A few months ago, my wife reported seeing a skunk in our apartment complex courtyard in the wee hours when still dark. I’m a night owl and she’s an early bird. A few weeks back, I saw the stinker skulking along where mulch meets cement, foraging for something. He or she, sometimes a pair, returns for nearly nightly excursions—and I worry about an untimely, unfortunate encounter with one of the other residents. There are 18 apartments and anybody going in or out—that includes late-night Uber Eats deliveries—could scare some stinky spray.
Before bed, I make last rounds to ensure the apartment is secure—for example: locked front door; gas burners off; water faucets shut. Around 12:15 a.m. PDT, today, when closing up, I spotted our striped friend, whom Annie and I call Rascal, sniffing about. Quarter-hour later, I pulled out Leica Q2 and shot several photos through the dining room window. At ISO 10000, they’re grainy as all heck and not really recoverable.
Duh. I should have grabbed Leica Q2 Monochrom. One of the main reasons I got the camera is for circumstances like this one. The full-frame sensor, minus the color overlay, paired with the fixed Summilux lens, can deliver surprising detail and character when shooting in low-light situations. I captured the Featured Image at 12:36 a.m. The photo is a nearly 100-percent crop but otherwise unaltered. Vitals, aperture and shutter speed manually set: f/1.7, ISO 6400, 1/125 sec, 28mm. I manually focused.