By: Thorsten Overgaard. April 22, 2014 Latest update August 15, 2023.
Sexy stuff for the World's Most Sexy Camera - The Leica M 240
When you have a Leica M and one or a few lenses, you have all you need. Sometimes that is not enough, so here are some things to sex up your camera. This is a work in progress, and if you have something others shouldn't live without, send me an e-mail.
Here, My Dear
Berlin-based jewelry designer Florian Huhoff designed this Leica M3 ring for a friend, who requested one more for his friend ... and if he didn't know before, Florian must have realized real love has no boundaries. We all want one to symbolize real love and an important relationship. Price is around 190 Euros, and made for women and men, after measurements.
The beautiful Leica M3 ring made by jewelry designer Florian Huhoff, Berlin.
The Leica Guy (Matthew B. Harrison) got married and the whole wedding and honeymoon had a clear Leica theme down to the two Noctilux rings. The ring was commissioned and made by jeweler Gaelen in British Columbia, Canada.
Personalize your camera
Leica offers engravings on cameras, and all you have to do is ask for a quote. A drawing, your signature, a classic Leica engraving. The possibilities are endless on the top plate, the bottom plate, on the back and front and so forth.
Engraving a Leica is a great way to personalize it. Leica Camera AG offers custom engravings from the factory in Wetzlar. Either as an a-la-carte edition from new, or on the camera you already got and used.
Laser-engraved name and e-mail in the bottom plate of the Leica M240. Good idea if it gets lost. Photo: Randy Walters who had this laser-engraved by a small laser engraving company in Rhode Island. I have labels inside my cameras, and on the batteries.
The personal engraving
Most people didn't think it would be possible to apply Leica Camera AG's "a la carte" program to the Leica M, Leica M9 and Leica M Monochrom - which is the program where one can get the Leica MP or M7 tailored to ones personal preferences in a number of diferent leather qualities and colors, with or without engravings, with red, black or chrome Leica dot (or without), technical details such as viewfinder types and different types of chrome, hammerthone or black paint finish to the metal surface of the camera.
In 2010, when my M9 had to go to the Leica Mothership for an adjustment for the first time, I wrote on the order form, "Please engrave 'Leica' on the top plate in the style of the 2003 MP," and much to my surprise they simply sent me an order confirmation. Highly encouraged by the possibilities, I then added to the order that I wanted my name as well engraved! Nothing less.
My Leica M9 top plate with my "Leica" engraving a la the 2003 Leica MP special edition (same size and placing on the top plate).
The day after I had requested it, I regretted. Did I really want my name on my camera? In some way I did. Then again, I like not to be noticed when photographing. Or rather, it doesn't matter, but there is no reason to put a label on. The resale value of a camera with one’s personal name undoubtedly goes down unless the new owner has the same name (and I know nobody with my name). But then again, would I really care to ever sell it? Probably not. And was it really a big deal if I had it or not? "Nah, let's just go on with it," I decided.
Perhaps destiny was involved, or some higher powers - because the camera came back with just the Leica engraving. They had not noticed that I had added the name request. In any case, it looked great and for a couple of hours I felt I had accomplished something very special. That was how long it took before I found out that Jaap in the Netherlands had also gotten that engraving - but with his initials below!
Oh well...
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The "Sexy" Monochrom
With the Leica M Monochrom in 2012, I wanted an engraving again, but I wanted it to be different than the M9. I thought long and hard about it! What should it be? The answer was that when I got the Leica M Monochrom and used the first day, it was difficult to describe exactly what the soul of that camera was. It was clearly different, and it wasn't just that it was black and white. "It's sexy", was how I had described it, and that was perhaps the most precise I have ever gotten to describing the Leica M Monochrom since then.
It turned out that I could get a typeface designed based on the original Leica typeface, and with quite some work it was possible to change it into the word "Sexy" in a way so it looked very much like Leica, but was actually "Sexy" when you looked further. There it was. I happened to visit Leica to drop it off, and to my surprise they came back with it three hours later. The engraving was done.
The "Sexy" Leica M Monochrom with Annie Barton 1972Braided strap and Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 Version II ("star" / "rigid" from 1964)
Half a year later I got a four page long non-disclosure paper from Leica Camera AG that I had to sign. If I told anybody about the engraving, I had to pay 10,000 Euros!
What?
I called my contact in Pro Customer Service to hear what that was all about. Was it because it said Sexy? No, it turned out that Leica had only engraved three Leica M Monochrom cameras, and they weren't supposed to. But nobody knew, and nobody had asked.
I couldn't do much other than laugh about it. I had the engraving, why would I sign a document? I said I would come by with the Leica M 240 in a week, and when that was engraved, then I would sign! We laughed a bit about it and left it at that.
But from 2014 forward it became a normal service again, so I had my Leica M 240 engraved with the same 2003-engraving as the M9, but slightly adjusted so as to align with the microphone.
My Leica M 240 top plate with my "Leica" engraving a la the 2003 Leica MP special edition (same size and placing on the top plate, though taking the built-in microphone into account, which is why it has been moved a little further towards the center of the camera).
A classic Leica engraving with Made in Germany and the serial number applied to the silver chrome Leica M 240. This camera is with a Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 lens and an Annie Barton braided strap in natural leather.
An engraving is in the range of € 250. Sometimes they change the top plate to engrave, sometimes not. I guess it is a matter of how successful the engraving is on the original top plate. If not, they take a new one. So get it done before it gets patina, or before you want to sell it as mint.
Signature Engravings on the Leica
Jono Slack in the UK had his signature engraved on his Leicas. Here it's the Le3ica M10 with the Rock'n'Roll Napa Strap in red. I've seen other's having their signature engraved on the vertical back of the camera next to the viewfinder.
I had my Leica M 240 engraved in Hermes orange ...
Leica M 240 silver with Leica orange laser-engraving on the top plate. The strap is a Tie-Her-Up 125 cm strap made in Greece.
Hari Subramanyam in Germany had Leica Camera AG change all the engravings on his Leica SL (and lens) into red paint. The ventilated lens hood is the one I make and you can get in the Overgaard Gallery Store.
I recently had the text under the Leica engraving that the Leica M-D 262 comes with, toned down with a dark grey color. I had seen that one of the guys who works in Leica Shop Vienna had all the text on his camera made into very dark grey, so that gave me the idea.
Leica M-D 262 with the engraving on the top plate that it comes with. But I had the text below the Leica engraving changed from white to dark grey.
Leica's that glows in the dark
Back in 2009 I asked Leica Camera AG to replace the white paint in the engravings on my shutter speed dial of the Leica M9 with something that would glow in the dark. Back then they didn't have the possibility for it, but in 2018 they released the limited edition Leica M 246 with glowing numbers (as a contrast to the else all-black camera). Maybe it's time to ask for it again ...
The limited edition Leica M 246 glows in the dark.
Engravings on lenses
If you notice, the lens in the picture above has orange and white engravings (orange for feet scale on the focusing ring). You can get the paint in the engravings changed or restored by Leica Camera AG.
Of course special engravings can also be made on lenses if you ask nicely.
An example of standard engravings and use of colors. The Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 LHSA limited edition lens (this is a lens that was made in the 1959-design but with the 2004-design of the glass inside). On black lenses the feet are given in orange or red, on chrome lenses the feet are given in red (or orange). It has been claimed that the color indicates if it is a brass lens, but that is not the case according to the lens designers I have spoken to. There has never been a system like that for Leica lenses. LHSA is short for Leica Historical Society of America.
The LHSA limited edition has this special engraving with LHSA logo.In the later limited edition of the Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 Black Chrome lens, the feet are in red.
Special engraving made by Leica Camera AG to commemorate their designer Andre de Winter (who also happened to design the Leica 75mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 lens on the camera).
Tweaking the Leica to extremes
The possibilities are unlimited if you really want a special Leica. Photographer John Botte that is featured in this article has made it almost a rule to tweak all of his cameras to be different creatures. Here's are a few of them.
Red Leica M7 with red, red, red. That guy has some balls. Leica 35mm FLE withventilated lenshood.
Some other of John Botte's cameras.
Here is a Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 where the orange scale has been changed to red.
Ventilated lens shades
I like ventilated lens shades for decoration and to protect the lens against bumps. So I had some made for my own lenses, and then of course people started asking how to get them. That's how I started making ventilated lens shades for most Leica lenses. See more here in theOvergaard Gallery Store.
The simplicity of the Leica M doesn't invite to add a lot to it. Most stay with the original outfit. But we want more lenses, bags and all - and then again we want simplicity and as little as possible.
Camera straps is an area of photography style where one can allow oneself to go a little nuts. The economy involved is more moderate than the lenses, and if one finds a new nice strap, it's one way to sex up the camera for a while.
I have built a small but impressive collection of camera straps. Some I don't use at all for a number of reasons, others I usually use throughout the whole life span of a camera. Then again, sometimes I change.
But most of all camera straps should be practical and personal.
The new addition for my Leica M 240 is the black leather Rock'n'Roll Chain from Tie Her Up in Greece. They claim it was inspired by the photo of the Monochrom strap above. Just to emphasize the thinking behind they also made a neck strap of the same material.
The camera strap is really soft, a little elastic and very elegant. I shall post a little more about this one and their other straps shortly.
The Rock'n'Roll camera strap from Tie Her Up is my choice for the Leica M10. I have the Rock'n'Roll strap on most my cameras, and for the Leica M10 they made this slimmer version of the Rock'n'Roll strap.
Rock'n'Roll M10 Ash Brown strap. Photo: Evris Papanikolas.
The very popular "Rock'n'Roll" strap from Tie Her Up was inspired by a guitar strap. No surprise, the always fashionable guitar player of The Kill, Jamie Hince, simply uses his Micky Mouse guitar strap as his camera strap. Wrong camera, but cool idea.
I got my new black leather Tie Her Up camera strap sent to Los Angeles in August 2015 from Greece. It's a Rock'n'Roll Chain custom made for my Leica M 240 so it fits perfectly with a 125 cm length (the long of the two lengths it comes in). Tie Her Up also makes their straps custom length, so all you got to do is ask. Leica M 246 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95.
I was so happy with the Rock'n'Roll Chain strap that I got myself some of the others as well. Both for the Leica Q as well as for the Leica M. The first one I got was a relatively rough leather strap that had the perfect length (125-130 cm) and just works very well. Next came two softer Riviera camera straps (€67) that are a little more elegant made. I got a dark brown and one in cognac (above in the picture). I really liked them but had trouble deciding on the color. ... so the next one coming will be in red!
Hermés Barda camera bag and Annie Barton camera strap. The Hermés "Barda" bag comes in two sizes, 35 x 27 x 7 cm and 43 cm and in etain/pewter and ebene/ebony colors and black sikkim calfskin leather. The price is HK$49700 and HK$58600 respectively.
The very sexy Annie Barton handmade full leather braided neck strap (above and below) comes also as hand wrist, and in brown, matte black, glossy black and even some funky orange, blue and white colors.
I use the short one which is the correct length for me (115 cm), but also a longer one is available if you have a tall and/or large body.
The Annie Barton 1972 straps and bags are handmade in Hong Kong and are also sold from Red Dot Cameras in London. If you go to Hong Kong and visit the store of Annie Barton on the third floor in Central Hong Kong, you won't meet Annie Barton as that is a made-up name. But you might meet the couple that produce and sell the Annie Barton straps and bags. Their opening hours are usually from after lunch until late.
The new improved 2016 Annie Barton strap has nylon enhancement to hold onto the rings, as well as new and stronger o-rings Annie Barton had designed for them.
The new improved Annie Barton strap
The 2016-edition of the Annie Barton braided strap comes in many lengths and colors. Also the usual black. But more importantly the connection the camera rings has been strengthened with nylon so the strap lasts longer.
Annie Barton 1972 improved Braided strap (2018) now has their own design of 0-rings as well as a much stronger stitching.
Gordy's Camera Straps makes affordable, custom-made shoulder straps as well. Any length and colors mix you like.
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The Special Edition Rock'n'Roll camera strap
I got my new Tie Her Up Rock'n'Roll Special Edition camera strap. It's a beast.
El Capitan Neck Strap from sailorstrap.com will do the trick if you want to go a little exotic on camera straps and want the real sailor material that can go through the seven seas and over the mountains without breaking. It's a brilliant idea, making camera straps from real rope.
They will also do custom sizes and ship out of Warszawa, Poland to any location in the world.
The Sailor Strap is made in Warshaw, Poland and ships world-wide. See more models on their Instagram or their website.
Handmade in Indonesia
Photographer Yb Putrola from Yogyakarta in Indonesia makes handmade camera straps and wrist straps, hand stitched, with a special touch and brass rings. All are made in few samples. You'll have to look him up on Instagram.com/ybputro and see some of the types untill he gets a website. You can mail him at ybputro@yahoo.com. Usual lengths are 95 cm and 120 cm.
Failures on one or some of the first Leica M Type 240 strap lugs, a couple of friends whose leather straps broke, and my own experience with three metal rings working their way out of the strap and camera lugs, puts a whole new level of attention on gravity.
You realize that if the camera strap is not working, the camera falls to the ground. I know this is elementary, but usually camera straps stay there forever.
The HAWKESMILL brown leather camera strap is made in England. It's a new brand started in 2016. It has a large o-ring and a protector for the camera body so it doesn't get scratched. They are also making some nice camera bags. Leica M 240 with orange engraving on top (made by Leica Camera in Wetzlar) and 35mm FLE with my own designed ventilated lens shade.
The original Leica Nylon Strap
The traditional nylon Leica strap (that the Leica M 240 comes with) is really good in many ways. It's been the strap that Leica cameras came with for somewhat 20 years. It is simple, sturdy and can be expanded to proper length for most people (not that many camera straps can be made long enough; it's a problem). Also the rubber neck pad can be removed so the nylon strap becomes even more simple. I've used them on all my Leica R and Leica Digilux 2 cameras.
It's always been a science to make sure the closing mechanism of the Leica nylon strap were closed properly. It takes a while and then I guess you get it and it always works. That's how it was for me. But I do remember in the beginning that somehow the logics of how to close it sometimes failed. But when it sits on the camera, it sits really well. The plastic cover has to click and stay there, that's how you know.
What is long enough?
For me 110-120 cm is a comfortable length of a camera strap. That means that the camera can hang across the chest and rest by the hip. But most camera straps are made to 90 cm and that is too short for anything but hanging around the neck, on the stomach. It's not that I am tall or have a large body. So those who are taller and/or have indulged in donuts have more problems than I.
Here are some of my camera straps:
A cavalcade of camera straps for the Leica M. From left A&A 250, A&A, Louis Vuitton, Leica A la Carte in brown, Annie Barton glossy black x 2, Annie Barton matte black, A&A 252, Gordy's camera strap, and finally to the right, the standard Leica camera strap that comes with the Leica M 240, Leica M9 and Leica M9-P (The Leica M Monochrom comes with a black leather strap not shown here. It can be bought as a spare part from any Leica Store).
Lord of the Rings
I have dropped my Leica M 240 three times because the metal ring holding the camera strap had 'opened' itself and worked itself out of the strap lug. The first time I dropped the M 240 on ice and small stones in Norway and the glass of the EVF2 was broken (only the protection glass). The second time I was holding the camera to put it on a shelf when the strap was suddenly 'just not attached'.
The reason for this, I thought, was that I used too thin (and hence soft) metal rings. One ring came with the Annie Barton strap, the other thin ring I bought locally at a shoemaker for my Louis Vuitton strap.
Then I put the Leica M Monochrom strap on that comes with the Leica M Monochrom, thinking that the ring was more sturdy - and made by Leica. Unfortunately, that one worked itself out too. In Shanghai, I suddenly grabbed the end of the strap as the camera fell to the ground. I managed to stop the motion just 10 cm over the ground. Saved a M 240 and a Noctilux with a fast reaction!
I met a few others who had the same experience. Always the strap lug on the left of the camera (closest to the rangefinder). I wasn't the only one.
Hmm.
It looks very unlikely when you look at the rings, that they can work themselves out. And just as unlikely - almost like a magician’s trick - when you stand with a camera without camera strap ... and nothing is broken off or anything. It just worked itself out of there!
The ring on the left will work itself out of the camera. The Ring to the right is the one that comes with the Leica M Monochrom strap and the Leica a la Carte straps. Even though it is thicker, it will also work itself out of the strap lug!
Triangle may be the solution
Leica supplies the standard Leica nylon strap with the Leica M 240, so one could say they never said one could expect other metal rings to work. I am fairly sure it is a slightly changed design of the strap lug that causes it. The whole M body was re-designed for the Leica M 240. Something is different from the strap lugs on the Leica M9 and the Leica M Monochrom to the Leica M 240.
One of my workshop students who had dropped his camera twice had bought some triangular rings, and he gave me one.
The solution can be to get some triangle strap holders like this one. It's not as classic as the round one, but it does keep the strap from working its way out.
I had my strap lugs changed in January 2014 as the metal was torn, but I haven't had the patience to try a round strap ring again.
One of my workshop students who had dropped his camera twice had bought some triangular rings GRIMM Camera Accessories (www.f-asia.co.kr), and he gave me a couple also. So I mounted that one on the left side, and since I haven't had the problem.
It's one of those unsolved mysteries. I have written to the factory, twice, and no answer. I take it that the talk of camera strap lugs is not something we fancy starting a new discussion about. But know that if you go with round strap rings, then you must keep an eye on the left strap lug.
The "O" ring advice from Karl Witt
I got an email from Karl Witt who has a background in photographic equipment repair.
He wrote, "The cause of the problem in your interesting article, is the material of the O ring. I saw many cameras come to us with impact damage. Quite often due to O ring-strap failure.
"You must select a strap or replacement O ring that you can't install using your thumb or finger nail. These O ring designs are usually stainless steel. The stainless steel O rings can eat through strap lugs made of coated brass (which is what happened to your first M 240). Most newer cameras have hardened inserts in the O rings which prevents them wearing through.
"The entire problem is that many straps have O rings that are not tight enough. And the strap can get under the leading edge of the O ring and work its way off. As you have found.
"The triangle hangers will work their way off sometimes as well. The double hook design attachment pieces on some Leica straps are stainless steel and can destroy brass lugs also."
Another view of the Annie Barton strap. If you thought about other possibilities, you aren't the first one. Many people seem to take interest in the shape and form of this particular braided strap, also those who aren't into photography.
The Mada1432 strap from Indonesia
Seeing that BH Photo in New York had both CHROME Leica M 240 and BLACK Leica M 240in stock for overnight shipping was too much of a temptation. Next morning 10.30 AM the new dragon baby was in my hands. As was the Mada1432 camera strap from Indonesia. A pure beauty of soft orange leather, with painted edges as I had requested.
Andreas Rutsch from Munich also ordered a couple of straps from MADA1432. It takes some time and effort communicating with them, but once you agree what needs to happen, it arrives VERY quickly (within a week. The strap in this images is a little thicker than mine above, and also longer. 100% custom made.
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Portugal hand-made straps
Deadcameras straps are handmade leather that fits with pride on many older Leica R and Leica M film cameras, as well as the Leica M 240.
"The Shoulder Strap" is the self-confident name of this simple leather strap that comes in 85cm, 105cm or 115cm lengths - or special made.
Leica X strap on the Leica M
Surprisingly the $70 A La Carte straps for the Leica X series fits the Leica M 240 and Leica M 246 well if you like clean strong colors as yellow, turquoise, red, orange and so on. They are not exactly long straps (110 cm), but they are fairly length that will work for most.
I managed to change the nylon strap into a flashy yellow strap from a Leica X2 A La Carte in the Leica Store Salzburg.
Bottega Veneta camera strap
Bottega Veneta is famous for their unique woven pattern in leather bags. S C Chiew from Singapore stumbled over a camera strap in one of their stores and bought it. No idea if it is available or it is a limited edition.
Artisan & Artist of Japan make quite a few in leather, cotton, silk and nylon, and their prices are about the same as the original Leica a la Carte program leather straps.
Though the A&A straps has more than just a metal ring in the end, they also have a small piece of leather as protection between the camera body and the metal ring.
One thing to take note of when looking for camera straps for the Leica M is the length. The standard length from A&A is 90 cm which is too short if the strap goes across the chest and over the (opposite) shoulder. Then the 105 cm edition which they offer for some of the types is better. But if you have a big body, not even the 105 cm will do the trick. Gordy and Annie Barton is the solution then.
I use the 105 cm A&A black leather strap with white stitching, the modelACAM 252. It's nice when used for a few weeks as it becomes very soft. The neck pad tends to move back and forth after some use, so either you develop a habit of adjusting it, or you sew it so it stays, or you simply remove it by cutting it off so that you just have a simple black leather strap. That's what I did.
The Leica M Monochrom leather strap is also very nice and simple - and long enough for most people. It is very stiff in the beginning, but after having been used for a while it gets soft and nice.
Cutting off the shoulder pad is by the way something you can also do on the classic original Leica nylon strap that comes with the Leica M. It has a rubber neck/shoulder pad and the nylon strap is adjustable for small and large (human) bodies. It's a strap that does the job, made in a simple and compact design, and will last for many years. It takes a lot of weight.
Limited Edition A&A half case for Leica M in Orange or Black currently available from Leitax.com
Artisan & Artist of Japan is sold in Europe by Monochrom in Germany, Red Dot Cameras in London and leitax.com in Spain. Popflashin the US sell and ship worldwide as well. A&A has a very big program so you might want to send an email to the dealer asking for certain A&A product numbers.
A great number of Asian dealers have A&A in stock (as it's a Japanese brand) though I'm not familiar with which exact shops.
A&A used to do bags and wallets for women, but the owner is a camera geek, so that is why they also do nice camera straps and bags.
Another brand in 95cm leather straps, camera halfcases, hand strap (attached via a bottom plate), bags and other is Korean CIESTA. Some of their halfcases look really nice, and their camera straps are usually thicker than the A&A straps.
Their range of leather goods seem to be quite large, covering Olympus Pen, Leica X1, Fuji X100, Panasonic cameras, Canon 5D and others. They also feature Fashion Straps for RF cameras in all sorts of materials and colors. It's quite easy to find their products in photo stores in Asia.
CIESTA rangefinder strap, made in Korea from Italian leather, and very economical. www.ciesta.co.kr.
The Louis Vuitton camera strap
It's not really a camera strap but simply the longest strap for a LV handbag, So you make it into a camera strap.
The Louis Vuitton Monogram Canvas strap no J52315 is made into a camera strap by cutting off the brass in each end and replacing them with O-rings. Length is about 125 cm extended fully.
The original Leica a la Carte leather strap is about 98 cm long and without shoulder pad. They can be adjusted to a length of approximately 115 cm in steps of 2,5 centimeters. These come in leather in many colors from classic discrete black seattle leather (order no 14453) or black lizard look (order no 14465) over red (order no 14457) to cobalt blue (order no 14469). Most Leica Camera Flagship Stores have them in stock, so don't hesitate to ask even if you only see a few as part of the exhibition of the Leica a la Carte system. They are sold as any other assessory.
The very classic brown leather strap for Leica M4 which is about 65 cm long (so that the camera hangs on the chest) I don't know if still exist, but the principle was good and when over the shoulder the camera would be hidden under the bicep.
Also this one, the Artisan andArtist ACAM103N-RED strap in acrylic material with leather parts (also available in white, black or khaki). Though it has more the soft feeling of cotton, according to the happy owner Dennis DeSilva who shot this picture of the Leica M9 with it.He got his for $75 from PopFlash in the US. The A&A ACAM 103N-RED is also available from Leitax.com in Spain for just 40€ via Paypal.
The camera strap that might go for your modern Leica, but most definitely will work with any old film Leica, is the Nevada black leather strap from Rock'n'Roll Straps in Greece. It comes straight from the factory as if it had been through two world wars and dried for a few centuries under the sun in Nevada.
Handmade leather straps from Fabien Barbazan
A true artis in Paris is Fabien Barbazan who does camera straps, custom-made bags for cameras, drumsticks, iPads and more.
Leica Camera AG has come out with some half cases (and full cases with magnetic locking mechanism) for the Leica M 240, and there are plenty of models to choose from if one visit JnK Handworks (Korea), Luigi (Italy) and Angelo Pelle (Florence, Italy) ... and many others.
Nile Alligator half case and strap from JnK Handworks, Korea. Photo: S C Chiew, Singapore.
Interesting half-case for the Leica M60 with the ISO-dial on the back. From Paul Glendel of Classic Cases. Photo by: Alfred Corodi.
Luigi straps and half-cases from from Italy - Luigicases
If you really like leather, Luigi in Italy is the man. Formerly known as Leicatime. now simply Luigicases.com. Everything is handmade leather and custom made. He doesn't have the world's easiest website, and he may not work fast. But those who wait, say they love him.
Luigi also have quite an interesting collection of second-hand lenses and cameras
, as well as soft releases, as well as his bottom plates with easy access to the battery and SD-card.
Luigi in Italy is the man for leather straps, cases, special made bottom plates and - sometims - a few rare lenses. The beautiful 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 "Rigid" above is not super-rare, but beautiful (usually $500 - 1,800).
As you may have seen, some change their red dot on the Leica M 240 into a black one. The Leica red dot on the Leica M 240 is a different size (12 mm) than the one on previous Leica M9 and Leica ME bodies, so there is only one that fits. Black Leica Dot for Leica M 240 is available from Fotopia in Hong Kong for around $60
Black Leica Dot for Leica M 240 is available from Fotopia in Hong Kong for around $60
I got my black dot, but I haven't applied it. Maybe I never will, I like the original red dot. But the way to change it is to use a wooden toothpick of some sort to press the side of the red dot, and then stick a nail in on the other side when it lifts. Then put the black dot on.
Were to get black Leica dots? They are avilable from Fotopia in Hong Kong for around $60.
Black tape, toothpicks and (god forbid) black paint
And speaking of custom made looks, let's touch on the habit some have of removing the Leica M lettering on the front with a wooden toothpick (which is quite easily done - and Leica can repaint it if you regret), or by adding black tape over the M white letter and/or the red Leica dot.
The proper black tape to use would be insulation tape (also known as electrical tape or PVC tape). Easy to mount, easy to remove without leaving glue.
Duct tape is very thick and has a different surface than insulation tape, and will leave more glue when removed - and sometimes take off the lettering as well when removed.
I've also seen cameras painted over with black paint or ink, and it just doesn't look pretty; because the paint will usually be another color and reflection than the camera body. Just not a great look even if it seems easy to do.
But please, don't.
No red dot (and no black dot either)
MG Productions in Hong Kong made these black metal plates that are painted black, as a replacement for the red dot. They are promising to have them for Leica M 240 as well soon. Visit their Facebook Page for more info, theirwebsite or send them an e-mail.
They also do camera wraps, lens shades, half cases, shutter speed testers for film cameras, lens caps in metal ... and more.
The black painted brass dot for Leica M10 from MG Production in Hong Kong. $10 including shipping.
The black painted brass dot for Leica M9 from MG Production in Hong Kong. $10 including shipping.
Vax up that Leica
The black painted Leica models are rare. By using the camera a lot you can actually get parts of the black Leica M 240 and Leica M9 to shine pretty well. But here's a trick I learned in Asia recently when I asked if a glossy Leica M 240 was a special painted model: You can actually get the Leica M body to look like painted (glossy) by using car vax. I haven't tried yet, but it's a pretty good idea. (Send me a picture when you have done it).
Get a paint job
Kantocamera does cutomization of almost anything camera, and the more impossible you thought it was, the more likely it seems he already have done it a few times. I personally don't like when a lens is painted to look like a limited editoon (for example a black Summicron Rigid), but when it is personalized to something that simply does not exist anywhere else ... I get tempted!
Orange painted 50mm, 35mm and 28mm Summilux lenses from Kantocamera
Leica M6 in gold look. Not just a few things, but everything from shutter speed dial to leather and lens release button. Pretty cool, made by Kantocamera.
I stumbled over this Leica M240 in all yellow on the Instagram feed of uncle_santa.
Get yourself a nice print of your photographs
Manuel Gomes Teixeira is a Platinum Palladium printer who also does workshops in the art of a good print. Below is a print he made of me and my daughter Robin on 25g Kozo Paper.
A In 2014 Lawrence Wong did my workshop in Hong Kong and made a great photograph of my and my daughter Robin Isabella walking in the late afternoon. A year later he had Manuel Gomes Teixeira make a print as a gift for us.
You know who you are, and where you are going. You don't need GPS. So a handmade, rustic Wooden Hand Grip or a Bamboo Hand Grip will be just what you want to rock the Leica M 240. J. B. Camera Designs make them and they look pretty cool when used for a while. Made in the USA and less than $100.
They also make them for the Leica Q and many other cameras.
Why not expand the camera collection with this nice tin camera for coins or candy? I found this one in Canada, but you can buy l them online for only $39 . You can take the top off and put stuff inside.
I got this rare Leica camera of porcelain from Milano, New Old Camera. They had a few made in black and white for their anniversary by Artistic Pottery (handmade in Faenza).
Leica porcelain camera by Artistic Pottery (handmade in Faenza).
Jewelry for the Leica M
Bashert Jewelry in FLorida make these Made in the USA soft release buttons and hot shoe covers (more coming later). Stan has been doing custom jewrelry for 25 years, so I guess any cutom requests can also be done.
Bling-Bling: The MARY FRANCES "SNAPSHOT" handbag is a fancy little bag and conversation piece that will hold the ND filter and an extra battery, plus the bare necessities. Made of Crocodile skin, pearls and diamonds. "Please love gently ... but wear with passion!" as the instruction manual says. $285.
Hollywood Doll makes this fairly inexpensive jewelry for those who wish to wear a camera at all times. Only $15 and also available in black/silver and other colors.
Small leather Leica keyring or attachment, handmade in Japan. Available for approximately $25 on eBay. Designed by Shigeo Tanaka.
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Feeling guilty going over the top?
If you feel you might be buying too much stuff and too many camera bags for your Leica(s), then have a look at this "drum kit bag" that American drummer Stanton More, getting ready to go on tour with his new Gretsch Drums kit.
There are a few possibilities to add tracking devices to your bags, cameras, keys, etc. These days I would estimate that there is so much Bluetooth around that stolen or misplaced valuables would be nearby a Bluetooth device so as to show up on a map.
I recently had an expensive bag stolen from inside a suitcase, while they sent off the suitcase to the final destination (It was "delayed" for three days in Copenhagen Airport where someone went through every inch of the suitcase and stole the most expensive things like bags and cufflinks, etc). The first and only time I lost something traveling by airplane, and insurance covered it. It had been worse if my notes and papers in the suitcase had been lost. No matter insurance, that of course makes you think.
I actually bought a handful of both Tile and TrackR to see what works, or just to make sure. I don't know how sure I am about this project. The TrackR comes with batteries you can change yourself. Tile you have to change the device, and I would say they will last about 6-12 months.
Now, thr trouble with these things is that you can turn them on and track them on your phone. It's a constant beeping of this on the app, and it also tracks other nearby devices. So it's a little bit of work dealing with this system.
I have TrackR hidden in my bags, clutches and all sorts of locations in checked and carry-on luggage. I don't have any attached to my cameras or lenses, but some do that.
The TrackR is one possible way to secure cameras, bags, keys, etc.
Often you can get Leica Camera AG to (remove) or add a focus tab on most lenses.
But you can also choose the easy and flexible way with the rubber tab TAAB from USA that is sold from their website LENSTAB.COM or a number of dealers in UK (afshoot.com andRed Dot Cameras), Hong Kong (Camera Film Photo), Netherlands (CameraTools), Indonesia (JKLENSA) and Japan (Ideamix). It comes in different sizes from Noctilux to small lenses. I applied the medium size to my 75/1.4 and 90/2 and the large one to my Noctilux.
A soft-release from Tsujimurasan in Tokyo, in the range of $200
Leica and Japanese artistry
Now, this is something quite different! In Tokyo, Japan Mr. Jay Tsujimura is the artist who creates these very unique pieces for your Leica. A soft-release button as well as a beautiful piece to cover the hot shoe.
Needless to say, Tsujimurasan is a fan of Leica cameras. I cannot help imagining if he would re-create a complete Leica M 240 body...!
The soft release button from Jay Tsujimura is in the area of $230 and the hot shoe cover is in the range of $450-$500.
The soft release button from Jay Tsujimura is in the area of $230 and the hot shoe cover is in the range of $450-$500.
His newest creation is this 18K gold Sakura Soft Release, Golden Floral Emblems of Japan.
Sterling silver soft release buttons for Leica and other camera, from Bashert and LeicaRumors.
Bashert Jewelry and LeicaRumors Soft Release for Leica
Bashert Jewelry is a small designer jewelry e-boutique located in Florida, and LeicaRumors (also in Florida) have developed a new set of sterling silver soft release buttons for Leica and other cameras, Made in the USA.
Sterling silver soft release buttons for Leica and other camera, from Bashert and LeicaRumors.
The soft personal touch - Soft Release Buttons
Soft buttons exist for all Leica M cameras, and some can even be used on other cameras as well. The idea is generally that the different surface allows you to press the shutter more softly. And it does really work for some people, and for some it doesn't. It's just one of those things some like, others don't.
I am not a soft release type of person. The only soft release I liked myself is the KOMARU Titanium Soft Release, but then it fell off after a day because I didn't stick it on properly. That soft release has a really nice feel and goes very well with the silver Leica M 240.
The soft release buttons exist in many colors so as to satisfy any personal taste, and as they cost very little, one might stock up different ones so as to be able to change into something more fashionable. Like cufflinks, it doesn't have to be the same every day.
This one is either a flower power edition of the soft button release, or it's the artist edition. In any case you never feel alone with those friendly eyes staring up on you! It's different and could probably work wonders for the children photographer to familiarize the children with the camera. Photo courtesy of Birgit Krippner who also supplied the red wig under her Leica for this photo (no, it's not a shag carpet).
Here's three types of the smaller soft buttons, originally made for the Leica M3, and as can be seen, much smaller than most of the current available soft buttons. This is a chrome that goes well with the chrome shutter release of the Leica M9, a non-glossy black, and a glossy black that is a tiny bit more glossy than the Leica M9 in black. A glossy chrome also exists.
What does it do? It formats your SD-card so you get back optimum speed when you for some reason or another lose the speed (after formatting the card in other cameras, etc).
The ideal SD-card for the Leica M 240 is the SanDisk 64GB 95MB/sec SD-card. I have one I use, and one for backup that I never use, unless the main card gets lost or starts acting up.
I am in favor of simple workflow, and SD-cards tend to work really well, till they one day decide to act up. Using just one main card that you know well and take care of ensures that you use something you know works. And then you have a similar back-up if something happens.
But don't shuffle around between different brands, different sizes and keep a whole farm of SD-cards. I know from experience that whenever I meet somebody who has a "SD card wallet" with an unlimited amount of SD-cards that they never know which works, never know which are empty and which they already downloaded.
The way to use a SD-card is:
1. Use one card and shoot only with that.
2. Download the images to the computer.
3. Delete the images on the card.
4. Put the card back in the camera.
5. Have a backup card in a pocket or bag that you only use if the one you use fails.
The startup time for the Leica M 240 using the SanDisk 64GB 95MB/sec SD-card is about 1.5 - 2.0 seconds. If you have anything longer than that, you need that card and/or formatting.
Goyard Filter Holder
It's a coin wallet for some people. For others it's a sexy filter holder that holds two filters 62mm or smaller. Small luxuriant genius in the range of $300.
The Goyard coin wallet in leather and canvas holds two filters. In this photo a 60mm and a 39mm filter occupy the two compartments. One of the compartments is yellow inside.
Compact fashion and style, handmade in Paris in the 100+ year tradition of travel gear that lasts a few generations. It comes in black, green and a few other colors, price around $300.
Special filters
You can get color filters to work with black & white, but check out the TIFFEN filters. I got some different filters from them to sex up my life recently, and they are fun working with. Go look what is available of special filters for mist, stars and other special effects. It's fun, especially when you can preview the results with live view.
DvF is known for fashion under the slogan "The Woman I Wanted to Be". Little did she know that her pouches for cosmetics in the now classic DvF patterns out this season will make our Leica batteries feel energetic and organized.
Diane von Furstenberg everything else pouch; ear plugs, tape, USB stick, sensor cleaners, etc ... The set consist of three bags and the largest one I gave to a princess.
My new pet project is Moynat in Paris. I have their clutch that I use for letter-size papers, and I also have a smaller one I use for camera acessories like SD-cards, cleaning equipment, etc. Their products are fairly limited in that they make a series, and then when it's sold out, it's not available again.
My Moynat leather clutch for letter-sized and A4 papers. It's from a Brigitte Bardot limited series.
The Moynat leather is not painted but made of cut-out pieces of leather, glued into cut-outs on the underlying leather.
Patina
The first little scratch in your new Leica is the worst. Then it goes fast. As soon as there is a little scratch in the edge of the camera, the edge will start peeling off if you carry the camera most of the time. So many admire a brassed Leica, and yet many protect their camera as if it was one they had borrowed from the Leica Store.
Let it go. Patina is beautiful. Also for leather, as in this beaten-up well used vintage Hermes bag I stumbled over in Los Angeles (the Leica M9 camera in the picture is not mine but the one of Matt Jacobson).
VIP Leica Breakfast
A friend sent me this picture of his breakfast. Now, that is quite a VIP statement. I happen to visit the same hotel, so next time I come around they will have to come up with a bigger apple ... or a water melon!
VIP breakfast for a guest (not me) at a proper hotel where the restaurant chef evidently knows what really goes on in the persons dreams ...
One more Leica ...
The Leica Q that was released in June 2015 is a quite interesting camera I have used quite a bit and written an extensive article about here: "To be, or not to be, that is the Q". It is also a camera I have fun borrowing out to people. When I did photographs in a kindergarten in Copenhagen, I had the kids take photos of each other.
It's not easy to get hold of ... one more reason to want one.
There are many possibilities for new leahter covering on the Leica. I've never had one done personally, but I like teh ones I see, as long as the cutting and mounting has been doone very precisely. Nothing worse than a leather that hasn't been cut precisely, or mounting so it overlaps.
I would recommend having the leather mounted for you by soneone who knows how to do things like that.
Alligator reskin of a Leica M10 byArte di Mano in Seoul.
Blue reskin of a Leica M240 byArte di Mano in Seoul.
Leather for your Leica M 240
Leica offer "a la carte" leather for their cameras, and usually Leica Stores have a selectrion of leather samples to choose from.
Another way is to order a leather for the Leica M from Camera Leather. They may not win the price for best designed website, but their leather is made very precise and is economical. The website cameraleather.com will advise as to which leather, and how to mount it.
Having seen a few home-mounted leather pieces, I would recommend doing what Birgit Krippner did, which was ordering Griptac Medium Grey leather from Camera Leather directly, and then visiting Leica Customer Service in Wetzlar to have them mount it. Very precise cut, and very precise mounting.
Umo Amy Ratanadilokchai in Bangkok, Thailand had his Leica M 240 made with this beautiful leather covering. Well, when I say beautiful, I know it's going to be fifty-fifty who loves it and who would never do such a thing to their camera. But I think it is yummy. The leather is fairly economical ($60) and is made with Aki-Asahi custom covering at AV Camera in Bangkok, a small camera store that is as busy as Central Station most time of the day - and always has many great Leica offerings.
If done by the AV Camera store in Bangkok the price is about $100 and takes three hours.
Umo Amy Ratanadilokchai is a colorful person, as you can tell by this photo. He was also the fist one - as far as I know - who got a Louis Vuitton camera strap. He was the one that taught me how to get it.
Matching bag and strap: Umo Amy Ratanadilokchai's red Leica M 240 with matching "Yin Yang" Anni Barton strap and the limited edition orange Billingham bag (that is blue inside).
Jon in Vancouver have had some of his cameras fitted with leather. This Leica IIIf with "Camel" orange leather from aki-asahi makes me a little envy ... They also make leather for the Leica M 240.
I'm a big fan of ventilated lens shades. It's not that I'm that concerned about light entering the lens from the side and softening the image (which is the original reason for lens shades), but I like lens shades for protecting the lens glass against bumping into things.
But overall, I prefer the classic look of a beautiful (beaten up, preferably) ventilated lens shade in the style they were designed in the golden age of rangefinder cameras. The only other reason to use a ventilated shade is that you can "see through" the shade when using it on a rangefinder. That's the idea of "ventilated" shade. It shades for the light from the sides but is "see-through" from the viewfinder".
When Leica Camera AG started supplying ther square metal hoods with their lenses, I decided I wanted to make some ventilated shades for myself. I did, and people started asking where they could get them. So that made me start producing them, and soon I made them available in most sizes for most Leica lenses.
A very short review from Joeri van der Kloet on the ventilated shade designed by Thorsten von Overgaard for the current Leica 35mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0.
As the Thorsten Overgaard designed ventilated lens shades are somewhat a fashion statement, apart from the fact that they work as bumpers for the precious glass, we started making RED ventilated shades, as well as the latest Raw Brass - and more versions to come.
Now, this a man that loves my RED ventilated shades. Mr. endlesskys with no ness than three of my RED ventilated shades on his Leica SL, Leica Q and Leica M10.
Here is Birgit Krippner's Leica M240 with the same type of Griptac Medium Grey as she had applied to her Leica M9. Note the sexy lens shade on the 28mm Summicron lens that I talk about below:
The sexy Leica shade for the 35mm Summilux and 28mm Elmarit
Leica lens hood 12 466for the 1994-2010 35mm Summilux-M ASPH
Don't ask why, but in 2011 Leica designed this mother of all lens shades for the older Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 just as they had introduced the new 35mm FLE (FLoating Elements). It's a 350 Euro lens shade, and the good thing is that it also fits the 28mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 [11604] and the 28mm Elmarit-M f/2.8 [11809] as well.
It's the sort of thing everybody thinks is overpriced, yet love when they have gotten it. In all fairness it's not just a piece of metal but does have some moving mechanical parts inside enabling it to be mounted as a clip-on shade.
And to justify the purchase further, an old half-beaten-up ventilated lens shade for the 50mm or 35mm lens from the 60's easily runs up in $200.
Leica lens hood 12 466 on the 1994-2010 35mm Summilux-M ASPH edition. Leica M9-P silver and Gordy's Camera Straps.
Speaking of lens shades: Even the widely available (and good) Leica 35mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 can be made into a sexy looking lens with the original Leica 12 504 ventilated lens shade. It can be found in black, whereas in chrome as the above you will have to look in every corner of many camera stores. As Malou Lasquite from Switzerland did to acquire this one for her chrome Leica M9-P and matching chrome lens.
My Leica M with Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 FLE and the ventilated lens shade. The ventilated lens shade goes on the outside screw of the lens, leaving the filter screw for filters. You can buy the lens shade in Black Paint on this page.
When all options has been exhausted
You have bought just about every acessory for your Leica, but not this one. The first step of building your own Leicaa cathedral is this magnificent glass piece.
A friend had some made for himself and a few others. It hangs in my window in Denmark and is quite heavy, about 40 x 30 cm.
"Thumbie" and "Thumbs Up" for Leica M 240
Thumbs Up from Match Technical is used on approximately 20% of the Leica M cameras I have ever seen. On the Leica M 240 there is a small thumb rest on the camera body already.
If the Thumbs Up EP-10S is mounted on the Leica M240, there goes the hotshoe that you would use for the EVF-2 electronic viewfinder (for wide angle lenses or simply for electronic viewfinder).
Thumbs Up EP-10S comes in chrome and black and is attached to the flash shoe. If you don't plan to use the hot-shoe, it is also a stylish cover. A good all-in-one solution instead of the plastic cover the camera comes with, of the flash shoe and HDMI plug below the flash shoe. (In this picture you also see the handgrip of the original Leica Handgrip M and the Finger Loop).
Finger Loop
Leica Camera AG made a Finger Loop for the Leica M 240 Handgrip and Multifunctional Handgrip (as well as for the Leica X Vario and Leica Q). In the photo above you can see one with the loop, one without.
The Finger Loop comes in three sizes, Small, Medium and Large. Personally I have tried the Medium and Large, and it is not something for me. I don't like keep adding onto a traditionally simple camera.
But it has some advantages. The Medium size would fit me, but the Large is nicer in that one can easily get the fingers in and out. I recently had a workshop where everybody but me used the finger loop, and that should tell you how right and wrong I am on this. So try it and see for your self.
Thumbie by Steve Barnett is mounted on the body itself and thus leaves the hot shoe free for EVF-2, flash and microphone. It can only be ordered by mailing directly to Steve Barnett and price is around $60.
The Walter M-Stedi
Another way to make the camera camera steadier is The Walter M-Stedi. A very simple attachment to the camera that supports it .
Leather straps with love from Turkey
The nylon strap from Sunlows in Turkey is the most leight-weight strap I have and fits the Leica Q perfectly. The length is perfect 125-130 cm for me whereas the Leica Q stap the camera comes with is nice and simple, but too short.
Sunlows is a new brand made in Turkey, a merge of love for handcraft and photgoraphy. They come in different colors and lengths, as well as hand-straps.
Camera Bags for the Leica
There can be several reasons to choose a discrete dark bag that doesn't look like a camera bag. But there is also something about a really nice bag that is very personal and has some history and tradition to it.
Camera bag nirvana ... Louis Vuitton Binocular Bag, Hermès Barda and Louis Vuitton Neverfull taking rest on a bench.
Walkabout camera bags
More often than not I simply have a camera over the shoulder and nothing more when I walk about a city. But I also have walkabout bags I sometimes use. In there goes batteries, water, lightmeter, extra lens, scarf and other things that are nice to have with you.
My favorite for a long time has been the Goyard Sac Grand Bleu MM bag that they unfortunately ceased to produce. It's light in weight, and it has a size so it folds soft around the body. It there is few items in it, it weights noghting. If I need to, I can stack a computer and an extra camera in it.
The secret with walkabout bags is the shape of them. You can bring an empty, large bag, and it will drain you. It's not the weight but the way the bag sits on the body.
My Goyard Sac Grand Bleu MM bag that is light and is a small bag, which means that you basically don't feel it (different size bags will feel differently even though the weight of the content is the same). When it has to, it fits reflector, lightmeter, filters, batteries, cigarettes, telephone, notebook, scarf, jumper/jacket and even an extra lens or two. The Goyard is very similar to Louis Vuitton in origin of the brand, materials and handmade quality, only Goyard bags and suitcases are sold in stores only in Paris, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York and San Francisco. And Goyard is older by 1 year. You can see what I pack in the Japancamerahunter.com "In Your Bag"
Another walkabout bag is my Louis Vuitton Binocular Bag. It's very limited edition from the 2012 runway show that would fit a pair of binoculars, but have never seen any binoculars. For me it fits the small things, and some times a bit more than that. You can read what I use it for on Japan Camera Hunter's blog. It doesn't like rain or snow, so I don't use it that often.
I got this photo by email, a familiar kit with Louis Vuitton camera strap and matching Louis Vuitton bag.
The "dothebag" series from Monochrom in Münich and Berlin
Continuing the "German industrial design" of Leica cameras and lenses over to the bag, with a touch of casual leather, one would look at the "dothebag" series from German Monochrom that usually specializes in selling photo paper, color calibrated screens, light meters and other accessories for photography. Their "dothebag" series has really taken off and is now available in all sizes from the smallest "mono 06" (27x18x15 cm, 269 €) to the largest "mono 11" (43x31x18 cm, 359 €). All available in brown leather or black leather. Only concern is the adjustment mechanism on the shoulder strap. So check that it won't be on top of your shoulder because that is going to hurt.
They also do a black Tankbag of nylon (with sparkling red inner foam) (34x11x25 cm) for around 250 €.
See more at www.monochrom.com
The "dothebag" comes in brown or black, and in many different sizes for large dSLR kit and laptop to small M cases. The new "mono 08" is a 404 € bag 37x30x16 cm that fits a laptop, camera and lenses.
ARTISAN & ARTIST WCAM-500N in latex black or chrome grey
Another trendy bag is the compact (17x16x9 cm) WCAM-500N bag that comes with a big logo on the shoulder pad and in glossy black or bright chrome grey!
I decided for this white leather with black edges to make it a kind of classic Chanel look. The Saker camera bag from the Frankie Falcon workshop in the Lancashire valleys, UK comes in leather or canvas and in many colors from conservative green canvas over posh sand-colored leather, to pink and white leather. Several sizes to choose from, for the country and town.
The Frankie Falcon camera bags comes with nice inside and soft departments for the cameras (can be taken out so it is a normal soft bag with nice interior).
Louis Vuitton Nomade BinocularCase (21 x 21 x 9 cm) of cowhide leather outside and calf leather inside for a Leica M body and two lenses was a limited edition for the Spring-Summer 2012 collection (model M80000) for $3,900 - and also made in a $50,000 crocodile edition.
Exclusive camera bags for life
Louis Vuitton has a history of adventurous travelling in style, as well as a brand value that goes well with Leica. If you notice, most new Leica Camera Stores can be found in the same area as the Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Apple Stores.
The consideration when you spend money on a bag is of course if it is worth it. If it gives you a kick, it probably is, and it is for your pleasure and for your money anyways, so you don't really have to ask anyone but yourself. But the art of cause is to find the gems that will become classics and which you may pass on to your kids. The things that never lose value but stand out as historic pieces with patina. It's not easy but worth a try.
Hermes Alfred bag (35 x 29 x 12 cm $6,400) with a Billingham Hadley Pro insert. A bag with the price tag almost the same as a Leica M body. If you like Hermes, also check out the Steve model which has a lot of space (35 x 26 x 10 cm, $7,750), or the smaller Hermes Steve Coporal bag .
Speaking of Hermes and Leica
Hermes is not a far-fetched idea for a camera bag for the Leica. There are several limited editions of Leica in Hermes leather. Leica Camera in Japan is still part owned by Hermes, so that explains why there have been so many Hermes editions of Leica cameras. Besides that they are pretty cool.
The Leica M7 film camera in a limited orange Hermes edition to die for. Second-hand prices are around $18,000 (with the lens).
The Leica M9 digital Hermes edition (2011) with three limited edition lenses as well (28/50/90) with Hermes-orange engravings). This set comes with a Hermes canvas/leather bag and is hard to get ($50,000 from new). Another version of this with one 50mm/1.4 lens (and no bag) is a little easier to get hold of, becuase it 's less rare - except that you seldom see any of them for sale. The barrel design of the lenses is unique for this edition, and so is the design of the camera body.
Camera travel bags
When I travel from one place to another, I use a larger camera bag. It stays in a room or a car and serves as the place I have my gear. It holds reflector, lightmeter, batteries, chargers, four lenses and 2-4 camera bodies. As such, the concern is not how it hangs over the shoulder when I am out and about, because this type of bag never goes out and about. The condern is the size, that if fits a Billingham Pro insert, and how it works going through airports with it. Shoulder strap is nice, but mostly the bag is too heavy having on the shoulder through security and walking through an airport. But if you absolutely have to carry more than two hands hold, a shoulder strap is nice to have. But mainly, I use the handles.
Not an avid fan of Gucci, but the color and that my daughter said, "Buy it!" had me going. The Italian GUCCI camera bag (2014), aka the leather duffle travel bag in Bright Diamante yellow color. A perfect travel bag with a Billingham insert for the camera, lenses and accessories such as hard drives, lightmeter, batteries, etc. It is larger than the Louis Vuitton iCare and the Goyard Ambassade, yet it looks quite compact and classic. $1,850 with shoulder strap in matching yellow leather (model 353394 AIZ1G 7011) and also comes in blue, red and black.
British leather bag for the Leica M
1901 fotografi in Bath, England makes wrist straps, camera protection pads, shoulder straps and camera bags for rangefinder photographers.
Louis Vuitton used to make a dedicated camera bag, the SAC CAMERA DAMIER-GRAPHITE N58027 (22 x 39 x 22 cm). Hard to find now, and perhaps too big. It's made for dSLR obviously, not for Leica M. But for storage or transportation of a good collection of lenses, cameras and all the odd bits it might be good. I've seen one used for the Leica S which makes sense, and then I have worked with one person who had a "camera bag caddie" carrying this bag - which also made sense.
You may consider a caddie for your Louis Vuitton camera bag...
School Bag as Camera Bag
The Last Bag in Copenhagen, aka designer Piet Breinholm makes some really cool leather school bags. I've had a few of them.
I had this Small Aspekts School Bag for my Leica Digilux 2, and I liked that it was small and also works as a backpack. They noe makes a Medium and a Large as well.
In a tiny atelier lost in the depths of France sits Nigel and Bee and makes some facinating bags. Their most popular for Leica users is the B-Like but they do a lot. See more at: www.foggspecialistbags.com.
B-Laïka in 'Holy-Smoke’ fabric with Havana leather.
Goyard Ambassade is perfect as camera bag for the Leica M with three inside pockets and one outside pocket. I've added the Billingham insert that leave space for chargers and hard drives in the ends and reflector on the side. It's made to last a generation of three, and the shoulder strap is the wide type for carrying and not just decoration. The most economical place to buy Goyard is in the Paris store, and if you are from outside Europe, you get the VAT back in the airport when you fly home. The Goyard stores in USA and Asia are usually more expensive. This one is the most classic outfit but you can also get it in yellow, red, green, blue, white, or the same pattern as this one, but with black leather instead of cognac leather. There is usually a waiting time of about 2-3 months for some of the bags. I ordered and paid for this one in May and picked it up in October. Twice the joy. The camera strap is the Rock'n'Roll Chain black leather strap from Rock'n'Roll Straps in Greece.
Louis Vuitton Monogram backpack
I've looked at this a few times but haven't bought one. I really like it, and the side pockets will even fit a lens or two each; and it has the nice inside pockets for passport, business cards, chewing gum and all those small things. My main concern is actually that I have so much Monogram already ... I really want to mix it up and not have everything be the same. Price is $2,700.
Louis Vuitton Monogram backpack as camera bag for Leica M10 and more ...
What were they thinking? - The Goyard Alpin Backpack
It's not unusual that my bags break after long use, and I'll send them in for repair. With luxury bags, you can get bags restored and repaired many years after you bought them.
Recently I was very happy to get the new Goyard Alpin backpack that is both new and very hard to get. I was in Paris, and what-do-you-know, they got me one in two days.
The Goyard Alpin backpack is a new August 2016 design. Price in Paris is Euro 3,500 (and VAT back if you live outside Europe) and price in USA is $4,750 plus local VAT. The Goyard pencil bag is on the right; I use that for small accessories (sensor cleaning, batteries for lightmeters, SD-cards, etc.).
First the strap broke. Then the whole thing.
The broken strap for the Goyard Alpin. It couldn't hold a backpack loaded with 8 kilos (16 pounds).
I've long been looking for a backpack because I usually have one computer carry-on and one camera carry-on. It's a pain in the arms and shoulders with long sercurity lines and many airports where they don't offer trolleys. So I thought, let me try to simplify things into one backpack. And the Goyard was the one I had eyed.
The Goyard Alpin backpack is very light, about 400 grams, made elegant and simple with some well-thought solutions. The strap can be changed into a cross-chest strap for those days you want that. My Billingham insert from the Hadley Pro bag fit perfect into it. I could hide a couple of backup-hard drives in the bottom under the insert and had lots of space on top of the insert for jackets, headphones, etc.
However, the first day the strap to tighten the opening of the bag broke. Not a big problem, I didn't like it anyways. So I took it off.
Then four days later when I was on assignment in London, I heard a strange sound from behind for every step I took. Three steps and the strap had broken off with thee disturbing tearing sounds. I wondered what I had done wrong, so I had the bag weighted. It had only 8 kilos in it (16 pounds) which would not be the maximum for any backpack (computer is 3 kg with charger; then add some Leica lenses and bodies and you can easily get to 15 kilos).
I returned the bag to Goyard and asked them to either make a special one or redesign the bag.
Epilogue: After two months Goyard acknowledged they had received it and would examine it. A month later again they offered that I could get other products instead; they would not make it stronger or make special model for me. I told them it would be very disappointing if Goyard weren't able to make a product that worked for travel; if they could please reconsider making a real backpack. In February they returned me the money to my bank account.
This lead to that I started designing my own bags. Ironically, my bag designs are made by the artisans who used to make the Goyard bags in the old days (when they were made to last for generations).
I loved the overall design of the Goyard backpack and how they made some great solutions. But of course, if the basic principle of having it on the back doesn't work, not much fun about it.
The Goyard Alpin has some great simple design solutions. I loved it to bits till it fell apart after four days.
The front features a "hidden" department for pens, cards and other stuff. There is also access to an inside pocket via the zipper on top. Unfortunately, the bag failed completely after four days when the straps broke.
Other bags that break
Usually bags will break in the loops that hold the shoulder strap, or the lugs that holds the handle. I've never had any bags where the bottom fell out or something like that. But I have returned bags from Louis Vuitton and Gucci several times for repairs.
My Louis Vuitton gave in after 3-4 years of heavy, daily use. I don't know what they made them for, but a computer, water bottles, hard drives and such will take them out. The good thing about Louis Vuitton is that they can repair and renovate even very old bags they once made. One month and it was back from Paris, as good as new.
Another bag beats the dust. My Goyard Ambassade shoulder strap is well made, except the metal fittings where the small metal parts can go loose. In this case the small cylinder that holds the locking mechanism. I was happy to see that Goyard changed this when they returned the strap after they repaired it for free:
New and better: The new Goyard Ambassade strap (May 2017).
Made in Detroit, USA
Inspired by the smart silhouette of vintage camera bags, this Top-Zip Messenger from Shinola makes a great camera bag or briefcase. It comes in brown or black with silver tone hardware and a cotton lined-interior. Adjustable cotton webbing shoulder strap. Price around $950 from Shinola.
Top-Zip Messenger from Shinolacomes in brown or black.
The old-school sports bag
The less expensive PUMA gym bag made into a camerabag for travel. With a Billingham insert for the camera, lenses and accessories such as hard drives, lightmeter, batteries, etc. you are set for under $100. Same size as the Gucci bag above. The one in the photo is a limited edition, but they keep coming with new editions every year.
The Leica System Case by ANEAS, Medium size in brown leather. Really nice quality inside and outside, fits a body with lens and 2-4 other lenses. A department in the bottom leave space for batteries, chargers and more. An outside pocket on the back for a book or magazine. Price is $980 in Leica Store Los Angeles, Leica Store Miami and most other Leica Stores. It's not really a walking bag for all day, and not a travel bag for a complete system either.
Stylish camera bags for the woman on the move
Pompidoo makes camera bags for women (and a few for men), made in Riga by Jev and Irina.
The Perigrine camera bag from the Frankie Falcon workshop in the Lancashire valleys, UK comes in leather or canvas and in many colors from conservative green canvas over posh sand-colored leather, to pink and white leather. Several sizes to choose from, for the country and town.
If you are going hiking and want to make sure all the gear stays in the bag no matter what, the DOMKE
DOMKE The Chronicle RuggedWear Black shoulder camera bag (from their The Journalist Series) is a huge bag with lots of space, extra pockets and made to last a lifetime. Only $280 at Amazon.
A genius little detail on the DOMKE bag is the bar-code on this metal tag and suggesting you to call or report if you find this bag.
Petrolbags / Sachtler bags that glow in the dark
Sachtler.com (previously known as Petrolbags) offer a range of sophisticated bags for dSLR, video and light equipment. For some types of travel with a lot of stuff, they might be quite usefiul. When I saw this one with internal LED light, I almost had to have one!
The Wotancraft Ryker Leather camera bag with purple velvet inside is a dream.
Smart detail: Wotancraft have developed zippers that "turns outside" once opened. That way they don't scratch the cameras when you take the camera out of the bag. Very neat detail in an verall extremely well-made bag.
Louis Vuitton Reporter photographed by Javier Montiel, Miami. The bag comes in this color and a dark brown-greyish. The shape and feel is a little stiff as old camera bags used to be. $3,200 from Louis Vuitton but is a limited edition, so it might be hard to get or sold out.
Do it yourself bag
If you could buy this one, you probably would. Howeer, this one was made by the user herself, for her own exclusive use. Only one exists, and you can't buy one. That makes it cool in more than one way.
A&A Messenger
ARTISAN & ARTIST COV-7000N messenger photobag for airline travel and other greater needs
The Artisan & Artist COV-7000N messenger photobag is a bit to the large side for just transporting an Leica M and an extra battery. But for longer travel or trips, it fits MacBook Pro, Leica S and lenses, Leica M and lenses and a lot of other stuff such as chargers, water bottles and what have you. It's a $400 photobag - or 325€ at Monochrom in Germany - though dealers like Red Dot Cameras in London also stock A&A products now.
The Artisan & Artist COV-7000N messenger photobag inside and outside.
The Biker Bag
It might not be the most practical camera bag, but it does look and sound very cool to have a Harley as part of your camera acessories.
A Bottega Veneta camera bag. Likely not esy to find new anymore, but soft and discrete for what it is.
The first one came with my Billingham Hadley Pro bag, and then I found out it was a rather ideal size that also would fit into other bags.
Hence, my travel bag is usually this insert put into any fashionable bag from Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Goyard, or my own brand, The Von.
Hadley Pro insert:
External dimensions: W350mm x D90mm x H220mm.
Internal dimensions:
W240mm x D80mm x H210mm.
Billingham discrete camera bag that will last a lifetime
When you see someone with a Billingham bag over the shoulder, there's usually 90% guarantee they have a Leica in it.
The Billingham Hadley Pro Original (35 x 12 x 25 cm) in black is one I got for the Leica M9 back in 2009. When I came from a trolley with Leica R cameras and lenses to the compact Leica M, I could hardly believe how compact I could travel. The Billingham Hadley Pro Original fits quite a lot, and when I found out the insert could be taken out and would fit inside Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Goyard and other bags ... oh my!
I also have a Billingham L2 (25 x 11 x 15 cm) in Khaki which I started using with the Leica M9: It fits a Leica M as backup and two or three lenses plus spare batteries, grey card and such, though I can't stand the Khaki color when in Denmark. It's okay in India or some other country where you change into the operation sandstorm or safari look. Billingham does Khaki, Black and Olive green, and also there are some limited editions in orange and other strong colors.
The Billingham Hadley Pro Original (35 x 12 x 25 cm) is said to "fit a small laptop" but actually takes a MacBook Pro 15" which makes it the perfect small bag. You wouldn't believe there was a 15" laptop inside if you saw it over my shoulder. There is padding for the inside so you can design your own departments. In this case I usually have two or three lenses in the right side, a lightmeter in the left side and then a backup camera in the middle - sometimes with a set of large Sony Monitor headphones as well(!). The 15" fits in the back pocket and there is still space for an A4 folder 1.5 cm thick or something. The front pockets can be made slightly larger than shown here. There's a button you can open up so the hole is expanded. But the left pocket can fit a large multi-card reader, a small cardreader, a small harddrive - and then in the right pocket extra glasses, notebook, pen, greycard, MacBook charger and stuff. I hardly ever put the Leica M9 into the bag; it's always over the shoulder why I use this bag only when I have to carry a laptop as well.There is also a zipped "secret" pocket for passport and papers on the backside towards your body.
As always, when you have had a bag for a couple of weeks you learn to use every single corner of it and you can fit a lot more than you thought to begin with.
In any case, I came by Red Dot Cameras in London and they have the full catalog from Billingham in stock.
I have a hard time ordering bags online, I have to see them and feel them so I was thankful that Red Dot actually carry the full line as well as accessories such as shoulder pads. B&H Photo Video also carrry the full catalog of Billingham bags, but I wasn't in their store. And one very important thing I found out was that I could fit my 15" laptop into the model that was most likely meant for a 13" only.
Because apart from the Khaki color, the L2 is perfect over the chest and shoulder sitting almost on your back, and then the M9 hanging over the chest and shoulder the same way, but towards the front of your body and slightly higher than the bag. That is plenty of space for two or three lenses and a backup camera: With the Leica M9 you can travel really light, uncomplicated and discrete. (I will get back to this as airplanes are really not made for dSLR camera equipment).
My Leica is always across the chest and over the opposite shoulder with the bag hanging lower and towards the bag of the body where it rests well, also hanging over the opposite shoulder. Remember to buy a Billingham Shoulder Pad, it's a really good investment no matter how little or how much you put in the bag. Apart from the distribution of weight it makes the bag stay firmly in place. (For the fashionistas it's a Paul Smith Long Jacket (Main Line) and Mulberry leather gloves).
I would estimate that CIESTA is an upcoming brand in camera bags. It's Italian leather made in Korea, and the prices are very favorable.
One warning: Don't wear your Leica M just over the right shoulder only when you have a bag hanging there as well. Very often the camera will take rest on top of the bag and it doesn't hang on your shoulder but now stands ont he top of the bag and will fall to the ground as soon as you make a move. I tend to have cameras just over one shoulder when working, and then across the chest and over the opposite shoulder when I walk. It's a miracle I haven't ruined a lens and camera yet!
Goyard Ambassade bag in the classic colors brown/black. The other classic colors are black/black. The Billingham Hadley Pro insert fits inside and leaves a little extra space in the ends for more stuff. In other words, expect it to hold the same as a Billingham Hadley Pro, plus a 15" MacBook, a couple of hard drives and with extra space on top of the insert for scarf, jacket or such. Good for travel with cameras, lenses and laptop but a tad too large to walk around with all day. Also available with black leather and/or canvas in yellow, white, green and more Goyard colors. Only available via the few Goyard stores in Paris, Singapore, London, Hong Kong and a couple of other places. But Goyard will take orders via e-mail and bank transfer and ship, if you know what you want.
The Von camera bag for Thorsten von Overgaard by Matteo Perin. This is one in a series of bag designed specifically for me. This one is a travel bag, designed to hold four lenses, 2-4 camera bodies, folded 32" reflector, batteries and other accessories (30Hx40Wx11D cm / 11.5Hx15.5Wx4.3").
The Travel bags designed for Thorsten von Overgaard
by Matteo Perin
The Von Camera Bag
When Goyard in Paris wouldn't fix the Goyard Aplin backpack I had bought as travel bag for cameras (whihc is different from a walkabout bag for daily use), I decided to make my own bags. Luxury used to mean that you got the best artisans can make, using best possible materials, based on many years of experience, resulting in a product that can ultimately last for generations.
Thorsten von Overgaard and Matteo Perin working on design of camera bags and travel bags
With Italian designer Matteo Perin, I decided to make some bags for myself, using the bestartisans and the best materials available. I wanted - as I always do - something that works.
We ended up with The Von Camera Bag that is specified to my exact needs, which is a travel camera bag that holds 4-6 lenses and 2-4 Leica M bodies, with space for battery charger, extra batteries, a couple of hard drives, cables, card readers, filters and a few other things. It is large enough to fit a 32" folded reflector (which happens to be the same size as a 15" labtop) along one side of the bag, next to an orange Billingham Hadley Pro insert (which holds four lenses and 2-4 Leica M bodies). The material is alligator, which makes it quite exclusive (and about eight times more expensive than normal leather).
Another model of The Von camera bag made for another Leica photographer.
"The Von 24hr Jetset Bag"
Next project with Matteo Perin was a 24hr Jetset Bag. It's meant to be a travel bag for a short 24-hour travel, but in my life it takes the place of my document bag. I've used an orange leather-version of the Louis Vuitton Porte-Document Voyage for years (from the Fall/Winter 2011 collection), but it's always been packed to the max with papers, computers, pens, headphones, water and all the small things you need in your carry-on. So I decided to go larger with this bag.
We are experimenting with a messenger bag, which for me is the small bag that I carry when out and about. It seldom holds an actual camera (but have to have space so it can, if needed). A bag you walk with all day has to be small, and it has to "fold around" the body so it's not heavy and basically feels like it is not there. Yet it has to have space for extra lenses, water bottle, small things you might buy on the way - and the few things like phone, wallet, extra battery.
This type of bag is also the one I will stuff with a computer and papers when I walk to get my morning coffee. So far we have made a couple of prototypes, and while the format works, we weren't happy with the materials and details of the finish. So that one is still in progress.
The VonBack backpack
We've also been working on at VonBack and have made several prototypes. I still believe a backpack would be an ideal camera bag for travel. I like to carry my bags by the handle, it's old-fashioned. But I rely on trolleys, which many airports have. But there is not a single American airport that offer trolleys anymore (inside the airport, after security), which mean you have to find other ways to carry things. Here are some of the VonBack prototypes.
When you get into luxory bags, they are often described with PM, MM or GM as names for sizes. I can never remember them myself, as I don't speak French, but here they are:
PM - Meitite Modele = S - Small model. MM - Moyen Modele = M - Medium model. GM - Grand Modele = L - Large model.
Luxury Brand Suitcases
I like Louis Vuitton because they're one of the few traditional luxury brands that still makes products that are made to last. I've used quite a few of their products, and their suitcases are hands-down the most durable suitcases in existence. You buy a second-hand on eBay that hasn't been used a lot, but is for sale for a favorable price. Then you make it your travel companion everywhere you go. I never wrap it in plastic, nor use any cover, and I never lock it (because TSA would break up the locks then). Over the years, a small piece of the leather may get ripped off, but the suitcase stays the same despite all the beating, and Louis Vuitton can repair them, anytime that you are able to send them to Paris for a few months.
I'm usually pretty sure it's my suitcase, but this time, in Hamburg, somebody else had more LV suitcases than I.
Karl Lagerfeld uses Goyard, and apart from the diva statement it is, you have to fly private plane with this kit. Marilyn Monroe also used Goyard, but Karl just makes her 7-piece Goyard kit look like a carry-on.
Coco Chanel's Goyard set also must take second or third place after Karl Lagerfeld..
I love the Goyard pattern, but their suitcases are made extremely heavy. I keep drooling over a yellow Goyard suitcase, but it's just very heavy. If you have a private jet, the weight of the suitcases is less of a concern. But when faced with the usual 20kg, 23kg and 30kg (40, 46 and 60 pounds) limits for suitcases on most airlines, the suitcase itself shouldn't take up too much of the weight.
A Louis Vuitton hardsided Bisten 70 ($7,100) weighs about 12 pounds without anything in it. The Louis Vuitton Alzer series ($9,000) is a tad heavier, usually 16-25 pounds in itself. A Goyard uses heavier materials than Louis Vuitton, often 15-30 pounds.
Steamer trunks are a different story. They are usually 40-60 pounds before you start putting anything in them. Nice for decoration in the home, but not for airline travel.
It's not that the suitcases for check-in that mortals travel with are much lighter. A Samsonite trolley is often 10-12 pounds because the wheels and handle alone weigh 5-6 pounds! A Tumi V3 is 11 pounds. Halliburton aluminum cases (that were really cool in the 1960's) are 14-18 pounds for a check-in suitcase.
When you put the wheels on the outside, the 22-inch Hartmann 7R is probably the most light-weight suitcase around with just 4 pounds. In other words, don't judge a suitcase's weight by the looks. Put it on a weight scale.
Goyard was established in 1853 and Louis Vuitton was established in 1854. Hence the slightly more class in Goyard which has also lived a very exclusive life with just a few stores whereas Louis Vuitton is "on every corner". The new brand to watch is Moynat. They opened in 1849, so they're even older than Goyard and Louis Vuitton. Moynat closed down in 1970 for a while but was brought back to life by LVMH's (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) CEO Bernard Arnault in 2011 and now they have opened shops in Paris, New York, Hong Kong and more. I visited their workshop in Paris with the Leica TL2 some time ago and made a series of photos from that.
The suitcase for overflow that I always bring. The 1 pound large duffle bag.
The Overflow Suitcase
If you want to travel really light, a duffel bag is likely the best way. I have some $50 ACE Hotel duffel bags I use that are less than 1 pound in weight each. They are large bags (15x13x24"), made to be filled with stuff you need to transport. Either all the stuff you bought on your travel and need to bring home, or if you need to bring lots of big jackets, books and boots to some place. I'll often put a smaller bag inside it and check it in, so it works as both protection for the smaller bag, and later as an extra bag I can fill up on its own.
Joy Villa modelling in Jakarta, Indonesia for the workshop, with a LV suitcase as decoration
The Computer Bag
Besides a "camera travel bag" with cameras, I usually have one more bag as my carry-on. That's the computer bag that holds the computer and the stuff you usually need on an airplane (passport, headphones and such). This is the one that is now getting replaced by my "24hr Bag" that simply holds more.
Alain Delon in the airport. The classic way of traveling, without wheels and shoulder straps.
Wotancraft bags
I've tested a few Wotancraft camera bags, and have yet to test their promising looking backpack. Their Hitman 15" Laptop Bag turned out to be almost indispensable for me, lugging my computer and papers from home to my usual morning cafe spot to work.
Their Hitman 15" Laptop Bag has two things going for it: One is that it sits really well on the body when it hangs over the shoulder. Few bags have the quality that they sit so you don't 'really feel them. This one almost wraps around the body so you could carry it all day without feeling like carrying a bag (the only other bag that sits this perfect is the now discontinued Goyard Sac Grand Bleu MM which is a $1,800 bag vs. the Hitman 15" Laptop Bag which is about $440). The other feature of the Wotancraft laptop bag is that it holds an enourmus amount of papers, books and other stuff, other than a computer, without looking much more than just a computer cover.
The Travel System
I have quite a few camera bags. As I have gotten more experienced with travel, many of my Billingham and Louis Vuitton bags that usually fit a laptop have taken the backseat for smaller walkabout-bags like the Louis Vuitton Binocular Bag and my Goyard Sac Grand Bleu MM black canvas messenger bag.
I usually travel with a suitcase or two, and with a carry-on camera bag and a carry-on computer bag. The inside of my suitcase would make a engineer proud because it looks like the engine of an AUDI with closed compartments: My extra bags serve as compartments inside other bags and suitcases. And it is those bags I take out and use for walkabout when I have arrived.
In any case, as it may appear to you, it is not a simple story. Hence Japancamerahunter.com spent three days on describing me and Joy Villa's bags:
The Goyard bag with Leica MM of
chef mastermind Hideto Kawahara who runs the Hide-Chan Ramen restaurant on 52 Street in New York and on Wellington Street in Central Hong Kong and in 3 Chome 12-14 Kitaaoyama in Tokyo. He collaborates with mastermind JAPAN, a street fashion brand aimed at people who want skulls on everything they wear.
The waterproof photo bag
Kenko in Japan makes filters, lightmeters, adapters ... and bags! One of the bags they make is a series of waterproof bags that comes in pink, yellow or black. The above is the Interceptor Tote Bag. See more on their website.
Coffee & Leica
Leica makes a Leica M Noctilux coffee mug and Leica S 70mm coffee mug that you can buy in most Leica Stores and for example Adorama for $35.
But this one is more rarer. It is from Korea only, and it's for just a singular moment of enjoyment.
This is actually a free Leica cup, and it comes with coffee. Unfortunately, you have to travel to Seoul in Korea to get one at Leica Store Seoul. The Leica Store(s) there are quite amazing and make Leica stickers, notebooks, cups and more ... just for the fun of it.
The WestLicht coffee mug is a limited edition that is rather unique and can be yours for only €7 if you are quick to get one. WestLicht is both a museum, gallery and the home of the bi-yearly Leica auctions that bring home €500,000 or more for rare Leica cameras. I found this in their museum store and bought two of them.
Leica t-shirts
Some like t-shirts with prints, others don't. If you happen to look good in print t-shirts, that's one way to 'carry a camera' those days you are too lazy to bring the actual camera. There will always be something to talk to strangers in Tokyo about if you have a nice IIIf camera on your chest ...
Dodge and Burn does t-shirts with old Leica cameras on them. This is one model for men and women.
This was given out at the launch of the Leica M Monochrom in Berlin in 2012.
Luxory notebooks and pens
The urge to express oneself on paper seems to go hand-in-hand with photography. I meet many Leica users who also like fountain pens and the art of writing in style.
In today's world where it's easier to make notes on the phone or computer (so they are stored and easy to find by searching for them), pen and paper may have it's place when you want to sketch something out and look at it. The process of writing and thinking is better done with pen and paper than on a keyboard.
Handmade Epica leather journal in black. To the left is another Epica Wood Cover journal (see photo below). In the bag you can see a little of the Hermes Globe Trotter with zipper (That one fits a calendar and notepad, or a notepad and an iPad Mini. I find the Hermes Ulyssee Notebook more practical because it's soft and with thicker paper).
Practical: I like this Moynat notebook insert. It's the refill for their leather notebooks, but I just take the insert to make it simpler. One step up from the Moleskine notebooks that I've also used a lot. On pen's I'm not as sophisticated as some. I've stayed with Mont Blanc for all the years and get only the pens I like, and I use them. I prefer the pen to be heavy and with a Medium or Bold nib. Recently I've changed the ink from dark blue in all, to different colors in each pen. As an excuse to circulate which I use: Orange in one pen, Beatles Purple in another, JFK Blue, Miles Davis light blu and so on. When I drop them or they need service, I send them to Mont Blanc in Hamburg.
Focus adjustment of the camera - once in a while
Due to use, change in temperature, humidity, air pressure on travel etc., the Leica M, Leica M9, Leica M9-P, Leica M-E and Leica M Monochrom focus mechanism will go off. Once I left Denmark with my main camera slightly off and my backup Leica M9 in focus. Two weeks later, in the US, it was the opposite. So those things go back and forth and are not to be worried too much about.
But once in a while, it is a great feeling to get everything checked.
My Leica M 240 and two of my Leica M9 cameras turned in for the grand focus adjustment in April 2014. Leica seem to have started a new type of focus adjustment where not only the rangefinder is adjused, but also the actual sensor alignment. At least, that was what I was told. They would align the sensors, the rangefinder and the lenses so everything was fine tuned.
But it is good to get the camera adjusted once in a while, and it is a great feeling (of confidence) to have the camera freshly adjusted. Manual focusing has a lot to do with confidence as there is no beep sound or green lamp telling you when you have it. You have to decide for yourself when it is there, and knowing the camera is in sync will help that decision.
I got my two Leica M9's and the Leica M Monochrom adjusted in December 2012 at Camera Electronics in Perth, Australia, and after that the Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 was just spot on, on all three cameras.
Focus adjustment is usually just the camera. Though, if you examine how the focusing works, it seems possible that the lens could be damaged or simply work to a degree so that the lens also needs adjustment. But mostly it is the camera that is off.
Focus adjustment at Leica Camera AG in Wetzlar.
How to adjust the rangefinder focusing (don't do this at home)
There is one screw behind the center logo on the front of the Leica M, Leica M9, Leica M-E, Leica M 240 (on the Leica M Monochrom and Leica M9-P it is behind the small decoration screw where the logo usually would be) that adjusts the level of focus window. This screw requires a special tool, not just an ordinary screwdriver. Though this adjustment is seldom necessary: What it adjusts is the level of the focus window, and only if the two focus windows inside the viewfinder is not aligned on the same horizontal level would you adjust on this screw.
The chrome wheel in the top behind the bayonet, and a screw behind it, those two elements have to be aligned on close focus, middle focus and infinity to get the focus right.
The actual focus adjustment (of the distance) is done inside the camera. The focus mechanism is in the top that you can see when you take off the lens. The chrome wheel you see there is the one that is moved back and forth by the lens' focus ring; and that is how the focus is done in a Leica M rangefinder camera.
The ring and the screw a bit further back are individually adjusted so that the camera focus correctly at close distance, medium distance and at infinity. And it is usually done (by someone who know what he or she is doing) with a 90mm lens as that is the most critical to focus shift.
When done correctly, the camera will be 100% in focus with all lenses till it needs the next adjustment. But as said, don't worry so much about focusing. I have worked with Noctilux for months whilst my Leica M9 focus mechanism was broken loose (in which case it has to be glued back on and is beyond a normal adjustment). Read more about how to focus in the section "Focusing with the Leica M9" on page 13.
Sensor adjustment
The Leica R DMR Digital Back could be adjusted for the sensor, which made sense as the sensor was mounted on the back door of the camera, so to say. I never heard of this for the Leica M 240 and Leica M9 till I turned in three of my cameras in April 2014 at Leica in Wetzlar. They said they would adjust the sensors as well. If that is the case, Leica Camera AG most likely made a new bench for focus adjustment. Time will tell, and I'll let you know.
Sensor cleaning
I'm not big on sensor cleaning myself. I usually visit the Leica factory in Wetzlar 3-4 times a year,and they do the cleaning as part of the overall adjustment of the cameras. But I do carry a set with me, in case I absolutely have to clean my sensor. It's very easy if you have the right tools and the right liquid that is strong enough to dissolve spots (and which evaporates and leaves no traces).
Cleaning sensors is rather easy, and the sensor has a protective glass surface. You can apply quite some pressure without damagining anything. Should you (as I do) prefer to leave the work and responsibility to others, most cities around the world have professional camera stores that offer sensor cleaning. That's all sensors, and Leica sensors are no special. Leave it to the experts when you need cleaning.
Sephora stores are all over the world, and they are so kind they have free brushes that are perfect for cleaning a Leica M in all the narrow spots.
For cleaning camera exterior: I usually visit the Sephora makeup stores around the world and take some of their free brushes that works perfectly to clean the hard-to-get-to parts of the camera next to shutter dial, and other corners.
This is how the preview screen on the back of the Leica M10 looks when you press "sensor cleaning" in the menu. Unlike what you might expect, the camera doesn't clean the sensor. It simply scans the sensor for dirt and show a prview of what's in store. It might look impressive, but this is nothing. If you use your lenses wide open as I do, you will seldom see the spots on the sensor. If you stop down to f/4.0 or f/11, that's when your pictures start looking like this preview.
A Pilgrimage to Wetzlar
Once in your life as a Leica user you should treat yourself to a trip to the Leica Mothership in Wetzlar. Arrive in the evening and get a good nights sleep. Next morning you drop off your cameras and lenses for adjustment and cleaning while you explore the Leica campus, the Leitz Cafe and perhaos the Wetzlar city center where Oskar Barnack made his first test photos with the Leica prototype
Read my article here from the last day in the old factory in Solms, just as Leica Camera AG moved to their new headquarter in Wetzlar.
The Walter Eyepiece
Walter Eyepiece is made for the individual who has astigmatism and who’s eyesight doesn’t allow optimum focusing with a Leica M camera. The same Walter Eyepiece would work for your Leica M9, Leica ME, Leica M Monochrom and Leica M 240 as it is ascrewed into the viewfinder.
It's a prescription lens close up to the viewfinder front lens, so all framelines are visible.
Leica also make original Leica correction lenses to fit on the Leica M. I have met few who were happy with those, and the reason is not that it is bad optics but that having prescription optics on a camera is something that is hard to find proper consulting about: Your optician doesn't know how a camera works, and your camera dealer is not an optician. Some opticians think you need reading glasses to see through a camera, for example.
The viewfinder in a Leica M is not close-up viewing of a screen via a prism. It is simply viewing what is in front of the camera at the actual distance. Hence it is the same prescription glasses you wear using a Leica M as when you walk or drive a car.
It's one of the advantages of the Leica M rangefinder; that your eyes don't get tired of looking through the viewfinder. It does with dSLR because you are looking into a viewfinder that enlarges a small matte screen just a few centimeters (or an inch) away.
The Walter Contrast Eyepiece
As of August 2014 Walter also came up with a new invention, the contrast eyepiece. It is simply a yellow tone glass that increases the contrast for the eye, making focusing easier. It's $180 and fits any Leica M camera (film or digital). See more here.
The Walter Contrast Eyepiece increase contrast -making it easier to focus.
For a closer look through the Leica M
The back of a Leica M with a original Leica diopter mounted on the viewfinder. This for use without glasses, for people who normally wear glasses. Price is around $100
Diopter origin: Late 16th century, from French, from Latin dioptra, from Greek, from di- ‘through’ + optos ‘visible.’
A pleasant surprise for users of SLR cameras (SLR=Single Lens Reflex) getting the Leica M9 is that you no longer look through a small lens onto a screen, but look directly through a range-finder lens mechanism and out on the scenery.
What does this mean? It means that your eye doesn't have to adjust to an artificial distance but sees a real distance. So if you wear glasses, you will experience that you can use the Leica M rangefinders with reading glasses, normal glasses, screen glasses or no glasses. The framing and focusing is possible and feels natural with any choice - whereas on a SLR you would have to use your normal "long distance" glasses in order to see right.
Nevertheless, a number of diopters exist from Leica Camera AG, from +3.0 to - 3.0 with 0.5 steps all the way, either to remedy eyesight, or - more often - to change the size of the viewfinder so that you see a large crop of it (when shooting 75mm, 90mm or 135mm), or a slightly larger part of the viewfinder (when shooting 28mm or 35mm). For most glass wearer the 50mm lens frame in the Leica M9 viewfinder will feel comfortable, the 35mm you have to move around a bit to see all corners of.
Prior to ordering, it should be noted that the Leica M's viewfinder is preset by default to -0.5 diopters. So anyone wearing glasses of 1 diopter strength would require a +1.5 diopters M system correction lens (which is why some have noted that there's a difference between figuring out diopters for Leica R cameras and Leica M cameras). A number of third party solutions exist as well, which - in my opinion - would compare to non-prescription glasses bought on the gas station: If there is one thing Leica know about, it's optics. So if you fit a diopter to a $7,000 camera, don't save $100 on it. Please!
The Leica 1.4X magnifier is around $350. This if for people who don't wear glasses, as well as those who do.
The magnifier is a different story. This is for people with glasses, or without, for magnifying the look through the viewfinder. Typically to zoom in so that one can use a 75mm, 90mm or 135mm lens more precisely. Price is in the range of $325 and the 1.4X magnifier then magnifies with 40%. It comes with a leather case that fits onto the camera strap.
Things to consider on eyesight and using a camera
If your prescription glasses are of good quality and you can see well with them - including details and contrasts in the landscape - they should work well with a Leica M 240. The rangefinder/viewfinder in the Leica M 240 has even improved over the one in previous Leica M models (Leica M9 and so on).
But if you are using prescription glasses with several areas for reading close by and viewing normal distance the (rather small) area that is used for viewing at normal distance should be between your eyeball and the Leica viewfinder when you look through. If that are is sitting in another place, you will have trouble seeing through the viewfinder.
Two screens - did you think of that?
Next thing is that no matter what solution you choose, you will have to deal with both the preview screen, the rangefinder/viewfinder and the world around you. That's what I mean with considering what will work the best. If you have correction on the viewfinder, then what happens when you have to change the iso and look at the cameras display on the back? Do you have to dig up your prescription glasses then ... and is that what you want?
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EVF-2 electronic viewfinder
The Leica EVF-2 electronic viewfinder offers a great view of the image, with the possibility of a whole new level of sharpness. And it has built-in correction of eyesight. It is my opinion that nobody should get a Leica M 240 without getting a viewfinder as well. After a while you may be one of the few that won't use it, but most will, and for some it is a whole new world that opens up. If you have bad eyes, trouble focusing, trouble anything ... the EVF-2 will do for you what you thought you had to buy a dSLR with autofocus does. It gives you pinsharp images.
The EVF-2 also shows the ISO and other information, so even if you have trouble seeing the small red ISO number on the back of the screen (or the small white shutter speed numbers on the dial on the camera), the EVF-2 will solve that.
If you have heard that it is "not right" to use the EVF-2 on the Leica ... well, that may be true for those who still use a Leica M3 with film. Their camera would look odd with an electronic viewfinder. But for the M 240 it is just right, and I am sure we will see a Leica M model in the future with the EVF built-in.
Where EVF might not have been the right thing in the past, EVF is the future. So you may as well get used to it, it is only going to be better in definition and industrial design (integration with the camera design).
Lightmeter
I have written a whole article on lightmeters, "Using an external light meter for accurate, failproof metering" which gives some ins and outs about light metering. with external light meters. In short, this is the most accurate light metering you can get.
Despite the fact that light metering is not exactly space technology, lightmeters tend to be too bulky and too complicated. The LUMU lightmeter changes this into a simple to use, accurate and compact - perhaps even trendy - package that works with your iPhone. For a price of only $149 is is even less than most other lightmeters.
The new lightmeter for 2014 and forward, the LUMU. You press the parameter you want to measure, in the photo it is the exposure time. The 200 ISO and the f/2.0 doesn't change, only the shutter time. Nice. (You may sex up your iPhone with the Smallworks LEGO case).
One of the things that traditional lightmeters do to complicate things, is that they give aperture for example f/2.03. or f/8.04. Not only is it confusing, it is also not applicable on any lens to set the aperture to f/2.03.
And forget about aperture priority or shutter priority when you buy a lightmeter. In the LUMU app on the iPhone you simply lock the ISO and the aperture so as to only allow the lightmeter to figure out an exposure time.
Or you lock the exposure time and the aperture, letting the LUMU only give you the ISO. That's pretty bright, simple and as it should always have been.
Moreover, it is compact to bring with you, provided you have an iPhone with you as well. Traditional lighmeters has the same size as a camera (at least if you are using a Leica M). The LUMU is the size of the cap of a water bottle.
There are quite a few ways to get accurate colors. The color meters was the way to do it in the past. Today you can get more compact solutions like the LUMU Power which connects to the iPhone. My personal preference is the WhiBal card that has the size of a credit card and doesn't require any power. Read more in my article "White Balance for more Beauty, Part 3" here.
The Lumu Power combined color meter and light meter
LUMU made a lightmeter that works with iPhone some years ago, and have now made a light meter that is also a color meter. Pretty brilliant, actually.
The Lumo Power color meter ships worldwide and comes in this nice box.
The Lumo Power color meter (this side) and light meter (the other side) conncts to iPhone.
White Balancing [WB]
Much of the discussion about the colors and the auto white balance of the Leica M240 is caused by the misunderstanding that a camera can do the work for you. It cannot. If you want precise colors, you must control the colors, not leave it to the camera. Once you do, the colors are actually very good.
The WhiBal card is the proper way for doing manual white balance.
WhiBal is not a greycard
WhiBal is light grey - don't get it confused with a greycard for light metering which is a middlegrey card.
The greycard for light metering is a middlegrey card reflecting 18% which is what you would use to measure the amount of light (all light meters base their readings on what they expect to be a scenery that are all-together middlegrey, hence the problem with bright or dark sceneries that gets over- or underexposed).
Using a WhiBal card is the easiest and most direct way to get accurate colors. You use it first to set the right balance in the camera (not in Lightroom after). This way the colors are instantly right and you may correct just a little bit. Read my article "White balancing for more beauty" for details on how to use it.
The WhiBal greycard is 11% or something reflective, so it's not for light metering.
The point is that the grey is neutral grey, meaning it doesn't contain any warm or cold colors. And that is what makes it perfect for manual white balancing as the Leica M needs something neutral so as to adjust the light temperature (Kelvin) to neutral white (daylight colors).
You can also use a white wall, a white cloth, a white piece of paper or something other white or grey. But paper differs in temperature and is seldom neutral.
If you don't have any greycard with you, go ahead and use any white surface. But if you want a standardized and consistent workflow where you can trust and predict things, you use the same piece of paper or plastic each time. Hence the WhiBal.
You can view a video on how to do it and read more about White Balancing in my article"White Balancing for More Beauty" to find out more about what it is and how to obtain true and pleasant colors in your photos. It's a very misunderstood subject. The G7 Pocket Kit above in credit card size is a good start, and get one extra (they tend to get lost). I would recommend getting one of those, and then one of the sets where you get a Pocket Size G7 and a larger G6 for the camera bag or home. Then you have three cards.
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The revival of the color meter
The Sekonic C-700 SpectroMaster and the Kenko KCM-3100 came out in March 2015 after we haven't seen color meters made for a few years. I have become a little obsessed with colors laterly, so I got both of them.
The Sekonic C-700 SpectroMaster is a color meter as advanced as they come. With an iPhone-like screen for custom setting the menu and some hard-core features it takes measuring colors to a new level. In the context of Leica M still photography it brings a little more accurate colors - which one has to weight up against the size and price. For advanced photography with more than one light source, using color gels to adjust the lamps, and/or filters in front of the lens (as in a film set), it makes total sense.
One of the things you can measure with the C-700 SpectroMaster is the quality of the light source. If for example a Tungsten lamp is missing reds. This is something you can't adjust in the camera but something you may adjust in the editing of the photograph. And it may explain why you just can't hit the right colors some times. Price is $1,498 at BH Photo.
I have the Sekonic SpectroMaster C-700. Price is $1,498 at BH Photo. Next to it, the WhiBal grey card that is the economical and compact alternative.
The Kenko KCM-3100 is a much simpler and much more sturdy color meter for on the road. It simply gives you the Kelvin number that you can tap into the Leica M 240 in the Kelvin Number setting. It's very simple to use, and very fast.
I also have the Kenko KCM-3100 color meter. Price is $799 at BH Photo.
X-Rite color adjustment
The neutral gray palette in the small black X-Rite "passport checker" which contains the color palette as well (see photo below).
Read my article The Right Colors [PART II] about the X-Rite, as well as video tutorial.
Which in essence mean that you bring a real color palette to the real world, photograph it with your Leica M, and then measure it in Lightroom so that the software can adjust the overall images(s) to the exact colors.
The X-Rite also contains a middlegrey page for manual white balancing.
So with the small plastic "passport checker" you can open up on the middle-grey first and make sure the white balance is correct, then you fold the page and get the color checker which you photograph. In Lightroom you can then adjust colors automatically, as well as create a camera profile.
In reality, there is not much gained with it. As many of the X-Rite product, the idea behind is so complicated that it doesn't really work. They promote accurate colors but are really bad in explaining how to get them. It's a lot of work and uncertainty in the real world where light conditions, lighting sources and all changes. In a controlled studio environment - yes. But outside, not really. See my article The Right Colors [PART II]
The X-Rite ColorChecker card. They don't grow on trees, it's just that there weren't any hot redheads nearby to assist in holding it. Read my article The Right Colors [PART II] about the X-Rite, as well as video tutorial.
The right colors on your computer screen
You should calibrate your computer screen(s) to get accurate colors. It's fairly easy and not expensive if you follow my little guide in this article, "How to calibrate your computer screen".
Neutral Density filters to utilize your lightstrong lenses
When you have a really lightstrong lens as a f/1.4 or 0.95, and even a f/2.0, you will want to be able to photograph with it wide open. What else is the point in having it?
The Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 is a good example that light-strong lenses are not just a matter of low light. A lot of people used to buy Noctilux (which means "King of the Night") to be able to photograph in low light. It does that too, but what is really amazing is how the lens treats light wide open. And that could be said for all the Leica lenses. The philosophy and technology behind the Leica lens design is something special.
Hence a Noctilux treats strong light and dark shadows really well, except that a camera as the Leica M 240 that has a base ISO of 200 and a maximum shutter time at 1/4000 second won't let the Noctilux sparkle in sunshine. Unless you work at f/2.8 - f/4.0 in sunshine your exposure will be blown out.
My collection of ND filters from TIFFEN, Breakthrough Photography, B+W, Hoya and more. I use a cheap black filter vallet from BH Photo.
That is why you need ND-filters for all your lenses. Sunglasses for the lens. Use them as protection when you travel with the lenses in a bag (then you also have the filter handy). Have the filter on in the daytime, and put it in a soft pocket where you don't have keys or coins in the evening. Put it on again before you go to bed so it is ready next day.
In 2016 Leica started delivering their own ND-filters for a series of lenses. The 60mm 4-stop (16X) ND-filter fits the Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 perfect. That it is 4-stop makes it suitable for also the Leica MM and Leica M 246 Monochrom where the sensor's base ISO is 320. With a 4-stop ND filter in sunshine you can stay exactly at 320 ISO, 1/4000 second and f/0.95 and get the exposure right. With a Leica M 240 where the base ISO is 200, it would be 1/3000 second at f/0.95.
The filter seems to have a little smaller metal edge than others, which is relevant for the Noctilux so as to make sure not to get the filter ring in the corners of the image. In practical use it seems not to have any importance.
Leica ND filter:
B+W ND filter:
No ND-filter:
The three images show the 25% of the upper top left frame of the image. As can be seen, botht he filters affect the corners, as well as the colors.
Brakthrough Photography's X4 Neutral Density Filters
The San Francisco-based company Breakthrough Photography makes the probably best ND filters available, the model "X4-ND" which comes as 3-stop, 6-stop and 10-stop. You need the 3-stop edition. The owner decided to cater to Leica lenses, and that is why you can now find their filers in more and more of the sizes that fits Leica lenses. I use their 46mm 3-stop filter and appreciate the built quality and the optimum filter itself.
They make the X2 and X4 model, of which the X4 is the premium model. So if you want to go perfection, go Breakthrough X4.
Genrrally you could say that ND filters will work fine, no matter which brand or quality you use. Despite differences in how accurately the filter is actually 3-stop or whatever it is, and despite color cast in the glass, once the ND filter is in front of the lens, it's part of what the internal light meter and white balance adjusts for.
The San Francisco-based company Breakthrough Photography makes the probably best ND filters available. Here it is their X4-ND in 46mm 3-stop.
Polish your camera with art
Kelnet in France makes microfiber cloths with famous paintings - or your own photos
I always carry a microfiber cloth in a pocket, and one in every bag. It's the same you use for prescription glasses, and they can be washed and dried when they get too oily and greasy.
Kelnet in France makes some nice small ones (5x5 inch, 13 x 13 cm) with fancy motifs.
If you want to be real fancy, you can get them to custom make microfiber cloths with your own photo and name.
Leica also does some white Leica microfiber cloths with a red Leica logo that they sometimes give away. You may ask in the Leica Store.
Some dealers, like Camera Electronics in Perth, Australia, have their own microfiber cloths they give away to customers. For free, and often with a homemade coffee as well.
The Kyoto Only polishing cloth
Leica Store Kyoto has a few special items that are unique for that store. One of them is the Leica Store Kyoto Polishing Cloth that is microfiber and extra large. Suitable for polishing both lenses, cameras and your glasses. Price is around $20 (2,800 Yen).
Lightroom is the workflow software to use to edit images. When I say workflow, I mean an editing tool where you can import 100 or 500 pictures and work on them and batch export the final selections in different sizes. Fast, effective, the standard.
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The smell of film
If you miss the smell of film, Fabien Barbazan is able to hand make a strap with film rolls. It will convince people that the digital Leica around your neck is in fact a film camera.
Participate in an Overgaard Workshop or Masterclass
You may also fancy a Overgaard Workshop so we can meet. And you will meet a handful of other dedicated Leica fans who want to use their equipment to the fullest.
More reviews in the bottom of the page.
I have three statistics of my workshops that make me proud. One is that 30% sign up for two or more workshops and continue a relationship of improving over a longer period. The other thing I am proud of is that the number of women with their own Leica attending my workshops has gone up from one out of 30 two years ago to more than 20% in the last six months.
But one thing that is really good is that quite many of my workshop students start sharing their photos online, have exhibitions and make photo books. Very few have a wish to become professional, but the few that have had that wish have made it well after the workshops. In general, you will almost with guarantee make many more photographs after the workshop, and you will enjoy your equipment and photography more.
Literature about Leica cameras, lenses and history
Erwin Puts has written and compiled the big Leica Compendium with Leica history, lens history, camera history, serial numbers and much more. In just six months this highly specialized book went into print three times. Available at the Erwin Puts website.
Many of his publications are now available as eBooks for immediate download. The great thing is that you can then search in them!
Also Erwin Puts published the companion book, called the Leica Practicum by end of 2012. The Leica Practicum covers a number of major themes: An investigation into the art of Leica photography and how it differs from photography in general, a round-up of the status of chemical photography, a review of the state-of-the-art of digital imagery and of course the important topic of the intrinsic differences between digital and analog photography, and finally an in-depth treatment of the use of the Leica rangefinder camera, illustrated by the Leica MP and the M9-P for the analog and digital workflow.
Classic, exotic and rare Leica lenses
One thing you can obviously spoil yourself and your Leica with, is classic, exotic and rare lenses. With a catalog of available lenses almost 100 years bag, there's plenty of lenses that might, or might not, make life really sweet.
Screw Mount Lenses on the Leica M
The M bayonet is the current bayonet (left), and before that it was Screw Mount (right). But can be used on the Leica M.
M39 screw mount lenses: Factually, all Leica screw mount lenses (M39) made for the first Leica models will fit on any modern Leica M. You siply invest in a screw mount to M adapter and the focus and all works as if it was a lens with M mount. I remcommend to let the adapter sit on the lens, so if you buy several screw mount lenses, buy the same number of adapters and leave one on each lens. the original Leica adapter is precious and sought-after, but lots of third party adapters exists, from Novoflex ($100) to no-brand adapters from eBay.
One of the more exotic screw mount lenses is the "Thambar" made in 2934. In this photo you see a complete set of a Leitz 90mm Thambar f/2.2 that consist of the original red box, lens cap, lens shade and the special soft focus filter with a black dot in the middle. They exist in both a Meter and a Feet edition (the focusing scale). Only 3,500 or less were made from 1934-1940, from serial number 226001 to 540500 which sells for around $4,000 second-hand. But then Leica decided to re-make this lens in 2017, so now you can get it as a brand new lens (with M munt) for $7,000.
Another candidate for exploring the past is the Leitz 50mm Summarit f/1.4 with from 1955 with screw mount. Prices are approximately $500, and it's an interesting lens for portraits due to it's traditional "soft but detailed" rendering. Also known as the "Mandler look" before it all became very clear. I deliberately show a version here with some micro-scratches on the front element. You can go for a perfect version, but you may also find it exotic and fun to find a less perfect version. After all, if you want perfection, look no further than the current 50mm lenses designed by Peter Karbe. Photo by M&K Kamera in Hong Kong who's website should keep you drooling for some hours.
The Leica 28mm Summaron-M f/5.6 was re-released in a new and current version in 2016. In this picture it's the original version. If you look for one, buy the new model which has very good optics. The original version has a soft look to the pictures.
Leica R Lenses on the Leica M
Leica R lenses: All lenses made for the Leica R SLR system will also fit onto the Leica M with an R to M adapter. To make things worse, you can find adapters that enables you to mount Nikon, Canon and many other lenses to the Leica M.
My Leitz Leicaflex SL mot film camera with
the Leica 80 mm Summilux-R f/1.4 lens that will also fit your Leica M via an R-to-M adapter. This lens behave and look very much like a classic 50mm Noctilux f/1.0 and the 75mm Summilux-M f/1.4. Price is around $2.500 in most places you will find it.
Buy a vintage 35mm Summilux
If you think that for example the Leica Cine lenses ($17,500 - 38,000 per lens) are too big, then here's a little lens that can rip your bank account just as bad. The Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPHERICAL f/1.4 is the first edition with two aspherical surfaces, which is why it is referred to as the AA or Double Aspherical. Not only does it have two surfaces (as the only 35mm), they were also hand grinded.
This makes it all more interesting. None of them will be the same and the hunt for the one with the perfect image quality and bokeh is something that will spice it all up, on top of the price of $11,000 - $18,000 they usually sell for.
I can't really say that it is much different or better than the current Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 as far as image quality goes, but it sure feels different to use a vintage lens that is so limited, unique, handmade and special. More on that in my Leica 35mm Summilux article.
A photo posted by Thorsten von Overgaard (@thorstenovergaard) on
While on the waiting list for new exotic lenses, perhaps try some of the classic lenses that you may find in Germany, Hong Kong or other places for a reasonable price. Here it is Bryan Loo's Leica M9 fitted with a Leica 50mm Elmarit-M f/2.8 collapsible lens with accompanying original chrome lens shade. The great thing is that any of the older lenses from Leica, since 1930's will fit the Leica M wither with or without an adapter. But also Nikon, Canon, Leica R lenses and many other lenses will fit onto the Leica M, and the Live View enable you to focus precise even with lenses without coupling to the cameras focus mechanism (because Live View shows on the screen or in the viewfinder what the sensor sees, hence if it is sharp there, it is sharp in the final image).
A classic Leica 50mm lens - The "Rigid"
Simplicity: It looks like a good old classic camera. The Leica M 240 in silver chrome with Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 ("star" / "rigid" from 1964), Leica M Monochrom strap and the Leica Multidysfunctional Handgrip.I've used this lens model extensively for the last 10 years, and it has many of the features of the famed Leica 50mm APO.
Impossible lenses
The harder to get, the better. As the Leica 90mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 in chrome. It's heavier, but it looks really nice with the silver chrome Leica M 240. (Almost) impossible to find.
Leica M 240 with silver chrome Leica 90mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 vs the black ditto. If you find the silver one the price is usually around $6,000, almost the double of the black ditto as second hand. Finger Loop on the black camera.
Vintage lenses
It's not always a great marriage, but often it is fun to try out older lenses like the 40mm Summicron-C f/2.0. This lens was made for the Leica CL film camera kit that Leica made with Minolta in the 1970's to offer a "Mini M" for new clients. This is a $400 lens in most places.
I got a 40mm Summicron-C f/2.0 lens to spice up things a bit on my Leica M9 and Leica M10. We'll see how that goes. The shade is my own designed E39 ventilated shade, replacing the original rubber shade.
The Silver Noctilux
Since May 2014 the Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 became available in Silver as a lens available from stock.
It's a little unfortunate for those who bought a Leica "limited edition" set with a silver Noctilux and thought they were one of only 20-30 people in the world with a Silver Noctilux. Just to wake up three years later to discover that now everybody can get one for normal price. Bad management, good lens design. Bottom line is that the silver Noctilux is available.
The Noctilux is the crown jewel of the Leica M lenses, and there's a few models to chase down. Prices goes from $5,000 to $30,000 for the individual models.
Throughout the year I meet a lot of photographers, and when it comes to editing images, a powerful computer, and preferable a Mac, is quite important.
Get a Mac
You got to have an Apple MacBook for images. A PC, no matter how fancy and expensive just can't keep up. When others are editing away on their images, the PC user stills try to get the PC to work. And when we show pictures, the PC screens show them in wrong colors (they usually have problems reaching all the way from bright to black; it is always bluish grey-in-grey images we are looking at).
As times change, if you move to Capture One for editing (requires less computer power), and you can find a screen that actually work, PC can work. I'm modifying my stand on this because in the last five years, Apple have made some strange choices while Microsoft has developed some interesting portable computers with pencils and good screens. But if you want to make an easy choice that works, "Get a Mac" is still valid.
Brenda Di Bari from Rome editing at the floor (nearby the power outlet) in my London workshop.
Get the biggest Mac
The purpose of computers is to have them work for you. They are supposed to help you perform more stuff faster and better. This might sound stange in an age where you need a personal assistant to keep your apps on your devices updated. But the reason for computers was not to keep the user busy or entertain them, it is a tool to get work done. So that's the first thing to judge a computer or device on: "Will it make things effective?" rather than if it looks cute. It's not a pet.
When you start downloading 16GB, 32GB and 128GB memory cards with hundreds of images, you need computer power. If the computer is three years old, you will have to sit and wait for the preview to load of each image. That will work if it's five images, but when you work with a hundred or more, you want it to appear instant on the screen so you can move 24MP files as fast as you think.
Look at the fastest model, and then how to "spec it out" with faster processor, larger hard drive and more RAM. That's what I mean with "Get the biggest Mac". Then when the next updated model comes 2-18 months later, sell this and get the noew one. Stay with the fastest possible model and sell the previous while it is still possible to get a good second-hand price for it.
We are almost there ... in few years all external harddrives are going to be small and super fast flash-ram or SSD. But for now, you need backup and portable drives to put your images onto. You can't have everything on your MacBook, not even with a 1TB or 2TB drive.
Workflow
A workflow is like clean socks every morning, or that you either print your boarding pass, or have it on your phone. As you move on you learn what is the easiest, and that's how you do things. It's the habit of how you do things. Just as you have a habit of how to get on clean sock in the morning without having to chase around the house to find or not find some, you need a habit of working routine for digital files.
My workflow is to work on the MacBook Pro till I'm done selecting, editing and have exported final images for my photo archive. Three different sizes with keywords, ready to use. Then I then export all images related to that event to external drives and clean out my computer. Just as I don't travel with a suitcase with all my original negatives and slide film, I don't travel with all my digital negatives on my computer.
How to work fast, organized and being able to find and use any picture I ever made, no matter where in the world I am, is a workflow I developed over the last 10+ years of using digital cameras. It's described in my Lightroom Survival Kit and my Cature One Survival Kit.
You need to rethink your workflow so you can move around your growing archive through technology shifts and - obviously - change from (what will in the future be) older harddrives to new larger harddrives. In other words, you can't have one archive centrally with strings to external harddrives that must be reorganized every 2-5 years. You must plan so you can seamlessly transform from one drive to another without having to spend hours, days or weeks reorganizing your files.
Here are recommendations for your next computer, before or after a Thorsten Overgaard Workshop: Apple computers are far the best for photography workflow. Even if you work with a PC for work, consider an Apple for your photography.
Generally, I recommend getting the fastest MacBook Pro available, and with the 15" Retina screen. And change it every 18-36 months to stay in the loop with the fastest technology (things change so fast that a 3 year old computer tends to be really slow).
Speed comparison of MacBook Pro using Lightroom:
Which is fastest for Lightroom? This is how big a difference there is working with Lightroom 6.x. This test was performed with 346 DNG files from 24MP camera (= size 20-30 MB each):
MacBook Air 11
(Mid 2013)
1.7 Ghz i7
processor
512 GB
hard drive
Intel 1.5 GB
1 Thunderbolt
2 USB
$1,700 in 2013
MacBook Pro 15"
(Late 2013)
2.6 Ghz i7
Quad processor
1 TB
hard drive
NVIDIA
750M 2 GB
2 Thunderbolt
2 USB 3 SD-card reader
$3,300 in 2013
MacBook Pro 15"
(Mid 2015)
2.8 Ghz i7
Quad processor
1 TB
hard drive
AMD 2GB
2 Thunderbolt
2 USB 3 SD-card reader
$3,100 in 2016 B&H Photo / Amazon
MacBook Pro 13"
(Late 2016)
2.9 Ghz i5
Duo processor
512GB
hard drive
8GB RAM
Iris Graphics 550
4 x USB-C/
Tunderbolt 3
$1,899 in 2017 B&H Photo
MacBook Pro 13"
(Late 2016)
3.3 Ghz i7
Duo processor
1 TB
hard drive
16GB RAM
Iris Graphics 550 2GB
4 x USB-C/
Tunderbolt 3
$2,899 in 2017 B&H Photo
MacBook Pro 15"
(Late 2016)
2.9 Ghz i7
Quad processor
2 TB
hard drive
16GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro 460 GPU 4GB
4 x USB-C/
Tunderbolt 3
$4,299 in 2017 B&H Photo
Import into Lightroom 6
of 346 DNG files from SD-card
11:31 min
(External
USB reader)
2:14 min
(built-in SD reader)
1:54 min
(built-in SD reader)
9:54 min
(USB to USB-C dongle)
7:53 min
(USB to USB-C dongle)
2:11 min
(External
USB-C reader)
Making 1:1 previews
of 346 DNG files
26:34 min
21:32 min
11:48 min
17:43 min
17:08 min
13:40 min
Export of files **
(346 web-sized JPG's)
24:16 Min
4:44 Min
3:12 Min
7:33 Min
7:30 min
3:45 min
Total waiting time
for import, preview and export of 346 pictures **
62:21 Min
28:30 Min
16:54 Min
35:10 Min
32:31 Min
19:36 Min
SSD hard drive/Flash Memory
read/write/copy speed *
200MB/sec
800MB/sec
2000MB/sec
1900MB/sec
1950MB/sec
1950MB/sec
Delay in showing a full-size preview in Develop Mode *
3-5 Sec
0.3 Sec
0.1 Sec
2.0 Sec
2.0 Sec
1,2 Sec
* = When you edit in Lightroom on a computer, the computer depend on the hard drive and not the processor/RAM to show previews immediately.
** = Export of files in other sizes than original uses the processor to resize the files.
Big screen
If you want to work on a large screen at home, I recommend getting one or two external screens that connects to your MacBook Pro, rather than having a "large computer" at home and a "small computer" for travel. It's much easier to have just one computer and not having to sync two computers; and you can invest the money in one really fast computer.
No matter which MacBook model you buy, upgrade the processor to the fastest possible model, and upgrade the hard drive to the largest available.
In the MacBook Air series, they usually come with an i5 processor, but upgrading to the i7 will increase the speed for photography workflow 4X and only cost $100.
The MacBook 12" is cute, has a great screen, but is also the slowest model for photography workflow. My mother has one and loves it, but she's 70 years old and only uses it for e-mail and online banking.
If you visit an Apple store and compare the 13" MacBook Air with the 15" MacBook Pro, you will realize that there's not much difference in size. So why not get the computer with the largest screen and most speed?
Even I travel 49 of the years 52 weeks, I've choosen the MacBook Pro 15" every time, and I've picked the fastest model available every time. I travel with my computer, but I never really carry it around. I park it in a hotel or apartment, and when I travel to the next place I put it in my bag until I arrive in the next hotel. Only if you always (or often) carry your computer around town with you does it makes sense to get a smaller model.
Currently, the MacBook Pro 15" (Late 2016) with 2.9 Ghz and 2TB hard drive may be the choice for slick design, better screen and the 2TB hard drive. But in terms of speed, the previous 2015 model is actually 14% faster for Lightroom.
Currently, the new MacBook Pro 15" (Mid 2017) with 3.1 Ghz and 2TB hard drive ($4,299 at BH Photo) is likely to the first of the new MacBook Pro's that is actaully faster than the previous silver 2015 model. I will test it as soon as I can.
With it the new MacBook Pro's (Late 2016 and Mid 2017 models) comes the pain of new Thunderbolt 3/USB-C connections and no SD-card reader built-in. An upgraded MacBook Pro 15" are expected to be announced in October 2017 with faster specifications (but still with four USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 connections).
The MacBook Pro (late 2016 and Mid 2017) does have a slick design. After having looked at Joy using a less-than-impressive in terms of speed 13"' for some weeks, I started looking at my 2015 macbook as a clunky device. The fingerprint opening of the new MacBook is a nice feature together with other things that makes the Late 2016 and Mid 2017 model a pleasure to use.
The four similar connections is a freedom, once you get harddrives, SD-card readers, SD-card readers and all that connects to the Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports. And unlike the iPhone, it still has a mini jack for headphones!
No more SD-card reader in the Late 2016 and Mid 2017 MacBook computers
Apple doesn't even make or sell (in the Apple Store) a SD card reader, so you have to visit BH Photo, Amazon or eBay to find a third party SD card reader that goes into the USB-C plug, or a traditional SD card reader with USB and use a USB-C to USB3 dongle.
Using a USB 3 card reader via a dongle is extremely slow. There are more and more USB-C readers available. The one I got is the StarTech ($30).
The plug for USB-C is the same as for Thunderbolt 3. The confusion on this is so great that the staff in the Apple Store doesn't always know. They will claim it is the same speed. It's not. Thunderbolt 3 is four times faster than USB-C, and that is important when buying a new hard drive: LaCie makes hard drives with USB-C (USB 3.1) connections and Thunderbolt 3 connections for this reason, but many portable drives have just USB-C connection. USB-C speed is rated as 10GB/sec and Thunderbolt 3 is rated as 40GB/sec. This is so little known, most will claim USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 is the same connection and speed (though it was specified in the 40 page document following the release of the MacBook Late 2016).
Thunderbolt 3 hard drives
Hard drives with USB-C are not the same as Thunderbolt 3. The LaCie 6TB, 8TB and 10TB d2 drives are the first ones with real Thunderbolt 3 cables and speeds.
My LaCie 10TB drives with one USB-C connection (top) and two Thunderbolt 3 connections. The cables for USB-C (has a USB-symbol) and Thunderbolt 3 (has a thunder synbol and 3) are different. I have numbers on by hard drives, on front and back, as well as how big the drives are. After a while you can't remember which dive is which, and how much space it has.
Look at performance, don't listen to the hype
When the new MacBook Pro was announced, it was announced as "Metal on all four sides" and "17% thinner than the previous model" and so on. That's how they sold us Thunderbolt some years ago and that's how the MacBook 12" may sound great (even it is the worst for picture editing).
It's difficult to not get enthusiastic about the new, but make speed comparisons before you go get it all.
Which external hard drives do I need for photography?
You need external hard drives for storage, and you need two so one is your storage, the other is your backup of that. In other words, you always buy two, four, six or eight hard drives at a time.
Portable hard drives have a live span of 12-18 months before you want to replace them with a bigger one. You think they will last forever, but your need for storage grows faster than you think. The good news is that price of hard drive space drops with the same speed as your need more space.
This is how big (or little) a difference there is between USB and Thunderbolt
(tested with Blackmagic Sped Test):
Thunderbolt
portable
hard drive 4 TB from BH Photo / Amazon
USB-C
portable
hard drive
LaCie
Porsche
2TB
Thunderbolt
2
desktop
hard drive LaCie 6TB
Thunderbolt 3
desktop
hard drive LaCie 10TB
Read/write/copy speed *
75 MB/sec
80 MB/sec
Read/write/copy speed with MacBook USB-C (Late 2016) via dongle to USB 3
75 MB/sec
80 MB/sec
Read/write/copy speed with MacBook USB-C/Thunderbolt 3
(Late 2016/Mid 2017)
USB-C
cable
103MB/sec
T2 cable
via USB-C dongle 137MB/sec
T3 cable
117MB/sec
* = Specifications of USB 3.1 says they can do 1,250MB/sec and specifications of Thunderbolt 2 says 2,500MB/sec. That's in theory. If you test them on your machine with a free program like Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, you will see the actual value ((which of course depends as well on your machine's hard drive (5400 RMP or 7200 ROM or SSD). Specifications for FireWire 400 said 100-400MB/sec and FireWire 800 said 800MB/sec.
As you can see, the extra price of Thunderbolt external hard drives (usually $100-$200 per hard drive) isn't warranted by the 6% faster speed compared to USB 3. Thunderbolt 3 is greatly improved speed compared to USB-C.
With new MacBook Pro 15" (Late 2016 model) that has only four Thunderbolt 3 conncetions (which are the same as USB-C that the MacBook 12" introduced), you don't really have a choice. You can use converters for a while, but all future things you buy should be directed towards Thunderbolt 3 (when Thunderbolt came out, you could get FireWire to Thunderbolt converters, and they work; but you want clean cables without having to use converters).
My portable hard drives are currently 4TB LaCie Rugged (USB3) and 2TB Western Digital (USB3) and 5TB Thunderbolt 3 (same connector as USB-C).
Remember, you will buy a new one anyways in 12-18 months. Go with USB 3if you can, and don't spend much time reconsidering this decision until portable SSD hard drives come down into a reasonable price range. (There will be coming a new type of SSD hard drives that you can expand unlimited - e-mail me for more info on this so you get a notice when they are available).
Make sure to avoid portable hard drives that require external power supply! Not much compactness in having a small drive that needs a power supply. A portable hard drive should be powered by the USB or Thunderbolt cable.
I use Western Digital 2TB portable hard drives (BH Photo / Amazon) and LaCie 4TB USB3 hard drives (BH Photo / Amazon).
Desktop hard drives are a little different in that they last for 3-5 years. Then you want to upgrade them to larger ones because you need more space and the connections becomes obsolete. FireWire 400 (invented 1995) and FireWire 800 (introduced 2009) have died out. Again, time works for you, the price of a top-of-the-line 120 GB hard drive in 2000 was $400 back then, and a 6,000 GB hard drive today costs $400 as well.
This is how big (or small) a difference there is between FireWire 800 and USB3:
FireWire 800 hard drive
USB 3
hard drive
Read/write/copy speed *
71 MB/sec
75 MB/sec
The lesson on FireWire, USB, Thunderbolt and the new Apple USB-C Port is that it's the size of the connections that change dramatically, not so much the speed. But the hype with each new type makes you buy new equipment, and that's the main feature.
Some of my external hard drives. FireWire/Thunderbolt in the background, USB backup drives on the front, and USB3 portable hard drives for travel.
USB desktop hard drives vs
Thunderbolt desktop hard drives
You can set up several USB 3 external hard drives via an $18 USB 3.1 Hub so they are all connected at the same time. As the Hub provides power as well, you can actually go with portable drives instead of the Desktop hard drives (that all requires a separate power supply). If you don't depend on speed but use the connected hard drives for archiving (and photo editing, video editing, etc. on the much faster internal SSD/Flash Memory), this is actually worth considering. The USB hub also can charge iPhones and stuff.
Thunderbolt hard drives can be connected in "daiseychain" which means you have one cable going out of the Mac to the first hard drive, then a Thunderbolt from that to the next and from that to the next. They are all connected this way, although it requires that the desktop hard drive needs two Thunderbolt connections (one in and one out).
One of the problems with Thunderbolt is that the cables go black for no reason. They simply stop working. Some times, after some weeks of rest they may work normally again. If you have a rather complicated setup of drives it's annoying to locate the faulty cable and replace it. Others have reported that Thunderbolt cables caused errors that wiped their hard drives. All in all, it's an easy technology but not a very stable one. We all got into it because "Thunderbolt" sounds so cool, and it's the future (and who doesn't want to be in that?).
Sanho 5-in-1 hub for MacBook USB-C is necessary in order to plug in more than one thing. It's a mess..!
Next thing will be USB-C which was introduced on the MacBook 12" in 2015 and that's also what is on the new redesigned MacBook Pro (Late 2016), wich they call Thunderbolt 3 on that one. (It has 4 Thunderbolt 3 connections and nothing else).
Thunderbolt 3 read/write 4X faster than USB-C even they plugs look the same. If you connect a USB hard drive via the USB>USB-C dongle, the speed will obviously be that of the slowest cable.
In the MacBook 12" it's very unpractical as it is the one and only connection for power, hard drives, scanners, phones and all. "Be careful what you wish for", as the Apple CEO said about that feature.
I have Thunderbolt desktop hard drives and USB 3 backup hard drives. The most recent desktop hard drives I've bought have been the LaCie 6TB Thunderbolt model and the most recent backup hard drives I bought was four 5TB hard drives with USB.
Do what seems most practical. As long as you have backup of your hard drives, the problems will never be bigger than what you can overcome. I very much buy hard drives the same way I buy Xerox paper: the price per pack for 500 sheets of Xerox paper, and the price for a 1TB hard drive. I simply make a piece of paper where I list and compare the current models: Speed, Connections, price per TB). If I had smaller storage needs, I would use portable hard drives only. Nice, easy and compact.
As I don't expect any of my desktop hard drives to be with me for more than 3-5 years, I don't invest in one large system or one large 30TB hard drive. I buy a hard drive that will keep me going for a while; and in 6-9 months when I need more space, I compare and get the next one.
The DigiShade Lite from DigiSystem is meant for working in sunshine out in the field but also works in the office, making it easier to see and concentrate on the imagers on the screen you are editing. It clips onto the top of the screen with the built-in magnets that the Apple screens have, and then simply rests on the sides.
It comes for 13" and 15", and despite having been designed for the 2015 models (and sits very tight on those), they also works on the 2016 and 2017 models of the MacBook Pro. Price is about $110, the material is metal-looking hard plastic that folds so it may fit in a labtop bag, together twith the computer.
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Master editor makes it simple to understand
When someone understands their subject, they can explain it simply. The hallmark of Thorsten Overgaard is to make expert knowledge shown and told in a way so anyone can understand and apply it.
Hands-on advice that works
With a 350 pages workbook and 3+ hours of video, every element of digital photography is touched on, in handy chapters and pre-flight checklists. Editing of color vs black and white photos, keywording, cropping of images, fine-tuning of tones, color balance and color control, export of originals, printing, archiving and backup, and much more ... all made simpel to understand so it is easy to apply by anyone.
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Fungus protection
Fungus looks like this.
It's organisms feeding on organic matter.
B+W have made a genius product to prevent fungus in lenses and cameras. It looks complicate, but it might be necessasry if you live in a place where lenses easily gets fungus.
In quite a few places on the planet, the humidity and high temperature is a problem. Lens optics (and optics in cameras) can get fungus, which is a living organism that attack and eats the glass. In the very beginning it can be fixed, some say, with peroxide or UV light.
I had a lens I bought from a friend in the Philippines, and when I sent it to Leica Camera AG for 6-bit coding, it had a little bit of fungus. They won't allow any lenses with fungus into the factory, but they had a facility in Hamburg that could treat it in 6-8 weeks, and after that they dealt with the coding.
The problem with fungus is that it keeps eating the glass, and it can even spread to other lenses. So photographers in most Asian countries know to have their equipment stored dry and warm.
You've seen the small white packages that always are enclosed with photographic equipment. They are supposed to suck up the humidity. Fungus-prevention.
Now B+W have invented this rather complicated product that is a way to protect the expensive and beloved lenses.
For us who live in more lens-friendly climates, there is only few things to be aware of:
1) Avoid storing lenses in humid leather pouches.
2) Avoid storing lenses in dark and humid places.
3) Be aware of possible fungus in lenses you buy that have been living their life in Asia.
4) Get tid of lenses with fungus; don't have them nearby your healthy lenses.
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Cool attitude
One of the things you must also get for your Leica is a cool attitude.
One of the things you must also get for your Leica M is a cool attitude. As Joe Nattapol Suphawong here in Bangkok.
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Music on the road
- The Beoplay A2, Dali Kubik Free, the Master & Dynamic and the Fendi Beats headphones
I've had a few Jambox loudspeakers back in 2012, the small Bluetooth speakers that has a much larger sound than their physical size. Unfortunately, they tend to fall on the floor and self-destruct, so those are in my past (the base would make the speaker move, and suddenly it landed on the floor).
The next thing I got was the Bang & Olufsen B&O Beoplay A2 portable bluetooth speaker. It's larger than the Jambox, a little heavier, but amazingly portable with a handstrap and 2 x 30W amplifier! The sound is impressive and almost unreal big for a speaker this size.
What I use it for?
We use it when we do photo shoots and model shoots and need some Beyonce or sexy music to set the mood for the shoot. And I use it in hotel rooms and apartments. It's a decision of course if one want to fill up a stripe of space in the suitcase with a loudspeaker, but in my case it makes sense. I like to travel with very few thing, but things of importance or things I like. The Beoplay A2 is $399 from the Apple Store.
A more compact B&O speaker
In May 2016 Joy Villa got a Beoplay A1 for model shoots, which is an even more compact Bluetooth speaker than the Beoplay A2.
Joy's Beoplay A1 in the gym with her. It's small and portable (600g).
The bigger speaker, the bigger sound
The bigger sound you want, the bigger the speaker gets. The cleaner sound, the heavier it gets. So while Joy went with the B&O compact Beoplay A1, I went the other way and got a DALI Kubik Free active Bluetooth speaker for travel. It's for travel, but it needs to be plugged to power. It doesn't have a battery.
My DALI Kubik Free (with the travel bag it comes with in the background) on its first gig as my workshop sound in Berlin. Leica M9 with Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0. Unlike most Bluetooth speakers it's not actually meant to stand out in the open. The sound and feeling of a large room improves greatly when it's placed with a wall behind it. It can play really REALLY LOUD without losing a beat.
I've known the Danish factory Dali Speakers for quite a few years. I've used their DALI Skyline 1000 at home for many years. I find their sound philosophy very agreeable with what I stand for. Which in many ways is the same as in photography: Simplicity, and un-edited neutral precision in every detail.
The details are extremely important as they make up the whole experience. That's true for both photography and loudspeakers. As in photography, music is communication of emotions and I try to find tools that can capture, relay and express this without making it artificial or untrue to the original.
Joy Villa in the Berlin apartment with the Beoplay A1, Beoplay A2 and the DALI Kubik Free wireless speakers. Leica M9 with Leica 75mm Summilux-M f/1.4.
Even the DALI Kubik Free is 4.5 kilo (9 pounds; the Beoplay A2 is 1.1 kg/2.2 pounds), I decided to dedicate a corner of the suitcase to it.
The DALI Kubik Free without the front. I've been so happy with it, I ordered the Dali Kubik Free Xtra that connects with this one with a cable and makes it a set of stereo speakers. This set if for places where I stay for a while as they don't go in a suitcase, but in storage, when I travel. In the front is the B&O H9i headphones (see further down).
On the road with the best Bluetooth sound. In 2017 I got the Dali Katch battery-powered Bluetooth speaker that beats the Beoplay A2 on weight and - more importantly - sound. By far. This is my preferred travel speaker. You can also set up two of them as stereo, but that's a little too complicated for me (you have to keep both connected on Bluetooth). Here it's bringing music to my workshop in Amsterdam in May 2017.
Headphones
Master & Dynamic headphones Made in New York ($398) is one of my favorite right now. The wireless Beats Solo 2 ($298) Apple gifted me are cool and sexy (but are warm and tight on the ears). The Master & Dynamic sits comfortably on the head without pressing the ears (and glasses if you wear those). The sound isolation is in top, and the sound quality is really good!
Master & Dynamic Noctilux 0.95 Edition
Master & Dynamic started out with a mission to unite design and good sound, so no surprise they liked to use Leica cameras also. Their enthusiasm for Leica resulted in a headphone series dedicated to the Noctilux 0.95. Available in silver and black (as the lens), and in different models.
Master of the Universe headphones from Master & Dynamic. Made in the USA.
Beats vs Master & Dynamic
Getting music when out and about is a constantly changing game these days. I've used in-ear headphones a lot because they are easy to travel with, but recently I have used Beats and Master & Dynamics headphones.
The Beats by Dr. Dre gold wireless headphones are a really nice design-piece. Not having to deal with a cable is a lot nicer than you would think. Suddenly you can walk away from the phone or computer and keep listening (or talking; it also has built-in microphone). The build quality and the "invisible" touch-buttons built into the design for adjustment of volume, muting, skipping to next track, etc. as well as battery indicator is very well designed. The sound is the Beats sound, like it or not. Sometimes you need that extra punch.
The new black in headphones are the Masters of the Universe we got recently. They are the silver aluminum/brown calfskin Master & DynamicMH40. We got them with the microphone you attach to the mini-jack, not knowing the headphones already comes with two cables. One of them with built-in microphone and volume control (and skip to next track). The headphones also features a mute button on the headphones themselves you can press if you need to hear something or talk to somebody. Pretty neat! But the main feature is the sound that has really good deep bass, but far from the cluttered Beats sound. They sit better on the head than Beats (which can be painful if you wear glasses as they press the frame into the head).
Since I saw the FENDI X Beats that comes in yellow, red, black or blue calfskin as a special limited hand-sewn edition, I wasn't able to put the idea off. When I lost my Shure in-ear on a plane and desperately needed new headphones (all my other three sets of Beats in orange, gold and black were home) ... the Fendi store in New York made sure to tempt me.
I'm a weak person. They're big, but boy are they beautiful to look at and touch. I noticed that the yellow calfskin bag they come with could work as a camera pouch ... as an excuse.
My Beats x Fendi Pro Headphones. It's fashion porn. It's the headphones I love the most, not for comfort, but for how special they are.
Beoplay H9i wireless with Active Sound Cancellation
There's russian caviar, American jeans and Scandinavian design. All regions have something special.
Denmark have LEGO, Wegner chairs, PH lamps and Bang & Olufsen stereo.
I felt an urge to bring something from my home country (Denmark) with me when I saw the Beoplay E8 in-ear Bluetooth headphones. I got a set, but I wasn't that impressed with the sound quality. I was just about to send them back to B&O when Joy snapped them from me and now loves them to bits in the gym. She used a similar set of Jabra 100 Sport before these.
Unfulfilled as I was, I soon noticed that Band & Olufsen was coming out with the Beoplay H9i, and I managed to visit the local B&O store the morning they were released, a few hours before I was hopping on an airplane. My review in short is that I was and am exhilarate to have found yet another pair of headphones.
They sound quality of the Beoplay H9i is actually very good. These are my only headphones with Active Sound Cancellation since I had some Sennheiser 250 years ago. While the Shure in-ear does isolate quite a bit, there is nothing like the silence of Active Sound Cancellation - with or without music - on an airplane flight.
The touch-feature on the right side of the headphones for start/stop, adjusting volume, skipping a track and so on is a tad too advanced to remember. Mostly, if there is the minor amount of dirt on them, that tend to stop the music (or video if you are using them for that) abruptly. Also, headrests, pillows, long hair or anything else fairly close to the right side of the headphones will have the same effect (that the music stops). Bummer.
On the plane I have used the Shure in-ear headphones though I have a troubled relationship to them. I've had two sets of Shure SE 535 that died on airplanes and now have a third set.
If the cables get tangled into something - as they easily does on most airplanes - the earpiece break. Getting them replaced is almost impossible and usually cost the same as a new set of earphones. If it's jus the cable, that is easily replaced.
When it had happened twice for my SE 535 (and once for Joy's Shure SE425 in-ear phones), I decided I might as well try the new $999 Shure SE 846 in-ear phones that reportedly should be the best sound.
Unfortunately, the SE 846 comes with a whole kit of stuff to unscrew and change the setup inside ... just not made for travel. And what is worse is that the headphones unscrew themself. They have many advantages but - for me - they've been a little expensive in keeping running. The bass seems a little exaggerate in the SE 846. Not like Beats, but enough to make the bass dirty (and distortion is painful for the ears). The SE 535 is probably the closest to monitor sound.
I was almost relieved when I forgot the black box with the SE 846 on another airplane (note to myself: put something bright orange or yellow onto the black box so it can be seen in an airplane!).
After a few months I succumbed and bought a set of Shure SE 535 in limited RED edition in Tokyo. Despite all my enthusiasm for sound, the Shure has been my most trusted travel-companion. Very high quality sound, very strong sound-isolation, and very easy to fit into a bag dus to the small size.
Shure in-ear goes Bluetooth
Generally speaking, using Bluetooth reduces the sound quality with about 20%, but it's practical not to have cables. For the Shure you can now get a wireless cable that fits all models. The ShureRMCE-BT1 cable is $99 at BH Photo and elsewhere.
Buy this New eBook by Thorsten Overgaard
In this easy to read and apply eBook, Thorsten Overgaard takes you on a journey to see, understand and simply use light.
"One of the most important ways to get an aesthetic and pleasant picture is to find the good light."
"Finding the Magic of Light"
eBook for computer and iPad Only $47.
The adapter for the Leica M 240 and Leica M-P 240 that allow it to take PL mount lenses (Leica Cine lenses) ships from CW Sonderoptic in Wetzlar since April 2015. The adaptor is a baseplate and handgrip with an adaptor mounted and makes the Leica M 240 into Leica Cine video camera and/or a director's viewfinder, allows set photographers to use the same lenses as the film camera, and of course Leica M 240 owners to buy or rent Leica Cine lenses and use them on their Leica M 240.
Leica M240 with the Leica M PL Mount Adaptor. More info.
The PL Mount Adaptor for Leica M 240 and Leica M 246. There hasn't been made one for Leica M10 (which hasn't got video).
Buy a Leica Cine lens for your still camera
The Leica Cine lenses now are sold as single lenses as well and not just in sets of $105,000 (for the Summicron-C lenses) and $350,000 for a set of Summilux lenses.
Most Summicron-C lenses are in the range of $17,500 (or €12,000) plus the PL to M adaptor that is around $2,400. The Summilux-C lenses are about 100% more expensive and 30-40% larger. The Leica Cine lenses covers the full frame from 75mm and up.
My Leica M240 with the Leica M PL Mount Adaptor and Leica Cine 18mm Summicron-C f/2.0. The lens is put into the PL mount and locked in place with the aluminum handle you see sticks out.
Here's the music video Joy Villa released at Grammys 2016, "Empty" made with Leica M 240 and Leica Cine Lenses:
Macro photography is for nerds who love to lie under the flowers in the garden and play with insects. Right, but it is also a new way of seeing the world in many other regards. When you start to do macro, you start to notice details in woodwork, the bell on the bicycle, the steam rising from the hot coffee. It can be very intersting and is not as easy as you would think. It's a new way of seeing.
OUFRO
Fortunately for some, unfortunately for others, already before the Leica M 240 was available in March 2013, some of us started collecting the Leitz OUFRO macro ring that rather simple makes any M lens into macro. It is massive brass ring with a Leica M bayonet in each end, moving the lens 10mm away from the body of the camera and excludes light coming in. It was an acessory of the 60' and 70's with the Visoflex housing. With the Live View of the Leica M 240 it suddenly made sense again!
They used to be $50 - $100 on eBay for those who could see the use of them, and one could even buy several so as to stack them on the lens (and get greater magnification). All the new popularity of this outdated piece of metal resulted in a current price range of $200 to $600 on eBay, making the OUFRO almost as expensive as inkjet ink per kilo.
The Leitz OUFRO macro adapter ring from the 60's and 70's is in use again, hence the prices on eBay has increased with up to 500% in just one year.
The new OUFRO - The Leica Macro Adapter M
In May 2014 Leica Camera AG released the Leica Macro Adapter M ring that basically is the re-make of the Leica OUFRO. Now with a bit-code on the bayonet to feel the presence of the adapter.
The Leica 90mm Macro-Elmar M f/4 Macro Kit
The classic macro kit from Leica is still available - both new and second-hand - and is a marvel of engineering to touch and play with. The good thing about it is that it also works on Leica M9, Leica M Monochrom and Leica M film cameras. That's where you use the goggles; to adjust the viewfinder to the closer view.
But the Leica 90mm Macro-Elmar-M f/4.0 also works as a normal 90mm lens by itself.
The current macro kit consisting of the excellent 90mm Macro-Elmar-M f/4.0 and the Macro-Adapter-M. The kit sells for a little less than $4,000 while the adapter itself without lens is $695.
The precious macro set with googles and angle-finder. Leica 90mm Macro-Elmar-M f/4.0, Angle viewfinder M (not seen in this photo) and Macro Adapter M. Photo by Harry's Pro Shop.
The price is a little steep, perhaps inspired by the eBay market prices. In fact it is €550 or $690. Small things in photography comes with a large price. But then again, it does convert all your Leica M lenses into precious macro instrument.
The Leica Macro Adapter M is basically a re-make of the now extremely popular Leitz OUFRO. It does not have any optics in it, it only extends the lens from the body.
One easily overseen detail is that the macro ring is variable! It is very neatly designed and is a real piece of Leica engineering. One turns the ring and it expands, as simple as that. $690 at BH Photo.
As can be seen in this image, the extent of macro (how far out the lens is moved from the Leica M body) is different from the OUFRO to the Leica M Macro adapter.The OUFRO is about 10mm extended and is a compact choice for traveling to have a macro possibility that give closer-than-usual possibilities. The Leica M Macro adapter get's you even closer and is, I guess, a real macro adapter for those who want to do really close-up macro.
Size proportions for the Leica Macro M adapter and the OUFRO
Leica Macro Adapter at closest (most extended) distance
Novoflex in Germany, who used to produce quite a few of the funny add-ons for Leica back in the day, came out with a new gadget almost as simple as the OUFRO in April 2014. But then they made it a little bit more advanced by adding several rings of different extension which one can use individually, or all together. Depending on the use of the 3 inner rings the magnification can be between 1:0,28:1 and 1:0,84 (with a 50mm lens). It is very well-made of light-weight material (whereas the OUFRO is massive brass with a chrome layer) and has a bit code as well.
The Novoflex tube set also allow one to attach Visoflex II/III to Leica M Type 240. Now, either you have all that Visoflex jazz from back when, or this will get you started surfing eBay for Visoflex odd things that suddenly are of interesting use again. Whoever get the idea first get to buy it for the least. This is the reason the set is called Adapter Set for Visoflex II/III to Leica M Type 240, though it is basically a macro tube set for any Leica M lens (that at the same time enables infinity focus with Visoflex lenses and functions as a Visoflex extension tube set).
If you want to nerd all out on Macro, why not go for the full killer kit? The Leica R Bellows was made by Novoflex for Leica and is for anyone who are serious about getting to the tiniest details. It's actually so detailed that you cannot get the same 1:3 view as with the previous adapter/tubes. You get way closer.
Also, to use it you need a Leica R-to-M Adapter to connect the tubes to the camera, as well as one or more Leica R lenses, and of course the Leica R Bellows them self ($500 or so on eBay).
If you want to go all the way, the Leica Bellows also exist for Visoflex, which means that you need a Vioflex housing (the mirror and adapter) as well as Visoflex lenses. All available on eBay for either very small money, or very expensive; Depends on how rare and sought after they are. Some items are considered old metal, others are collected as stamps).
The Leica R Bellows is for the serious nerd. They take all Leica R lenses but require a Leica R-to-M Adapter ($310) as well to connect to the Leica M 240. Here shown with a Leica 400mm Telyt-R f/6.8 which actually makes some nice macro shots from a far distance ... though not exactly a compact travel kit.
Microphones for the Leica M 240
If you want to do video with the Leica M 240, one of the things you have to look at, is sound. At least if you want the sound to be in the same quality range as the imagery. Visitpage 37 for more on microphones.
My external ZOOM sound recorder I use for the Leica M240 allow stereo recording, and at the same time up to four more wired or wireless microphones. Visitpage 37 for more.
The Things You Don't Need for your Leica M
To justify all the things you might get, it's good to balance it all with taking something out of the camera bag.
1. You don't need lens caps
With a rangefinder you may easily forget to remove the lens cap. But moreover, the lens don't really need all that protection unless you throw it in a bag full of coins and keys. And that would in any case ruin the paint on the barrel.
The way most of us carry lenses, is in a soft compartment in a bag, or on a camera around the neck. In those instances, the lens does not need a lens cap.
It is quite unpractical to have to keep an eye on a lens cap when you want to take a photo. Did you take it off? Where do you put it while you take the photo, and did you remember to put it on again or did you forget it on the table?
2. You don't need UV-filters
Having protective filters on the lenses is something we seem to be taught about from we start photographing. Fact is that the UV-filter glass is much more soft and less resistant than the glass on the lens. Hence the UV-filter is more likely to get scratches than your lens.
With the Leica 50mm Noctilux-M you will see reflections of light when using an UV-filter. It says directly in the manual for the lens not to use one. It is logical that adding an extra layer of glass doesn't improve the image quality. The manual of the Leica M Noctilux actually say not to use UV filters on this lens.
Carry the lens wide open and proud, the lens shade will take care of some of the protection, and most lenses are scratched when not in use, rather than when they are being carried and used.
Leica M 240 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. @ 2013-2014 Thorsten Overgaard.
A funny note was that I taught a workshop in Korea, and on the third day - after that everyone is well aware that one does not need UV-filters but should get ND-filters, we go to a Leica Store to see if they might have ND-filters. They didn't, but when we get outside the store I notice one of the students have put on a UV-filter on his Noctilux. I ask him, and he tells me "I walked up to the counter, and the guy said, ´Uh! You need to protect that lens' and then he sold me a UV-filter".
Now, this is rather hilarious because Leica makes UV-filters that you don't need but doesn't make ND-filters that you actually do need. And it is very "photo store thinking" that you should get UV-filters, paper cloths and air blowers to clean your lenses, backpacks, flashes and tripods. Grr!
3. You don't need stickers and plastic covers
The Leica M cameras comes with a sticker under the bottom plate because the law requires it. And for some reason the only part of the camera that has protective plastic on it, is the bottom plate (this piece of metal that cost €90 as a spare part!).
Ms. Brenda removing the sticker of her Leica M
Now, both have to go. You can't have a "Made in Germany" art piece of industrial design with 100 years of tradition behind their brand - and then a black sticker and plastic on it. Cars come from the factory covered in plastic because they are transported by ships and truck, but you wouldn't drive a car wrapped in plastic, would you?
No.
The sticker can be hard to remove, but you do it with your nails. The rest of the glue from the sticker goes right off with gasoline. It takes less than 5 minutes and is a great feeling, almost religious. This is the point where you take ownership and responsibility for your camera. Now you can use it!
4. You don't need leather pouches for lenses
For some reason Leica lenses comes in leather pouches. You should keep the original boxes and everything in them if you can (or give it to a dealer; he will be happy!). They are good when you eventually sell the lens. If you visit vintage camera stores, you will realize that original boxes, hoods and pouches can be more expensive than what was inside. So even if you plan to never sell anything, then think of your kids. When you die, those boxes will be worth a fortune (including the grey protective box that is outside the actual box). Just one of those things ...
But leather is a bad combination with glass. A lens inside a leather pouch may grow fungus, which is a living thing that eat the glass. Fungus grow best in dark and high humidity. No better place to put your lenses if you want to see how fungus looks like, or mushrooms. So keep the leather pouches, but don't use them.
The Leica Multi(dys)functional Handgrip with GPS - Oh my!
If you like to have extra grip on the camera, the Multifunctional Handgrip or Leica M Handgrip is not a bad idea. It may look bulky at first, but in real life it is very light-weight and doesn't add bulkiness to the Leica M 240. With the Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 or other large lenses as 90mm and 135mm - and of course the R lenses and other brand lenses added to the M240 with an adapter, the handgrip comes in handy.
The ones I have met who had the Leica M Handgrip were really happy with. It sits tight on the camera, and the design is in alignment with the historic industrial design of the Leica M. If the grip does not sit tight, it an error.
But why not get the Multifunctional Handgrip that is just a little bit lager but offer extra features? That's what I said and thought, and that's how I ended up having one when I stumbled over one in December 2013.
I shouldn't have done that.
First off the Multifunctional Handgrip took 9 months to appear in stores, after the release of the Leica M240. So one would think it was really good when it finally arrived. Also, the price is $895.
My initial impression was that the build quality was really impressive. But I happened to pick my handgrip up in Australia, and then I went to China, Singapore and Tokyo. "Great with some GPS locations when traveling!" I thought.
This photo was taken outside a hotel in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo according to the GPS. Elementary when you know why, but still confusing when you know it is on a China Easter airplane somewhere over Korea. Why can't it just admit it doesn't know where it is?And why isn't the last recorded location the airport in Tokyo, before taking off?When you have spent enough time figuring over questions like that, you stop using it.
Unfortunately the Multifunctional Handgrip stopped working in China, and when I tried to find out what was wrong, I learned that Leica "for legal reasons" have disabled GPS in China and Cuba. One could discuss this for a long time, because why then haven't Nikon, Apple and everybody else disabled their GPS? Most likely because Leica has misunderstood things. It is not illegal to track GPS, but it is illegal to plot certain things location with GPS (and I am sure taking photos of those things - with or without GPS - would bring one in trouble as well).
The actual troubles with the GPS handgrip showed up in Singapore and Tokyo. The initial problem, once I started using the handgrip for real, is that it is very slow at tracking GPS. It takes a while for the handgrip to actually locate where you are. If you go under a thin metal roof, inside a car or train or through and airport, it takes a while to get back on track. No idea how to help the device to get on with it, there is no guide in the manual how to activate it further than setting the menu to ON under GPS.
Some smart guy who has spent too much time trying to program this rather low-technology device, made the decision to keep the last logged GPS-location in the Multifunctional Handgrip till it found a new one. This will result in faulty locations when the device hasn't found the new location. Which it doesn't more often than it does. It will simply stick with the previous one, not matter where and how old. This gives some intersting locations when you travel with underground trains, and even if you go in and out of buildings in a city. It may take hours, sometimes even days before the Multifunctional Handgrip finds a new and current location.
The stupidity of this "applied intelligence" was obvious when I arrived in Singapore from China. For two days the GPS unit would switch ON, and then immediately switch off "for legal reasons".
Why? Because it still thought it was in China!
The reason why GPS doesn't work
There are two things to know about GPS, and only one of them you can influence.
It takes a GPS unit up to 15 minutes to find a GPS signal. When you use a GPS unit in your car, it uses the position where you parked and works from there till it finds a new signal. That is why, if you turn off the GPS some time before you arrive, it starts from that previous position and/or waits for signal.
So the Leica M 240 with the Multidysfunctional Handgrip set to power off after 2 minutes (which is what I generally recommend to have battery for almost a full day), will need up to 15 minutes of photographing before it know where it is. This seldom happens when walking in a city where the camera may be in use a few minutes, then after another two minutes of inactivity it powers off. In other words, it never has time to finds a position.
You can have the camera on all the time and switch on and off the EVF-2 and Live View manually to save battery. That will allow the GPS unit to have time to find a position.
The other factor in GPS is the quality of the GPS unit. Modern advanced GPS-units can find their position inside buildings by using reflecting signals from other buildings, calculating the exact distance and hence position. The Leica Multifunctional Handgrip is not of that type. Cars, trains and thin roofs will block the signal.
Someone mentioned that GPS works well in the US, and that is true. It works better in some countries and locations than other.
The reason why iPhone works
The iPhone and iPad use a database Apple Computer has of where WiFi routers are located. It is an old system meant for locating distress signals, and Apple has the database and thus use the WiFi signals to locate the phone. It doesnt need access to the WiFi networks, only their name to know the location.
Singapore, December 2013. Leica M 240 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95
Another curious thing the Multifunctional Handgrip has been programmed with, is that it will adjust the time zone according to the GPS.
As the Multifunctional Handgrip often loses track of where it is, it will go back and forth between the time in the camera and the real time zone. If your images are imported into Lightroom and appear in the order they are photographed (which mine is), they make no sense. For a moment I thought I had lost half my pictures. Then I realized that it was the Multifunctional Handgrip playing up. You can of course change the sorting in Lightroom to the image numbering.
But it would be easier if the damn thing worked.
A gangster in Singapore. Leica M 240 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95
A true Multi(dys)functional Handgrip. It is a great example of what happens when someone tries to implement too much intelligence into a low-technology device.
This relocation may take anything from two minutes to several days and you have no idea how to provoke the GPS Multifunctional Handgrip to look for a new location. You would think going outside and turning the camera on would make the handgrip look for where it is. Not so. It may be used outdoor several times, for a long while, turned on and off over hours and days without noticing the location has actually changed.
The GPS INFO menu
If one press INFO on the Leica M240 (the silver button by your right thumb) while the Multifunctional Handgrip is mounted, and GPS is turned ON in the menu, there is three differnt symbols that may show:
- A satelite (means that it has recorded a position within the last minute).
- A satelite with a X (means that it is using a location that is up to 24 hours old)
- A satelite with a I (means that the recording is it using is more than 24 hours old).
When reviewing the image files, one can press the INFO button and the image will show a satelite, which is very comforting, but basically means it stores none or some location. You have no idea till you get the image imported.
The GPS location is stored only in the DNG, not the JPG.
The images with wrong GPS data is of course a sort of "data pollution" as you cannot really strip the file of the wrong data. If or when you use images on websites that locate the image, you will have an entirely new problem!
Remote control and tethered photography with the Leica M 240
The Leica Multifunctional Handgrip (14495) allow you to connect the camera with the computers USB port, and using the Leica Image Shuttle 2 software, you can see previews on the computer screen right after the photos has been taken.
The menu of the camera is also visible on the screen so that you can change light metering methods, shutter time, white balance and many other things. And of course you can release the shutter from the computers screen.
No live view on the computer screen. The camera will write the images to a destination folder on the computer. It stores the JPG and DNG if you shoot DNG + JPG Fine, but it shows only the JPG preview on the screen. It does not store on the SD card in the camera.
it doesn't load automatically into Lightroom. You will have to refresh/import the destination folder into Lightroom when you want to see the images there.
The setup with Leica Multifunctional Handgrip. The cable that comes with the handgrip connects the camera to the computer. The preview from the camea does not show onthe computer, only the preview of the last taken picture.
Downloading viaLeica Multifunctional Handgrip
When you photograph DNG+JPG Fine, the storage time is about 3-4 seconds per compressed DNG, 6 seconds for uncompressed. That is, if you have Live View off. If Live View is on, it takes 45 seconds to store one image.
One can of course use the USB connection on the handgrip to download images, but it will take about 8x as long as if one inserted the SD-card into the computers SD-card reader.
Charging viaLeica Multifunctional Handgrip The camera can be powered continuously via the handgrip, as well as the battery can be charged without taking it out. Remember the cable, though!
Pocket Wizard viaLeica Multifunctional Handgrip One can connect a Pocket Wizard via the Leica Multifunctional Handgrip so as to keep the hotshoe available for the EVF-2. Though Pocket Wizard told me they did not for sure have a way to make it work. So somebody else will have to play with that and see if it actually will work.
All this I learned for $895 ...
When you got all that, then what's next?
The ultimate gadget for the Leica M9 owner with all the extras ... well, here it is: TheArtisan & Artist leather collar for your cat or dog. Or as an arm wrist, if you like, available in black, red, gold and other colors.
A&A is mainly a Japanese producer of luxury bags and belts, so the camera bags and camera straps are just because the owner of A&A happens to like photography. They also produce iPhone covers, iPad covers and more.
Leica Photographers Gloves from Leica Store Tokyo
If you are familiar with the Leica Store Tokyo, you are also familiar with the fact that they like to create nice design for Leica products, ranging from well-designed Leica shopping bags to the Leica M7 Hermes Special Edition (the chrome with orange leather - Leica Japan is still partly owned by Hermes). Leica Store Tokyo is also the place to find the Leica gloves, designed and made for Leica Store Tokyo, and only available there. The price is 6,000 Yen ($75), and if you try to get them, be aware it is Japanese sizes. The largest is the "Large" which is equivalent to "Medium" in Europe and USA.
As a very special inside for any Leica M9 owner looking for something absolutely special, keep an eye out for the 50 Year Anniversary edition at the Leica Store Tokyo. They celebrate the 50th year anniversary in spring 2011, and I bet they will come up with an interesting and well-designed M9.
The accessory you won't be able to live without: Special edition Leica gloves with Pittard WR101X leather inside and stretchable Polartec on the outside (The camera is another story, just a funny key chain, not from Leica Store Tokyo).
Thorsten Overgaard's Shopping List for Anything
Lenses:
39mm ND Filter 0.9 3-stop 8X for 50mm APO and 35mm Summicron - From BH / From Amazon
46mm ND Filter 0.9 3-stop 8X for 35mm Summilux - From BH / From Amazon
49mm ND Filter 0.9 3-stop 8X for 28mm Summilux - From BH / From Amazon
50mm ND Filter 0.9 3-stop 8X for 50mm Noctilux - From BH / From Amazon
Series VIII ND Filter 0.9 3-stop 8X for 21mm Summilux - From BH
White balance and light metering:
WhiBal white balance card in credit card size - FromAmazon
1:2/50 the description says.
But what does it mean?
1: = Basically means 1 divided with. On the lens to the right, it means that the diameter of the hole throught he lens is 25mm.
We would normall call it
a 50mm f/2.0 lens. The writing of 1:2/50 is a tradition from the 1800's of specifying a lens, which reveals quite a bit about the construction: Focal length 50mm simply means that the distance from center of focus inside the lens to the focusing plane (the sensor or film) is 50mm, and the aperture of f/2 or 1:2 means that the diameter of the hole the light comes throught is 25mm (50mm divided with 2 = 25mm).
In traditional lens design, one could usually tell from looking at the length of a lens if it was a 400mm, 100mm or 35mm. Newer designs with mirrors (in tele lenses) and more corrections (in wide lenses) can make the size of the lenses shorter or longer, but the distance from center of focus to sensor in a modern 50mm lens will still be 50mm for a 50mm and 400mm for a 400mm, and so on.
See Focal length and Aperture further down for more.
35mm
a) 35mm lens is a lens that has a viewing angle of view is 63°vertically, 54° horizontally and 38° vertically within a 35mm film frame or "full-frame" 24x36mm digital format. See Focal length further down.
b) 35mm focal length: the distance from center of focus inside the lens to the focusing plane (the sensor or film) is 35mm.
35mm film format (also known as full-frame)
c) 35mm film format (also known as full-frame in digital sensors) was a standard film format that came about in 1892 where the width of the film roll was 35mm, and it's been the most used format ever since. Only a format of 24 x 36mm is used for the photo on the film roll.
35mm film format was first used in 1892 by William Dickson and Thomas Edison for moving pictures with frames of 24 x 18mm, using film supplied by George Eastman (Kodak), and this became the international standard for motion picture negative film in 1909. Later other motion picture formats came about, such as Academy Ratio (22 x 16 mm), Widescreen (21.95 x 18.6 mm), Super 35 (24.89 x 18.66 mm) and Techiscope (22 x 9.47 mm).
The inventor of the Leica camera, Oskar Barnack, built his prototype Ur-Leica in 1913 as a device to test film stock and\ motion picture lenses and had it patented. Putting 35mm film format into a small camera gave him the idea "small negative, large print" and he decided to increase the size of each frame on the 35mm film to 24x36mm (for more detail and sharpness), and then invented an enlarger to make large prints from the small negative. The length of a film, 36 pictures, is said to have become the standard because that was how far Oskar Barnack could stretch his arms (when cutting film from larger rolls to put them into film rolls for the Leica camera).
d) 35mm equivalent is often given as a standard when talking about lenses in small compact-cameras or large format cameras with other sensor/film format than the 24 x 36mm frame. Example: A camera with a 12 x 18 mm sensor has a 14mm lens on it, and even the lens is actually a 14mm, it is specified as a 28mm lens because the viewing angle that ends up on the sensor is equivalent to a 28mm lens on a 35mm of full-frame camera.
The Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M
ASPH f/2.0 lens
50mm
a) 50mm lens is a lens that has a viewing angle of view is 47° vertically, 40° horizontally and 27° vertically within a 35mm film frame.
b) 50mm means there is 50mm from the center of focus inside the lens to the focal plane (sensor or film).
c) 50mm lens is often compared to the human eye. Not because of viewing angle (how wide it sees) but because of size ratio (how it sees). The 50mm lens is the lens that comes closest to the size that the human eye see things. Whereas the human eye has a much wider angle of view [120-200°] than the 50mm lens [47°].
AF = Auto Focus. The idea is that the camera does the focusing itself (the word auto comes from Greek "self").
Aperture = The same function as the iris and pupil has in the eye. The pupil in the eye is the dark circular opening in the center of the iris of the eye, varying in size to regulate the amount of light reaching the retina (the sensor area inside the eye).
Aperture on a camera is the f/ stop on the camera that regulates how much light passes through the lens by increasing or decreasing the hole through the lens. On a f/2.0 lens the lens is fully open" at f/2.0. At f/2.8 the aperture inside the lens make the hole through the lens smaller so only half the amount of light at f/2.0 passes through. For each f/-stop (4.0 - 5.6 - 8.0 - 11 - 16) you halve the light. The aperture of the lens is basically the focal length divided with the f/-stop = size of the hole (50mm divided with f/2.0 = the hole is 25 mm in diameter).
Besides regulating the amount of light (so as to match the correct exposure), the aperture also affects the dept of field: , which is how deep the sharpness is. To get the sough-after photos with narrow depth of field where the background is blurry, the lens has to be wide open at f/2.0 or so. Stopping the lens down to f/8 or f/16 will result on more depth of field, meaning the background will start becoming in focus. To maintain narrow depth of field, one can use the ISO sensitivity and/or the shutter speed to match the correct exposure (as aperture is only one of three ways to control the exposure; the correct amount of light). ORIGIN: Late Middle English : from Latin apertura, from apert- ‘opened,’ from aperire ‘to open’.
Aperture Priority Mode = When the shutter speed dial on top of a Leica M camera is set to A, it is short for “Aperture Priority” and allows the user to set a specific aperture value (f-number) while the camera selects a shutter speed to match it that will result in proper exposure based on the lighting conditions as measured by the camera's light meter. In other words, you set the aperture as priority (f/1.4 for example), and the camera calculates a shutter speed (1/250 of a second) that matches that. If you change the aperture to f/2.0 by changing the aperture ring on the lens, the camera will re-calculate the speed to 1/125 so as to get the same amount of light to hit the sensor (f/2.0 is half the light through the lens as f/1.4 and 1/125 if twice the amount of light on the sensor as 1/250).
APO corrected basically means that the red, green and blue has been corrected to meet more precisely in the same spot. Clarity of colors and definition of details would be the result.
APO = in lens terminology stands for "apochromatically corrected". In most lenses, optical design concentrates the focus of blue light and green light into a single plane, but red light falls slightly into another plane of focus. In APO lenses, the design and expense has been put in to making red light focus on the same plane as blue and green. Under a microscope you would see that all light subject is now in focus, creating a sharper image overall. Many manufacturers offer APO designs, but in most of these only the very center of the lens is APO corrected. Leica prides itself on making most of the frame APO corrected.
APo-correction has traditionally been used for long tele lenses (and periscopes), but in recent years APO-correction has been applied to 50mm and wide angle lenses as well. One will notice that the colors are really bright and alive, almost more real than to the eye, in lenses like the Leica 90mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 and 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0.
Apochromat; ORIGIN early 20th century, made of the two words; apo (Greek origin, away from) and chromatic (Latin origin, meaing relating to color).
spherical (ball)
a-spherical (non-ball)
ASPH = (Aspherical lens) stands for "aspheric design".
Most lenses have a spherical design - that is, the radius
of curvature is constant. These are easy to manufacture by
grinding while "spinning" the glass. This design
however restricts the number of optical corrections that can
be made to the design to render the most realistic image possible.
ASPH lenses (a-spherical, meaning non-spherical), however, involve usually 1 element that does
*not* have a constant radius of curvature. These elements
can be made by 1) expensive manual grinding, 2) molded plastic,
or 3) Leica's patented "press" process, where the element
is pressed into an aspherical ("non-spherical")
shape. This design allows Leica to introduce corrections
into compact lens designs that weren't possible before. Practically,
the lens performs "better" (up to interpretation)
due to increased correction of the image, in a package not
significantly bigger than the spherical version.
There is another Aspherical lens manufacture technique: an uneven coating layer is applied to a spherical lens. The coating is thicker on the edges (or on the center, depending). Canon "Lens Work II" calls these "simulated" aspherical lenses. Simulated and Glass-Molded (GMo) asphericals show up in non-L Canon lenses, while the L lenses have actual ground aspheric elements.
A- means non, or without.From Latin, ex. Sphere: ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French espere, from late Latin sphera, earlier sphaera, from Greek sphaira "ball".
Normal spheric lens (grinded)
ASPH (note the shape of the glass as result of pressing rather than grinding)
Auto- means “self”. The idea is that when a camera has auto-(something), it does that (something) by itself.
Banding = Noise in digital images. Horizontal lines in a horizontal picture (if the camera is in portrait mode/vertical, the lines will obviously be vertical). It's simply noise; the result of uncontrolled algorithms working overtime with an image the sensor really can't see because it's very dark. (If your image has vertical lines in it, it is more likely that the sensor needs remapping).
This image at 6400 ISO, underexposed and then brought up to correct exposure in Lightroom, displays banding: Horizontal lines in the image. Leica M-D 262 with Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0.
Base ISO = The ISO the digital sensor was born with. Even a digital sensor goes from say 50 ISO to 25,000 ISO, it only has one base ISO. Any other setting is an algorithm that figures out how the image whould look if there was 64 times more light, or half the light, etc.
When you go down from Base ISO (for example 200 to 100 ISO), you can expect a
decrease in quality. When you go up, the decrease is much less. For some sensors, you loose 2-3 stops by going down 1 step in ISO, but can go 8 steps up and only loose 1 stop in dynamic range. Basically, your ISO range should be from Base ISO and as far up as you can, before you see visible decrease in quality (mostly 3200 ISO - 6400 ISO).
Base ISO for Leica M9 is 160 ISO, for Leica M240 it is 200 ISO. For Leica M10 it is around 160 ISO. For Leica M Monochrom it is 320 ISO. For Leica Q and Leica Q2 it is around 100 ISO. For Panasonic Lumix S it is 200 ISO. For most Canon cameras the base ISO is around 100, for most Nikon cameras it is around 200 ISO.
Bokeh = The visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens: It's a matter of taste and usually photographers discuss a 'nice' or 'pleasant' bokeh (the out-of-focus area is always unsharp, which is why the quality discussed is if one likes the way it renders or not by a particular lens). The closer you get to something, the 'more' bokeh' you get (in that the focus becomes less for the background and foreground at close distances than at long distances). ORIGIN from Japanese 'bo-ke' which mean 'fuzzines' or 'blur.'.
C = Continuous shooting. When the ring by the Shutter Release on top of the camera (or in the menu of digital cameras that doesn't have such a feature on the outide of the camera) is moved from OFF to C, the camera takes series of images as long as the shutter release is pressed down. In some cameras the speed of continious shooting can be adjusted.
Camera comes from Chambre, mostly in relation to Spanish soldiers’ rooms. Obscura means 'dark', so a dark room is basically the derivation for the word camera.
Camera -is today’s short name for Camera Obscura (meaning “a dark room”). CamerameansChambre and was used only as a Latin or alien word, actually only for Spanish soldiers’ rooms, until popularized in connection with photography in 1727: “Camera Obscura”. In 1793 the slang term “camera” was used by Sterne Tr. Shandy: “Will make drawings of you in the camera” and by Foster (1878), “The eye is a camera”. Camera Obscura was described by Iraqi scientist Ibn-al-Haytham in his book, “Book of Optics” (1021) and by Leonardo da Vinci in 1500; popularized and made widely known in 1589 by Baptista Porta when he mentioned the principle in his book “Natural Magic”. Johannes Kepler mentions Camera Obscura in 1604.
Camera = chambre (room), Obscura = dark (or cover).
Why is it called a "camera"..?
The word Camera is today's short name for Camera Obscura (which originally means “a dark room”).
Origin of the word Obscura means "dark" or "covered", and the word Camera meansChambre and was used originally only as a Latin or alien word, actually only for Spanish soldiers' rooms, until popularized in connection with photography in 1727: “Camera Obscura”.
In 1793 the slang term “camera” was used by Sterne Tr. Shandy: “Will make drawings of you in the camera” and by Foster (1878), “The eye is a camera”.
Ibn-al-Haytham mentioned Camera Obscura in his "Book of Optics" in 1021.
The concept of Camera Obscura was described by Iraqi scientist Ibn-al-Haytham in his book, “Book of Optics” (1021) and by Leonardo da Vinci in 1500; popularized and made widely known in 1589 by Baptista Porta when he mentioned the principle in his book “Natural Magic”. Johannes Kepler mentions Camera Obscura in 1604.
Camera = chambre (room), Obscura = dark (or cover).
CCD sensor (as used in Leica M8, M9, Leica S)= (Charged Coupling Devices) - The first digital cameras used CCD to turn images from analog light signals into digital pixels. They're made through a special manufacturing process that allows the conversion to take place in the chip without distortion. This creates high quality sensors that produce excellent images. But, because they require special manufacturing, they are more expensive than their newer CMOS counter parts.
CLA
An acronym for "(C)lean, (L)ubricate & (A)djust", whereby the item is merely re-lubricated, fine-adjusted and calibrated rather than repaired. "I just got my equipment back from CLA at Leica"
CMOS sensor (as used in Leica CL, Leica T/TL/TL2, Leica M10, Leica M 240, Leica M Monochrom Typ 246, Leica S Typ 007, Leica SL, Leica Q, Leica Q2, Leica M10, Leica X, Leica D-Lux, etc.) = (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) chips use transistors at each pixel to move the charge through traditional wires. This offers flexibility because each pixel is treated individually. Traditional manufacturing processes are used to make CMOS. It's the same as creating microchips. Because they're easier to produce, CMOS sensors are cheaper than CCD sensors. CMOS allow Live View and use less energy than CCD.
Collapsible - Usually refers to a collapsible lens such as the Leica 50mm Elmarit-M f/2.8 Collapsible, or Leica 90mm Macro Elmar-M f4.0 Collapsible, etc. A collapsible lens is one that can collaps into a compact lens when not in use.
Contrast - The degree of difference between tones in a picture. Latin contra- ‘against’ + stare ‘stand.’
Normal to low contrast
High contrast
D-Lux (Digital Lux) = A series of compact digital cameras by Leica Camera AG developed with Panasonic since 2003. See my article "Compact Digital Leica Cameras" and my Leica D-Lux 7 review. Lux comes from Latin and means Light.
Lens distortion looks like this. The lines are not straight. Our eye uses distortion correction. Lens designers can design lenses so they have very little distortion, or they can make less complicated lens designs and "fix" the distortion in software.
Distortion = In photo optics/lenses: When straight lines in a scene don't remain straight because of optical aberration.
Lens designers can correct for distortion to a degree so the whole image field is perfect corrected and all lines remain straight. In modern lens design many designs rely on Software Distortion Correction (SDC).
The eye adjusts for distortion so we always see vertical and horizontal lines straight when we look at things. Even when you get new prescription glasses (if you use such), you will often experience distortion in your new glasses. After a few days they eyes have adjusted for the glasses and the distortion you saw to begin with is now gone. Software Distortion Correction (SDC) is far behind what the human eye can perform of adjustments. (Also see my definition on Perspective for more on the eye and optics)
DNG = Digital Negative, an open standard developed by Adobe. It is a single file that contains the raw image data from the sensor of the camera as well as date, time, GPS, focal length, settings, etc.
The alternative is a RAW file + XMP file where the RAW file contains the image information and the XMP contains the rest of information about where, how and when the picture was taken, as well as editing data when the photo is edited in Lightroom or Capture One.
A Camera Raw profile (that is specific for that camera) in the computer helps the software program, for example Adobe Lightroom, to translate the RAW data into the image. Camera producers provide a Camera profile with their camera, and Adobe makes their own 'refined' Adobe Raw camera profile for all new cameras.
A raw file (or DNG) is simply the full recording of digital data (1's and 0's) from the sensor. In the computer, the sensor data is translated into the exact colors, via a camera profile.
The lines on this 28mm lens indicates the DOF. Here the focus is on infinity, and if the lens is stopped down to f/1.6, objects from 1.8 meter to ininity will be 'acceptable sharp'.
DOF = Depth of Field (or Depth of Focus), an expression for how deep the focus is, or (more often use to express) how narrow the area of focus is. This is how much of the image, measured in depth or ditance, will be in focus or "acceptable sharp".
The appearance of the DOF is determined by:
1) aperture (the smaller the aperture hole is, the deeper is the depth of field, and opposite, the wider open a lens you se, the more narrow will the DOF be) and
2) distance to the subject (the farther away, the larger area is sharp; the closer the subject in focus is, the more narrow the DOF gets)..
The DOF scale measurement on top of the Leica lenses shows lines for each f-stop that indicates from which distance to which distance the image will be sharp. Shallow DOF is a generally used term in photography that refer to lenses with very narrow focus tolerance, like f/1.4 and f/0.95 lenses, which can be used to do selective focus; making irrelevant subjects in the foreground and background blurry so only the subjects of essence are in focus and catches the viewers eye).
in modern cameras like the Leica SL2, the camera has a DOF scale inside the viewfinder. As DOF is the same for all lens brands and designs, only depending on focal length, distance and aperture f-stop, the camera can calculate it and show a 'digital DOF scale" in the viewfinder.
Depth Of Field scale from Fujifilm, same lens with different aperture settings from f/2.0 to f/8.0.
Dynamic range. The grade of ‘contrast range’ (or number of tones) a film or sensor, or simply a photograph, possess between bright and dark tones. The human eye is said to have a dynamic range of 10-14 ‘stops’ (but because we scan area by area and compile a concept of the overall scene, they eye is often thought to have a much higher dynamic range), Film used to have 7-13 ‘stops’ and some modern sensors have up to 15-17 ‘stops’.
E - Diameter in Leica filters and screw diameter, as in E46 which means that the filter diameter is 49mm for this lens. In general language, one would see Ø46 used, as Ø is the general symbol for diameter.
Elmar = Refers to the maximum lens aperture - here f3.5 . Historically derived from the original 1925 50mm f3.5 Elmax lens, which was an acronym of (E)rnst (L)ieca and Professor (Max) Berek, designer of the original lenses. Later that year the 50mm f3.5 Elmar superceded the Elmax, which was discontinued due to its complexity and high cost of manufacture.
Elmarit = Refers to the maximum lens aperture - here f2.8 . The name is obviously derived from the earlier (and slower) "Elmar" designation. Not every f/2.8 lens is called an "Elmarit" though, the most obvious current exception being the 50mm f2.8 Elmar-M collapsible lens which for nostalgia and marketing reasons has kept the original 1930's Elmar name (the 50mm f3.5 collapsible Elmar, manufactured 1930-59, was one of Leica's most famous and popular lenses). Vario-Elmarit (and Vario-Summicron, etc) is Leica Camera AG's name for zoom lenses.
Elmax
Elmax lens named after = Ernst Leitz + Max Berak. Ernst Leitz was the founder of Ernst Leitz Optical Industry which later became Leica. Professor Dr.Max Berak was employed at Leica in 1912 and was the architech of the first Leica lens which Ernst Leitz asked him to design for the "Barnack's camera" (the 1913-prototype named after Oscar Barnack who invented it). The lens was a f/3.5 50mm and was known as the Leitz Anstigmat and later the Elmax.
The Leitz Elmax 50mm f/3,5 (1925-1961) on the Leica A camera (1925) camera. Photo by Marco Cavina.
EVF = Electronic ViewFinder. A viewfinder where you look at a small screen through optics/prisms. The advantage is that you see what the sensor sees.
The EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) on the Leica SL 601.
EXIF =Exchangeable Image File, a file generated in camera and enclosed in the image file that contains recording information on the image such as shutter speed, exposure compensation, what metering system was used, aperture setting, ISO setting, date and time the image was taken, whitebalance, which lens was used, camera model and serial number. Some images may even store GPS information so you can see where the image were taken. The data from the EXIF file continues to follow any later editions of the image and can be read in photo editing software such as Capture One and Lightroom, as well as Photoshop (go to the menu File > File Info). There is also software available that can read EXIF data from any file, like Exifdata.com.
The EXIF data is all the information about shutter speed, metering method, ISO, etc. - and then some more that you don't see on the screen (such as camera model, serial number, lens used, etc).
Exposure Bracketing = The possibility to set the camera to automatically record a series of images where the exposure is above and below what the camera measures. The idea is that at least one of the images will be correctly exposed.
f/ (f-stop, also known as aperture).
f- (focal length). Often given in mm, for example 90mm. In the past they were often given in cm or inch, for example 9.5 cm or 3.2 inch.
f-stop = the ratio of the focal length (for example 50mm) of a camera lens to the diameter of the aperture being used for a particular shot. (E.g., f/8, indicating that the focal length is eight times the diameter of the aperture hole: 50mm/8 = 6,25 mm); or the other way around, the hole is the focal length divided with 8).
ORIGIN early 20th cent.: from f (denoting the focal length) and number.
One f-stop is a doubling or halving of the light going through the lens to the film, by adjusting the aperture riing. Adjusting the f-setting from f 1.4 to f.2.0 is halving the light that goes through the lens. Most Leica lenses has half f-stops to enable the photographer to adjust the light more precicely.
Filters = Glass filters you put in front of the lens. A much used filter is the claer UV filter that is supposed to protects the front of the lens. Other filters are color filters that add effects to black and white photography by changing the color balance. Other filters are ND (Neutral Density) filters that reduce the amount of light coming through (used for for example video recordings as video is usuallu filmed at 1/50th second shutter speed and thus most lenses are too bright wide open. Or they are used for long exposure photography in order to record for example stars movements over the sky. Other filters are filters that create star effects, or blur the view, and almost any effect you can think of.
A traditional Yellow filter in 49mm diameter to screw onto the front of the lens. The yellow filter is used for black and white photography where it slightly darkens skies, helps to cut through haze, and improves overall contrast. Yellows and reds within the scene are also lightened.
Flare = Burst of light. Internal reflections between (and within) lens elements inside a lens. Mostly, flare has a characteristic "space travel" look to it, making it cool. Particularly in older lenses with less or no coating of the glass surfaces to suppress this, it can be a really cool effect. In newer lens designs, the coatings and overall design try to suppress flare and any reflections to a degree, so that there is seldom any flare to be picked up (moving the lens to pick up a strong sunbeam), but instead a "milking out" (or "ghosting") of a circular area of the frame; meaning simply overexposed without any flare-looking flares.
Sunlight creating (fairly supressed) flare in the bottom right quadrant of the image of a modern lens.
Lens Flare in Star Trek (2013). JJ Abrams famously said, "I know there's too much lens flare ... I just love it so much. But I think admitting you're an addict is the first step towards recovery (ha ha)"
FLE = See "Floating Elements"
Flickering in the EVF is very normal and will apear often without the vertical lines you see in the EVF will be in the picture.
Floating elements (a group of lenses or can also be s aingle lens element). .
Floating Elements (FLE) = Near focus correction in a lens by having a single lens or a group of lenses floating independently of the other lenses. Most lenses are born with poor performance at their closest focusing distance. Center sharpness may be good, but aberrations and corner softness increase when you’re shooting closeups. Floating elements are lens elements outside of the primary focus group that change position when the lens is focused on a close object, correcting aberrations and improving close up performance. Floating Elements originally was coined by Canon in the 1960's and quickly became the general term for this feature. Other brands came up with new names for the same thing, Minolta called it Floating Focusing, Nikon used the term Close-Range Correction (CRC), Leica call it FLE/Floating Elements.
Floating elements are for close-focus improvement of image quality and not for reducing "focus shift". Floating elements by themselves cannot reduce focus shift, but by reducing the impact of focus distance on performance, they give the designers more freedom in other areas - which could include minimising focus shift.
(As a side-note, when a lens "rattler when moved, it is not the floating elements "floating around" but can be the IS (Image Stabilization) elements for elense that has that, AF elements for auto focus lenses, or the aperture cage that rattles (as in the case of the Leica 35mm Summilux-M f/1.4 FLE - if you stop down the Summilux to f/16, the sound is usually not there).
A 28 mm lens has a 74° viewing angle
Focal length = Originally focal length referred to the distance from the sensor (or film in older days) to the center of focus inside the lens (28mm, 50mm, 400mm, etc). Today one call it effective focal length (EFL) as a 400mm lens is not nessesarily 400mm long due to optical constructions that can make it shorter. The 35-420mm zoom on the Leica V-Lux 1 is for example only ca. 135 mm long. Nobody uses that measurement, except those who construct lenses! For users of lenses, focal length refers to how wide the lens sees. The viewing angle, which is often given in for example 90° viewing angle for a 21mm lens, 74° viewing angle for a 28mm lens, 6° viewing angle for a 400mm lens, etc.
Each human eye individually has anywhere from a 120° to 200° angle of view, but focus only in the center.
Focus, in - Sharp and clear in appearance. Focus - “The burning point (of a lens or mirror)”. In Latin the word focus meant fireplace or hearth. The word was probably first employed outside of its Latin literal use as “the burning point of a lens or mirror” in optics, and then came to mean any central point. The German astronomer Johannes Kepler first recorded the word in this sense in 1604.
Focus shift = That the focus of a lens shifts as the aperture changes. For example, if one focus a 50mm lens at f/2.0 and then stop the aperture down to f/8, the focus may change, especially noticeable in close focusing. Modern lenses with floating elements (FLE) where the floating elements adjust for image quality in close-focusing may also help avoid focus shift.
Four Thirds - Also known as "4/3" - The Four Thirds System is a standard created by Olympus and Kodak for digital SLR camera design and development.
The system provides a standard which, with digital cameras and lenses available from multiple manufacturers, allows for the interchange of lenses and bodies from different manufacturers. Companies developing 4:3 cameras and/or lenses are Fuji, Kodak, Leica, Olympus, Panasonic, Sanyo, Sigma. See www.4-3system.com
A further development in this was Micro Four Thirds Systems.
Frame lines = the lines inside a viwfinder that indicates the edger of the frame. In a Leica M, the viewfinder always is as wide view as 24-28mm. A mechanical contach on the lens (triggers the camreas frame selector) so the viewfinder shows the frame line of that lens. In the Leica M, the frame lines comes in sets, so there are alwaus twop sets of frame lines shown at any time (see illustration below).
(This is different than in most cameras where you only see what the lens captures: SLR cameras was the evolution in 1940's where the image from the lens was displayed directly onto a matte screen inside the camera via a mirror.
Later mirrorless cameras, the viewfinder shows the exact picture that the sensor sees through the lens).
Frame lines of the Leica M, here showing the set of 35mm and 90mm framelines.
Full Frame is "king of photography"
Full Frame (FF) = The size of the sensor is 24 x 36mm which is the format Oskar Barnack and Leica Camera AG invented with the first Leica that was introduced in 1925. Many other formats invented since, such as APS, APS-C and all usually refer to Full Frame ratio, by which it means what size they have compared to Full Frame. The "full frame" technically deifinition thouhg is a sensor that camtures the full frame in one go (as the early sensors as in Leica S1 scanned the image/senor over a period of time). The 24 x 36mm Full Frame format is so "king of photography" that it has continued to be the ideal for all cameras. Besides this, there exists Large Format cameras such as 4x5" (100 x 125 mm) and Medium Format 6x6 (60 x 60mm amongst other sizes in that area).
Ghosting = Secondary light or image from internal reflections between (and within) lens elements inside a lens. The reflected light may not always be in focus, so overall it looks like a "milked out" image. A subject in focus has brightened patches in front of it that come from reflections inside the lens. the most elementary look of ghosting is when you look in a rear-view mirror in a car at night and you see doubles of the headlights behind you (a strong one and a weaker one), because the headlights are reflected in a layer of clear glass on top of the mirror glass.
Degrees of ghosting from strong sunlight entering from outside the frame. To the right the outside light has been shielded with a shade.
ISO = Light sensitivity of the camera sensor is given in ISO (International Organization for Standardization). It's a standard that was used in film and is now used in all digital cameras also. The base ISO for the Leica TL2 sensor is around 100-150 which means that this is what the sensor "sees". All other levels are computer algorithms calculating the effect as if the sensor could "see" more (hence noise at higher ISO levels).
ISO goes in steps of doubling: When the ISO is raised from 100 ISO to 200 ISO, the camera only need half the amount of light to make the same picture. For each step in ISO to 400, 800, 1600, 3200, etc. the light sensitivity is doubled for the sensor (and the camera sensor only need half the light of the previous ISO to record the same image).
JPEG = A standard for picture format made in the 1990's by Joint Photographic Experts Group). Mostly referred to as JPG as in L1003455.JPG which would be the name for a JPG file from the camera.
Leica L-mount bayonet.
L-mount = Lens bayonet mount introduced by Leica for the Leica T in 2014 and used for Leica TL, Leica CL and Leica SL. Since 2019 the L-mount has also been shared with Panasonic, Sigma and others who produce cameras and lenses that are compatible with Leica L cameras and lenses lenses, and vice versa.
The L-mount has a diameter of 51.6 millimeter which is big enough for any design we could wish to design, and at the same time compact enough for the L-mount to be used on compact cameras such as Leica TL and Leica CL with APS-C sensor sizes. Leica chief lens designer Peter Karbe spent years calculating this ideal size, large enouhg for any design, yet as compact as possible. Read my article "Small Camera, Large Print" (2019) with interview with lens designer Peter Karbe for more.
After Leica introduced this new bayonet mount in 2014, Nikon (Z-mount 55mm), Fuji (G-mount 65mm) and Canon (RF-mount 54mm) followed with similar new bayonet mounts, but with bigger diameter, making them less able to produce compact lenses.
A screen on a camera is often referred to as "LCD Screen" for no particular reason (illustration is the back of the Leica Q2 special limited "James Bond/Daniel Craig & Greg Williams" version (2021).
LCD = Screen. LCD itself means liquid crystal display, which is slightly irrelevant (what it is made of) as the expression is mostly used to simply mean "screen".
Leica = A compound word derived from " (Lei)tz" and "(ca)mera". Apparently they were originally going to use "LECA", but another camera company already used a similar name in France, so they inserted the 'i' to prevent any confusion.
The word lens derives from lentil, because of the similar shape.
Lens - A piece of glass or similarly transparent material (like water or plastic) that has a shape so that it can direct light rays. The word “Lens” is used both for single piece of glass as well as a camera lens with several lenses that works together. From ‘lentil’ because similar in shape.
A camera lens consists of several shaped lens elements of glass. The lenses can also be made of simple cheap plastic as in "kit lenses" (sold with a camera as a kit to make a workable cheap package), but it is mostly very exotic glass (that can be heavy or light in weight, very hard or very soft in surface (esay to scratch or very resistant) with each optical glass recipe made to develop very specific qualities in how the glass and final lens treats light. As a general rule, high quality glass is soft, which is why some lenses has as their front and back element, a non-optical lens element that is there to protect the actual optical glass from scratches. As a side noite, Leica made their own glass laboraty, The Leitz Glass Laboratory, from 1949-1989, which deveopled 35 new glass types and took out more than 2,000 patents of glass recipes from more than 50,000 experimental melts of glass. These designs, or recipes, are still used today by the lens designers to obtain very specific optical results. Other lens manufacturers in the world of course have had their glass laboratories, and today one will find an interchange of glass patents amongst production facilities that service Leica, Nikon,, Fuji and so on with optical lens elements.
Lens hood = (also called a Lens shade or Ventilated Shade). A tube or ring attached to the front of a camera lens to prevent unwanted light from reaching the lens and sensor. In the past where lenses were not coated to prevent internal reflections inside the lens, the lens hood was often essential. These days where lenses are coated, the shade serves just as much as decoration and protection (bumper) as well. ORIGIN Old English hod; related to Dutch hoed, German Hut 'hat,' also to hat.
Lens hood or Lens shade or ventilated shade. In the picture is a ventilated shade with clip-on mount to a 50mm f/2.0 lens. Ventilated means it has openings that allow for view from the viewfinder.
Lens names of Leica distinguish which widest aperture the lens has:
Noctilux
f/0.95 - f/1.25
Nocticron
f/ 1.2 (Leica-designed Panasonic lens)
Summilux
f/ 1.4 - f/1.7
Summicron
f/2.0
Summarit
f/2.4 - 2.5
Hektor
f/1.9 - f/6.3 (used 1930-1960 for screw mount lenses only)
Elmarit
f/2.8
Elmar
f/2.8 - f/4.5
Elmax
f/3.5 (only used 1921-1925 for the 50mm Elmax f/3.5)
Telyt
f/2.8 - f/6.8 (used for tele lenses)
Light = Tiny particles called photons that behaves like both waves and particles. Light makes objects visible by reflecting off of them, and in photography that reflecting off of subjects is what creates textures, shapes, colors and luminance. Light in its natural form (emanating from the sun) also gives life to plants and living things, and makes (most) people happier. So far, nobody has been able to determine exactly what light is. The word photography means “writing with light” (photo = light, -graphy = writing). Read more about light in my book Finding the Magic of Light.
Live View = This is the ability to see the image the sensor see, live, via the screen on the back of the camera, or via an electronic viewfinder (EVF).
LMT - Leica Thread-Mount: Also known as M39, is the screw mounted lenses for Leica cameras. It’s a simple as that; you screw on the lens, and back in 1932, the possibility to change the lens was the big news hwen introduced by Leica on the Leica III. The M39 system was updated with the M Bayonet from 1954 for the Leica M3. The M bayonet is a quick way to change lenses and is the current mount for Leica M digital rangefinders.
M (as in "M3", "M6", "M7" etc.)
A) The M originally stands for "Messsucher", which is German "Meßsucher" for "Rangefinder". The "3" in M3 was chosen because of the three bright line finders for the 50, 90 and 135 mm lenses. Later the numbers of the M cameras were more or less chosen to follow each other.
M-body evolution in chronologic order:
M3 - MP - M2 - M1 - MD - MDA - M4 - M5 - CL - MD-2 - M4-2 - M4-P - M6 - M6 TTL - M7 - MP - M8 - M8.2 - M9 - M9-P - MM (black and white sensor) - ME (Type 220) - Leica M (Type 240) - Leica M-P 240 - Leica M 246 Monochrom - Leica M-A (type 127, film camera) - Leica M 262 - Leica M-D 262 (without a screen) - Leica M10 - Leica M10-P, Leica M10 Monochrom, Leica M10-R.
B) M also refer to M-mount as the M bayonet that couple the Leica M lenses to the Leica M camera. Before the M bayonet the coupling between the camera and lens was screwmount.
C)
M nowadays refer to the Leica M line of cameras rather than the "Messsucher".
The Leica M bayonet on the Leica M10.
M-mount: The Leica M-mount is a bayonet that was introduced with the Leica M3 camera in 1954 and has been used on all subsequent Leica M cameras, as well as on the Epson R-D1, Konica Hexar RF, Minolta CLE, Ricoh GXR, Rollei 35RF, Voigtländer Bessa, and Zeiss Ikon cameras (2019).
Compared to the previous screw mount (M39), the M
mount requires a quick turn of the lens, and ithe lens is mounted. The patent for the M-bayonet ("Bajonettvorrichtung für die lösbare Verbindung zweier Kamerateile") was registered by Ernst Leitz GmbH 10 February 1950 (patent number DE853384). Hugo Wehrenfennig was credited with the invention.
M9
Leica M9 is a model name for the Leica M9 that was introduced on September 9, 2009 (as the first full-frame digital Leica M). It was the latest model designation using the M and a number. From their next model, Leica Camera AG introduced a new model system so each camera would simply be a Leica M but then with a model designation like Typ 240, Typ 246, Typ M-D 262 and so on. The idea was inspired from Apple who name their computers for example MacBook Pro and then it has a sub- model number designation which model it is (and which would define speed of processor, etc).
MACRO = Macro lens. The Leica 60mm APO-Elmarit-Macro-R ASPH f/2.8 is a 60mm lens for portraits, landscapes, etc. as well as a near focus macro lens. The Leica Q lens can be turned to Macro which enables you to go close so as to enlarge smaller subjects. The Leica M cameras becomes Macro when you add a Macro ring "Oufro" or "Leica Macro M Adapter" that increases the lens' distance to the sensor. The word macro comes from Greek makros ‘long, large.’
Mandler, Dr. Walter (1922 - 2005)
Legendary Leica lens designer and CEO of Ernst Leitz Canada (ELCAN) 1952-1985. Read more inLeica History.
Dr. Walter Mandler (center) at the Ernst Leitz Camera factory.
Megapixel (or MP) - Millions of pixels. See pixel further down. How many units of RGB is recorded by a given sensor by taking height x widt. A Leica M10 delivers a 5952 x 3968 pixel file = 23,617,536 piexls. On a screen the resolution you choose determines the size of the image. Say you have a 5000 pixel wide file and your screen is set for 8000 pixels wide. Then the image will fill only the 5000 pixels fo the 8000 and the rest will be empty, If you then change the screen resolution to 5000 wide, the image would be able to fill out the whole screen.
Meßsucher = (rangefinder or distance finder) = Mess = range, sucher = finder. It is always correctly written with the "ß". There are technically not three "s", rather the "ß" and one "s" because it is a word constructed by the combining of two precise words.
MF (Manual Focus) for lenses that are focused by hands, as opposed to Auto Focus.
mm = millimeter(s), as in a 50mm lens. (Earlier in lens history lenses focal length was given in cm = centimeters; as in a 5 cm lens). For anyone used to centimeters and millimeters, it’s no wonder. But if you grew up with inches, feet and yards, you may have had a hard time grasping what a 50mm lens was. But as lenses were designed first in Europe, the metric system with centimeters and millimeters was used to describe lenses.
(Leica and others made lenses for a while with either meter scale or feet scale; but then eventually started including meter and feet on all the lenses (two scales, usually distinguished with different colors). However, the lens' focal length remained always 50mm, 75mm and so on).
The reason a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens is that there is 50mm from the focus plane (the film or sensor surface) to the center of focus inside the lens. When photography was a young subject, it was engineers who made it all, and the users were expected to understand. The engineers were so into the making of the lenses, that it apparently never dawned upon them that today’s users would think of a 21mm lens as a wide angle lens rather than a lens where there is 21mm from the sensor to the center of focus inside the optics.
MP
a) Stands for Mechanical Perfection, as in the Leica M-P.
b) Megapixels (millions of pixels).
c) Megaphotosites (millions of photosites).
ND
Neutral Density filters are grey filters function as 'sunglasses' for lenses. They simply block the light so that a lens can work at for example f/0.95 or f/2.0 in sunshine.
If a camera is set to 200 ISO and the maximum shutter speed is 1/4.000, this will usually result that the lens has to be at f/2.8 or smaller aperture in sunshine. Else the image will over-exposed. So in order til stay within the maximum shutter speed of 1/4.000 and still use a lightstrong lens wide open, one mount a ND-filter that reduce the light with 3 stops (8X) or 6 stops (64x).
For video ND-filters are used quite a lot (as the shutter speed for video is 1/60), and ND-filters are also used to reduce the light for really long multi-exposures at night (stop-motion video and stills).
ND-filters also exist as variable ND-filters so one can adjust the amount of light going through from for example 1 stop (2X) to 6 stops (64X).
ND-filters also exist as graduated ND-filters where the top of the filter is dark and then gradually tone over in no filter (so as to reduce the skylight in a landscape for example).
The ND filters are called Neutral because it is a neutral filter. It doesn't change colors, only the amount of light.
ND-filters / gray-filters.
Noctilux = Also known as "King of the Night" because "Nocti" means Night and "Lux" means Light. The f/1.0 lenes from Leica are named "Noctilux". The first Leica Noctilux lens was the 50mm Noctilux f/1.2 which shortly after it's introduction was improved to the 50mm Noctilux f/1.0. In the current model the f-stop has been improved further to f/0.95.
"Noctilux" refers to the maximum lens aperture - here f1.0 . "Nocti" for nocturnal (occurring or happening at night; ORIGIN late 15th cent.: from late Latin nocturnalis, from Latin nocturnus ‘of the night,’ from nox, noct- ‘night.), "lux" for light. The Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 is famous for enabling the photographer to take photos even there is only candleligts to lit the scene. See the article "Leica Noctilux - King of the Night"
The Noctilux "King of the Night" lens. From left the f/0.95 in silver (same on the camera, in black), the f/1.0 in the back and the rare and expensive first model, the f/1.2 in the front.
No.
Number, on this site Leica catalog numbers or order numbers. Some the numbers changed depending on the number of cams in the lens: The Elmarit-R f2.8/135mm started life as No. 11 111, however when fitted with 2 cams for the SL became No. 11 211, yet another No. for the 3 cams lens and a fourth number for 3 cam only at the end of its life. Number changes also applied to M lenses depending on whether they were screw-thread, bayonet or for M3 with “spectacles”. Thus the No. in the Thorsten Overgaard Leica Lens Compendium list is a guideline but not a comlete list of existing catalog numbers.
Optic = Eye or vision. From French optique or medieval Latin opticus, from Greek optikos, from optos ‘seen.’
Oufro (model 16469Y)
An original Leitz Extension Ring (produced 1959-1983 as part no. 16469). Used with Oubio for all the longer (125mm+) Visoflex lenses and without OUBIO for 35/50mm. OUFRO can be stacked for greater magnification and will work on the Leica M Type 240 as macro for all lenses (including the Noctilux, 90mm APO-Summicron and even 21mm lenses).
The OUFTO on Leica M Type 240 with Leica 90mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0.
Perspective = The way objects appear to the eye; their relative position and distance. Also, selective focus (foreground and background out of focus) can change the perception of perspective (also see Three-dimensional). A wide angle "widens" the perspective and makes objects further away appear smaller than they are to the eye; and objects closer, relatively larger than they are to the eye. A tele lens will "flatten" the perspective and often objects further away will appear relatively larger than close objects than they are in real life. A 50mm lens is the one closest to the perspective and enlargement ratio of the human eye.
The word Perspective comes from the latin word for optics (perspicere, per- ‘through’ + specere ‘to look’), and so-called Renaissance painting is simply painting done within the framework of optics and the linear perspective it presents.
Perspective is relative position and distance. The objects nearby are larger than objects far away. This is how the eye and the mind calculate distance. The eye and the camera automatically captures perspective. In darwing and painting one would see "stupid" two-dimensional drawings 500 years B.C where elements were thrown into the mix without considering that a an object far away must be smaller than if close to the viewer. The word "perspective" comes from "to look through (optics)". Pier 7 in San Francisco by Thorsten Overgaard. Leica M11 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95.
Vanishing points are the points where lines meet. This is how you make perspective in paintings and drawings (and some times make movie sets or theatre stages appear more three-dimensional than they are)
Painters works with vanishing points, which is where the lines meet, so as to create an illusion of perspective and three-dimensional effect on a two-dimensional painting or drawing.
The human eye corrects for perspective to an extreme degree. We always see vertical lines vertical and horisontal lines horisontal: The eye has a angle of view equivalent to an 8mm wide angle lens, a size ratio equivalent to a 50mm lens and we focus on relatively small area of the viewing field - one at the time. Three things happens that are worth paying attention to:
1) We compile areas of our view that we focus on, to one conceptual image that "we see". Ansel Adams, the great American landscape photographer pointed out that a large camera used for landscape photography capture every detail in focus and sharp so you can view it in detail after; but the eye does not see everything in focus when you try to compose the landscape photography, the eye scans only one part at a time and stitch the idea together. This makes composing or prevision of a landscape photography challenging.
2) We compile areas of our view that we individually adjust the exposure of. A camera adjust the exposure of the whole image frame to one exposure. That's why what looks like a nice picture to the eye of houses in sunshine with a blue sky above, becomes a photograph of darker buildings with a bright white sky: The camera simply can't take one picture that compare to what we "compiled" with our eyes, adjusting for each type of light.
3) Objects (on a table, for example) in the bottom of our viewing field will appear 100% perspective corrected - to a degree that it is impossible to correct in optics, with or without software correction. A wide angle lens, even with little distortion, will exaggerate the proportions of the closet part so it - to the eye - looks wrong.
Perspective correction - In software like Adobe Lightroom and Capture One Pro there is often a feature to correct perspective (and distortion) like seen below. You can change perspective this way, or at least make believe: If you correct a tall building on teh vertical lines, you will notice that the height of the windows doesn't match the perspective. If the building is with straight lines, the windows should all be of the same size. But a tall building seen from below and corrected with software will have taller windows (closer to camera) in the bottom than in the top (further away from the camera originally).
A graphic illustration of the typical Bayer Color Filter Array on an RGB sensor. It's called a Bayer filter because Bryce Bayer of Eastman Kodak invented the technology of filtering incoming light into RGB and distribute it into the the photosites that each read just one color (R/G/G/B).
Photosite - The unit in a digital camera sensor that records intensity of either red, green or blue. Unlike the output of a sensor, measured in pixels (and where each pixel contains RGB), the photosite records only one color each, and it's intensity (how bright it is). A photosite can not distinguish colors, which is why there is a Color Filter Array (basically a prism) above them to filter the colors and send information to the photosite if 's a R, G og B color. See illustration below. In a monochrome sensor (as in the Leica M Monochrom and the Phase One Achromatic), all photosites are recording intensity of light only as there is no concern which color it is, and there is no color filter.
The ratio of photosites to pixels is not a given. Each block of 4 contiguous photosites contains one photosite sensitive to low wavelengths (blue), one photosite sensitive to high wavelengths (red), and two identical photosites sensitive to medium wavelengths (green). So four photosites would be the minimum to create one 'full-color' pixel. Apart from that, depends on the sensor specifications, which is different from brand to brand. Sometimes four photosites (two Green, one Red and one Blue) makes up one pixel, at other times it's more photosites to one pixel; and there is also pixels sampled from photosites across (sort of overlapping patterns).
Pixel - Made up word from Pix (picture) and el (element). A pixel is the smallest full-color (RGB) element in a digital imaging device. The physical size of a pixel depends on how you've set the resolution for the display screen. The color and tonal intensity of a pixel are variable, meaning that each pixel contains RGB. This is different from a camera sensor's small eyes (photosite) that are an intensity of either red, green or blue. You could say that the digital sensor's photosite (where each unit collects just one color; red, green or blue) is the input technology, whereas the pixels on a screen (where each pixel contains red, green and blue) is the output device. So while sensors are measured in megapixels (mega = million), it's their output unit of pixels, and not the input unit of photosites that is measured and stated. See illustration below.
R = Resolution, in the name Leica M10-R camera model (2020).
Rigid - Refers usually to the Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 "Rigid" of 1956.
It is called "Rigid" because, unlike the 50mm Collapsible, this one is not able to be changed.
Rigid means stiff, uable to be forced out of shape. Not able to be changed. From Latin rigere, "be stiff".
The name is a little confusion nowadays as all or most lenses are rigid today, but back in 1925-1956, many lenses were collapsible so the camera was compact when not in use. Just like compact cameras today often has a lens that extrudes when the camera is turned on, and collaps into the camera body when the camera is turned off.
RF
(R)ange (F)inder - the mechano-optical mechanism which allows M Leicas to focus.
Alternative meaning - RF is also shorthand for Hexar RF , Konica's motorised "M-lens-compatible" rangefinder camera released in 2000.
S = Single image. When the ring by the shutter release on top of the camera (or in the menu of a digital camera in case it does not have this ring on the ourside) is moved from OFF to S, the camera takes only one photo at the time (Single). The other possibility is Continuous where the camera takes pictures continiously as long as the shutter release button is helt down. (see above).
Saturation: How colorful, intense or pure the color is. Less saturation would be less colorful, more saturation would be more colorful. In today’s photography, de-saturating a photo on the computer will gradually make it less and less colorful; and full de-saturation would make it into a black and white photo.
Sensor = A device that detects a physical property (like light) and records it. A camera sensor is a plane plate with thousands of small “eyes” with (photosites) a lens in front of each (CFA, Color Filter Array), which each individually records the amount of red, green and blue light rays that comes through the lens. Together, Red, Green and Blue form all colors of the spectrum, which becomes a pixel. Sensor comes from Latin sens- ‘perceived’.
Sharpness - See “Focus”
Shutter speed dial - The dial on top of the Leica M where you can set the shutter speed manually. It can also be set to A which stands for Aperture Priority (where the camera suggests a shutter speed; or when you move the dial away from A, the camera will show arrows in the viewfinder, suggesting which direction to change the Aperture to, to get the correct exposure).
Six-bit code (6-bit code) - An engraving on the flange of M-lenses that makes it possible for digital M-cameras to recognize the lens that has been mounted. The camera can include information on the attached lens and its focal length in EXIF data and make digital corrections for lens-specific flaws, such as color-cast or vignetting. Six-bit coding was introduced for all M-lenses sold since 2006, but many older lenses can be retrofitted with the code at Leica Camera AG in Wetzlar.
SL = Abbreviation for Single-Lens as in the Leica SL that is a camera without reflex (mirror).
SLR = Abbreviation for Single-Lens Reflex; the lens that forms the image on the film/sensor also provides the image in the viewfinder via a mirror. Newer camera models has aen EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) that displays in the viewfinder what the sensor sees in real-time.
Leitz Wetzlar Mikro-Summar 42mm f/4.5 lens anno 1910 might be the first lens carrying the name Summar.
Summar - (or a story of name development) The 1933 lens 50mm f2.0 Summar: It started out as Summar(f2.0), then the Summitar (f2.0 in 1939), then the Summarex(f1.5 in 1948), then the Summaron(35mm f.2.8 in 1948, then later f2.0, f3.5 and f5.6 lenses), then the Summarit (f1.5 in 1949 and used again for the 40mm f2.4 on the Leica Minilux in 1995, then again for the 35mm, 50mm, 75mm and 90mm Summarit f2.5 in 2007) then the Summicron(f2.0 in 1953 for the collabsible 50mm) and finally the Summilux(50mm f1.4 in 1959).
ORIGIN of Summar is unknown.
Summarex
The great thing about being a lens designer is that you get to name the lens. Dr. Max Berek who worked for Leitz from 1912 till his death in 1949 named lenses after his two favorite dogs. One was Sumamrex named after his dog Rex, the other Hektor named after his dog Hektor.
Summarit
Refers to the maximum lens aperture - here f/1.5.
Summicron = Refers to the maximum lens aperture - here f/2.0 . There are many guesses how this name came about, a popular one being that the "summi" came from "summit" (summit means the highest point of a hill or mountain; the highest attainable level of achievement) while the "cron" came from "chroma" (ie. for colour). Not so: The name (Summi)cron was used because the lens used Crown glass for the first time, which Leitz bought from Chance Brothers in England. The first batch of lenses were named Summikron (Crown = Krone in Deutsch). The Summi(cron) is a development from the orignal Summar (the 50mm f2.0 lens anno 1933). Vario-Summicron, Vario-Elmarit is Leica Camera AG's name for zoom lenses, for example the Vario-Summicron f/2.0 as the one that is on the Leica Digilux 2.
Summilux = Refers to the maximum lens aperture - here f/1.4 , "-lux" added for "light" (ie. the enhanced light gathering abilities). In Leica terminology a Summilux is always a f/1.4 lens and a Summicron is a f/2.0 lens.
Telyt
Lens nomenclature - short-hand for " telephoto " (tele- is a combining form, meaning to or at a distance) and used in names of instruments for operating over long distances : telemeter. The name has been used for a number of tele lenses from Leica.
ORIGIN: from Greek t?le- ‘far off.’
Three-dimensional = Having the three dimensions of height, width and depth. In photography and lens design, three-dimensional effect is also the perception of even small micro-details; the texture of skin can appear flat and dead or three-dimensional and alive. Also, selective focus (foreground and background out of focus) can change the perception of depth. Also see Perspective.
Leica T is the compact camera developed by Leica Camera in 2014 as a touch-screen operated camera that can take the Leica L mount lenses made for this camera and the Leica SL and Leica CL. This camera series was names Leica TL later. See my article Compact Leica Cameras for more.
TTL
(T)hrough (T)he (L)ens light metering, usually WRT the flash metering capabilities built into the R6.2, R8, R9, M7 & M6TTL cameras.
V-Lux is a series of compact SLR-like digital cameras by Leica Camera AG developed with Panasonic since 2006, starting with the Leica V-Lux 1 (2006), V-Lux 2 (2010), V-Lux 3 (2011), V-Lux 4 (2012), V-Lux Typ 114 (2014), V-Lux 5 (2018). See my article "Compact Digital Leica Cameras".
To add confusion, Leica also made a Leica V-Lux 20 in 2010, V-Lux 30 in 2011 and a Leica V-Lux 40 in 2012 that was a temporarily renaming of the Leica C-Lux series.
Vario- is the Leica Camera AG name for zoom lenses. Vario-Elmarit, Vario-Elmar and Vario-Summicron and so on.
Ventilated shade on a 35mm of Elliott Erwitt's Leica MP camera.
Ventilated Shade - A shade is a hood in front of a lens that provides shade from light going straight onto the lens from outside what you are photographing, which could cause internal reflections like flare, which would make the picture less contrasty.
The ventilated shade has holes so it doesn't obstructs the view from the viewfinder. In many of today’s mirrorless cameras where there is no viewfinder looking ver the lens, so there is no actual need for a ventilated shade; but they are considered classic or vintage looking and are still in high demand. It makes no difference for the purpose of the shade (to create shadow) if it is ventilated or not.
Ventilated Shade for the Leica Q. I make ventilated shades for most lenses and sell them from here.
Viewfinder a device on a camera showing the field of view of the lens. Also known as the German word "Messucher" (or Meßsucher).
1) A built-in viewfinder in a camera that simply show the frame you get when you look through the viewfinder.
2) A rangefinder viewfinder which is also used to focus the lens. In Leica M cameras two pictures has to meet and lay 'on top of each other' for the picture to be in focus.
3) An external viewfinder, usually on top of the camera in the flash shoe, so as to show the field of view of lenses vider than what the built-in viewfinder can show (15mm, 21mm, 24mm, 28mm etc viewfinders exist)
4) Very simple "aiming-devices" on top of a camera that is simply a metal frame without any optics. Just a frame, as for example very old cameras (the original Leica), or when using cameras in diving where you can't look through the camera.
5) A Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) that shows what the sensor sees "live".
WLAN = German short for WiFi. In camera menus, Leica may refer to WLAN, which is simply German for WiFi, (and for some reason they refuse to believe that the rest of the world doesn't call it for WLAN like they do). WLAN stands for wirelesslocal area network.
X1 - The Leica X1 was released in September 2009, the Leica X2 in 2012, and Leica X Typ 113 was released in September 2014, all with a fixed 23mm f/1.7 lens. Leica X Vario Typ 107 and Leica X-E Typ 102 was released later. A Leica X-U underwater edition was released in 2026. See my article Compact Leica Cameras for more.
XML = Stands for extensible markup language, which is a way enclose information to a document about how to format it, and more.
XMP = Stands for extensible markup platform (also known as XMP sidecar) and is a standard developed by Adobe and standardized by the International Organization for Standardization ISO. XMP is a 'sidecar' to an image that contains the EXIF data (camera settings) as well as other data about the image recording and editing that would norally be in proprietary formats (only readable by certain software). XMP in short is a container enclosed with the image as a 'sidecar' that contains all available information (EXIF data about settings, IPTC data (who took the photo, copyright info, image captions, etc), but most noteable, the XMP allow you to include information about the editing that was performed to the raw or DNG file, so that when you open the image file in another editing software, the raw data, as well as information about the crop, exposure compensation and other editing you did to the photo, is included). In Adobe Lightroom Classic, one should make sure to select that editing information is written to the XMP file of each image (go to Lightroom > Catalog Settings > Metadata and then click "Automatically write changes into XMP").
Zone System -A system of 11 greytones. Ansel Adams worked out the Zone System in the 1940's with Fred Archer. It may look as simply a grey scale (and it is) but it's the use that has troubled many. If you use a normal external light meter, it will give you the exact amount of light and you can expose your photograph based on that and it will be correct.
What Ansel Adams basically did was that he studied (by measuring with a spot meter), what the exact grey tones were of the sky, the clouds, the sand, the water, the skin and so on at different times of the day.
You could say that he built up a conceptual understanding of how different materials of different colors and reflective surface would look in black and white at different times of day (or different light conditions). He also realized that a tone changes for the human eye depending on it's size and in which context of other tones it is seen.
In short, you could say that the Zone System is know how something would look in black and white when looking at a scenery. Some who have struggled with the Zone System have done so because they think it is a rule. It is not.
How Ansel Adams made New Mexico look:
How most people see New Mexico:
The artistic use of the Zone System.
Ansel Adams developed the Zone System to understand light for himself, but also as a fundament for teaching the light, exposure and making the final photograph. How will it look if you do the usual, and what will it look like if you manipulate it. But most interstingly; how do you work with light, cameras and photographic materials to achieve the look you envision.
The Zone System is meant as a basis on which to create your own aesthetic style and communication. Photography is painting with light. The greyscale is our palette. Ideally we should have a conceptual understanding of the tones and be able to use them intuitive. That was his vision for us all.
Ø - Diameter. As in Ø49 for example which means that the filter diameter is 49mm for this lens (or if a filter is Ø49, it is 49mm in diameter and fits that Ø49 lens). Leica uses E to express their filters sizes, as in E49 for a 49mm filter size.
Thorsten Overgaard
#1634-0414
Index of Thorsten Overgaard's user review pages on Leica M9, Leica M9-P, Leica M-E, Leica M9 Monochrom, Leica M10, Leica M10-P, Leica M10-D, Leica M10-R, Leica M10 Monohcrom, Leica M11, Leica M 240, Leica M-D 262, Leica M Monochrom 246, Leica SL, Leica SL2, Leica SL2-S, as well as Leica TL2, Leica CL, Leica Q, Leica Q2 and Leica Q2 Monochrom:
Leica Digital Camera Reviews by Thorsten Overgaard
User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop:
"The Overgaard Photography Workshop is an investment that pays immediate dividends.
In four short days there was a marked swagger in my step. This may sound irrelevant to photography, but in my opinion it’s one of the unspoken tangibles that make professional photographers like Thorsten so damn good – their confidence is able to make them disappear in a sense, and put their subjects at ease.
The funny thing about this is that it wasn't something discussed during the workshop, it was something that I learned from observing Thorsten work. The way he moved without hesitation, the manner in which he sized up his subject, and got the shot and moved on. Quick, clean, and confident! For me, that was the most valuable part of the workshop – spending four days at the elbow of a professional photographer!
What an experience!
I came away excited, eager, and confident that I could produce the kind of photographs I've always envied!
Thank you to my friend Thorsten! Some time in the future, somewhere in the world, our paths will cross again!"
- J. J. (New York)
User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshops in Rome and Paris:
"Thank you for the Rome workshop.
The last days I spent with you in Rome I have done once before. So why do it again? Same type of workshop and with the same photographer.
Simply because I was so inspired by the first workshop two years ago, that I felt I would (and could) squeeze even more out of you a second time.
Of course some repetition was present on theory but two photo shootings are newer the same, and you always get new information there either wasn't presented the first time, or that you did not grasp at that time.
My overall goal taking part in the Rome Workshop was to focus much on the light, which I can transfer to future photo and television news stories that I produce.
And I got it!
The hands-on practice and advice from you benefits both experienced pro's like my self, as well as amateurs who wants to step up a level. So with my tired feet walking around hot Rome, I now will go back to work and let the experiences and inspiration go into my photography works.
You are newer too old, too experienced or (especially) too good to learn. Thank you for good company and learning experiences."
Review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop in Berlin:
"The Berlin Workshop is still resonating with me. It was truly a great experience, and was really nice to meet you and your family!"
- T. S. (Canada)
"I wanted to take a moment and thank you again for all of the inspiration you give to so many of us. Earlier this evening I participated in an art show. Now, I have to admit that there are few things more satisfying as an artist than knowing that someone is not only willing to pay for your photographs but display them in their home or office. Thank you for all you do."
- L. T. (USA)
User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshp:
"I diligently edit and process my images after every shoot as taught in your workshop and am always up to date with my images.
I have had your New Inspiration Course for a couple of days and have viewed all videos. I recently submitted a few images to a gallery in Portland for an exhibit.
I will continue to refine and work on the things you have talked about."
- J. L. (Canada)
"It was a wonderful time, so many wonderful lasting friendships developed in this workshops!"
- R. W. (Austria)
"Since we have met in the Overgaard Workshop Amsterdam I have been going wild making photos. Your approach really enabled me to make a steep change in making and processing photos. Many thanks for this!"
- E. A. (Netherlands)
"I’m more confidence in doing portraits after the workshop."
- B. N. (UK)
"The Berlin Workshop is still resonating with me. It was truly a great experience, and was really nice to meet you and your family!"
- T. S. (Canada)
Thorsten Overgaard Workshop Review:
"Thorsten, I appreciate the genuine way in which you continue to communicate with your students and admire your success in creating a community of enthusiasts around you.
"I was such a beginner when I did your workshop that it has taken me quite a while to incorporate what you taught us into my photographic life.
"I remember you are not a fan of spending hours on a photo, and nor am I – indeed one of the benefits of the workshop was to show how one could spend more time out and about with the camera".
- M. B. (France)
"Thank you again for sharing the basics of your craft with us in Milano! It was a pleasure to meet you and I hope to find another opportunity to join one of your future classes in a different city soon!"
- Y. M. (Switzerland)
"Thanks a lot for a great workshop in Stockholm - it was f…… fun and inspiring."
- G. M. (Denmark)
Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Paris:
"Thank you for the great days and your hospitality. Besides meeting you and the others and having a good time, the workshop inspired me a lot and I learnt lots of new things.
I took more photos than I usually take and was more courageous as well in shooting people. That was great! I'm really happy with the results and what I did".
- B. K. (Sweden)
"It was a good time in Paris, it really inspired me a lot. And good to get to know you."
- B. N. (France)
"Thanks for an inspiring workshop and nice company in a lovely city. It was really great getting together with you and be in the Leica-bubble for a few days. I liked the relaxed atmosphere and learning from you"
- B. K. (Sweden)
Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Hong Kong:
"It was a great pleasure spending the past three days with you guys. It was a lot of fun walking around Hong Kong with our Leica.
Thank you Thorsten for sharing your professional experience with us, it really changed my point of view on keeping data files. With the advancement of technologies, we must keep a set of data which can take the test of times. That's a very important message amongst others that I learned in the past three days.
In the meantime, always carry your camera and be ready for the next shot!"
- B. L. (Hong Kong)
"First of all my gratitude goes to Thorsten who wants to share his knowledge about (Leica) photography, answering to all our recurring questions.
His methodology is perhaps not what hardware-, software-, cloud-, ...companies want us to do but as a former IT engineer I can only acknowledge his views about preserving our digital "heritage".
Unfortunately the times of the shoe boxes with our 10x15cm photographs are gone (with or without the negatives). Some markings on the envelope and that was it. Some had photo albums for the major events. The advantage of the old system is that anyone could view your pictures without any specialised hardware. I have some 19th century negative glass plates and you can still see what's on it alas in negative.
Recently I found back some negatives my grandfather took in the first WW with his Kodak Vestpocket camera ... In a world full of digital wonders like smart phones we never take so much pictures as nowadays as a society. Most of these pictures are lost or will be lost shortly because of a new smart phone, hard disk crash, incompetence of the user. The chance your hard drive crashes is higher than of your home burns down.
The workflow explained is for me the best I have ever seen. The portrait session; we missed the model but Bengt did a great job. He has FB profile photos for the next 10 years...
Explaining how to observe the light... It was a pleasure to meet you all in this fantastic workshop in Amsterdam, hope we will keep in touch somehow."
- E. B. (Netherlands)
"Than you for an inspiring course in Stockholm, and thanks to your expansive personality and great camera knowledge, lightly conveyed.
The Lightroom Survival Kit will help me remember the intricacies of geting the raw file into a great picture."
- E. B. (Sweden)
Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Vienna, Austria:
"I would like to say thank you for the workshop. It was a great experience of realizing my potential, capturing important hints and of course meeting you personally.
It was a pleasure for me to join you and the Leica fellows these summer days in Vienna."
- A. P. (Russia)
"I just wanted to write and say it was a very inspiring three days with you all - I learned a lot from everyone. It was a pleasure to meet you all and hope to see many more of your photos in the future.
Thank you for this Thorsten. It was a great use of three days and you really taught me a lot and inspired me very much, not only in photography but music and life. I look forward to when our paths cross again. All the best man."
- E. Z. (Bosnia)
Review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop in Rome, Italy:
"I enjoyed myself very much in the Rome Workshop. I learned a lot, and only now the full experience is sinking in.
Thank you. I am trying make the New York Monochrome Masterclass as well".
- E. L. (Jerusalem, Israel)
"This is just to let you know that I had a great time these last three days in Amsterdam. We had a good group and I liked the relaxed way in which you approach photagraphy. I picked up a number of valuable ideas and technical tricks. Thanks a lot!"
- M. L. (Netherlands)
"I take the opportunity to thank everybody for having the pleasure of sharing fantastic moments with you all."
- A. S. (Netherlands)
Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Sydney, Australia:
"Thank you again for the great time in Sydney. It was (and I say this quite seriously) a life changing experience. I'm a lot more confident to take and show my photos now. You should be proud that you have obviously brought knowledge and confidence to so many people. I will see you again some time in the future for a refresher."
- J. G. (Australia)
Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Malmo, Sweden:
"I was participant on your photo workshops in Malmo in 2011 and 2012. My abilities increased beyond imagination after that. Will you be offering a workshop only about portrait photography?"
- C. B. (Malmo, Sweden)
Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Berlin, Germany:
"Meeting you was one of the most memorable things in my life!"
- I. L. (USA)
Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Bangkok, Thailand:
"I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world who have chance to attend the Thorsten Overgaard workshop in Bangkok."
- N. S. (Thailand)
User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop:
"I also wanted to express my gratitude again for the great workshop experience. As you know, I have been rediscovering my love of photography, and I feel that – beyond everything I learned about light, technique and software – I really took a giant step forward in "seeing" again, and in embracing the sheer fun of making photos.
I think your design of the workshop os right on the mark. The full day of ambling around, looking for the beautiful light, and taking (hopefully) great photos. I know it worked for me (since I was up at 3 AM trying to take pictures of the downtown skyline).
I feel energized about my photography, and am planning on getting much more involved with it over the coming months. I've been taking photos of fun things in the countryside on my way to work (I drive through about thirty miles of fields, dairies, falling-down buildings, old and rusting farm equipment and so on). I'm also learning more about both Lightroom and Media Pro.
So, thanks again for a great experience. I hope to take another of your workshops again."
- B. S. (San Francisco)
Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in Seoul, Korea:
"Dear Thorsten, I wish to thank you for wonderful days of photography. From the first day of theory to the last day of choosing our best, it was a wonderful experience that inspired me to take more pictures and share them with others.
I learned a great deal from your comments and also your showing how to improve the final picture through minor adjustments in Lightroom. Many of my friends have a heavy hand with Lightroom but you showed us how to adjust the camera so that minimal post processing was necessary to have a good final product.
I will always remember those four days as being very special. When you come to Seoul again, I plan to be there!
Again, thank you for a wonderful photo experience."
- G. F. (Korea)
Overgaard Workshop in Berlin.
Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop Review Video
"I'll add my thanks to everyone for making this a thoroughly enjoyable workshop -- very atypical from those that I've taken in the past.
Thorsten, the way you've mixed the practical (technical) and the craftsmanship of making a good image with arguably the best tools out there left me with very actionable take-aways.
Thorsten and Joy - thank you for being wonderful gracious hosts and hope our paths will cross again."
- D. C. (USA)
"If you want to feel more confident with photographing and editing your photos from DNGs to finished pictures and have fun while doing it, I can warmly recommend attending Thorsten’s workshop. Not only did he help me shoot with more confidence, but he also taught me his editing workflow. He has a pleasant way of instructing and he inspires his students to develop a style of their own."
- P. V. (Monaco)
"Thanks for pushing your students to use those extreme apertures more frequently. Fun stuff.
I hope you are well wherever you are."
- B. P. (France)
"It was a great pleasure spending the past three days with you guys. It was a lot of fun walking around Hong Kong with our Leica cameras.
Let us share this passion and try to get together with each other and share our creations over coffee, lunch or dinner.
Thank you Thorsten for sharing your professional experience with us, it really changed my point of view on keeping data files. With the advancement of technologies, we must keep a set of data which can take the test of times. That’s a very important message amongst others that I learned in the past three days.
In the meantime, always carry your camera and be ready for the next shot! Let’s try to get together again!"
- B. L. (Hong Kong)
"I would like to say thank you for the workshop we recently had. It was a great experience of realising my potential, capturing important hints and of course meeting you personally. It was a pleasure for me to join you and the few Leica fellows these summer days in Vienna."
- A. N. (Austria)
"Thanks again for a fantastic workshop in Montreal. it was a highlight of my summer."
- A. S. (USA)
"Just a short note to say how much I enjoyed your seminar this past weekend in Havana. You were able to clear up most of my photography questions and give me a great deal of other things to think about in image capture and techniques.
I am still quite rusty on the Lightroom use and manipulation, but I suspect that will be secondary to capturing good images going forward. Confidence in color was the real treat of the weekend."
- C. J. (USA)
"It was a pleasure to work and play with all of you for the last four days. A great experience I won’t soon forget. Now I have 11 new friends from around the world.
Many thanks to Joy for dressing up and posing out in the hot sun for a few hours for our photo shoot - I’m sure it wasn’t easy! Very much appreciated!!
And of course many thanks to Thorsten for being so patient and working through the details of being an excellent Leica photographer … searching out the light and introducing us to his efficient workflow processing procedure. I am approaching my photographer in a much different light now, compared to my photography life prior to the course.
Awesome!"
- A. R. (USA)
"Thank you for these great days. It has been super fun and educational. I enjoyed our conversations, and now when I've looked through your best pics, I feel humble and starting to realise that I have a lot to learn.
Thank you Thorsten for all support and I wish you both the best of luck with future endeavours.
Fun to meet so many other Leica users. I would love to keep in touch."
- L. M. (Sweden)
"Many thanks for a terrific workshop! Cannot tell you how much I enjoyed learning from you and with colleagues (and new friends) from around the world. I feel that my skills improved, and everyone learned in a very relaxed manner."
- J. P. (USA)
"What a magical three days!!! I greatly appreciated being with such a terrific, interesting and compatible group, and learning not only from Thorsten, but from each other."
- M. M. (Germany)
"I've had some time to reflect on the workshop and wanted to send you a note to say a big thank you for everything that you taught me over the four days!
It was fun, relaxed, informative and a really positive environment. Your collective enthusiasm is infectious and you've changed the way I look at the world.
The three key things I took away from the workshop are:
1) love your gear,
2) keep it simple, and
3) just do it!
I now understand why people who attend one workshop are likely to do another one. I think attending a second workshop would be like listening to your favourite song with really good headphones - you get so much more out of it! I will definitely be back!
I can't recommend your workshop highly enough - if anyone is even considering it they should definitely do it (although, be prepared to want more Leica gear)!"
- J. H. (Australia)
"Enjoying my photography more than ever since the workshop. Love the monochrome Leica."
- R. F. (UK)
"Thanks again for the GREAT workshop experience.
It is going to take me awhile to return to (almost) normal after the last several days. I have photo and software details swirling around in my brain, and am trying to assimilate it all. I hope the three of you had a good trip this morning and that you have a wonderful time in Florida as well."
- B. S. (USA)
User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop in Perth, Australia:
"I've had some time to reflect on the Perth Workshop and wanted to send you a note to say a big thank you for everything that you taught me over the four days.
It was fun, relaxed, informative and a really positive environment. You and Joy complimented each other perfectly, your collective enthusiasm is infectious and you've changed the way I look at the world.
I now understand why people who attend one workshop are likely to do another one. I think attending a second workshop would be like listening to your favourite song with really good headphones - you get so much more out of it! I will definitely be back!
I can't recommend your workshop highly enough - if anyone is even considering it they should definitely do it (although; be prepared to want more Leica gear)!
Since finishing the workshop I've bought a light meter and ordered a WhiBal card and a Rock'n'Roll camera strap from Tie Her Up. I've downloaded the workshop notes and saved them to my iPad for holiday reading and will get a new Apple laptop and some hard drives in the new year, start going through all my photos and set up the workflow you taught us.
Most importantly, I'm now carrying the Leica X Vario with me more often!
Until we meet again, keep having fun and spreading the love!"
- J. H. (Australia)
"I’ve been several days thinking about the workshop we attended, and I’m still thinking about it!
Thorsten's job was very professional and complete. And the style he suggested fitted exactly with my way of thinking photography: search for the light, then search for the subject. The use of Leica lenses wide open (with the help of ND filters) - terrific!
My photographs really explode in my computer. Thank you Thorsten, those four days wil be unforgetable to me."
- A. B. (Argentina)
"Three pleasant days have changed forever, years of strong image production.
Congratualtion to Thorsten who could immediately create a team spirit maintain everybody's 3 days 110 % focus on improving ."
- M. J. (USA)
"I had a great time also. Since I only bought my first Leica about 3 months ago, I know I have a lot to learn, and I really feel I have a superb jump start with all of you help. Thanks Thorsten and everyone else. Please let's stay in touch."
- S. G. (USA)
"Thorsten, thanks for another great experience. I look forward to one in Toronto or Montreal!"
- J. H. (London)
User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop:
"Thanks again for the GREAT workshop experience!
It is going to take me a while to return to (almost) normal after the last several days. I have photo and software details swirling around in my brain, and I am trying to assimilate it all."
- B. S. (USA)
"I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for a really fantastic workshop and the time spent together. This weekend will always be very well remembered!"
- S. M. (Germany)
User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop in Hong Kong:
"Thanks again for an amazing experience. Definitely keen to do another workshop with you both in the near future to hone my skills. Apologies for having to run out constantly. Thanks again for everything."
- G. C. (Hong Kong)
Review of the Thorsten Overgaard Workshop in London:
"I was in a flat spot with my picture making, I was reading your blog which I follow with great interest. Your blog said 'wear your camera and get out and do something'.
Well after a bit of thought, I went out and put on an exhibition of 80 pictures in our local library exhibition room. This turned out to be very successful with photographic societies and others visiting the exhibition.
Thank you for having inspired me!"
- R. D. (UK)
"Now, ten days after of our workshop I am feeling even much more grateful to your three days of relaxed lessons. I have been shooting every day and I can notice your legacy more present in my photos.
I have been changing all my image workflow and now it is simpler, faster and with much better final results. Many thanks and congratulation! Your teaching system keep people improving, it doesn't finish when at workshop ends."
- M. J. (France)
"Thank you Thorsten. I'll try and get at least one image everyday. "
- D. P. (USA)
Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop Review:
"Towards the end of the year, I purchased a Leica camera and Leica 35mm lens; I did not know how much this little black box was about to shape all of the next year for me.
I attended a workshop in London with Danish photographer Thorsten Overgaard. It was, not only, an incredibly informative few days but also tons of fun and I met some wonderful people. The encouragement I got from Thorsten and everyone else gave me an incredible boost to get started. In fact I loved the workshop so much I immediately enrolled for the next one, which turned out to be even better.
I found Thorsten's straightforward approach to both using the camera and towards editing extremely refreshing, but it was the way he taught me how to look for light that, honestly, changed the way I view the world.
I see differently now and because of that I also think differently. I've started to compose and record music in a way that is much clearer and for the first time in my career true to how I want to hear it."
- B. G. (Music Composer & Producer London)
User review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop in Sydney, Australia:
"First of all I would like to thank you for some very educational and inspirational days in Sydney. I feel that I've grown a lot as a photographer, not only through what you taught us, but also by just observing how you move and interact with subjects on the street. And your "All you need is love" approach to photography is the best advise I've ever received as a photographer.
I'm still aiming for my "less is more" approach to photography. If something doesn't add to the story you’re trying to tell then try to crop it out (preferably in camera) or wait for the right moment when there are no distractions. I just had another look at your website and one of my favorite photos is of the Sikh reading a book shot with the 80mm Summilux-R. There must be hundreds of people in that photo but they all add to the story and therefore not a single one should be cropped. Very inspiring indeed!
Hope to see you again in the future, in Australia or somewhere else around the world. All the best."
Thorsten von Overgaard is a Danish-American multiple award-winning photographer, known for his writings about photography and Leica cameras. He travels to more than 25 countries a year, photographing and teaching workshops to photographers. Some photos are available as signed editions via galleries or online. For specific photography needs, contact Thorsten Overgaard via email.
You can follow Thorsten Overgaard at his television channel magicoflight.tv.
I am in constant orbit teaching
Leica and photography workshops.
Most people prefer to explore a
new place when doing my workshop.
30% of my students are women.
35% of my students do
two or more workshops.
95% is Leica users.
Age range is from 16 to 83 years
with the majority in the 30-55 range.
Skill level range from two weeks
to a lifetime of experience.
97% use a digital camera.
100% of my workshop graduates photograph more after a workshop.
1 out of 600 of my students have
asked for a refund.
Review of the Thorsten von Overgaard Workshop in Luxoria Magazine:
Join a Thorsten Overgaard
Photography
Workshop
I am in constant orbit teaching
Leica and photography workshops.
Most people prefer to explore a
new place when doing my workshop.
30% of my students are women.
35% of my students do
two or more workshops.
95% is Leica users.
Age range is from 16 to 83 years
with the majority in the 30-55 range.
Skill level range from two weeks
to a lifetime of experience.
97% use a digital camera.
100% of my workshop graduates photograph more after a workshop.
1 out of 600 of my students have
asked for a refund.
Hermés Barda camera bag and Annie Barton camera strap. The Hermés "Barda" bag comes in two sizes, 35 x 27 x 7 cm and 43 cm and in etain/pewter and ebene/ebony colors and black sikkim calfskin leather. The price is HK$49700 and HK$58600 respectively.
And speaking of custom made looks, let's touch on the habit some have of removing the Leica M lettering on the front with a wooden toothpick (which is quite easily done - and Leica can repaint it if you regret), or by adding black tape over the M white letter and/or the red Leica dot. 
Leica lens hood 12 466 on the 1994-2010 35mm Summilux-M ASPH edition. Leica M9-P silver and 
My 
Goyard Ambassade bag in the classic colors brown/black. The other classic colors are black/black. The 
Bokeh: The visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image. Photo at Bar del Fico in Rome. 
