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Air Show with Leica Q2M

 Never been to an air show... What's taken me so long?  It was pretty cool.  I've seen these aerial maneuvers on TV or YouTube, but seeing it live makes all the difference.  It was the Leesburg Airshow held annually.  This one was on October 1st. 

They're doing some crazy stuff up there! 

They've provided a shuttle service from a nearby pick up area and the admission was free.  Can't complain about that.  I've always enjoyed aviation and the level of precision needed to fly these airplanes safely.  I've seen all the episodes of Air Disasters on the Smithsonian channel, so yeah I know all about aviation... 





Restored vintage DC-3.  The "Yukon Sourdough" Here is an article about it.


For this outing, I used my Leica Q2M camera.  I love the simplicity of this camera.  It was how photography used to be: shutter speed, aperture, and iso.  Those three things are the trinity of photography.  If you know how these three things are related to each other, you'll have easier time getting over the hurdle of the technical aspect of photography.  

Leica Q2M. Back to basics camera.

This camera comes with fixed 28mm lens.  No zoom, nor can you change the lens.  You're stuck with one focal length, so you better know how to use it!  That's pretty much the attitude of this camera.  This machine makes no apologies to what you're used to.  In a way, its very similar to these vintage airplanes.  They're made very well, no corners were cut and what they were designed to do, they do it very well.  As far as to make you comfortable?  Well, that's not really their number one priority.  Efficiency, precision and quality is bit higher on the list, it seems.  So in a way this photoshoot was very well matched, I would say.  

This here is a real 21st century wing walker from Flying Circus Aerodrome.
Charles Lindbergh used to do some piloting barnburner air shows in the 20's.  This performer was doing similar tricks of the day without harnesses or tethering.  She was a hit!  

So this Leica really forces you to think about what you're doing.  It has its limitations (28mm fixed lens) but that lens is one of the best in the world!  The intuitive and tactile dials, straightforward menu system, fast response of the shutter button with no lag time and simplified layout means you just think about the act of picture making.  It challenges you to make creative decisions to make the best out of what you have in your hand.  And boy does it feel good in your hands.  Oh baby...  But I digress.

I also used a red filter on the camera.  Sorry I didn't make this clear, but this is a digital camera that ONLY shoots black and white photos.  I actually paid more to get the Black and White version at $6,195 at B&H.  No I'm not crazy.  Well, maybe just a little.  

My reason of getting this camera was that I wanted to get back to my roots of photography.  Any serious photographers back in the 90's did their own film processing, which means black and white film. I did my own color negs and slides too, but it is way more pain in the ass to do because of accuracy of temperature of the chemicals needed.  So most of us serious folks did black and white in our own darkroom.  Not to mention color chemistry is more toxic, but who cares about that?

B+W Red filter for B&W sensors or B&W film.

So what does this do?  If you've paid attention in your high school art class instead of staring at the gorgeous blue eyes of your young teacher... I've said too much.  Anyways, blue is opposite of red, so anything blue in the scene in front of you will be suppressed by the red filter, rendering it darker in black and white terms.  Sky is blue, so blue sky will be rendered darker, which means the clouds will be more noticeable and contrasty.  On the other side, anything red will be rendered brighter.   This is a video that describes what I'm talking about. 

Because this camera has a hefty 47 megapixels and fantastic German lens, you can punch in significantly to get a nice crop when editing to mimic a longer lens. 

Uncropped image (28mm)

Same cropped image (75mm equivalent)

You don't really notice the drop in quality when you do extreme crops since the base quality is so good to begin with!  But the truth is that you are throwing away information so no free lunch here. The engineers at Leica thought of the limitation of this fixed lens and came up with a decently effective solution, I think. Leica's been in the camera business for more than 100 years, so they know what they're doing.  

My blog is really not about equipment reviews but let me know if you want to know more of what I think of this camera.  




I added a bit of sepia tone for a bit of warmth in LightRoom.  I think it adds a bit of mood to the photos. 

It was pure pleasure shooting this airshow with my Leica Q2M.  I really enjoy the process of making images with this camera.  I hope you've enjoyed the images! 

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