richedg Posted November 5, 2006 Share #1 Posted November 5, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) As this is my first post on this forum I thought that I would introduce myself. I am a keen amateur photographer. I use the Canon 1Ds2 and a variety of L lenses. I enjoy people photography, macro/close up, landscape, etc. I often attempt low light photography with a Canon 50mm f1.4 or 85mm f1.2 lenses. The 1Ds2 is wonderful at low noise and I can hand hold in relatively low light. But it is a challenge in very low light. The camera is very heavy and the 85 lens is very heavy. Not the sort of combination to take to a restaurant or to sit in a living room and use for very long. I use a Leica D-Lux 2 as my walk about digicamera. It is a great little camera and I love the wide-angle view. However, the low light pictures with this camera are very noisy and not satisfying (the high ISO pictures are noisy). I have been reading the reviews of the M8 and thought it worth exploring. My goal would be a portable camera that takes excellent low light photographs. I have no experience with rangefinder cameras. The M8 and Leica lenses are expensive. I can only afford one lens to start. I like shooting people, low light environmental portraits, close up portraits, etc. I do not shoot shots of architecture, but do landscapes, I do not do street photography (far to shy to aim my camera at people on the street; a 1Ds2 looks like a deadly weapon with a big white lens in front). I understand the macro and a rangefinder is not the best combination, but wonder about eventually purchasing a Lens 90mm macro f4 for flowers, etc. My experience so far: Today I spent about an hour using an M8 with a 35mm f2 Leica lens. It was the first time that I have used a rangefinder camera. After auto focus on the 1Ds2 having to find that I had to manually focus was a shock! But after a few minutes I began to get the hang of focusing. Simple if there is a clear shape that the focus patch can be positioned over: you can then align the edge of the shape: relatively easy. Less easy was focusing on an eye from a distance. At f stops over f4 the depth of field was forgiving and allowed me to have sharp shots. At f2 a much less forgiving depth of field! But most of my shots were sharp. I realise I am a beginner with rangefinder and might get better. Some questions for far more experienced people: When you use f1.4 or f 1.0 lens how do you achieve a high level of critically sharp shots? Especially how do you place the point of focus where you want it to be? What tips can you suggest? I like to take shots with the lens wide open to isolate the person from the background. The Leica lenses produce beautiful and dream out of focus areas. When I take a portrait of a person I most often want the person’s eye closest to me to be sharp. With the 1Ds2 I place one of the many focus points on the eye, press the focus button and take the picture. I do not focus on the recompose: moving the camera would also move the shallow depth of field. Given that the range finder focus patch is in the centre of the viewfinder how do I get the eye in focus? (Usually I do not have the person in my portraits with his or her eye in the centre of the frame!). I under stand from reading Sean Reid’s review of the M8 that focus with the longer lenses (50 f1 75 f1.4, etc) may be tricky when used wide open. Does any one have experience with the lenses and focus issues? How easy is it to achieve critical focus wide open? I am very attracted to the 50 f1 (huge price, big and heavy!) and it may not be wise to purchase this for some time. I am considering purchasing either the Lecia 28 f2 or the 35 f1.4 lens as a first lens. What do you think? Thank you for your help and any ideas and suggestions. Cheers Richard PS I have the opportunity to purchase an M8 in the next few weeks. So I need to make my mind up soon about the purchase and the best lens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 5, 2006 Posted November 5, 2006 Hi richedg, Take a look here Advise for a potential new M8 user. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
j. borger Posted November 5, 2006 Share #2 Posted November 5, 2006 All i can say is focussing the 75 1.4 and 50 1.0 .. assume you use a 1,25 viewfinder magnifier ...... is spot on EVERYTIME with my M8. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richedg Posted November 5, 2006 Author Share #3 Posted November 5, 2006 Thank you for your reply. I think that Sean also mentions that the magnifier would be helpful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&W Posted November 5, 2006 Share #4 Posted November 5, 2006 Hi and welcome to the forum! In the matter of portrait photography I would start with Summilux 1,4 50 Asph. Simply a beautiful lens for that kind of use Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richedg Posted November 5, 2006 Author Share #5 Posted November 5, 2006 Thank you for the reply. I am a bit hesitant about the 50 f1.4 lens as I would eventually like to get the 50 f1 lens and am not sure if I can afford to have two 50mm lenses. Although the reviews of the 50mm f1 lens that I have read do mention that having two 50 mm lenses is good as they both have strenghts in different areas. At what sorts of speeds can you hand hold the 50mm f1.4 lens wide open (low light)? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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