ISO with max 3200 and minimum shutter speed at 1/15th to keep the camera immediately going to a high ISO setting. When shooting in low-light or in the shade at 50-56mm, I had a few that were a bit soft, which was probably due to slight camera shake as the ones in bright light were perfect. 

I was later told by my Leica dealer to use the 1/f (focal length) setting for the lenses up to 56mm and either 2/f for the 55-135 of simply use Shutter Priority. There is simply no getting around it. You need a tripod, a steady hand with the proper settings when your camera or lenses don't have an IBIS or VR system.

 

-Brad

[LocalHero1953]

5 hours ago, tommonego@gmail.com said:

Hi,

Photographed an event over the weekend, a series of TED style lectures. They didn't want flash so I decided to use my CL because my series of lenses is faster than my Nikon. Good choice I used a 23 f2 Summicron TL, 7 Artisans 55 f1.4, and surprisingly an Elmarit 90 f2.8. Focus was spot on all through the event, I had a good ledge to steady on so exposures were 1/20th of a second to a max of 1/60th. I was wide open on the Summicron and the Elmarit, used the 7 Artisans at f2 most of the day. Focus assist worked most of the time except with the 90 which I couldn't get magnification to work even if I set the lens profile, surprisingly worked geat with the 55. The viewfinder was good enough to handle careful focusing. Harked back to my M days with the shutter making very little noise and no shutter shake. I was impressed. The pics are kinda boring, but the presenters are sharp. 

 

Tom

Thanks for the info on your experience.

What ISO did you set?

A comment on using the electronic shutter: one has to test this out indoors under artificial light, to check there is no colour banding. I learned this the hard way the first time I shot a lecture with the electronic shutter, and had to convert all the images to B&W. Now I always run test shots first, both wide-angle of the whole scene and close-ups of particular locations (the banding can vary by location).

[wda]

Was your 90mm ELMARIT coded? 

[tommonego@gmail.com]

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I shot at ISO 400, still a little afraid of noise at 800 that I got in the Nikon cameras I have had. 

The Elmarit 90 is an Ugly I bought from KEH Camera years ago, my M shooting ended in the 90s, did large format after that so the lens is not coded. Did set both options for the 90 Elmarit. Funny that the 55 7 Artisans didn't trigger a lens profile but I had all the focus assist options.

I'd show pictures but I don't have permission from the subjects.

Tom

Edited March 4, 2019 by tommonego@gmail.com

[Petercoll]

18 hours ago, bherman01545 said:

I made a mistake when I first used the CL with 18-56 while on vacation. I set the camera for Aperture Priority and Auto ISO with max 3200 and minimum shutter speed at 1/15th to keep the camera immediately going to a high ISO setting. When shooting in low-light or in the shade at 50-56mm, I had a few that were a bit soft, which was probably due to slight camera shake as the ones in bright light were perfect. 

I was later told by my Leica dealer to use the 1/f (focal length) setting for the lenses up to 56mm and either 2/f for the 55-135 of simply use Shutter Priority. There is simply no getting around it. You need a tripod, a steady hand with the proper settings when your camera or lenses don't have an IBIS or VR system.

 

-Brad

Post processing can tidily remove noise at 12,000 iso. It is any contrasty bits that are the killer at this level. The Leica APSc system is expressly designed so you can choose very high iso levels, ok dynamic range and pin sharp blur free hand held shots with any lens at night (look at Jono Slack’s wonderful revue for proof). Elbows into chest and hold a deep breath and you’re halfway there !!

 

[tommonego@gmail.com]

Since my experience is older Nikons where 800 can possibly be used and 1600 is unacceptable. I stayed at ISO 400 and loved the files, so easy to work with. Will have to try higher ISOs, this was for a client so I was conservative

 

Tom. 

[bags27]

17 hours ago, Petercoll said:

Post processing can tidily remove noise at 12,000 iso. It is any contrasty bits that are the killer at this level. The Leica APSc system is expressly designed so you can choose very high iso levels, ok dynamic range and pin sharp blur free hand held shots with any lens at night (look at Jono Slack’s wonderful revue for proof). Elbows into chest and hold a deep breath and you’re halfway there !!

 

Jono has dancing girls? 🙂 

Sorry, couldn't resist. But as a CL newbie (made lazy by the no-brainer Q), this is really helpful. thanks.