New Year’s Low Resolution
This was originally published in my Prime Lenses Newsletter. You can sign-up for a weekly update to your inbox here.
It’s a new year, and with that people talk about things like New Year’s resolutions and new hobbies and that can inevitably lead to the new gear that you’ll need to take part in those new hobbies. As regular listeners will know I have a one camera rule to try to ensure I keep things simple. It helps me to avoid buying a camera for all and every occasion.
Helping me in my quest to keep it simple, at the end of last year Leica snuck out a software update which added a new feature to the camera I already have. The M11 gained the ability to send images to your phone as you take them. When this feature is turned on, the camera automatically sends a preview JPEG to your phone which is added to your camera roll. On the face of it this seems like a fairly low stakes feature and the sort of thing that you add to your camera’s firmware just after you’ve released a variant of it which doesn’t have a screen. Not much to write home about, right? I assumed that this would be a novelty, a camera meet-up party trick and I wouldn’t really use it. Now that I think about it I’ve actively avoided using similar features on other cameras I’ve owned. The Ricoh GRIII can connect to the phone and do something similar as well as adding GPS data, something which I’ve really appreciated since I got the M11 but had ignored in the past.
Some light research revealed that Nikon, Sony, Fuji and Canon all offer this capability and I’d never really thought to play with it.
It turns out that tiny JPEGs instantly sent to your phone are perfect for social media or sharing with family on WhatsApp over the hollidays. They have that “proper camera” look to them and are exactly what I need most of the time when pottering about day-to-day documenting life rather than making art. If you’re only going to have one camera then this is a great way to turn that one camera into the digicam of your dreams. Can’t find a 13 year old Fuji X10 for less than $400? No problem! Just make your existing camera spit out low res images while you’re shooting. If it’s not your job and you’re doing this for fun then it can also take the pressure off and keep you in the moment, and if you are doing this for work and you’re shooting in the wild you’ll get a better preview of the images you’re capturing without having to stop to take out memory cards. I honestly think it’s a brilliant feature, I can’t really believe I’d not investigated it sooner with other systems. In the case of the M11 it also gets better as you can add the Leica looks to your images in the Leica Fotos app for bonus social media points and maximum vibes. I guess I can take that X-Pro 1 out of my MPB cart after all ;)
Sensor cleaning
Not sure how you like to clean your sensor when it gets muck on it or even if you do, but I recently noticed something on my photos when shooting at 60MP which meant I had to break out my special sticky stick from Ricoh.
This video about camera care, predictably from Leica* put me onto this stick which I had to back order and wait ages for. I finally used it for the first time on Christmas Day.
Normally, I can get rid of any dirt using an air blower but this little guy was stubborn and very visible in images so out came the stick. It worked a treat but should only be used on cameras with fixed sensors. Owners of cameras with IBIS need to do something else which I’ve not researched because none of mine have it.
*Sorry Linh 😆