LFI 1-2007 Reading Sample_en

LFI

1/ 2007 DECEMBER JANUARY

LEICA FOTOGRAFIE INTERNATIONAL

MATHIAS HENG UPHOLDING DIGNITY WHEN ALL IS LOST: LIFE AFTER DISASTER

LEICA M8 INFRARED AND OTHER HITCHES: SEVERAL FIXES ARE NECESSARY

TRI-ELMAR-M

4 194043 106501

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D 19088 F

D EUR 6,50 NL EUR 7,70 B EUR 7,70 L EUR 7,70

16-18-21MM F/4 ASPH: THE SUPER WIDE-ANGLE VARIO FOR THE LEICA M

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WWW.LFI-ONLINE.COM

CONTENT

PORTFOLIOS DIGNITY IN FOCUS

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Life between dust and wreckage: Australian photojournalist Mathias Heng documents life after disaster with pictures that are both sensitive and powerful

THAT’S PHOTOGRAPHY

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To celebrate Andreas Feininger’s 100th birthday, the ‘Stiftung Moritzburg’ art museum in Halle, Germany, has dedicated an exhibition to this legendary photographer 62

© AndreasFeiningerArchive.com

LAKE NEWTON

This American photographer supported himself as an English teacher in South Korea. His forays through the streets of Gwanju speak of the exotic allure of timeless femininity

TECHNOLOGY LEICA M8

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How Leica plans to fix the infrared problem

CONSTANTINE MANOS

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A Magnum photographer hits the road with an M8

ELMARIT-M 28 MM F/2.8 ASPH

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The most compact of all M lenses

TRI-ELMAR-M 16-18-21 MM F/4 ASPH

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The super-wide-angle vario lens for the Leica M

FINE ART INKJET PRINTING

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Hahnemühle Digital FineArt Collection

LEICA D-LUX 3

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The youngest of the compact models put to the test

SECTIONS EDITORIAL

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PHOTO NEWS

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EXHIBITIONS

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PREVIEW / IMPRINT

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Andreas Feininger: Elevated railway at 9th Ave., NYC, 1940 (page 20) Leica M8: with small imperfections (page 26) Lake Newton: Gwanju, South Corea, 2003 (page 62)

Cover photo: Mathias Heng, Muzzaffarabad, Pakistan, 2006

1/2007 LFI

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TECHNOLOGY LEICA M8: TROUBLE IN PARADISE?

NOT AS DARK AS IT SEEMS Black fabrics with magenta tinge, high-ISO pictures showing horizontal stripes – early M8 owners are experiencing the camera’s two teething problems. Leica now promises to put an end to this nuisance by offering some explanation – and relief.

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SPA ;

you would be forgiven for thinking that Leica was headed for rack and ruin.

So what happened? After experimenting with the camera, several customers posted onto the Internet their discovery of peculiar magenta tinges in the reproduction of black synthetic material. Soon the problem was identified; evidently the M8 was reacting overly sensitively to infrared light. But then there was more: other M8 owners were uploading images showing highlights, mostly light sources, barred with bright stripes. This effect is known as banding and tends to occur at higher ISO settings. As if that weren’t enough, rumours were spreading that the camera was only capable of 8-bit colour depth, while other users were unhappy with the automatic white balance.

Ten years ago, issues like these would have merely heated up the hotline at customer service – something Leica would have cooled down with a level-headed response.

Now, thanks to the Internet, we have witnessed how the complaints quickly transformed into an uncontrollable wave of outrage. M8 owners were animating each other to photograph black fabrics and halogen lamps, and suddenly these became the only two subjects worth talking about. As is so often the case in the online world, the discussions were not always based on fact. Words occasionally hit below the belt.

Photos:

For countless followers of rangefinder photography the M8 is a dream come true. Less than a few years ago, the common understanding was that the M simply could not be made into a digital camera. This has changed. Every aspect for which the M system stands – the factors that made it so popular amongst its users – has found its digital equivalence. In order for the M8 to blend seamlessly into the continuity of the tradition-laden M system, Leica frequently ventured into uncharted technical territory. Those who were fortunate enough to have not only held an M8 but also seen the magnificent pictures on the computer screen will have borne witness to the success of what was an exceptionally ambitious project.

However, the celebration was soon to be interrupted, with complaints homing in from every angle of the World Wide Web. “A system error like this is just unacceptable, considering the claims and price of an M8,” exclaimed one member of the German-language Leica user forum at www.leica-camerauser.com. Others, in this case at the Leica section of www.dpreview.com, debated whether or not a 500-Euro compact camera were to be a more reliable apparatus than an M8. One individual suggested that it were time for the Leica boss to step down, while others decided to take it all with a pinch of salt and look on the bright side: “think pink – we Leica photographers don’t see all black.” From the controversy raging in photographic cyberspace these past few days

Leica (product shots)

BY HOLGER SPARR

1/2007 LFI

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TECHNOLOGY M8 PORTFOLIO

CONSTANTINE MANOS

If Constantine Manos were to name a favourite colour, it would have to be red. Red for danger, excitement, passion, even violence – a broad sweep of the human experience. Manos is not the only one; the poet Charles Baudelaire was also attracted to red. With a quote from Baudelaire (which he admittedly attributes to Rimbaud), Manos begins an essay on himself and his well-known cycle ‘American Color’, which can be seen and heard at http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essays/color.aspx: ‘Le beau est toujours bizarre’; in everything beautiful there is something strange. Constantine Manos, born in 1934 in South Carolina, has been a member of the Magnum Agency since 1963. In 1972 he published ‘A Greek Portfolio’, a book on Greece, home of his ancestors, which won an award in Arles.

After his countless commissions for ‘Esquire’, ‘Look’, ‘Life’ and his hometown of Boston, he eventually experienced what he himself describes as a midlife crisis; having spent his entire photographic career working in black and white, he suddenly had the feeling that he would never again produce something meaningful. One day then he ventured off with his Leicas and a few Kodachromes to places full of people, and to places that could almost be called remote. Something gradually began to take shape, a surreal moment which captivated him and which he then began to look for systematically. The result was the book ‘American Color’, for which he was awarded the Leica Medal of Excellence in 2003. The book contained 80 pictures, all taken at about 1/250 second. In this aspect alone lies a certain magic: peculiar images of American life, fleeting yet charged with colour and complexity, all sum up to less than a second in time. These captured moments, 40

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long gone but preserved for the viewer, reveal the absurd, touching, trashy kaleidoscope of American daily life. The search takes time and patience until the right moment shines through the perpetual panorama of events.

A good picture, explains Manos, always comes as a surprise, and a great one is in fact almost impossible. You have a certain idea of what you hope to find, but it takes chance to turn it into a reality. Using the Leica M8, a camera “that has everything I had hoped for,” Constantine Manos explored Provincetown, Massachusetts, Cape Cod and several provincial fun fairs in search of pictures, of which some would perhaps end up in his ongoing ‘American Color II’ project. We have had the fortune to present a small selection; more of his work can be seen at the web address mentioned above. OS

Photos: Constantine Manos, Magnum Photos, www.magnumphotos.com

Magnum photographer Constantine Manos distils pictures of contemplative power and preternatural colour from the casual constellations of chance. Whilst he used to take photographs with the MP, he now places the M8 at the centre of his work; this is what brings us the photos on the following pages.

Manos focuses on the kind of scene that no one is likely to take notice of. His eye for the power of colour results in complex compositions in which the ephemeral exudes a timeless charm

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TECHNOLOGY M LENSES, PART 6

FIVE IN ONE Between the analogue and the digital M the new Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21mm f/4 Asph covers the field angles of focal lengths 16, 18, 21, 24 and 28 mm. The maximum view angle of 107 degrees is a compositional challenge for rangefinder photographers.

When you choose the Leica rangefinder system you choose a compact camera together with a wealth of compact, highperformance lenses, but you also have to put up with certain focal length restrictions. Genuine zoom lenses are virtually incompatible with the principle of the viewfinder frame; the given measurement basis will allow you to focus no more than a 135 mm focal length; at the wide-angle end, which is in fact one of the domains of the M system, from a certain focal length M photographers are forced to draw upon additional optical tools.

Leica M cameras up until the M7 are known to support a maximum field angle of a 28 mm focal length with a respective bright-line frame inside the M rangefinder (up until the 0.72x viewfinder magnification). For this reason, the Elmarit-M 21 mm f/2.8 Asph and Elmarit-M 24 mm f/2.8 Asph are commonly used in combination with a 21/24/28 mm universal wide-angle viewfinder, which is what ultimately allows for accurate control over the 46

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composition. Some might consider this solution to be unnecessarily complicated – however, wide-angles yield a great depth of field and can therefore be employed effectively with hyperfocal distances (LFI 5/2004). This enables you to compose the picture through the universal wideangle viewfinder without having to deal with the rangefinder mechanism.

The M8 has a 1.33 crop factor and a 0.68x viewfinder. Consequently, the 135 mm focal length is no longer recommendable; in fact, the corresponding frame has been omitted. Instead, the M8 has a frame for a 24 mm – the pairs are 24/35, 50/75 and 28/90 mm – corresponding to the field angle of a 32 mm focal length. A 21 mm, in turn, would require the universal wide-angle viewfinder to be set to 28 mm.

As a result, what used to be extra-wide angles are no longer so extra-wide when run digitally.

Apart from an early 1970s’ experiment conducted with the very limited edition of the Hologon 15 mm f/8, Leica never offered an M lens smaller than 21 mm.

For a long time, devotees of the extreme angle had to plump for the comparatively inexpensive Super Wide Heliar 15 mm f/4.5 from Cosina-Voigtländer. This used to be the only solution, and a fairly popular one at that. Mounted on an M8, it behaves like a 20 mm focal length. The absent rangefinder coupling is a slight disadvantage, which in this area of focal lengths – see hyperfocal distance – is

Photos: os

All pictures on this page: Leica M7, Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21mm f/4 Asph, 16 mm setting, f/5.6

1/2007 LFI

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TECHNOLOGY LEICA D-LUX 3

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL It might not be a show-stopper, but the D-Lux 3 packs a practical set of functions into an eye-pleasing, compact design. In our trial run, the latest of the 16:9 D-Lux series – now with 10 megapixels resolution – put on a performance worthy of applause.

BY HOLGER SPARR

The D-Lux 3 was the only model not included in LFI 8/2006, where we compared Leica’s youngest generation of digital cameras in an extensive analysis.

Maybe this was a good thing. Being the modest little camera that it is, it may have been overshadowed by the latest wave of cutting-edge Leica products. The D-Lux 3 is no technological juggernaut à la M8. It is no match for the performance stats of a Digilux 3, and it falls short of the super zoom range of a V-Lux 1. The camera is not quite as pocket-friendly as its little brother, the minute C-Lux 1, nor is it much bigger; the lens does not retract entirely into the body and, together with the lens 58

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cap, the resultant lump in the trouser pocket is unmistakeable. Yet the D-Lux 3 has its fortes: the 16:9 sensor, for one.

Leica’s D-Lux series stands for sleek and compact digital cameras, designed for everyday use and bag-free daytrips. The difference between the fully automated C-Lux 1 and the D-Lux 3 lies in the latter’s ability to focus and expose manually, and also to store pictures in Raw format and at a superior resolution.

Compared with the preceding model the changes were kept to a minimum: the resolution climbs from 8 to 10 megapixels; the new Venus III engine processes the photographic data with a

more effective grip on noise; and the display on the back now measures a slightly larger 2.8 inches, and comes in 16:9 format. With the sensor set to 16:9, the image displayed is obviously much larger than before. Switching to 3:2 or 4:3 crops the picture on the left and right, on the display as well as the final picture, simultaneously reducing resolution and narrowing the angle of the DC Vario Elmarit 6.3–25.2 mm f/2.8–4.9 Asph. In 16:9 format the zoom range measures a convenient 35 mm equivalent of 28 to 112 millimetres. The integrated image stabiliser works wonders when using the longest focal length in bad lighting.

Unlike its predecessor, the D-Lux 3 is also available in black and features a widescreen display. The control elements have now been relocated to the very right of the camera back, but this has no significant effect on the camera’s manual functionality

Those primarily looking for technical specifications will spot the biggest change not in the enhanced display, but rather in the higher resolution. Now that 10-megapixel sensors have entered the compact market, manufacturers are discovering that a leap from 8 to 10 megapixels does not necessarily entail a measurably higher resolution.

Resolutions as such soon represent an upper limit within the technical constraints of unchanged sensor sizes and lens capacities. In the lab, the D-Lux 3 produced a resolution of 1514 lines/image height. Not exactly a jawdropping advance from the D-Lux 2,

which already gave 1450 lines. Yet the D-Lux 3 knows what it’s doing; if the resolution were converted into the more conventional 4:3 format of other cameras, the result would be a solid 1749 lines/image height.

The new sensor and its higher resolution come with a few nominal side effects. Compact cameras use their image sensors instead of designated AF sensors to regulate autofocus, which means in the case of D-Lux 3 that its autofocus is a little slower than its precursor, taking 0.6 to 1.1 seconds to focus fully. Once focused, the camera exposes with a minimal 0.01-second delay,

and due to the larger amount of data the serial mode is a little more restrained.

In our lab test the D-Lux 3 exposed a sequence at 2.25 pictures per second, which was faster than what we’d come to expect from the data sheet. The internal storage, however, is now only enough for three instead of five shots in sequence.

The D-Lux 3 knows how to handle noise. As with the V-Lux 1, the internal noise suppressor runs at full tilt starting with ISO 400, producing excellent values but also unfortunate traces of image manipulation. Colour recognition and white balance, on the other hand, leave no room for criticism. With the lens set 1/2007 LFI

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