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Leica Film Odyssey for a beginner

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

By Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS
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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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As I said: enjoy. Slightly doubtful about the craze, though.

It will be interesting to see whether Photomerge will be able to line up scanned images to a panorama anyway.

 

Jaapv

I like to shoot panoramas with long lenses. When I had my M240 I used to use my 90mm APO or the Noctilux... in Tanzania I used my 600mm for Panoramas :)

 

WhenI was in Penang I shot a Panorama of the Queen Elisabeth with my M6 and my 50mm Elmar M but as I found out later that was with the film not completely engaged with the winder so those 5 shots or was it 7 were onto of the rest of the jetty pictures :( :( :(

 

By the way if you haven't already seen the Queen Elisabeth she's massive, she's nearly as big as the Drill ship I look after

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MarkP

MarkP

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By the way if you haven't already seen the Queen Elisabeth she's massive, she's nearly as big as the Drill ship I look after

 

 

 

Any photos of your drill ship?

 

I seem to recall that some time ago you posted some interesting photos of the rig you work on.  It's so foreign to what we land-based creatures are used to.   

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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I just loaded a new roll of Kodak Gold 200 ready for a sunrise at the paddy fields tomorrow. And again it didn't want to load. I've followed everyones tips and recommendations and even made a point of looking at the diagram on the camera but still I messed it up. This time I didn't have the roll all the way pushed in so when I opened the back up the film was jammed in the top guide, thank god I didn't get rough with it as for sure I would have f%$#$#d something up.

Anyway this is just one big learning curve, I will pay attention to the top being lined up as well as the tail engaging the winder in future, and check that the rewind wheel is turning.

Fingers crossed that the weather gods are making a nice sunrise over the paddy fields tomorrow, I've spotted a great location for it :)

I will use the Lee filter holder with a 0.6 GND and will shoot it a ~1 stop under

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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Any photos of your drill ship?

 

I seem to recall that some time ago you posted some interesting photos of the rig you work on.  It's o foreign to what we land-based creatures are used to.   

 

Heres one mate. Ive got some more pictures of the rig on my rig computer I will post some more up later.

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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What do you do on the ship Neil.

 

I'm in charge of the drilling operations for Chevron. Basically the rig belongs to Pacific Drilling and Chevron hire it at an astronomical price to drill wells for Chevron.

I basically make sure that they drill it the way Chevron wants it drilled............. sound simple and most of the time it is. But when things go wrong and we are operating at about $1,4m a day........... it gets everyones attention, so we try and make sure we don't have to many non productive days :)

I do that for 28 days and then play golf and take pictures for 28 days....been doing it for 35 plus years now, only 23 to go :) :) :)

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hepcat

hepcat

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I just loaded a new roll of Kodak Gold 200 ready for a sunrise at the paddy fields tomorrow. And again it didn't want to load. I've followed everyones tips and recommendations and even made a point of looking at the diagram on the camera but still I messed it up. This time I didn't have the roll all the way pushed in so when I opened the back up the film was jammed in the top guide, thank god I didn't get rough with it as for sure I would have f%$#$#d something up.

Anyway this is just one big learning curve, I will pay attention to the top being lined up as well as the tail engaging the winder in future, and check that the rewind wheel is turning.

Fingers crossed that the weather gods are making a nice sunrise over the paddy fields tomorrow, I've spotted a great location for it :)

I will use the Lee filter holder with a 0.6 GND and will shoot it a ~1 stop under

 

Ok, the problem is that you bought an M6 with the M4's fast-and-easy quick-load take-up fork.  What you need is an M2 or M3 with the good, ol' fashioned removable spool.  Yeah... that's it... you just need a body with the old spool thingy...   :lol:

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Jeff S

Jeff S

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I'm in charge of the drilling operations for Chevron. Basically the rig belongs to Pacific Drilling and Chevron hire it at an astronomical price to drill wells for Chevron.

I basically make sure that they drill it the way Chevron wants it drilled............. sound simple and most of the time it is. But when things go wrong and we are operating at about $1,4m a day........... it gets everyones attention, so we try and make sure we don't have to many non productive days :)

I do that for 28 days and then play golf and take pictures for 28 days....been doing it for 35 plus years now, only 23 to go :) :) :)

 

Gotta be tougher than film loading.   Just think....if you eventually do your own processing, you can learn to do it in the dark (load film, that is)....will make the camera loading a piece of cake.

 

Jeff

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rpavich

rpavich

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I just loaded a new roll of Kodak Gold 200 ready for a sunrise at the paddy fields tomorrow. And again it didn't want to load. I've followed everyones tips and recommendations and even made a point of looking at the diagram on the camera but still I messed it up. This time I didn't have the roll all the way pushed in so when I opened the back up the film was jammed in the top guide, thank god I didn't get rough with it as for sure I would have f%$#$#d something up.

Anyway this is just one big learning curve, I will pay attention to the top being lined up as well as the tail engaging the winder in future, and check that the rewind wheel is turning.

Fingers crossed that the weather gods are making a nice sunrise over the paddy fields tomorrow, I've spotted a great location for it :)

I will use the Lee filter holder with a 0.6 GND and will shoot it a ~1 stop under

I'm telling you; take a look at the video that I posted in post #309. Duplicate his hand position and his actions 100% and you will never have an issue, you won't have to double check, you won't have to begin winding with the back off, or any of that nonsense.

 

I started out barely a few months ago doing the same thing and thought I'd never get film spooled correctly and confidently, but that video changed everything.

 

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/258574-leica-film-camera-for-a-beginner/page-16?do=findComment&comment=3019586

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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Gotta be tougher than film loading.   Just think....if you eventually do your own processing, you can learn to do it in the dark (load film, that is)....will make the camera loading a piece of cake.

 

Jeff

 

Jef

I will be doing my own processing when I get home next hitch.........then the fun will begin. My wife has already said that she will go on holiday for a week when I start that shit......I wonder why  :) :)

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IkarusJohn

IkarusJohn

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Hi Neil,

 

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but if you get all tied up in the options, film will lose its simplicity for you.  It's one of the reasons I recommended an M4 or M-A.  No meter, just you, your eyes and the camera settings.

 

Once you've got loading the film under control, can I suggest that you take the battery out of your M6, use just one type of film and you get used to seeing with your eyes and visualising what the image you see, or wish to capture, will look like on film?

 

Yesterday, I went for a walk along the beach with the dog.  It was raining, and I'd left my meter at home.  I looked around and thought - okay, Tri-X, so shutter speed at 1/500 and ISO half stop between f/16 & f/8.  It's cloudy, rainy and about 4 stops darker, so I went for f/4 at 1/250.  Checked this on the little Lumu sphere on my iPhone, and it was bang on.

 

After loading your film, all you have to go on is overall EV reading, shutter speed for blur and aperture for depth of field - those (along with framing and focusing) are far more important than anything else, and it is why film is so good for your photography.  If you're relying on a centre-weighted reflected meter reading, you're thinking about finding neutral grey and the impact of surrounding tones on your image.  Conversely, if you think of incident light (i.e., the light that is all round you and which illuminates your subject) then your whites will be white, your blacks black and the whole process becomes considerably easier.

 

It really is better for your photography overall, in my view.  No meter, no faffing about.  I'd suggest if you're shooting black & white (which I really only do with film), you can probably forget about ND filters as well - a polariser, an orange and a red filter is probably enough.

 

Sorry or the long post.  Have fun.

John

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Frase

Frase

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Is it just me thinking this but how can someone who has owned and shot with so many cameras not be able to load a roll of film it's really shouldn't be that hard. I'm starting to think this whole thread is just a wind up. The point of Leica ms is to be easy and fast to use they are 35mm cameras no harder to use than any other.

if this isn't a wind-up good luck and have fun!

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pico

pico

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See Tom Abrahamsson's videos for loading. It works. I use his RapidWinders but the technique is the same with any  tulip take-up. (I have used Leicavits and Tom's invention for years. His is the very best.)

 

See:

 

Best of luck.

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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Hi Neil,

 

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but if you get all tied up in the options, film will lose its simplicity for you. It's one of the reasons I recommended an M4 or M-A. No meter, just you, your eyes and the camera settings.

 

Once you've got loading the film under control, can I suggest that you take the battery out of your M6, use just one type of film and you get used to seeing with your eyes and visualising what the image you see, or wish to capture, will look like on film?

 

Yesterday, I went for a walk along the beach with the dog. It was raining, and I'd left my meter at home. I looked around and thought - okay, Tri-X, so shutter speed at 1/500 and ISO half stop between f/16 & f/8. It's cloudy, rainy and about 4 stops darker, so I went for f/4 at 1/250. Checked this on the little Lumu sphere on my iPhone, and it was bang on.

 

After loading your film, all you have to go on is overall EV reading, shutter speed for blur and aperture for depth of field - those (along with framing and focusing) are far more important than anything else, and it is why film is so good for your photography. If you're relying on a centre-weighted reflected meter reading, you're thinking about finding neutral grey and the impact of surrounding tones on your image. Conversely, if you think of incident light (i.e., the light that is all round you and which illuminates your subject) then your whites will be white, your blacks black and the whole process becomes considerably easier.

 

It really is better for your photography overall, in my view. No meter, no faffing about. I'd suggest if you're shooting black & white (which I really only do with film), you can probably forget about ND filters as well - a polariser, an orange and a red filter is probably enough.

 

Sorry or the long post. Have fun.

John

John

When I was staying at the hotel in Penang I was playing around with guessing the EV while my wife was getting ready and most times I was getting it in the ballpark.

I'm also in the camp for shooting film in only B&W but I just want to see for myself how it comes out in color.

Thanks for your feedback. It doesn't sound like a broken record to me [emoji3]

Neil

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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Is it just me thinking this but how can someone who has owned and shot with so many cameras not be able to load a roll of film it's really shouldn't be that hard. 

 

Maybe the fact that none of my other digital cameras, had film in them.............now installing SD and CF cards that is a breeze :) :) 

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