Welcome to the K.R. Williamson PhotoBlog | Great photos and the stories behind them | All things photo | My opinions on the photographic world | Leica, Canon, and Sony experiences and thoughts
Hummingbird with the Canon 5D Mk3 and 300 2.8
Yesterday I thought I would try my hand at photographing the hummingbirds that frequent our yard. This first attempt was kind of a half baked attempt at it but the results were interesting. The set up was my Canon 5D Mk3 with the Canon 300 F2.8 L with the Canon 1.4 extender on a Gitzo tripod with the Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead. The lens and the extender are vintage Canon being almost 20 years old and were purchased with with my original EOS 1 set up back in 1995.
I started shooting late in subdued light which was the first problem. This operation really takes bight sunlight as I was shooting at 1/8000 sec. wide open at ISO 12,800. So I was trying to see what the camera could do more than capture the birds. I was surprised to see that for the most part the resolution held up at 12,800 (still grainy) even after some post processing in Lightroom. It's alright for the screen but not so much for printing.
I moved the focus area to the left and down a bit to give myself a better chance of focusing with the bird to the left in the frame. It's a good thing the Hummingbird hovered for a split second so I could nail the focus. It was a challenge. Next time it will be about the bird not the camera. I will do it in the late afternoon with tons of light coming through my yard and set up some perches and flowers for them to make it look somewhat real. In bright sunlight the colors on the bird will be much more vibrant. Stay tuned for more.
Canon 5D Mk3 w/ 300 2.8 & 1.4 extenderHummingbird at feeder.
Leica 90mm Tele Elmarit Ver.1 on the Sony Nex -7
I have been shooting with my Nex-7 and Leica legacy glass for a bit now and I must say I really enjoy it. The focus peaking and focus magnification work really well. My 90mm Tele Elmarit Vers.1 is a super lens whether it's on my Leica M9 or on the Sony Nex-7. I use the Novoflex adapter as it is the best I have found to adapt my Leica lenses to the Sony. This lens is extremely sharp with plenty of contrast and a joy to focus. The shot below was done on assignment of a local politician under fluorescent lights with the camera on auto white balance. The camera put out a great jpg file, to bad I had the output set at rgb not srgb so I had to convert it. The image below has just been toned, slightly sharpened, and converted to srgb.
Sony Nex-7 w/Leica 90mm Tele Elmarit Vers.1
Exposure ISO 1600 1/125s f2.8
My complete rig is as seen below with the Leica 90mm Tele-Elmarit attached via the Novoflex adapter to the Sony Nex-7.
I used the focus magnification to zero in on her eyes because the focus peaking was not real strong around her eyes. If you look close you can see a highlight in her eyes which turned slightly red under magnification which showed me the lens was focused correctly. I could barely see it without the focus magnification on. I could pick it up with the magnification on which really helped. The Sony is a more advanced camera than the M9 and allows me to take many frames quickly unlike the M9 which will fill the buffer fairly soon. The EVF on this camera is excellent and allows me to see what I am getting. To me it resembles a small Leica M240 with it's features and ease of use. The thing I really enjoy about the Sony is the ergonomics. The twin dials which are right at thumb level I have set to shutter speed and exp. compensation. The dial on the back I have set to control the ISO. This combination works best for me but may be different for you. I have found that using the camera in shutter speed priority works best for my purposes. I hope to post some more images from this camera and lens setup soon so keep coming back to see.
I have posted several images with some of my other Leica glass that really got me excited. I have since auctioned off my 1958 50mm Summilux f1.4 Vers.1 Black Paint which worked perfectly on the Sony and the results were really cool. The shot below was made with this lens which I will miss dearly. I started my career with it back in 1978.
Sony Nex-7 w/50mm Summilux f1.4 vers.1 black paint (circa 1958)
Leica M9 with 35 Summicron ASPH "smellin the coffee"
This morning i was out on assignment to shoot a local coffee roaster and I dragged along the M9 to go with the Canon 5D Mk3 with the 24-70 L attached. I used the 35mm "Cron" as it's a great lens for this type of work and it did not disappoint. The Canon rig is a beast even with the lighter 5D Mk3. The M9 with the 35 is light as a feather compared to the beast weighing down my shoulder. I did my standard stuff with the Canon rig and then started to look for something different with the M9. The exposure was done manually as both cameras wanted to over expose things so I switched over to manual on both cameras. Most of these M9 shots were done wide open at f2 with the shutter speed at 1/125s at ISO 1600. The Canon allowed me to go way further than that but I kept it at 3200. It was interesting to learn how coffee is roasted before it is used for coffee. The average temperature for this particular company is around 425 degrees Farenheit.
Leica M9 w/35mm Summicron ASPH
This is my favorite shot of this group. I converted it to B&W because of the nice contrast difference.
Bags of beans wait to be roasted at Atomic Cafe Roasterie.
Roasted Arabica beans are cooled after being roasted.
A coffee roaster inspects the roasted beans for imperfections.
The roaster adjusts the roasting machine to get the right amount of air into the roaster.
The roaster empties the cooling bin on the outside of the roster.
Lens Comparison - Leica 35mm Summicron vs Leica 35mm Summaron
Recently I had my very old Leica screw mount 35mm Summaron lens overhauled by Sherry Krauter in upstate New York. She took the lens apart and cleaned the elements and changed out the lubrication. The lens looks like new and I really wanted to compare images taken with it and the relatively new 35 Summicron ASPH. I was pretty amazed at what I got. The ancient 35 Summaron amazed me. This lens was built back in the 50's. I used a subject that was in shade but bright color wise. To my eye the difference is very minimal. All the images were taken at f 5.6.
Exposure ISO 200 1/250s @ 5.6
The contrast and warmer color temp of the Summicron ASPH can be seen in this image.
Exposure ISO 200 1/250s @ 5.6
Not much of a difference with the Summaron besides being a little cooler and the contrast is just a little less. Pretty amazing to me.
35mm Summicron f2 ASPH
Exposure ISO 200 1/350s @ 5.6
You can still see the warmer tone and better contrast in the Summicron image above.
Exposure ISO 200 1/350s @ 5.6
This Summaron image is a tad darker but is cooler and with a little less contrast.
Leica M9 with the 35mm Summicron ASPH on assignment
I have been carrying this rig around with me every day and have found an opportunity most days to make some really nice images. One of my assignments this week was to photograph a wood carver that does whales. So I decided to shoot plenty of frames in this mixed lighting conditions. I have not used it much indoors with mixed lighting but today I gave it a whirl and was pleasantly surprised with the results. I am always shooting in raw so I can make minor changes if necessary in post. I also shot with the Canon 5D Mk3 with the 24-70 L and the results were a little different. This camera shoots on the warm side which I like and the Leica shoots on the cool side so matching them up afterward is a matter of adding a little yellow when opening the raw Leica file. I like the color jpg from the Canon - the AWB does a better job. The M9 was set at f2 and the Canon was somewhere around f8.
I purposely shot the Leica images at f2 to add that 3D look to it. This image is tack sharp it's almost shocking. Below is the Canon 5D mk3 image.
This is my standard news shot most everything in the foreground is in focus. I really like the look of this image, yes I love my 24-70.
Maybe a little to warm with this one!
More Thunder Clouds with the Canon 5D Mk3 & 24-70 L
Well I found the card reader - right where I left it. I knew that the image I made with this camera was potentially much more dramtic as the sun was behind the clouds which gave it a nice halo along the edge. I envisioned this as Zone 9 and the dark trees in the center of the image as Zone 3. I used Silver Efex pro 2 to process this B&W and it did not disappoint. The pre-set I used opened up the clouds and gave me this image. How nice of the seagull to soar through the image. I saw him coming and fired off a few frames as he moved through the image. The variety of tones are spectacular I burned in the upper left of the image a little to add more tone. I could not use the Leica as the lens was not wide enough at 35mm. I would have loved to have tried the Leica 21mm Super Elmar as it was I used the lens correction profile to correct some of the distortion from pointing the camera up. Lightroom did a pretty decent job of correcting it.
Exposure ISO 200 1/160s @ f8
Thunder Clouds with the Leica M9 and the Leica 35mm Summicron
If you have been following me for a while you know that I love clouds. Silver Efex Pro 2 has given me the ability to process images as I envision them. What a revelation! Today at work I could barely contain my excitement as I knew storm clouds would be moving in later in the day and I wanted to be in a great position for them. When I got home I sat around and waited for some thunder in the distance which marked the ever increasing thunder cloud cover. I made my way over to Granite Pier in Rockport my favorite place to shoot this kind of thing and low and behold the clouds were making a really spectacular appearance. I envisioned a fully toned sky with the highlights of the clouds in zone 8 and the darkest areas of the image in zone 2. In Silver Efex Pro 2 I can monitor where these areas are and I was able to make a full contrast image out of my exposure. I took my meter reading off the lower half of the frame (which has been cropped) this gave me a slightly overexposed file. Just enough to the right on the histogram to lighten up the shadows a bit. The Full Structure pre-set seemed to work best and with some tweaking adjusted my zones the way I wanted them. Then back into Lightroom for cropping and dust removal and some burning of the sky on the right. I also made some shots of the harbor with my Canon 5D Mk3 with the 24-70 2.8 L and I will try to get that up tomorrow. I need to find my card reader it has disappeared.
Exposure ISO 200 1/350s @5.6
Hiking photography with the Canon G15
As you all know by now I was in Oregon recently and had the opportunity to do some hiking at Silver Falls State Park. My son and I had a great afternoon hiking and photographing two out of the ten falls on the trail. I decided to carry just my G15 even though I knew we would be shooting moving water. I figured that I could somehow be able to handhold the camera at 1/4 sec., silly me. I was wearing a small photo backpack and I could have easily popped in a table tripod. I decided against it. We also forgot the electronic release which would have helped a ton. My son was carrying his Canon SL1 with the kit lens which is very small and light. He also had his cheap light tripod with him which made shooting the falls much easier at 1/4 sec. The trail we walked was great it had many photo opportunities along the way and aside from the falls the shooting was easy and the G15 made life even easier. No lugging gear around for me, which I was really happy about. The G15 has so many controls to do what YOU want to do creatively. Having a small point and shoot that has full manual along with all the automatic settings. The best of both worlds. I refer to the Canon G15 as the view camera in my pocket.
Some of the scenery along the trail was spectacular. This giant tree was covered with moss and with the trail going right past was perfect for an image.
This dead fern looks almost prehistoric and the worn path on the right side and the left side un worn made for an interesting shot.
Moving water is always a challenge. This shot was made at 1/4 of a sec with the built in N/D filter on, which gave me the latitude I needed. The trees, rocks, moss etc. were unmatched. The light was very choppy with it being mid day but there was not much I could do about that.
When behind the falls you need to show the water as well as the scene. In this situation I stopped the water at 1/2000 sec. If I had shot it at 1/30 or slower it would have been a mist. So I stopped it to show it was water.
The G15 has a great macro mode. The tiny sensor gives you some really great opportunities in regards to options in the wild.
The Canon G15 is my view camera in my pocket. The depth of field with various subjects with such a small sensor is remarkable. The color with this shot was just ok so I converted it and the tones were very nice.
Black & White landscape photography with the Leica M9
Last week my wife and I were visiting our boys in Portland OR. We had waited eight months to make this trip and we had a wonderful time visiting with them. At the end of the day on Monday we went over to Sauvie Island outside of Portland to see a farm and buy some wonderful Oregon strawberries. They are delicious by the way. The weather had been terrible all day with rain showers and thunderstorms moving through. Just as we were leaving the farm another thunderstorm came through and drenched everything but quickly dried up with the heat of the day. The storm clouds were magnificent all around us as lighting was still present so black clouds were everywhere. As we made our way around the island several opportunities presented themselves. The Leica M9 proved to be an easy camera to use as I made frames with three different lenses in short order following the clouds around us. We first came upon a field of flowers of some kind (I'm still not sure what they are). My son John and I jumped out of the car to make some images. We first jumped into the field of flowers and came up with this image. I used the jpg B&W and put it into Silver Efex Pro 2 for processing. I'm not sure what preset I used but I know it was not to extreme. The presets in Silver Efex Pro 2 really give me some latitude in B&W post processing. Instead of fooling around in Lightroom 4 I can get something similar to what I envisioned right away and then I can tweek it inside the preset. For clouds there is nothing like getting something close with one click. In the wet darkroom this meant printing on Agfa Brovira grade 3 and dodging and burning to get the desired result. Then later when multi-contrast Kodak paper came out dodging and burning and changing the contrast for the clouds. As you can see the results are stunning.
The next thing that struck us was this incredible scene across the street. The storm clouds where zipping by a farm house with it's silo. I have never seen clouds so intense and my wife commented on this as I changed lenses to my Leica 90 Tele-Elmarit. We raced across the street to get this incredible scene. I have also run the B&W jpeg through Silver Efex Pro 2 which has enhanced the clouds a little bit more. All I can say is wow! It was such an other worldly scene. I remember this scene as you see it. I envisioned this in B&W just like the flower scene above. Color never really entered my mind as the clouds really dramatically took over.
Leica M9 w/Leica 90mm Tele-Elmarit
Earlier in the day we were looking for waterfalls along the Columbia River and the clouds were just as dramatic. The image below was made with the Leica M9 and the 50mm Summilux ASPH.
Silver Falls State Park, Oregon with the Canon G15
Yesterday my son John and I had a wonderful time visiting a spectacular state park that boasts 10 waterfalls. It was the coolest thing to see. We got a late start so the sun was in a horrible position for photography but we managed to get some nice shots even with the nasty hotspots. Next time I come out here for a visit I will be a little more prepared. When I am hiking I still like to carry my Canon G15. It is so light and has a great zoom range with a 28mm 1.8 lens at the wide end and a 140mm 2.8 at the long end. I got to use a lot of the features of this camera. All the shots in the gallery are with the G15 not the Leica M9. I am going to load all the M9 work when I get home and really do a good job of working on them for a book.
The Canon G15 was really awesome, did I say that already? Well it's true. The only thing missing was the tripod and the electronic release. Since the lens only stops down to f8 I had to use the built-in ND filters to shoot at 1/6 of a sec to slow down the waterfalls. Most of the time I just went with 1/30 sec since that's what our eyes and brain perceive things at.
My son had his Canon SL1 with him with the kit lens the 18-55 which did a great job in the woods and of the waterfalls. He had a light cheap Vivitar tripod with him and he was able to shoot at 1/4 sec at f22 which made a huge difference. Of course we left the electronic release back at his apartment. Here is the link to 12 of the photos. There are more but I will wait until I get back before I add to the gallery.
Here is the link Oregon Gallery
