Lens caps and other things

[IkarusJohn]

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I’m laid up recuperating from further surgery on my foot and facing sartorial shift surgery in the next few weeks (metastatic melanoma, for those of a medical bent). The Masters has kept me entertained. Looks like another win for Scottie Sheffler. 

The forum is also providing distraction. 

It’s interesting how some topics are evergreen. SD cards (problematic since the get go) and others. What has struck me is how we take photos, and I wonder if this has greater effect on the M11 issues than we think. 

Coming from over 40 years of film (most with Kodachrome) before my first real digital camera (an M9), my habits remain relatively unchanged, some good, some not so much:

• I replace the lens cap after each shot - if your camera faces the sun, it’s easy to burn a hole in the shutter curtain, particularly the rubber coated cloth shutter of the Leica film cameras 
• I don’t use filters (except for black & white)
• I do use hoods for flare and lens protection 
• I turn my camera off between shots 
• I never machine gun shots 

All this tends to mean I take very few photos.  Having thought about where I want to take the picture, exposure, focus etc, I don’t feel the need to take another similar shot.  I appreciate this is not a good thing.  It’s just an ingrained habit.

Why’s that relevant here?  Well, I wonder if M11 users are playing whackamole with the underlying issues - profiles, SD cards, bluetooth, Fotos, Visoflex, lens codes, and my favourite, I’m alright jack. 

Perhaps it’s not just one of these things, but a combination of too much happening all at once, heat management, random software conflicts and hardware failings. 

It might be interesting to know how those who have had no issues use their cameras - with patience, contemplatively, allowing the camera to do everything it needs to do before asking more, left on etc. 

If this was a simple fault, Leica would surely have fixed it by now. 
 

[Johnny go quickly]

Even straight out the box no fancy settings my m11 would freeze at random times. Kinda a bummer that such a beautifully engineered machine cant match modern  software standards . IMHO of course. 

[lct]

39 minutes ago, IkarusJohn said:

It might be interesting to know how those who have had no issues use their cameras - with patience, contemplatively, allowing the camera to do everything it needs to do before asking more, left on etc.

No more patience or contemplation than usual. Some of us have been using film Ms since the sixties or seventies so we begin to know a bit how to use a camera. Digital did not change anything to that, except that connectivity and burst mode are not our (at least my) cup of tea. For the rest, i have posted my own tips already and i don't see anything useful to add pending the next firmware update i'm not in a hurry to get personally.

[scott kirkpatrick]

I think I also use a digital camera about the same way as I would have used film Leicas or Nikons, which is where i started out in the 1980s. I might shoot a bit faster, and certainly shoot more, now that we no longer have to pay for film, load and clean up tanks, or spend long nights in darkrooms.  When a beta test opportunity comes along, I can make 'em fail, but not on my shift.

[84bravo]

2 hours ago, IkarusJohn said:

It might be interesting to know how those who have had no issues use their cameras - with patience, contemplatively, allowing the camera to do everything it needs to do before asking more, left on etc. 

I use an M11 professionally. I don't abuse my gear, but I do use it hard and it does get knocked around. I make a lot of photos on a daily basis. Touch wood, I haven't had any issues with my M11. I'm running the latest firmware, but I didn't have any issues with the previous version either.

I hope I didn't just jinx myself...

[ianforber]

11 hours ago, IkarusJohn said:

I’m laid up recuperating from further surgery on my foot and facing sartorial shift surgery in the next few weeks (metastatic melanoma, for those of a medical bent). The Masters has kept me entertained. Looks like another win for Scottie Sheffler. 

The forum is also providing distraction. 

It’s interesting how some topics are evergreen. SD cards (problematic since the get go) and others. What has struck me is how we take photos, and I wonder if this has greater effect on the M11 issues than we think. 

Coming from over 40 years of film (most with Kodachrome) before my first real digital camera (an M9), my habits remain relatively unchanged, some good, some not so much:

• I replace the lens cap after each shot - if your camera faces the sun, it’s easy to burn a hole in the shutter curtain, particularly the rubber coated cloth shutter of the Leica film cameras 
• I don’t use filters (except for black & white)
• I do use hoods for flare and lens protection 
• I turn my camera off between shots 
• I never machine gun shots 

All this tends to mean I take very few photos.  Having thought about where I want to take the picture, exposure, focus etc, I don’t feel the need to take another similar shot.  I appreciate this is not a good thing.  It’s just an ingrained habit.

Why’s that relevant here?  Well, I wonder if M11 users are playing whackamole with the underlying issues - profiles, SD cards, bluetooth, Fotos, Visoflex, lens codes, and my favourite, I’m alright jack. 

Perhaps it’s not just one of these things, but a combination of too much happening all at once, heat management, random software conflicts and hardware failings. 

It might be interesting to know how those who have had no issues use their cameras - with patience, contemplatively, allowing the camera to do everything it needs to do before asking more, left on etc. 

If this was a simple fault, Leica would surely have fixed it by now. 
 

Like most here, I also come from the film era. I don’t use the same specific approach that you have set out but I do use the camera relatively slowly. For example, I rarely have the urge to look at the picture I have just taken so don’t press the play button and risking interrupting the camera while it is still writing the image(s) to the SD card. I do however keep the camera on , even pressing the shutter button slightly so that it remains awake while I walk around. I also keep the drive mode on continuous-low even though I almost always take one shot at a time (largely because if I see an opportunity that needs me to pan a moving object I only need quickly to adjust the shutter speed to get the effect). 

I often return from a day’ shooting with fewer than 10 shots, sometimes around 50 unless I’m in a place I haven’t visited before and am unlikely to do so again in which case I might take many more than that. 

I’ve never had my camera freeze on me but, as others have said, plenty of those reporting freezes use their cameras in a similar way but have been plagued with problems. 

[DadDadDaddyo]

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When I'm using a Leica it seems really fast to me, but probably seems ridiculously slow to anyone around me. 

I'm another old film guy: loaded my first Nikor reel in 1961 and did my first important Leica shoot in 1968 when my Dad let me use his IIIc and Hektor 135 to shoot pictures at a Jimi Hendrix concert. I still have that piece of film, and when my Dad passed away his camera equipment came to me as well. 

The biggest changes in how I shoot with a Leica are the result of losing the need to wind the film and cock the shutter before the next shot! With the IIIc and IIIg I got good at the technique of winding the film without using my thumb, that is, by (it takes a lot longer to describe than to do) engaging the film advanced knob with the side of my right index finger starting at the base of the index finger, pressing the side of the finger against the knob, and pulling the finger rearward in a single motion, winding the knob with the side of the index finger in the process. 

When I got a dual stroke M3 the film advance lever felt revolutionary to me. 

But with all that, I didn't really shoot more film, I was just ready quicker for taking the next slow shot.

I'm an old medium format guy as well (Mamiya and Hasselblad), and also revel in large format (4x5, 5x7, 8x10), stuck on a tripod, under a view cloth, with a loupe, making tiny adjustments. Slow shooting kind of comes naturally.

Lens cap: shirt pocket, left trouser pocket in a pinch, always and forever. I never have to look for the things, let alone buy replacements, so far, at least.

Having the meter in the camera sped things up a bunch too. I've been a Gossen user practically forever. Proficiency with a handheld meter shaped how I use the in-camera meter, usually on spot, sometimes on multi-zone or highlight weighted, never on center weighted or even worse, averaging. 

All of this adds up; I'm a slow shooter, and of relatively few shots. 

I don't think of myself as a flower photographer, but it seems that every year when the first perennials appear in our yard, I'm out there taking pictures. Yesterday I had the M11 out with the Macro-Elmar 90, the double-helicoid Macro Adapter M, and the Visoflex 2. Shooting handheld. Set the focus for the image size I'm after, then move in and out to make it sharp. Wide open aperture. High shutter speed. Gorgeous blurred backgrounds. Because it's such a dynamic situation, constantly in motion, in and out of focus, as I move in and out, as the flowers sway, as I try to keep the framing right, this is when I tend to fire fairly rapid bursts of single shots. No freezes yesterday. Pulled some shots into Fotos. Everything worked beautifully. 

Sorry to hear you're laid up, Ikarus. It's tough for anyone as actively inquisitive as a photographer to be stopped by something. Lee Friedlander did a wonderful book entitled "Stems" when he was stuck in his house recuperating from knee replacement. It's all still-lifes of plants. Beautiful work. The poor guy must have been going crazy. I met him once, when he received an honorary degree. He had his camera as he marched in the academic procession, taking pictures of the assembled crowd while he marched in. When I chatted with him about that, he said he couldn't not have done it. This was easily understandable. 

But yes, having my roots in Analog photography and chemical darkroom work unquestionably shaped how I use a digital camera. I'm glad for the advancement, but especially grateful for the continuity. 

Edited April 23, 2024 by DadDadDaddyo

[Stephen.s1]

On 4/14/2024 at 6:51 PM, IkarusJohn said:

All this tends to mean I take very few photos.  Having thought about where I want to take the picture, exposure, focus etc, I don’t feel the need to take another similar shot.  I appreciate this is not a good thing.  It’s just an ingrained habit.

Amen brother.