my leica experiment

[pearcie]

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Hi

I'm a couple of weeks through a major change of working ie from digital to film.

I bought a lovely M4-P, stuck a few russian lenses on it and started to take pictures.

 

I have been using the sunny 16 rules and by and large have enjoyed the control and freedom of working with old technology .

It really seems to give a certain amount of control back to me, deciding the shutter and aperture, the focus point - yes I know I can do all that with a digital camera, but for some perverse reason having to wait a week for the film to be developed and returned to me makes the whole process magical.

 

I don't know if that will wear off eventually but right now I'm ready to ditch my digital stuff and buy some leica glass - oops! I'm gonna stay poor!

Here are some images from my first couple of films if anyone is interested

 

leica M4-P - a set on Flickr

 

thanks

gary

[storybrown]

nice first set - I think you're going to like your film project, whatever you decide about digital - good luck & put some fotos up in the "photo" section; more film efforts will be welcome there

[pico]

Hi

I'm a couple of weeks through a major change of working ie from digital to film.

I bought a lovely M4-P, stuck a few russian lenses on it and started to take pictures. [...]

 

Therin is a problem. Russian lenses on a German or Canadian Leica do not necessarily make a match.

[Nando]

Therin is a problem. Russian lenses on a German or Canadian Leica do not necessarily make a match.

 

I used a Jupiter-3 50f1.5 on my M for a few years because I could not afford the Summilux-M ASPH that I wanted. When I received the lens, it was extremely clean but focus was off and the aperture was stiff. The lens cost me $80 plus another $50 for the repair. After the repair, the lens worked flawlessly and I found it to be an excellent lens. The Sonnar look was gorgeous. The lens served its purpose well and later I sold it to a friend. He's doing great work with it. Although I now have eight Leica 50mm's, including the latest Summilux, I often miss the Sonnar.

[pearcie]

Hi All

Thanks for looking and your kind comments.

 

Storybrown - will try and post some photos in the galleries later

 

Pico - I thought the cold war was over, so much for Perestroika & Glasnost(please excuse my mixing of time periods in history:))

 

Nando - eight 50mm! I'm going to be very poor

 

I will post more as the experiment continues

thanks again

gary

[Guest dk_samurai]

There's nothing wrong with Russian, Japanese or any other lens for your Leica! It's all in the love of rangefinder photography, Leica lenses just happens to be the top in the this regard.

 

Garry Winogrand shot with a Leica M4 and a Canon 28mm lens... He seems to have done quite alright with that combination!

 

Best,

David

[plasticman]

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It's all in the variations and the special character of different lenses! I love the Jupiter lenses - they really have a special look!

 

Congratulations! And keep shooting!

[ndjambrose]

Therin is a problem. Russian lenses on a German or Canadian Leica do not necessarily make a match.

 

Don't see why. There's a lot to be said for interesting lenses, and they can offer something really special. One of my favourite discoveries of the year was a 1958 East German lens that has a signature I could never achieve with a perfectly corrected, multicoated lens.

[pico]

Don't see why. There's a lot to be said for interesting lenses, and they can offer something really special. One of my favourite discoveries of the year was a 1958 East German lens that has a signature I could never achieve with a perfectly corrected, multicoated lens.

 

I entirely agree that lens signatures are important; to that end I use some vintage lenses for larger format work, however I am not confident that some of these Russian lenses are properly focus matched to the Leica M: it is a mechanical issue, not optics.

[bill]

...I am not confident that some of these Russian lenses are properly focus matched to the Leica M: it is a mechanical issue, not optics.

 

Spot on. This has nothing to do with snobbery or perestroika. There are two issues with the old FSU lenses; firstly, QC was not up to scratch (where have we heard that before ) and there is significant variation; in general older lenses tended to be better made using better materials than later examples. Secondly there was some variance between the Fed and Zorki LTM mount and the Leica. This can be easily ignored at smaller apertures and easily fixed by shimming at larger ones. I had a Jupiter-9 85mm f2.0 which was a superb portrait lens wide open, but I was lucky to have a decent example. I have used others over the years, but more for their interesting results than for their clinical sharpness.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[pearcie]

Hi All

 

Well variety spices up life & photos.

I also love the russian optics and my comments earlier weren't meant to disparage them - they are just all I can afford at present but do a great job.

 

In the end all the politics/discussion/passion for gear falls by the wayside, for me it's the thrill of taking and viewing the final image that fuels my passion for photography. I'm just trying to decide on the type of fuel to use.

gary

[cheewai_m6]

Hi

but for some perverse reason having to wait a week for the film to be developed and returned to me makes the whole process magical.

 

I don't know if that will wear off eventually

 

nope. it never does.

[pearcie]

Oh! Well, surprise, surprise I going to sell my digital gear.

I just love shooting with my leica

I'm going through film like it's going out of fashion!

Here are a few more shots;

leica M4-P - a set on Flickr

gary

[cheewai_m6]

I'm going through film like it's going out of fashion!

 

that's cause it is going out of fashion. unfortunately. big decision, hope it works out for you.