photo credit Ken Rockwell 

If you have endless money to spend on digital cameras buy a new Leica M. You will get one of the most excellently crafted cameras with one of the best image qualities available, better than Canon or Nikon. Its images are superior because it is a range finder system with no mirror construction in the optical path, only the top-notch Leica lenses right in front of the images sensor. The images you get from a range finder are much sharper than from DSLRs because lenses for latter are optical compromises to fit the larger gap between lens and recording medium. If you can live with the Leica's shortcomings, especially what you see through the range finder is always a little different to what you get in your final image (you can use an electronic viewfinder now, however it looks silly), and you don't have autofocus. Before 1987 people had no autofocus either and have produced millions of masterpieces with their manual focus cameras (Henri Cartier-Bresson used a Leica, too). Anyway, have a look at the Leica M, it also looks spectacular, worlds better than the clunky black DSLRs. It's made in Germany by the way, that's why it doesn't cost 2.000 but 7.000 € ...

KIKI

NO!

It doesn't make sense because it's only one thing that seriously bugs me. The advantages Canon gives me still outweigh a switch to Nikon. And there's also the risk that some things at Nikon appear that are even worse to me. You always find a way to work around a problem. On my trip in autumn on which I shot 10.000 images I only used the Center AF point every single time (well, I shot some frames to confirm that 61-Point mode is unreliable). Sounds crazy? It's not and I tell you why. To be honest I think I probably got more shots the way I wanted them instead of the off focus ones I would have got with Canon's inferior AF system anyway, even if Auto mode worked alright. Canon neiter has 3D tracking nor face recognition so every time I take a portrait at wide apertures I would get a sharp nose and blurry eyes because the Canons can't focus on the eyes by themselves, they still idiotically choose the closest subject in the frame and that's the nose tip. Boo! By using the Center AF point and getting used to it you become pretty fast with reframing. So as terrible as this AF problem is objectively, I found my way to deal with it. And with many of my shots shots much more likely the way I wanted focus-wise instead of the usual hit and miss with the inferior Canon AF (for portraits at least). Easy!

Still, I'd love to rely on the 61-Point system from time to time, especially with landscape shots where you got lots of points you would be ok with if the AF system picked them. But unfortunately until Canon fixes this issue that not just me considers serious, the Auto AF is totally unreliable especially when used with lenses wide open.

See how this story goes on, will keep you posted.

KIKI

When tablets came out four years ago most people thought: Oh my god, I don‘t need it, as with most every innovation. And you may argue you still don‘t but you can‘t deny that most of the people think different by now. Tablets are taking over the PC market and for most usage scenarios a tablet can replace a clunky desktop or laptop PC, it‘s much better in so many ways. They are fast enough now to handle all but the most demanding tasks and although you‘re still limited regarding multitasking and getting work done on a tablet I think it‘s only a question of time when tablets can replace a laptop for most people. I still couldn‘t give up a notebook for professional photo editing and blogging or writing in general and the physical keyboard of a laptop actually is hard to beat, but maybe dictating is replacing typing in the future anyway. And today programs like VSCO Cam for smartphones and tablets are wonderful for most photo sharing needs.

So, why do I love my tablet? I got an iPad mini as part of a business data contract, that gives me 10 GB of LTE data per month and I can use it wherever I am in Germany, be it on a job, while travelling or when blogging in the park in summer. I can use it as wifi hotspot and do all that with my mobile laptop. I chose an iPad instead of an Android device because I still think Apple has the better User Interface. I never really had problems software-wise with my Macs. I also like the 4:3 screen ratio. It‘s much more useful for both vertical and horizontal browsing, the 16:9 of most smartphones actually is terrible by comparison in my opinion, too slim in both orientations. 16:9 is great for videos, but I don‘t watch many videos on a tablet, so that‘s just me.

I LOVE the mini for its size. For me it‘s just perfect, big enough to really enjoy mobile computing, yet small enough to be held in your hand when walking the streets. A bigger device to me is too big to really go everywhere with it and makes you look like an idiot when navigating on the street. The mini is much lighter and just perfect to hold in one hand. I love Maps on the tablet as much as I do all the other incredible Apps that are much more fun to use than their counterparts on a notebook.

Notes is great and with iCloud it‘s just a dream to have everything everywhere, always instantly synced. You can just leave the house with the iPad and an article or an updated note on it you just wrote on your desktop PC. That's amazing. Same with Pages, the Word equivalent on Macs. Just write something in a document and rush out with your iPad without ever having to think about syncing.

Calender and Contacts are much nicer to look at on a tablet compared to a smartphone, automatically syncing with your Macs, too. Apps like facebook are great on an iPad and browsing/reading in general on a tablet I would say is the most perfect digital consumption experience of all available devices. For that actually the bigger iPad is even better, but you compromise on portability.

Photo sharing with apps like VSCO Cam is a joy on the go. I just plug in my SD card into the Lightning reader for iPad, import, edit and share in a heartbeat.

The tablet is so much nicer to share with people around. My HTC One XL with its relatively big 4,7“ screen looks just tiny by comparison. Having the iPad for a year now I hardly use my phone for anything more than making phone calls, listening to music and writing SMS. It‘s only replacing the iPad simply when I don‘t take the latter, for example to a club. The mini is so portable I have it in my bag all the time when I go out.

I love the iPad mini because as with most Apple products craftmanship is simply unbeaten, so is design in my eyes. It‘s just a joy to take in your hand and look on the gorgeous display.

I really LOVE the iPad for books. It‘s amazingly useful. I had all the Lonely Planet guide books on the mini on my last photo trip instead of lugging multiple paper books around, great.

Everything is better on an iPad compared to a smartphone apart from fitting into one‘s pocket or making phone calls. Latter being possible with Huawei‘s upcoming phablet, the Mediapad X1, a really great 7“ HD device with a nice 16:10 screen, recommended. A tablet can do most everything a computer can apart from having a nice physical keyboard and multitasking. There's just no comparison regarding portability, a tablet is just perfect here.

If you still think you don‘t need a tablet I have to agree, you don't but it‘s much nicer to have one ;-)

Update: If you have work to do and/or need to do it or other things fast, there's no comparison, the tablet just can't cut it. Typing on a MacBook Air for example is a dream compared to the virtual keyboard on the iPad, especially for blogging, writing letters, mails and longer posts.

Happy living ...

KIKI

Look, Canon, this is what the Autofocus does in my 5D Mark III, your best and highest resolving camera for people and nature shots. Does this look out of focus only to me?

But that's not the whole story. I bought the camera nearly a year ago and it has been to Canon Maerz Berlin, to Okam in Zwenkau and to Canon Germany in Krefeld, too. Only Maerz in Berlin admitted after the second time the camera had been in for adjustment it had a defect and they didn't know how to fix it. The 5D has been away for over two month in total.

I took the 5D on a dedicated two and a half month photo trip that brought me to ten different countries. I shot over 10.000 photos with it during that time. But now comes the trick, I only used the Single Center AF point to focus, reframing every of those 10.000 shots. 61-point AF mode would have been totally unreliable and would potentially have ruined every single of my unique shots from this amazing trip through Poland, Ukraine, Moscow, Kyrgyzstan, China, Hongkong, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. Not so great!

How do we get together about this?

KIKI

Ha, three quick snaps from today strolling around in Mitte with friends from Switzerland. The Olympus OM-D is a great little camera and a lot of fun to shoot with. Have a look at the images first ...

The last one is the OM-D at ISO 10000 by the way ... seriously, if you want the best pro-like camera with everything you ever need, in a great looking, super small, super versatile body with heaps of great lens options, don't look any further.

It's in many ways better than a big DSLR with some unique features like 9 frames per second full resolution bursts or a very good electronic viewfinder that lets you check your shots immediately after capture without having to take the camera away from the eye, brilliant.

I will try to write a review soon ... you won't get as easy and as creamy subject isolation of course, necessary to set your images apart from digicams.

BUT, beside the right subject timing, lighting, framing and composition are key to a great picture in the first place, achievable even with a cellphone - it's all relative,

happy shooting ...

KIKI