Leica M9

In an attempt to curb my spending on film (and developing said film), I have explored more digital photography options. Ideally, a digital camera or system I use would allow me to produce jpegs that have my “look” without much (if any) post-processing. Enter: the Leica M9. After hours of research, I decided to give this 10 year old camera a chance. Sporting an 18MP CCD sensor (famously made by Kodak in the spirit of Kodachrome film emulations of decades’ past), the M9 is known for its punchy colors and beautiful black and white jpeg rendering. Its reputation for gorgeous color and tonality, however, is undercut by poor dynamic range (11.7 stops at base ISO of 160, and 7.6 stops at ISO 2500 according to DxO Mark, compared to the M240’s 13.4) and blown highlights, along with a terrible (virtually unusable) LCD screen, small viewfinder, and slow buffer speed.

Ultimately, I will end up giving up this beautiful hunk of brass in exchange for something more fitting for my bespectacled, fast paced shooting style (like an M240 or newfangled Q). In the meantime, I wanted to share some images taken with this setup.

Portland, Maine

There are few places that feel the way Maine does in the Summer; golden hour lasts more like three hours, the water glimmers, and the historical lighthouses that dot the coast are silhouetted in a bronze glow. During my most recent trip north, I brought along a complete Contax package that included a 35mm G1 with the legendary Zeiss 45mm f/2.0 lens and the Rolls Royce of AF medium format cameras, the Contax 645 with its kit Zeiss 80mm f/2.0 lens. See if you can spot the difference between the images from the two cameras (hint: it’s harder than you would think thanks to the extraordinary performance of the G1 with that razor sharp 45mm lens).

Bailey on Expired Portra 400

The last time I bought a used camera (a beat up Yashica T4 that deserves its own post) I was gifted with some free expired film, including several rolls of Portra 400.  I decided to put those through my Mamiya AFD and head out to shoot with Bailey in Los Feliz to see just how much character 8 years of storage past the expiration date would add... the answer: a lot.  Each roll kind of had its own particularities, both in terms of texture and color.  So, expired film isn't all bad! I wouldn't suggest shooting expired film in a high pressure situation where the outcome needs to be reliable, BUT it's a great exercise when shooting for fun.

Mamiya Medium Format

Last month I had the privilege of shooting some new content for Father's Daughter LA, a locally sourced, designed, and manufactured women's line of denim, shirting, and dresses that are both artfully crafted and intelligently designed.  I was lucky enough to have a friend's Mamiya 645 1000s medium format camera with me and the results were beautiful.  Thanks to Richard Photo Lab for the scans as well as our incredible models Brielle and Kari.

Stats: Portra Pro400 Film, shot at ISO 200 and scanned at 400 ISO with Frontier Scanner