About Last Night, Some Leica M Thoughts, & Two Favorite Things: Photography and Singing.

About Last Night, Some Leica M Thoughts, & Two Favorite Things: Photography and Singing.

Summed up pretty well in this IG post.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eric L. Woods (@ewoodsphoto)

About last night. Two of my favorite things. Photography and singing. Opening of an exhibit containing two of my photos at @continental_clubgso in #greensboronc followed by 100 Men In Black Ensemble rehearsal for tonight’s concert at Southern High School in #durhamnc . Good times. Good people.

Shared ten photos in that post. Here are the rest from the entire day.

https://flic.kr/p/2qzH2BV

Leica M Thoughts.

I mat owe Leica adherents an apology. Heck. I may be one.

Makes no sense in technical terms.

• Wildly expensive.
• No AF.
• No IBIS.
• Video is a non thing, even when it is included like the Type 240.
• No tilt screen.
• No touch screen.
• Lenses can be wildly expensive.
• etc.

But I get it. If all you are interested in is taking photos a digital rangefinder can be a wonderful thing, In terms of experience, not technical specs anyway.

• While still expensive when specs are being discussed, you can save quite a bit if you are willing to look at older M models.
• Choose lenses well and a three prime set up can be quite compact.

• Choose lenses well and they can be quite affordable.
  • Leica lenses are off the table for me. While some older native Leica M lenses are inexpensive, the ones I want are prohibitively expensive, new or used. Other lenses, like ZEISS, are less expensive but still more than I wanted to spend.
  • On the other end, I have had good luck with Chinese manufacturer lenses. But in the end I found a third path.
  • Used Voigtlander lenses are where I landed. Hamish Gill put it pretty well during an email exchange, “I reckon voigtlander probably represent the best overall value of the m-mount lenses…”. Well said.
• No AF.
  • A blessing, not a curse in certain scenarios. Like last night for instance. A perfect tool for candid photography.
• No IBIS.
  • A wonderful advancement. But not at all missed here.
  • Same goes for other advancements like tilt and touch screens and the like.

Lastly, there is this: I cannot argue with the results. I enjoyed taking the photos and am beyond pleased with how they turned out.

Not for everyone. I understand that. Perfect for me in the right circumstances.

Happy capturing.

-ELW