Nowadays I look at very few photography websites and blogs on a regular basis because I find most of them tedious as they are devoted to camera gear and not the end product-photographs.I now particular avoid those with forums where people who have not got a life go to be nasty to others.And they certainly can be nasty about Leica products and Leica users.It really is quite strange-the majority of camera gearheads just do not get Leica and in particular the X series cameras and if you follow The Rolling Road on a regular basis you will know that I am a big X1 fan.It may well be a much maligned camera lacking the bells and whistles which the gearheads consider essential equipment for any self respecting contemporary camera but it takes just wonderful photos.In fact as well as its superb image quality it is its simplicity and lack of unnecessary menus and settings which appeals to me.
Anyway just to prove my point -well at least to myself- here is a very recent -last weekend-shot from my Leica X1 which I reckon shows what a great lens can do on a reasonable sized sensor in a quite small camera. DNG (RAW) file processed in LR4.Very little adjustment in LR and lightly cropped.Taken at f2.8 on the Auto setting because it is Leica design philosophy that the aperture control is for adjusting depth of field not exposure so on Auto ISO and Auto shutter speed and Auto aperture the X1 always tries to default to ISO100 and f2.8-the widest aperture- and whatever shutter speed is appropriate.In this case the shutter speed was1/1000th.
Of course looking at an image on a small screen is not a challenging test.That comes from looking at the image on a large scale-preferably as a big print -and these X1 images really excel when they are big prints.
And to all those who say that the X1 is slow and not suitable for street photography here's a clown picture taken on on the fly.Some of us were taking photos before autofocus was invented.Indeed before automatic exposure metering was even thought of yet alone IS or wi-fi connectivity and GPS tagging.And no Matilda you don't need a zoom lens.One fixed lens will do just fine.
Photo taken on the street in Paris.Surely there must be easier ways to try to earn a living?
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