W/NW Pic-O'-The Week #14

Sorry folks, I was engrossed in a religious holiday tonight. Thought I'd be able to get to this much sooner. Anyways, late but still time to post. Put em up lads. Find a photo you like and think to yourself "me too" and post it here. I'll start with a photo of a friend on a Leica M7 35 cron. Lets see yours.

London. M10 with Summicron 35mm. Still need practise on "pre-focus" for these unexpected moments.

FrankenLeica Saturday. ...

 

Here are just a few of my past "creations" - the one at the bottom is my latest.

MP, 35mm 'lux, Veelvia (100)

M4, Summarit 50mm, Eastman Double X, Rodinal 1+100 semistand.

by bc50099

Leica M6, 21mm Asph. Elmarit-M

 

Pima Air Museum, near Tuscon, AZ

Spi der Lilly Bloom. Fed-2 / Jupiter-8, Kentmere400, OA & V600 scan. Aloha, Bill

M8 + "goggles" Elmarit 135/2.8

Hi everyone, hope you had a safe Easter time, and found the tomb empty, as they say.

Bill Bowes, that's a very good shot. And Uhooru, bravo. billblackwellphotograpy - what a collection. My two shots are from our Easter Friday dinner when we invited two 'grey nomads' to dinner - they are setting off on a round Oz trip in a couple of weeks. Envy them greatly. Both taken with my monochrom, which I am warming to, if only for immediacy, with my trusty voigtlander 75mm lens. With flash (following recommendations from this site). Regards, Arthur (apiarist1)

Just as an ask; I probably need diopter lenses for the eyepiece. My cursory scan on the net shows that they are well, exorbitantly priced from leica. Are there any aftermarket suppliers, or alternatives, which are more reasonably priced. I'm assuming the monochrom m has a native diopter of -0.5. I'd probably need a 2.00, 2.50, or 3.00 (ah, age does weary and the years do condemn). Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Regards, Arthur (apiarist1)

Arthur. Get a set of the "cheap" reading glasses at a local store. These come in most common "diopter" grades. Until I started using the FSU Fed's & Zorki's, I had a set of these around my neck (on a stringy thing). It might look funny to some seeing a man running about with two sets of glasses (I wear bifocals!), but it beats a 2nd mortgage on the house for the Leica sets. Even my K1000 camera's were a piggy bank breaker. The Spyder Lilly's are all over the place here in Waimanalo, so they get a work over when I come off the beach from my Dawn Patrol sunrise work. Aloha, Bill

Just as an ask; I probably need diopter lenses for the eyepiece. My cursory scan on the net shows that they are well, exorbitantly priced from leica. Are there any aftermarket suppliers, or alternatives, which are more reasonably priced. I'm assuming the monochrom m has a native diopter of -0.5. I'd probably need a 2.00, 2.50, or 3.00 (ah, age does weary and the years do condemn). Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Regards, Arthur (apiarist1)

Check eBay for used Leica diopters; there are no alternatives I am aware of.

 

I tried a 1.5 Leica diopter many years ago and it worked, but now I simply wear my glasses ...

I think I'll give Bill Bowes idea a go. It will cost only $5.95 from our local dollar shop. Am I right in assuming the native diopter is -0.5? Thanks, Arthur (apiarist1)

Pop into the store WITH THE CAMERA & test drive the set of your choice. . . also look for one of those "stringy things". Aloha, Bill

On occasion I use two Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic bodies with telephoto lenses. As I am nearsighted, a friend of mine cut two lenses out of cheater reading glasses and carefully sanded and fitted them into the Spotmatic viewfinder recess. They worked great until my vision prescription changed too much towards farsighted. I don't think it could be done for LTM bodies, perhaps possible on Ms, but very doable on reflex camera bodies. I hang my eyeglasses on foam "Croakies" where the back section has enough red foam to keep glasses floating when wind blows my glasses off while boating.

Arthur, $6 drug store glasses for a $6,000 camera? I know the Leica diopters are probably overpriced but if you put out the cash for a Monochrom seems like you'd want to take full advantage of that viewfinder. $119 isn't much compared to the price of the camera. I've lost one or two of them because they've unscrewed and dropped on the ground without me knowing it. Now I check them from time to time and just make sure they're snug and all is good.

Hello again everyone. Ray, the FSU rangefinders are "prone" to having little screws, internal & external, coming off. If I notice a loose screw (not in the mirror), I put a dab of nail polish on the threads when securing the little beggar. . .seldom do they come loose without a screw driver. Aloha, Bill

Thanks Ray, but it's the exchange rate (Oz to DM). New ones here cost A$ a bit over twice your estimate. It was a bit of a rash decision - with debt - to buy the monochrom, and the moment I'm only using legacy lenses from my LTM cameras. So, I've taken Bill Bowes advice, got myself $5.95 specs and the 'stringy thing' (love that) from our local dollar shop. Took the camera with me and +1.5 works a treat (which surprised me. I thought the M system's native diopter was -0.5, so that I'd need a + 2.5 - my current eyeglass diopter is + 2.0). I know, it's inconvenient, and you're probably right, and I should get it properly done, but I'm aware of two things. First, I'm just getting used to the camera - I still have my M6 and a IIIf, which I enjoy. I haven't remotely mastered the post processing needed with digital, but am warming to it. Second, I'm getting older, and eyesight deteriorates rapidly as we age. I expect my current diopter will only last a couple of years.

 

Thanks Bill Bowes for the advice. Greatly appreciated. And if you don't see a 'loose screw' in the mirror, tell me, what do you see?. LOL.

 

Thanks again. And as a gesture, over Easter, Jan and I visited her niece and her 6 week old baby, Annabelle. Herewith a shot. I am warming to this camera. Maybe with the new eyeglasses, I'll be better able to nail focus

And looking at that photo, I think I've already got dust on the sensor. Look forward to more contributions. Regards, Arthur (apiarist1)

And looking at that photo, I think I've already got dust on the sensor. Look forward to more contributions. Regards, Arthur (apiarist1)

There were two very stubborn specs of dust on my sensor that resisted air blowing. With encouragement from my local Leica buddies, I used a swab (and a tiny drop of cleaning fluid on the swab) and cleaned the sensor. Much less traumatic than I feared!

I also went thru the "dust on the sensor" dread with my XE-1 and like you, elected for the wet cleaning after the Hurricane blower did nothing. Now after a session, I take two frames of the blue sky. . one horizontal, the other vertical. Any sensor "blobs" will be spotted much earlier. Aloha, Bill Edited April 4, 2018 by Bill Bowes

There were two very stubborn specs of dust on my sensor that resisted air blowing. With encouragement from my local Leica buddies, I used a swab (and a tiny drop of cleaning fluid on the swab) and cleaned the sensor. Much less traumatic than I feared!

Unfortunately, sensor spots are the cost of shooting with a Leica M digital (they're all prone to it). I use a "rocket" air blower after nearly every use of the camera (this catches most of it). What that doesn't catch get's cloned out in post-processing. Although I know there's nothing to fear about it, I absolutely hate wet swabbing the sensor!

 

I shot with a Canon 5D Mk II (& later a Mk III) for ~5-years and never needed to clean a sensor. Not even once!!!