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A day on the Piste with the A900

jonoslack

Active member
Hi there
well, there was 40cm snow last night, and then this afternoon the sun came out.

I don't usually carry anything but a pocket camera when I'm skiing (fed up with rucksacks and chair lifts), but I made an exception for today.

here are a few pictures;

















all taken with the humble little Tamron 28-300
 

Braeside

New member
Thanks for posting the photos Jono. Glad that the snow has stopped and sun is shining, looks wonderful. You seem to have the piste to yourself.
 

Amin

Active member
Beautiful, Jono. I like several of them quite a bit. Could just be the uncalibrated display I'm using at the moment, but all of these look to be on the blue side.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Jono,
I'm not at my own monitor, so I'm not sure about the colours of these, but I do think they look a bit dull compared to what I've been used to see from the A900, and compared to those you posted on the Leica forum taken with the M8 (I think). Could it be the lens that is not completely up to the bright, contrasty snow?
 
D

ddk

Guest
Jono,
I'm not at my own monitor, so I'm not sure about the colours of these, but I do think they look a bit dull compared to what I've been used to see from the A900, and compared to those you posted on the Leica forum taken with the M8 (I think). Could it be the lens that is not completely up to the bright, contrasty snow?
The images are soft if you compare them to what he's been posting with Zeiss glass but are still acceptable. The WB is off too, there's a strong blue cast which is easily adjusted in PS along with .5 stop underexposure, again easy to adjust in PS.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Hi Chaps
Back to normality (well, nearly, I'm in Cornwall now!).
Thanks for the compliments - it's a pretty place. Two issues:

1. White balance. I've taken to shooting the A900 with 'daylight', these were then pp'd in a hotel room using the screen on my macbook pro - I agree that they're too blue, as we all know, snow is a subtle thing, and only a very slight difference is obviously visible.

2. Sharpness. Looking at these at 100% on the screen, the Tamron clearly isn't up to the Zeiss lenses, but I'm surprised that it's obvious when reduced to this size for the web - perhaps it's just that I don't sharpen as much as some like. The Tamron was a mistake though - it's okay, but for the extra 500gms I'd carry the Zeiss every time . . . this became obvious on the first day - but of course, I'd left the lens in the UK :(

I'm working up to a web page for the trip, and I'll obviously be working on the WB on these (and others).
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Jono,
It has always surprised me how often it's possible to spot quality differences in lenses even when looking at a downsized photo. One of the reasons may be that a less sharp lens simply requires another kind of work-flow to look good, also when downsizing.
 

HansAlbert

New member

[/QUOTE]

Of all the photos of the La Rosière galleries I like this one most.

There is moment of surprise, at first, when the viewer is aware of a certain shudder of fear: beauty on the brink. Delicate, fragile appearing trees in pristine snow-smoothed nature, presented quasi on nature's stage, and all that in front of an abyss of Miltonic grandeur with a turmoil of clouds. The backlight helps to stir up the colossal impact of this natural phenomenon, just as the soft foreground underlines the opposite effect.
The photo unites two key concepts of aesthetics with a rare intensity: the beautiful and the sublime, and in a way, the young Edmund Burke had described them in his "Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of The Sublime and Beautiful" (1757), which in turn was of great influence for Kant's systematization of these concepts. The colossal turmoil of battle above the presumed horrible depth arouses fear, even terror by means of our imagination, so that we count our size and power as evanescent in relation to the vastness and infinite power of nature. Whereas the "terror [is] the common stock of everything that is sublime" (Part II, ch.6), the "appearance of delicacy, and even of fragility, is almost essential to" the beauty (Part III, ch.16); and smoothness, because it "is a principal cause of pleasure to the touch, taste, smell and hearing, [...] will be easily admitted a constituent of visual beauty" (Part IV, ch.20). As a result, we see: The composition of this photo owes its clarity more to a timeless classic formalism, but its emotional content is rather reigned by the underlying Romanticism that was foreshadowed by Burke's ideas. This is clearly one of Jono's masterworks, and I most certainly would like to hang it up in my hall for daily veneration, if there weren't already my own photos. :)

PS: I prefer the b & w version
 

jonoslack

Active member
Hi There Hans

Of all the photos of the La Rosière galleries I like this one most.

There is moment of surprise, at first, when the viewer is aware of a certain shudder of fear: beauty on the brink. Delicate, fragile appearing trees in pristine snow-smoothed nature, presented quasi on nature's stage, and all that in front of an abyss of Miltonic grandeur with a turmoil of clouds. The backlight helps to stir up the colossal impact of this natural phenomenon, just as the soft foreground underlines the opposite effect.
The photo unites two key concepts of aesthetics with a rare intensity: the beautiful and the sublime, and in a way, the young Edmund Burke had described them in his "Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of The Sublime and Beautiful" (1757), which in turn was of great influence for Kant's systematization of these concepts. The colossal turmoil of battle above the presumed horrible depth arouses fear, even terror by means of our imagination, so that we count our size and power as evanescent in relation to the vastness and infinite power of nature. Whereas the "terror [is] the common stock of everything that is sublime" (Part II, ch.6), the "appearance of delicacy, and even of fragility, is almost essential to" the beauty (Part III, ch.16); and smoothness, because it "is a principal cause of pleasure to the touch, taste, smell and hearing, [...] will be easily admitted a constituent of visual beauty" (Part IV, ch.20). As a result, we see: The composition of this photo owes its clarity more to a timeless classic formalism, but its emotional content is rather reigned by the underlying Romanticism that was foreshadowed by Burke's ideas. This is clearly one of Jono's masterworks, and I most certainly would like to hang it up in my hall for daily veneration, if there weren't already my own photos. :)

PS: I prefer the b & w version

Thank you so much for the detailed critique. You always tell me much more about my pictures than I've ever formulated - it all makes such good sense in retrospect.

here's the black and white version



When I took the picture, it was the morning after a big fall of snow, and what struck me was the fragile nature of the group of trees and the apparent precipice behind, how they looked like a group of people chatting on a stage at the edge of disaster. But the minute I start to verbalise I realise that the initial impact was entirely instinctive. We've discussed this before, I think I have to be classified as a naive photographer (well, I was brought up looking at Alfred Wallis's every day!).

Thank you - I always enjoy your writing (although it sometimes makes me feel somewhat of a fraud!).
 

otumay

New member
Jono, the b+w version is even better! Fortunately, I know that it's not the camera, but the eye behind it that takes the picture, otherwise I'd go out and buy myself an A900, spending my resources sorely needed for Leica lenses...
Congratulations,
Osman
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
Wow, Jono, nice mono photo, you must have a great camera :ROTFL:

Actually to be serious, I too prefer the mono version. If this was taken with the Tamron, how sharp is it at 100%?

Cheers
Quentin
 

jonoslack

Active member
Thank you Osman - it certainly wasn't the lens :ROTFL:

Hi Quentin
well, it's quite sharp in the middle, but there is still visible CA, and this was shot at 110mm, which is probably the best focal length for the lens.

Mine's going back on Monday - I'm afraid, buying it was a triumph of optimism over reality, mind you, this picture came out okay.
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
I'm going a bit lens crazy. While I like the look of the 135mm F1.8 Zeiss, as you do, Jono, I wonder about the Sony 135mm f2.8 STF Lens which is manual focus. Should be an incredible portrait lens, yet I have found few sample shots taken with it that are actually portraits.

Quentin
 

picman

Member
I'm going a bit lens crazy. While I like the look of the 135mm F1.8 Zeiss, as you do, Jono, I wonder about the Sony 135mm f2.8 STF Lens which is manual focus. Should be an incredible portrait lens, yet I have found few sample shots taken with it that are actually portraits.

Quentin
Quentin, I do not know the 135 STF, but I have just got my 135 ZA for a week now and I must say this is one awesome lens. You really owe it to yourself to try both before making a decision (I guess you know I am a great fan of Zeiss ;)).

Cheers, Bob.
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
Quentin, I do not know the 135 STF, but I have just got my 135 ZA for a week now and I must say this is one awesome lens. You really owe it to yourself to try both before making a decision (I guess you know I am a great fan of Zeiss ;)).

Cheers, Bob.
I will, Bob. I too am a great Zeiss fan - used Contax cameras for a couple of decades in order to use Zeiss lenses.

The Zeiss 135 makes more sense really. But still I'd love to try the STF.

Hmmm :confused:

Quentin
 
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