From Leica to digital P&S

[GeneW]

No, not me!! I'm merely intellectually curious about this story of a professional photojournalist (Magnum photographer Alex Majoli) who traded in his Leicas with 28 & 35mm lenses for, not DSLR, but digital P&S ! Worthy of a read just to get a different perspective on things.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6468-7844

Does he miss the old stuff? One assumes so, from this quote:

Though he has had great success with his point-and-shoot cameras, Majoli has some improvements he'd like to see. When you add them up, they describe an enticing synthesis of the old and the new.

"I miss the strongest of the old generation cameras -- Olympus OM-1, the Leica. The dream would be a digital camera the size of the C-5060 -- not bigger than a Leica, let's say -- with exchangeable lenses. Small lenses. I would like to see fixed lenses, not zooms. Maybe some bigger apertures -- f/1.8. The file is fine. I don't need 20 million megapixels."

Gene

 

[eric]

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6468-7844


Gene

I read this a while ago and in his line of work, it just makes sense. Pretty soon, I'm sure, we'll go to www.cnn.com and see actual still shots of something and then hit refresh, and the image changes. That's coming right out of the photogs WIFI card and onto a server somewhere.

 

[GeneW]

Eric, you're probably right, and the life of a working photojournalist is very different from the kind of shooting I do.

One of the things that caught my attention was his mention of the extreme DOF and how, for his work, that was a positive thing. It's usually one of the knocks on digital P&S cams, but obviously there are times when it's really useful. I also noted that he almost always focuses manually and sets the exposure manually, thereby cutting down on shutter lag. It was an interesting look at how P&S digicams can be used creatively and effectively.

I'd still rather shoot film 😀

Gene

 

[dcsang]

That stuff he wrote re: 20 million pixels..

It's the truth.

I think many already know that the pixel-myth is just that.. a myth.

You do NOT need 12MP full frame cameras to get decent 11x14's (sure they're great if you're going to crop crop crop).
6MP is enough for decent 11x14s.
3MP is enough for decent 8x10s.

The thing is, the general "consumer", tends to believe 😀 that bigger is better.
Like the saying goes.. "It's not the size of the wand, it's the magician that's waving it" 😀

Happy with his LITTLE things,
Dave

(I seem to be a wee bit pre-occupied lately.. hmmmm)

 

[aizan]

does anyone know where to see majoli's work in print?

 

[richard_l]

I just wish there were a good P&S digital with a 40mm (equivalent field of view) prime lens instead of a zoom. Fortunately my digital zoom has a sweet spot at 50mm (equivalent field of view). I have it set so that it initializes at 50mm and rarely ever touch the zoom control. It's too bad that almost everybody prefers the supposed versatility of a zoom to the quality of a good prime, thus forcing the manufacturers to provide mostly zoom P&S cameras.

Richard

 

[ywenz]

Long DOF is useful for certain shots, but I can not see myself use a system that will take me away from shallow DOF.

 

[back alley]

i'm using the canon g2 that i bought used from gene and that lens is frighteningly sharp.

now, i use it on a tripod for my camera porn shots mostly, but i had an 8x10 & 8x12 printed recently and they both look incredible.

joe

 

[GeneW]

i'm using the canon g2 that i bought used from gene and that lens is frighteningly sharp.

now, i use it on a tripod for my camera porn shots mostly, but i had an 8x10 & 8x12 printed recently and they both look incredible.

joe

That is an excellent model. And wide angle is f/2 -- very useful in low light. I wish they'd take the G series and widen the wa end to 28mm equiv and keep the f/2. I'd buy another one if they did that!

Gene

 

[Allen Gilman]

I read this article over at Galbraith's site. The interesting part that I found in it was Majoli's preference for more black in the shadow's when using digital. It's kind of funny because he was actually trying to get as much detail as he could when he was shooting film (probably because he was pushing his film a lot).

If you look at Majoli's photos (or some of the other Magnum photogs), the DOF issue makes sense. He's usually composing for the whole frame in that many elements are competing or playing off of each other. Using DOF to isolate a subject just isn't useful for this way of shooting. It would distract or prevent those elements from doing the work that they do. Just a different aesthetic.

 

[Trius]

So, what Majoli really wants sounds like ... a brace of R-D1s. For a pro, cost is not an issue, only the question of RF vs. SLR remains. Maybe he'll go for the new Leica MD, whenever it is released, and assuming it meets the size requirements.

Trius

 

[DougK]

There's always a lot of talk about excessive noise on small-sensor digital cameras but it sure doesn't seem to bother Majoli at all, or at least he doesn't say anything about it in the article, and I'm sure he encounters situations where he has to push the ISO limits of the sensors far more often than I would.

Makes you think a bit.

 

[aizan]

of the photos i've seen online, his low light work is under still conditions so he doesn't need a fast shutter speed. f/1.8, 1/30 at iso 200 is pretty good.

 

[Bertram2]

Does he miss the old stuff? One assumes so, from this quote:
Gene

He does not need 20MP ? O.K., so what ?? As if THIS would be the decisive point in the discussion of chip vs. film as the recording medium.

Watching his photos I am not surprised tho that his decision was reduced to the point of resolution only. The traditional understanding of picture quality in a technical sense does obviously not play THAT role for him.

Going through his portfolio I can find not much interesting stuff, most of it is looking poor and some shots are even quite terrible IMHO. I really wonder how the Magum folks could find his style and work interesting enuff to admit him as a full member, maybe his former work was better craft. Assuming it is not a crappy monitor presention of his pics which makes them look so poor i 'd say even with the Olympus 8080 he could achieve a much higher level of overall quality.

At the time for me it looks more than as if he would abuse his Magnum reputation for making PR for Olympus P&S cameras ? 😕

Bertram





.

 

[kuvvy]

I bought a copy of What Digital Camera (UK) last month just for the fact it had an article on Majoli. In the article he says he prefers to shoot with them as they are less intimidating, as are most RFs.
He tends to shoot using the swivel screen when possible. His reasons for using them is much the same as many people; cheaper, viewing the image on the spot to ensure he has captured what he needs for the assignment, and also he doesn't get his images confiscated by officials as he did when using film. He does say he misses the feel and sound of the Leicas he used before.

I like his work and I like the fact he can produce such results from these p&s cameras. I wish I could do it with my Canon G5. So far my attempts at being able to shoot street shots have been poor.

You can see more Majoli images at www.cestino.it/leros which shows his images from the Leros insane aylum in Greece.

Paul

 

[hoot]

Whether or not Majoli is merely doing PR for Olympus, the article is fascinating and thought-provoking, and constitutes another point in favor of the "It's the photographer, not the camera, who takes the pics" adage.

Personally, I'm still bugged by the shutter lag evident even in the most expensive non-SLR digicams. The rapid-fire method used by Majoli may work well when you need a storyboard-like succession of photos. For HCB-style decisive moment photography, though, one shot is usually enough, yet that one shot needs to occur at a moment that is precisely under your control. I just don't see affordable digicams making this possible within the next 5 years (and for the record, I consider a Leica M3 quite affordable, considering how long it's going to last).

Which brings about another point - rather than stick to the "it's going to be obsolete in a year, anyway, so why invest in build quality?" outlook, I would like to see a high-quality metal body for digicams that requires a high initial investment, and whose insides can easily be replaced for relatively cheap when they become obsolete. A "refill" of sorts, if you will.

 

[aizan]

i've been pouring over pbase and photosig the last week, and it is so depressingly and upliftingly true that it's the photographer, not the equipment. people take the same pictures no matter what, whether they spend a hundred bucks or thousands of bucks. the only difference is image quality and how the equipment handles, pride of ownership, etc., but it has no impact upon what pictures they produce.

 

[eric]

i've been pouring over pbase and photosig the last week, and it is so depressingly and upliftingly true that it's the photographer, not the equipment. people take the same pictures no matter what, whether they spend a hundred bucks or thousands of bucks. the only difference is image quality and how the equipment handles, pride of ownership, etc., but it has no impact upon what pictures they produce.

Bravo! Good observation. When I worked at a B&W art lab in NYC many years go, we processed and printed Bruce Weber, Stephen Maisel, Patrick Demarchelier and many many others. You get tired looking at gallery quality prints. I've seen them and talked about their equipment. Some were Nikons, RB67, Hasselblad Pentax67, 8x10, 4x5, etc, etc. Many of the printers thought it got mundane as well and started to use Holgas and Dianas as their personal cameras. I've seen so many beautiful prints from it. To this day, I still use my Holgas and Dianas.

 

[Bertram2]

Whether or not Majoli is merely doing PR for Olympus, the article is fascinating and thought-provoking, and constitutes another point in favor of the "It's the photographer, not the camera, who takes the pics" adage.
.

How true. And that's why my crticism pointed at Majoli and not at the Oly.

Leaving aside his older color photos ( the disco shots), which are superb and the older B&W shots which are at least a better than the latest digital stuff one cvan see that the Olys have changed his photos .

As Allen mentioned Majoli now praises the chip photography as beeing suited best for getting more closed shadows. O.K: if someone who has proved to be able to handle a camera properly says so we have to believe this beiing made intensively, beeing just a matter of the photographer's style.

On the other hand it smells a bit of making the technical deficit to be an artistic virtue.

Not knowing if this is true and the chip has led him to this direction, compared to his former work I simply find this stuff ugly , wrong direction.

Bertram

 

[aizan]

no, you've got it backwards. he says that digital has more open shadows, and that he's darkening them because he's used to film's aesthetic.

why do you find his new work ugly? i think it's pretty good. and where did you see the color disco work?