I enjoyed your portfolio, I think one of my problems I’m using the 14-42 power zoom – came as kit lens. I loath most zooms so I must start looking for a second hand 20mm lens, I won’t be buying it new, as I haven’t seen it anywhere near where I live for less than 400€!!

photographed with GF1 and 14mm/2.5

Mostly the Panasonic 20 1.7-among the best in the micro 4/3 format
To a lesser degree I use the Olympus 12mm f2.0 and Olympus 45mm 1.8
Also,recently picked up the new Olympus 75 1.8 and Voightlander 25mm .95
Both are excellent but a little too physically large for the camera and sort
of defeat the compact nature of the camera.

Jim
I do have many less saturated images. Everything shown,in all galleries, are simply placeholders
as I build the new site.
Is there something,in particular, that could assist you ?

Regardless of any of this, if you don’t like the feel of the camera then it’s never going to
work for you.

On my new temp site, I put together a GX1 gallery for a friend who was considering the camera
last week
http://www.marktomalty.com/designx
First group in portfolio are all gx1 pics as are the pics in NYC gallery
The first 4 pairs in ‘dark trees’ are combo of GF and GX1. The remainder are 5d3

If that’s a Mamiya RZ you’re talking about, I can wholly recommend the system. Beautifully reliable and well thought out never ever let me down and saved my butt a couple of too many times when my damn 503 Hasselblads as usual broke down.

Don’t you find the GX1 files just a bit too noisy even at iso 160? I’m surprised about the noise I keep seeing in the shadows, OK it’s easy to fix in Lightroom and I suppose also in camera raw, but I wasn’t expecting in 2012 files with more noise than my 1DS II from iso 50 up to iso 800 which I bought in 2004!! I also agree with Imants the feel of the thing is lacking in charisma – I don’t enjoy using the damn camera…

Didn’t think this was an S2 shot. Curious as to why you’ve totally abandoned working with the M9? Maybe you need Leica to send you one as well (I would imagine you still have M lenses)….

Also, did maybe having an appt with a “name” family make expectations run a little high, esp as your first shoot? I know that when that happens with me it’s usually doesn’t turn out the best. Maybe the parking lot family would have been a better bet…. (sad story).

MTOMALTY,

Thanks for the offer but don’t really need to know firsthand. I’d hate to be tempted and clean out my savings…. Anyway, the M9 is just the sweet spot for me at the moment, though the next project(s) I have in mind I may bust out the medium format gear again but the expense of film and processing scares me vs just shooting with the M9. But the look, esp when paired with an unlikely subject (like I did with breakdancers) is unbeatable. But yeah, I usually send my digital files through a bit of A.S. Exposure as well, at least before printing.

Just wondering if you’re finding the GX1 suffers from more noise in the shadows than the GF1? Personally I’m rather surprised by how noisy my GX1′s sensor is compared to an admittedly full frame Canon 1Ds II camera but it’s very nearly eight years old!!

exactly ..dammit i went in to “pro mode”..an appointment, not much time, and i went in to “get the publishable picture” mode…just exactly what i don’t want to do….

i could have done many things differently…i did not know how to use like second hand nature either the GX1 nor the Leica S2…i fumbled with both….

all in all not the way i want to work…but i am just starting…just getting loose…you can never just DO IT….there is a process….you will see it unfold here on this trip i think…

i have not even looked at my S2 pictures yet…will do it now…will let you know

cheers, david

David wanted me to tell you that these photos are with the gx1. He used the S2 but hasn’t shared the photos from it yet.

Candy

Charles, if you want I can get a neutrally processed S2 file to you so you can see how a black
and white conversion works with your way of doing things.
Generally, like most hi-res digital, I find the results to be a little too clean and ‘slick’
for my taste. I usually rough up my files with a run through a tri-x or neopan 1600 profile
using Alien Skin’s Exposure.

I should probably drag out my Mamiya again, cause nobody is letting me borrow a Leica S either.

Hope David will give us some of his views on this particular shot when he has time.

How much ambiguity and/or intimacy is the goal in telling stories about families, how documentary or how art-oriented can photographic storytelling get to be effective? And do the smaller sensors with lenses that provide sharpness from foreground to background help or hinder in the effort? How to use all of these effectively is what this trip will be about, seems to me …