peterm1
Veteran
Some early Leica Q shots
Some early Leica Q shots
I indicated below that I would post some shots from my new Leica Q (the original one) for those interested to see how that generation of Q performs. I have not had time yet to use the camera seriously but have taken a few shots while out at dinner in a restaurant and at home in my lounge room. In each case the images have been shot with available light in what was, again in each case, pretty "ordinary" light at best.
The one deficit that is potentially (I will know more as I gain experience) a little disappointing is what seems to be a relative lack of "overhead" to pull back blown highlights even though all my shots are DNG. Not sure what is going on here other than admittedly particularly difficult and contrary lighting in a couple of the images. The RAW files produced by the Q are pretty large and hence not compressed so I should have expected there to be lots of data still there to be revealed. It may be that I shot without any compensation dialed in whereas usually I like to shoot at least half stop under to reduce / avoid blown highlights and to provide more scope to correct blown highlights. It's just that the blown highlights here were more blown than I expected. Never the less other aspects of the image are very good and much as I hoped and expected. (And maybe there is better software than Lightroom for processing DNG files though in general I have found Lightroom to be excellent for pulling data out of blown highlights and too dark shadows).
The processing of these images is minimal incidentally, - a little tonal adjustment and a very minor touch of sharpening - Q files seem not to need much in any event and that is a Godsent as I usually have to work more extensively on images from other cameras to get a final image I am happy to run with. )
A shot at dinner (difficult lighting admittedly) which shows the above and the sharpness and clarity of the lens which offsets that issue by other virtues. If anything the lens is almost too sharp for flattering portraits as skin pores and every skin defect show up clearly when viewed at full resolution. Still I won't complain. It is nice to have a lens which is almost unfailingly this sharp. (Not sure why wifey is beginning to poke her tongue out. I suspect she is talking. What, her talk? That's unusual -hahahahahahaha)
Another shot in the dark confines of the tapas bar. The ambient lighting was considerably darker than shown here - the out of the camera shot required some brightening to display well here. The camera locked onto the background (my bad - not the camera's fault and notwithstanding the dark conditions, AF lock was near instantaneous). But the effectiveness of the image stabilization is made perfectly apparent by the blur of the moving subject against the very sharp image of the writing on the rear wall.
A general scene setting shot of my lounge room. Sharp uniformly with pleasant yet neutral rendering.
This shot gives an idea of how the bokeh looks. Not bad for a 28mm lens though if this were a fast 50mm I would regard the bokeh as only average at best. However, nothing to complain about and lots to be happy with.
And another shot...........Here I think the bokeh to be smoother, with less of the "busy" character evident in the previous shot.
and yet another..........
Here I missed focus ever so slightly somehow, but I kind of like it as it gives another perspective on how this lens renders.
Some early Leica Q shots
I indicated below that I would post some shots from my new Leica Q (the original one) for those interested to see how that generation of Q performs. I have not had time yet to use the camera seriously but have taken a few shots while out at dinner in a restaurant and at home in my lounge room. In each case the images have been shot with available light in what was, again in each case, pretty "ordinary" light at best.
The one deficit that is potentially (I will know more as I gain experience) a little disappointing is what seems to be a relative lack of "overhead" to pull back blown highlights even though all my shots are DNG. Not sure what is going on here other than admittedly particularly difficult and contrary lighting in a couple of the images. The RAW files produced by the Q are pretty large and hence not compressed so I should have expected there to be lots of data still there to be revealed. It may be that I shot without any compensation dialed in whereas usually I like to shoot at least half stop under to reduce / avoid blown highlights and to provide more scope to correct blown highlights. It's just that the blown highlights here were more blown than I expected. Never the less other aspects of the image are very good and much as I hoped and expected. (And maybe there is better software than Lightroom for processing DNG files though in general I have found Lightroom to be excellent for pulling data out of blown highlights and too dark shadows).
The processing of these images is minimal incidentally, - a little tonal adjustment and a very minor touch of sharpening - Q files seem not to need much in any event and that is a Godsent as I usually have to work more extensively on images from other cameras to get a final image I am happy to run with. )
A shot at dinner (difficult lighting admittedly) which shows the above and the sharpness and clarity of the lens which offsets that issue by other virtues. If anything the lens is almost too sharp for flattering portraits as skin pores and every skin defect show up clearly when viewed at full resolution. Still I won't complain. It is nice to have a lens which is almost unfailingly this sharp. (Not sure why wifey is beginning to poke her tongue out. I suspect she is talking. What, her talk? That's unusual -hahahahahahaha)
Another shot in the dark confines of the tapas bar. The ambient lighting was considerably darker than shown here - the out of the camera shot required some brightening to display well here. The camera locked onto the background (my bad - not the camera's fault and notwithstanding the dark conditions, AF lock was near instantaneous). But the effectiveness of the image stabilization is made perfectly apparent by the blur of the moving subject against the very sharp image of the writing on the rear wall.
A general scene setting shot of my lounge room. Sharp uniformly with pleasant yet neutral rendering.
This shot gives an idea of how the bokeh looks. Not bad for a 28mm lens though if this were a fast 50mm I would regard the bokeh as only average at best. However, nothing to complain about and lots to be happy with.
And another shot...........Here I think the bokeh to be smoother, with less of the "busy" character evident in the previous shot.
and yet another..........
Here I missed focus ever so slightly somehow, but I kind of like it as it gives another perspective on how this lens renders.
