In February this year I spent 10 days in the Bahamas with my friends from TeenyB. We were shooting their new 2011 line of suits. You can check out their line here.   Some of that work was presented in a recent issue of Vocess Magazine for their Summer Swim Issue.

www.teenyb.com

www.vocessmag.com/

Leica m9 for TeenyB by Robert Turi

It just doesn’t get any better…. Beautiful girl, enhanced by wearing a beautiful suit by TeenyB, in a breath taking location in the Bahamas shot with a Leica M9. I didn’t get to play with the Leica much last trip in the Bahamas because I was busy as hell…lol But images like this from it have haunted me ever since and caused my current obsession. I just can’t get shots like this from my Nikon. I am bringing my new Leica X1 to these nest few trips. It won’t do shots just like this as this is at f1.1 and 50 mm…. but I am excited to see what it does do.

Special thanks to Teenyb for the use of this image.

Ok I admit it I am obsessed with Leica camera’s. I don’t expect you to understand but I do hope you enjoy the results of my obsession.

I had a chat with a gentleman from Leica USA today and it got me charged up. I hadn’t thought about it before but in all of my web searches for X1 info and shots I hadn’t found much professional stuff being done with it. It isn’t that it isn’t capable but I assume it’s more just lack of people talking about it. This gets me excited about these new blog entries as I hope others will get the idea as we go.

A perfect example is the sync speed of this camera. It is rated at shutter speed of 250 yet the attached shot sync’d at a shutter of 500. This allowed me to shift focus to the model while maximizing the effectiveness of my strobes 400 watts. This is unusual in a DSLR let alone in a fixed lens camera that is essentially a consumer camera. And while yes the image obviously has enhancements in both lightroom and photoshop it is still a Leica image. If I had shot it with my Nikon D300 it would have been beautiful but not as elegant.

I guess the point is don’t sell yourself or your gear short… your both capable of more than you think…. I think to illustrate this I am going to do some sunset in water stuff with the X1 and my Nikon Sb800. Simple gear with extraordinary results… now all I need is a model

On a recent trip to the Bahamas shooting for Teenyb Bikini company I found a new passion.  Our friend Sig  as always had bought a new toy and was excited to show me. At first sight I just didn’t understand… what he showed me was a camera the was new but looked as if it had been styled 20 years ago but he was so damn excited about it. I wasn’t however… thing even had no auto focus only manual… How good could it be? Then I shot it…. WOW! Color rendering, clarity, color depth, depth of field… This thing was amazing. I had to have one until I found out it was a Leica M9 and sold for $7000.

That has haunted me in the months since. Knowing there was a tool out there that would enhance my photography but also knowing it was outside my budget. Enter the X1…. not exactly cheap at $2000 but closer to my budget than the M9. Now an X1 is no M9… but it is a Leica and shares technology. A 24 mm f2.8 from either camera will have a similar look.. the frames are completely different since the M9 is full frame, M9 is also 18 megapixels vs 12 on the x1…. however if cropped to match color and clarity will closely match.

I won’t talk alot of specs here they are all over the web and most people who read this won’t care anyway. But for the record it is a 12 megapixel camera with a fixed 24mm f2.8 lens. Quality wise if shot next to me Nikon d300 both at 24mm and F2.8 the shots will be of similar quality. The Nikon will render more flat “natural” looking colors while the Leica seems to have more life to it. Additionally to my eyes the leica is just slightly sharper. However the difference in the feel or emotion in holding each is wildly different.  Only description I can give is the Nikon feels like I am driving my S200 down I4 to go to work and the Leica feels as if I am on the PCH in a classic Porsche. And this is the difference that matters to me.  This “inspiration” factor makes the difference between getting beautiful images and getting inspired images.

I am going to post a new gallery page on this website that is just for Leica images. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

http://www.autorepairsbrandon.com/

Bikini’s provided courtesy of www.teenyb.com

http://www.fhm.com/girls/news/introducing-michelle-baker-flight-suit-up-78620

FHM online runs a section called “Girls of FHM” on their website. It is normally reserved for starlets but it appears my recent shoot with Michelle in her flight suit turned out to be too hot to resist. I couldn’t agree more.

www.c2dusa.com