Bokeh

Long time between posts. But this is a short one about bokeh. For me it has two qualities - the aesthetic look and the degree of blurring. The former can only be decided on a per lens basis and is highly subjective. The second factor, which is degree of blurring, is primarily based on the objective size. That is, the true aperture size. The larger the physical size of the diameter, the more the blur. For example, a 50mm f/2.0 has an aperture size of 25mm. A 200mm f/2.0 lens has an aperture size of 100mm. In most circumstances (i.e., same image size) the blur on the 200mm at f/2.0 will be far more than the 50mm f/2.0.

Given this, and the fact that I love blurred out background, I can make an informed choice between lenses as to which one will give me the most blur - but not necessarily the most beautiful blur. Some interesting conclusions is that the smaller the format, the larger the aperture needs to be to have good background blur.

In principle, my choices of lens for bokeh (for full frame D700) ranges between 50mm to 300mm. In this example, the following is a measure of the theoretical aperture size for various lenses. Noting that the large the aperture, the more blur.

50mm f/1.0 = 50mm (e.g., Leica Noctilux)

50mm f/1.4 = 35mm

85mm f/1.4 = 60mm

85mm f/1.8 = 47mm

100mm f/2.0 = 50mm (e.g., Zeiss ZF2 Planar)

135mm f/2.0 = 67mm (e.g., Zeiss ZF2)

200mm f/2.0 = 100mm (e.g., Nikon 200mm f/2.0 )

200mm f/2.8 = 71mm (e.g., f/2.8 70-200 zooms)

300mm f/4.0 = 75mm (e.g., Nikon 300mm f/4.0)

Updates

Been some time since my last entry, and lots happening in the photographic world. In short, I thought Photokina 2012 has some really interesting products, but also some missed opportunities. Anyway, I recently purchased DxO Mark Pro and now have the five major RAW convertors and photo editing platforms; Aperture, Capture One, DxO, Lightroom and RAW Developer. I would like to do a comprehensive comparison between the two. The only drag at the moment is that DxO does not support the X2. A shame, but hopefully that will change soon.

High ISO Olympus OM-D Samples

Here is a simple image set from ISO 1600 to ISO 25600 on the Olympus E-M5 OM-D. The exposure wasn't consistent - and was handheld from the car - whilst waiting for drive through take away. In my opinion ISO 6400 is useable, and ISO 1600 and 3200 is pretty good.

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

ISO 25600

Comments by Olympus Management

There has been a press release from Olympus indicating that they are committed to the top pro lenses that they have developed for the 4/3 system. This is great news instead. Having used and loved the E1, I think an E7 would be a welcomed addition. However, I think to better capitalise the market, they should really develop a 4/3 to m4/3 that allows full speed operation of the lenses on the m43 body. Either that, or they release new versions of those lenses that can accommodate properly (i.e., full speed) contrast detect AF. Again, just my two cents worth.

Leica X2 with Canon 250D

Here are some shots with the Leica X2 and the Canon 250D diopter - DNG straight into Aperture - no changes. Very rough. But gives you an idea of sharpness and distortion. Not too bad at all! They were all at f/2.8 and hand held. Not sure about the shutter speeds - you can check the EXIF data. 

Quick update

It has been a while since my last post - I guess work and family got the better balance. But the good news is that my combination of the Kiwi 49mm tube, 49mm-52mm step up ring and the Canon 250D has all finally arrived. So I did some quick shots and should be able to post some initial comments in the next few days. On a side note, the step up ring cost all of US$1.50, it was shipping from HK. I ordered it on the 18th of July and it arrived to me in HK on the 16th of August. Almost one month! I was very disappointed. The item was post stamped 10th of August, but the seller had marked the item as posted on the 18th of July. Typical. That is the kind of trashy sellers that gives eBay a bad name....

Quick thoughts between Leica X2 and Olympus OM-D

After having used my Leica X2 for a little over 1,000 photos and around 2,000 on the OM-D I have some initial observations between the two cameras. The Olympus is a technically excellent camera. It has great sharpness, responsiveness, autofocus, exposure and sensor noise. The Leica has excellent handling, portability, lovely files, exposure and good sharpness. I do want to point out that they are both inherent very different cameras. Designed for different uses, and aimed at different users. In my opinion, they are mutually exclusive.

In short, I find the X2 files a joy to process and finish. The colour, tonality and 'mood' have so much more life than the OM-D. The files with the X2 need less attention to get looking right. A curve adjustment here and there, some levels, and then the usual sharpen and noise reduction reviews. The OM-D tends to need more work to get the 'look' of the image. I find that the sharpness of the X2 is very good, but the OM-D (especially with the Leica 45mm f/2.8) to be just that much better.

On a day out with the family, which would I take? The X2. What would be in my go bag for every day photos? The X2. If I was going out for a night out, the X2. For me, I find the X2 a perfect match. For a photographic trip, I would consider the X2, and along with the OM-D mated with the 12mm f/2.0 and the 45mm f/2.8. Of which, it should cover me for most of my shooting needs. This all fits nicely into my Think Tank Restrospective 5 bag. The alternative would be the X2 and D700 with the Zeiss 100mm f/2.0 and Nikon 24mm f/1.4.

With the X2, there are two inherent shortcomings (that cannot be changed) and a few areas that can be improved with firmware. 

1. It doesn't do macro very well. On such a compact camera, surely it would've been easy to allow focusing down to say 15cm from the current 30cm.
2. It doesn't do a equivalent 70mm-ish FOV. Obviously no fault of the X2, but if Leica would introduce an X2 version with the longer focal length lens (and perhaps a wider one as well), it would allow people like me to build a system simply based on multiple bodies. No more lens changes!

If item 1 was to be addressed in the next version, and a new X2 released with a narrower lens, I think it'd be even better suited to me. Things I would like to see improved in the firmware;

1. Allow minimum shutter speed for Auto ISO to be set to 1/250, rather than just 1/30.
2. Allows the two dials to be customised to change EV, ISO, Flash ISO, etc. by the user.
3. Allow fro DNG only.
4. Buttons to be a little more response, especially the INFO button, when I am using the OVF, it sometimes takes around 1 second for the screen to come on.
5. Have a special screen display mode for when you are in OVF (as an option to no display) that will show all the critical camera settings (ISO, EV, WB, photos remaining, focus point, etc.). Even better would be to allow the photographer to select which ones to show.

Without sounding too poetic, I find that the use and results of the X2 to be have more 'soul' and emotional connection, despite it being noisier and not as sharp nor as fast as the OM-D; and for me, that   is why I think the X2 will be my long term photographic friend.

Leica X2 Battery Life

The first charge of the battery on my Leica X2 just died. The camera shut down. The photo count, 884. Impressive! I mainly use the Voigtlander OVF, so the screen usage was very minimal. Maybe used the screen about 15% of the time, and the after shot preview was set to 1 second. There was even some flash usage, say 5%. All around I'd say that this was a very impressive battery capacity, and two batteries should last for most short multi night trips.

Pier

A day at the beach/pier with my Leica X2 - Mui Wo in Lantau Island, Hong Kong - to be exact. Terribly bad day. Very bright, hazy, smoggy, feel like you are in a tanning booth... A few comments. CA is fairly well controlled - red and purple fringes can be seen from about 50% upwards. There was a lot of CA along the horizontal members of the gantry, the vertical posts had very little (not sure which is the exact optical phenomena that is, but there is a name for it...).

Loading Platform.
(Leica X2 1/500 f/5.6 ISO 100)

Sharpness again is generally quite even across the frame. But I do not that DOF, even with a 24mm lens set at f/5.6 is not everywhere. In my eyes, the  field that appears to be sharp and in focus extends from the bottom of the rusted steel platform; all the way to the end of the timber platform. If you look carefully at the light blue rendered wall on the right hand side. The wall surface appears to be rendered with very good detail and sharpness. But if you move down towards the concrete pier itself, a lot of that becomes softer - which it should, cause it is on a similar focal plane.

A few notes about the colour and exposure. It was difficult lighting conditions, but still, the Leica X2 files were very easy to work with. In this particular photo, it had an exposure of -0.65, had RGB, Blue and Lab Luminance curves applied; along with some contrast, saturation, tint mid tones and tint highlights applied in RAW Developer.

Full frame mirrorless

There have much speculation of a full frame mirror less system coming. With the Canon mirror less finally been leaked, I think the rounds by the manufacturers are completed. In the past there have been two standout Japanese manufacturers always doing something different; Fujifilm and Ricoh. The Fuji has released X series, very innovative and very different to the mainstream. Ricoh chose the GXR route, with different modules.

At this time, I want to speculate a bit about the GXR future. I think Ricoh will come out with updates to the body and the GXR A12 M module in the following in the next 3 to 6 months.

• A new body with a build-in EVF. 
• Updated GXR A12 M-mount module. It will have the same 16 megapixel sensor as their new A16 module. 

And my prediction is that they are working on one, or will work on a full frame M-mount module. But my thoughts are this is maybe one to two years away.