I’m taking my time to become acquainted with my new street photography setup: the SIGMA FP L and Voigtländer Heliar 40mm. I’ve been out to take new test shots. You can see them below.
Monochrome test shots
All the test shots below were taken using the Aperture Priority mode with the monochrome style. This time I configured the monochrome style to have less contrast (set up to the minimum). I set up the ISO at 800 to see if I would get noise (it was quite low). I stayed at f/5.6 and below.
Why I’m still doing test shots
You may wonder why I’m still doing test shots instead of using my camera and taking street photographs. The main reason is that I don’t like to think when I’m shooting. For that, I need to be in harmony with my new friends—the FP L and Heliar—so I can focus, shoot instinctively, and leave the left side of my brain out of my photography.
Another reason is that I’m taking my time to think about how I’m going to focus with the Heliar. I feel it’s better to figure it out before starting to use the setup seriously.
Fresher impressions
To end, more fresh impressions… The focus peaking of the FP L is really good and helpful. It makes using a manual lens easier by highlighting what will be in focus with a color tint. Generally, the setup is easy and rather quick to use but not as quick as changing the aperture by turning the front dial like on the GR III.
I was talking about the rather low noise above. Today, I took a portrait at 6400 ISO and I was stunned to see how low the noise was. Keep in mind I’m coming from the APS-C sensor of the GR III, I’m satisfied with the noise level of the FP L, your tolerance may differ.
I love the background blur I get from the SIGMA and Voigtländer combo. It’s soft, creamy, and simply beautiful!
It’s too early to be certain but I feel the Ricoh GR III with its 4 configurable (excluding the HDR one) black-and-white modes gives more monochrome possibilities and varieties (if you’re shooting JPEGs). That said, the FP L and Heliar take very beautiful black-and-white photographs.
