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My first steps with a Leica M (M3)


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Leica M3 - 50 Summicron - Sunny 16 rule.

I love the .92 view finder and the simplicity of the camera. So far, a keeper.

Cron is a pearl!

Wish I'd knew how to make perfect scans...

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The best scanning films are C41 types like XP2 for monochrome and the current Kodak Ektar and Portra.

 

Traditional black and white is Tri X best, Plus X is among the worst of all films.

 

The best scanning will be any film at 1/2 box speed and developed to print on #2 paper with a condenser enlarger. You will also marvel at the prints. For me that is EI 200, 6.5 min in D76 1:1. 68 deg Agitation 30 sec and then 5 sec every 30 sec. Do not be gentle.

 

The key is low contrast no matter what you use. No matter the film, 1/2 box speed is .80 X normal developing time for a condensor enlarger. Diffusion times are longer so there is a mismatch and you can not satisy both. .8x gets you very close. Some will say it does not matter to reduce time, but it does. Scanners do not handle density well.

 

Scan so you do not clip either shadows or highlights and do everything else in photoshop.

With color, get color bal correct and density as above and finish in Photoshop.

No fancy software required.

 

find how to save settings in the software so every neg is not a new project.

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Hi

 

Like the wood and the boy, you wont regret taking too many shots of the boy.

 

To add something to previous post, the scanner and driver software will have an option to remove dust or leave it, the C41 films should have the dust removal allowed, but the conventional silver grain films should have the dust removal disabled, otherwise the grain will be enhanced (when it is treated like dust). Kodochrome is a grain film in this usage...

 

If you use a enlarger and wet print a nice print is really good but you need to waste boxes of paper before you can print well, if I knew how many I'd tell you...

 

Noel

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  • 3 months later...

I've only heard in the distant past of the renowned Leica user's friendly and intense community and, well, it is true after all, so it seems. Thanks everybody for the friendly messages and usefull advise.

It was indeed my very first roll of film with my very first M and now, four months later, I must honestly admit that I have kind of developed a strange obsession with this camera. I can't leave it alone anymore. I barely have an eye anymore for my trusty F4s and FE2. Not to speak about my Canon digital equipment, it is collecting dustl. I hope film will never die. The M3, after four months of use, has become like a friend. The viewfinder is it's secret, I think. It's like there is no viewfinder at all. What you see is real live, not the tunnel (and impersonal) vision of an slr. The camera is as simple as it gets. Set aperture, speed, focus and "cluck"... Brilliantly simple!

 

@FIZZ: it's a late 1958 single stroke M3. After carefully considering the M3, M4 and M6, I chose this M3 because of the .92 viewfinder and the big RF patch and the fact that it came with a CLA certificate from leica solms 2009. (I live 200 km away from Wetzlar - Solms is the next little town - and I'm planning a trip to visit the factory)

@Tobey: Thank you so much for your scanning insights. I studied photography and specialised in cinemathography and now work in television production... :-( Even though photometrics, sensitometry and colorimety are no secret, digitizing film for sure is (I'm old school... ;-) Guess I'll have to buy myself a serious scanner some day to get the most out of it. Thanks again for sharing your experiences with scanning different types of film.

For b&w film, I favor FP4 and HP5 and develop in Ilfosol 3. English not being my mothertongue, what do you mean with 1/2 box? I currently scan with epson V350 which is driven by Silverfast software.

@XMAS: the silverfast software for the V350 scanner does not offer dust removal... ok... I'll get a new scanner! Ha!

@LIKALAR: thanks for your comment! The subject is perfect, yes... It's my son ;-)

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