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On
July
8 I
published
an article about working in B&W with digital camera raw
files. It first looks at the
topic in broad ways and then moves through some examples of my
own conversion steps when working
with monochrome and color source files. It also looks at ways
in which color channel blending, when
creating B&W files, can affect noise.
On
June
2 I
published
an article based on studio tests of highlight headroom (and
estimated native
ISO) for the
Leica SL, SL2 and SL2-S.
On
May
17 I
published
an article based on studio tests of highlight headroom (and
estimated native
ISO) for the
Fujifilm GFX100S and GFX50S II. This article may be of
interest to any serious digital
photographer who cares about useable dynamic range.
On
April
28 I
published
an article based on full studio tests of the Ricoh
GR IIIx's lens.
On
March
26 I
published
an article based on studio tests of highlight headroom (and
estimated native
ISO) for the
Leica M11, M10 Monochrom and M10-R. This article may be of
interest to many serious
digital photographers (working with any brand of camera) as it
looks, in some depth, at the nature of
"useable dynamic range", the relationship of that to various
colors and color channels as well as other
related topics.
On
March
22 I
published
an article based on studio tests of resolution, luminance
vignetting and color drift
which compare the Leica M11, M10 Monochrom and M10-R using a
compact 28 mm lens and a compact
21 mm lens.
On
February
28 I
published
an article based on studio tests of resolution, luminance
vignetting and color drift
which compare the Leica M11, M10 Monochrom and M10-R using two
apochromatic 35 mm lenses.
On February
9 I
published
an article based on Black & White studio tests which compare the
Leica M11,
M10 Monochrom and M10-R.
On
January
18 I
published
an article based on detailed color studio tests of the Leica M10-R and
M11. This is
a 14-page article that looks at color rendering, noise levels at
various ISO and DNG settings, color moire and
infrared color drift resistance/color neutrality.
On January
13, 2022 I
published
my review of the new Leica M11. This is the first in a series of six
articles that will
be looking at this camera in detail -- including many studio test
comparisons with the Leica M10-R and M10
Monochrom.
On December
7 I
published a full review of the Fujifilm GF 50/3.5 R LM WR based on
field and studio tests
done using a Fujifilm
GFX100S and a GFX50S II.
On November
23
I published a detailed comparative 18 page field and studio review of
the Fujifilm GFX100S
and GFX50S II.
On
October
31 I
published what is essentially two articles in one. It is a detailed
full field and studio review of
the M-Mount Cosina Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 35/2.0 ASPH. Woven into
that are new field tests of the Zeiss
ZM 35/2.8 Biogon C as well as side-by-side studio tests of the CV 35
APO, the Zeiss ZM 35/2.8 and the Leica
M APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH. This is a 16 page article with more than
110 illustrations.
On September
28 I
published a full review of the Pentax HD DA 40/2.8 Limited based on
field and studio tests
done using a Pentax KP.
On September
15 I
published a full review of the Nikkor Z 35/1.8 S based on field and
studio tests done using the
Nikon Z7.
On August
31 I
published a comparison test that looks at the resolution seen from the
Leica SL, SL2 & SL2-S when
paired with a Leica M APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH. It also looks at the
luminance vignetting and color drift
seen from the Leica SL & SL2-S when paired with that same lens.
On August
12 I
published a comparison test of resolution, vignetting and color drift
for the Leica SL, SL2 & SL2-S
when each was paired with a Leica SL APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH.
On July
30 I
published a short review (based on field and studio tests) of an older
Nikkor 50/1.8 AIS tested
on a Nikon Z7.
On July
15 I
published an extensive review of the Fuji XF 18/1.4 based on field
work and studio tests
comparing the new lens side by side with the Fuji XF 18/2.0 (on a Fuji
X-Pro 3).
On June
29 I
published a short review (based on field and studio tests) of an older
Nikkor-Q 200/4.0 tested
on a Nikon Z7.
On June
10 I
published a full review of the Sigma L Mount 35/2.0 DG DN based on
extensive field tests done
using the Leica SL2-S and studio tests (done using a Leica SL2) which
were done side by side with a Leica
SL APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH. The Sigma 35/2.0 DG DN is also available
in Sony E Mount.
On May
21
I
published tests of the highlight headroom and estimated native ISO
levels of the Leica
Q2 Monochrom, Q2 and M10 Monochrom. This article may be of interest to
any digital camera photographer
who is interested in careful exposure and usable dynamic range.
On May
7
I
published my field review of the Leica SL2-S tested with the Leica
M APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH
and Sigma L 35/2.0 DG DN.
On April
29
I
published a full review of the Cosina Voigtlander 21/3.5 Color-Skopar
ASPH based on field
testing and studio tests done, side by side with the Voigtlander
21/4.0 Color-Skopar, using a Leica M10
Monochrom and M10-R.
On April
12 I
published a full review of the Sigma L Mount 24/3.5 DG DN based on
extensive field testing and
studio tests done using a Leica SL2. This lens is also available in
Sony E Mount.
On March
25 I
published a full review of the Pentax HD DA 35/2.8 Macro Limited based
on extensive field
testing and studio tests done using a Pentax KP.
On March
17 I
published a full review of the Cosina Voigtlander 35/2.0 Ultron ASPH
based on extensive field
testing and studio tests done side by side with the Leica
M APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH and Leica
35/2.0
Summicron ASPH.
On March
4 I
published an extensive (21 page) review of the new Leica M APO 35/2.0
Summicron ASPH based
on field testing and full studio tests. For the latter, I tested the
new lens side by side with the current Leica M
35/2.0 Summicron ASPH and current M 35/1.4 Summilux ASPH. The core
test camera was an Leica M10-R
but I also did resolution tests using the M10 Monochrom and SL2. The
field illustrations in this article were
made using the M10-R and an SL2-S.
On February
19 I
published my studio tests of the new Leica 50/1.2 Noctilux Aspherical
used on the Leica
M10-R, M10M and SL2.
On February
8, 2021 I
published an extensive field review of the new Leica 50/1.2 Noctilux
Aspherical tested on the
Leica M10-R and SL2. Up next will be full studio tests.
Every
writer naturally brings his or her own experience and
perspective to the articles he or she writes. My
writing is heavily influenced by my experience working as a
professional photographer for more than thirty-five
years. I'm primarily interested in cameras and
lenses as tools for drawing, as I believe that photography
really is a branch of drawing. As the photographer Henri
Cartier-Bresson once said in an interview, "My
photography is just an instant drawing...I never quit
drawing. The camera is a way of drawing." I'm also guided by the photographer Andre Kertesz's observation, "I see the thing, I feel the thing, I make the thing". So when I review a camera or a lens, I look primarily at how it presents the world to the photographer (via the finder), how it works as a tool in the hands, and how it draws the kind of picture we call a photograph.
"Quite simply, I think your sections on 'drawing' and and on 'sunny day lenses' are the best writing about photographic lenses that I have read - whether in magazines, journals, books or the various sources online. Few professional writers about photography ever attempt such a full consideration of the range of lens performance characteristics and the different ways in which they are photographically significant. Some discussions in photographic communities online circle around the subject, but don't achieve the focus, rigour and articulacy that you have managed here. Your article is what all writing about photographic lenses ought to be like, yet it's astonishing that next to none of it is. Interesting though Irwin Puts Leica lens book is, it would have been so much more interesting, and so much more appropriate to its subject matter, if it had been written as you have written here...I found the article incredibly useful and interesting. A great help in clarifying and firming up what I have experienced and half-understood about how different lenses work." -
Simon Pulman-Jones, England "We all owe you a vote of thanks for such a massive and thorough piece of work. What a concept-- a "lens test" that is really about the pictorial effect of how lenses draw their images. Lines per millimeter and MTF graphs have their place, but your article really gets to the heart of the matter in the way that photographers can relate to instantly." - Peter Klein, USA
- Jim Watts, USA
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-
Mikiro Mori, Japan "...a very informative, even enlightening, work. It not only provides visual evidence of comparative lenses' performance, it also gets right to the most important factor of lens evaluation - how the image looks to the photographer. Long ago I stopped reading test charts of lenses since none of my clients ever published any. It is always the look of the finished image that counts." -
Richard Weisgrau, USA "I hope your tests become a benchmark for other reviewers to pay more attention to the real needs of photographers..." - Phil Fogle, USA
- Bill Marshall, USA
Example
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