The city of lakes
We jumped on a short 40mins flight down south to Udaipur and were blown away by this magical city. Some call this city the Venice of the east, but I think it deserves to stand on its own and not be compared to anywhere else. You may recognize the white hotel floating on the lake from Octopussy, the famous James Bond movie.
Locally Udaipur is known as the “white city” due to the light and white coloured buildings in the main town areas. We stayed in a beautiful hotel called the City Palace Hotel, which is essentially part of the City Palace historic site. There was something very surreal about living in a palace and returning home to our own palace, night after night.
Oh Udaipur, you’ll never know how hard we’ve fallen for you. This is a must visit city in the world.
The famous Lake Palace Hotel was featured in a James Bond movie. The locals were telling us that the arrival ceremony is something to behold when you stay at this hotel. The hotels picks you up in a boat and brings you to the hotel entrance to a grand welcoming ceremony. At the time we were in Udaipur, the prices for the Lake Palace Hotel were well outside our reach, so unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to experience life at the Lake Palace Hotel.
However, we weren’t exactly living in poor conditions as can be witnessed by the gorgeous room we had at the City Palace Hotel. If you decide to stay at this hotel, please know that only two rooms look like this within that price class; the others are much less interesting.
The City Palace has a historic section that you can tour around and get beautiful views of the city. The palace was built over a span of 400 years with contributions from several ruling leaders.
The colours in India look even more dramatic with the white city as the backdrop.
One thing we miss the most from India, besides the friendly people, is the chai you can buy on any street corner. Yes, the man is straining the chai through a towel, but regardless, the chai tasted amazing and we came back several times.
These are wonderful pictures of Udaipur! Udaipur is actually my favourite city in India. There is something about these pictures. I really like your composition. I would really like to know what camera/lens combination you used here mostly. I particularly like
– the indoor shot with the 3 chairs looking out the window,
– the one of the city palace walls reflecting the sunset,
– the one where the sun sets behind the water palace
– the one of the boat going past
– the one with the 3 tea glasses being poured into
– and I was quite impressed with how the lens controlled the light in the shot of the dog sleeping on the steps.
Its a pity I cant see the EXIF info but would love to know what camera/lens combo you used particularly for those shots.
I use a Nikon D850 but I find myself getting more and more interested in Leica lenses.
Great pictures! Really enjoyed them.
Tony
Hi Tony,
Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback, and thank you for the kind words. I’m happy to share the EXIF information, and you are one of many who reached out with the request for EXIF information to be added to images; all images starting from the last few trips now have EXIF information listed under the image.
To answer your specific questions:
Q. I would really like to know what camera/lens combination you used here mostly.
A. I typically use the M10 with a 35MM 50% of the time, and the Fujifilm X-Pro2 for pretty much everything else, especially when a focal length longer than 90MM is required. Even though the X-Pro2 is a fraction of the M10’s cost, it holds its own and is a terrific camera system.
Q. The indoor shot with the 3 chairs looking out the window.
A. Fujifilm X-Pro2, XF10-24MM, ISO800, F9, 1/420s.
Q. The one of the city palace walls reflecting the sunset.
A. Leica M10, 35MM Summilux Pre-Asph (1990’s era lens), ISO100, likely F8, 1/125s.
Q. The one where the sun sets behind the water palace.
A. Fujifilm X-Pro2, Voigtlander 50MM Nokton, ISO200, F8, HDR multiple exposure times.
Q. The one of the boat going past.
A. Leica M10, 35MM Summilux Pre-Asph (1990’s era lens), ISO100, likely F8, 1/90s.
Q. The one with the 3 tea glasses being poured into.
A. Leica M10, 35MM Summilux FLE, ISO100, F1.4, 1/250s.
Q. I was quite impressed with how the lens controlled the light in the shot of the dog sleeping on the steps.
A. That one is using the M10. Prior to the recent firmware, I noticed the camera would blow highlights quite easily, so I raised the ISO to 200 for this shot to try and retain some highlight detail in the back while keeping shadow detail up front. In post processing, there is actually minimal shadow lifting and highlight recovery, so the camera balanced things well.
I hope the above answers your questions. If not, I’m happy to provide more information. I started to learn photography two years ago and still have a long ways to go, but I think the more we share, the better we’ll become.
Thank you again for the kind words, I really appreciate this type of interaction with visitors to the site. I hope that you’ll come visit again soon; I have several more trips that will be coming online soon! Cheers and Happy Photography!
Thanks very much for the reply! I do appreciate you taking the time to answer with the EXIF information of the photographs. I’m glad you have now included them in your latest images. Very much enjoyed your latest albums. Its very interesting to see the photographs of both cameras. I’m so impressed with the Fuji even in your newer albums. I thought I would be easily able to tell them apart from the Leica but in some instances the Fuji looks even better! Of course when the Leica nails it, there is definitely something that extra special about the look. I think its that super smooth rendering of the bokeh and the control of all the elements of different luminosities in the picture that makes it so special. But have to say, judging by the prices, the Fuji is so impressive. What would you say are the differences between the two and in what situations would you prefer one over the other? Do you get the same results using a Leica lens on a Fuji assuming you have tried that?
Great pics again!
Dear Dr. Jones, thanks again for your reply. I will be writing up a comparison of the Fuji and Leica soon as it’s the most asked question in private messages from readers. I’m debating whether to post it on the blog (dilutes the purpose of the blog somewhat, but then on the other hand, if that’s what the readers want, I should deliver it.