Canon 5D Mark II - 1/125 at f / 1.8, ISO 100

Leica M9 - 1/125 at f / 2.0, ISO 320

Canon 5D Mark II – 1/125 at f / 1.6, ISO 250

Leica M9 with the Summilux M 35 pre-asph gives that special Leica glow especially around the highlights and high contrast borders.  Downside is the horrible coma effect around the point light sources which are absent from the Canon lens.  Amazing what difference 20 + years of lens development makes.  Your preference?

February 7th 2012 Update: 100% Crops

Here are some 100% crops of the above images:

Leica M9 - 1/125 at f / 2.0, ISO 320

Canon 5D Mark II - 1/125 at f / 1.6, ISO 250

Let’s say your subject is walking towards you and you want to take a photo of them when they are at least 3 meters away.  To make sure that everything is in focus from 3 meters to infinity you place the 3 meters marker on the focus dial to the center dot.  Then read off the aperture setting at the infinity mark and set the aperture to that setting.  Press the shutter button and as long as the subject is within this range they will be in focus.

This opens up all sorts of possibilities as you can then have the camera away from your eye or even body.  No longer worried about focusing on the subject new angles and perspectives can be experimented with.  And because the camera is not held up to your eye you can also take pictures very discretely.  Sometimes this enables you to move right up to the subject and take the shot.