First Leica, First Roll of Tri-X, and Thoughts

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IT'S BACK!!

 

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My MP came back today with the repaired light meter.  I just got back from walking around Brooklyn and shooting a roll of Film Ferrenia P30.  Took a bunch of pics of people in the skate park near me.  The camera is a joy to use.

So, there was a bit of drama to get it back today.  Yesterday morning I received an email from Leica New Jersey saying that they got my camera back from Germany but the Leica HQ in Jersey would be closed at least until April 6 and I would not be getting my camera until it opened.  I made a frantic phone call and left a message with the customer service person who had emailed me. I even offered to drive to Jersey to pick it up in person.  My pleading paid off and the woman was kind enough to take the camera and overnight it to me. So given the circumstances, I really appreciate her doing that.  Overall I have had good customer service from Leica SOHO, New Jersey and Germany during all this and I've been in contact with all them during parts of the repair process. 

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by mediumformula

[gnuyork]

Fantastic images! I particularly like the Tri-X film images in your first post. The Monochrom is great (and I would love to have one), but unmatched to the film Ms in my opinion.

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[Archiver]

Ohhh, what a beautiful camera. You must be so happy, I know I would be. I have a stock silver chrome M7 for my film M, but I now regret not getting a black or silver MP when I had the budget for it. Something for the future!

[mediumformula]

6 hours ago, Archiver said:

Ohhh, what a beautiful camera. You must be so happy, I know I would be. I have a stock silver chrome M7 for my film M, but I now regret not getting a black or silver MP when I had the budget for it. Something for the future!

Thanks.  It was the only new MP in stock in the NYC area when I bought it. At first I was kind of bummed that I couldn't get a black on black one, but the black on grey is really growing on me.  Plus the natural leather wrap is very easy to grip and it smells good too!  Start saving up for that MP!

[mediumformula]

My frameline selector will no longer select 35mm.  I only have a 50mm lens.  When the lens is on or off I cannot shift the selector switch to 35mm.  It's like it's jammed.  It will select 90.  I don't have a 35mm lens to try to put on to see if it unjamms it.  It just started doing this today.  I've put about 4 rolls of film through it since I got it back from its light meter repair job.  Any thoughts?

Edited March 27, 2020 by mediumformula

[Ko.Fe.]

Choice 1. Send it back, pay for another repair. 

Choice 2. It is purchased less than two months ago, check if you could return this as the lemon.

Choice 3. Get rid of it as is. Buy CLA'd not by Leica, but by D.A.G. any before M5 film M. And hand held meter. Plenty of M3 recently or just after CLA from D.A.G. Those are great for 50mm and longer.

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From a practical standpoint there is not much I can do about it now given that the entire economy is shut down.  It's not fundamentally inhibiting me from using the camera.  So I'll prob just wait until the corona situation resolves and then get it repaired under warranty.  Unless someone knows of a quick fix.  I wonder if attaching a 35mm lens would un-jam it.  Unfortunately I don't have one to test this theory. 

[Jul]

13 hours ago, mediumformula said:

I wonder if attaching a 35mm lens would un-jam it. 

Pretty sure it would not. 35mm and 135mm are the lens which do not trigger the mechanism. 28, 50, 75, 90mm do push on it. As you don't have a 90mm or 28mm lens, what I would try is to push the lens release button with your 50mm mounted on the body and turn the lens gently further as to trigger the 90mm frame line (maybe even turn a little more) from the lens rotation then unmount the lens. With luck, the mechanism will return on its default setting on the way back.

[Ko.Fe.]

Very nice it is still under warranty. Personally, I would wait, repair under warranty and ged rid of it after. Because it seems to be a lemon.

[mediumformula]

Update.  I seem to have unjammed it somehow by taking the lens on and off a bunch of times and flicking the lens selector level repeatedly.  It's operating normally, for now.  Crisis averted.  The world is back to normal...well maybe not yet. 😕

In other news I mailed 8 rolls of film off to the Darkroom Lab yesterday.  Looking forward to my scans.  A couple of 120 rolls from my Rolleflex and a mix of rolls from my new Leica and my Canon F-1.  A couple of them were Film Ferrania P30 which I've never shot before. 

Edited March 28, 2020 by mediumformula

[andrew01]

How do you like the F1?  I also have one in mint condition.  The wind on advance is quite rough, I think it needs a bit of lubrication.

[mediumformula]

48 minutes ago, andrew01 said:

How do you like the F1?  I also have one in mint condition.  The wind on advance is quite rough, I think it needs a bit of lubrication.

The F1 is awesome.  It has a brass body like the Leica and has that really solid mechanical feel to it.  I got mine recently on Craigs List and have put several rolls through it.  I've had an AE-1 for over 20 years which was my main film camera for a long time.  The F1 is similar to the AE-1 except more solid (and heavier) feeling and has a few more options.   I picked up a 50mm 1.2L series lens and it produces beautiful images.  But even the 50mm 1.8 that comes on the AE-1 is a great little lens too.  Your F-1 would be worth getting a CLA if you want a sold mechanical feeling SLR to complement any Leica you might own.

Edited March 29, 2020 by mediumformula

[Topsy]

8 hours ago, andrew01 said:

How do you like the F1?  I also have one in mint condition.  The wind on advance is quite rough, I think it needs a bit of lubrication.

I've had my F1 since the 80's from new (the first one of 3 I had) they all had rough wind ons compared to Leicas.

[andrew01]

12 hours ago, Topsy said:

I've had my F1 since the 80's from new (the first one of 3 I had) they all had rough wind ons compared to Leicas.

Thanks.  I will probably get it serviced anyway since it needs new seals.  Good to know that the rough wind action is not anything out of the ordinary.  I also have a Nikon F3 and that is way smoother.  

[mediumformula]

Recently picked up this vintage Summicron.  So far I've only shot about half a roll of Tri-X with it, but looking forward to seeing how it performs.  The glass looks to be in pretty good condition with no significant scratches on the front.  It does have some haze inside the glass elements.  I might look into getting it CLA'd at some point to see if that can be removed.  I've been shooting the MP a lot the past few months during quarantine.  I'm happy with the purchase and glad the light meter issue it had was resolved before the world shut down. 

 

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The B&W Nano filter looks good with this lens.  It complements the Grey/Black aesthetic well.

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Related to my post above, the reason I decided to get an M39 lens was because I also picked up a Red Dial IIIf.  I had been itching to get a "vintage Leica" for awhile and initially had decided that I wanted to get an M3.  But I was a bit deterred by the price of an M3.  For less than1/4 of the price of an M3 you can get a IIIf.  (I paid $250, the Summicron was $400).  Also, after looking into the III series I became quite intrigued by their operation and the idea of something that is more different than my MP than an M3/M2 would be.  I have yet to put a roll of film through this IIIf but I will so soon. All the shutter speeds seem to be firing accurately and operation is smooth.  My first impression are that this is an amazing little machine and I'm surprised at how cheap you can pick these up for. For the Lens and Camera I'm still significantly under what an M3 would cost and I'm more excited about shooting this than I would be an M3 since I have an MP.  I can't believe how small this camera is.  It makes the MP seem large in comparison.    I'm going to look into putting a natural leather skin on this which will improve its grip and feel.  I'll also fill in the worn shutter speed numbers with some hobby paint.  This seems like an amazing street photography camera.

Does anyone else shoot an M and II/ III?

 

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[tommonego@gmail.com]

I did for a while, I had a 25 Nikkor f4 LTM on it, wonderful combination. I don't know why I sold it, could be I had an offer I couldn't refuse. I had 2 M2s and finally bought a Canon 25 f3.5 LTM which I still have. Just never as compact IIIc with the Nikkor. 

Also have 2 F1s a first version and an F1n. When I first tried the F1n I thought it was as smooth as my Leicas, but the copy I received was a little rough, but nothing I could send back, it just kept working. I gave my old F1 to my son with my good lenses so all I have for the F1n is a 28 Vivitar and a 90-180 Flat field Vivitar macro. Nice macro lens but awful at infinity. 

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33 minutes ago, tommonego@gmail.com said:

I did for a while, I had a 25 Nikkor f4 LTM on it, wonderful combination. I don't know why I sold it, could be I had an offer I couldn't refuse. I had 2 M2s and finally bought a Canon 25 f3.5 LTM which I still have. Just never as compact IIIc with the Nikkor. 

Also have 2 F1s a first version and an F1n. When I first tried the F1n I thought it was as smooth as my Leicas, but the copy I received was a little rough, but nothing I could send back, it just kept working. I gave my old F1 to my son with my good lenses so all I have for the F1n is a 28 Vivitar and a 90-180 Flat field Vivitar macro. Nice macro lens but awful at infinity. 

Get a 50mm for that F1n.  I've gotten some amazing results with the 50mm 1.2L if you wanted to ever splurge on FD glass. But I've heard the 1.4 is also really good and it's quite affordable. 

[tommonego@gmail.com]

vor 21 Minuten schrieb mediumformula:

Get a 50mm for that F1n.  I've gotten some amazing results with the 50mm 1.2L if you wanted to ever splurge on FD glass. But I've heard the 1.4 is also really good and it's quite affordable. 

Check out either the Nikon or Canon 25mm, will make the IIIf a tiny WA camera.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[Ko.Fe.]

1 hour ago, mediumformula said:

 

Related to my post above, the reason I decided to get an M39 lens was because I also picked up a Red Dial IIIf.  I had been itching to get a "vintage Leica" for awhile and initially had decided that I wanted to get an M3.  But I was a bit deterred by the price of an M3.  For less than1/4 of the price of an M3 you can get a IIIf.  (I paid $250, the Summicron was $400).  Also, after looking into the III series I became quite intrigued by their operation and the idea of something that is more different than my MP than an M3/M2 would be.  I have yet to put a roll of film through this IIIf but I will so soon. All the shutter speeds seem to be firing accurately and operation is smooth.  My first impression are that this is an amazing little machine and I'm surprised at how cheap you can pick these up for. For the Lens and Camera I'm still significantly under what an M3 would cost and I'm more excited about shooting this than I would be an M3 since I have an MP.  I can't believe how small this camera is.  It makes the MP seem large in comparison.    I'm going to look into putting a natural leather skin on this which will improve its grip and feel.  I'll also fill in the worn shutter speed numbers with some hobby paint.  This seems like an amazing street photography camera.

Does anyone else shoot an M and II/ III?

 

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I started with IIf. Sold it for M4-2. Added M4-P and M3. Never connected with M4-P. Sold it. Never used M3 to justify keeping it.

And SBOOI is true 1:1 VF, while M3 VF is not. I have two LTM now. Leica IIIc (after war) and Nicca III (made in occupied Japan).

Booth were serviced, repaired in 2020.

Here is one person on USA, who worked for Leica and servicing, repairing LTMs under 100 USD. My IIIc is from him. I paid for it less than one third of M3 current price. M CLA is twice more expensive, at least.

Actually, I paid for this IIIc after service with new parts and with warranty same price I have to pay for M4-2 CLA now, before parts.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Ko.Fe.