Woody Campbell

NEW YORK NEW YORK – A day of experimentation. That means taking mundane pictures of mundane subjects trying to understand a new piece of equipment, in this case my Leica M. The electronic viewfinder for this camera arrived today. It permits focusing and composing the camera through the lens via a tiny video screen imbedded in the viewfinder. The view is not great, but it does permit using telephoto or exotic lenses on the M, which would not otherwise be possible using a rangefinder camera. So . . . I’ve got a 1939 Carl Zeiss Jena 85mm Sonar. This is a famous and historic lens, widely used for portraiture back in its day. It was designed to be used on a Zeiss Ikon film camera so it takes a fairly exotic adapter to use on a Leica M mount camera like the M, and the M rangefinder doesn’t couple with it. Used wide open as here it produces low contrast dreamy images. Here here it is, focused through the electronic viewfinder. .

The setting is our dining room. The picture is one of Andrew Moore’s images from Russia.

On this day last year: Patrizia’s party.

NEW YORK NEW YORK – Yeah. OK. The last post was an April Fools prank. Lame? Whatever. I actually did spend some time on Randall’s Island with my new Leica M as well as my trusty Leica Monochrome, and three lenses. It was a poor day for landscape because there was a high, bright overcast sky that made the light flat and dull. I nonetheless had a sensational time. Here’s the 59th Street Bridge taken with the Leica M and a 21mm Super Elmar M Lens and converted to black and white in Lightroom, followed by some color from the same camera and lens.

On this day last year: More Tennessee.