Whole Lotta Leica Results - March's Summilux 35mm f1.4 in Black and White!

 

Kodaiji After Dark, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summilux 35mm f1.4 Lens

iso 640, f1.7, 1/15 sec.

 

I've already posted some night street shots taken with March's Whole Lotta Leica lens, the Summilux 35mm f1.4 lens. Here's one more night shot (above), or at least it was after sunset. I love the repeated patterns and lines in this shot.

 

I've been manually entering my lenses into the M9, so it can work its magic on vignette corrections, etc. I'm not sure what happened here, but the image data says I'm using a 35mm Summicron, rather than the Summilux. Therefore, I'm not sure about the f-stop information. I've got to look into that.

 

Here is another low light image (below), this time taken from a moving subway train.

 

Entering the Tunnel, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summilux 35mm f1.4 Lens

iso 640, f5.6, 1/4 sec.

 

The shot above could have been made with just about any 35mm lens. I decided that I wanted the motion blur caused by the train movement, set the shutter speed at 1/4 second, and then found the right aperture, which happened to be f5.6. I took several images like this but this is my favorite.

 

Ochanoyu, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summilux 35mm f1.4 Lens

iso 1250, f1.4, 1/30 sec.

 

The shot above shows the dreamy quality of the Summilux wide open (or nearly so). Again, due to the lens id issue, I'm not sure exactly what f-stop I used. If I remember correctly, it was f1.4. The lady in front's face and the tea cup are quite sharp, but everything else is smooth and creamy.

 

Finally, here's a shot taken in daylight. This was taken at the Kamo River in Kyoto, where people gather to enjoy the spring weather.

 

Jumping the Turtles, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Summilux 35mm f1.4 Lens

iso 160, f9.5, 1/180 sec.

 

For the shot above, I decided to do the black and white conversion in Nik's Silverefexpro2. I have been looking for my own settings to emulate Tri-x (Kodak black and white 400 film) for some time, with no real success. For this shot, I used the built-in Tri-x setting in Silverefexpro2. I'm very pleased with the result. I like the line made by the upraised heads of the stone turtles, and the parallel lines of the stones the family is standing on and the stairway and stone wall at the river's edge. The little girl in mid-air between the stones finishes off the composition for me.

 

So, while I really do love the color rendition of my old Summilux 35, it also delivers quite well in black and white.

 

I hope you enjoy these images.

 

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