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My sort of S-007 review..

Malina DZ

Member
I'm speechless. The shots didn't let me concentrate on your writing. Great color, skin tones and light! Adam, you're doing Leica a huge favor. :clap: :thumbs:
 

aDam007

New member
I'm speechless. The shots didn't let me concentrate on your writing. Great color, skin tones and light! Adam, you're doing Leica a huge favor. :clap: :thumbs:

Thanks!

It was a toss up between pictures of my wife, or.. Blurry missed focused shots of random strangers walking towards me. High ISO shots of brick walls. And camera phone footage of me machine gunning the shutter with a large grin on my face :D
 
M

mjr

Guest
Great shots and review Adam, I hope to have one next week, really looking forward to trying it out.

I absolutely love my 006 and don't want to sell it so working hard to afford both, I think it's worth the pain for the added performance, I'm a long way North and it's dark for a few months here so it would be nice to have the extra shooting window the ISO offers without the tripod.

I'm glad to see the richness of the files hasn't been lost with the CMOS, there is just something so beautiful about the bigger pixels and the glass, wonderful! Obviously it helps to have such a stunning subject!

Enjoy using it.

Mat
 

aDam007

New member
Someone on the other forum mentioned that my review doesn't show images of what I'm talking about.. I assumed everyone who was interested in the review would have used the previous model or researched the camera. Here are a few more "typical" reviewer images for those interested.. Nothing fancy, and a few people on getdpi have already done far better ISO tests. And I'm sure someone will do a AF comparison video :D

Scenario "Bride walking, I run in front of her turn around and snap." Typically I'd shoot this with an M and nail focus on the first (ok maybe second) attempt and would be done with it. :D
But if I were using a DSLR I'd likely either do single shot/center point AF. Or single shot/continuous AF 3D/face detect. Two or three shots would get me the expression I needed and it'd likely be in focus unless it was bad light or severely backlit.
So in this case I used continuous focus and shot a few frames on single shot. The AF actually didn't catch enough to allow the shutter to fire (unless it just wonkily shot an image of nothing in focus). SOOOO I switched it to MF (back button focus) and thus the shutter fires on press. Basically I press the back button and as soon as it thinks it's locked I press the shutter (usually at that point it looks in focus through the OVF). Seems to be the only way to get the camera to somewhat hit focus on a subject moving towards you. Not ideal, but you would get a few shots in focus, especially if you're shooting at f/4 or above. On f/2 here's what you get when it misses (no point in showing the keepers) due to that split second delay and shallow DOF:

AF wise it was the back button as that worked the best, obviously this is a shot of when it doesn't work (FF typical web size):


close crop:



This next shot is a STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA JPG file 3200 ISO. No color corrections or brightening has been made. I do need to add the OOCJPG files are going to be a stop behind what the DNG can currently do, and probably two stops by the time LR profiles are made and firmware is updated (hopefully). It's mixed light, and as I said before in low light (unflattering light, not a keeper, the second shot I took she moved forward slightly and the shadows on the nose went away, but I shot that one at 125th @1600 and she was making silly faces because she wanted to go home). It'll give you an idea of ISO both from a 100% crop and a typical size I am requested to resize images to for non-corporate clients (ppl who wanna share images on FB/IG):

Full frame (35S @ 2.5 / 250th / 3200ISO):


Roughly 100% crop from the OOC JPG:



Taken from DNG no noise reduction or any adjustments, roughly 100% crop:
 

aDam007

New member
Great shots and review Adam, I hope to have one next week, really looking forward to trying it out.

I absolutely love my 006 and don't want to sell it so working hard to afford both, I think it's worth the pain for the added performance, I'm a long way North and it's dark for a few months here so it would be nice to have the extra shooting window the ISO offers without the tripod.

I'm glad to see the richness of the files hasn't been lost with the CMOS, there is just something so beautiful about the bigger pixels and the glass, wonderful! Obviously it helps to have such a stunning subject!

Enjoy using it.

Mat

Yes, I agree. The "magic" is still there. More so than the switch from the M9 to M240. Though again, I love my M240 cameras.

- - - Updated - - -

Nice article, good photos, Adam!
Sounds like a terrific camera.

G
Thanks, seems that way. I think I still like my M-P cameras and M-lenses though ;)
That 50mm M-Summicron-APO, can't get it out of my head.
 
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aDam007

New member
cruel torture :)

I think we need to meet up to shoot the 100S along side the 75LUX. I'm curious to see if there are any similarities between the two lenses. Since Leica is saying the 100S is the Noctilux of the S-world. And we all know the 75LUX is really a crop-Noctilux (think croptilux will catch on?). And in all fairness the 100S is a 80mm lens (80Lux-75Lux same same).
 

aDam007

New member
Excellent Adam
lovely photos (lovely wife).
I must pull myself together and get finished!
I'm sure you have a wider variety of photos than I do. And your reviews are a lot more succinct than mine.. I tend to ramble on :D
I look forward to reading the review!
 
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Jay Emm

Member
Nice work Adam, appreciate the review. Great to see this next iteration of the S series is ticking the boxes.
 

PeterA

Well-known member
Nice review- very useful shots - thanks to your patient wife.
Interesting thoughts on higher ISO's and colour.

I'm starting to think this camera might be the upgrade from original S2 I've been waiting for.

Many thanks
-Pete
 

Giorgio

Member
Thanks Adam!
Nice preview of the camera and exactly the kind of subject matter I wanted to see photographed.
Enjoy your new camera.
 

bab

Active member
Adam you have the best review so far on the web nice job. Does any body know why Leica delayed the 007?
Also I can't believe the reviews I've seen from those lucky enough to obtain one new S (007) for review! One guy even says he doesn't own any Leicas and loves his Pentax and then says Leica is a nice camera but bulky and heavy, wow what a waste. I bet you there are 100 photographers including me that would have appreciated having the new S for two weeks or longer and would of had much more to say even about turning the camera ON, let alone post at least one studio shot with a subject lit with a para, a product shot, a natural light portrait, a sunset, a mountain air shot, a long exposure and or something more than a snapshot of their mailbox. Your killing me Leica!!! It would be a different matter if you had to buy and process film to shoot the S and give a review then I could understand the lack of images but heck digital film is free like air. Despite a pronominal brand and most likely a great line of products who ever is responsible for shipping out equipment for review if there is anyone might just as well not sent any out because those who got one for the most part gave such negative comments.
 

dfarkas

Workshop Member
Adam you have the best review so far on the web nice job. Does any body know why Leica delayed the 007?
Also I can't believe the reviews I've seen from those lucky enough to obtain one new S (007) for review! One guy even says he doesn't own any Leicas and loves his Pentax and then says Leica is a nice camera but bulky and heavy, wow what a waste. I bet you there are 100 photographers including me that would have appreciated having the new S for two weeks or longer and would of had much more to say even about turning the camera ON, let alone post at least one studio shot with a subject lit with a para, a product shot, a natural light portrait, a sunset, a mountain air shot, a long exposure and or something more than a snapshot of their mailbox. Your killing me Leica!!! It would be a different matter if you had to buy and process film to shoot the S and give a review then I could understand the lack of images but heck digital film is free like air. Despite a pronominal brand and most likely a great line of products who ever is responsible for shipping out equipment for review if there is anyone might just as well not sent any out because those who got one for the most part gave such negative comments.
I'm currently working on wrapping up my in-depth review on the S007. I took the camera to Iceland for nine days and also did some low-light street photography in NYC and Miami, as well as a tabletop still life for ISO comparisons. Stay tuned.

Oh, and I didn't baby it....

 
Adam's review is probably the most useful to date, but I'd like to see a side-by-side comparison of the 007 and 006 with regard to skin tones and rendering. Not to start another sensor debate, but there does seem to be some kind of difference between CMOS and CCD sensors, at least when it comes to skin. Which is maybe why Leica is continuing with the Leica S-E.
 
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aDam007

New member
Adam's review is probably the most useful to date, but I'd like to see a side-by-side comparison of the 007 and 006 with regard to skin tones and rendering. Not to start another sensor debate, but there does seem to be some kind of difference between CMOS and CCD sensors, at least when it comes to skin. Which is maybe why Leica is continuing with the Leica S-E.
I could probably put up some side by sides.. But I'm telling you the difference is a lot more subtle then with the M240 and M9. And even that was blown out of proportion. However, if I'm shooting at 100 ISO and my pictures are well exposed, it's difficult not to love the S-006 files enough to seriously think twice about using any other camera.

Out of JPG files, different story. The S-006 still has the advantage there for some reason. Maybe just personal preference?
 
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