By José Manuel Serrano Esparza
Photography is living instants of great expectation after the movements implemented by Nikon and Canon, which have very recently presented their 24 x 36 mm format mirrorless EVF Nikon Z7 and Canon EOS R cameras, while a lot of rumours on a possible also 24 x 36 mm format mirrorless EVF camera that could be presented by Panasonic in a short time. On its turn, Fuji has just introduced its Fujifilm XT-3 mirrorless EVF camera featuring a new 26 megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and a three times faster dsp, a model that means in practice a quantum leap in quality and functions (including 4K UHD video at 60 fps) in comparison to its predecesor Fujifilm XT-2.
Photography is living instants of great expectation after the movements implemented by Nikon and Canon, which have very recently presented their 24 x 36 mm format mirrorless EVF Nikon Z7 and Canon EOS R cameras, while a lot of rumours on a possible also 24 x 36 mm format mirrorless EVF camera that could be presented by Panasonic in a short time. On its turn, Fuji has just introduced its Fujifilm XT-3 mirrorless EVF camera featuring a new 26 megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and a three times faster dsp, a model that means in practice a quantum leap in quality and functions (including 4K UHD video at 60 fps) in comparison to its predecesor Fujifilm XT-2.
Even perhaps
there will be soon a new Leica medium format camera with digital sensor between
60 and 100 megapíxels.
All of it has
brought about a climax of interest that will have its pinnacle during the next
Photokina 2018, which will be held between September 26 and 29 of 2018.
November of
1935. Oscar Barnack, a 57 year old man, has been told by doctors that he will
die very soon, within one or two months, and is now on the platform of Wetzlar
Train Station (Germany)
Julius Huisgen
(photographer at Ernst Leitz Wetzlar as well as darkroom expert who develops
the black and white 24 x 36 mm 35mm format film rolls exposed by Barnack and author of his portraits)
is with him.
Oscar Barnack is
very weak, without stamina, constantly coughing and trudging while holding a 24
x 36 mm format Leica IIIa with a Leitz Summar 5 cm f/2 lens, designed by
Profesor Max Berek, between his hands.
On his turn,
Julius Huisgen is grabbing a 24 x 36 mm format Zeiss Ikon Contax I rangefinder
camera with a Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 5 cm f/1.5 lens designed by Ludwig
Bertele.
Both of them are
waiting for the arrival of trains to do tests shooting at different shutter
speeds and check the accuracy of the shutter in both cameras, because Oscar
Barnack, utterly aware of the proximity of his death, wants to improve the
shutter precision of his Leica IIIa as much as possible before passing away.
The temperature
is -6º C. The genius Oscar Barnack is frozen stiff, but he keeps on getting
pictures. Nine months ago he has been able to create a wonderful escape
horology mechanism tiny front dial for 1 s, 1/2 s, 1/4 s, 1/8 s and 1/20 s slow
speeds, an amazing technological feat for the time and hugely enhancing the
handheld shooting possibilities of the Leica IIIa camera.
He knows that
the reliability of the shutter will be decisive for the future of Ernst Leitz
Wetzlar as a firm and will make a strenuous effort to optimize its precision
until the last days of his life.
Suddenly, the
genius says to Julius Huisgen : " I do believe that 24 x 36 mm format will
have a huge permanence in time and we shouldn´t mind if many other brands use
it in future "
THE MOST IMPORTANT PHOTOKINA IN THE HISTORY OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY HITHERTO
Next Photokina
2018 slated to be held in Cologne (Germany) between September 26 and 29 of 2018
is going to be by far the most significant one celebrated until now in the History of Digital Photography and a true milestine event, confirming the huge
talent and above all the tremendous insight of a genius called Oscar Barnack,
when in 1914, one hundred and five years ago, he created the Ur-Leica camera
using 24 x 26 mm format film in Wetzlar, after making a lot of tests with black
and white 18 x 24 mm cinematographic film, deciding to double its length up to
36 mm, giving birth to the 24 x 36 mm format with 2:3 golden proportion.
That 24 x 36 mm
standard would turn within time into the most widespread film format throughout
the whole XX Century, being massively adopted by the main firms of the
photographic industry : Leica, Zeiss Ikon, Ihagee, Kodak, Nikon, Canon, Pentax,
Olympus, Argus, Voigtländer, Agfa, etc.
Though each
photographic format has got its pros and cons, the 24 x 36 mm one became the
most versatile ever made, much more in this regard than the different previous
medium format and large formats.
It´s true that
it coexisted above all with particularly two remarkable photographic systems
featuring formats different to 24 x 36 mm :
a) The 4 x 5
" — 10 x 12 cm— large format,
embodied by the excellent Graflex Speed Graphic cameras, very used by
photojournalists and war time correspondents.
b) The 2 1/4 x 2
1 /4 Rolleiflex medium format camera (widely used in a slew of photographic
genres like photojournalism, fashion, portrait, studio, street photography,
landscape, war photography, etc) .
But the most
revolutionary and widespread photographic format throughout XX Century was
undoubtedly the 24 x 36 mm one, whose amazing versatility and capabilities to
tackle a highly comprehensive range of photographic genres (photojournalism,
war photography, sports photography, wildlife photography, street photography,
air photography, portrait, micro photography, macro photography, wedding
photography and others), made it the common choice for vast majority of brands,
which churned out millions of photographic cameras and lenses coupled to them.
After the
launching into market of the Leica 1 Model A in 1925 (first ever 35 mm camera
available in the photographic market) during the Leipzig Fair, Ernst Leitz
Wetzlar created in 1932 the Leica II (Model D), the first mirrorless system
camera in history, featuring an optical viewfinder, a rangefinder and a wide
assortment of primes in LTM39 screwmount which could be coupled to it.
It was a tiny
and very light camera designed by Oskar Barnak and staying true to the
fundamental keynote set forth by him 19 years before with the Ur Leica : Small
Negatives, Great Pictures.
The Leica II
(Model D) and its very luminous lenses for the time enabled the photographers
to shoot handheld with great levels of stability, lack of trepidation and
guarantee of getting the pictures, with some further major advantages : the 36
exposures of each 35 mm film roll (twenty-four more than the twelve ones with a
medium format 120 film roll), the very scarce vibration of its shutter
mechanism and the almost inaudible noise made by the shutter release button on
being pressed, which enabled to shoot from very near distances with great
discretion.
It all thanks to
its incredible compactness (133 x 67 x 33 mm) and very light weight (406 g) in
full balance with highly luminous lenses for the time and likewise exceedingly
small and light.
In comparison to
large format and medium format bulky and heavy cameras that had reigned supreme
before the arrival of 35 mm format, Barnack´s brainstorm and working philosophy
with this landmark breed of 24 x 36 mm rangefinder mirrorless Leica screwmount
cameras provided the photographers with far superior freedom of movements and
reaction ability to capture the decisive moments, much more convenience of
transport and use, huge handling comfort and truly unmatched levels of
discretion.
Needless to say
that cameras like the Leica II Model D (1932-1948), Leica III Model F
(1933-1939), Leica IIIA Model G (1935-1948), Leica IIIC (1940-1951), Leica IIIF
(1950-1957), Leica IIIG (1957-1960) and others, because of the very small
negatives of 24 x 36 mm format film used, needed tiny and top-notch quality
lenses to match the very little size of camera bodies.
But at the same
time, these lenses had to deliver very high optical performance to draw the
full potential of the then called " miniature format " (id est, the
35 mm one) , yielding a stunning figure of lines/mm for the time, in
comparison to large format and medium format cameras which because of their
very big negative surface, didn´t need to produce such a high resolving power
to generate very good image quality.
To name only an
example,
the uncoated
Tessar 105 mm f/4.5 permanently attached to the 6 x 9 cm format Zeiss Super Ikonta C
530/2 medium format folding camera from 1934 reached between roughly 34
lines/mm in the center at full aperture, around 36 lines/mm in the center at
f/5.6 and 38 lines/mm at f/8. From a theoretical viewpoint, that´s a low level
of resolving power, but the very large size of negatives (almost six times
larger than 24 x 36 mm format) and the reference-class centering of the optical
components of the 4 elements in 3 groups lens enabled to get great quality king
size enlargements.
Obviously, the
best lenses for 24 x 36 mm format Leica and Contax cameras from thirties
designed by
Professor Max Berek (particularly the Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5) and
Dr Ludwig
Bertele (specially the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 5 cm f/1.5, Carl Zeiss Jena
Sonnar 5 cm f/2 and Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 8,5 cm f/2) needed to yield much
more resolving power than medium format and large format cameras to
subsequently make big enlargements from the much smaller 24 x 36 mm format
negatives.
Then, Leica
launched into market the landmark Leica M3 during the Photokina Köln 1954. It
was the best rangefinder 35 mm camera ever made (including both analog and
digital eras) along with the Nippon Kogaku Nikon SP, but a different breed with
respect the Leica screwmount 39 mm mount and flange distance of 28.8 mm.
The Leica M3,
also for 24 x 36 mm format, was the first camera of the German firm which
combined viewfinder and rangefinder into one window.
It featured an
extraordinary optical viewfinder with 0.92x magnification and a superb
rangefinder made up by more than 150 individual high precision pieces, in
addition to being a very significant camera for the expansion of the 35 mm
format during the second half of fifties,
until the arrival of the also excellent reflex
Nikon F camera
in 1959 which definitely consolidated the massive 24 x 36 mm format worldwide
expansion, along with the dominance of the photographic industry by reflex 35
mm cameras from early sixties, a steady trend which increased even more during
seventies, eighties and nineties, with milestone 24 x 36 mm format reflex
cameras like the Nikon F2, Canon F1, Olympus OM-1, Olympus OM-2, Nikon F3, Pentax
LX, Canon New F-1, Canon T-90, Canon EOS-1, Nikon F4, Nikon F5, and the Nikon
F6 that was the last 35 mm slr analogue professional camera.
But at the end
of nineties, an exceedingly far-reaching fact happens : the technological
electronic and digital foundations that will catalyze a new turning point with
the very strong emergence of digital photography (which has arrived to
stay and will greatly replace the chemical one having evolved for 150 years)
are already well grounded.
There´s a very
fast integral evolution of the photographic market towards digital cameras not
using chemical emulsions, but digital sensors, and are fed with high capacity
cards holding a quantity of shots equivalent to many film rolls.
It´s a new
photographic technology boasting huge versatility, amazing speed of results,
and whose obtained images can be treated by means of personal computers in
symbiosis with increasingly powerful image software like Adobe Photoshop 2.5
and the subsequent versions.
It will give
birth to a new concept : the digital darkroom, which on its turn will synergize
with new better and better prints and will be provided with real photographic
quality papers like Hahnemühle and Canson Infinity, with the significant
advantage it means in terms of savings and facilities, since the direct capture
of digital images with this new kind of cameras doesn´t need any kind of
chemical development or expensive digitizations of negatives or slides with
high end scanners.
Besides, those
images can be electronically sent through internet at great speed, which hugely
shortens the delivery times of pictures by professional photographers to the
editorial departments of their media in the photojournalistic scope and enables
pros to provide top-notch quality archives optimized to create the adequate
colour separations when it comes to printing, while simultaneously new and
fascinating creative possibilities are opened to amateur photographers.
This way, XX
Century ends with the launching into market by Nikon in June of 1999 (after a
three year design stage) of its Nikon D1 Professional reflex camera with a 23.7
x 15.6 mm and 2,7 megapixel CCD, which at that moment was a true revolution.
Two years later,
in November of 2001, Canon introduced its new professional reflex camera Canon
EOS-1D featuring a 4 megapixels CCD featuring a size of 28,7 x 19,1 mm and a
1,3x cropping factor.
From then until
now, digital technology has experienced a tremendous development, with the main
firms of photographic industry introducing a number of different digital
cameras, particularly in three formats : APS-C, Micro Four Thirds and 24 x 36
mm.
But however
incredible it may seem, the world market of digital cameras and lenses,
specially in the advanced amateur and professional domains, has experienced a
steady and progressive path mainly towards the spreading of Barnack´s 24 x 36
mm format.
The search for
full frame professional digital cameras was mainly carried out by three firms :
Canon, Nikon and Leica.
The two Japanese
firms began with reflex professional digital cameras featuring APS-C format
sensors like the 2.7 megapixels
Nikon D1H
introduced in February 2001 and the 5.3 megapixels
Nikon D1x, the
Canon 1D in 2001,
the Canon 1D
Mark II in 2004, and others.
In 2002 Canon
pioneered the 24 x 36 mm format digital cameras realm with its 11.4 megapixels
Canon EOS-1 Ds
introduced in December of 2002, a very important milestone of Digital
Photography Era.
Nikon kept on
with more profesional APS-C format digital reflex cameras like the Nikon D2H,
D2X, D2HS, D2XS, D200, D300 and D300s.
But in July
2008, Nikon launched into market its first reflex full frame camera :
the Nikon D3 in
August 2007, being followed by the
Nikon D700 in
July 2008, the Nikon D3X in December 2008, the Nikon D3S in October 2009, the
Nikon D4 in January 2012,
the Nikon D800
in February 2012, the Nikon D800E in April 2012, the Nikon D600 in September
2012, the Nikon D610 in October 2013,
the Nikon Df in
November 2013, the Nikon D4S in February 2014, the Nikon D810 in June 2014, the
Nikon D750 in September 2014, the Nikon D810A in February 2015, the Nikon D5 in
January 2016, the Nikon D810A in February 2015 and
the Nikon D850 in
July 2017.
On its turn,
Canon has also launched into market many full frame reflex digital cameras like
1Ds Mk II in
2004, 1Ds Mk III in 2007, 1D X in 2012, 1D C in 2012, 1D X Mk II in 2016,
5D in 2005, 5D
Mk II in 2008, 5D Mk III in 2012,
5D Mk IV in
2016, 5Ds in 2015, 5Ds R in 2015, 6D in 2012, 6D Mk II in 2017, etc, without
forgetting its excellent APS-C format 7D in 2009 and 7D Mk II in 2014.
Meanwhile, a new
lineage of photographic tool was born in 2008, featuring a smaller than 24 x 36
mm format : the mirrorless digital camera with electronic viewfinder, pioneered
by Panasonic with its Micro Four Thirds Format
Lumix G1
released in Japan in October 2008 and followed by Olympus in June 2009 with
the Olympus Pen
E-P1, its first Micro Four Third camera.
From a
technological viewpoint, this very small Micro Four Thirds Format with an image
sensor of 18 mm x 13.5 mm and a diagonal of 22.5 mm with 4:3 aspect ratio, was highly
innovative and enabled to design and manufacture very small and light cameras
with very little lenses specifically created for their digital sensor and
boasting a comprehensive assortment of really advanced electronic functions and
top-notch quality video, both Full HD and 4K UHD.
This way,
between 2008 and 2018 a number of Micro Four Thirds cameras have appeared in
the photographic market, having been specially relevant hitherto
the 10
megapixels Panasonic Lumix GH5 (first camera recording 4K video) released in
January 2017,
the 20.3
megapixels Panasonic G9 (recording 4K UHD video at 60 fps and boasting a
stunning continuous AF reaching 20 fps, along with a highly efficient 5-axis
image stabilizer in body and a weather sealed body ) released in December 2017,
the 16 megapixel
Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark II launched into market in February 2015,
the 20 megapixel
Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark II (reaching 18 fps in continuous AF, a 5 axis in body
image stabilizer, 4K UHD Video and weather sealed body) introduced in 2016 and
the 20 megapixels Pen-F released in 2016.
If all of this
digital maelstrom weren´t enough, four further amazing movements took place
within the professional digital photography environment:
a) The digital
renaissance of the legendary Leica M lineage of rangefinder cameras, thanks to
the uncommon insight, courage and entrepreneurial talent of a visionary man :
Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, who after fighting tooth and nail to become main
shareholder of Leica Camera AG and Chairman of the Board and Owner, saved the
German photographic firm in 2005.
Dr. Andreas Kaufmann strove upon achieving a dream come true: a 24 x 36 mm format digital rangefinder Leica M camera delivering exceptional image quality and having a wide range of top quality lenses to be coupled to it, while simultaneously preserving the values inherent to this mythical camera breed that had been attained during the halcyon days of analogue photography in XX Century.
Achieving this
was one of the most difficult technical tour de forces ever tackled in the
realm of photographic cameras, and it was necessary to begin from scratch in
2006 with the Leica M8 featuring a 1.3x cropping factor sensor and the Leica
M8.2 in 2008.
From the ground
up, it was apparent that a 24 x 36 mm digital Leica M was the goal to acccomplish something extremely difficult, since the Leica M cameras feature a very compact
design and the rays of incoming light at the edges of the image reach the
sensor surface in an oblique way, so it was virtually impossible to capture
them with a sensor using conventional micro lenses.
Therefore, a new
sensor architecture had to be created with specially designed microlenses
boasting a low refractive index in symbiosis with a lateral displacement of the
microlenses located at the edges of the sensor to accurately match the features
of Leica M lenses, which resulted in a praiseworthy image brightness across the
whole image field, as well as avoiding any vignetting at the borders and
corners of the image, and after three years of strenuous work by Jesko von
Oeynhausen (Product Manager of the Leica M9, Leica Monochrom and Leica M10 for
Leica Camera A.G), Stefan Daniel (Director of Product Management for Leica
Camera A.G) and others in synergy with the M lenses specifically created for it
by Peter Karbe, Leica managed to create
the Leica M9,
first ever 24 x 36 mm format rangefinder camera, launched into market in 2009
and becoming an instant sensation.
And throughout
the nine years elapsed between 2009 and 2018, Leica has been able to steadily
improve its amazing digital line of M System cameras until reaching its
evolutive pinnacle : the Leica M10, much slimmer than the previous Leica M9,
M9-P, M Monochrom, M-E, M-P Typ 240, M Typ 262 and M-D Typ 262.
This 33.74 mm
thickness masterpiece has been a true optomechanical and technological feat, to
such an extent that during the two years elapsed between January 2017 (when it
was introduced) and now,
the Leica M10
has become an outstanding sales success, crowning the far-sighted project
accomplished by Dr. Andreas Kaufmann and placing Leica as one of the leading
firms of the digital photographic market, with the added benefit of getting
increasing and meaningful high revenue year after year, which has substantially
strengthened its position.
b) The
introduction by Fuji of its amazing line of Fujifilm X-Series of mirrorless EVF
cameras featuring X-Trans CMOS APS-C format sensor with
the Fujifilm
X100 in March 2011, which has been followed from then to nowadays by many more
cameras, among which stand out:
the Fujifilm
X-Pro 1 in March 2012, the Fujifilm X100S in January 2013, the Fujifilm X-T1 in
January 2014,
the Fujifilm X-Pro
2 in January 2016,
the Fujifilm
XT-2 in July 2016 and
the Fujifilm
XT-3 in September of 2018.
These cameras
are very small and light, delivering great image quality, and the Fuji lenses
for this photographic system are truly top quality, in addition to matching the
camera size thanks to their very little size and low weight.
c) The
introduction by Sony in October 2013 of its
24.3 megapixel
Sony A7 and
36.4 megapixel
A7R (first ever full frame mirrorless EVF full frame mirrorless cameras), which
attained great success and enabled Sony to increase its presence in the
photographic market, well grounded on its huge economical potential with
cash-flow to spare, constant investment in R & D and its tremendous
electronic expertise, in addition to being by far the reference-class firm in
the production of 24 x 36 mm digital sensors.
Throughout six
years between 2014 and 2018, Sony has launched into market a wide array of more
cameras belonging to this landmark series like the Sony A7S, A7II, A7RII,
A7SII, A7III and
A7RIII, the
qualitative apex of them all, with its 42.4 megapixel excellent sensor.
Within time,
more and more native lenses have been available for the Sony E Mount 24 x 36 mm
Mirrorless Photographic System, but most times primes and zooms were big or
very big with respect to the very small dimensions and weight of the camera.
It has had an
incredible effect, unthinkable only ten years ago : roughly a 25% of the total
figure of Sony A7 series cameras sold hitherto, were acquired by professional
and advanced photographers craving for coupling them through adapters to first class manual
focusing lenses they had,
like the Leica M
objectives, the Super Takumar lenses from seventies, the Canon FD lenses from
seventies and eighties, the Leica R lenses and others.
Any of these
manual focusing lenses connected to the Sony A7RIII enables to properly match
the size and weight of the objectives to the very small dimensions and weight
of the camera, creating a much more balanced gear to shoot handheld, without
trepidation, at the slowest ISOS and shutter speeds.
c)) The creation
by Leica of an amazing mirrorless full frame EVF camera in 2015 : the
formidable Leica SL boasting the best electronic viewfinder in the world,
impressive build, one of the best and fastest AF in the market and the
benchmark photographic lenses for 24 x 36 mm format made in the world till now
: the vast array of Leica SL lenses designed by Peter Karbe (Head of Optics at
Leica Camera A.G), which meant the beginning of a new optical era in 2015,
confirmed by the recent movements made by Nikon with the release of its Nikon Z7
mirrorles full frame EVF camera and Canon with its Canon EOS R mirrorless 24 x
36 mm camera, both of them with very large mounts, exceedingly short flange
distances and better objectives than their previous F mount and EOS mount
lenses in terms of image quality and mechanical construction.
If we add to
this that Leica released its 37.5 megapixel medium format S2 camera in 2008,
featuring a 30 x 45 mm CCD, state of the art lenses created by Peter Karbe (the
best optical designer in the world) and the same 3:2 aspect ratio as the 24 x
36 mm format, as well as delivering an image quality comparable to 4 x 5 (10 x
12 cm) large format. albeit with different image aesthetics and bokeh, it seems
clear that Leica has turned into one of the most important actors in the
digital photographic industry.
And last but not
least, there have been two more utterly decisive gambles very recently made by
Nikon and Canon, which have definitely oriented the photographic market of
cameras and lenses towards Barnack´s 24 x 36 mm format.
Nikon has
introduced in late August 2018 the 45.7 megapixel Nikon Z7, its first
mirrorless full frame digital professional camera with electronic viewfinder.
And in early
September 2018, Canon has presented the 30.3 megapixel Canon EOS R, likewise
its first mirrorless full frame digital professional camera with electronic
viewfinder.
The Nikon Z7
features a new very large lens mount with a diameter of nothing less than 55 mm
(much bigger than the previous F mount) and an exceedingly short flange
distance of 16 mm enabling that the maximum feasible quantity of light enter
through the Nikkor S lenses and reach the 24 x 36 mm sensor with great purity,
without forgetting its 11 contacts greatly enhancing the communication between
camera and coupled lenses.
Therefore, the
light will arrive at the sensor in more quantity, with more intensity and with
far superior luminic homogeneity between center and borders of the frame.
Besides, this
camera features a superb electronic viewfinder in which Nikon has made a
strenuous effort to get commendable sharpness and very comfortable viewing for
photographers. It is a great EVF, only second to the one sported by the Leica
SL mirrorless EVF 24 x 36 mm camera.
In addition, it
has a very good ergonomics, thanks to the big grip making possible to
comfortably use highly luminous lenses and teleobjectives to shoot handheld.
On its turn, the
Canon EOS R also features a new very large lens mount, with a diameter of 54 mm
and a very short flange distance of 20 mm.
It likewise has a
top-notch viewfinder and pretty good ergonomics by means of a big grip for best
feasible handling with large aperture lenses, medium and long teleobjectives.
Anyway, in my
opinion, the most relevant aspect of the Nikon Z7 and Canon EOS R are not the
camera bodies, their AF and their electronic capabilities, but the introduced
photographic systems, with new kinds of mounts being much bigger than their
predecessor Nikon F and Canon EOS ones, in addition to a new much shorter
flange distance and
superb
electronic viewfinders that have hugely reduced the distances with respect to
the viewing quality of the best optical viewfinders featured by the current
flagship reflex cameras like the Nikon D850, Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, Pentax K-1 Mark II, etc, and
photographers using either the EVF Nikon Z7 or Canon EOS R camera won´t have
any problem, since their electronic viewfinders are splendid.
Nikon and Canon
have followed the path set up by Leica with its 24 x 36 mm format SL mirrorless
EVF camera, whose lenses designed by Peter Karbe will keep on being the
benchmark for many years and deliver a stratospheric image quality, having gone
beyond the extraordinary optomechanic levels of the Leica M lenses.
A new era in the
History of Photographic Optics began in October 2015 with those stratospheric
Leica SL lenses like the Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH, the Apo-Summicron-SL 75
mm f/2, the zoom Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90 mm f/2.8-4 ASPH, etc.
The
extraordinary image qualities obtained wit these 24 x 36 mm format mirrorless
EVF cameras from Leica, Nikon and Canon are comparable to the 6 x 9 cm analogue
medium format digitized with Hasselblad Imacon Flextight X1 or X5 virtual
scanner.
But inevitably,
all of it is at the expense of a big size and weight of lenses in comparison to
the camera bodies and increasing more the operative fatigue than using cameras
featuring smaller formats and lenses with more reduced dimensions.
It isn´t less
true that from a viewpoint of global image quality, the 24 x 36 mm format
(called " miniature " during the second half of twenties and thirties
with screwmount mirrorless Leica cameras) usually beats the smaller formats in
superior dynamic range, many more possibilities of huge enlargement without
image degradation, superior performance at high and very high ISOS and a better
adaptation to photographic genres like fashion, portrait and action sports in
which the ability to generate selective focus and highlight the persons or
subjects photographed is often pivotal.
Both Canon and
Nikon have decided to enter the market of mirrorless EVF full frame cameras
going on with their 24 x 36 mm format in their Nikon Z7 and Canon EOS R, but to
all intents and purposes, following the route of telecentrism to a greater or
lesser extent, creating
new much larger
mounts with a much shorter flange distance, so lenses need doses of
telecentrism to be able to draw the maximum qualitative potential of both factors in relation to the
previous EOS and F mounts being smaller and with a longer flange distance.
That´s to say,
Nikon and Canon have decided to embrace the telecentric course adopted by
Olympus in 2002 with its E-1 camera in synergy with top quality lenses like the
formidable 13 elements in 11 groups Zuiko Digital ED 300 mm f/2.8 lens.
It´s also the
best route for the most state of the art lenses ever made for 24 x 36 mm
format, because the potential of this photographic era started by Leica with
its lenses for the Leica SL in October 2015 has now been backed up by Nikon and
Canon, and it seems that Panasonic will probably join this strong full frame
mirrorless EVF cameras trend.
On its turn,
Sony, taking advantage of its huge wherewithal, will try to recover ground as
soon as possible in the optical sphere, something that won´t be easy, because
the ultraluminous and highly luminous lenses for Nikon Z and Canon EOS R
systems are within the present optical scream of the crop, particularly
the Noct Nikkor
58 mm f/0.95 S and
the Canon 28-70
mm f/2.
Some voices are
proclaiming that these two lenses are very heavy and expensive, which is
obviously true.
But, always
understanding that of course each one is able to express his/ her opinion, no
way could they be small, light and cheap in the current state of science.
Reference-class
lenses featuring that huge aperture, are extremely difficult to design and
manufacture, with an exceedingly high percentage of out of tolerances optical
elements (specially the best ground and polished aspherical ones made with very
expensive exotic glasses), so their series production cost barely makes
possible to have good profit with their sale.
This type of
flagship lenses are a niche product in themselves, above all a question of
prestige with which firms show their optical prowess and expertise, and because
of their hefty price tag and impressive optomechanical performance, they ´re
usually only at the reach of fairly wealthy professional photographers,
photographic agencies or fashion and advertisement firms able to pay off the
investment.
Both the Noct
Nikkor f/0.95 S and the Canon 28-70 mm f/2 will attain their best performance,
id est, the stratospheric one, being on a monopod or tripod, which doesn´t mean
that they can´t be used handheld with very good results thanks to the
impressive abilities of 24 x 36 mm format digital cameras at high and very high
ISOS, sides in which they clearly outperform the professional APS-C and Micro
Four Thirds professional cameras.
The key factor
for the success of Nikon S and Canon EOS R systems (far behind Panasonic,
Olympus and Fuji in terms of electronic advancements, image stabilization,
continuous AF and video) will be above all in the image quality delivered by
their f/1.4 and f/1.8 (and to a lesser degree the f/1.2) primes, along with
their professional 24-70 mm f/2.8 and 70-200 mm f/2.8 zooms, which will be
expensive, but much cheaper than the f/0.95, f/1.2 and the 28-70 mm f/2,
becoming a very interesting choice for professional photographers and the
benchmark image quality available today, only beaten by the Leica SL highly
luminous fixed lenses and zooms.
But though
ergonomics of the Nikon Z and Canon EOS R grip are really superb,
Nikon S and
Canon R lenses,
which will reduce distances regarding Leica SL ones in optical performance, are
very big objectives in comparison to Nikon Z and Canon EOS R camera bodies,
significantly breaking the philosophy of compact system mirrorless cameras with
lenses featuring balanced size and weight with respect to the small dimensions
and light weight of camera body.
Every
photographic system has got its pros and cons.
It seems
apparent that the photographic market has predominantly opted for 24 x 36 mm
format mirrorless EVF cameras featuring very large mounts and exceedingly short
flange distances , with a top priority above everything ; to get a superlative
image quality roughly equivalent to the 6 x 9 cm analogue medium format with 32
ISO Fuji Velvia slide.
Obviously, that
huge image quality is a commendable and desirable goal for any lover of
photography.
But one thing is
the potential of a photographic gear and another one what the profesional or
advanced amateur photographer is able to draw from it, particularly when
shooting handheld.
Nowadays, both
24 x 36 mm digital cameras (whether reflex with optical viewfinders or
mirrorless EVF) from Sony, Leica, Nikon and Canon, or mirrorless EVF ones from
Fuji (APS-C format), Leica (APS-C), Panasonic (Micro Four Thirds format) and
Olympus (Micro Four Thirds Format) yield an utterly professional image quality.
The aptitude of
the photographic outfit will depend on the kind of assignment to do and many
other factors.
In my opinion,
it would be highly desirable the coexistence in the photographic market of the
mirrorless EVF full frame cameras and the mirrorless EVF Micro Four Thirds and
APS-C format made by Panasonic, Olympus, Leica and Fuji, irrespective of
trends.
The just
introduced Nikon Z7 and Canoen EOS R cameras are still to mature products in
which the truly significant aspect, more than camera bodies, is the huge future
potential of both systems, above all from an optical viewpoint.
But it isn´t
less true that prices of camera bodies and lenses for those 24 x 36 mm
mirrorless EVF photographic systems are very high, approximately double or even
more than the best profesional APS-C mirrorless EVF models from Fuji and the
flagship Micro Four Thirds mirrorless EVF ones from Panasonic and Olympus,
whose balance between size and weight of camera and lenses is far better and
more comfortable to use for photographers.
During the
analogue times in XX Century it wasn´t necessary to offer huge image qualities
obtained with large format cameras in most photographic works for the attained
results to be considered professional, because resolution, contrast and dynamic
range, though obviously very important, are not everything in photography.
Yousuf Karsh
used above all a large format 8 x 10" (20 x 25 cm) Calumet large format camera to do his
mythical black and white portraits with orthochromatic film, but throughout the
whole XX Century, sports and wildlife photography was mostly made with 24 x 36
mm format cameras, while studio photography was made above all with 2 1/4 x 2
1/4 (6 x 6 cm) medium format Rolleiflex and Hasselblads, along with the Pentax
6 x 7 cm medium format camera, while for landscapes the best choice was large
format, with foremost specialists like Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and others.
Evidently, the
new 24 x 36 mm format mirrorless EVF cameras just introduced by Nikon and Canon
corroborate a new optomechanical era in the History of Digital Photography
pioneered by Leica in 2015 (with its also 24 x 36 mm format mirrorless EVF SL
camera and its lenses, which are presently the state of the art), resulting in
a significant increase of the digital 24 x 36 format regarding 24 x36mm format poitential regarding image quality,
and it all will reach its climax during the next Photokina Köln between
September 26 and 29 of 2018.
But it isn´t
less true that such a context is going to highly probably catalyze a great
effort by Fuji, Panasonic and Olympus to improve their APS-C and Micro Four
Thirds sensors to the utmost.
Throughout the
last six years between 2012 and 2018 Fuji has gained an amazing optical
proficiency, proved by very small and light lenses boasting great optical
performance like the 13 elements in 11 groups Fujifilm XF 16 mm f/1.4 R WR
(equivalent to a 24 mm f/1.4), the 17 elements in 12 groups Fujinon XF 16-55 mm
f/2.8 R LM WR or the 10 elements in 6 groups Fujinon 23 mm f/2 R WR.
All of them
offer a praiseworthy quality / price ratio, specially the Fujinon 23 mm f/2 R WR,
undoubtedly one of the best lenses in history as to this side.
Within a very
short period of time, in full digital era, Fuji has managed to approach to the
level that placed it as one of the most important manufacturers of photographic
lenses during the analogue times of XX century, in which it made first-class
lenses already excelling at their stunning compactness and lightness, like the
Super-EBC Fujinon 60 mm f/4 for the Fuji GA645 AF rangefinder camera, the large
format lens for portraiture Fujinon 240 A attachable to LF 4 x 5 " (10 x
12 cm) cameras and whose weight was only 245 g, as well as featuring a
remarkable versatility, since it could be used as a standard lens with 5 x 7
" (13 x 18 cm) cameras and as a wideangle lens in 8 x 10 " (contact
of 20 x 25 cm) cameras.
This is a global
change of paradigm, because from now on, the 24 x 36 mm format professional
digital cameras will deliver medium format quality similar to the one yielded
by the Fuji 690 III rangefinder analogue camera on a tripod, and the Micro Four
Thirds and APS-C format professional digital cameras will produce an image
quality similar to the one produced by the analogue 127 roll film format and
will highly probably approach to 6 x 4.5 medium format quality in early 2020,
as hinted by the new 26.1 megapixel Fujifilm X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and the new
quad-core CPU three times faster than the present X series cameras.
However
incredible it may seem, digital photography is attaining a tremendous expansion
of Oscar Barnack´s two favourite formats (the 24 x 36 mm and the 18 x 24 mm,
the latter being represented by Fuji´s similar in size X-Trans APS-C 15.6 mm x
23.6 mm) in terms of image quality.
And the same
happens to the Micro Four Thirds format with a 18 mm x 13.5 mm size sensor
featuring 4:3 aspect ratio.
The current
Panasonic, Olympus and Fuji mirrorless EVF cameras are superb, with a
formidable quality/price ratio, and sincerely, I do believe that the image
quality they offer is professional to spare, obviously not reaching the levels
of the 24 x 36 mm format mirrorless EVF cameras like the Sony A7RIII, Leica SL,
Nikon Z, Canon EOS R, etc, but their optical performance is highly commendable,
bearing in mind their very small sensor sizes, with enough image quality for
most photographic assignments and above all, their camera bodies are much
smaller and lighter, with amazingly advanced electronic capabilities as to AF,
video, 5 axis image stabilization, more comfortable to handle, and their little
lenses are better balanced with respect to camera size and dimensions.
Even, Leica has
made some excellent lenses for Micro Four Third Formats, like the fabulous
Leica DG Elmarit 200 mm f/2.8 (equivalent to a 400 mm f/2.8 in 35 mm format)
for the Panasonic G9, a breathtaking combination delivering top-notch image
quality and unique opportunities of photographing wildlife and sports from far
distances shooting handheld, very comfortably and without any trepidation.
Such is the
optical performance of this lens that when coupled to the 1.4x DMW-TC14
converter turning it into a 560 mm f/4, the image quality yielded is still amazing and slightly inferior to the superb Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 300 mm
f/4 IS Pro.
In spite of the
economical crisis and that it is far from having the incredibly high figure of
participating firms and volume of visitors of its golden times during eighties
and nineties, next Photokina Köln 2018 will be the most important event ever
held in the History of Digital Photography.
This is truly
fascinating and has been mostly brought about by the recent introduction of the
Nikon Z and Canon EOS R new photographic systems and the overall optical
turning point in the photographic industry that is ahead.
But even more
enthralling and awesome is the preservation to a great extent well within XXI
Century of
Oscar Barnack´s fundamental keynotes in four different breeds of digital photographic cameras.
Oscar Barnack´s fundamental keynotes in four different breeds of digital photographic cameras.
a) The highly
evolved 24 x 36 mm reflex cameras with optical viewfinder like
the Nikon
D850,
Canon EOS D5
Mark IV and
Pentax K-1 Mark
II.
Sincerely, I
don´think that these formidable professional cameras still used by many
professional photographers are going to disappear soon as some voices are
foreseeing.
They are highly
mature and tested stuff with which specially Canon and Nikon have taken
advantage of the feedback conveyed by very experienced photographers, who have
daily used them in the most different environments, and they go on being by far
the most widespread cameras in highest level events like Olympic Games, Athletics
World Championships, Football World Cups, etc.
Chances are that
they will be in the market for many years, even with some more reflex 24 x 36
mm models with optical viewfinder being introduced, though evidently, the
photographic market trend towards mirrorless full frame EVF cameras will highly
probably prevail in the medium and long term.
b) The 24 x 36
mm format mirrorless full frame EVF cameras. They seem to be in a very clear
way the predominant route of the photographic market with Sony, Canon, Nikon
and Leica having already adopted Barnack´s 24 x 36 mm format in their digital
sensors, and Panasonic will probably introduce soon a full format mirrorless
EVF camera of this kind that could be something really spectacular if they have
used the know-how of its extraodinary G9 mirrorless EVF Micro Four Thirds
format upscaling concepts and maybe with great lenses made by Leica.
The Nikon Z7 and
Canon EOS R 24 x 36 mm cameras will deliver along with the Leica SL new
benchmark levels of image quality, thanks to the oustanding optical expertise
and knowledge of the three firms, in synergy with top-notch full frame sensors,
the new very big mounts and the exceedingly short flange distances.
But as
aforementioned, lenses for these full frame mirrorles EVF cameras are very
large and heavy, so balance with respect to camera body is far in this regard
from the Leica M 24 x 36 mm System, Fujifilm X-Trans APS-C System, Leica CL
APS-C System and Olympus and Panasonic Micro Four Thirds Systems
c) The 24 x 36 mm format Leica M, currently
embodied by the Leica M10, Leica Monochrom and Leica M10-P.
d) The
mirrorless EVF Fujifilm Series X cameras and Leica CL camera featuring APS-C
format. These are nowadays along with the Leica M digital cameras and lenses,
the most related photographic systems with Oscar Barnack´s fundamental tenets,
whose core was the symbiosis between very small and light cameras and tiny
lenses matching the camera body size, an approach utterly followed by Fuji with
its very compact X Series of cameras and lenses and Leica with its CL camera.
As a matter of
fact, Barnack tried to create an Ur Leica with 18 x 24 cinematographic black
and white film in 2013, but it wasn´t possible to make enlargements on
photographic paper beyond 13 x 18 cm with acceptable image quality, so he had
to double its length up to 36 mm, giving birth to 24 x 36 mm format with 2:3
golden proportion.
Oscar Barnack
loved both the 24 x 36 mm format and the 18 x 24 mm format, and three years
before the 24 x 36 mm format Ur Leica, he had designed and made a 18 x 24 mm
aluminium movie camera in Wetzlar, shooting films to test the projectors made
by his friend Emil Mechau.
e) The Micro
Four Thirds format Panasonic and Olympus cameras, featuring a tiny size of 18
mm x 13.5 mm.
The Leica M
System of cameras and lenses is the most related to Oscar Barnack philosophy,
with 24 x 36 mm format, very small and light camera body and little and highly
luminous lenses, everything in remarkable balance and using comfort.
Curiously,
though they don´t use Barnack´s 24 x 36 mm format, d) and e) cameras, that´s to
say, the Fuji ones featuring APS-C format and the Panasonic and Olympus Micro
Four Thirds format are even more related to Oscar Barnack than full frame
mirrorless EVF ones, because in addition to the 24 x 36 mm standard, a further
fundamental aspect of his photographic camera philosophy was to obtain the
smallest possible size and weight of camera body and lenses, to fully
strengthen the compactness and balance of camera and attached objectives, its
stability shooting handheld without any trepidation, its handling ease and
convenience, its use throughout many working hours with the least feasible
fatigue, etc, a concept which was born with the Leica II (Model D) mirrorless
with optical rangefinder camera from 1932, the conceptual forefather of all
mirrorless EVF compact system cameras with interchangeable lenses of XXI
Century.
As a matter of
fact,
Panasonic,
Olympus
and Fuji are
more mature brands than Sony, Canon, Nikon and Leica in the scope of mirrorless
EVF cameras with interchangeable lenses, specially regarding innovative
technology, because the two first began their activity in this sphere in 2008,
while Fuji did it in 2012.
Panasonic,
Olympus and Fuji were the firms that pioneered these highly sophisticated
cameras being second to none in terms of electronic breakthroughs, 5 axis image
stabilizers, continuous AF fps, UK UHD 60 fps video and many more things, so
they must receive full accolades in this respect.
On the other
hand, I do believe that from an optical viewpoint,
the Canon 28-70
mm f/2 zoom lens is by far the most relevant objective to appear during the
next historical and hugely riveting Photokina Köln.
Nobody had made
until now a professional standard zoom lens featuring a maximum f/2 aperture.
The Canon 28-70
mm f/2 zoom lens is beyond doubt a milestone in the History of Photographic
Optics and everything suggests that its image quality, even at full aperture,
will be stratospheric on a monopod or tripod and very good shooting handheld.
In the times of
analogue photography, its potential would have been much more reduced, because
its dimensions and weight would have made really difficult to use it with under
ISO 800 films shooting handheld, so image quality would have degraded, but the
great capabilities of the Canon EOS R digital EVF full frame at high and very
high ISOS will significantly foster the potential of this lens photographing
hand and wrist.
Needless to say
that a lens like this should be a stellar performer in photographic genres
like fashion and portrait, where its widest f/2 aperture can make a difference
to beget selective focus.
This lens is
probably the greatest optical tour de force made during the last five years
along with the Canon EF 11-24 mm f/4L USM, the Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH,
the Leica DG Elmarit 200 mm f/2.8 and the Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 300 mm
f/4 IS Pro.
Instants of
towering significance for the worldwide future of digital photography are
approaching, and it is going to hugely boost the market, since the present
context makes that every brand of photographic cameras and lenses in different
formats will have to do a strenuous effort to offer first-class products delivering
exceptional image quality, something that will be pretty beneficial for users.
For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right
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