Armanius
Bring Jack back!
- Location
- Houston, Texas
- Name
- Jack
Houston is generally hot and humid. Whenever Houston has a nice day, people flock to the park. One of the most popular parks in Houston is Hermann Park. Hermann Park is located near the Museum District. The Museum of Natural Sciences is located right next to it. The Houston Zoo is also there. My girlfriend and I decided to take a stroll yesterday at Hermann Park, and I decided to dust off the M9. I've been contemplating putting the M9 in the market. After all, manually focusing (while glamorous) can be a pain in the butt. As much as Leica fans talk about fast focusing, I still think a camera with good AF makes my life easier. It's hard to also have so much $ tied up in one single item, specially when other priorities in life arise, and then supersede the love or allure of the "red dot."
At the beginning of the walk, I struggled with the focus as I was out of practice. But eventually, I got in the groove. I ended up using one lens almost the entire walk --the not too often used Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f2.5. The CV75/2.5 is a screwmount lens, and it is very cheap by Leica standards. If I recall correctly, I paid less than $300 for it. I've had people get angry at me for using a "cheap" lens on a Leica. A famous person (I won't name the person) even criticized me for using (what he calls) Sh*tlander lenses on the M9! I felt important when that happened! But I digress ... so I chose the 75/2.5 as my main lens for the day, because I'd recently purchased a Pentax DA70/2.4 for the K-5, which is a wonderful lens. My thinking was that the K-5 + DA70 and other lenses, even though it's a cropped sensor camera, could be a suitable replacement for the M9. The irony is that I've listed the K-5 for sale. So maybe the K-5 will be gone too. Oh well ...
In any event, here are some of the photos that I took yesterday. After I got home, loaded the photos, and processed them in LR3.6, I was reminded of why I do love the "red dot." It's not to say that the images in this thread could not have been made with another camera. Or maybe, it would have been better if I had used a "real" M lens. I'm sure that the famous person would agree with the last statement. Oh well.
(1) Inside the lobby of the Museum of Natural Sciences. This one photo was taken with the Voigtlander Skopar 50mm f2.5. The rest were all with the 75/2.5.
Busy dad by Armanius, on Flickr
(2) I think this guy was a "pro" going around soliciting business. He seemed to be taking photos of different people, with permission of course. I didn't ask for permission.
The pro making money by Armanius, on Flickr
(3) Just the typical lovers on a bench photo. No Eiffel Tower on the background. Still waiting to make that trip.
Cuddling by Armanius, on Flickr
(4) I wasn't quite sure if there was anything interesting about this photo. I cropped some stuff out and I ended up enjoying the colors, if not much else.
Real people and stone people by Armanius, on Flickr
(5) Cute toddler playing with the trash. The mom didn't mind as she was standing right next to him. Focus was a little off, because I really rushed the photo. I didn't want the mom to think I was a stalker (or worse).
Dunk in the trash by Armanius, on Flickr
(6) This cyclist was in the Japanese Garden, inside Hermann Park. He either didn't read the "no bicycle" sign at the entrance of the garden, or he just didn't care.
No bikes allowed in the park! by Armanius, on Flickr
(7) Even though it's technically winter here in Houston, some flowers still bloom. I think these are "knockout" roses. I think ...
The roses are blooming even more by Armanius, on Flickr
(8) Some more roses.
The roses are blooming by Armanius, on Flickr
(9) The M9 has no matrix metering or spot metering mode. Its only metering mode is a center weighted metering. As it turns out, the gentlemen on the photo was so pale that I blew the highlights (his skin) in this photo, and I couldn't recover it later. I really tried!
Reflections and needing a tan badly by Armanius, on Flickr
(10) It's always fun to take photos of people taking photos of others. It's specially fun when the subject of the original photo makes a funy face.
The Monument by Armanius, on Flickr
(12) Unknown flower ... focus was off.
Sunflower? Probably not! by Armanius, on Flickr
(13) There's a nice sized hill at Hermann Park, which is a part of the outdoor theatre. Kids like to roll down the hill, and this one kid was rocketing down on his bike.
Downhill max speed by Armanius, on Flickr
(14) And my favorite photo of the day -- my significant other. She's the unpaid but willing (most of the time) model. This photo, which was heavily cropped, really shows the resolving power of the M9. The 100% version of the photo shows even more detail than this 1024 pixel downsample. For portraits, too much detail is sometimes simply too much. I pushed the clarity slider to the left a good amount.
View attachment 48510
Leica portraits - lovely! by Armanius, on Flickr
Thanks for letting me share these photos with you.
ps: I picked up a GXR + M module. So far, it's still easier to manually focus with the rangefinder patch than the GXR's focus assists.
At the beginning of the walk, I struggled with the focus as I was out of practice. But eventually, I got in the groove. I ended up using one lens almost the entire walk --the not too often used Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f2.5. The CV75/2.5 is a screwmount lens, and it is very cheap by Leica standards. If I recall correctly, I paid less than $300 for it. I've had people get angry at me for using a "cheap" lens on a Leica. A famous person (I won't name the person) even criticized me for using (what he calls) Sh*tlander lenses on the M9! I felt important when that happened! But I digress ... so I chose the 75/2.5 as my main lens for the day, because I'd recently purchased a Pentax DA70/2.4 for the K-5, which is a wonderful lens. My thinking was that the K-5 + DA70 and other lenses, even though it's a cropped sensor camera, could be a suitable replacement for the M9. The irony is that I've listed the K-5 for sale. So maybe the K-5 will be gone too. Oh well ...
In any event, here are some of the photos that I took yesterday. After I got home, loaded the photos, and processed them in LR3.6, I was reminded of why I do love the "red dot." It's not to say that the images in this thread could not have been made with another camera. Or maybe, it would have been better if I had used a "real" M lens. I'm sure that the famous person would agree with the last statement. Oh well.
(1) Inside the lobby of the Museum of Natural Sciences. This one photo was taken with the Voigtlander Skopar 50mm f2.5. The rest were all with the 75/2.5.
Busy dad by Armanius, on Flickr
(2) I think this guy was a "pro" going around soliciting business. He seemed to be taking photos of different people, with permission of course. I didn't ask for permission.
The pro making money by Armanius, on Flickr
(3) Just the typical lovers on a bench photo. No Eiffel Tower on the background. Still waiting to make that trip.
Cuddling by Armanius, on Flickr
(4) I wasn't quite sure if there was anything interesting about this photo. I cropped some stuff out and I ended up enjoying the colors, if not much else.
Real people and stone people by Armanius, on Flickr
(5) Cute toddler playing with the trash. The mom didn't mind as she was standing right next to him. Focus was a little off, because I really rushed the photo. I didn't want the mom to think I was a stalker (or worse).
Dunk in the trash by Armanius, on Flickr
(6) This cyclist was in the Japanese Garden, inside Hermann Park. He either didn't read the "no bicycle" sign at the entrance of the garden, or he just didn't care.
No bikes allowed in the park! by Armanius, on Flickr
(7) Even though it's technically winter here in Houston, some flowers still bloom. I think these are "knockout" roses. I think ...
The roses are blooming even more by Armanius, on Flickr
(8) Some more roses.
The roses are blooming by Armanius, on Flickr
(9) The M9 has no matrix metering or spot metering mode. Its only metering mode is a center weighted metering. As it turns out, the gentlemen on the photo was so pale that I blew the highlights (his skin) in this photo, and I couldn't recover it later. I really tried!
Reflections and needing a tan badly by Armanius, on Flickr
(10) It's always fun to take photos of people taking photos of others. It's specially fun when the subject of the original photo makes a funy face.
The Monument by Armanius, on Flickr
(12) Unknown flower ... focus was off.
Sunflower? Probably not! by Armanius, on Flickr
(13) There's a nice sized hill at Hermann Park, which is a part of the outdoor theatre. Kids like to roll down the hill, and this one kid was rocketing down on his bike.
Downhill max speed by Armanius, on Flickr
(14) And my favorite photo of the day -- my significant other. She's the unpaid but willing (most of the time) model. This photo, which was heavily cropped, really shows the resolving power of the M9. The 100% version of the photo shows even more detail than this 1024 pixel downsample. For portraits, too much detail is sometimes simply too much. I pushed the clarity slider to the left a good amount.
View attachment 48510
Leica portraits - lovely! by Armanius, on Flickr
Thanks for letting me share these photos with you.
ps: I picked up a GXR + M module. So far, it's still easier to manually focus with the rangefinder patch than the GXR's focus assists.