My Filmless Day in Osaka with the M8 and RD-1s

[Alex_Es]

Yesterday, Sunday, my best friend in Kobe and fellow Leica photographer, Graeme, and I shot on Ebisu

Bridge in Osaka. He used an M6 and M3. I used an M8 and RD-1s. I was utterly filmless. It was an

exhilarating experience. My only worry was running out of battery power.

 

I packed the recharger for the RD-1s. I could not pack it and the recharger for M8 together. I decided

against packing the M8 recharger because of it non-retractable prongs. I feared they could get

damaged.

 

My outfit was as described it in my previous thread. In detail: Skopar 21/4 + Leica 28mm finder;

Canon 25/3.5; Ultron 28/1.9; Summilux 35/1.4 (pre-Asph.); Summicron 35/2 Asph; Nikkor S 2000

50/1.4 + Nikon S to Leica coupler; Heliar 50/3.5; Elmarit (goggles) 135/2.8 + Voightlander ball grip;

RD-1 recharger + cord in two soft cases; M8; RD-1s. And I did not forget my pants.

 

I took some of these lenses, notably the 135/2.8 for experimental purposes. I needed two 35s because

the RD-1s does not focus quite well with the ?cron 35/2. (A quirky camera.) I wanted to see how the

21 + 28 Finder functioned together. The Heliar came along on a whim. I admit to being a pack rat.

The bag was amazingly light considering its contents. All the lenses, the 135/2.8 excepted are fairly

light. The heaviest lens after the 135/2.8 was the 35/2 Asph. at 255 grams. The absence of film

canisters lightened the bag considerably. I used every one of the lenses except, strangely the 50/1.4.

 

Note that RD-1s crops at 1.5 and the M8 at 1.33.

 

Osaka?s ghastly city government in 2004 tore down the original Ebisu Bridge. A new bridge is under

construction. The operational bridge is narrow. It is still a gathering place for strange people and

tourists, who pause to photograph the Dotonbori River (actually a canal) and buildings on either side of

the bridge. The bridge is also a famous as pickup spot and a place to be noticed. The bridge is always

packed and people walk at a fast pace. Street photography there is like Nintendo. Over the years I?ve

tended to range focus and often shoot ?blind.? Using the 135/2.8 in this fast moving mob scene was a

singular experience.

 

The 21/4 and the 28 finder on the M8 worked well, especially in the range focus mode. But I quickly

found I was not getting close enough. I switched the25, then 28, then the 35 and finally the 135. I

used the ?lux 35/1.4 on the RD-1s. The 135 on the M8 gave me the equ. of about 180mm. The 35 on

the RD-1s was equ. to about 50mm. This is the combination I found myself most comfortable for 90

percent of my shooting on the bridge and out the window of the nearby Starbuck?s. I was grateful to

the M8?s motor drive. The ball grip on the 135 was great in making that huge lens handholdable.

Should mention that it was overcast. I shot the M8 at ISO 1250 and the RD-1s at 1600.

 

The M8 and RD-1s harmonized surprisingly well together.

 

The human factor. Every other person has a camera on the bridge. A lot of people who dressed to be

noticed on the bridge cheerfully posed for me. They were the stock poses with the ?V? peace sign. But

that was all part of the experience.

 

At the end of the day both cameras? batteries were about spent. By that time I was home and the

friendly outlets recharged the batteries in no time.

 

Overall impressions are obvious ones. Instant feedback from the camera to see how I was doing was

great. I missed the full framing of my film Leicas. Also nether digital cameras rewind could compete

with a film Leica + mother or Rapidwinder. I would not take these cameras on any project where there

was not a handy electrical outlet.

 

But I am now wondering if will ever use a film camera on Ebisu Bridge again. The Nintendo-like

situation I described earlier used to burn a lot of rolls of film, and a fair amount of my money. Most

rolls would yield only a couple of good frames. Rarely did I get a perfect 36. This time shooting on

the bridge cost nothing and I could edit out failures. I?ll be post the results by and by. All are in color.

Color always overwhelms me on the bridge. But when Craig Cooper and I did the bridge together he

shot only black and white and did a brilliant job.

 

Odds and ends.

 

At one point, when using the 135 to shoot through a dusky restaurant window, not only was there a

focus shift but a framing shift as well. On the street the 135 was fine.

 

When I came home I got a distraught phone call from the new guy at the local photo shop. Seems he

accidentally scrooched my roll of Tri-X by putting it in with the color film. Not to worry, I assured him.

I did not think that roll had anything too important. But welcome to the age we live in. I had my day?s

work in front of me, unscroochable, except by me.

 

Give up on film? No. I?m finally going to learn to do develop my own black and white film!

[Alex_Es]

I meant to post this:<div></div>

[mark_ryan2]

Were they shooting a Bon Jovi video?

 

I too noticed when I was travelling that younger Japanese people do the two-finger sign. Is that really a peace sign, or something particular to Japanese youth?

 

I find with digital that I'm more apt to really explore variations in exposure and framing. Not quite spray-n-pray, but more experimental.

 

Mark

[mike dixon]

The "peace sign" is also ubiquitous among young people in Korea. In Japan, I even got it from construction workers on a few occasions. I have a shot from Kyoto where I was at least 150 meters aways photographing guys doing maintenance work on a building, and the guy at the top of the ladder is smiling at me with those two fingers raised up next to his face.

[mike dixon]

<i>I would not take these cameras on any project where there was not a handy electrical outlet.</i><P>

Why not? Just get some extra batteries. I've gone a few days without ready access to an outlet while traveling in Japan and Vietnam, and I never came close to running out of juice for my camera or portable hard drive.

[nels]

One small step for mankind, a giant leap for a man.

[lutz]

I always thought that sign stands for "victory", which in my (German/European) understanding is different from "peace"...?

[roger_smith4]

Don't think it stands for victory in Japan...

[vivek iyer]

Alex, As Mike said, just load up on the batteries. It is also good to start to do your own B&W developing. Imagine what that poor uninformed photoshop guy might have done to his color chemicals (and other films)!

 

Only once, I had a shop develop an XP2 super as a true B&W film. The results weren't bad though!

[35mmdelux]

Nice shot. The V sign stands for Peace!

[sam_crater]

Originally the peace sign was supposed to be with the fingers held touching each other rather than splayed in a 'V'. But in the scrambled brains of the late 60's and early 70's, a lot of things got confused.

[lutz]

Where would we be without <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign">Wikipedia</a>?<p><center><img src="http://www.number-10.gov.uk/files/images/WC%20V%20sign1.jpg"></center>

[paulr]

I've always been a fan of your Ebisu Bridge series, film or digital. Could care less about the

techy stuff.

 

http://blog.magnumphotos.com/ (see Chris Steele-Perkins photo)

 

http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2006/12/finding_exoticism_at_home.html

 

Manos talks about finding exoticism at home.

 

 

best wishes

 

Paul

[Robin Smith]

Of course in Britain the V-sign presented the other way around (palm facing your face) means "f***k off/you", so it is vitally important to get it right there (and in many other Commonwealth countries). Certainly it is only in Asia it seems it means "peace". As Lutz says to Britons it means Victory. So...not all that useful as a gesture in the UK.