Leica M Monochrom: best pics

I particularly like the last 3 above Vince. THe first you really captured the feel of the sky and and the land in NM. The last two are just terrific.
 
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airfrogusmc said:
I particularly like the last 3 above Vince. THe first you really captured the feel of the sky and and the land in NM. The last two are just terrific.
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Many thanks Allen -- actually those last three are from west Texas (Dell City - between El Paso and Carlsbad), but the same general neighbourhood as NM! That bottom shot was a bit tricky - I wanted to keep it dark, as the day was heavily overcast, but I still wanted to keep good exposure on Johan's face. So it was a bit of a dance between the initial exposure, plus subtle adjustments in post-production. I'll be interested to see how it prints!
 
Hi Vince--I just spent an hour going through your New Mexico photos and I have to say they are the best photographs I have viewed in quite some time. I like everything about them. What an eye you have! If you ever have a show anywhere in the midwest let me know--I live in Michigan and would love to see actual prints of your work.



I would like to ask which Leica Monochrom you used for those photos? I've been thinking about buying a used one and I'm trying to get a sense whether the newer versions really hold any advantage over the older ones. I can't afford a new one.



Thanks!


Steve Rosenblum
Ann Arbor, Michigan
 
stevierose said:
Hi Vince--I just spent an hour going through your New Mexico photos and I have to say they are the best photographs I have viewed in quite some time. I like everything about them. What an eye you have! If you ever have a show anywhere in the midwest let me know--I live in Michigan and would love to see actual prints of your work.



I would like to ask which Leica Monochrom you used for those photos? I've been thinking about buying a used one and I'm trying to get a sense whether the newer versions really hold any advantage over the older ones. I can't afford a new one.



Thanks!


Steve Rosenblum
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Many thanks for all the words of encouragement Steve -- I do appreciate it! Mapping the West is surely going to be lifelong project -- there are so many things left to discover out there, I seem to be focused only on New Mexico these days!

I've been using the 246 since it came out a few years ago (I think I was one of the very first people on the US East Coast to have one) and have been overall pleased with the results I get from it. I'm not a 'large' printer - my prints are generally 11"x16" on 13"x19" paper (I print them all myself), which it plenty big enough for me.

This may be heretical in some circles, but I've personally never seen the 'CCD magic' that a number of people claim is there with the first Monochrom that is not there with the CMOS (246) Monochrom (likely my eyes are not as finely attuned as others!) . I've printed images from both Monochroms, exhibited both side-by-side, and I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference. Having said that, I did see a difference between Monochrom prints and prints I used to get from my M9 when I had it (I prefer the 246 prints). I like the handling of the 246 over the first Monochrom, I appreciate the additional 'headroom' that the 246 sensor provides, and I think it was a good evolution of the idea of an exclusively black and white digital body. I can take or leave the video feature, though it does actually do a pretty fair job of it.

Not sure if I'm going to upgrade to the new M10 Monochrom when it comes out in 2020, or at least not immediately. I just got a Nikon Z7 with 4 lenses and am thinking about bringing it out West next time to compare. We'll see.
 
I have spent and continue to spend a lot of time in the American West. My original vehicle for this was flyfishing which kind of saved me. Around 1990 I was kind of a lost soul despite great success on paper in my life. My brother in law took me out to the Madison River in Montana and taught me to fish. For the next decade a couple of times a year I would just fly out west somewhere with my rods pick up a rental car and just wander around looking for beautiful places and trout willing to take my fly. Sometime in there I realized that I should bring a camera along, which got me back into photography. These days we have a place in the mountains of Colorado, so I frequently drive by the kind of farms and ranches you have been photographing.



In the late 90's I switched to digital but a couple of years ago I was playing with some of my old film cameras still sitting in my cabinet (mechanical marvels like swiss watches) and decided I wanted to start shooting with them again so I started shooting BW film and developing it and scanning it as I didn't want to go whole hog into wet printing.



However lately, I've been thinking that despite my love of the craft part of film, I would rather just concentrate on shooting and I came across your photos which got me thinking again about the Leica BW M cameras. When they came out I thought they were insanely expensive, but there is now a reasonable used market for them and I might sell some of my cabinet inventory and buy one. Your note was very helpful.


Which lens are you using for those portraits within the environment that you have posted. It looks like you are using a wide lens in close, like a 35 or 28?


Thanks again, man, I love your work. It is inspiring me to go out and shoot.



Steve





Vince Lupo said:
Many thanks for all the words of encouragement Steve -- I do appreciate it! Mapping the West is surely going to be lifelong project -- there are so many things left to discover out there, I seem to be focused only on New Mexico these days!

I've been using the 246 since it came out a few years ago (I think I was one of the very first people on the US East Coast to have one) and have been overall pleased with the results I get from it. I'm not a 'large' printer - my prints are generally 11"x16" on 13"x19" paper (I print them all myself), which it plenty big enough for me.

This may be heretical in some circles, but I've personally never seen the 'CCD magic' that a number of people claim is there with the first Monochrom that is not there with the CMOS (246) Monochrom (likely my eyes are not as finely attuned as others!) . I've printed images from both Monochroms, exhibited both side-by-side, and I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference. Having said that, I did see a difference between Monochrom prints and prints I used to get from my M9 when I had it (I prefer the 246 prints). I like the handling of the 246 over the first Monochrom, I appreciate the additional 'headroom' that the 246 sensor provides, and I think it was a good evolution of the idea of an exclusively black and white digital body. I can take or leave the video feature, though it does actually do a pretty fair job of it.

Not sure if I'm going to upgrade to the new M10 Monochrom when it comes out in 2020, or at least not immediately. I just got a Nikon Z7 with 4 lenses and am thinking about bringing it out West next time to compare. We'll see.
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Many thanks again Steve - I appreciate the encouragement! When I go out there I try to carry as little as possible - my professional camera bag (the one that pays the bills and finances these excursions) weighs 27lbs, so I try to go in the complete opposite direction when I'm out there. My three lenses are a goggled 35/2 Summicron V1 that belonged to an uncle of mine (he was a professional photographer), a 50/1.4 Summilux ASPH and the 75/2.5 Summarit. I also have my M-D as a backup body. Fairly compact kit. Never really felt the need to go super wide or super telephoto with this particular work.

I used to bring a small portable printer with me out there so I could make prints on the spot for people I photographed, but didn't do it this year (was out there three times this year). The need to make a print on the spot never arose, so it was just as well that I didn't lug it out there.
 
Just great stuff, Vince. I thought I was done with gear lust. . . . but your pix are making me rethink that. I bought an M9 when it came out, and have been very happy with it. But I'm thinking it might be time to take the plunge again. Sigh. See what you're doing to me? :D;):p:bang::bang::bang:
 
Benjamin Marks said:
Just great stuff, Vince. I thought I was done with gear lust. . . . but your pix are making me rethink that. I bought an M9 when it came out, and have been very happy with it. But I'm thinking it might be time to take the plunge again. Sigh. See what you're doing to me? :D;):p:bang::bang::bang:
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Ha many thanks! Big danger this week - M10 Monochrom! I'm trying to resist, as I just got the Z7 and am loving it. But there's always that pull of Leica....I know, sad.
 
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