The Phoblographer

If you told me years ago that nearly every lens on the market made today would be super sharp wide open, I’d be elated. But if you also told me that lenses could be too sharp, I wouldn’t believe you. I mean, how is that possible? Years ago, you’d just consider the best fstop on a lens based on sharpness. These days, that’s not necessarily the case. Photography has changed, and people want something different. So, with over 12 years of testing lenses under our belt, we’re going to talk more about the best fstop and how it’s changed over the years.

How It Used to Be: The Story of the Best Fstop

When I first started The Phoblographer over 12 years ago, lenses were much different. They were mostly developed for film cameras and then ported over. Very few were developed with the idea of being digital first. Back then, you used to have to stop the lens down to get to the best fstop. On full-frame 35mm, it used to be around f8 to f11. It varied based on which medium format option you were using, but you’d try to get the same equivalent. This also applied to APS-C and Four Thirds sensors.

Shooting a lens wide open set you up for a host of problems back then:

Your lens would be very soft wide open, which is nice these days.

Your lens might have a bunch of color fringing, which can be seen as lens character these days.

Vignetting was abound, which is now easily correctable.

You’d also probably not get your subject in focus because DSLR and Film SLR autofocus wasn’t so great.

Then things changed.

And Then the Zeiss Otus Line Happened

I remember there was a short period of time where a lot changed. A bunch of tsunamis and storms destroyed lots of factories out east. Then, oddly enough, the industry bounced back with good optics. They came to Zeiss and Sigma first. The Zeiss Otus lens lineup was pretty much unbeatable. The Sigma Art lens lineup was also unbeatable for image quality. Then Sony got it, Tamron caught on, Nikon, Tokina, etc. Optics became a ton better.

This was interesting because Zeiss started to market that you didn’t necessarily need to stop the Otus lens lineup down. They showed the press tons of MTF charts where the Zeiss 55mm f1.4 Otus lens would have equivalent sharpness of the nearest competing lenses. However, the Otus was doing it wide open while the competition was doing it at f5.6 or f8. It was remarkable technology, if not incredibly flawed. Zeiss did what they do with an insane price tag, no weather sealing, and a few other things. Then Sigma’s 50mm f1.4 Art started to outdo the Otus. Sigma has always been strong with clinical image quality at the cost of build quality, character, and autofocus speed. It was the same back then as it is today.

So by all means, back then, Zeiss began to say that the best fstop is shot wide open. That started to change the rest of the industry. Combine this with the rising megapixel count on camera sensors and improved flash technology and you’ve got a winner.

Today, What Is the Best FStop?

Today, it’s hard to find a lens that isn’t sharp wide open. Lensbaby purposely does this, and that’s awesome, but all other camera and lens manufacturers strive for sharp wide-open performance. The best fstop and all it means has changed since then. There used to be the idea of the sweet spot, which referred to when the lens was at its sharpest. And today it’s more about a balance between pleasing bokeh and sharpness. It depends on what sensor format you’re using, but generally, most photographers think the best fstop is either wide open, f4, or f5.6. Lenses are super sharp wide open, and honestly, most of us on staff rarely have good reason to stop down unless the exposure calls for it. High megapixels on camera sensors mean more value is given to a lens. Combine that with flash and what specular highlights do, and you’ve got a winner.

Overall still, the best fstop is the one that fits the exposure. Need to stop down to f8? Then do it. Need an f1.4 aperture? Use it! These days, lenses are so ...

For more stories like this, please subscribe to the Phoblographer.

Trust us, we’ve done the tests. When it comes to weather sealing tests on cameras, there’s arguably no better solution than the stuff that we’ve done to various cameras and lenses. We’ve actually gone out and used the cameras and lenses in the worst weather conditions. Our reviewers do this and a whole lot more. We push the gear to the edge because we know that you’ll want to. With all this said, we decided to talk about how to protect your camera. Here are the things we keep in mind before we go out.

What Qualifies Us to Talk?

For a number of years, we’ve really wondered about how durable cameras really are. Reps have told us that if you take a camera into the rain, that they’d be fine. But is that really the case? Some reps still say this. But only some cameras are advertisers as weather resistant. So over the years, we’ve routinely tested various cameras in the rain, snow, sand, etc. Our build quality tests are a major part of our reviews. And we’re committed to making the entire industry create cameras and lenses that can stand up to the elements.

Oh yeah, and we’ve heard Olympus uses this test of our every time they talk about weather sealing. If a brand is alright with it, then we are too! Trust us, we know how to protect your camera.

Is Your Camera Marketed as Weather Resistant?

First off, figure out if your camera is weather resistant. This is a big thing to figure out. Here’s a general guide, there could be more. But these cameras are the most popular.:

The Fujifilm X Pro 3, XT4, and the the entire GFX lineup are weather sealed. Here’s a guide to weather sealed Fujifilm lenses.

Every Canon RF camera body has weather sealing. Our Canon RF lens guide should help you.

Every Nikon Z full frame body has weather sealing. We’ve also got a guide to Nikon Z lenses.

Every Sony a7, a9, and a1 camera body have weather sealing.

Every Panasonic S series camera body has weather sealing.

If you’re going to use Olympus, do yourself a favor and just go for the Olympus OMD Em1 Mk III and the Olympus OMD EM1X.

The Leica SL2s and Leica SL2 are IP rated, and the Q2 is as well.

Protect Your Camera. Check All the Ports

It’s important to check all the ports on your camera. Make sure that they’re fully sealed. Check the USB ports, the battery ports, the SD card ports, the audio jacks, etc. If the doors are a little loose, don’t risk bringing your camera into the rain. It’s not worth it. Something else to consider looking at is the hot shoe. In the past years, manufacturers have sealed the hot shoe very well. But some cameras, notably Sony, don’t have as much sealing.

Your Lens

If you’re taking your camera out into the rain, you need to ensure the entire package is protected. Lenses are where it gets really, really difficult. Some brands will say their lenses are weather-sealed, but they’re not. Instead, there will be sealing right around the mount and maybe at a spot around the focusing ring. A few lenses are fully completing their weather sealing when you add a front lens filter. Other brands go above and beyond to fully weather seal the lenses.

Personally speaking, if I’m buying a modern lens, there’s no way I’m not going to buy a lens that isn’t fully weather-sealed. Constantly cleaning a camera sensor is a major annoyance that’s avoided with just a few extra bucks.

Extra Ways to Protect Your Camera

There are a bunch of other options to keep your camera protected. For example, you can cover your camera with a plastic bag and ensure that the entire thing is fully protected. There are also things like camera skins. Alternatively, if you’re outside, an umbrella helps a lot.

Landscape photography is fun for both the consumer and the creator. The consumer gets to enjoy remote parts of the world they may not have otherwise seen. And the creator gets to have the thrill of adventure and the sense of tranquility that often accompany this type of photographic practice. Of course, we’ve shared plenty of stunning images made by the best landscape photographers around, and in this article we’re going to celebrate our favorites.

You can view this article and much more with minimal ads in our brand new app for iOS, iPadOS, and Android.

Cath Simard Turns Her Landscape Photography Into NFTs

Cath Simard joined us as a guest on Inside The Photographer’s Mind. She’s an introvert who loves going on long hikes alone and creating images nothing short of mindblowing. She’s used her photographic style to tap into the NFT market. In this podcast, she told us she’d made more money through NFTs than in her entire photography career. Check out her story here.

Caitlin Fullam Creates Surreal Landscape Photography

Beyond the joys of landscape photography, Caitlin Fullam has a deeper motive to go out and create. “These photos were an escape for me during a dark time,” she shared in a recent interview. She aimed to create out of this world images that made her feel like she was escaping the world she felt trapped within. She certainly accomplished her goal, not just with herself but for us too. Spending time with her photography lets us forget reality, even if only for a moment. Check it out here.

Alicja Zmysłowska Combines Dogs and Landscape Photography

Love dogs? Mesmerized by landscapes? If it’s a yes to both, you’re going to love the photography of Alicja Zmysłowska. She places man’s best friend in the center of some of the most beautiful locations. (The dogs aren’t photoshopped into her landscape photography.) Instead, she allows the human to stay with them (with a leash) and then photoshops the human and leash out. Zmysłowska has a range of cameras and lenses at her disposal, turning to the Canon 5D Mark III, the Canon 5D Mark IV, and the Canon EOS 5DS for her bodies, and the Canon 16-35mm 2.8L and the Canon 135mm 2.0L for her glass. Check out her full story here.

Paolo Pettigiani Landscape Photography Goes Infrared

Peru and Bolivia are home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in Latin America. Many photographers hit these spots to create landscape photography. Because of that, Paolo Pettigiani decided to put his own twist on things. Opting to shoot with Kodak Aerochrome (a now-discontinued infrared film roll), Pettigiani made a series of images that stand on their own. We’re glad he still had access to the film roll! Check his out here.

Ludwig Favre Makes Haunting Images

Ludwig Favre began his journey in photography at the tender age of six, and it’s a passion that’s stayed with him ever since. He shoots his haunting, mysterious landscape photography in Oregon, a part of the States known for its glorious nature. Favre uses a Panasonic Lumix S1R and pairs it with the Panasonic Lumix 16-35mm f4 to make most of his work. However, he also uses the DJI Mavic 2 Pro to offer a different perspective. You can see his work here.

Send Us Your Landscapes!

We would love to see your landscape photography if you feel it’s worth our attention. You can send it in using the form below. If we like it, then we’ll be in touch about giving you a feature.

Which was your favorite landscape photographer from the selection above? What gear do you enjoy using when making landscape images? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading.

Want to get your work featured? Here’s how to do it!

Lead image by Caitlin Fullam. All images used with permission.

Links to certain pieces of gear are included in this article. The Phoblographer gets a small cut from any purchases made via the links. It helps us keep the lights on, and we thank you for your support.

What is a leaf shutter? If you started in photography under a decade ago, we’re pretty sure you may not know the answer to this question. Even if you started in digital a decade ago, you might not know what a leaf shutter is. But these types of shutters are mostly absent from cameras these days. However, for the last decade, photographers clamored for them. Leaf shutters have advantages for photographers, but as time has gone on those advantages mostly disappeared.

You can view this article and much more with minimal banner ads in our brand new app for iOS, iPadOS, and Android. And for $24.99/year, you can have a banner ad-free experience.

Table of Contents

What Is a Leaf Shutter?

Little to No Camera Shake

A Faster Flash Sync

A Quieter Camera

The Leaf Shutter and the Modern Point and Shoot Camera

What Is a Leaf Shutter?

Having a leaf shutter means that the shutter is in the lens. When film was dominant, there were a few cameras with leaf shutters. The Mamiya 6 and Mamiya 7 series cameras used leaf shutters, as did many point-and-shoot cameras.

The leaf shutter is the opposite of the focal plane shutter, which has the shutter right in front of the film plane or the camera sensor. The focal-plane shutter is built into the camera instead. Modern cameras can be confused as having leaf shutters because the shutter opens up, adjusts itself, and then opens back up at times. But that’s not the case; the shutter is still built into the camera.

Leaf shutters have a few distinct advantages. But some of them are moot at this point in technology.

“These lenses are specialized. Modern leaf shutter lenses are handmade by small, employee-owned companies, not mass produced on assembly lines. Not everyone on the block shoots with them. And their price is a direct reflection of quality. You get what you pay for. When it comes to using them with high resolution medium format cameras of the highest quality, you want to pair them with a lens that is sharp lens with amazing clarity to boot. You would’t put cheap tires on an Indy car.” – Why Leaf Shutters Matter

Little to No Camera Shake

With a leaf shutter, you’re not getting a whole lot of swing or shake. When a camera’s shutter fires, it can cause a shake. But with a leaf shutter, it’s very gentle. For years, this was a great advantage. It’s one of the many reasons the Fujifilm X100 series of cameras took off. The leaf shutter, colors, and style of the camera made professionals really want it. These days, the benefits have been pretty much superseded. Lots of cameras have image stabilization built into the sensor and the lens. We can make a very strong argument for 10 stops of image stabilization outdoing the camera shake negation a leaf shutter can achieve.

If you’re still shooting film, leaf shutters are amazing. If you’ve ever fired a Pentax 67, you probably understand why. There’s a certain romance to the sound of that big, loud shutter on the legendary Pentax camera. But you probably also know how difficult it can be to shoot with. Of course, there are leaf shutter options for the Pentax 67. But, they’re very expensive. At that point, you’re better off trying to score a Mamiya 7 or Mamiya 7 II. You’ll lose the whole through-the-lens viewing experience, but you’ll get more stability.

If you’re using a modern or vintage point-and-shoot camera with a fixed lens, then you’re also going to experience a leaf shutter. The well-known Yashica GSN Electro 35 sports an electronic leaf shutter.

A Faster Flash Sync

Faster flash sync is a great advantage of the leaf shutter. To understand why this is important, you need to understand how flash works. So we’re going to break it down.

Shutter speed controls ambient light’s effect on the scene

Aperture controls the output of the flash power in TTL flash mode. In manual mode, the aperture controls how much of the flash’s light output affects the scene.

ISO controls the overall sensitivity of the scene to both ambient light and flash output lighting.

Obvious...

You’ve probably read me say a bunch of times that the DSLR is dead. It truly is such a case. Using a DSLR in 2022 is like using a fax machine in 2009 when you could instead just send an email. It can do the job, but there is better technology that can do the job more efficiently. Mirrorless cameras and even your phone and incredibly capable these days. But just in case, here’s how you can give your DSLR new life this year.

You can view this article and much more with minimal banner ads in our brand new app for iOS, iPadOS, and Android. And for $24.99/year, you can have a banner ad-free experience.

Convert it to Infrared

This is an obvious choice for many photographers. Convert the camera to an infrared sensor option of some sort. The folks over at Kolari Vision can do this pretty easily for you. It doesn’t make much sense to bring along a big, heavy camera unless it has a specific purpose. So give your DSLR new life by making it shoot in a completely different way. This way, your mirrorless camera can specialize in shooting in a more conventional and normalized way. But when you want to get more creative and fun, you can bring this one out and just enjoy the process.

These days, there are lots of different infrared options. Some are designed to look a bit like Kodak Aerochrome. You’ll still need to do a bit of processing, but you’ll enjoy the overall experience.

Change the Focusing Screen to Support Manual Focus Lenses

This was a personal project that for years, I wanted to do but never ended up doing. Give your DSLR new life with a new focusing screen. DSLRs have interchangeable focusing screens a lot of the time. If the viewfinder is offering 100% coverage, then it’s a bit more difficult. But if it’s something like 97%, then changing the focusing screen above the prism is easier. Zeiss and other brands used to make things like split screens and more. Grab an old Canon DSLR, change the focusing screen, and then go grab some old Zeiss glass on eBay. Forget all about autofocus. Turn this camera into the manual focus dream that you’ve wanted for a while. You’ll see just how different the experience becomes. It’s never going to be as nice as looking through a Pentax Spotmatic film SLR and it will be nowhere as wonderful as a Pentax 67 II. But it’s still going to be really nice overall.

Can you use these with your autofocus lenses? Yes, but the experience won’t be the same as it will for manual focus lenses. It starts with the old-school shutter slapping sound and goes from there. Lots of mirrorless cameras lack the audible romance of DSLRs; even though they gain a whole lot in return.

Give it an Angle Finder and Shoot in a Different Way

I truly wish that more DSLRs had removable viewfinders, but they don’t. So instead, you can give your DSLR new life by modifing the viewfinder to shoot in a completely different way. It’s nowhere as cool as using a medium format camera and having a big hood finder. But it’s still a totally different way of shooting. By looking down at the screen like this, you’re giving yourself a different experience. Of course, you could do this with a rotating LCD screen if it has one. But it’s still not the same experience at all.

Angle Finder photo by sachinese on Flickr.

For more stories like this, please subscribe to The Phoblographer.

I’d like to believe that the photo industry has advanced quite far, despite still being behind phones somehow. I think that we’re now at a point where cameras can do even more. For example, a bunch of cameras try to do high megapixel modes and lots more. And years ago, they did panoramic modes as JPEGs. But I genuinely feel like it’s time they took that further. My idea: a panoramic RAW file that stitches together using similar tech as the high megapixel and multiple exposure modes.

A while ago, camera manufacturers started saying that they’ve maxed out what’s possible with still photography and that they’d focus more on videos. But I sincerely disagreed. Modern cameras are competent tools, but camera manufacturers aren’t imaginative. That’s why it’s shocking that the panoramic raw photo mode hasn’t become more commonplace.

You’re probably sitting there wondering why manufacturers haven’t made this yet. Well, for the past two decades, they’ve all been telling us that we can do that in post-production instead. But lots of us don’t want to sit in front of a computer slaving away to combine an image. However, if I needed to, I’d surely bring a panoramic raw photo that’s ready for me into Capture One to do some minor edits. The best part of this is that so many brands can do this differently.

Canon can do this using the same multiple exposure technology that they’ve had for years. You’re just blending the photos together left to right.

Sony doesn’t have a multiple exposure mode anymore. But they had a panoramic mode.

Nikon can have panoramic RAW and apply its cool creative effects. The Sunday and Somber look are bound to make the mountains render really cool!

Panasonic can do panoramic raw and apply their L Monochrome or Cinelike profiles to the images. Just imagine something genuinely looking like Panovision?

Leica has the durability in their cameras to really encourage this.

I’m not sure why Olympus doesn’t have this. They’re the brand I’d most expect to do panoramic raw.

Fujifilm is where this would probably be the best. Imagine a panoramic RAW file in Velvia or Classic Chrome? It would look just like those old Nat Geo spreads in magazines.

Naturally, these would be huge RAW files. So I’d expect the imaging processors to take a bit of time to line everything up. But Sony used to make this the easiest with their Sweep panorama mode years ago. For some odd reason, everyone got rid of it, and it hasn’t been back since. Yet, most modern cameras can do things like apply clarity, high dynamic range, etc. So just imagine a high dynamic range panoramic raw image with clarity bumped up a bit. And you’d get both a Raw and a JPEG. Wouldn’t that be awesome for landscape photography? And what about cityscapes?

Some of the closest I’ve gotten to this is with a 16:9 photo aspect ratio. But that gives us a smaller image. Why can’t I have a bunch of raws combined in-camera?

Just also think about the beautiful prints you could make. Further, imagine when the camera gets older, you convert it to infrared. Now you can get infrared panoramic photos. You’re more inclined to stay with the camera system then and won’t want to switch. Camera manufacturers want people to stick with their system more than anything else.

In the global pandemic, a lot of people became bird photographers. Tons of those folks took to the countryside, but some of us stayed in big cities. Believe it or not, big cities are great places to photograph birds. In fact, we reviewed a ton of lenses that help to do just that. So we’re giving readers some tips on how to photograph birds in cities based on our experiences.

You can view this article and much more with minimal banner ads in our brand new app for iOS, iPadOS, and Android. And for $24.99/year, you can have a banner ad-free experience.

Table of Contents

Set Up a Local Birdbath or Bird Feeder

Start Early in the Day

Walk Around and Notice Their Habits

Tips for Better Bird Photos

Recommended Lenses and Cameras to Photograph Birds in Cities

Set Up a Local Birdbath or Bird Feeder

It might seem like common sense, right? Instead of going out and hunting for the birds, bring them to you! We’ve seen a few things people do to get birds to come to their windows or close by. Some folks leave bird seed on their windowsill. We’ve also seen folks leave nuts and fruit on their windows or fire escapes. I set up a birdbath on my balcony that I sometimes fill up.

If you don’t have space to do this, look for local parks, lakes, community gardens, etc. One cool idea is to hang a bird feeder from a line of some sort. If your home has an old-school clothes line, try hanging a feeder from there.

The reason to do these things is to find a way to get the birds to come around at different times of the day. Birds are almost always looking for food. So if you can get birds to come to your home or space and pick up some food, you’ve then got an opportunity to photograph them. Ideally, you want the birds higher up from ground level. We’ve seen folks throw rice near trees for the sparrows to eat. This isn’t always safe, and won’t lead to attractive photos. The backgrounds may be way too busy. Putting berries out on plate on a fire escape or out a window sill is a better idea.

Start Early in the Day

The first thing you should know about how to photograph birds in cities is that they’re out and about early in the day. Sometimes you’ll see and hear them around at sunrise. At other times, you’ll see them gather in certain trees around 9am or 10am. You’ll typically get the best light earlier in the day when people are commuting and going to work.

If you’re in a city, there are lots of different places you can look. Most wildlife and birding photography happens in the outdoors and countryside. But the truth is that big cities are where tons of birds go because of the free food sources available. Here in NYC, lots of folks flock (pun intended) to Central Park to photograph birds, but my favorite place is Forest Park in Queens, NY.

Look around for fruit and berry trees. Birds like going to these trees and bushes for a snack. In parks, people might sometimes throw a bagel on the floor. If the squirrels don’t get to it, the birds will.

One of the big problems about photographing birds in cities is that you mostly find pigeons or sparrows. But it’s possible to find other birds if you understand their diet.

According to What Birds are in my Backyard, here are some of the most common birds. We’ve done a bit of research to also add in what they eat.

Blue Jay: Peanuts and sunflower seeds. Try to make sure the nuts aren’t salted.

American Robin: Fruits, berries, earthworms.

Northern Cardinal: Sunflower seeds, grains, fruits.

American Crow: Grains, nuts, seeds, berries.

Black-capped Chickadee: Insects, seeds, berries.

Mourning Dove: Sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and shelled peanuts.

American Goldfinch: Seeds

European Starling: Insects, berries, and seeds.

Song Sparrow: Insects, seeds, berries.

Downy Woodpecker: Beatle Larvae.

Red-winged Blackbird: Insects, corn, and wheat.

House Sparrow: Grains and seeds

Common Grackle: Seeds, grains, and rice.

Red-bellied Woodpecker: Nuts, foods, and seeds.

White-breasted Nuthatch: Seeds and peanut butter mixtures.

Tufted ...

“We’re closing up shop,” is what they told me. Behind my face mask, my jaw dropped. And the rest of my body language communicated complete shock and heartbreak. I moved back to Queens in 2020 and 37th Ave Photo had been my local film lab since coming back. But they’re gone now, and the knowledge of the old man, his son, and their incredible work has disappeared. In over 12 years of running The Phoblographer, the ongoing love story involving film labs has surely had its share of heartbreaks.

When people want to find a film lab, they often ask friends. Every analog photographer has one they use and like. In New York City, lots of folks like CRC. I prefer Luster. A bunch of folks in North Brooklyn adore Kubus. But quality tends to change sometimes. Kubus might be great at one point of the year and awful at another while selling expired film that isn’t refrigerated. CRC might scan your black and whites and have dust all over them. Luster will do a consistently great job but they’ll be incredibly expensive. Duggal will do a great job but cost you an arm and a leg. There’s always something with film labs. But, finding the one for you is sometimes more heartbreaking than relationship-based heartbreaks.

The problem with the film lab industry in NYC is huge. Some of them send your film to another developer at times. Turnover is also pretty vast. The profit margins are slim because film is still a niche product. It’s grown over the years; Fujifilm has cited that Millenials and Gen Z use it. It’s unfortunate, as I’ve heard of some wages paid are minimum wage. I don’t think this is the case with bigger labs, but at the smaller ones, it’s part of what’s wrong with them.

This is a compound problem that I think is going to get worse. Manufacturers have raised prices, and I hope the profit will go back into developing new film that can’t be duplicated with a digital preset. But when film prices rise, people usually buy less. When people buy and shoot less film, less are developed. So the film labs get squeezed with a big problem.

Have you ever tried scanning your film? It can be an incredibly annoying process and can take a really long time to get them right. Believe it or not, I don’t think film labs charge enough. But if prices went up, people would complain.

I’m sure some of you saying “Just shoot digital.” But no. Digital is a great experience, but film is a completely different type of ceremony. I’ll liken it to vinyl. When you’re listening to vinyl, it makes sense that you’d sit around and do nothing else but listen to the music. After a while, you’re going to need to get up and flip the record. You obviously don’t have that issue with digital music. Similarly, with film, you have to experience the ceremony of being more careful with your shots. Sure, you can do that with digital, but most people don’t. I’ve seen photographers shoot in burst mode and end up with 500 images of one look. You’re not going to do that with film. And a lot of digital photographers don’t shoot digital in the same way they do film.

There are a lot of things to know when it comes to photography terminology. And there is also a difference between knowing what things mean, and being able to apply them. We’re going to talk about that a little bit in this article. When I started this site, I wrote about photography terminology. And today, I’m revamping that piece with a bit.

You can view this article and much more with minimal ads in our brand new app for iOS, iPadOS, and Android.

Shutter Speed – This is how long your camera’s shutter stays open and it can be read on either the back of your screen or within the viewfinder. It is typically a fraction or a whole number.

For example:

1/15 = a fifteenth of a second

1/1000= a thousandth of a second

1”= 1 second

15” = fifteen seconds

Here are the basic rules to follow:

The longer the shutter speed the more motion will be captured and the stiller you need to remain. This is great for capturing nighttime scenes.

The faster the shutter speed the less motion will be captured. This is great for capturing fast-moving objects like sports action.

The longer the shutter speed, the more the camera is going to pick up on your shaky hands. So you’ll get the effects of camera shake. Image stabilization can help with this, but the best thing to do is use a tripod or hold the camera in an efficient way.

On your camera, this can be seen with the S mode.

Aperture – This is also known as F stop. It controls how much of your image is in focus or not (what is clear and what is blurry). It also controls how much light comes into the lens of your camera and hits the sensor (the equivalent of film).

In general:

f1.4 = Enables high shutter speeds – not much is in focus

f2.8 = Enables almost as high shutter speeds – more is in focus (great for portraits)

f11 = Needs slower shutter speeds – much more is in focus

f22 = Needs the slowest of shutter speeds – everything you point your lens at should be in focus (best used with a flash unless there is tons of bright light available)

If you have a smartphone or a drone, it most likely won’t have a variable aperture; it will be locked at one setting because the sensor is so small. It’s a bit useless to have a working aperture. So the blur is created using software.

On your camera this is also known as AV mode.

Bokeh – Bokeh can mean a few things. Colloquially, it will refer to the quality of the out-of-focus area in a photo. But it’s been adapted into the vernacular to just mean the out of focus area. Various things affect the bokeh. The coatings on the lens elements can add more or less contrast. More contrast can sometimes mean that your subject pops out from the background. We’ve typically seen Leica Apochromatic lenses lend some of that special “pop.” And the number of aperture blades also affects bokeh. The fewer aperture blades there are, the less pleasing the bokeh balls in the background can be, but this also depends on the focal length.

Depth of Field – This is what is the range of distance within the subject that is acceptably in focus. It can be controlled using aperture.

ISO – Light sensitivity of your camera’s sensor. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive your camera will be to light and the grainier your images will be. The lower the ISO, the less sensitive the camera will be to light and the less grainier your images will be. Higher ISOs allow for faster shutter speeds.

ISO 100 = great for daylight use, no image grain

ISO 400 = great for twilight use, a bit more grain

ISO 1600 = much more suited towards low light or high action where you need to stop fast movement

ISO 6400 = even better suited towards low light and fast action, but delivers grainy images

In recent years, cameras have gotten so good that ISO 6400 can print images at 17×22 inches with little to no grain. ISO is something that’s more flexible with digital cameras than it is on film. With film emulsions, you typically have to shoot at the same ISO for the entire roll.

Manual – A shooting mode on your camera that ena...

If you look at the state of Leica cameras right now, you’ll see a carefully selected set of items. Their cameras are great in so many ways. But for lots of photographers, they’re still not perfect. I’m not talking about the folks who won’t buy them, I’m geeking out here with the folks who adore Leica cameras from the start. In this post, I discuss my idea for the perfect Leica camera. It addresses some of the problems found in the Leica M11 and the Leica Q2. Most of all, it feeds into the gear acquisition syndrome we have, but doesn’t encourage us to be irresponsible.

You can view this article and much more with minimal banner ads in our brand new app for iOS, iPadOS, and Android. And for $24.99/year, you can have a banner-ad-free experience.

Take the Leica Q2

Leica built the Leica Q system many years ago. For some, it’s the perfect camera. The Leica Q2 improved over that. Wedding photographers and others talk it up, and every time it’s in my hands I fall for it a little more. It feels like a modernized Leica M. Now, the Leica M is an exquisite camera. And by all means, before we go on, please understand I’m not saying Leica should get rid of the other M-series cameras. Instead, let’s call this the Leica Q-CL (because the Q2 is smaller than the M).

Anyway, though, we’re starting out with the body and full electronics of the Leica Q2.

Give It the Leica M-Mount

We’re removing the excellent autofocusing lens on the Leica Q2, and we’re replacing it with an M-mount. Indeed, the lens is part of what makes the Q2 special. It’s sharp, versatile, can shoot macro stuff, and autofocus quickly with the latest firmware updates. But, we’re removing the Leica Q2’s lens and giving the Leica Q-CL an M-mount. This means it would be able to use many different lenses, like the 50mm f2 Summicron-APO and a bunch more.

On top of that, we’re using an EVF. If Leica adds a joystick, it will make selecting the focusing area more straightforward. A photographer will be able to magnify anywhere in the frame, focus, and then shoot.

What would be even more tempting is giving the Leica Q-CL internal 64GB storage.

Let’s also be honest here; it doesn’t need autofocus. If you’re buying a Leica, then you understand the tactile functionality of it. You’re purchasing a passion product that can take beautiful photos. Leica cameras are a tactile experience that Sony, Canon, and Nikon can’t even comprehend. If someone says they’re paying all that money and there is no autofocus, they don’t get it. And that’s fine.

Weather Seal the Mount

Finally, Leica would add some sort of weather-resistance to the mount. If we’re really dreaming big, then they’ll also start delivering a line of Leica M-mount lenses with complete weather sealing. We know it’s possible, and we know Leica’s durability is undoubtedly very high. But let’s make it official! Even if you’re not taking your camera into the rain, the weather-resistance would maintain functionality for a longer period of time.