What a beautiful place to spend a quiet Winter weekend.

Frosty bike. Leica M9, 50mm Summilux.

This bike was covered in frost. As the sun started to hit the saddle, the light was great and the ice melted.

…and in the afternoon, long shadows and back lighting helped define shoppers, bike riders and some interesting patterns.

November sunset off of Clover Point

Now, the colour is artificial:

Sunset on Academy Close. Epson R-D1 CV 28mm Ultron.

…or one needs to shoot in black and white to truly convey the greyness of the scene.

Winter view. Epson R-D1 CV 28mm Ultron.

Of course, there is still the northern advantage of strong, low sunlight to create strong contrast and shadows. When there is sunshine.

Fountain. Epson R-D1 CV 28mm Ultron.

Looking forward to longer days.

In the real world, most of us can’t afford to own an entire suite of Leica glass to cover all photography situations. Until I win the lottery, I certainly can not. Given the need for multiple lenses options, but a few that will rarely get used and a limited budget, here is my solution.

Fairy travel. 28mm Ultron.

Clearly, one of the joys and benefits of shooting a rangefinder m-mount camera body is that you can attach such optically superior Leica lenses to it. I feel fortunate to own two examples, a 35mm Summicron (20 years old) and a 50mm Summilux (40 years old), which are both fabulous. I really love the look of the images produced on my R-D1 and M9 and these lenses. These two lenses account for upwards of 80 per cent of my photography. What about the remaining 20%?

When I decided to make the move away from my D3 and to shoot exclusively with the M9 and R-D1, I calculated what the sale of the Nikon camera body and lenses could generate and realized that I could just about afford to purchase a used M9. However, with just the 30mm and 50mm lenses to use, I wanted to have something longer for portraits and close-up work. And having a wider option would also be nice, particularly with the crop factor on the Epson.

Yet, there wasn’t much (any?) budget to fund even a 90mm Tele-Elmarit or the more desirable 90mm Elmarit-m. For the amount of use the 90mm will get, I really wanted a budget option, which would mean an even older Leica lens, a Konica or the Voigtländer. With this focal length, I don’t need a fast lens. In order to have a reasonable depth of field, I will shoot portraits between f4 to f8. Even at f8, the background goes nicely out of focus if I’m close enough with the 90. And if I use it on the R-D1, which has a shorter rangefinder than the M9, focusing accuracy with a 90mm lens bottoms out at f3.5. Well then, it was a no brainer when a seller answered my WTB ad with a CV 90mm f3.5 APO-Lanthar for sale.

Garden colour abstract. A littile DOF. 90mm f4.

The APO-Lanthar sells new for around $400, which is really inexpensive by Leica standards. I got it for enough less to make me feel good about the purchase. I guess this doesn’t make me a real “Leica Man,” in the words of the always entertaining and pedantic Ken Rockwell. However, as Mr. Rockwell points out in reviews of many budget Nikon lenses, why spend so much more on the faster versions Nikon sells if the lower cost versions will work for your needs? Why indeed.

And a nice thing happened on the way to buying the CV 90: the seller also had a fast 28mm f1.9 Ultron lens for sale that I purchased along with the 90.

Stuffing the zebra: end of the night. 28mm Ultron.

The R-D1 only has framelines for 28mm, 35mm and 50mm. I already had the 35mm and 50mm options. As you might have read here, I use the 50mm Summilux on it to give me a 75mm focal length when I shoot work events. Coupled with the M9 sporting the 35mm Summicron, this is a great two-camera setup. On the street, I use either the 35mm Summicron or a CV 35mm f1.7 Ultron that came with my Bessa. With the new 28, a lens that even Mr. Rockwell considers to be nearly the equal of it’s Leica counterpart for real world photography, I have a slightly wider option for street shooting on the Epson and a wide option for the M9.

Did I mention long exposure? Guess not. Well, I’ve been missing the option to shoot daytime long exposures since my ND filters fit the much bigger filter ring on my former Nikon lenses. With the addition of a $12 step-up ring, I can now attach my ND filters to the 46m filter threads on the CV 28mm. I can hardly wait.

Not quite a long exposure. 28mm f16 1/30s.

All this for less than the cost of a beat up, 50 year old 90mm Elmarit. Of course, the curse of shooting with the M9 will always be that one can use all of the fantastic lenses that Leica has produced over the years. Yet, real world considerations take precedence for now as I am happy to have the new-to-me Voigtländer 90mm and 28mm lenses to use. Guess that makes me something other than a “Leica Man.” It makes me somewhat practical.

Not only did I find a very nice 90mm in great condition, but I also picked up a fast 28mm as well. The image above was shot with the 28mm Ultron on the R-D1. This gives me a 42mm angle of view; about as wide as you can get with the R-D1 without an external viewfinder added.

Looks like the 28mm will be my walk around lens on the R-D1. The 35mm translates to a 50mm on the Epson and the 28mm is certainly close to that at 42mm, but a touch better quality then the 35mm Ultron and a good size for street photography. And, it gives a wider option for the M9, if I ever need it. I’m thinking that for an upcoming group portrait (over 35 people) it might be just the thing.

As for the 90mm…

Quince in the late afternoon light. 90mm f3.5 APO-Lanthar

Although I haven’t shot a portrait with the new 90mm, I did shoot this still life on my M9 in natural light. With the longer focal length, shooting at f4 provides a very shallow depth of field. This is shot at f8, which keeps most of the quince in focus. I look forward to doing a portrait this week with the 90mm and the 50mm Summilux.

Minister George Abbott takes questions from the media.

Set up for video cameras, the press theatre in the Parliament Building is a frequent venue for my work photography. Given the relatively small size and the available light, the theatre is a good venue for using a rangefinder camera instead of an SLR.

Minister George Abbott addresses the media.

Since acquiring my Leica M9 last month, I have looked for opportunities at work to use it. Therefore, I equipped myself with the M9 and the 35mm Summicron and the R-D1 and the 50mm Summilux when I shot yesterday’s event. This is a great combination as I can get fairly wide shots with the 35mm on the M9 and the 50mm on the R-D1 gives me tighter or longer shots.

Given the lighting in the room, I shoot at between 800 to 1600 ISO with both cameras and at f2 to f4 with either lens. ISO 1600 is a bit noisy on the M9 but I can fix that reasonably easily with Lightroom. The noise from images shot at ISO 1600 with the R-D1 is not as noticeable, or at least, I find it less of an issue. In fact, the rendering of that small, 6 megapixel sensor is surprisingly good. The 50mm Summilux helps, I’m sure (f1.4 anyone?).

Comparing equipment.

Aside from photographing ministers and the Premier at a podium, I also try to capture the media doing their jobs. The remaining photos show them hard at work…

The perfect breakfast: membrillo, Manchego cheese and fresh bread.

Yum! Membrillo is in the house. Well, actually, it’s in the kitchen, where I took a couple of photos this morning.

They look a little like a deformed apple. People think that they are decorative pears. You can’t eat them raw. But, after a lot of time, pealing, coring, cooking and more cooking, straining and cooking some more, quince turns into one of the most delicious foods in the world.

Before and after: quince in a bowl and the resulting membrillo on the left.

My sweeties have spent countless hours gathering and cooking the ripe quince over the past couple of weeks and the result is “muy rico.!” I have a little guilt associated with enjoying this amazing treat; they have done the bulk of the work and I get to enjoy the membrillo in equal measure to them, without the hard work. Another great pleasure for me is my association with membrillo from my childhood. Always a treat and now I live with two wonderful individuals who also enjoy it and are willing make it for us.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Late October and the light has been just great. Really, really great. Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to visit one of the nicest local spots for late afternoon light. The following photos were shot over two different visits and shot with both the M9/50mm Summilux combination…

…and with the R-D1/35mm Ultron combination.

An homage to Elliott Erwitt follows. No wind blowing the sitters out of their chairs, but the two photos make me think of his famous photos which always make me smile. A lot.

Feels like there won’t be many more days like today before we won’t have enough light for front or back lighting.