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a "mini-digital SWC" ... Leica CL + Voigtländer 10mm, cropped square

Godfrey

Well-known member
Another fabulous structure is the parking garage at San Jose International Airport. The Guadalupe River Trail runs right next to it: I stopped to take this shot on Sunday while out on my bicycle ride.


Leica CL + Voigtländer HyperWide 10mm f/5.6
ISO 200 @ f/8 @ 1/200

Enjoy!
G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Balloons over TriBeCa

Leica TL2+Voigtländer 10mm
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48188701801_dee2fe09a2_c.jpg

Matt
Interesting.

The concept is good, however... I'd have rather seen some detailing in the primary subject matter as it's not quite black enough or simple enough in shapes to give the 'silhouette' effect a clean shot. Of course the sky exposure makes this difficult. Also, there is a good bit of edge-highlighting which I suspect comes from over-sharpening.

It's fun to play with this wide a field of view in squares, eh? :)

The handy size/light weight of the V10 lens and a TL or CL body, along with the resulting 16Mpixel resolution, makes it an easy, playful kit to experiment with that can actually produce some lovely prints! I just made a pair of nice sized prints (9.5 inch square with .75 inch borders (long bottom), on 11x14 inch paper) that just kick it for me. At this size, I constrain the output to 360ppi on the Epson P600 .. nets better results than letting the printer's driver interpolate down from ~435ppi.

Fun fun fun!

The more I play with this setup, the happier I get. I wonder whether the additional mojo of the recently announced Hasselblad CFV50c II + 907x body, coupled with the XCD 21mm f/4 lens, would net enough of a gain for my intent to be worth spending the money for it. (Of course, the back by itself would also allow me to use the rest of my Hasselblad V system kit for a full digital capture workflow... :))

G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
A good friend from my work days had lunch with me yesterday. He's another photo head ... I had the CL+V10 with me and he snapped this shot of me.


"... and never mind my big hands, and nose." :)

Leica CL + Voigtländer HyperWide 10mm f/5.6
ISO 160 @ f/8 @ 1/15

This photo points out that when shooting people with an ultra-ultra-wide lens, you really have to be careful about the planes of elements and the subject to camera distance or foreshortening will bite you...!

G
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Interesting.

The concept is good, however... I'd have rather seen some detailing in the primary subject matter as it's not quite black enough or simple enough in shapes to give the 'silhouette' effect a clean shot. Of course the sky exposure makes this difficult. Also, there is a good bit of edge-highlighting which I suspect comes from over-sharpening.

It's fun to play with this wide a field of view in squares, eh? :)

The handy size/light weight of the V10 lens and a TL or CL body, along with the resulting 16Mpixel resolution, makes it an easy, playful kit to experiment with that can actually produce some lovely prints! I just made a pair of nice sized prints (9.5 inch square with .75 inch borders (long bottom), on 11x14 inch paper) that just kick it for me. At this size, I constrain the output to 360ppi on the Epson P600 .. nets better results than letting the printer's driver interpolate down from ~435ppi.

Fun fun fun!

The more I play with this setup, the happier I get. I wonder whether the additional mojo of the recently announced Hasselblad CFV50c II + 907x body, coupled with the XCD 21mm f/4 lens, would net enough of a gain for my intent to be worth spending the money for it. (Of course, the back by itself would also allow me to use the rest of my Hasselblad V system kit for a full digital capture workflow... :))

G
The halos are from darkening the blue response. I generally don't sharpen at all except a bit for printing.

The color version may be better...



Or more silhouette ...

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2gqobbG]


I have other versions where the foreground objects are more visible, but they seem very busy, and the balloons too insignificant. One where the Freedom Tower looks like a needle about to pop one of the balloons is cute, but not close enough to be convincing.

Matt
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
The halos are from darkening the blue response. I generally don't sharpen at all except a bit for printing.

The color version may be better...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48187812162_f66b7fb598_c.jpg

Or more silhouette ...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48189966692_d3afb503a9_c.jpg

I have other versions where the foreground objects are more visible, but they seem very busy, and the balloons too insignificant. One where the Freedom Tower looks like a needle about to pop one of the balloons is cute, but not close enough to be convincing.

Matt
Hadn't seen that particular halo effect on the blue channel change before, that's interesting.

Hmm. Well, as I said, it's an interesting concept but in this exposure it's not working out for me. I want to see that the things at the top are balloons clearly, as contrast to the very industrial looking mechanism/lights below it. It's that contrast that would make the photo work for me. The color improves it a little bit in that it softens the rest of the photo by some, the more silhouette look loses the sense of what I'm looking at.

I think what the photo shows is the basic problem of a dark primary subject against a bright background ... It's often a serious struggle with ultra wide shooting in sunlight.

G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Yes, from yet another cycle ride... :D


Leica CL + Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6
ISO 640 @ f/8 @ 1/15

enjoy!
G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Another cafe stop... I was sitting outside. These two young men arrived and took the table next to me. Their behaviors were so disparate in the ten-twenty minutes I was sitting there having lunch and watching them it was almost enough to make me laugh.


Leica CL + Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6
ISO 400 @ f/8 @ 1/50

A few others of their friends arrived a few moments before I departed, and I noted that their behaviors normalized. I nodded to them, just kind of saying goodbye, as I left. The one on the left barely noticed, the one on the right gave me a smile and a little hand gesture to say, 'thanks, see ya.'

Ah, communications in the modern age...

onwards,
G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Out for my ride on Tuesday, doing a slightly different take on my loop at a different point in the day than usual, I came through the edge of the University, rounded the bend, and my eyes were blinded by the glowing red umbrellas at the local pizza parlor. I had to stop and photograph it, and then I had to figure out how to make the photo look like what blasted my retinas ...


Leica CL + Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6
ISO 100 @ f/8 @ 1/80

enjoy!
G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
From yesterday's visit to Apple Park Visitor Center in Cupertino:




Both: Leica CL + Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6, full frame

I didn't crop these square because they felt right in these long, oblong shapes. :)

enjoy!
G
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Ok, this doesn't, strictly speaking, belong here. But ....

Leica SL, Voigtländer 10mm RWA*. Passing thunderstorm:



And a panorama from TWO 10mm frames (yes, that's silly).



Matt

*Ridiculously Wide Angle
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I like the RWA moniker. :D

Very cool, but yes: Let's try to return to ultra wide squares for this thread.

I've switched over to shooting a little film this week ... the CL has been doing a terrific job as my copy camera for Polaroid shots ... They're square but not ultra wide even with my accessory wide angle lens. I have a few more photos from what I've shot with the CL+10mm to post, perhaps I'll get to them tomorrow or Friday. :)

G
 

pegelli

Well-known member
Here's two WA shots close to the SWC "AOV" that were always intended to be converted to B&W, but I confess the square crop was an afterthought that worked out very well for me. Somehow the photo's that Dan Lindberg, Godfrey and others have posted in this style got me in a mindset for these type of shots, so thanks for the inspiration (and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery :eek:)


1: Fort Duffel



2: Convent of Bethlehem (also in Duffel)


Both A7 + MC Rokkor 17/4, cropped square, using the full 24 mm "short side" of the sensor

Actually if you use this technique on a rectangular FF 24x36 mm sensor your lens suddenly can shift 6 mm left/right or up/down. Actually this was used in the second shot, so less SW perspective correction is needed.

However none of my regular cameras can switch the LCD/VF to a square crop so it still feels weird to try and find square compositions with it.

I still have an old Olympus EP3 which can do a square crop on the LCD/VF but then you would need a 7-8 mm lens to get in the SWC territory. I found this Laowa 7,5 mm lens for MFT on B+H does anyone have experience with it? Advantage would be that it gives me an almost dedicated camera for this type of shooting (my EP3 is hardly used) however it will only be a 9 MP square crop on a small (and outdated) sensor. Decisions, decisions.......
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Very nice photos! :D

...
However none of my regular cameras can switch the LCD/VF to a square crop so it still feels weird to try and find square compositions with it.

I still have an old Olympus EP3 which can do a square crop on the LCD/VF but then you would need a 7-8 mm lens to get in the SWC territory. I found this Laowa 7,5 mm lens for MFT on B+H does anyone have experience with it? Advantage would be that it gives me an almost dedicated camera for this type of shooting (my EP3 is hardly used) however it will only be a 9 MP square crop on a small (and outdated) sensor. Decisions, decisions.......
No experience with that lens ... But i have done a lot of square format on FourThirds format. 9Mpixel is enough for a decent sized print, and more than enough for a good web resolution photo, so don't let that stop you!

With the CL, I turn on the grid overlay with reference lines at 1/3 intervals in H and V when doing square shots. It helps me get my camera level and keep verticals vertical, and I find it also helps me estimate the square a little better. A square crop or frame lines would be ideal, but once you get used to seeing square, it's not hard to frame accurately.

G
 

pegelli

Well-known member
With the CL, I turn on the grid overlay with reference lines at 1/3 intervals in H and V when doing square shots. It helps me get my camera level and keep verticals vertical, and I find it also helps me estimate the square a little better. A square crop or frame lines would be ideal, but once you get used to seeing square, it's not hard to frame accurately.
Thanks Godfrey, I looked into this a little further and found that with my "normal" FF cameras I can choose several grids. I usually have the 1/3 interval lines on (like you suggest) but another option I found in the menu is a tighter grid which devides the 3:2 aspect image in 4 x 6 small squares. So this means that the middle 4 x 4 squares can be used as "gridlines" for a square crop. :clap:

So no need to get a new lens for the EP-3 :banghead:, I'll use my 17 mm prime on FF which is marginally tighter than the 38 mm on 56 x 56 mm (to be exact it needs to be 16.3 mm, so close enough I think).
 
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pegelli

Well-known member
So today we went to Westkapelle (a small seaside village in Zeeland, the Netherlands) and made a long walk on the beach. It was not cold, but quite windy and mainly overcast.

The first part of the walk I concentrated on Square WA compositions with my "poor man's digital SWC" (a Sony A7 with a Rokkor MC 17/4). It's > 50 years ago since I used a true square frame camera (a Lubitel 6x6 in a high school photo project, the camera wasn't even mine) so it took some effort to start "seeing" that way, but here's a few of the results

1: Beginning of the beach



2: Strong currents (with my two loyal companions in the background)



3: WW2 remembrance Monument

Actually when I was taking some pictures of the monument this lady just walked in the frame, so I quickly took a step back and thought "if you walk in my frame you'll be in it, whether you like it or not" :wtf:


4: Lines and radar tower

I thought this one worked better in B&W

TFL and comments welcome :)
 

pegelli

Well-known member
Lovely photos, pegelli! A great start back into square land! :)

G
Thanks Godfrey, I only feel a bit shy to post images with a Sony camera and a Minolta lens in the Leica forum. I'm wondering if we shouldn't ask the moderators to move this thread to the "Artful Images" section to ensure it's brand agnostic (and only format/FOV specific). But since you're the OP I think that's really your call....
 

Shashin

Well-known member
Thanks Godfrey, I only feel a bit shy to post images with a Sony camera and a Minolta lens in the Leica forum....
Why? Minolta made some of Leicas best cameras and lenses. Since Minolta engineers moved to Sony when they bought Konica Minolta's camera division, the tradition carries on...
 
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