Get out of the misunderstanding of Leica lens

Although Bian Xiao is not a photographer, Bian Xiao has been writing about cameras on Twitter recently. The more he comes into contact with this circle, the more he is attracted by the exquisite life inside. Bian Xiao also wants to know such things, and cultivate the high-grade taste of life, starting with reading Bian Xiao's tweets.

"If I could have a Leica,

All the troubles in life will disappear. "

When I first came into contact with photography, I used Canon's 5D. At that time, I often thought: I wish I had a Leica. With such a lighter, smaller and easier-to-use camera, it seems that you can walk on the streets of Paris and follow the pace of Bresson.

But after I owned my first Leica M9, I realized that I was wrong. I thought Leica would make me take better photos lighter and faster, but in fact, M9.

The shutter is not light enough or fast enough (but then I found an MP film machine that suits me better and fell in love with this feeling at once).

-owning a Leica won't change your life, make you a master photographer at once, and your photos won't change dramatically.

But there is no doubt that the experience of using Leica paraxial is really different from other cameras.

Leica's functions are simpler, and you need to operate fewer menu options, which is not so complicated.

Taking pictures with Leica is simple. All you have to do is adjust the aperture, shutter, ISO, focus and other necessary elements, instead of adjusting some messy things in the menu. In addition, Leica is much smaller than other SLR.

To be honest, if you want the fastest shooting speed, I'm sorry that no camera can match Leica or other paraxial cameras-why? Because "coke estimate".

If you use the aperture of f/8-f/ 16, you hardly need to focus and you won't miss any "decisive moment".

Three Misunderstandings about Leica

The following three points are my own experience. If possible, I hope to avoid these misunderstandings at the beginning and take fewer detours.

● 1. Don't always turn up the aperture.

If you spend a lot of time surfing the internet, you may see many wonderful photos taken by Leica with the aperture fully open. Like F 1.4, even F0.95, although it looks good, in fact, the large aperture is not the original intention of Leica.

Because most people who use Leica (mainly photojournalists, documentary photographers, etc. ) usually shot between F8- 16. This aperture interval can ensure enough depth of field and make the photo have more focus areas.

Like GarryWinogrand and JoelMeyerowitz

These street photographers and documentary photographers (who use 28mm or 35mm lenses) like to shoot black-and-white movies, and they often push the sensitivity above ISO 1000 to ensure that it is at F8- 16.

Between11000 s shutter speed.

Furthermore, using a large aperture like F 1.4-2 will blur the background of the photo, so the content, interest and depth you want to express are often discounted. Depth photos are often displayed in the foreground, middle scene and background, which makes the level richer.

Leykam 240+50/0.95, f/2.4, byKayanLady

Although the large aperture effect is fantastic, it may make the photo just stay at the "good-looking" level.

Of course, you can also use a large aperture, such as at night, when the light is dim, you don't need a flash, or you can take portraits and dream small scenes.

LeicaM9+50/ 1.0，f/ 1，byItaruSugita

But don't blindly use a large aperture to add trouble to your shooting, because you know that the larger the aperture, the shallower the depth of field and the more careful the focus. If it's street shooting, my suggestion is to use F 16 on sunny days and F 16 on cloudy days.

F8 .

●2. Don't be superstitious about the 50mm lens.

You may object to this point: the first Leica lens that many people buy is 50mm, which is the image of "the father of street photography"-because Bresson uses 50 mm most often.

But I don't want to myth the role of 50mm. Indeed, 50 mm is very powerful for taking portraits, and it is easier to compose in Leica's viewfinder.

50+75 boundary line

But now, at least for street shooting, 50mm is a bit narrow. The streets are more crowded than before, and 50mm is no longer suitable for taking pictures on city streets. So I recommend 35mm.

LeicaM240+35/ 1.4ASPHFLE

First of all, the viewing angle of 35mm is more suitable for the current street, which is not as wide as 28mm and not as cramped as 50mm, which is roughly the normal viewing angle of human eyes.

Secondly, although 28mm is also a good focal length, do you have the courage to shoot strangers at close range?

Furthermore, the viewing window of digital M camera is generally around 0.72x, and the frame line of the focal segment below 28mm will not be displayed completely; If you use a film machine, 28mm is fine (the viewfinder magnification of the film machine is 0.58x).

●3. Choice of camera

If you don't have enough money, but want to play Leica Parashaft, you can choose Leica's old film machines, such as M6, M4 and M5, which are all good.

If you don't want to use the film machine, you can go to Tao Tao for a second-hand M8 or M9. M8 black and white is good, but the color is a bit pleasing, M9.

Black and white and color are good, but if you want to have good colors, the premise is below ISO400.

M8 and M9 are replaced by CMOS with CCD, M240 and subsequent M digital cameras.

Some people are obsessed with CCD.

It seems that there are some differences, but the shortcomings of CCD are also obvious: it can't record video, it can't take live view, its response is extremely slow (5 photos of 10 were taken in a short time, and the machine needs time cache), and its performance is too high to compliment.

In addition, the specific definition of M8 and M9 monitors is much worse than M240 and M 10.

M 10 also supports Wi-Fi function, which can transmit data with mobile phones.

If you have enough budget, it is recommended to go directly to the latest or updated model, unless you particularly prefer film or CCD. But no matter which one you want to buy, it is recommended to experience it first to know if you can get used to the feeling of non-autofocus.

That's all for today. Tomorrow I will share with you some skills when I use M series for actual shooting. See you tomorrow ~