[Leica] Leica M8 in the theater

[fredhess at phenix-visuals.nl (Fred Hess / Phenix Visuals NL)]

Hello Tom,

Nice pictures, great shots!
At what effective 'filmspeed' ISO did you work?

They look in B&W very beautifull.

Regards 

Fred Hess
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "tom lianza" <tlianza@comcast.net>
To: <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 9:42 AM
Subject: [Leica] Leica M8 in the theater


> Hi to all,
> 
> I run a small theater group in New Hampshire and I handle the lighting 
> and sound.  I usually take photos during the show and I thought I would 
> share my recent experience and images with the group. 
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/tomlianza/Theater+Shots
> 
> I typically use a Nikon D2x up in the balcony with a long lens.  This 
> has worked well in the past and it worked well in this show, but there 
> were some moments that I thought that needed some more intimacy.  I had 
> the M8 with a 50mm Voigtlander F/1.5 .  I moved down to stage level and 
> started taking some images in color.  Of course, I didn't bring any IR 
> supression filters with me.  As I looked at the colors I realized that 
> this was going to be a very interesting editing session later that 
> night.  I found working with the M8 somewhat difficult. The first thing 
> they need to do is to put a physical control for exposure adjustment on 
> the next version.  It really slowed me down to go into the menu.  In the 
> end, I just underexposed by 1.5 stops and figured I would work it out in 
> light room.   The reason for underexposure is that the stage is 
> generally dark with the characters often lit in isolation.  The frame 
> lines on the M8 seem to be a mere suggestion of what you will see in the 
> final image, so it's important to stand off a bit and crop, this exactly 
> what you don't do with an SLR/zoom.  The noise level of the M8 was not 
> obtrusive which was a "must" in this situation.  Focus was easy and this 
> is where the RF really shines. Auto focus is not a good idea in stage 
> situations.   The tungsten lighting plus the artificial dyes used in the 
> costumes lead to the expected disaster in color rendering.  I decided 
> that the images would be far better in Black and White.  I printed these 
> images on an HP 130 printer on Glossy photopaper at width of about 22 
> inches.  People just loved them... and they did look great at that 
> size.  Working with the M8 in the theater is no picnic, but the results 
> can be quite good.  I'll use it again in this situation.  I hope you 
> enjoy the images...
> 
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