ken@kenrieves.com | Ken Rieves Photography. Commercial, Portrait, and Editorial Photography in Cleveland, OH.

Leica S Medium Format vs. Canon 5D MkIII Full Frame

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On July 21st, 2015

OK, just for fun a friend kindly let me borrow his Leica S (type 006) for a couple of weeks so I could play with it in the studio. It is an awesome camera and I’m a big fan of Leica’s since buying a Leica M just over a year ago.

Having access to the S and few Leica lenses, I had to do a comparison between it and my standard workhorse camera (Canon 5D Mk III). I know it’s not a fair fight. The leica is a medium format camera whereas the Canon is full frame. Besides having a larger medium format sensor, the Leica also uses Leica lenses, arguably some of the best glass in the world. On top of that, the Leica has nearly 38 megapixels versus the Canon’s 22.

To try to keep things comparable, I shot fixed focal length lenses on both cameras. I also tried to use lenses that are most equal in focal length. For instance I shot a 120mm lens on the Leica and compared it to a 100mm lens on the Canon.

Now these tests were not scientific by any means. They are just rough comparisons of image quality. I’m sure you can find tons of analysis and charts/graphs online depicting the differences in the cameras, but for me, I just wanted to see a hands on comparison with real world examples. So that’s what I did.

Leica S (type 006) and Canon 5D MkIII

Back view of cameras.

My first test was shooting macro photos of a small nail. I think the Canon faired well, however there was more texture and detail with the Leica. When the full sized images are viewed it is much more apparent than what you see from these examples.

Macro photo from the Leica. Notice there is more detail in the surface of the nail.

The same shot with the Canon is good, but lacks some of the subtle detail captured by the Leica

My next test was a wider shot using the equivalent of a normal lens. I shot the Canon 50mm EF f/1.2 on the 5D and the Summarit 70mm on the Leica. I shot photos of the overhead door in the back of the studio, then cropped in from 100%. First here is the wide shot, then the cropped images. (The cropped images are of the upper most hinge).

Wide shot of the overhead door.

Shot with the Leica S.

Shot with the Canon 5D MkIII.

While it clear from the these images that the combination of the Leica S and Leica lenses produce sharper results than the Canon and Canon lenses, when you view the images full size on a monitor you can see a bigger difference.

After doing this test, I thought I’d also throw in an shot from my Leica M just to see how it compares.

Cropped image from Leica M, rangefinder using a Leica Summicron 50mm lens.

I’d say it faired very well. Better than the Canon, but not as sharp as the Leica S.

So what are my concluding thoughts? The Leica S is an amazing camera that produces extremely sharp images. It’s well suited for studio or landscape work. However, it’s big, heavy, and slow when compared to the Canon. The autofocus on the Canon is extremely fast and accurate. While the image above shows the Canon to be larger, it has a battery grip attached that only makes it look larger. For a photographer that shoots a variety of styles and subjects, the Canon is more versatile.

So, that’s my impression of the Leica S. I’d love to get my hands on the new Leica S (type 007) to see how it performs. It has an updated CMOS sensor (the type 006 has a CCD sensor) that allows live view which is great for framing a focusing on macro or product shoots. It’s a feature I use very frequently on my Canon.

That’s it. Thanks for reading!!

-Ken.

*************************** UPDATE 7/22/2015 *****************************

Last night I thought about another good comparison between the two cameras. I wondered how much difference there was in regards to the dynamic range. Once again I did a quick test. I opened the overhead door in the studio and set up a light next to it. Then, I turned off the normal lights. Since this was mostly a test of the sensors lens selection wasn’t as big a deal. I didn’t have a Canon fixed focal length lens that exactly matched the 24mm Leica. So I settled for my Canon 17mm T/S lens. It was a little wider but it’s sharper than my other alternative, the Canon 16-35mm. The brightness of the room varied from f/18 on the left side to f/2.5 on the right side by the wall calendar.

Wide shot of the room used to test dynamic range.

The calendar area at 100% shot by the Canon.

100% crop shot by the Leica. Notice the increase in contrast in the shadow area.

There is no doubt that the Leica is sharper, but the also holds better contrast in the shadows which equals better dynamic range. The areas on the right side of the image were comparable however the Leica’s sharpness yielded a better image. If I have time in the next day or so, I’ll try to setup a scenario with extreme dynamic range where I can go from blown out to black in one image.

Stock Photography? Not for me.

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On July 8th, 2015

I am fortunate. I have clients that see the value in shooting and using custom photography. Since stock images can be purchased by anyone, there are no guarantees that an image you buy won’t show up on a competitor’s website.

To a large extent, stock photography has become the ClipArt of the 2000’s. For use on a business website, use of stock photography basically says to your customers: “I am perfectly willing to use photos of products I didn’t make, people I don’t know, and places I’ve never been in order to convince you buy my goods and services that may or may not exist”.

My clients appreciate that the photographs I shoot for them will never end up on a stock photography website and they are getting images that are truly unique for their business.

Thanks for reading!!

-Ken.

Behind the Scenes Fun.

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On June 5th, 2015

Yesterday we were shooting some athletic commercial stills for a new energy drink. As with most shoots there are times of intense madness followed by calm waiting. For this posting I thought I’d share a few behind-the-scene images from yesterday. All of these photos were shot with a Leica M and a 50mm Summicron lens.

The first photo is of a couple of the models getting ready while some creeper (me) takes photos.

Caitlin and Gabrielle were limbering up before the shoot and decided to ham it up.

Ken Rieves Commercial Photography

In the back of the studio I had the overhead door open since it was a pretty day outside. I noticed the afternoon light was pretty amazing as it was reflected off the concrete and epoxy floor. While the light was right and we were waiting, we shot some impromptu photos.

Ken Rieves Commercial Photography

Later in the afternoon, during a lull in shooting, I asked Gabrielle to sit in the driver seat of my car in the parking lot and used a small piece of white foam core as a reflector and shot a few frames into the sun.

Ken Rieves Commercial Photography

In fact, when you blow up Gabrielle’s sunglasses you can see my reflection in the bottom left corner.

Thanks for reading!

-Ken.

New Storage Room at the Fernhill Studio.

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On May 26th, 2015

After being in the new studio on Fernhill Avenue for nearly 6 months, I’ve finally finished with major improvements to the space. The most recent change is the addition of a storage/prop room. Since moving in on Jan 1, 2015, I’ve had a storage space that was separated from the studio by partitions and storage cabinets. I finally have a new storage/prop room in which to stash things. I opted for a modular room rather than one made by traditional framing and drywall. The modular approach allows me to change the size or location of the room should the need arise. The flexibility gives me piece of mind.

Thanks for reading!

-Ken

Exposed: Your Camera Lies to you.

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On May 4th, 2015

It’s true. Your camera lies to you. To be fair, it doesn’t mean to, it’s just not as smart as you are. When it comes to figuring the right exposure, what it doesn’t know, it just guesses at.

I’m sure you’ve seen it. You are taking a photo on the beach and the sun is hitting the water behind the person and when you look at the picture you just took, the water looks great but you only see person covered in shadow.

Do you ever wonder why that happens? Well, it’s because the light meter in your camera, while being a sophisticated piece of technology, is dumb. it doesn’t see the way your eye does. It looks at the light coming in your lens, calculates the average brightness, then figures the exposure so that the primary brightness value is gray. Why? Because gray is halfway between black and white. It’s the midpoint.

I know you don’t have a lot of time, so let’s do quick, basic experiment. Let’s shoot a photo of a white wall based on what the camera’s light meter says. Then let’s shoot a photo of black wall and expose it by what the meter says. You’d expect the white wall to be white and the black wall to be black, right? Check out these two photos:

OK, the photo on the left is the black wall and the one on the right is the white wall. Told you so. The light meter tries to make everything grey. If your subject was an even mix of light stuff and dark stuff, your image would be perfectly exposed. And, while that happens quite often, your camera can be easily fooled if the image you are trying to capture is composed of mostly dark or light stuff. So, here’s an example. I shot this running man against a white wall.

The exposure on the left was based on what the light meter said was the correct exposure. The photo on the right was over exposed by two f/stops over what the meter said. Notice on the left photo how the light meter tried to make the background gray? That’s because the majority of the light coming in was white.

So what does this mean to you? First of all, just being aware of how your meter works will improve your ability to get the correct exposure. It is also a good case for shooting your camera on manual settings so you can make judgments as to proper exposure. Use your meter as a starting point, then let your brain take over to make the adjustments to exposure based on your subject and the lighting situation.

Anyway, I’m sure you have more important stuff to do than read this blog, so go something important. Or fun. It’s springtime and fun is always good. 🙂

Thanks for reading.

-Ken.

New Behind the Scenes Video

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On April 24th, 2015

A few weeks ago, I shot Gabrielle Bradley, a wonderfully talented model (and super nice person) at the Fort Wayne studio. Fortunately, a friend of mine was here to capture it on film and produced this short video. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for viewing the blog!

-Ken.

Every Day Life

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On April 17th, 2015

About a year ago I added an album to my Facebook page titled “Every Day Life”. It is a place to put photos that I shoot just for me of the things, places, people that I come across during the course of going about daily life. It’s therapeutic to shoot photos with no expectations. I don’t have to be clever, artistic, or please anyone other than me. Over the past year I shot a strange variety of things. I’ll share a few here and if you want to see more, visit my Facebook page here, then go to the Every Day Life album.

Most of the photos in this album were shot with a Leica M right rangefinder using either a 35mm or 50mm Leica Summicron lens. So, check out the album and I hope you enjoy some of the photos. My Facebook Page.

Thanks for reading.

-Ken.

Photography as a Business

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On March 27th, 2015

Recently, I re-watched an great interview with the acclaimed portrait photographer, Gregory Heisler. There are some really points that he makes in the video and I recommend watching it. (You can find it here).

The photography business, as most other businesses, is about relationships. To a large extent, it has little to do with the kind of photography you shoot. it doesn’t matter if you shoot weddings, portraits, products, or anything else, you have to build and maintain a good relationship with your clients in order to succeed.

A lot of photographers talk about developing a style. What that means to a lot of people is that they develop a technique for shooting that may be unique or unusual. They consider this “style” as being what differentiates them from their competition. Unfortunately, technique is different than style or vision. Technique is something that can learned. For every photographic technique there is probably a YouTube video that shows you how to do it. No single technique is unique to a particular photographer.

Style, however, is quite different. A photographer’s style has less to do with how they process their images and more to do with how they see the world and interact with their clients. This is what makes a photographer unique and provides value to their work. While a photographer’s job is to create images that meet or exceed their clients needs, how this is understood and accomplished is based on the photographer’s style and vision. Technique is just one of many tools a photographer employs to bring their vision or style to life.

In the interview with Gregory Heisler, he said a mentor once told him “Shoot what you can’t help but shoot”. It is an amazing piece of advise. As a photographer, there are photos that I shoot because I can’t help myself. I feel compelled to create certain images and will plan out an entire shoot to get one photo. It’s often a bonus that I get a lot of good photos out of a shoot, but there are times when my goal is to capture a single, very specific photo. These photos are some of images I enjoyed creating most and are some of my favorites.

So, shoot what you can’t help. Shoot images you love and feel passionate about. Shoot what makes your head and heart happy.

Well, that’s it for this week. Thanks for reading!

-Ken.

New Signage for the New Studio.

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On March 13th, 2015

This week the signage went up at the new studio. Due to the extremely cold weather, they have not been able to install the lettering. Every component and letter of the sign is a separate piece and each one had to be drilled into the stucco and epoxied in place. The cold weather would not allow the adhesive to set properly so they had to wait for the weather to warm up.

The “R” on the sign is actually 5 different pieces of red acrylic that allow the “R” to show thru.

New Sign on the Front of the Building.

There’s one more major project for the interior of the building, adding a storage room. Now that the sign is up, I can start working on getting that finished. Thanks for reading!!

-Ken.

Vehicle Shoot

Posted by ken@kenrieves.com On February 27th, 2015

Earlier this week was my first opportunity to shoot a vehicle in the new studio. In the past, I’ve shot larger products (cars and boats) on location. It’s always fun and challenging shooting in somewhat unpredictable situations. In the new studio I have room to bring in cars, boats, and trucks (read more info on this important site). Sadly with the winter weather we’ve been experiencing it’s been difficult to bring in a vehicle in good enough condition to shoot without having to re-wash it.

Here is a short BTS video shot on my iPad:

Automobile shoot from Ken Rieves on Vimeo.

Here is a quick edit of one of the photos:

A photo from this week’s shoot.

Thanks for reading!

-Ken.