Machinery in Monochrom

April 09, 2020 by Ming Hung in Black and White, Leica, Industrial

It was a slow night at work and I took the Leica M Monochrom in to the garage and explored our aircraft tow tugs. There is so much interesting detail in these machines. I did not have a tripod so I shot nearly every shot with the lens wide open at f/1.4 so there is not a single shot where everything is in focus. I chose, instead, to isolate certain details in some of the images.

The above image is my favorite of the series. In retrospect I could have closed the aperture a bit to get more of this shot in focus since there was not as big a difference in depth in subject matter here. I also did not do much to sharpen any of the images beyond the default sharpening that was applied in Lightroom. I wanted a film-like feel, but I did not add any grain to the images either, if that makes any sense.

It is funny that we refer to vehicles in the feminine. But then we might also refer to a large machine as “Big Boy/Guy.” This is one of our larger machines.

I love the way this lens renders images and depth of field. There is a three-dimensional quality. I should use my other vintage lenses more with my Fujifilm X-Pro2 more often to get qualities like this. I am not in to the razor-sharp, perfect images that modern lenses produce. They look too clinical. I like a bit of imperfection.

Click to view images on black.

A Curious Surprise

February 17, 2020 by Ming Hung in Animal Life, Black and White, Leica

I drive by this scrap metal yard several times a week, and I always thought to myself that I could get some good images with plenty of contrast in the highs and lows. It was a warm (relatively) and sunny Sunday morning yesterday so I finally made a stop. I am a creature of habit who likes symmetry and would normally square up the above image a little better. However, shooting through chain link fencing made for awkward positioning at times.

The M Monochrom (Typ 246) is getting its paces, and this was a test of its dynamic range. I am very pleased with the results. Plenty of shadow detail, as I shot most of my images slightly underexposed to preserve the highlights.

I was making my way to the right to get shots of these I-beams when—surprise—these two curious siblings emerged from their hiding spot to see just what the heck I was doing by their yard. I was looking through the rangefinder at the time, concentrating on the cat that was stepping down to the ground that I did not even notice the second one at the bottom of my frame.

The smaller one of the two was the also the shier one, preferring to keep an eye on me from a distance. I missed focus on this one, as the cat was just slightly out of range of my focus (I was at either f/5.6 or f/8).

The larger one was still unsure of me and moved around from spot to spot to watch me shoot. Here, I chose not to edit out this shot from my series, as the blurred out piece of chain link fence added an element of interest to the image.

I would have been happy with the shots of the metal in this yard alone, but having the cats in the shots made them much more interesting. There was abundant highs and lows in the images, with great textural details in the different metal materials. I will return to this spot to shoot some more soon.

Click images to view on black.

Qualities of the Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux

May 14, 2018 by Ming Hung in Photography, Black and White, Leica

I recently purchased a 1970s-era 50mm Summilux to go along with my Leica M9-P. I went down to my aunt's and uncle's yard today to make some images, as there is always something of interest to capture. The shot above is of a structure they built for the vines of melon plants to climb this Summer. The M9-P's CCD sensor rendors some nice color. I applied a Kodak Gold 100 preset to give the saturation a slight jolt. Very pleasing colors. Even more pleasing is the transition from what is in focus to what is out of focus--so smooth!

There are interesting things to see in the sky as well. This was a shot from underneath the structure as a Boeing 737 flew by on its approach to an airport not too far from here. I probably should have taken another shot like this wide open to see what the result of that would look like. Perhaps next time.

I shot the lens wide open in every shot except the one with the airplane, and at ISOs between 160 and 400. Image quality is impressive. The approximately 40-year-old lens is in excellent condition. Sharpness is crisp if I nail focus, and I have to really nail it but I do not always do. Even wide open it is sharp, with no extreme vignetting. I prefer to add my own vignettes.

I am enjoying the characteristics of this lens. Those characteristics are particular to this lens, and have been built over four decades or so. The images have a warmth to them--not in terms color temperature. The images are more inviting than those produced by modern lenses that offer extreme sharpness in all areas of the frame.

The biggest drawback to this version of the 50mm Summilux is that the minimum focusing distance is over three feet. Close focusing would have allowed for some shots of some plants sprouting, or even some closer detail shots of the different materials and textures of the objects in all my images above. It is still a great great lens, and I look forward to many years of use to come.

Click images to view on black.