Finally an image in the familiar 3×2 full frame aspect ratio. The Leica is back. Fixed and cleaned. And I got a free new battery with it (100$ retail value). I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. Probably both. Glad to have the camera back. Because the SL2-S can do things for me that my other cameras can’t do. Like shooting with manual M-Mount lenses with a 0.95 aperture. On the other hand I’m still disappointed by their service and handling of the matter, after my brand new Leica failed me 3 days into our Israel trip with a mechanical shutter defect. I picked it up yesterday and took it for a spin around the Old Town, shooting with the beautiful TTArtisan 50mm .95 lens.
Last weekend, there was a lot of music in the Streets of Nuremberg, as my city was hosting the Bavarian Trombone Choir Festival 2022. Instruments of course are not limited to trombones, the choirs use all imaginable brass instruments. With a turnout of about 2.500 players from Bavaria and beyond, Nuremberg’s Old Town turned into the stage for a gigantic brass festival. For a visual tour of the event, continue after the jump ….
Sometimes the worst case happens. You are on vacation, bringing your best gear to capture all the magic of the places you visit. And then disaster strikes. My Leica failed me. My brand new SL2-S decided to stop working while we visited Jesus’ baptism site on the River Jordan this morning. “System Error” was the bright orange message on the display. Switching on and off, removing and re-inserting battery, changing SD cards and lenses. All the tips I googled in the Leica forum, nothing helped.
I send a message to the Leica store where I purchased the camera, pointing out that I was three days into a once in a lifetime vacation and I needed help to reset the camera (the SL2-S seemingly has no hard reset) or with whatever trick they have up there sleeves to somehow overcome the failure.
Well…I even got a return message two hours later. They wrote that they talked to Leica Service and they indicated it most likely is a shutter failure and they need to resend the camera to the factory for repairs.
Leica, in case you read this: My Nikons never ever failed me like this. My Olympus workhorses never ever failed me like this, whatever I did to them. This Leica SL2-S is a brand new camera that costs triple what I payed for these other cameras. And it simply stopped working, without warning, being handled and operated with care. Shutter Failure. Are you kidding me? And I’m simply being told I will have to send in the camera for repairs. No apologies, no nothing. A suggestion that I might want to look for a retailer in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv that maybe can take a look. Not even sending me addresses or phone numbers. Not even a simple sorry for having a new high end 5000 Euro camera fail on vacation.
Leica, your customer experience sucks! I would have at least expected some kind of “sorry”. Or a proactive suggestion how I could get it looked at here in Israel. And even when I get this thing repaired within warranty…how can I ever confidently take this camera on vacation again or use it on a wedding gig? So disappointed…so disappointed….
Now the old M240 and my iPhone 12 will have to cover the rest of the vacation. At least I brought a 10 year old backup and some vintage primes. And the iPhone camera is also quite capable. I’m looking forward to the challenge to get the best of the failed SL2-S luxury camera. To still capture all the memories of our trip to beautiful Israel.
The other night, The Significant Other and I headed to the Nuremberg Fairgrounds to visit the “Frühlingsfest”, the Spring Fun Fair. After a two year, Covid induced hiatus, Franconias largest Fun Fair was finally on again. And a good opportunity for me to try once more the low light capabilities of my new Leica SL2-S. And I must say, I had a fair evening …
One of the most important aspects of my blogging is getting in touch with people from all over this planet. Since starting the “Streets of Nuremberg” more than six years ago, I have connected with many wonderful people. One of them is Marion, a.k.a Little Miss Traveler. She runs a wonderful travel blog, the Love Travelling Blog. There she blogs passionately about her own travel diaries to provide her readers with plenty inspirations to plan their own trips to great locations. We’ve started our blogs about the same time six years ago and have been following each other pretty much from the beginning.
We’ve always talked about meeting each other in real life once the opportunity arises. And finally Little Miss Traveler made it to Nuremberg for a long weekend, accompanied by her son. The Significant Other and I met them Sunday afternoon for a joint trip to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, and after that enjoyed some local beer and food and great talks. For some further photos of our meeting continue after the jump….
The last day of February is upon us. And it’s time to finally say goodbye to the winter that wasn’t. This winter was too warm, it was grey on what felt like 90% of the time, it was unusually stormy. We had some snow worth speaking off just before Christmas, that was it. The winter 21/22 was a winter to forget.
How it should have been shows this throwback photograph from February last year I took in the woods on nearby Moritzberg. While I get there is post-processing software out there that helps you to place a sunburst in any given image, it is much more gratifying capturing it in camera. You just need the sun, an object to partially hide it behind, and a camera that allows you to set a small aperture (I usually capture sunburst with f/16). E voilà!
The good news is that you can capture sunbursts also in spring. Now we only need to have a spring that comes with some sun days! But as the saying goes…hope dies last.
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Have a great start into March and an awesome (photographic) spring
Two years into the pandemic, the family had its first case. Big Girl came down with Covid. Properly vaccinated and even boostered, her symptoms subsided after three days, but then she had to go into self-isolation for a good week, which turned out to be really hard for her. Living in the same house as grandma, aunt and cousin, she at least got her needed supplies delivered to her door. Being a pediatric oncology nurse, Big Girl took her self-isolation serious. Which meant we were able to see the kid only from down the sidewalk. But thankfully she’s healed, back at work now and up and running again.
February was a busy month that left not much time for photography and blogging. But I got myself a new camera. And sold a lot of my old APS-C stuff to pay for it.
And then, last weekend, after years of following each other’s blogs, I finally met another of my virtual friends face to face on the Streets of Nuremberg.
So plenty stories still to tell.
The photo of Big Girl at her window was taken with my iPhone.
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Having had the opportunity to test a Leica SL2-S full frame mirrorless system over the weekend, I have asked Big Girl to pose for an impromptu indoor portrait session. I wanted to do another test of the high ISO capability of the camera and find out how usable the files are in terms of noise when shooting at higher ISO. And, I have to say, the Leica performed admirably. But see for yourself…
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to test an amazing camera, the Leica SL2-S, bundled with the Leica Vario-Elmarit 1:2.8/24-70mm Asph. I was particularly interested in the low light capability of the 24mp full frame mirrorless camera. So I headed into town to do some nocturnal street photography…
Last Sunday, despite the wet and wintery weather, The Significant Other and I headed into the local woods to catch some fresh air. For me an opportunity to bring along my old Leica M (Type 240) and the vintage Yashica Auto Yashinon-DX 1:2 50mm lens I have on loan from a friend.
A good way to spend the first Sunday afternoon of 2022 is paying a visit to a friend who is a likeminded photographer. To drink some coffee and talk some serious photography shop. His passion is to acquire vintage lenses from the era of film cameras. This means high quality glass that performs admirably when attached to today’s modern DSLRs or System Cameras via an adapter. For very, very little money.
