New York NYC November Meet-Up

Cal,

I wish I could have made this Meet-up. I'm leaving for the East Coast next Monday and will be in New York the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

I found it interesting you mentioned the Gretsch factory. On a previous trip to NYC, when I was walking back to my AirBnB place in Williamsburg, I heard this band playing. I walked in and ended up staying and listening to the band for a couple hours. The lead guitarist was playing a Gretsch guitar. After I got back, I researched Gretsch and found they were made in Brooklyn!

I don't own an electric guitar, but I sent my acoustic Martin to my daughter as she wanted to learn how to play a guitar. It cost over $100 to ship it to her!

On this trip to NYC, I'll be staying in the East Village.

Ellen
 
Stephen G said:
Wow, you jumped to the SL!?

How do you feel about the weight vs M?
Are you shooting with the SL lenses, or EVF focussing M lenses?

I find it very tempting except it's all about 20% heavier than I want it to be...
Maybe I need to wait for them to release some f2.0 primes..

Right now I love love love my Q for 6 months, and just want a Leica as snappy to use for 50-75mm range...
Click to expand...

Stephen,

The SL is not really bigger or heavier than say my Wetzlar M6 rigged out with a TA Rapidwinder and TA Rapidgrip, but what adds the weight are the singnifigantly porky 50 Lux-R "E60." Also count two stacked adapters (Leica). This lens is not much lighter than a Noctilux, but it balances very well on the SL.

It was interesting at the Meet-Up hearing from the A7 owners. Joe hates his, Steve tried Christian's and commented about all the buttons, and it seemed that the VF'er on the SL makes it an easy camera to shoot.

What I love about the SL is how I can use every piece of small format glass I own on the camera. I have even mounted a chrome Visoflex 65/3.5 on my SL via a triple stack of Leica adapters: T-M; M-R; R-Viso. LTM, M-mount, and Nikon SLR.

Here is the smut: a M-240 is only 12-bit, but the SL is 14-bit so the files are 48 MB bigger (both are 24 MP). The processor is from the Leica "S" which is a very big deal. 33 shots to fill the buffer. Better than any M-body to the point you really can't compare them IMHO. The files look great right out of the camera. My fully loaded Mac Book Pro is slow to download because the files are so big and detailed. Perhaps IQ is pretty close to 645 film.

I shoot for Maggie's fashion blog, and unloaded a Nikon D3X with an autofocus 58/1.4 AF-G, and the SL crushes the Nikon right out of the camera. Nailing the focus is easy.

The M-lenses and LTM seem small and the focus throw gets exaggerated to twitchy. It seems the long focus throw of the "R" glass feels the most correct and is no handicap. Then also know that there is close focusing and easy macro capabilities. In these regards the SLR glass is the way to go, and the use of M-glass is likely best suited for wides and ultra-wides where compactness and performance both excell.

My Noct-Nikkor is an amazing lens on the SL. Again, easy to nail the focus at F1.2, even close up. The bokeh and OOF of this lens is mucho fuzzy and dreamy like a large format image. The extra 8mm focal length combined with F1.2 makes this a magic lens that is kinda unbeatable for portraits.

I already pre-ordered the AF-50 Lux, and I'm number 7 on a list. Know that I'm waiting patiently for a SLM (monochrome version), and also I still own and will keep my Monochrom.

Christian took advantage of lens availability and mounted my Noct-Nikkor on his A7, as well as the 50 "E60." Steve promises to bring a 35 Lux-R 3-cam to the next Meet-Up so the December Meet-Up will be about lens rendering on an A7 and SL.

Cal
 
ornate_wrasse said:
Cal,

I wish I could have made this Meet-up. I'm leaving for the East Coast next Monday and will be in New York the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

I found it interesting you mentioned the Gretsch factory. On a previous trip to NYC, when I was walking back to my AirBnB place in Williamsburg, I heard this band playing. I walked in and ended up staying and listening to the band for a couple hours. The lead guitarist was playing a Gretsch guitar. After I got back, I researched Gretsch and found they were made in Brooklyn!

I don't own an electric guitar, but I sent my acoustic Martin to my daughter as she wanted to learn how to play a guitar. It cost over $100 to ship it to her!

On this trip to NYC, I'll be staying in the East Village.

Ellen
Click to expand...

Ellen,

The old Gretsch factory was on Broadway in Brooklyn not far from Peter Luger's (steakhouse). It happens to be one of the earlier buildings where they built huge modern multistory penthouses on the roof of a building.

Gretsch was also known for drums. Chet Atkins and John Lennon were known to use Gretsch guitars as well as Brian Setzer (Stray Cats).

Cal
 
Cal- Thanks!

It's funny too spec'd weight vs actual weight with all the doodads.
I just weighed my M240 with all its doodads (grip & thumbs-up)
Comes to 812g vs 847g for the SL vs 680g spec naked M240 ..

re: A7 series.
Had the A7s. Fun, but once you need ISO 12k++ the light is so crap, there's not much interesting to shoot. Cute for the occasional candle-lit bar shot.. And its only 12MP with crap AF.
A7rII came out and upgraded - better AF! More Pixels! IBIS so I can shoot steady video.

Except Sony color for video is impossible to grade since it is 8bit, unless you nail exposure.
The lenses didn't inspire me as much.
Menus were a horror show, battery was inexcusable. I had to disable a lot of the back buttons as they start triggering menu items as the camera bounces/touches torso when hanging on strap.

Anyway, selling Sony is how I ended up with Q. Couldn't be happier @28mm.

If they could release some smaller SL primes and/or Image Stabilized primes (for video), I'd buy immediately. As it stands I'm tempted but trying to hold out a bit.
 
Stephen G said:
re: A7 series.
Had the A7s. Fun, but once you need ISO 12k++ the light is so crap, there's not much interesting to shoot.
Click to expand...

Well, low light depth of field is nice...but it's not always about needing high iso for super low light (wide open) but it can be about using a faster shutter speed and say f/5.6 in situations where the light isn't great.
 
I'd agree it's great to freeze action in less than ideal light..

Though you are shooting @ 12k ISO to stop down for depth of field, you are trading Dynamic Range for depth of field, and it gets more and more noticeable as you drop below 10 stops ~4800 ISO Sony A7rII / ~3200 ISO Leica Q.

I think in the last few years we've moved from a world of: You can't go above ISO X because the noise is bad -> You want to be selective about going above ISO X because the DR drops stop for stop.
 
Stephen G said:
Cal- Thanks!

It's funny too spec'd weight vs actual weight with all the doodads.
I just weighed my M240 with all its doodads (grip & thumbs-up)
Comes to 812g vs 847g for the SL vs 680g spec naked M240 ..

re: A7 series.
Had the A7s. Fun, but once you need ISO 12k++ the light is so crap, there's not much interesting to shoot. Cute for the occasional candle-lit bar shot.. And its only 12MP with crap AF.
A7rII came out and upgraded - better AF! More Pixels! IBIS so I can shoot steady video.

Except Sony color for video is impossible to grade since it is 8bit, unless you nail exposure.
The lenses didn't inspire me as much.
Menus were a horror show, battery was inexcusable. I had to disable a lot of the back buttons as they start triggering menu items as the camera bounces/touches torso when hanging on strap.

Anyway, selling Sony is how I ended up with Q. Couldn't be happier @28mm.

If they could release some smaller SL primes and/or Image Stabilized primes (for video), I'd buy immediately. As it stands I'm tempted but trying to hold out a bit.
Click to expand...

Stephen,

The new AF 50 Lux for the SL I got to mount on my SL at PhotoPlusExpo. First off it is perhaps only a half inch or CM shorter than the gigantic 24-90 Leica zoom with a huge 82mm filter. It has less glass, groups and elements so it was lighter, but it is the size of a telephoto lens for sure. This pre-production version had a slow AF and was not as quick and agile as the 24-90 zoom, but realize that this lens was being used without the likely new firmware that will probably be ready when the production versions are released.

The SL allows for a lot of customization and offers even a favorites menu. I kinda streamlined my SL for me and I say in function it is elegant. I also use a baseplate from a Nikon AH-4 Hand-strap to use the Leica OEM strap for a vertical hang like a Leica M5. I find this more comfortable than the traditional horizontal hang.

Check out Maggie's Instatagram at IconAccidental. There are some great high ISO night shots from the SL. Know that I just take the shot and Maggie does the post-processing. I think the ISO's I used were 1600 and 3200. The 50 Lux "E60" seems to be the magic lens on the SL. Wide open it is sharp across the frame and it has this wonderful blend of detail/sharpness/and softness that I find inspiring.

Cal
 
Stephen G said:
I think in the last few years we've moved from a world of: You can't go above ISO X because the noise is bad -> You want to be selective about going above ISO X because the DR drops stop for stop.
Click to expand...

Stephen,

For me the files stay clean to 3200 on the SL. I find it amazing. This camera is truely great for night shooting hand-held. I mostly love to shoot wide open because nailing the focus is easy, and the added film speed increases my shutter speeds for added sharpness. The files are amazing.

Know in this regard I only shoot my Monochrom at 800 maximum and infrequently at 1000 because I tend to print big (20x30) due to noise.

Cal
 
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