Sirio Magnabosco

作者 Sirio Magnabosco
来源 www.mrsirio.com

意大利人
他的Flickr

Rafal Milach

作者 Rafal Milach
来源 www.rafalmilach.com

1978年生，波兰人

Shooting Satrs in Focus: Terry Richardson

作者 Lee Carter
来源 hitmag.com

Nothing is too vulgar for the magazine world's Marquis de Sade, Terry Richardson, whose full-frontal photographs of supple body parts, often in orgiastic orchestration, can really grab ya. His uncompromising style has left a trail of sticky magazine pages from here to down there and inspired a generation of photographers to keep it real. Taken with an old Instamatic, Richardson's body of work has become one of fashion's most instantly recognizable, and sought after; his sizzling images have appeared in the pages of i-D, French Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, as well as campaigns for Gucci, Sisley and Armani Exchange.

The product of an unconventional childhood—divided between New York and Los Angeles, where his father, the eccentric 60s fashion photographer Bob Richardson, lives—Richardson continues to occupy a space in between, blending a New York fashion sense with L.A. street cred. Richardson sat down with LEE CARTER to reveal his soft spots for cinema, cars and naked skateboarding.

Lee Carter: Is Terry Richardson a New Yorker or a So. Cal. kind of guy?

Terry Richardson: I think it's not where you're from, it's where you are, and right now I'm in New York. I feel like a New Yorker.

LC: Do you have another place in New York, or do you call this studio home?

TR: This is it—home, everything. I like how you refer to it as the studio. The French call it le studio. A lot's gone on this couch, let me tell you.

LC: Uh, should I get up?

TR: No. Just kidding. Sort of.

LC: Do you still skateboard?

TR: The last time I went skateboarding I was hit by a cab. I got a bruised hip and my face was cut up. I realized I shouldn't be skating around the streets of New York City. Safety first. Now I have an indoor skateboard.
LC: You skate in here?

TR: Yeah, on my little skateboard, the best $6 I ever spent in a thrift store. We have naked skateboarding contests. That'll be the concept for a future ad campaign, naked skateboarding.

LC: Naked skateboarding would be one of your tamer concepts. Has there been a time when you felt you'd gone too far? Too explicit?

TR: No, but there are a lot of pictures that have never run.

LC: I was thinking on the way over here that you would be ideal as a celebrity photographer for Playboy. Or something raunchier like Penthouse.

TR: Well, I'm working on some top secret stuff out in LA.

LC: But you can tell me, of course.
TR: Let's just say I get a lot of offers. But I like putting sexual images in mainstream magazines, not porn magazines. With porn mags, you'll see penetration and people fucking and fucking, but it all looks the same after a while. Fashion can look the same, too. I like to be subversive, to push images as far as I can and still get them run. It's a challenge to see what I can slip in.

LC: Pun intended?

TR: I like to explore sexuality and people instead of just showing cum shots, fist fucking and whatever to shock people.

LC: Does that make you an artist?

TR: Maybe.

LC: I saw an art show of yours at Alleged gallery a while back. And the soundtrack was the sound of really vitriolic phone messages, but no one knew who it was. I found out later they were between you and your father.

TR: Actually, it was just my father. He bombarded me one afternoon.

LC: What provoked it?

TR: Who knows? It goes deep. Everyone needs to vent sometimes.

LC: Is he still taking photos?

TR: Don't know. I haven't talked to him in about a year. He's still kicking. He's a strong fucker.

LC: I'm waiting for your quote about how he still gets a hard-on every morning. I've read that everywhere.

TR: Do I say that a lot? He says it all the time to me.

LC: The first time I read it, he was 70 and still getting a hard-on, the second time he was 71, then he was 74. He'll be 100 and still getting boners. That libido must run in the family.

TR: Yep, it's in the genes.

LC: Pun intended again? Maybe you can do what Ted William's son is trying to do and cryogenically freeze your dad's body. There's something in his DNA that needs to be preserved.

TR: Yes and no. [laughs] He's one-of-a-kind. He can't be duplicated.
LC: Not even in you?

TR: A bit. That's what I'm working on in therapy, not to repeat the same patterns.

LC: Do you want to have kids?

TR: Yes. Kids are amazing, I think the best conversations I've had in the last six months have been with 3-year-olds. They're so direct and honest. They don't know about too much stuff yet.

LC: Think you'll be a good dad?

TR: I think so. But I'm still just an eligible bachelor right now. It's kind of nice. I can do whatever I want. I like the freedom and the time to myself.

LC: What's a typically date like with Terry Richardson?

TR: [yells out to assistants] Hey, what's a typical date like with Terry Richardson, as I refer to myself in the third person?

Assistants: Golf!

LC: I take it there's no corsage involved?

TR: No corsage. I guess I would say I'm part romantic. [laughs] I sound like a dating service. "I like walks on the beach at sunset, sushi and rock climbing." I'm actually quite shy.

LC: You're shy?

TR: I like daytime dates. I like to just do whatever, go to the beach, take a walk, get an ice cream cone. There's less pressure. I don't wonder whether I'm going to take her home. This is like the Dating Game. [sings theme song] "Bachelor #2, what's your star sign?"

LC: I hear there's a modeling agency in London that takes Polaroids of their girls and tells clients they're your photos.

TR: Excellent! That's funny. It's like sampling. A girl told me someone went up to her on the street once and told her he was me, and tried to get her to his studio. That's kinda creepy.
LC: Did it work?

TR: No. But I want to find out who the impersonator is. And I've heard people dress up like me on Halloween.

LC: It wouldn't be hard. Just throw on some glasses and grow mutton chops.

TR: And there's already a mask of me in the Sisley catalog.

LC: That's a mask? So anyone can be Terry.

TR: Yeah. You know, put it on and make some love, Terry-style.

LC: Wouldn't girls want the real Terry?

TR: Nothing wrong with fantasy.
LC: Do girls throw themselves at you?

TR: Sometime, but the sleazy photographer thing is cliché.

LC: Can I see the famous instamatic? You have two, right?

TR: Oh, boy. [gets cameras] They're old, they don't make them anymore.

LC: Have you ever used a digital camera?

TR: No. [Editor's note: Terry later used a digital camera to take his self-portrait seen on the first page, the first time he'd taken a digital photo.] I like the idea of having negatives and making prints, but I'm not against digital. We just learned how to scan, actually. It's very exciting, we can send people pictures. We had the scanner for 2 years, but never did anything. We finally had somebody come over last week to show us how to use it. We needed to know so we can start building my website, www.terryrichardson.com, which should be up and running later this summer.

LC: You'll be the master of your own domain name. What else are you working on?

TR: A book for Taschen. I've done three books before, but this one is more of a retrospective art thing. I guess it's a coffeetable book. That's such a cheap term for a book, so vulgar. Whoever invented that should be shot. It sounds like there should be a little holder for a coffee mug and an ashtray. So I'm doing that, editorials, ad campaigns and just taking tons of picture. I'm also taking off across the country this summer in my car, a suped up black '87 Buick. I love cars. They're beautiful, like art objects.

LC: Sexual, too.

TR: Exactly. My car is called Mandingo, like the old pulp novel about a Southern plantation that would castrate the male slaves, but they'd also have a breeder, the stud, that the white women would all want to fuck, too. It was made into a film in the 70s with Ken Norton, who played Mandingo, James Mason, Perry King and Susan George. It's excellent, like an exploitation of Gone With the Wind.

LC: Sounds like you're a movie buff.

TR: Yeah, I'm in the midst of writing a screenplay, too. I have to submit it in December. I'm still putting ideas on paper. They want a European art house thing, with lots of sex.
LC: You're just the man for the job. What's the first film you saw that really impressed you?

TR: Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Five Easy Pieces, Carnal Knowledge, Out of the Blue, Over the Edge. And early Nicholson. My dad took me to see all that great 70s American cinema, like Godfather. And I like all those Jerry Shatzberg films with their bleak, unhappy endings that started with Midnight Cowboy. They're anti-heroes because they're criminals, and they die in the end.

LC: Which was a new thing at the time, not wrapping things up neatly at the end.

TR: Oh, totally. Have you read Easy Riders, Raging Bull? It's about all those guys making those realistic films of the 70s.

LC: Which is, in a sense, exactly what you're doing.

TR: Yeah. Keeping it real, that's what the kids say.

LC: You're one of few photographers who can marry art and commerce. You can bring a lot of sexuality to a brand like Sisley and it seems right.

TR: My best pictures are improvisational. It's all about casting, especially with Sisley. If the cast is wrong, the whole thing is fucked. If you get people who know what's going on, who are into it, then you just let them go, let them get into their characters.

LC: How much do you have to prod them?

TR: A little, but the casting is where I do the big grill session to see who's comfortable. A lot of people are exhibitionists once you get them going. I've had people fuck on set, and suck, and fuck some more. And guys fucking, girls fucking, guys and girls, penetration. Sometimes I'll cast a couple if I want them to do it, but strangers have done it, too. That's why casting is so important. I can't make magic with just anyone! But I'm not going to connect with everybody. I've walked off sets a couple of times. I said I was going out for coffee, then I'd leave.

LC: Are magazines very controlling? Or do they let you do what you want since you're Terry Richardson?
TR: There's more freedom with magazines than advertising. But even European mags are worried about advertisers now. You can't work with a glossy and bring in all new girls. They want the big names. It makes it harder for new people to break in. Like I've always said, it's not who you know, it's who you blow. I don't have a hole in my jeans for nothing.

LC: How long have you been shooting the Sisley campaigns?

TR: About five years.

LC: What's the inspiration behind the fall campaign?

TR: It was the first time we went into the studio. We just wanted to do a shiny black thing. Next time we're going back on location, for atmosphere. I think we're going to shoot the next one in LA again.

LC: They're the most sexually-charged ads I think I've ever seen.
TR: Yeah, we tried to put a picture of a girl with little pompoms over her tits on a Sisley poster in Soho. This one [points at the catalog]. They said no because a little of her areola was showing.

LC: Or, as I like to say, hairy-ola.

TR: [laughs] I like that word. They said it was too sexy and it would be too close to a church and a school. It's all so silly and conservative.

LC: I didn't realize until recently that i-D runs an exclusive Sisley ad of you with each new campaign.

TR: We give them my self-portrait each season. It's not even in the catalog, just in i-D. I always look forward to it. Humor is good. I love to make people laugh from a photograph. I think that's the best compliment.

LC: Sex and comedy mixed together. You're sort of the Woody Allen of photography.

TR: Annie Hall and Manhattan are my two favorite films ever. To me, photographs are more about people than clothes. I'm not one of those photographers who says, "Ooh, that dress is just making me crazy."

LC: Think Woody ever went to rehab?

TR: What?

LC: I have to ask about rehab.

TR: Oh my god, where do you get the goods?

LC: I don't think it's embarrassing. It's common knowledge.

TR: Really?

LC: Sort of. Better to air it. Everyone's doing rehab these days anyway.

TR: Oh, I know, it's chic. I know so many people doing it.

LC: Silver Hill?

TR: No, somewhere in Pasadena. It was my first time. It really changed my life, made me really look at myself. It brings it all right down to simple things. It's nice to put your life on pause. Life is a beautiful thing. Before rehab I wanted to feel good all the time. "All things in moderation," as my mother always says. But a little excess can be good every once in a while.


from hintmag.com

CM与T3：一切从实际出发

作者 阿祖
来源 xitek.com

　　老实说，现在才动手写这篇文章不知是否有点不合时宜，因为Contax T3和Leica CM这两 台顶级袖珍相机都已经分别停产了。但因为我同时拥有它们，所以偶尔还是有在这两台机器之间犹豫不决的网友们来征询意见。我的CM是06年5月购入的（CM 于06年2月宣布停产），此前我已经把T3作为主力机器拍摄有接近一年半的时间了，所以CM的购入可以说是作为一个补充而已，又或者是一种情结。不过机器 买回来是要用的，总不能老放在防潮箱里。最近我扫街时经常把它们一并带在身上——于是便有了这篇文章。需要注意的是，此文出发点是基于两台机器的操控性和 本人实际使用的感受，并不是“徕卡VS蔡司”之类的其他话题。
　　
　　一、镜头
　　无庸置疑的是，T3和CM都各自拥有非常优异 的镜头。CM的Summarit 40mm F/2.4双高斯设计据说已经达到了该镜头的最高光学极限（原文）；而T3的 Sonnar T* 35mm F/2.8镜头色彩清雅，有着特殊的通透感，弱光下我经常用到T3的F2.8光圈拍摄，发现此镜头在光圈全开时的成像有着 非常特殊味道。偶尔也有朋友问我为何不往T3里装彩色卷，用CM拍黑白，这样蔡司的色彩才能得到充分的体现？其实在这点上我也非常清楚，但这是由拍摄的题 材所决定的（其实还有一个原因，下文会提到）。对于我来说，更加关心的是影像本身，而不是它们之间成像的细微差别。而且成像这东西，是萝卜青菜各有所爱， 我只需要知道大概的差别，根据不同的题材选用不同的机器和胶卷搭配，这样就足够了。过分纠缠于这些细节有点本末倒置，对自己的进步也没有很大的帮助，大家 想想，早期摄影镜头的某些成像指标也不是没有现代镜头优秀么（有人喜欢早期镜头特有的韵味，这个另当别论）？
　　
　　T3的镜头是小广角 的35mm，虽然CM的40mm只比35mm相差一点，透视和景深只有细微的差别，但实际上已经是属于标准镜头了（135画幅的对角线是43.2mm，所 以传统焦段的40mm-60mm都可以称为标准镜头）。事实上我也是把CM当作标头来用的，而T3我喜欢用来拍兼顾人和环境的场景（此点请参考我另一篇文 章：《关于镜头感：28-35-50》
　　
　　
　　二、测光
　 　T3的测光有点偏向于过曝，在光比大的场景中尤甚，据说这是T3设计时考虑用负片为主所致。实际使用中我也证实了这点，按照经验，通常装黑白卷的时候减 2/3档，反转片减1/3档，后来我学会了简单的改胶卷ISO方法（详见T3同乐会II首贴），这样就不用老记着减了多少，避免了出错的可能。CM的测光 据普遍反映非常的准确，以至于我们的GRAYKNIGHT老大把CM用作测光表和测距仪！CM的曝光补偿利用机背的拨轮调用非常便利；而T3的曝光补偿调 整是菜单式的，比较不方便，遇到需要快速抓拍且时间紧迫时候我索性不调了。但它们调整曝光补偿时都需要低头看LCD，当然，用熟了可以不看。
　　
　　三、噪音
　 　那天把CM给朋友试拍，结果他有点不满的对我说：“这快门声也太小了，都不知道拍了没！？”由此可见CM的快门噪音控制水平很好，也比T3轻得多，在嘈 杂的环境中我也是靠手感觉机内马达过片动作才确认已经拍了。当然这是有代价的，CM不仅开机和对焦速度没有T3快，而且比Minilux也慢了半拍。这两 台机器在我扫街时都没有因为噪音水平引起旁人的注意，周围环境的声浪早就把微弱快门声和过片声给盖住了。
　　
　　四、取景窗
　　 CM唯一不爽的就是取景窗偏小，用惯了T3的我一开始确实有点不习惯，经常举相机后都需要稍微调整一下才能看全，抓拍的时候自然慢了。我觉得徕卡公司并不 是没有能力把取景窗做大，而是基于产品线的策略所致。不少M系列用家是一机一镜的（很多是35mm或50mm），试想一下如果CM的取景窗的尺寸做到接近 M系列般舒服，或者跟T3等大，以CM的镜头成像素质（据说和M35/2 ASPH区别不大）和价位，M系列的份额就有可能受到一定程度的影响。我就是一 个例子：宁愿用一台简单方便的T3，也不愿意上G2+G35。不过，这只是习惯问题，相信大家用惯了不用看取景窗也知道镜头的大概取景范围。另外，机器是 死的人是活的，可以扬长避短，最近我在尝试在不需要快速反应的场景中应用CM。
　　
　　另外我很喜欢CM取景窗里显示的是实际的快门速度，而不像T3那样是约摸的数值，尤其是在慢门的时候更能让摄影师心中有数。
　　
　　五、耐用性
　 　我还没有把这两台机器用坏，所以只能根据网友们的经验总结一下。众所周知，T3的软肋是卷片齿的磨损导致不能卷片，虽然后期生产的机器卷片齿改为两个， 但依然有部分网友反映卷片齿被磨损。我把两个T3同乐会的帖子从头到尾扫过一遍，发现比率其实非常的低，自己估计拍了有60卷左右，卷片齿还是好好的。曾 经有人说如果用专业的、品质好的胶卷会减少卷片齿的磨损（呵呵，有放毒的嫌疑……）。另外一些网友也提出了好些简单的修理方案，所以现在也不算是一个问题 了。详见 Contax T3同乐会II


对于CM，我相信大家最关心的是Minilux遗留下来的“E02”问题是否也会在CM上出现。据说CM的软线设计已经根据Minilux的不足做出了改善，至少我还没有在坛子里听到CM有出现过“E02”故障的。
　　
　　我个人觉得CM可能会比T3耐用和可靠些，因为CM的镜头只有一段，没有像T3采用两段的伸缩结构。当然这也是有代价的，除了开机和对焦速度没有T3快之外，体积也大了一截。对于这点我只能套用一句老话：“鱼与熊掌不可兼得”，总不会有完美的机器的。
　　
　 　不知算不算一个好消息，我从来没有听说有把T3和CM给用坏的。要是某天您真正把它们给用坏了，我得恭喜您，因为对于一台袖珍相机来说，已经值了。而 T3之于我，不仅仅是一台袖珍相机，是它帮我完成了单反到旁轴、沙龙到“人文”（如果我的片子称得上“人文”的话）的重要过渡，就这一点来说，这4000 元花得值。
　　
　　六、关于对焦
　　因为以扫街拍片为主，所以相机的反应速度对我来说非常重要。前文已经说过由于设计上的差异， CM开机和对焦比T3要慢。T3半按快门就开始对焦，但CM需要等大概半秒左右才有动作，但这已足够让被摄者知道我的存在了。所以我还是愿意往T3装高速 的黑白胶卷，作为主力机器使用。
　　
　　有网友反映CM在弱光、大光圈近距离时会出现失焦的情况，焦点跑到主体后头了。我用CM时日尚 短，似乎还没有碰到过，关于这点倒是很想听听各位的意见。不过估计碰上的几率不大，因为我大多数的片子都是距离主体2-5米内拍摄的；而我又喜欢交代主体 所处的环境，光线充足时一般用F8左右光圈以求获得较大的景深。我知道不少网友比较看重T3的0.35米最近对焦距离和虚化效果，但因为题材的原因实在很 少靠得那么近。即使用大光圈，我也是力求背景不会过于朦胧，至少还能辨别出周围的环境。
　　
　　很难说MF跟AF比哪个快，因为拍的实际 情况都不一样。大多数情况下AF肯定比MF快；但某些情况你用AF对焦后进行二次构图，这样肯定不够MF抬手就构图快。作为选择，T3和CM都提供了手动 对焦MF模式。而最近我在尝试用手动对焦拍片，在一些预设的或需要等待的场景中我是调好距离后等机会举手就拍。CM的手动对焦调用便捷，级数多，但拍的时 候镜头仍然需要滑动行程到设定好的数值进行对焦；相比下来T3的可调级数少而且没有CM方便，不过一旦调好镜头就已经伸长到相应数值，可以利用小光圈大景 深做到抬手就拍。只是我很少把镜头长时间的固定在对焦位置，因为担心这样可能会令镜头内的部件疲劳。折衷的办法是使用T3提供的对焦锁定AFL功能，非常 实用。它们之间的异同大家可以参考一下说明书。
　　
　　需要提醒的是，由于CM的MF转盘阻尼实在太小，手指会很容易触碰到转盘，把预设的距离值给搞乱了。
　　
　　七、闪光灯
　 　我喜欢利用现场光拍摄，闪光灯几乎不会用到，在某些极端的情况下或偶尔拍拍纪念照时才会用一下。不过我依然欣赏CM提供了15种闪光模式，其中让我最感 兴趣的是闪光慢速同步和第二幕闪灯模式，因为我觉得在需要表现特殊气氛的情况下会很适合，只是迄今为止还没机会去试试。Minilux的闪光灯精确性是有 口皆碑，相信和它一脉相承的CM也会有不俗的表现。
　　
　　希望大家通过我的主观使用感受对这两台机器能有一个客观的认识，并结合自己的情况作出选择。我本人的建议是：如果您注重便携性、喜欢快速拍摄的话，T3会比较合适；而CM是一台需要静下心来慢慢品味的相机。只要是真正用心的使用它们，无论是哪台都不会让您后悔。
　　
　　反正现阶段我已经没有多余的资金购入更好的机器了，只有去琢磨如何才能用好现有的，所以CM和T3在相当长的时间内还会是我的主力，相信以后会有新的感受，到时我会及时补充或修改。也请各位对上述文字不足的地方提提意见，也把自己的感受跟大家分享。

Patrick Hudepohl的Olympus mju:II评论

作者 Patrick Hudepohl
来源 photo.net
翻译 本站

技术规格
Olympus mju:II(美国版叫Stylus Epic)是一台典型的对准就按的傻瓜机，配备了一个35mm f2.8的定焦镜头，自动对焦系统，自动过片系统。有自拍计时器和三脚架接口。值得称道的是这台相机拥有点测光模式。
闪光灯模式包括防红眼模式和夜景模式，默认状态下相机自动判断是否需要开启闪光灯。
另外可以购买遥控器和保护套等附件。前盖关闭时保护镜头、闪光灯和测光测距传感器。

我认为mju:II是个了不起的小东西，你可以方便地随身带着它，特别是当单反相机太过笨拙或者招人注意的时候。它的操作相当便捷：打开滑盖，对准目标，然后按下快门。当半按快门的时候自动对焦系统会锁定焦点。


使用心得
你需要记住的是每次相机关闭后再打开时所有设置都回到默认设定，所以要特别小心闪光灯的模式，因为默认模式下闪光灯是自动开启的，如果不需要的话请记得将它关闭。另外，取景器内没有光圈和快门的数据。因为机身太小巧，拍摄的时候也需要注意不要用手挡住镜头和对焦测光传感器。

定焦镜头虽然有所局限，但还不算太坏。一个35mm f2.8的镜头总好过一个小光圈的变焦镜头，大多数情况下傻瓜机都是手持拍摄的。

在大光圈的情况下，照片的边缘成像不是太好，并且有轻微的暗角，见上图，当时是傍晚，天色正在逐渐暗去，因此相机被迫开大了光圈，使用的ISO200的胶卷。平时我更多地使用ISO400的胶片，可以使相机使用相对较小的光圈进行拍摄，在冲印时相片会被裁减掉一些边，最终的相片上的效果还是很不错的。

结果
成像结果时相当好的。使用ISO400的胶卷，哪怕光线不那么好的时候，这个35mm f2.8镜头还是可以拍出质量相当高的照片。将照片放大至10×15cm甚至20×30cm依然相当锐利。虽然我还没用测试过反转片，不过我相信结果一定不会令人失望。


结论
好了，还有什么可说的？这是一个很好的相机，比单反容易携带的同时又能拍出高质量的照片。

2007年35位值得关注的新锐摄影师

来源 网络

中国
曹斐 　　中国广州 　　
邢丹文 　　中国北京　　

美国
Matt Nighswander Chicago, USA　　
Livia Corona New York, USA　　
Nicholas Prior New York, USA　　
Alex Tehrani New York, USA　　
Ofer Wolberger New York, USA　　
Peter Funch New York, USA　　
Baerbel Schmidt New York, USA　　
Phillip Toledano New York, USA　　
Bela Borsodi New York, USA　　
Simon Lekias New York, USA/Sydney, Australia

英国
David Ellis London, UK　　
Joe Lacey London, UK　　
Holger Pooten London, UK　　
Timur Celikdag London, UK　　
Dean Chalkley London, UK　　
Emma Summerton London, UK　　
Annie Collinge London, UK　　
Jose Pedro Cortes London, UK/Lisbon, Portugal

西班牙
Txema Yeste Barcelona, Spain　　
Nienke Klunder Barcelona, Spain　　

荷兰
Popel Coumou Amsterdam, Netherlands 　　
Koen Hauser Amsterdam, Netherlands　　

德国
Martin Wolf Wagner Grafenau, Germany　　
Sonja Mueller Berlin, Germany　　
Karel Kuehne Berlin, Germany/Paris, France　　

法国
Felix Larher Paris, France 　　
Stratis & Beva Paris, France　　
Milo Keller & Julien Gallico Paris, France/Lausanne, Switzerland

瑞典
Daniel Grizelj Gothenburg, Sweden　　

意大利
Giovanni del Milan, Italy　　

巴西
Ricardo Barcellos Sao Paolo, Brazil 　　
Felipe Hellmeister Sao Paolo, Brazil 　　

日本
Zoren Gold + Tokyo, Japan　　

One important difference between the Leica Minlux/Contax T2, and Leica CM/Contax T3

作者 -
来源 photo.net

One important difference between the Leica Minlux/Contax T2, and Leica CM/Contax T3, is - the flash output on the latter cameras is related to aperture as well as focussing distance. With the Minlux and T2 the flash always fires at full power, and a suitable aperture is set according to focus distance. This gives accurate flash exposures (assuming you focus correctly!) regardless of subject reflectivity, but can lead to dark backgrounds as the camera has to set a small aperture if you're close to your subject. Suppose you manually set f2.4 on the Minilux and photograph something at (say) 1m distance using flash, the shutter itself acts as an aperture diaphragm and overides your selected aperture to prevent over-exposure. With the CM and T3, flash output is again related to focus distance, but the chosen aperture is also factored in. To demonstrate this, try taking a test shot at full aperture with a CM or T3 using flash, and note the brightness of the light. Then, (keeping focus distance identical), take a second shot at f8; you'll immediately see the increase in flash output. The result is that flash shots (especially those taken outdoors at close range) look more natural with the CM and T3. The Ricoh GR-1's flash works in a similar way to the Minilux/T2, but it's output is so weak it tends to underexpose unless you use very fast film. It's my only criticism of what is otherwise a very good camera. One other important Minilux/T2 CM/T3 difference is that the earlier cameras have active (infra-red) autofocus, whereas the newer cameras use passive autofocus - and therefore need a focus assist light. Both the Minilux and T2 can focus accurately in near darkness and on plain surfaces - though not to infinity of course - making them great for low-light work.