SimonPJ
Well-known
The recent activity on threads about how people got into, or out of, Leica reminded me of a thread that I started back in 2013.
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137835&highlight=Social+discrete+low+light
That thread was about whether Leica M’s were still the best choice for discrete low light photography when you are in amongst what’s going on. (I had originally started using Leica M’s in the 1990’s to document research that I was doing in a children’s psychiatric unit.)
Since I posed that question back in 2013 the high ISO performance of digital M’s has obviously improved significantly, with the M10 now closer to the current state of the art than my M9 was then.
Here’s what I wrote back in 2013 (slightly edited):
“In the 25 plus years that I've been using Leicas, one of my main uses for them has been documenting social or work events that I'm participating in - usually when I'm sitting amongst the people I'm photographing, and often in very poor light because it's indoors, or late in the day. I know this is a familiar situation for many on RFF.
Until the digital M’s, for me this usually meant a film M loaded with 800 ISO colour neg film, and more often than not a 35 'Lux wide open, or nearly so, shot at 1/30 or even 1/15. This can work fine - as long as you're able to juggle shallow depth of field and shoot when your subjects aren't getting too animated and moving around too much!
I've been wondering whether there are any interesting alternatives to the digital M’s to try that would work better - or at least, differently - in these low light social situations. Several cameras have better high ISO performance than the digital M’s, but I know also that some of them have problems focusing in low light.
So what are the requirements?
It needs to have excellent high ISO performance to open up the possibility of using smaller apertures and faster shutter speeds.
It needs to be able to focus reliably and quickly on people's faces -preferably their eyes - in challengingly low light (all M's do this exceptionally well).
It needs to allow a good view of the subject for quick and responsive composition.
And it needs to be unobtrusive, quiet and easy to hold and pack - to make it easy to keep participating in the social situation.”
So, what would the answer to this question be if you were starting from scratch today? Would a Leica M still be at the top of the list? What would the other options be?
Cheers,
Simon
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137835&highlight=Social+discrete+low+light
That thread was about whether Leica M’s were still the best choice for discrete low light photography when you are in amongst what’s going on. (I had originally started using Leica M’s in the 1990’s to document research that I was doing in a children’s psychiatric unit.)
Since I posed that question back in 2013 the high ISO performance of digital M’s has obviously improved significantly, with the M10 now closer to the current state of the art than my M9 was then.
Here’s what I wrote back in 2013 (slightly edited):
“In the 25 plus years that I've been using Leicas, one of my main uses for them has been documenting social or work events that I'm participating in - usually when I'm sitting amongst the people I'm photographing, and often in very poor light because it's indoors, or late in the day. I know this is a familiar situation for many on RFF.
Until the digital M’s, for me this usually meant a film M loaded with 800 ISO colour neg film, and more often than not a 35 'Lux wide open, or nearly so, shot at 1/30 or even 1/15. This can work fine - as long as you're able to juggle shallow depth of field and shoot when your subjects aren't getting too animated and moving around too much!
I've been wondering whether there are any interesting alternatives to the digital M’s to try that would work better - or at least, differently - in these low light social situations. Several cameras have better high ISO performance than the digital M’s, but I know also that some of them have problems focusing in low light.
So what are the requirements?
It needs to have excellent high ISO performance to open up the possibility of using smaller apertures and faster shutter speeds.
It needs to be able to focus reliably and quickly on people's faces -preferably their eyes - in challengingly low light (all M's do this exceptionally well).
It needs to allow a good view of the subject for quick and responsive composition.
And it needs to be unobtrusive, quiet and easy to hold and pack - to make it easy to keep participating in the social situation.”
So, what would the answer to this question be if you were starting from scratch today? Would a Leica M still be at the top of the list? What would the other options be?
Cheers,
Simon
