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California's Eastern Sierra, Saturday, 24 October 2009
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Dawn, South Tufa, Mono Lake, California, 7:38 AM. (actual photograph.)
Photographed with a 1955 LEICA M3 with a 1959 LEICA 21mm f/4 SUPER-ANGULON and Hoya 39mm 85C filter to set shade WB, Fuji Velvia 50 processed and scanned at NCPS, f/11 at 1/25, casual use of tripod.
Lucky frame 37! Bigger.
California Black Plate, 11:21 AM.
Snapped with a 2009 LEICA M9 and a 2003 LEICA 90mm f/2.8 ELMARIT-M, ISO 160, 1/350 at about f/5.6, 7,000 Kelvin WB.
This boring photo doesn't look like much here, but what is astounding is its sharpness when seen at large magnifications. Have a look at these:
Full-resolution © JPG (8.8 MB) from kamera-original © DNG (18 MB). (Kamera-original © JPG (6.8 MB)).
This is sharper than any digital kamera has any right to be. You can see what the squashed bugs ate for lunch! Also astounding is how sharp it is from edge-to-edge (forgiving of course the limited depth-of-field), considering that the 90mm f/2.8 ELMARIT-M is not a macro lens and I didn't spend any time trying to align myself to the plate.
Along Power Plant Road, Eastern Sierra, California, 1:00 PM.
Snapped with a hand-held 2009 LEICA M9 with a 1998 LEICA 21mm f/2.8 ELMARIT-M ASPH, ISO Pull 80, 1/250 at f/8, 7,000 Kelvin WB.
Kamera-original © JPG (9.3MB), which has better color and contrast than I can get from the © DNG.
It turns out that the in-kamera image-processing at Pull 80 ISO raises the highlight kontrast and overall saturation, and pulls out the excess green seen at other ISOs. Thus the in-kamera JPG gives the best color here.
Lee Vining Creek Falls, Eastern Sierra, California, 2:53 PM. (actual photograph.) bigger.
Photographed with a hand-held 1955 LEICA M3 with a 1959 LEICA 21mm f/4 SUPER-ANGULON with Hoya 39mm 85C warming filter to set shade WB, Fuji Velvia 50 processed and scanned at NCPS, f/8 at 1/10, infinity focus distance.
There isn't much flare, considering that I have the sun deliberately in the photograph, and this is a 1950s nine-element ultra-wide-angle lens that is merely single-coated.
June Lake Loop in Sun, Eastern Sierra, California, 3:54 PM.
Snapped with a 2009 LEICA M9 with a 1961 LEICA 135mm f/4 ELMAR, ISO 320, 1/125 at about f/9.5, 7,000 Kelvin WB.
June Lake Loop in Shade, Eastern Sierra, California, 4:31 PM.
Snapped with a 2009 LEICA M9 with a 1961 LEICA 135mm f/4 ELMAR, ISO Pull 80, 1/30 at about f/9.5, 7,000 Kelvin WB.
Trees too far away to bother walking over there, June Lake Loop, Eastern Sierra, California, 4:32 PM.
Snapped with a 2009 LEICA M9 with a 1961 LEICA 135mm f/4 ELMAR, ISO 160, 1/350 at about f/9.5, 7,000 Kelvin WB.
Full-resolution © JPG (15 MB) from kamera-orignal DNG. Hot darn, this is pretty darn sharp for a 50-year old lens that sells for about $100 used! Chalk it up to American sensor technology, the same sensors that allow satellites to read the names and numbers off golf balls in play.
Fire in the Sky, Conway Summit, Eastern Sierra, California, 6:11 PM.
Snapped with a 2009 LEICA M9 with a 2001 LEICA 35mm f/1.4 SUMMILUX-M ASPH, ISO Pull 80, 1/90 at some f/stop which escapes me, 12,800 Kelvin WB.
View from Conway Summit, Eastern Sierra, California, 6:18 PM.
Snapped with a 2009 LEICA M9 with a 2001 LEICA 35mm f/1.4 SUMMILUX-M ASPH, Tiffen HT grad ND 0.6 (2-stop gradated neutral-density filter), ISO 160, 1/90 at some f/stop which escapes me, 12,800 Kelvin WB.
This is the color that I got from the DNG without any fiddling. When great light hits, this is what you get.
Full-resolution © JPG (5.9 MB) from DNG. I set the lens using my magic depth-of-field system, however with the front bush 12 feet (4 meters) away, there is no way to get perfect resolution everywhere, except of course with a view camera.
The two-stop grad is a little too much for this photo, but heck, I didn't have a one-stop, and with no grad filter, the foreground was black.
All in all, not a bad day of shooting, although we got faked out and the clouds did light up, making us wish we were at South Tufa. Oh well.
Next: 25 Oktober 2009
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