Wide Angle Tuesday

• Tuesday, March 22, 2011
• Posted in Shinjuku
• 16 Comments

Today my was first day shooting with the Summilux 21mm f/1.4.   It was an interesting experience for me.   I have never shot with a wide angle prime lens before.   One thing I learnt today was not to trust my preview screen on the back.    I was less than impressed with my shots when reviewed them as I was out but I was much more pleased when I got home and saw them on my Macbook Pro 17′ screen.   I was even questioning myself if I made the right choice in lens.   I know I did once I saw it on screen.   This is a great example of why you shouldn’t try to ‘edit’ your pictures in your camera.   That little screen is only to validate framing and not much else.    Decide if your shots are keepers when you get home.

The one thing I love right away about this lens is the 3D quality of the pictures.   Things to be seem more alive in the pictures.   I stopped by Yodobashi at lunch and picked up a 21mm view finder.  The M9′s built in view finder is 28mm which means when I am shooting with a 21mm lens I am only seeing 75% of the picture I will take.  If you care about what is in the corners a 21mm becomes important.

I stopped by MAP Camera and ordered an ND 4 so I can shoot this wide open during the day as if you have a 1.4 you should shoot it at 1.4.   I have started to read a lot on Leica recently.   A lot of lenses when manufactured might be a 1.2 or a 1.4 but they perform optimally at 5.6 or something other than wide open.   Leica lens actually perform optimally wide open.   This means you can really get the full range of the lens and exploit it’s capabilities.

I am always tempted when I go by Burger King.   It is so much better than McDonald’s and interestingly they sell beer in Japan!    I pass on BK for today but one day I will probably stop by…

Starbucks and many establishments in Japan continue to operate with reduced lighting to conserve power.

I don’t know about you but I actually enjoy the food at Starbucks in Japan.   The sandwiches are light and tasty.   I like their current Chicken and Pasta Salad.

My desk….   I do like the newly designed Starbucks cups but I don’t think they needed to copy their signature ‘drip’ that seems to happen with their cups to the new cup.

Today’s 3 earthquakes were not strong enough to shake my piles of change over…a new earthquake ‘gauge’ I have now.   Sadly I didn’t even notice two of earthquakes today.   Someone tweeted today and say unless objects start falling on them they really don’t notice anymore.   We have had 200+ magnitude 5.0 earthquakes in the past 7 days in Tokyo.   Amazing…

I think it will take me a while to learn to control this lens.     Where to focus?   How close to have the main subject?   What looks best framed this way or that way?   If anyone has any experience, please feel free to share tips.    These are not all of my best shots but I thought I would include them as I think it is interesting to see the learning process and development of skills with the lens.

The one thing I love about a wide angle lens is how you are ‘in’ the picture vs. taking a picture of the scene.

As it was raining out, I needed to shoot under cover with my Leica as they don’t have the weatherproofing that SRLs have.

Deciding it was too wet out and I didn’t want to risk anything with my Leica I decided to jump a cab home…Let’s see what tomorrow brings us.

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• Show comments (16)
  • September 06, 2011 at 12:15 am, tungdt said:

    I have been to Tokyo 2 years ago and visit Map Camera. It is a good shop, especially for 2nd camera. I bought some lens and quality is good (price is good too). I remembered that the Leica shop at the first floor. Tokyo is so interesting.

  • June 25, 2011 at 6:47 am, Cheyanna said:

    Never would have thought I would find this so indispensable.

  • April 25, 2011 at 11:33 am, 10 things I have learnt from Daily Shooting | ShootTokyo said:

    [...] Wide Angle Tuesday [...]

  • March 23, 2011 at 10:02 pm, Dave said:

    This is all part of my master plan. Next is to buy up all of the Leica glass in the world and charge ridiculous prices for them…wait they already do that!

  • March 23, 2011 at 9:14 pm, Martin said:

    I think you have poison a lot of folks just by see those wonderful shots !!! Soul magic of Leicaaaaaaa

  • March 23, 2011 at 10:05 am, Ming Thein said:

    I shot the 21 lux as pretty much my only lens for 2009 (it also emptied out my bank account). Foregrounds become very important. Generally use hyperfocal, or the closest main subject as your point of focus.

    http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=21+summilux&w=28337568%40N00&s=int

  • March 23, 2011 at 9:21 am, Dave said:

    I am doing this intentionally as well as I want to learn what the camera itself can do without the assistance of Photoshop. I am shooting RAW so i do convert to jpeg. The other benefit for me is it makes my aftershooting/blogging much faster as I don’t need to sit and process 30 photos. Once in a while I will fix exposure up or down a little or adjust the composition with cropping (maybe 5% of the time). I am still learning the gear so I make a bit of mistakes especially as most of my shooting is during rush hour on the train.

  • March 23, 2011 at 8:16 am, Andrew Macdonald said:

    No post-processing at all? That is amazing! Just shows that investing in the best equipment equals the best results, no post processing required. Id have put money on post processing in these pictures, but having said that, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture from a Lecia camera before.

  • March 23, 2011 at 7:42 am, Dave said:

    Hi Marco. The colors are the qualities of the Leica sensor and glass. I do no post processing on my Leica shots. re: Milk, not sure but I saw some at the store this weekend.

  • March 23, 2011 at 7:41 am, Dave said:

    WeC The 50mm I am using is an extremely bright lens. I should be able to get the same exposure with each lens (on the same settings). It was pretty dark and rainy so that probably had a lot to do with it. Let’s see how another day of shooting does.

  • March 23, 2011 at 7:36 am, Dave said:

    LeeAnn I think i couldn’t see all of the detail of the wide angle shot in my LCD

  • March 23, 2011 at 5:42 am, LeeAnn said:

    I’d be interested in knowing what you didn’t like about the LCD screen vs. the computer screen as well. I do love the 3D feeling though. It really does make a difference.

  • March 23, 2011 at 12:27 am, Andrew Macdonald said:

    Dave, may I ask what specifically you didn’t like when you saw the pictures on the LCD screen on your camera?? What changed between what you saw on the camera, and what you saw back on your computer?

    Just out of interest, really. I would love to have a Leica, but there’s no way on gods earth I can afford one of those, or the major price of their lenses. So Im quite jealous of you right now, both for your amazing skills, and for your camera gear.

  • March 22, 2011 at 11:38 pm, WeC said:

    The pictures looked a little darker than your earlier lens. Will different lens give you different level of light exposures? Sorry, if I sound stupid but you know I always have problems getting enough brightness on the photos I take.

  • March 22, 2011 at 11:36 pm, marco barsotti said:

    Hello!

    Yes wide angle bring us into the picture. I loved the selective focus of the 50mm too (so maybe you should bring two leicas with you!)

    I have a qustion related to light. All your images have wonderful, deep blacks, and the illuminated areas are powerfully lighted, but still not too much.

    Is this due to the combination of the qualities of lens and leica sensor, or do you apply some postprocessing ?

    –

    BTW news today is that milk is no longer on sale in japan, is this the case ?

  • March 22, 2011 at 11:35 pm, dan said:

    I’ve been reading your accounts of Tokyo life since last week. I enjoy your insights, but I really love your shots! You have a great eye for composition. You’re right: these wide-angle shots really put you in the scene. Probably as close to Japan as I’ll ever be able to get… Makes me want to drag out my old 35mm with a wide angle and shoot some of my city (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Cheers!