My Eos M...Some Personal Photographs

I visted some friends in the small town of Mokopane. 

There was not much time for photography but I saw this young woman at the supermarket...luckily I had my Eos M with me...

I haven't had much chance lately of doing some personal photography...

The winter has tightened its grip and some days have been just to cold to go outside and I have had some commercial work that has kept me busy.

But the last week or so things have improved and I have had some time for my personal photography.

The first few images below were made in a town called Mokopane in the old Northern Transvaal. It was previously named Potgietersrus.  My wife, Cheryl, and I visited some old friends and I really didn't have much time between meals and lazing around for photography. I make a habit of taking a camera with me every where I go so I was prepared in case I saw something interesting...

My first opportunity came when we went shopping at the local mall. I walked past this young lady sitting outside on a bench.  I noticed that she was smartly dressed, and that she had a cell phone and a wig and that there was a notice board behind her advising the public on crime prevention steps. Somehow this scene reminded me of the situation in our country at the moment.  On the surface everything looks glossy, polished and affluent...but we have grinding poverty with high unemployment and rampant crime...people regularly get killed for their cellphones...The affluent lifestyle is largely financed by debt and a large percentage of workers owe close or more than their total monthly salary in debt.

Back at home with our friends I noticed the most beautiful plant in their garden and made a few exposures. The plant looked so perfect and delicate and somehow it was a bit of a respite from the stark realities of our country...

All these photographs were made with my Eos M and the superb and compact little EF M 22mm f2 lens.

As usual I process my documentary images with an increase in 'clarity or detail' and a decrease in saturation. The plant photograph was just processed to make it look as good as possible....

What struck me once again is how versatile the Eos M is and that all one really need is just one lens. 

EF M 22mm f2 lens at f11, 1/60sec and 800iso.

EF M 22mm f2 at F11. 1/15sec and 400iso.

The next bunch of photographs were made last week Friday over a two and a half hour period. The first few were made in the newly named Steve Biko str. and the rest in the surrounding areas.

TSE 24mm f3.5 lens at f16, 1/45sec at 100iso. Equivalent to a 38mm lens

I used three lenses here, namely my Canon TSE 24mm F3.5, Mamiya Sekor 50mm shift and the Canon EF M 22mm f2 lens. The shift lenses were used with a tripod. The Mamiya is a stop down lens and when stopped down the screen goes black and thus I have to make sure I know where the edges of the frame is so that when people walk into the 'scene' I can capture them. 

EF M 22mm f2 lens at f4, 1/80sec and 100iso

TSE 24mm f3.5 at f8, 1/125sec and 100iso

TSE 24mm f3.5 at F16, 1/45sec and 100iso. 

EF M 22mm f2 at f5.6, 1/250sec and 200iso

Ef m 22mm f2 at f11, 1/180sec and 200iso.

The idea was to show some structures and people. The Canon TSE 24mmm f3.5 shift is a lot easier to use than the Mamiya shift as everything is visible on the LCD screen at all times. Both lenses are manual focus  but I had no trouble focusing even in bright sunlight although I tried to position the camera in the shade to make viewing the LCD screen easier. In the days of film I use a focusing cloth with my 4x5 view camera....I think it could actually work very well and will make manual focusing and framing in bright sunlight a lot easier.

EF M 22mm f2 at f11, 1/250sec at 200iso.

Mamiya Sekor 50mm shift at F16, 1/60sec and 100iso.

Once again I was reminded at how versatile this small little camera can be. I enclose some 100% crops below to show how much detail can be captured by this 'old' 18mp Canon sensor that has been going since the Eos 7D was introduced. 

The fact is that if one is going to use a camera on a tripod then one can and should really use the best quality camera, as the weight is not a factor anymore. So normally I would use either my Mamiya ZD camera or the Eos 5D2 when I use my shift lenses. The photographs above was just a test to see how easy it would be to use these two shift manual focus lenses with the Eos M out in the street.  It was easy.  

For my personal work though, I see myself using the Eos M and the EF M 22mmm f2 lens combination the most. This combination fits easily into my Billingham Pola bag which I carry with me all the time. The Eos M is also small enough so that its not 'treatening' and because there is no mirror, very quiet, which makes it ideal for 'street' work... 

EF M 22mm f2 lens at f6.7

TSE 24mm f3.5 at F8.

So far so good...
Regards, Ivan