Tag Archives: leica

Behind The Scenes

Posted on June 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

On Assignment In Vancouver

A short video of me on assignment covering Virgin Atlantic’s inaugural flight to Vancouver with Sir Richard Branson (Founder and President of Virgin Atlantic) and Olympic gold medallist Amy Williams. 

On Assignment, Vancouver 2012 from Edmond Terakopian on Vimeo.

Video by Andy Reik, Dust*

Photos by Edmond Terakopian

With thanks to Leon Schlesinger, TVC

Additional Audio by Simon White, Airtime TV

A set of photographs from this assignment can be viewed on my Flickr Stream.

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Posted in Camera Equipment, Film, Leica, Photography, Pictures, Video

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Gunter Sachs Collection at Sotheby’s

Posted on May 19, 2012 | 2 comments

An Exclusive Behind The Scenes Look


Behind the scenes as Sotheby’s prepares the Gunter Sachs Collection ahead of the sale on May 22nd and 23rd, 2012. Sotheby’s will be offering close to 300 works of art from the prestigious single owner collection. The sale is estimated to realise £20 million.

Almost 7200 pictures were used in this timelapse. The majority were shot on a pair of Canon 5D MkII cameras specifically set up for shooting this timelapse (with a 16-35mm f2.8L II and 24-105mm f4L), one being triggered by a Pocket Wizard Multimax and the other by the highly configurable IO Shutter running on an iPad 3. A GoPro HD Hero was used for the overhead view timelapse. Reportage images were shot on a Leica M9 and M9-P (using a 50mm Noctilux ASPH, 35mm Summilux ASPH and 28mm Summicron ASPH). The images were all processed in Apple’s Aperture and the video created using Apple’s FCP X.

Huge word of thanks to everyone involved, especially the team from Sotheby’s press office, the lighting crew , technicians and contemporary art experts.

Update: Thrilled to share that the video is published on The Guardian website.

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Posted in Canon 5D MkII Video, Film, multimedia, Photography, Pictures, Video

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The Leica M Monochrom Hands On Review

Posted on May 17, 2012 | 24 comments

The King Of The Tones?

Opening of the Leica Studio-S, 27 Bruton Place, Mayfair. Portraits of photographer Edmond Terakopian trying out the new Leica M Monocrom and APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. May 16, 2012. Photo: By Brett / http://www.bybrett.com

I have to admit that when I first read rumours of a black and white Leica M, I thought it would never happen. When I saw the announcements, I was a tad surprised, until I saw the images. Such tonal range and amazing detail at very high ISOs all of a sudden made so much sense.

Test shots with the Leica M Monochrom and APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. Camera was set to jpeg. 640 ISO. ***All shots on a pre-production Leica M Monochrom***. May 16, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

Test shots with the Leica M Monochrom and APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. Camera was set to jpeg. 640 ISO. ***All shots on a pre-production Leica M Monochrom***. May 16, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

I was fortunate enough to be able to try out a pre-production Leica M Monochrom today, along with the astonishingly great Leica APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. In my enthusiasm to shoot with the camera I unfortunately didn’t check to see if the camera was set to RAW, so all these test images are from jpegs which I have processed a little in Aperture. Naturally RAWs produce the best files, so take these jpegs, which have been saved again as jpegs and thus degraded the image quality (especially at higher ISOs) as a guide. Even so, they are amazingly good!

Test shots with the Leica M Monochrom and APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. Camera was set to jpeg. 8000 ISO. ***All shots on a pre-production Leica M Monochrom***. May 16, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

Test shots with the Leica M Monochrom and APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. Camera was set to jpeg. 8000 ISO. ***All shots on a pre-production Leica M Monochrom***. May 16, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

Test shots with the Leica M Monochrom and APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. Camera was set to jpeg. 10,000 ISO. ***All shots on a pre-production Leica M Monochrom***. May 16, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

Test shots with the Leica M Monochrom and APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. Camera was set to jpeg. 10,000 ISO. ***All shots on a pre-production Leica M Monochrom***. May 16, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

One of the great aspects of the launch event for the press at Leica Mayfair’s S-Studio was being able to discuss the camera with friends and colleagues.

Photographer Ian Berry from Magnum Photos tries out the new Leica M Monochrome. May 16, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian (Image shot on an M9-P and processed in Silver Efex Pro 2)

Photographer Ian Berry from Magnum Photos tries out the new Leica M Monochrome. May 16, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian (Image shot on an M9-P and processed in Silver Efex Pro 2)

I must admit to being blown away and yearn to be able to work in black and white like the good old days!

The huge thing with this camera is not needing the bayer filter in front of the sensor. This makes the sensor much better at picking up ultra fine detail and a wider tonal range, not to mention it’s ability to produce really gorgeous files at 8000 ISO. Just playing with these jpegs it’s clear to me that Leica have in fact pulled off a master stroke of absolute genius. I can’t wait to get my hands on this camera again, shoot in DNG and process them properly through Aperture. It is going to be lush!

For a full set of images taken with the M Monochrom, visit my Flickr stream.

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Posted in Camera Equipment, Leica, Photography, Pictures, viewpoint

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Absolute Craftsmanship; Sheer Beauty

Posted on May 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Leica M9-P Edition Hermès

Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès’. Photo: © Leica

For me cameras and lenses are tools which let me create pictures to convey stories. I decide to choose the best tools for my way of working, which is why for most of my career, I have chosen Leica. Every once in a while though, Leica produce cameras which are probably never going to be used as a tool, but become works of great craftsmanship; objects of absolute beauty; works of art. I must admit that every once in a while, I do look upon some of these creations with great admiration from an aesthetic point of view and from appreciation of great craftsmanship. Having looked at the M9-P Edition Hermes, I feel this admiration again.

To quote from the Leica press release:

“The Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès’ is offered in a choice of two different sets, containing either one or three lenses. Compared to the standard versions, the lenses included in the sets also reveal numerous differences in design, ensuring perfect harmonisation between the cameras, their lenses and accessories.

The first of the Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès’ sets will be available in May 2012, in a worldwide limited edition of 300. In addition to the camera, the set includes a silver-anodised Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. lens.

This will be followed by a very special set, which will be available in June 2012. The Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès’ – Série Limitée Jean-Louis Dumas, in a strictly limited edition of only 100 sets, is a celebration of the friendship and collaboration between Jean-Louis Dumas, the former president of Hermès, who died in May 2010, and Leica Camera AG. The camera in this set is accompanied by three lenses: a Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/ 2 ASPH., a Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH. and a Leica APO-Summicron-M 90mm f/2 ASPH., all featuring a stunning silver-anodised finish.

Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès’ – Série Limitée Jean-Louis Dumas. Photo: © Leica

This unique collection of photographic equipment finds a fitting home in a hand-finished Hermès camera bag that is available exclusively as a part of this second set. This is the first Leica camera bag ever to have been created by Hermès, a company world-famous for its manufacturing excellence. As homage to Jean- Louis Dumas, a Leica photographer, the second set also includes a book with a selection of his pictures. On 190 pages, this photographic work in two volumes shows an entertainingly diverse portfolio of 200 black-and-white images captured by Jean-Louis Dumas with his Leica M camera.

The Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès’ is scheduled to be available in the UK from May 2012, at a UK suggested retail price of £18,000 inc VAT. The Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès’ – Série Limitée Jean-Louis Dumas is scheduled to be available in the UK from June 2012, at a UK suggested retail price of £36,000 inc VAT. In the UK, both cameras will be available exclusively from the Leica Store Mayfair, 34 Bruton Place, London W1J 6NR. Tel: 020 7629 1351, www.leica-storemayfair.co.uk  ”

Although way outside of the league of most working photographers, it is a thing of beauty; the camera, the lenses, the gorgeous bag and even the box.

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Leica APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH

Posted on May 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Might This Be The Best 50mm Lens Ever?

Leica APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. Photo: © Leica

Some amazing announcements made today by Leica in Berlin; the B/W only Leica M Monochrom, the beautifully crafted M9-P Edition Hermes, The Leica X2 and an amazing apochromatically corrected and aspherical 50mm lens; the Leica APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH.

I for one cannot wait to see results from this lens and hopefully try it out. Meanwhile, a couple of very interesting videos from Leica.


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Reportage On The RNOH

Posted on May 1, 2012 | 17 comments

The Power Of Photographs

Following the RNOH film, I decided I wanted to do a different edit to our TAPTV film. My thoughts were to combine some photographs within the edit. At first I looked through the beautifully edited by Neil Patience film and realised that there were some nice still images within the footage. With Quicktime 7, I went back to the original Canon 5D MkII footage and exported some still images, particularly from the interview sections.

These images were imported into Aperture 3 where I processed them. For the B/W conversions I exported them into Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2. Here I created four custom looks and these were applied to the images as appropriate. Using FCP X I then did an re-edit of the film, incorporating the images captures. I also used Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Looks 2 to grade the film slightly differently to our original.

Earlier this year, we decided that to coincide with the launch, it would be a great idea to shoot a proper photo reportage on the RNOH, so over a three and a half day period, using a Leica M9 and M9-P, I wandered the operating theatres, halls and wards (with the invaluable help from the fundraising and communications teams), making a set of pictures. I mainly shot the entire project using the Leica  50mm Noctilux APSH, the new 35mm Summilux ASPH and the 28mm Summicron.

These were first edited in Aperture for my agency Eyevine and once done, I set about incorporating them into my video edit. As before, Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2 was used for the B/W conversions and I set about importing them into FCP X and making the new edit of the video.

There is something much more powerful with B/W imagery and for me, this version is even more powerful. It’s a full multimedia marriage of video, audio and photography. I’d love to know which version of the film you find stronger and why.

My biggest ask though is that if you were touched by this amazing place, please help in their redevelopment and donate to the RNOH fund. Thank you.

Lastly, here is a slideshow of my favourite photographs from the project:

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