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DAY 11

October 18th 2009 - Day 11 - 3:27PM - Some shots from today...

The Ghost House...35 Summicron at F2, ISO 80 and heavily processed to give it some moodiness and halloween spirit...

Super Beetle - 50 Summilux Pre-ASPH at F4...

I drove by this Super Beetle for sale, and what a screaming deal! The for sale sign SHOULD HAVE READ:

"1973 Super Beetle. Rough shape, lots O rust. Interior shot to hell, bad tires, no heat or A/C, leaky engine, faded paint job and shoddy brakes." Asking price? $2700! Maybe $2000 overpriced!

October 18th 2009 - Day 11 - 9:26AM -

Today I will be going out for a while to see what I can find to shoot. I should have some new images up later but for now, one I grabbed of my cat this morning as she awoke for her morning head rub. Yea, this is the same cat that was living on the street all last year. Now when she sees me open the front door she runs and hides.

50 Summilux pre-asph at 1.4 - I love this lens!

One thing I have noticed about this lens on the M8 vs M9 is that on the M8 it had a swirly bokeh (which I liked) and on the M9, that swirl seems to be gone, or barely visible. In any case, this lens is now being used as it was meant to be used. As a 50! BTW, I added a little bit of fine grain to this image using Color Efex Pro.

DAY 10

October 17th 2009 - Day 10 - 3:14PM - Just made a new video of the M9 shutter sound...CLICK HERE To see it!

DAY 9

October 16th - Day 9 - 5:00 PM - Oh..THE COLOR!

35 Lux at F4 - My favorite M9 image to date (of the ones I have taken).

October 16th - Day 9 - 2:13 PM - Detail galore...

Processed a shot today and was amazed at the detail at F2 with the 35 Summicron. Click on the image below to see it larger and to see the crop at the correct 100% size. This was at F2. Excellent detail!

October 16th - Day 9 - 11:13 AM - Some thoughts after 9 days...

Been shooting with the M9 now every day and I have to say it is a wonderful camera. I have also been shooting with the Panasonic GF1 and my review for that camera will be up next week. There were times when I shot a scene with the GF1 and upon the review I was kind of saying “WOW”. To be honest, a couple of times the images were a bit prettier than the same image I shot with the M9!

But fear not, the GF1 is no match for the M9’s color, dynamic range, depth, and amazing quality of its files. The M9 is a load of cash ($7000 - CHA CHING!)  for sure, but it is really delivering for me above and beyond what the M8 did. The M8/M8.2 is FANTASTIC but with the M9 I can shoot in that lower light, I can get that richer color and when I shoot a 35mm lens, it is a 35mm lens! I am using the whole lens I paid so much money for, and that alone is pretty cool. I also have the power to crop if I need to do so. 18MP is really more than I will EVER need.

Issues? I have had two M9 quirks to date. One of which was my fault 100%. While the camera was writing to the SD card I was trying to zoom in on that image. It was not even written 100% yet so it froze the camera. That has happened once. The other issue was the mystery of the lost images on my SD card on the 14th. Still not sure what happened there. Possibly a formatting issue?

In any case, so far I can say that shooting the M9 has been like shooting an M8.2 on steroids. It’s pumped up and has improved in almost every way (except the Sapphire glass). Also, the  top LCD debate is raging along on some forums. IN USE, the new INFO screen is so much better than the top LCD. In the real world the top LCD was not really very accurate, and in the dark could not be seen. AT ALL! The new info button brings up the screen with your battery info, shots remaining and lens data. Much better IMO. I mean, how hard is it to push a button? So no worries to those who have been stressing about that top LCD. When you get your M9 you will see what I mean.

I should have more samples up later today!

DAY 8

October 15th - Day 8 - 3:47 PM - 75 Summarit images..

75 Summarit at F4 - click for larger

75 Summarit at 2.5 - Click for larger

October 15th - Day 8 - 11:47AM - Comparing 35 Summicron and 35 Summilux.

Been messing around today with the M9 and shot off 120 shots. No issues with memory card or freeze ups today. I decided to check out how the two hottest 35’s for the M system compared on a silly test shot. I set up a tripod, and took a shot with each lens at F2 with the same exposure settings. Then the Lux at 1.4. Processed the RAW files with standard settings in ACR and here are the results. This will give you an idea of how the focus shift affects the 35 Lux.

35 CRON F2 - CLICK FOR LARGER VERSION

35 LUX AT F2 - CLICK FOR LARGER VERSION

and some 100% crops...

The Lux is not as sharp due to its famous “focus shift”

Here is the scene with the Lux at 1.4

and the crop

So the Cron is the sharpest, and the Lux is sharper at 1.4 than F2 (and f2.8/F4)

So while the Lux gives you the 1.4 aperture (and with the right subject matter can be MAGICAL at 1.4), the cron beats it for sharpness and it is mainly due to the focus shift. The cron gives me great results at all apertures AND a little bit of magic at F2. My vote for the best all around lens on the M9 is the 35 Cron, followed by the 50 Lux ASPH. I also hear the 28 Summicron is AMAZING on the M9 but right now, I do not have that lens.

Will have some 75 summarit images up later, or tomorrow.

DAY 7

October 14th - Day 7 - 2:08 PM - TIP: For now, ALWAYS format your SD cards each time you shoot with the M9!

What a day. My Iphone screen smashed into 1000 crackles. I also lost some images when out shooting today with the M9. Yep, I experienced my first real M9 quirk. I shot maybe 100 images today. Was out for hours finding  locations to shoot. I even reviewed them on the LCD after taking the shot. I deleted a couple and shot a few more after that. I chimped, zoomed, and reviewed while in the field. When I got home NONE of the images were on the card from today’s shooting! HOW COULD THIS EVEN HAPPEN? Is my freaking M9 haunted? Did my Extreme III SD card become possessed? What a BUMMER. All that was on the card were yesterdays images. Now, I admit, I did not format the card again today as I did that three days ago. I still had a ton of room on the card.

After this happened I researched to see if anyone else was reporting this. I read on a forum that you should format your SD card in the M9 every single time you want to shoot. What??? I am not going to rant about it but I hope this gets looked into and a firmware fix is in the works. Not sure how this could have happened.

There is the possibility it could be my Extreme III 8GB SD card but its always worked fine in the M8 and the M9 up until today. It also worked fine when I tested it a few minutes ago in the house. At least I was not on a paid assignment. That would of been BAD. Am I mad as hell? Naaa, because A: It COULD have been an error with the card or on my part. and B: I KNOW if it is a real issue, it will be fixed with a firmware update. Soon.

But I will continue to shoot and I will use a new SD card from here on to see if this happens again or if it was some kind of isolated incident with this card or somehow an error I made. I do know after every shot the image popped up on the screen for me to review, and I even scrolled through all of them at one point. Then POOF! They were gone.

My 35 cron/Lux comparisons were lost as was my 75 Summarit images from today. Will try again tomorrow with a new card. I did e-mail my contact at Leica about it to let them know.

Until then...Here is one from yesterday. I took another one of my self portraits using the 35 cron just before a walk. (yea, it was 40 degrees so I had a jacket and hat on). Anyway, when I processed the shot I was very happy with the quality of the file. This was shot at F2. Below is a resized 100% crop. if you click on the crop directly below you can view the full 100% version of the crop. Not bad for F2.

CLICK FOR FULL SIZE 100% CROP! The only thing I adjusted was color and contrast and applied my usual sharpening in the RAW conversion in Adobe Camera Raw. Would have been sharper in C1.

Now some of you may not know what a 100% crop is. It is basically a piece of the photo taken from the full size 18 megapixel file. Usually, a 100% crop is grainy from small sensor cameras with not very much detail. With DSLR’s like Canons, the 100% crops are nice but not up to the M9 as far as detail goes. Also, the crop I am showing is impressive due to the fact that it was shot at F2 with bathroom mirror light. Most F2 lenses would not be this sharp at 100%.

Not only that, I am finding the M9 look and depth to be eerily close to medium format digital. Superb performance in a small, compact, well built package. Keep an eye on B&H Photo...they may get some M9’s soon.

If my SD card works tomorrow I will have some 35 Lux/Cron comparisons and 75 Elmarit shots. Be sure to check back!

DAY 6

October 13th - Day 6 - 6:52PM - Lens talk...

After shooting 100 frames or so today with the 35 Summicron I can say it will now be in my “M9 Lens Kit”. When I shot with the M8, my favorite lens was the 35 Summilux, PERIOD! On the M9, I am still really liking the 35 focal length but the Summicron has taken over as my favorite 35 after spending the whole day with it and the lux.

On the M8 I usually used a 28 to shoot buildings, barns, trucks, or landscape. It was the lens I went to when I wanted a “crisp” result. I had my 35 Lux for low light, and my 50 Lux as well. With the M9 the 35 Lux just does not give me the results I like when shooting these scenes and the 50 is not wide enough. The 35 Summicron did deliver and it did it better than the 28 used to on the M8! The 35 Summicron and the M9 = A PERFECT MATCH.

It does not have the magic of the 35 lux at 1.4 but it has its own magic. Different but nice. 

To date I have shot the 24 Lux, 35 Cron, 35 Lux, 50 Lux, 75 Summarit, 90 Cron, 90 Summarit and 135 Telyt on the M9. Out of all of those I have gotten the best overall results with the 35 Summicon. Your results may vary.

To anyone wondering what a great ONE lens kit would be I would say either the 35 Summicron or the 50 Summilux ASPH.

October 13th 2009 - Day 6 - 11:46AM - Walked around a bit today with the M9 and 35 Summicron. I can say that this lens is like a match made in heaven on the M9. Sharp at all apertures, great contrast, superb color, compact and no issues at all. Here are a couple from my walk...

35 Summicron at F2 on the M9. Check out this color...

35 Summicron at F4. Blur added in PS.

October 13th 2009 - Day 6 - 9:07AM - Many people wonder why Leica cameras and lenses are so expensive. Here is a great article which may help to answer that question.

I will have more later today with the M9!

DAY 5

October 12th 2009 - Day 5 - 1:07PM - Just one shot from today. Drove by this house that got attacked with a few rolls of TP, had to get a shot of it. Click for a larger version.

Nothing new or exciting to report today. Tomorrow I will be doing some of side by side shots with the 35 Summicron ASPH and 35 Summilux ASPH on the M9, so check back!

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