Leica Cat

Interesting critters these Lecia.... Kinda like a cat. You are

just passing through their world. They will let you pet them but

you really have to know them. I have a feeling that once you get to

know one it really purrrrs. Now that I got that out of the way..

 

Yesterday I went out, not with intention of taking the world best

photos ( good thing, because that is definitely not happening). I

had the intention of building my confidence of sticking a camera in

peoples faces and snapping the photo. Well I did that, but a lot of

the film I took did not come out due to my own metering stupidity.

(that I can fix). I did build a little confidence though.

 

I had a couple of photos that I took with the camera in the

vertical position that were under exposed and had these line through

them. I hope that it is a flub on my part and not the camerea.

Some of them did this but the properly exposed photos did not, so i

think it was because of my incorrect exposure that this happened.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

skinny

Here was one that did ok. Please ignore my composition.

Skinny -- might I suggest practicing with the camera in a controlled environment...it might

help you out. I don't know what happened to your first photo, but it is out of focus, the

exposure is wrong, it has those lines, and a weird blue tone. Is it safe to assume that you

are not processing these negatives yourself? The first one seems like a scanning or

processing problem more than anything in the camera. As for the second image, it is also

out of focus. You have focused for the shelf or wall behind him. You can see in the image

how that is sharp, and the man is blurry. Unlike an SLR, you cannot see when things are

blurry in the viewfinder, so you need to make sure that the RF patch is directly over what

you want to focus on. Then, if you don't want that in the center, you have to make sure

you don't move closer or further from the subject, otherwise it will be out of focus again.

<P>Again, this image has the same odd blue tone, which unless you put it in their on

purpose, is most likely from the scanner. In any case, I recommend reading the manual's

suggestions for focusing and exposure, and practice about your home on still objects.

Once you can properly expose and focus for still objects, then head out and try to

photograph people.

Thanks Stewart,

 

I have used the rangefinder on my speed graphic many time but never in such close quaters.. I have never done it with such spontinaity. (I think I spelled that right)

 

I am figuring out the focus lever and the spots of distance. I am also trying to get use to the old F stop readings. I am using an old GE meter which is in good working cond., but it doesn't have some of the same readings.. I am not at all blaming my misexposures on that. I kinda shot blind... Thinking to myself that I was getting though a personal boundary of taking photos of people, BANG! yes the film was one hour so that might explain the lines. I have to get thing set up to develop my own again.. I stopped when my daughter was born so I didn't have the chemicals around.

 

Anyway any help I can get is help that i need Thank you for any tips and such.

 

Skinny

 

Thanks

skinny

The fact that an old GE meter works at all is amazing. Usually the cell is long dead! Also, GE meters were mostly callibrated in "GE speeds" for film, which is not the exact same as ASA speed, nor is it the same as "Weston speed". ASA was supposed to standardize things. Anyway, don't depend on that meter!

What year did leica start making meters? Are the ones from the early M's still reliable? ( cond. pending i know)

Skinny

Skinny-As I remember a previous post you have acquired a 50 some-odd year old thread mount Leica and a 50 Summar or Summarit. You also mentioned one of those old GE handheld meters. These battery-less selenium cell meters were so well made they easily have outlived their accuracy. In their dotage they record higher levels of light which leads to underexposure.

 

The lines on the first photo seem to be scratches on the film surface. Inspect your negatives to see if the lines span adjacent exposures. The could be caused by your one hour processor or could reflect rough treatment in loading or rewinding.

 

Stuart is correct in noting that your second example is clearly focused less on the subject than on his background. Older cameras sometimes need rangefinder adjustments. Test your range finder at infinity by focusing on a clear object some 100 yards or so away. Test the other end of its range by photographing a low angle shot of a tape measure at 8 or 10 feet.

 

About three years ago I was quoted a price of $85.00 by Mark Hama for adjusting a screw mount Leica's rangefinder and treating the prism to increase the contrast. Mr. Hama has enjoyed an excellent reputation despite one noteable complaint from a cranky former participant in this forum. Check http://www.markhama.com

 

Both photos seem to be shot at about f/8. Perhaps a larger aperture and a faster shutter speed would have served you better.

 

I approve of your efforts to become less self-conscious about photographing strangers. Amateurs like me can afford tender sensibilites. Pros step up and pull the trigger.

 

Keep shooting.

Skinny, I'm sure all the advice here is valid but I'd take a little closer look at your scanning technique.<div></div>

I would check the GE by taking a reading off a frontally sunlit "average scene" within two hours of noon. An average scene goes something like: a red brick building with a lawn in front, and a white dog on the porch, plus a black mailbox, a northern sky in the background--well, you know, a wide range of tones that average to a medium gray. Check to see if the meter agrees with the sunny 16 rule: f/16 at 1/the film ISO index. So if using FP-4 (ISO 125) then it's f/16 at 1/125. For Tri-X, 1/500 at f/11 and 1/2 (Tri-X is 400, not 500, but you don't have a 1/400 on your camera).

<p>

After you take the reading, take the picture at the sunny 16 exposure. If the meter said anything much different than the sunny 16 rule, there's something wrong with it. If the meter reads 1/125 at 11, when it should be closer to 16, that could just be individual variation in the meter calibration, or it could be your technique, or maybe the scene wasn't <i>quite</i> average.

<p>

If the meter says 1/500 at 16, or 1/125 at 8, when it should have said 1/125 at 16, it's defective. Now look at the negative that you made with that exposure. If it is very thin, the shutter is off. Likewise if it's much too dense. The idea is to test the meter and the camera under standard conditions. Direct sunlight on a clear day doesn't vary much.

<p>

For testing purposes, the subject must not be of an extreme reflectance in either direction. White buildings and dark brown barns are out. Stick to medium tones, and a mixture of them, as I described. Small black or white areas within an overall medium scene are fine. Of course, once you have established that your equipment is reliable, then you can photograph any tones you want.

<p>

Try this with a variety of shutter speed/aperture combinations so as to check your various shutter speeds. In this way you will be using process-of-elimination troubleshooting to find the problem.

 

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." --Sherlock Holmes.

Skinny,

 

If the shutter speed for the striped picture was 1/1000 or 1/500, then the problem may be irregularities (dents, dirt, other roughness) at the edges of the shutter curtains. If the metal edges of the curtains aren't straight and smooth, then the width of the shutter opening is not the same across the height of the frame (for a vertical shot like yours, it's the width). This is true at any shutter speed, but you only notice it at the highest speeds, where roughness becomes a visible fraction of the total slit width.