We are out on foot in the streets of Prague. Shopping, relaxing and photograhping in a slow cozy pace… ahhh this is good…
Easter in Prague
It’s been a long time since we where in Prague… way to long…
We have booked a few days at the Ibis Praha Old Town hotel for easter.
One year with Leica
About a year ago I decided to fulfill a long lasting dream. I’ll try to explain as short as I can…
For many years I have been “tired” of the way modern digital photography has evolved and the way it made me as a photographer – just point and shoot and take plenty of photos, then you will have something to chose from when you get back to your computer. For a long time I wanted to slow down, focus a bit more on taking the actual shot. Off course this can be done with a modern DSLR, just shoot 2-3 photos of the scene thinking more about the composition instead of just shooting 10-15 photos and selecting the best one later. Over the last couple of years I have been using prime lenses with fixed focal length more and more, to force me to think more about my composition, even though it got me a bit on track it was not really optimal…
Then early last year I decided to fulfill my dream about getting a Leica camera. I sold all my Nikon gear and bought a used Leica M8.2 on eBay. My first lens for the Leica was a Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 which is a really nice lens, good bang for the bucks and quite compact – especially the size will be handy on travel!
Looking on eBay can be a dangerous thing and after some months I found a good deal on a Leica 50mm f/2 Summicron lens from 1994. I bought it well under the current market price, knowing that I would not use it much on the M8. The M8 has a 27x18mm CCD sensor causing a “crop factor” of 1.33 and this would then make a 50mm lens act as a 67mm lens in the full frame world (35mm equivalent). But I knew that I would upgrade to a full frame Leica later on – my plan was to keep the M8 for a few years and spend some money on quality lenses. The 35mm lens has a 46mm focal length (35mm equivalent) on the M8 so I would need a wide angle lens as well. I read some reviews and found that a Voigtlander 21mm f/4 was a good bargain (this then gives a focal length equivalent to 28mm on the M8).
At work we had a photo contest for all employees in Freising and more than 1000 photos was submitted. I had submitted a few photos, one of which I shot with my Leica M8 about a month after I got it. I was lucky to win in the Nature category with this photo.
The funny part is that in the past I never really shot any landscape or nature photos, but I guess with my new enthusiasm and re-found creativity shooting with the Leica has paid off…
I got so hooked up on the complete experience around shooting with a Leica camera, that I decided to sell the M8 after a year and buy a M9 (which is full frame). Using the M8 for a year and shooting a few thousand photos with it, I sold it for the same price as I paid for it, which is not bad 🙂 After searching eBay for a good M9 I found one in Munich which had a reasonable price, good condition and an OK shutter count – I picked it up last Monday 🙂
My only regret is not doing this earlier as all my Nikon stuff lost a lot of money just sitting on the shelf…
Visiting Arehucas rum destillery
There is rum on the agenda today! We are visiting the Arehucas Rum destillery at the top of Gran Canaria.
My wife bought me a 30 years old rum, which is very hard to find – it is almost only sold directly from the destillery.
Relaxing by the beach
Coffee break and spending the day along the beach…