Size DOES Matter!

During our 2024 summer travels I packed the following cameras:

Fuji X-H1 with both the 50-140, and a 100-400mm lens for wildlife.

Fuji GFX100s with the 20-35F4, 50mm 3.5, and the 100-200 zoom. I had sold the the 30mm 3.5, the 45mm 2.8 (an amazing lens!), and I sold, for the SECOND time my GFX 32-64F4 lens! Yes. Twice.

Leica Q2 with the Summilux 28mm F1.7 – basically as a point n shoot.

The image shown above was taken with the Leica Q2. This image was a “jump out of the van” grab a camera and shoot. Could I have grabbed the 100s with the 20-35 F4? Absolutely! But, with that absolutely gorgeous camera and the huge 102mp files I always feel bad when I don’t mount it on a tripod and I was concerned about the low light, handheld blur regardless of how little is induced. In this instance I had no time to set up. When I popped open the door I grabbed the Leica Q2 which at 47.3 megapixel is no slouch — which is the ONLY reason I did not take my GFX50r on this trip — and RAN down the hill out onto the rocky outcrop overlooking the scene. At 47.3mp in a beautiful, basically bulletproof, and compact, lightweight body with IS, and amazing image quality, who could resist?

Anyway, the Leica was the camera I grabbed, and literally RAN down hill from the van to come up with a quick composition in order to capture this image. I was able to shoot handheld, ISO 100 with the incredible 28mm 1.7 Summilux lens which was way faster than the F4 on the GFX lens and, well, the image speaks for itself. Would the 100s have taken a “better” image? Doubt it. This is basically how the jpeg and DNG file look out of the Leica. With the Fuji, I know I would have messed around with a different film profile — my go to is Astia or Velvia for this type of landscape. However, I feel the Leica captured the feeling of the scene at that moment in time.

BTW: You may recognize this scene as the opening scene in the original version of “The Shining” as the VW is driving up the mountain toward the lodge during the opening credits of the movie.

Enjoy!

2 responses to “Size DOES Matter!”

  1. OMG… it IS beautiful!!! I LOVE photography, when young I was always taking pictures and have a load of photo albums! I even took a home course when graduating from HS and took a small course of how to develop the film! I wanted to pursue a career at it… but I just couldn’t figure this out the “numbers” on the lenses and the ISO etc etc etc, I couldn’t grasp it (remember it)… And once I got a bit of a foothold, with life happening, by the time I wanted to use my camera again (which btw invested in what I thought was the best, on a NIKON), I had to give myself a review on it all over again, (I had even special lenses/filters to give starlight effects on lighting etc …) Not able to meet the challenge, it became frustrating for me and took away from the joy of photography especially carrying all the accessories in those days a heavy stiff camera bag… I love the “simplicity” of when it turned digital and even the cellphone cameras are getting pretty good now… But I believe if you KNOW, what you KNOW, you can’t beat the pictures you CAN get when using those manual cameras! So, it’s still “my” belief, it’s “not” the size that matters but the KNOW how LOL

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    1. HI, Thank you very much for visiting and leaving a comment. I’m not gonna lie — when I got my first Minolta in 1973 it took me like two/three years before I understood anything about what the aperture on the lens did, and how to use it. Today’s phones are truly amazing! If I were you I would keep at it, and the best way to learn is watch YouTube videos, and shoot, shoot, shoot!

      Thanks again! and the best of luck.

      JM

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