Help with Venice - fields of view and the Monochrom?

[dante]

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Ok - weird question. I am headed to Venice soon and unlike a lot of places, I am having trouble figuring out how tight the spaces are. I usually take a medium-format camera on trips for b/w work* (usually a GA645), but I am seriously considering taking my M246 instead due to size (20 rolls of 120 actually takes up a lot of space), immunity from CT scans, and the ability to shoot basically in the dark. 

The GA has a 35mm-equivalent lens; I am sensing that the "wide" spaces of Venice may need something a lot wider - and in the case of San Marco, something "brighter." For my Ms, I have 18s (ZM), 21s (Super Elmar and others), and even a 21-35. The only things I have significantly wider than 35mm FOV for medium format are on cameras (like a Horseman SW612 or Fuji G690) that are probably too heavy. 

I'd love to see some of your pictures with an identification of the focal length of lens used. 

Also, has anyone found the touchiness of M246 exposure to make using it in a place like this "not fun"? It's been fine in most circumstances.

Thanks! 

*For color, it could be anything - an M240, an RX100M5, A7r2, a Light L16... 

[Sandokan]

I will be in Venice in April for the photo festival. I planned to bring a M camera with 21/50/75 and Hasselblad 907x with 20/45/90. Or I could bring a Q2 and SL with 24-90. Decisions decisions!

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[vinicio]

I am a photographer living in Venice. I am using the M10M now with this combination: 21/35/75 and Venice is totally “covered”.

The SL2 with the 24-90 is another option I use and this also offer me the possibility to cover the town.

 

[espelt]

I can only associate myself with. When I visited Venice last year I mostly only had 35 and 75 with me. Or on some days just a 50 Elmar m. The M becomes so wonderfully compact with the lens inserted. For exposure: We were in Venice in March. In the period after Carnival and before Easter. A wonderful time to discover the city. During this time the light is not so stark and the differences between bright sun and pitch-dark corners are not so significant. But even if that is the case when you visit: SW in particular offers a huge number of great motifs with wonderful contrasts.

I showed some pictures here:

 

[LocalHero1953]

I think these were taken with a M2 and Summicron-M 35 v4, in about 2004. Selected for angle of view, not image quality (though the last one is a favourite).

 

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Edited February 8 by LocalHero1953

[Glasauge]

Even in wider spaces M 18mm might be a good choice (M10)

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[cprotz]

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I was there two years ago with a group of photographer friends for a street workshop. Checking the stats of my pix I used 35mm the most followed by 50mm and 18mm. My 35mm allowed also closeups, e.g. on the fish market. We where lucky as at that time shortly before Easter, there had not yet been that many tourists. I had other lenses with me as well, but they where only a fraction of the first mentioned.

Getting up before sunrise brought cool photos of e.g. the gondolas.

Enjoy your trip 🙂

 

Regards. Christoph

 

[dante]

I'll answer my own questions here, at least as much as I can as of today.

I ended up taking a 21-35/3.4-4 M-Hexanon. This turned out to be an inspired choice because (1) it covers the actual useful range, (2) you never have to take it off the camera, and (3) it's really sharp (notwithstanding some barrel distortion at 21mm). You can also get away with eye-shifting using the viewfinder to guesstimate the 21mm coverage. Between the weight, lens changing, and other things, I think I would have gone crazy with my Summilux 35 ASPH and 21 Super Elmar. That said, Venice presents nothing (that I can ascertain) that calls for a fast lens for a b/w camera that comfortably shoots at ISO 5000. Unless your jam is taking interior b/w pictures of mosaics and Renaissance paintings, which seems like a real waste. Would the 35 ASPH and 21 SA be sharper? A little more contrasty, no doubt, given my pre-trip tests, but not worth the (literal) lift. I have seen no call for longer lenses for b/w shots here.

The one thing I really wish I had was my 15/4.5 Laowa shift lens or even my 28/3.5 PC-Nikkor (each obviously with an EVF-2). Perspective correction - not necessarily superwides - are what would help in a place like this with very tight sightlines. Unfortunately, PC lenses are big and heavy and would have to be switched out. I would also bring a grad ND and/or a polarizer. Skylight and buildings seem to be very close tonally, and contrast filtration is not always helping.

As to the M246 itself, I will report back later, but one immediate comment is that I hate EVFs, but after a few days shooting in difficult-to-control conditions, an M Monochrom is probably the strongest candidate of any M for a built-in EVF, between the narrow overexposure latitude and general challenges around using contrast filters. The Q Mono doesn't seem like such a weird idea now.

D

[Al Brown]

22 minutes ago, dante said:

Perspective correction - not necessarily superwides - are what would help in a place like this with very tight sightlines. Unfortunately, PC lenses are big and heavy and would have to be switched out.

ACR offers very nice one click perspective correction without the fuss of carrying PC lenses - with minimal sacrifice. Here is a very quick and dirty test on a Rialto back street.

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[R4p70r]

I have visited Venice for 6 years. 5 of it during the carnival and one pre-summer time. In all those years I had different camera systems, a plethora of zooms and primes lenses with me. Focal lengths ranged from 16mm to 105mm. 

For the Leica M system I would take one on the extreme lower end 15mm for some locations. I will be not used very often but oh dear those locations look perfect captured with such an ultra wide angle lens. 

For wide angle 24mm or 28mm are more than enough to take photos of the streets/alleys & architecture in full. 

35mm a quite versatile lens. It keeps you on the toes to be more creative with it regarding composition compared to the other two above mentioned wide angle lenses. With the 24mm & 28mm it's like point and shoot at something to get everything in one photo. Later during post-processing the photos you have the option to crop out spaces or unwanted objects/subjects out off the photo. Fun lens for street photography.

50mm for portraits and isolating of objects/subjects or tighter physical crop. Fun lens for street photography with one or two subjects in a street scene.

75mm, 90mm, or 135mm if you are standing at the water front and want to take photos of scenes far away. When I had a Zeiss Loxia 85mm or 85mm f/1.4 GM lenses with me on a Sony camera I struggled to take photos with it in the narrow alleys, smaller squares or crowd. For portraits it was wonderful especially to take photos of the people in their elaborated costumes (headshots, masks, details or from head to the chest). 

Edited February 21 by R4p70r

[dante]

On 2/20/2024 at 6:04 PM, Al Brown said:

ACR offers very nice one click perspective correction without the fuss of carrying PC lenses - with minimal sacrifice. Here is a very quick and dirty test on a Rialto back street.

Been using that feature since it came out - as well as DxO Viewpoint - and I can't say I've found the sacrifices minimal. They are acceptable if you have pixels and margin around the subject to burn. That's often the case with a loosely framed picture taken with a wide lens (like shooting a 50mm lens on 6x9 and scanning to 96mp); not so much fun for tighter work, where you can lose the top or bottom of the subject due to the crop constraints.

D   

[Budfox]

I used a 35mm only on M11 last year - you find the compositions to make it work.

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[Budfox]

One more...

 

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Edited March 1 by Budfox