Street Photography In Chinatown...

cmogi10

cmogi10

Bodhisattva
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Mar 5, 2007
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Disclaimer. I don't pretend to be a street photographer, and I've never been the biggest fan of the genre with the rare great exceptions.
That being said I felt as though my cajones had grown as of late and today would be a good day to "what the hell" and go for it.
Anyway I just wanted to share my results, posted it here because it was all with the M8 and the 21mm Biogon.

Anyway...

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Here is a shot I can't tell if I think it's bland and a toss away or if I love it,
I figure I'll put it up.
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Awesome shots! I really like the one with the policemen. The first two are really nice too. Are you scale focusing and "shooting from the hip" or are you putting the camera to your eye and manually focusing for these shots? Would appreciate your tips. Thanks.
 
I like to usually raise the camera to my eye when I am shooting but I try to set my exposure before hand and pre-focus as close as I can.
Sometimes I find myself shooting from the hip, or sometimes with my camera way up in the air, wide angles can be so much fun.
 
Thanks for the info. Just wondering, but have you used a 28mm in a similar manner? Do you think the 21mm gives you even more flexibility/shooting latitude in terms of covering a significantly larger field of view for street photography? I would like to try a super wide angle, but am not sure whether 21mm is wide enough and/or a big enough difference from the 28mm in practical use.
 
Not really, I decided to get the 21mm because I thought it would balance things out. I just ended up using it as my wide angle and learning how to make it work. I think a 24 would be a more useful to me but who has time to worry technicalities like that. hah
 
Some nice shots, there, cmogi10; I like them all, though you seem to prefer a higher-contrast look than I. Smooth results from that lens... if the f/4.5 it's the same one I have.

Ed, the 21 is not a superwide on the M8, just wide like a 28 on film, so it's a good all-round choice for wide. A 28mm is a great all-purpose wide-normal on the M8 I think, a favorite one lens kit, great for environmental portraits and on the street.
 
cmogi10 said:
Not really, I decided to get the 21mm because I thought it would balance things out. I just ended up using it as my wide angle and learning how to make it work. I think a 24 would be a more useful to me but who has time to worry technicalities like that. hah
Click to expand...

Yeah, normally I'm not really into technicalities either, but with all these choices for wides (12mm, 15mm, 18mm, 21mm) I can't seem to figure out what would balance out my kit, which consists of a 28, 75, 90, and too many 50s. I guess a few steps forwards or backwards can make any of these lenses work for me, so I should probably focus more on the look I want.

BTW, if I remember correctly, you were recently interested in the 21 Super Angulon. What made you decide to get the 21 Biogon? Is it mainly due to the metering issue of the 21 SA on the M8, or did you end up liking the 21 Biogon even more for other reasons?

Doug said:
Some nice shots, there, cmogi10; I like them all, though you seem to prefer a higher-contrast look than I. Smooth results from that lens... if the f/4.5 it's the same one I have.

Ed, the 21 is not a superwide on the M8, just wide like a 28 on film, so it's a good all-round choice for wide. A 28mm is a great all-purpose wide-normal on the M8 I think, a favorite one lens kit, great for environmental portraits and on the street.
Click to expand...

Doug, yes, you're absolutely right. But relatively speaking, since I really like shooting with a 50mm on my Epson R-D1 with its 1.5x crop factor (even smaller effective FOV than the 1.3x crop of the M8), a 21mm would be pretty wide for me. I really like using the 28mm for street photos, but I definitely would like to get something wider in order to capture city buildings and groups of people from a wider perspective.
 
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Very well done, I enjoyed watching your series a lot. The last photo from your first series is my favorite, I kinda like the high contrast there.

To my eyes, it wouldn't have made any difference if these would have been taken with a Super-Angulon-M or Biogon. Stopped down, they are all quite identical, especially with the crop factor of the M8 (using more the center part of the image circle).

Thanks for sharing !

Gabor
 
Ed, I've been using the 21 Biogon for about a year now and really like the lens, the super angulon is just something special that I'd love to have in my bag.

And thanks for looking Gabor and I really appreciate the nice words, I love your work so it means a lot.

The 21mm just happened to be the wide angle focal length I bought when I got one, not too much thought went into it but I knew I wasn't really a wide angle guy and I liked the idea of the 28 cropped on the M8, anything wider and my head starts scrambling, As of late I would love to have the 21/3.4 SA and the 24/2.8 side by side but it's just not feasible.
 
Nice photos. The first was interesting, but liked number four in the first posting the most. The woman you caught behind the main subject just adds a nice touch. Was that intentional? Great eye if so, if not, seredipity still works for us from time to time.
 
nice shots - i particularly like the one with the little boy and the lady looking at a menu(?).

I was considering a 21 for my m8 too but after reading various frame lines and coding issues i sorta gave up. Mind letting me know what config is your lens? Did you get the back bit (sorry, not technical - flange?) replaced to bring up right frame lines or do you use an external VF or ??? 6 bit coding is nice but not critical for me - frame lines though is.

I love the efov 28mm on my DP1 so a 21mm on my m8 will give the same efov. Definitely something that would really interest me.

thanks in advance.
 
Great series, yet I'm not sure I like high contrast. With Biogon ZM it's hard NOT to have it thought. Mattar of personal taste I suppose. But great work nevertheless.
 
Your photos are consistantly among my favorites on RFF. I even find myself going back to your Flickr gallery frequently. Keep up the good work!
 
martin s said:
I like the pictures, and the contrast. I don't like the frames though, any particular reason?
Click to expand...

Thank's for the compliment.
And well, I'm not to sure. I think I like it and that's what really counts. :p


I show Raw and converted later. It' gives me that option for some smooth low contrast files later, although the Biogon seems like it is a really contrasty lens.

My 21mm is straight from the Store, When I'm working on the M8 I either use the whole finder or a 28mm finder. With my MP it's all with the 21mm exernal.



Thanks Again for looking everyone! And the nice words.
 
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