Travels with Leica I

[wai_leong_lee]

I was in California from Feb 10, travelling down the central coast

(San Francisco, Yosemite, Monterey, Big Sur, etc) and also spent a

week in New York. Just got back to Singapore Mar 4.

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Would like to share some travel experiences with the forumwith a few

postings on different aspects of the trip.

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Part I is equipment-related, to discuss what worked and what didn't.

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Part II will discuss the Leica users I met and the Leica shops I went to.

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Part III will be about the photography (although I haven't developed

any of my rolls yet).

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<B>The equipment</B>

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I brought 2 bodies (M3 and M4), 4 lenses (24/2.8 + viewfinder, 35/1.4

asph + 35 mm viewfinder (for use with M3), 90/2.8 TE and 135/4 Elmar),

miscellaneous filters and step-up rings, a small Unomat flash, cable

release, hotshoe spirit level, softie releases, Ultrapod II, 1.25x

magnifier, Leica lens holder, a Leica neoprene strap for the M3 and a

Lutz Sling for the M4, a small cleaning kit, and my Gossen light meter.

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I also brought over 50 rolls of film, including Tri-X, Provia 100/400,

Velvia 50/100/100F, Sensia, E100VS, 400UC, Efke 25/50, Delta 100, Pan

F+, Scala, etc. In the end, I prob only used about 20-25 rolls.

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This trip was a vacation with the wife and not a pure photographic

trip, thus I could not do the things that a serious photographer would

(ie wait for the light, take lots of time with setup and composition,

etc).

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<B>What worked</B>

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All my lenses saw good use, although the 35 mm was the most-used (as a

normal lens). Surprisingly, I used the 24 mm mainly for closeup or

interior shots than for outdoor landscapes. 24 mm makes distant

objects so small it's really hard to fill the foreground with interest.

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The 90 and 135 lenses were really great for landscapes (eg 17-mile

drive, Manhattan skyline, Statue of Liberty, etc) and I wished that I

could get a 2x tele-converter even.

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The Leica lens holder is really useful, helps a lot when changing

lenses and as a vertical grip, I only had one but wish I had two, one

for each body.

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The softies were really useful for shooting with gloved hands. The

winter wind was really cold! I know now why some people epoxy them to

the shutter button-- they kept unscrewing and dropping.

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The flash worked ok, although it's a pain to use x-sync cables and to

manage the settings, even with an auto flash. Times Square was so

bright I could use a flash at 1/50 5.6 to fill in my wife's face

against the neon background. I don't have the slides yet but I'm

pretty confident it came out all right, even without sophisticated

flash metering.

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<B>What didn't work so well</B>

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Using filters is a real pain. Transferring filters across different

lenses using step-up rings was a real hassle, esp. with the hoods.

Using the polarizer was also a pain, I had to hold it in my hand to

get the correct setting, then screw it on correctly on to the lens,

and would have to remember to adjust for both portrait and landscape

shots.

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Shooting both B&W and colour also created a lot of hassle, as I had to

unscrew my orange filters when I shot colour and put them on again for

B&W.

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I also tended to get finger marks on the filters, and cleaning them in

the field (and at night in the hotel room) was another hassle.

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I really missed my 50/2 DR. I made a decision not to bring it because

the Hadley Pro was just straining at my shoulder with just the above

equipment, and I felt I could cover the photo opportunities with just

4 lenses. However, there were many times when I felt that using a 50

mm would have given me the best image quality, for both landscape and

portrait pictures.

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For example, the 50 would have been ideal for shooting the famous

Merill Lynch bull at Wall Street. It would have been just the right

distance and just the right framing. I tried using the 90 TE to take

the shot from the road below the bus stop but was nearly run down by

an incoming bus. I also used the 24 real close to fill the frame. I

haven't processed it yet, but the bull might be a little distorted. It

could be more creative than a standard headon shot. Anyway, we'll see.

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Shooting both black and white and color film is a pain, esp if I

wanted the same scene in the same focal length in both black and white

and color. Changing lens and changing bodies takes time, esp. if I

also have to mount a finder as well to use on the M3.

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The Ultrapod is not as steady as I thought. The ballhead creeps when

tightening, so I had to compensate. Finding good spots to use the

Ultrapod was also not easy. And with the cold and how long it takes

just to set up everything (change to desired lens, meter, set

aperture/shutter for desired DOF, unscrew lens holder and screw on

Ultrapod, level camera and compensate, unscrew softie and screw on

cable release, etc), I did not get much use out of it. In the end, I

generally handheld anything faster than 1/8 and hoped for the best.

We'll know when the film is developed.

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I had only one camera strap, wish I had two-- would have made shooting

two bodies more convenient.

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I didn't use my 1.25 magnifier at all. No time to screw and unscrew,

esp. with the -1.5 diopters I already had on my two bodies.

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<B>Conclusion</B>

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Shooting both colour and black and white is a real hassle if you want

to use real filters. If you are ok with scanning your negs/chromes, it

would be easier to use Photoshop software "filters" during

post-processing and save all the work of changing filters. The only

thing you would then need is a polarizer and an orange filter (for

B&W), and perhaps a UV filter at high altitudes such as Yosemite.

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Shooting both colour and B&W is a real pain. If you want convenience,

I suppose scanning your negs/chromes followed by a good B&W workflow

will have to do.

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Don't leave behind a 50 mm lens. It is a real useful focal length.

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Changing lenses is a real real pain. I wish Leica made a good zoom

lens, like maybe 28-90 mm. The Tri-Elmar just doesn't meet my needs.

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Get an SOS strap for your bag. I did at B&H. It really does make the

load a lot lighter.

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Using a Leica on a tripod is quite inconvenient, esp. if you have a

Leica lens holder and softie. If this was a real photographic

expedition I would have brought my RRS quick release plate and a real

tripod, and dedicated one body for such shots.

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ROR cleaning fluid really works. I bought some at B&H and was

surprised that it was even better than the stuff I had.

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===To be continued in Part II===

[john_shriver]

I'll second the positive comment on ROR! I bought a 28/3.5 Canon LTM lens from Jack's Camera on eBay for a really nice price (he was very honest about the slightest condition defects), and I was amazed how clean it was on arrival. I asked him how he cleaned it, and he said ROR. Sold on it, even if it might just be overpriced Windex without the blue dye.

[frederick_muller]

I agree that carrying both color and black and white is a pain, and changing filters is a pain as well. I used to carry Fuji Superia 400, Ilford HP5 and Ilford FP4, with orange filters for the black and white. Maybe 90 pct of my shooting is at 400. I now find it much more convenient to just carry the Superia 400 and convert to B&W in photoshop. Then I carry the odd rolls of Ilford FP4 or Delta 3200 for the other 10 per cent. If I'm carrying three bodies, I can now use Superia 400 in two of them, with different lenses on each to save time and alway have some film loaded. The third body can stay loaded with one of the B&W films.

[pc_b]

Hi Wai-Leong

 

I liked your thoughtful report on your equipment (!) and I am looking forward to the

forthcoming parts.

 

Some ideas that came to my mind while reading:

 

For once try interchanging lenses with one camera around your neck and the other over

your shoulder. Unmount both lenses simultaneously, then mount the one from the side

onto your 'belly camera' and mount the remaining lens two-handedly onto your 'side

camera'. This routine works wonderfully for me.

 

Using Leica grips might solve your tripod head creep problem. Quick change plates on

cameras you carry around your neck/on your shoulder usually poke your belly/sides their

corners.

 

My 'solution' to the 1.25x/diopter problem: Nothing on the camera when using a wide

angle (I would need a -2.0) and the -2.0 glued onto the 1.25x and on camera as soon as a

50mm or longer is on. I have the 1.25x on a short nylon leash just dangling when not in

use.

 

My personal 'solution' for the softie loss problem: I developed a tick of checking them

every 5 minutes.... ;-)))))) And I carry a spare, because I cannot live without them.

 

Cheers, Peter

[Troll]

What happened to the report on travel with a Leica I?

[michael_rutchik]

I have only found one great way to do the color/BW thing. I bring 2 M3s and my 2 50s (summicron and elmar). You're right about always having to switch lenses and filters...too much fumbling, not enough picture taking. Even with my solution, I sometimes find I have the elmar on the wrong camera. To minimize this conflict, I shoot 400 speed film in both cameras (400UC and TriX). This also makes metering simpler. But ideally I would probably like a second summicron. Maybe a collapsible.

 

Ultimately, this solution makes shooting both color and BW on a single outing more interesting and productive. I have been collecting some nice juxtapositions of similar locales shot in both films.

 

On occasions where limiting myself to only the two 50s is not enough, then I usually choose between bw and color...in which case I usually find myself only needing one camera.

 

At least life has gotten simpler when I switch to 2 M3s. I used to have an M3 and an M2. Each camera always seemed to have the wrong color film in it. On the day I found myself rewinding mid-roll to switch films between the 2 cameras I knew it was time to trade the M2 for an M3.

[www.photo.netphotoscas]

Interesting topic. I have found that for me works very well using the Leica M6 for B/W and the Mamiya 6 for color.

Salinas