From m9 to xp1 - u judge

I'll admit to not having read the article above but I did see some of Chris Week's other writings/videos on Leica, which seemed almost proselytistic in nature. So I cannot really understand how you go from telling the world that they must use a Leica for street photography to bashing the brand and its users now.
 
I hated the Chris Weeks diatribe, I have no idea where he gets some of his views from, it was evangelical Fuji worship.
I was thinking about ditching the M9 and moving to Fuji, but after reading this and talking to dealers and reps I'm none the wiser. I'll wait until they have some more lenses, because the range is frankly rubbish. Be honest, why are they waiting until 2013 for the 23mm (35mm) to be launched, this should have been one of the first.

I still like my M9 despite the problems I've had, it takes really fantastic quality pictures. The lenses are amazing, you can't see it on a low resolution screen looking at the internet, they're just brilliant. Even my fave, the old '97 vintage 35mm f2 is fantastic on the M9, and worth more than I paid for it.

If you can't use the focusing or don't like it, fair enough, get another camera, but don't go on about it!
I spoke to the Fuji dealer here, about the X-E1 (she still didn't know when it's out) and she said oh yes, the M9 is difficult to focus. Well, i suppose compared to AF it sort of is, because it's not automatic. But in reality it's not difficult, just different and - very manual. Like a proper gearbox in a car - different.

I was brought up on manual focus and film in the 70s, so it's pretty natural to me and I like slow, manual 'hard work' photography - not point and shoot 10 fps variety.

When asked about RAW files not working well with Lightroom the Fuji rep didn't know about that either, and the dealer here said, don't shoot RAW it's rubbish, JPEGs are 'better'. No help there.

So - until they have a few good lenses I'll wait.
Maybe if they were giving away a free 18mm lens with every body and 35mm I might be tempted? No, that offer is here for another 4 days in UK - sorry everyone outside the UK, it's only here and I'm still going to wait. Why are they giving away a free lens worth £550? Because the X-E1 is coming out and maybe a new X-1 pro? Who knows? It's still £1700 and that's quite a bit.
Wait until next year.
 
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mrrobleyleica said:
If you can't use the focusing or don't like it, fair enough, get another camera, but don't go on about it!
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I am actually a child of AF DSLRs

I love the M focus and IMHO its the best MF system bar none.
It's also very fast.

I prefer MF now and find the MF on te D800E and 5D2 to be rubbish

Focus peaking on the sony Nex is excellent but it's not pin sharp on its own, you still have to fine tune in your judgement

For me, deciding to focus on the eyelash or eyeball is crucial. Or the lion in te cage, rather then the cage
 
So was this blog written by Chris Weeks, or was it only that blog post? Because a later post talks about how hise entire view on photography changed because he found Chris Weeks and befriended him.

Also, some of the other posts are rather offensive and narrow-minded...
 
A good read, and much of it seemed reasonable enough. As much as I love Leica, I have to agree the X-pro is a wonderful camera, and it keeps getting better. I also have to agree with how tough the X-Pro is, I dropped mine onto the concrete within 2 hours of purchasing it, and have dropped it a few more times since, and it still works fine. My GF accidentally set her suitcase on my camera bag, which crushed the lens hood on the 35/1.4 lens, but the lens and camera were not damaged. The X-pro seems as tough as Fuji's 6x9 cameras.

I have learned how to recalibrate the rangefinder on my M cameras myself, as hard bumps tend to knock them out of adjustment. I still shoot mostly with film, but I can't say that any of my M cameras are better than my X-pro.
 
as soon as i saw the name Chris Weeks i decided not to read it. he has a lot of enthusiasm as a street photographer and a lot of passion, but his attitude is rotten. i took a peek at his FB page and have never seen anyone openly bash other photographers like he does. i also took a look at his street photography video on youtube and the whole thing was him talking about how he loves his leica for street.. so now he's a fuji man?

i honestly cannot and will not trust his opinion.
 
I've read his articles in the past, his arguments are too biased and one-sided. He likes to bash other photographers (Steve Huff and Overgaarde, the latter especially) almost to the point of defamation. It's his blog and he can say whatever he wants, but I'm not really interested in this kind of rant.
 
colonel said:
For me, deciding to focus on the eyelash or eyeball is crucial. Or the lion in te cage, rather then the cage
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Totally agree - that's how I try to do it, and getting any AF system to be this accurately is a bore. I took some shots recently, which I can't show, I don't have permission and bravely set the M9 to 1250 - 1600 focused on the eyes. The noise (which I don't really mind) is not what you see. It's the eyes and the happiness in the face.

Glad to see it's not just us oldies with this attitude.

On another semi related tack. I see a lot of people taking pictures now in London. it's a massive phenomenon compared to even a few years back. Not just digital either - quite a few using good old film. This is obviously not a bad thing, serious photographers are now everywhere, great. I know it's not a scientific take on the matter, but I see quite a few with DSLRs spending more time looking at the cameras backs, the menus etc than looking at and composing the scene. I probably did the same with my DSLR, because they're complicated and poorly designed. I think that fact that the menu is simple, screen small and awful etc on the M9 means you are looking at the scene, composing, look for a nice shot rather than obsessing at the cameras functions. I'm not very familiar with the Fuji, but the menu is like a DSLRs, it's not as simple as the M9, this is not an attractive point to me.
I'm not even sure about the film modes on it, prefer to have a good file I can fiddle with in LR. I'm not even sure if the film modes can be undone in LR RAW like you should be able to do, I'm sure I'll be corrected on that if wrong.
 
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

He has some good points, some I don't agree with. Yawn.

He seems very full of himself. Much more so than he should be based on the quality of what he posted. a few keepers, most marginal junk I'd be embarrassed to Claim as mine.
 
Never read a blog so full of hatred for fellow photo bloggers. Not sure if the basis for that is envy or if he is just mean spirited like that. Of course people like Steve Huff, Thorsten Overgaard and Eric Kim are not the pinnacle of contemporary photojournalism, but they don't pretend to be. They all run an amazon front or organize workshops that readers apparently enjoy attending. No need to bash them for that.
 
read 2-3 other articles in that blog, just to give me an impression on the person...

thats not what a photography community needs. of course many sites include mistakes and fails or wrong opinions, well its the internet after all...

but someone really offending those people.... dunno what to think about that really. its one thing being free to say what you want but its just too harsh

if someone is being so subjective and full of hatred how can his articles focus on anything at all? he cant pretend being a serious writer after such bulls***. just another site I wont visit again after all...
 
jippiejee said:
Never read a blog so full of hatred for fellow photo bloggers. Not sure if the basis for that is envy or if he is just mean spirited like that. Of course people like Steve Huff, Thorsten Overgaard and Eric Kim are not the pinnacle of contemporary photojournalism, but they don't pretend to be. They all run an amazon front or organize workshops that readers apparently enjoy attending. No need to bash them for that.
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Ok, glad to know that I'm not the only one who thinks this way. I thought I was being too sensitive, but seems that quite a few others feel similarly too.
 
Read all these issues before I bought my M9 earlier this year, a Leica USA certified demo with a 1 year warranty.

I've had zero problems with it, it works beautifully, and makes beautiful photographs for me.

I can understand people becoming exasperated when a $7000 doesn't work the way they expect. But to me, they're all just machines and if they don't work right, I have the manufacturer fix 'em or move to something else. It's no big deal, it's just a camera.
 
mrrobleyleica said:
I'm not even sure about the film modes on it, prefer to have a good file I can fiddle with in LR. I'm not even sure if the film modes can be undone in LR RAW like you should be able to do, I'm sure I'll be corrected on that if wrong.
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If you shoot RAW, the film modes are irrelevant. In LR, you will be able to start from scratch (have to) and develop as you want to. You can't undo a JPEG though.

As for the article, what a waste of space. I love my XP1 and sold my M9 after I purchased it, but there is no need for what Chris has written. Choose the camera that works for you, learn how to use it. Enjoy shooting with it or replace it with something that works better for you.

A bit of photo editing wouldn't go amiss for Mr. Weeks. 26 photos in one blog post?
 
colonel said:
For me, deciding to focus on the eyelash or eyeball is crucial. Or the lion in te cage, rather then the cage
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I hear you, but don't you normally focus and recompose? Thereby shifting the focus distance by a few millimeters? And that's assuming you are holding your body steadier than a pillar tripod.

With a 0.03 circle of confusion you would have to sport a heck of a lense to get a DOF of a less than the 1cm between eyelashes and eyeball.

Just for instance, a 135mm Elmarit lens focused at one meter and open to 2.8 has a DOF of 8mm.

I prefer MF too, but I think AF is adequate for portraits.
 
I never heard of Chris W before. Read the 1st post, went to the link, got bored, scrolled through his X-pro1 pics, got bored even more, went back to the thread, read about him bashing other photogs/writers, went back again to CW's blog and read half of his Thorsten bash post from last july.
Am I still bored? Not anymore! Some posters here mentioned his ego, but, as always, every ego has clay feet.
Real photographers have editors. 😉 Editors that we appreciate and respect.
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Quite honestly I love the fact I'm hired to make photos for the most read magazines in the world
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Sometimes, some words are worth a thousand images...

Quotes from:
http://aphotocontributor.typepad.com/aphotocontributor/2012/07/index.html
 
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