Mois : avril 2020

I feel I should justify that – it’s silly ‘photo‘ season again – this is the moment when all the software companies, creating largely useless software supposed to make your images stupendous, announce offers on all their old stuff before launching ‘new’ versions.

Topaz, Skylum even DxO – they’re all at it. What’s the point? I mean, I’m not against software to ‘repair’ images, to get rid of spots, or increase contrast etc. but these programmes can radically change the original images – to the point that they’re nothing, but nothing like the originals.

I fully realise that there are photographers out there who consider that they just need to use ballpark camera settings to get a shot, then when they get home, the fun starts – they think they can correct EVERYTHING, colour balance, focus – the works!

I admit I picked up the NIK collection when it was free – I think I used it once – and frankly I’m glad I didn’t pay for it.

If an image looks overly reworked, it probably has been – HDR has been run into the ground – everybody uses it, to the point that a ‘real’ unretouched image looks pale…however, the unretouched « effect » is probably the closet thing to ‘real’. Most photographers use the three basic effects at the disposal of everyone with a camera – the shutter speed, the aperture and the film speed/ISO.

For 95% of images, the ‘effects’ can be created simply by the experience of the photographer – he judges the speed or aperture, positions himself with regards to the predominant light etc. all to get the effect he wants, or more, to recreate what he sees in the scene.

I admit I have used graduated neutral density filters – probably three times in the last ten years (mainly because I forget to take them out with me….) but the hassle with these things is compounded by the fact that they don’t fit any of my ultra-wide angle lenses – so it’s back to basic exposure compensations…

Try to be original – try to look at a scene and previsualise it, knowing what an under or over exposure could do to improve it, in your eyes…before you resort to hours of post treatment.

As the title says, we’ve just come to the end of our first month of confinement here in France. This situation will continue for (at least) another month, until the 11th of May when, if all goes well, the relaxation of the lock-down will begin…

We’re extremely fortunate as we live on the outskirts of a small town, and as such have an enormous liberty of movement around our area. We go for daily walks and have discovered flowers and hidden objects in the hedgerows.

This old Citroën Traction from the late forties, was discovered not 200m from our house.

And then there are the orchids and other flowers.

We have been having some beautiful weather recently, and each time we go out, I take a camera. However, the images above were all taken the same morning! Today, we’ll be visiting a tomb!

Yes, a long time ago in the 50’s, a local lady, well known for helping (and hiding) people during WWll and also her love of her dogs, died and following her wishes was buried (with one of her dogs) in a tomb in a field with a view towards the Pyrenées. We heard the story from our neighbor and decided to look for the grave, which we found a few days ago. We’re going back today to explore a little more around the site…I’ll try to remember to take some photographs…

For now, here’s the beautiful oak tree just beside the lady’s tomb.

It’s almost reassuring to see that, despite all the catastrophic problems the spread of the COVID-19 virus is causing worldwide, there are still some SERIOUS loonies that take our mind off recent events.

Loonie-in-chief Tronald Dump for one – he’s now enlisted help from his son-in-law. No-one can actually figure out why, as reports suggest that he’s the kiss-of-death to pretty much everything he touches (or gets involved with). Par for the course you could say…as his father-in-law isn’t much cop as a President either, judging by his recent antics. His basic daily principal is to watch Fox News then lie to the American public. Go get ’em Donald! This « Chinese » virus isn’t dangerous, and when it gets a bit warmer it will all disappear magically….yeah, got that right you d***head.

Next up are the UK loonies who seem to think that the 5G Wireless telephone network has links to the Corona virus….yes….so where did that one come from? No-one knows (Jared Kusner? NDLR Trumps son-in-law) But as it turns out, these idiots are going around burning communications towers in the North of England. I suppose this should have been expected, as the people ‘up north’ are not exactly known for their mental prowess, but burning cell towers? What do these people think they are, witches??

More loonies, but further South now – the warmer weather has brought the f***wits out in numbers – presumably these people are ignorant or foreign or both, as they don’t seem to understand what ‘lock down’ means. Admitedly, here in France we’re fined if we’re caught outside without a valid reason, or paperwork, but in the UK the police just tell people off, with a serious face, and this is supposed to make people see the error of their ways. The headlines keep showing the increasing number of deaths in the country, and the f***wits just get back on their bikes…

At time of writing (J+21), here in France we’re starting our 4th week of confinement – so far, I’ve been out three (3) times – and each time, for short food shopping trips.

Funny world really…as the Swedes have decided to let people do whatever they like – no government imposed confinement at all – the Dutch did this for a while, and now the numbers of people testing positive is starting to shoot up…

Can’t help thinking this is going to take a huge toll – but then, what does Donald care? It wasn’t his fault was it!

I’m trying to figure out if this is actually good news or what….?

As the title says, this is the new LEICA M10 Monochrome. It’s a B&W only, rangefinder camera made out of black (yes, just black), costing 8200€. Body only – the lens will cost 2350€. As they only make 8 or 9, I suppose this justifies the price…

As with most things LEICA, this shoots « taking the piss » to new, almost stratospheric, heights. I mean, LEICA were the people who produced, a couple of years ago, a similar digital rangefinder WITHOUT A REAR SCREEN. I’ve often wondered why they bothered putting on a lens mount…or a shutter button…

I’m sure it’s very nice – I mean, it has to be at that price, doesn’t it?

In the same way that ANY camera owner will swear blind that their camera is the best, LEICA owners will extol the virtus till the cows come home – but it’s still a B&W digital camera, with no video, a 40 MP sensor and no autofocus.

And why is autofocus SO important? It’s all down to what you want to use the camera for. If you’re happy setting the lens at it’s hyper-focal distance and just pointing, why not? Or, spend time focusing through the minuscule viewfinder and match the two rangefinder images…again, why not?

But for the sort of work I do, autofocus is vital – I would never be able to change scene and adjust a rangefinder sufficiently quickly – I would probably be able to use the camera for one in every 50 shots. In addition, I can let my camera worry about this while I concentrate on the scene or movement I’m looking for.

But it does look nice in black.

Just to introduce an equivalent which, sort of, brings things into focus, for almost exactly the same price, you can have a brand spanking new HASSELBLAD X1D ll 50c and the 35-75 lens – with autofocus

And this one makes images with a larger sensor, both physically and by number of pixels, and in color or B&W…oh and it’s made from dark grey – much more class….