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Just godfathered Leica M6 Help?


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Which three lenses came with the camera? What are the maximum apertures? By night shooting do you mean street photography at night or do you intend to use a tripod? Color or Black & White. Just point us in the right direction and you'll be inundated with help. By the way you have a great kit to start with.

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Did you discover it taped to the underside of the loo? :D

 

Seriously though, congrats on the camera and lenses. Which ones are they? As for your film question, any ISO 400 black and white film will do. Buy a few boxes of a few different kinds, and see which one(s) you like. You can push all/most of them to ISO 3200 and still get pleasing results. Otherwise there are DMZ 3200 or Delta 3200.

 

Kodak TMZ 135-36 T-Max P3200 B&W Print Film 1516798 B&H

 

Ilford Delta-3200 Professional 135-36 B&W Print Film 1887710

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Welcome to film and to the forum Ryan :)

 

As for film you'll have quite a few choices, even though there's lots of scaremongering going on that film's dead. Choices and supply are more limited these days than a few years back but there's still plenty to choose from among b/w and colour neg film and slide film.

 

You may have already discovered it but if not check out the Film subforum where there are quite a few threads about film choices (including this recent one). This site has an interesting article about choosing films, too. There are also articles over at photo.net plus many other places too. For instance, Flickr is a good place for discussions about film.

 

Basically there's no particular film that is especially suited for Leicas (well, except unless you mean 35mm film, haha). For night shooting there are still choices of high ISO black and white, though personally I don't like Delta 3200 very much (in fact, I've never taken to any of Ilford's offerings). I prefer to push Tri-X a few stops instead (and yes I very much miss Fuji Neopan 1600 :( ). For colour negs there are ISO 800 films from Fuji (Superia X-tra) and Kodak, the wonderful Portra. For slide film I believe Fuji Provia 400X is the highest-ISO film available.

 

So it all depends on what you want to photograph and in which circumstances.

 

Cheers

Philip

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My grandfather simply had the camera and gave it to with the condition i use, which I fully intend on!

The three lenes I have the are the Summilux-M 1.4/ 35mm ASPH, The Tele- Elmarit-M 2.8/90, and the Elmarit- M 2.8/ 21

I pretty much intend to stay in black in white for now and get a couple different kinds to see what i like then.

I don't have a tripod currently but am going to get one soon. I also have a couple concert venues around town which have spiked my interest in maybe shooting there.

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If, as you say, you are new to film and maybe even photography, I would recommend starting out shooting daytime conditions, especially with a Leica as it has no auto features, which is a big feature in itself. ;)

 

Familiarize yourself with the camera and its functions and ergonomics. Put a few rolls through it and start to get a feel for its character. Then, and only then, venture into dark concert venues where you will have to push both the camera/film combo and yourself. Doing that before you are marginally up to speed will only discourage you. ie. crawl before you walk.

 

Congratulations and enjoy.

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...

 

The three lenes I have the are the Summilux-M 1.4/ 35mm ASPH, The Tele- Elmarit-M 2.8/90, and the Elmarit- M 2.8/ 21

 

...

 

For the time being, get used to the 35mm lens and whatever film you might get, is my honest opinion.

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Tri X and D76 or D76 water bath or divided D76 or Diafine. HP5+ from Ilford is similar and they will be there when the Kodak ship quits listing and finally sinks.

 

Develop moderately for low contrast.

 

Expose at 200 and cut development time 20% and you will be amazed.

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The only really fast lens you have is the Summilux 35. That focal length may be too short for concert work, but certainly you should be able to get something with it. My recommendation is to start with ASA 400 (or ASA 800) colour negative film, because that is the easiest to have processed, and move to black and white once you are comfortable with the equipment.

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I am relatively new to the entire film world and was just godfathered a Leica M6 with three M lenses. What film is the best for Leica's and I am mostly interested in night shooting. Any advice would be helpful

 

I suggest Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film for night photography. While it is slower than other films mentioned it has the best reciprocity factor of any b&w film. Additionally, can be processed in a wide range of developers and yields excellent results.

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