The Phoblographer

Though the differences from its predecessor are extremely minor, something compelled me to review the Leica M9-P(or M9P, M-9P as the interwebs call it). Perhaps it’s the recent reawakened love of street photography from inspirations like Eric Kim or my co-worker Brian who runs La Pura Vida. Either way though, the timeless classic ended up in my hands. I’ve previously reviewed the Leica M9 and the Leica M7: both of which I felt were excellent image capturing devices. However, I’m a slightly older, much more experienced photographer than I was before. Is the M9-P a work of art or is it just an expensive doorstop?

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With the Leica M9P(or M-9P and M9P) around for a little while, I decided to put it up against my trust Canon 5D Mk IIand the Olympus EP2(or E-P2 and EP-2)  to see how the high ISO noise levels are. Granted, all three of these are different cameras: one is an EVIL camera, one is a DSLR and the other is a rangefinder. They are all used in different ways, but one of the complaints that many people state on street photography, photojournalism, and wedding forums is that the 5D Mk II is the only one with good enough high ISO capabilities.

Well, is it? Take a look at our non-scientific test and judge for yourself.

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Over the past 5 years or so, I’ve owned 10-12 different camera bags and roughly half of them have been backpacks. If I’m going to be traveling or carrying my gear for more than a few hours, I prefer to carry everything in a backpack. I find shoulder bags and slings fatiguing and awkward to carry. The down side with backpacks is they are usually big/bulky and restrict you access to gear. I have the Kata 467i and I genuinely like the bag as it holds all of my gear plus a 15″ Macbook Pro, but it will not fit under a standard airline seat and it is not very good at keep my non-camera related gear organized. Bummer. So what about a smaller bag? Smaller bags are, well, small. They usually can’t hold my relatively modest kit and most are still pretty bulky and rigid due to all of the padding and dividers. So how do you transport all of your necessary gear plus a laptop (if needed) without carrying a monster of a backpack? You need to think outside of the box (or padded dividers) and that’s exactly what Think Tank Photo has done with the Shape Shifter Backpack.

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I like to travel light, but let’s face it, sometimes you really need to pack a good sized kit. Whether it be for a job or a photo focused trip or vacation, the right bag can be the difference between chaos or stress free travel. Think Tank Photo has come up with an innovative solution for photographers that need to travel with a decent amount of gear but still move quickly while traveling. This bag has been dubbed the Airport TakeOff.

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With today’s announcement of the Olympus VF-3, photographers already invested into the Micro Four Thirds camera system may be wondering why they may need another viewfinder when they have the very good VF-2. So what exactly is the difference between the two?

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The Yashica Electro 35 GSN is a rangefinder camera that I personally purchased and that has been a dear love of mine since for street photography. After testing the Leica M9, M7 and the Fuji X100 (though the last is not a rangefinder), there were a number of reasons why I made the purchase. Besides the affordable cost combined with sharp lens, wonderful metering, and ease of use, the camera is built to last. But is it for everyone?

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