Zeiss Touit - Review and Mini Shoot Out

So after a hectic weekend with still not enough time using the lenses, it is time to share my results and findings.

As a 'health warning' this should not be considered a full on review, more an extended hands on, in the real world, also it will be from a Fuji users perspective, as I am not a Sony user.

Touit, why?

Looking at it from the perspective of the Fuji and Sony, it was a good way of increasing the reach of the brand, offering more choice for the consumer.

Interestingly I was speaking to one camera dealer who was recounting to me how he gets a fair few prospective Leica M owners coming in to his shop. Firstly he breaks the news to them that supply is an issue and then there is the small matter of the price...So he offers them the Fuji X Pro1, quite a few have  opted to buy the Fuji, one can imagine that to the discerning customer, the option of a Fuji X Pro 1 sporting Zeiss glassware will be even more compelling.

From the the perspective of Zeiss, it is a huge untapped market, one which was ripe for it to enter.

The Zeiss 32mm in all its cutaway glory.

Construction and Appearance.

When comparing Zeiss 32mm to Fuji 35mm what strikes you straight away is the quality.

Perceived by the user, or otherwise, this is a factor.

The Zeiss is a little bigger, a little heavier which lends it a jewel like quality, the controls being better damped on the Zeiss with the movements on the aperture ring very crisp.

I have spoken about the importance of physical lens size previously and how the physically quite big Canon 'L' series 35mm F1.4 is a perfect fit as a result, lending great balance.

So it is with the Zeiss 32 F1.8 fitting a little more comfortably in my hand than the Fuji 35 F1.4.

The Touit range is a departure for Zeiss when compared to the ZE and ZF lenses, that they utilise rubber aperture and focusing rings.

Specification.

A first for Zeiss - Autofocus.

It works well too, in my hands it felt every bit as good as the Fuji X lens, but then so it should this lens range is made with the full support of the camera manufacturers.

As a result of the co-operation with the manufacturers you will see that they do not step on the camera manufacturers toes, 32mm v 35mm....F1.8 v F1.4

Manual focus is via electronically coupled focusing ring, in something which has worked with varying degrees of success and something I have been suspicious of.

I'm happy to report that the Touit manual focus works very well on the Fuji and though I have no scientific data on this I was able to manually focus more easily than with the Fuji lenses.

Performance.

Fuji make good lenses, I remain impressed by the performance of the Fuji lens on my X100, in-fact if you have been anywhere near a Hasselblad H series camera you will have used a Fuji lens, as they design and make the lenses.

So in the face of  good Fuji lenses why did Zeiss enter the fray?

I became more familiar with Zeiss lenses when I shot a short earlier this year and I was immediately impressed, to such an extent I have adopted Zeiss lenses for key assignments, this comes after decades of using Canon lenses. The Zeiss lens which I am using nearly everyday for panorama's is the Zeiss Distagon 15mm F2.8, lens so good that it displaces the Canon glass - Zeiss do make the best wide angle lenses, more of that in a future post. The important thing is my very positive experiences with Zeiss glass led me down the path of trying these lenses out.

Zeiss lenses have a look and feel about them which is just that little bit different, with lovely colours, contrast and sharpness, you have to try them to really 'get' what they are about, for there are subtleties which make a considerable difference.

Mini Shoot out.

All images shot on a Gitzo 5562LTS tripod with Manfrotto 405 head, using Fuji's own jpg straight from camera with no adjustments.

Firstly the Fuji 35mm wide open at F1.4.

At 100 percent

Now the Zeiss 32mm

Wide open at F1.8

At 100 percent

Not exactly comparing 'apples with apples' but I wanted to do a 'real world' test at each lenses widest aperture, something we all use when up against it in super low light. Advantage Zeiss - a massive difference just about everywhere you look.


 Fuji 35mm at F5.6

At 100 percent

Zeiss 32mm at F5.6

Now at 100 percent

Advantage Zeiss again but not by quite such a big margin, that said, you are seeing a degree of detail here that is not present with the Fuji.

Fuji 35mm at F16

Now at 100 percent

Now for the Zeiss 32mm at F16

Now at 100 percent

Close, very close. A comeback from the Fuji in the final 'round' really not that much in it.

Conclusions.

Best you draw your own as you will be the one who buys and uses these lenses, one is very good, the other is excellent, the Zeiss clearly ahead until they hit F16.

The winners and the losers in this? A win for Zeiss lenses but a win too for Fuji, for it will be a shooter who is a real Leica fan with a fat wallet who buys a M series over a Zeiss equipped Fuji X Pro1(the X Pro2, along with some of the cool new features from the X100S, cannot be all that far away either)

The X pro 1 has been considerably enhanced by this funny sounding but great performing glass, which has a quality look and feel which is rare these days.

No matter when I finally hand them back it will be with a heavy heart.

With a keen eye on the launch date of the Fuji X Pro 2.

Keep an eye out for more real world samples I'll be posting later this week.

Olympic Golden Great Webinar today

Olympic Gold Medalist David Hemery

A last moment announcement on my blog though it has been trailed pretty heavily elsewhere.

I have been rather busy of late and blogging and tweeting have been far from my mind....more of that to come.

Tonight I will be talking about the 'Olympic Golden Greats' series which Lucinda and I shot over the past two years on webinar hosted by Manfrotto.

There are still some spaces left if you click here

Even if you care nothing for sport you may be interested in the location lighting side of it.

Please come and join me.

Celebrity Photography Webinar 17/5/12 19.00 BST

Olympic Gold Medalist Lindsey Vonn, in the Austrian Tyrol for Sports Illustrated

Next week I'm presenting a celebrity photography webinar hosted by the Manfrotto School of Excellence (It will be free of charge too).

I will be talking about celebrity portraiture and how to make it happen as well as some behind the scenes stories.

It will be about the technical side including lighting but it will be about so very much more than that.

Communication with celebrities and their agents is the key part, and so is planning.

Please join me for an insight into this world

Places are already going fast.

Farewell Terry Spinks - An Olympic Golden Great

When I turned the radio on to listen to 'Today' I heard the sad news that Terry Spinks, who won an Olympic Gold for Flyweight Boxing at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic games has died.

Terry featured in our 'Olympic Golden Greats' exhibition, Sponsored by Manfrotto, at John Lewis in the Stratford Centre.

In fact he made it to the private view, along with his Cousin Rosemary and her husband Terry, who have cared for him for many years.

I cannot claim to have known the family well but they are Lovely kind people, who's kindness and generosity are sadly no longer the norm in society.

In fact their deeds hark to days gone by.

Terry is said to have given most of his money and possessions away - while he was out on a cold night he gave away his fancy coat to a homeless person.

Think of that for a moment if you will.

Rosemary led a long campaign for him to receive an honour from the Queen, an MBE is normally the order of the day, but it took a hard fought campaign before he finally received one in 2002.

Lucinda and I shot him at the atmospheric West Ham Amateur boxing club, which has changed little since Terry trained there for the 1956 Olympic Games.

We wanted to shoot on the Phase One DF with P65+ with a very shallow depth of field, F2.8.

To light him, and the club.

We used 3 Elinchrom Quadra's.

Key light on Terry from camera left, with a Chimera small soft box

Back light on Terry from Camera left, with a Chimera extra small soft box and a grid.

One light in the far distance on camera left to light the background.

We used my BIG Gitzo 5560SGT and its remarkable height  to be half on and half off another boxing ring to get the right angle. This tripod has made the difference on so many occasions because you can put your camera in extreme positions in a very stable way.

Here is Lucinda with Terry and his cousin Rosemary.

It was a special day.

3 simple steps to Great Location Portraiture

More shallow DoF Olympic Golden greats - this one is my Favourite.

It is not fair, and one should not have a 'favourite' but in the whole 'Olympic Golden Greats' series this is mine.

Bob Braithwaite won Olympic Gold for trap shooting at the 1968 Olympics and held the world record for 4years.

All while he was a full time vetinary in rural Lancashire.

He is a wonderful Gentleman.

A life artist.

When Lan Bui and I went to see him to shoot stills and a video, we anticipated we would be there for the morning, we stayed there until way after dark.

Such is the measure of the man.

Have a look at the short video which formed part of the exhibition at the John Lewis Stratford store, sponsored by Manfrotto, it will give you some idea of his philosophy, one could do a lot worse than be inspired by his approach.


I know I was.

This interview was in the days before the Canon C300 and we shot it on a Canon XF305 and a Canon 5dmkII with a 100mm 'L' series Macro.

But where to shoot him?

Bob is not in his first flush of youth, infact he is the oldest surviving British Olympic Gold Medalist, and his mobility is limited.

Bob agreed to be photographed there, in the same Olympic blazer he wore in 1968, when he was in his 40's.

As with all my environmental portraits, the sitter is the very last element I introduce to a scene.

I treat them all very much the same and it is a 3 step process, very much 'jigsaw' like in nature.

1. Identify your 'blank canvas'

Ideally this should be the day before the shoot, but we were shooting in the North of England so this was not practical, so we used Google street view to give us some sort of idea of the terrain on this occasion it did not reveal the exact 'spot' that we would use but it gave us some sort of idea, if you don't do so already use this amazing and powerful location scouting tool.

We did checked the back garden which he was able to get to, but is was not suitable at all.

On checking the front of the house there was a quiet road which curved beautifully away, with a beautiful stone wall running alongside, and a gently sloping hill on the left.

Pretty much ideal for  my Phase One DF with a P65+ back shot at F2.8 on the Schneider LS 110mm.

With every location portrait, I establish my 'blank canvas' which I'm going to put the sitter in.



I like to do this on my own with time to think, analysing the scene in detail, but it's not always possible....

I often find that the 'blank canvas' shot is an interesting shooting it's own right too.

2. Use a 'stand in' who is NOT the model

This is very important

By testing all your your set up of lighting, exposure and pose on someone who is not the sitter you are keeping your model fresh and keen.

We all know how long it can take to set a shot up....getting everything spot on.

I used Lan Bui of the Bui Brothers as a stand in, who shot the video with me, even though he is a year or two younger and a foot or so shorter than Bob.

When I have worked my shot out exactly I introduce my tethered setup on the Gitzo tripod so once I have my 'blank canvas' I don't lose it.

If you use your model for this, they get bored, cold (on this occasion at least) and the shoot loses energy.

And you lose your shot.

This way you can commit to your model spending as little time as possible being photographed.

Using this technique I have managed to shoot many a 60 second celebrity or corporate portrait.

3. Introduce the sitter

By this point all the really hard work has been done and you project the impression of being a 'Pro' and in all probability you will pick up up more work this way.

Who would you employ, a photographer who faff's around eating into your precious time or a shooter who can execute a top quality portrait in moments, with little impact on your day?

The image that we project of ourselves is important, and this should not only be viewed as tool for getting more work.

Better thought out photography means less retouching, more profit and higher standards of your own photography, which is ultimately more rewarding and satisfying.

Interestingly, I initially asked Bob to pose with his Gold medal, which he did reluctantly.......he really wasn't comfortable doing this.

So we shot him without his medal and it made quite a difference to his expression, more relaxed and natural I think.

If you get the chance to 'give back' to someone who has given their time for free do so.

I shot this really quick portrait of Bob, his wife and daughter.

A great little memento of a pretty involved shoot on a cold, cold day.

Finally the lighting.

I wanted to light this shot in a very subtle way, so I used my Elinchrom Quadra with a Chimera Medium soft box at a little more than half a stop over ambient as the key light coming in from camera right.

I also used a super subtle back light way, way over into the muddiest field ever....Lan waded out with the Quadra and a small Chimera soft box and I very carefully talked him in on the correct angle from the position that Bob would be taking.

You can most probably tell that all of this took quite sometime.

Worth it I think.

A true Gem of a photograph from Focus on Imaging

I was asked to review portfolios on the Manfotto stand at Focus on imaging this year there were many many good photographs but one stood out to me as being so special and so different that I decided to blog about it.

As readers of this blog will know I like photography that has an edge and communicates something beyond the obvious.

Coltrane Koh bought his folio along for review and this was his opening shot.

It is, I think you will agree, an absolute cracking shot.

A quirky, sensitive, and beautifully lit self portrait with humour in spades.

Coltrane's expression tells such a story.

I will let him describe it in his own words.......

'It is a portrait of my dog, Lucky and myself.

The inspiration for this photo came from two places.

Firstly, my admiration of those old oil portrait paintings in mansion houses.

And secondly, my thought that dog buster collars look just like Elizabethan neck ruffs.

So, 
I combined both ideas and created something (I hoped) is a bit different, and a bit humorous'

A tripple 'A' star plus photo which could yet be my favourite of the year and it is only March.

Lets hope 'Lucky' made a full recovery and is no longer wearing the 'Cone of shame' (Do watch 'Up' if you have not seen it)

Olympic Golden Greats Part 3 - Ann Packer

Photography is just a reflection of life.

Imperfect.

Lucinda and I planned to photograph Ann Packer who won the 800 meters at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games setting a new world record in the process.

But where to photograph her?

All of the Gold Medalists we have shot have been photographed at a location, wherever possible, which is special to them, relevant, or is impressive.

On this occasion for various logistical reasons it simply was not possible.

We had to shoot the portrait at her home in the middle of Winter.

What to do?

We had to arrange the shot so it would work well as a still photo and would make the basis of a good background for a video and interview, as time was short (we used the Canon XF305 and a Canon 5dMkII for the video....what I would have given for a Canon C300....sigh)

We opted for a simple very set build to cover both bases.

We decided to hang a beautiful old style, stitched fabric, Union Flag (the right way up with the aid of Wikipedia) between two Manfrotto BAC1004 Stacker stands (which don't rattle in the boot of the car, thus preserving sanity) and Manfrotto 2983 Crossbar.

The flag is a very handy prop, indeed and has featured in several of my hotshots over the years.

Where did I get it from?

A church roof.

Yes, really church roof.

And before anyone gets warmed up over this and thinks I have taken it a little too far in my quest for the perfect picture prop, I did in fact pay for it.

The Vicar of a rural Oxfordshire church was seeking to renew the somewhat battered flag and I offered him a modest amount of money for the flag.

We struck a deal and have a very well used prop.

Along with the rest of the series we chose to shoot with the Schneider Kreuznach LS 110mm f/2.8 wide open at F2.8 on the Phase One DF with a P65+ back at 50 ISO.

I used my big Gitzo with Manfrotto 405 Geared head for maximum precision.

We lit the set with 3 Elinchrom Quadra flashes.

The key light modified with a Chimera Medium soft box.

The back light for Anne (coming in from camera right) modified with Chimera XXS soft box with a light tools egg crate.

Finally one light to the centre of the flag with a kill spill and a honeycomb grid.

Not a super complex set up but one which was based on subtlety, I like to think anyhow.

Overall I'm very pleased with the shot.

We moved a fair bit of furniture( this takes more time than the shoot in most cases) and turned the living room into a studio.

Its not the first time, nor will it be the last time.

Making the best of an imperfect scenario.

Once again this is part of the 'Olympic Golden greats' exhibition at the John Lewis store at the Westfield centre, Stratford.

Sponsored by Manfrotto and printed by Velmex on Canon LFP Printers.

Olympic Golden Greats 2 -Dick McTaggart

Dick McTaggart won a Gold medal for Lightweight Boxing at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic games and the Val Barker Trophy as the games most outstanding boxer.

In his career of 634 bouts he was only beaten 24 times.

Truly remarkable.

Lucinda and I set out to shoot environmental portrait in locations that were of significance to the Gold medalist or failing that somewhere impressive.

We really wanted to shoot Dick in Glen Coe, but that was a long, long winter drive from southern Scotland, and Dick was understandably not quite so keen on the idea.

So we started to explore alternatives and came up with the Isle of Arran, which is sometimes dubbed 'Scotland in Miniature' and had the added advantage that it was only a short ferry ride away.

Sure enough it lived up to it's beautiful reputation and we found the perfect location of Glen Rosa, which has featured in a number of fashion shoots.

But the weather played its part and seemingly jeopardised the entire shoot as the whole of the UK was hit by an icy blast and heavy snowfall.

How on earth were we going to get a man in his early 70's to this beautiful but challenging location?

Enter Kate Samson of the National Trust who very kindly offered to assist us.

Without her is would simply not have been possible.

It was around minus 14C....bloody freezing.

We drove by LandRover as far up the glen as we could and then walked for a mile or so.

So it was now a matter of walking with all the gear up the Glen, bring not to fall through frozen streams.

Lucinda was pregnant at the time so I carried most of the gear, which weighed a lot.

I was feeling quite wobbly by the time we made it to our chosen location and I'm not sure how much further I could have gone.

I make no apology for the iPhone footage, as dodgy as it is.



When we found a spot to shoot, time was of the essence and due to the extreme cold we did not hang around very long at all.

Just as long as it took to set up the Elinchrom Quadra, Gitzo tripod, tethered set up for the Phase One and we were away.

Lit with one Elinchrom Quadra from the left, modified with a Chimera medium Softbox, shot with a Phase One DF P65+ 110mm LS Schneider at F2.8

Dick did well but the cold was clearly taking its toll.

We literally shot for a few minutes and we turned tail.

The sense of relief knowing we had pulled it off without any injuries to any of the participants was quite something.

It is part of my 'Golden Greats' exhibition which starts on 5th March in the Stadium Suite of John Lewis at the Westfield centre, Stratford.

Manfrotto are sponsoring the show and I will be speaking about this project and much more besides at 'Focus' on Imaging'

I'm printing the show right now on Canon IPF printers, with their latest and greatest media.

Food Glorious food

Readers of this blog will now have gathered that I love cooking.

Even down to the Michaelmas Goose filmed on the Canon C300 by Lan Bui.

Here is a still of the recipe which I shot for the book 'Loose Birds and Game' by Andrew Pern of the the Star Inn, Harome, North Yorkshire (if you are ever anywhere even remotely close to the Star inn, do pay them a visit, a treat awaits)

I shot this at the chef's table with my Phase One P45+ and 120mm macro lens, supported by my Gitzo GT5660SGT and super precise variable ratio geared Manfrotto 405 head, using available light.

As I say often in my blog, the key to great photography is 'Shoot what you Love' and I cannot think of anything I Love to shoot more than this simply wonderful food.

In the run up to Christmas I was commissioned by the John Lewis partnership to shoot environmental portraits in the the kitchen where they develop new dishes.

It was an eye opener, not for food 'tricks' but for the sheer passion of the team who work so hard to come up with different and divine dishes which grace the shelves of Waitrose.

If you like me, were one of the many unlucky people who failed to get hold of one of Heston Blumental's Christmas puddings with an Orange inside you might take some sort of twisted solace in this shot I did of it.

I think this was one of the mini puddings for one with a tangerine, not an orange inside.

Again I shot this with available light (THE trick when shooting food)

But this time with my Canon 5d MkII and the silly-super-sharp Canon EF 'L' series 100mm Macro lens which feature a very clever hybrid optical image stabilisation system which really works very effectively. Just the job for on-the-fly macro work in rapidly evolving situations.

Coming back to the book 'Loose birds and Game' in which I shot all the main photography, it has collected a bevy of awards.

For a very limited period of time I will be offering the book at the special price of £15.99 plus postage.

The book has an RRP of £39.99

In the unlikely event that you want the book signing I'm very happy to do so.

Interview with Giles Babbidge

I bumped into the likeable Giles Babbidge of the Active Photographer at the Manfrotto Imagine More Lab in Convent Garden on Friday.

He collared me for an interview on life the universe and everything.

I haven't listened to it in full (I do hope I have not said anything too controversial!) but it was wide ranging and definitely of the moment.

Much more very soon.

Drew Gardner 'Groups Webinar' with the Manfrotto school of Excellence

Henry V on the Night before Agincourt by Drew Gardner

Group photography is one of my trade marks.

I like shooting groups, no I LOVE shooting groups.

Why?

They are such a tremendous challenge, there is no doubt about that.

Yes, lighting on a large scale is a whole other world, but once you have lit the group you have to make sure that they are portrayed in a consistent and relevant way.

Directing the group to get them to do what you want is crucial.

And that is when you have all the people in the same place at the same time.

But what about when you don't?

A cornerstone of all high end advertising and commercial photography is shooting a photograph in elements, a person or an element to a photograph one piece at a time.

I shot this during one of my classes at the EXCELLENT Maine Media Workshops

Animals one by one........

The whole thing was as a result shot in sections.

It can all get rather involved.

On 16th June courtesy of the 'Manfrotto school of Excellence' I will be holding a one hour webinar where I will share my experience of group photography, both traditional and composite.

Hopefully it will be a useful and you will be able to apply some of the techniques I use to your photography.

Its free, but places are limited so sign up to avoid disappointment.

I look forward to 'Meeting' you then and doing my best to answer your questions.