As I mentioned in my last post about zipping by photo opportunities when riding my bike I had to go back for this one because I saw it too late. I haven't quite captured what I was after and that was the 3D effect the shadow was giving the scene. Now why I didn't capture that is not that easy to answer but one thing I' sure of, it does have something to do with the system I'm using. I have seen some images from Leica cameras when paired with a magical Leica lens and I could swear that I was looking at a 3D image. Not possible of course but that is the effect the eye transmits to the brain. Well, it does with me anyway your mileage may vary.
I think that the Leica brand has really become a luxury and a niche brand today simply because of the costs involved in acquiring a system. I don't know many who are satisfied with just a 50 or 35 lens. Different lenses have a different purpose and not everyone shoots the same things all the time so more than one lens is desirable for the system. Since photography is not my profession I won't even think about buying into Leica, that would be a waste of money for me personally. I'm just not that good a photographer that I could justify it. This is a fun hobby and I have to keep the costs reasonably down, and after all, life takes priority. There are more important things in life than hobbies.
Of course, I wouldn't have to buy Leica lenses, there are a number of other manufacturers that supply lenses for the Leica mount, such as Voigtländer, and they have some really gems in their lineup. One of these is the old 75 f2.5 Heliar which has been superceded by the 75 f1.8 Heliar. The 75 f2.5 is smaller and lighter than the new version and, more importantly for me, can but purchased for half the price on ebay or at a local dealer. Ok, it's f2.5 and the new model f1.8, but for my purposes and with the high ISO performance of today's cameras I'll stick with 75 f2.5.
That is by no means the only gem they have and I'll be talking about a couple more in the upcoming posts. However, there may be a few other random posts and images before I get to that.
