anon_terry

<i>It sounds to me to be less interesting than a Hexar RF.</i>

<p>Maybe in terms of the tale of the tape. But the M7, if the rumors

are true, scores one knockout punch in that it will be specifically

designed to work properly with your Leica M lenses. I'll take that

any day over the "maybe, maybe not" situation with the RF. I

actually asked an eBay seller, gr8fuldoug1 (who has been selling the

bulk of the new RFs available there) two months ago about the

situation. He told me that to this day he still gets returns from

people who say their bodies aren't focusing their Leica lenses

properly.

I don't use a neckstrap at all (in fact mine is still factory sealed

in the box). Instead I have a wrist strap attached to the left strap

lug, and when I don't have the camera to my eye, I carry it in my

left palm with the lens facing my thigh. This way I never have to

bother with a lens cap and I've never had to worry about burnt

shutter curtains. When not shooting I carry my M in a Domke F-

5XB "purse" along with 9 rolls of film, batteries, Sunpak 383, gel

set, and point-and-shoot.

I'm sure the M telephotos are great lenses but we have to face it,

that's not the strength of the M system. For portraits I use the

Canon 85mm/1.2L, but I'm thinking of going medium format for that

purpose. Horses for courses.

OK Dexter, I'll try again, this time assuming you're trying to humor

me rather than being a smart-assed jerkoff. The baseplate of the M6

is made of brass, which we all know is a very soft alloy (compare the

brass top plates of most M3s, M2s, and M4s, vs the zinc-alloy of a

well-used M6 - see the difference in dent severity?). Drop the

baseplate just once, just so that the edge catches the floor, and

you'll likely dent it enough that you might not be able to mount it

back on the camera without a little plier-work. Yes, it's happened

to me before, on a wooden floor, and turned a mint 0.85 non-TTL from

a collectible into a user (not that I cared, but the delay in

mounting the plate back on was a pain in the ass). If you shoot

professionally and have to change film on the fly, it will likely

happen to you. It's not a matter of if, but when. This solution

took me exactly $2 and 5 minutes to implement. Hardly a complication

and I don't worry about the baseplate anymore. Next time think about

what you write BEFORE you write it, and maybe you'll figure things

out before you make yourself look foolish. And even if you don't

figure it out, if you ask politely you can't go wrong.

<i>...or you can just put it in your pants pocket or--gasp--place it

on a nearby table. why would you have to make it complicated?</i>

<p>Er... um... gee... let me think... MAYBE SO I DON'T DROP IT???

Gasp! Ack! Whoa! Hang on there! Jesus, some people really need to

have things spelled out for them don't they??

<i>The only real disadvantage to M6 camera loading, I find, is having

to find somewhere to keep the base-plate while you do it.</i>

<p>There is a fix to this - you should be able to find a way

to "leash" the baseplate to the right strap lug. How I do it is, I

don't use a neckstrap for my M6, I just use a wrist strap attached to

the left strap lug and have the camera in my palm, lens facing my

thigh when not in use. This leaves the right strap lug free, to

which I've attached an O-ring. Then, I screw one of those old-style

leather wrist straps with 1/4" screw posts into the baseplate, and

attach the wrist loop to the O-ring. So when I change the film I

just leave the baseplate dangling.

<i>"... no real Apeture priority only on two speeds..."</i>

<p>I don't get this statement... perhaps he's mistaken here.

<i>"Courtesy dictates that one be sensitive to another person's needs

and wishes,...</i>

<p>Precisely. And until you know what those needs and wishes are,

perhaps it would be a good idea, as I said, to err on the side of

prudence and assume that the person values his or her privacy, until

you know otherwise.

<p><i>"... not that you abstain from making contact with them."</i>

<p>That's not what I said, I only pointed out that one should treat

people with the same courtesy and respect that one expects of

others. In this case, that means securing an appointment of some

sort rather than just showing up unannounced and banging on the door,

especially when you're a stranger and ESPECIALLY when you're not 100%

sure that the person consented to have their contact information made

public, in the form that Arie described. Sheesh, this should be

common sense.

Regarding your question on fill flash, yes, using the slowest film

possible and then adding a ND filter if necessary would be the best

way around the M6's slow flash sync. That's IF you were forced to

use an M6 of course. My personal solution is not to use the M6 at

all in such a situation, but an older 70s rangefinder that syncs up

to 1/500.

<i>"No photographer ever achieved anything remarkable by being

shy."</i>

<p>It has nothing to do with being shy and everything to do with

common courtesy. I'd imagine most people don't like to have complete

strangers show up unannounced. Getting "shooed away" means you've

already invaded someone's privacy without permission. If HCB would

like to sit down with you and talk things Leica and photography, you

could gain a lot from him. I doubt you'd have much to teach him. So

why not seek audience with him using a bit of respect rather than

risk pissing him off before he even knows who you are?

Imagine you're 90-odd years old, trying to enjoy your retirement, but

because a store that you used to shop at took the liberty of posting

your personal check on the wall for all to see, people come and bang

on your door unannounced.

<p>I understand your enthusiasm but please put yourself into someone

else's shoes before doing something like this. MAYBE the store has

HCB's permission to post a personal check (would YOU give permission

for a copy of your personal check to be posted in public?) and MAYBE

the neighbor is right and HCB might be spending his remaining years

twiddling his thumbs behind his door waiting excitedly for strangers

to show up. But if you respect him at all, err on the side of

prudence and leave him be. If you must visit, at least indirectly

secure explicit permission and an appointment from him (through the

neighbor, perhaps?) before intruding on his privacy.

Three years ago, hot summer day in Los Angeles, CA. Was driving with

my girlfriend, her eight year old brother in the back seat. Windows

down, music up. Didn't hear the "rriiip" of the velcro of my camera

bag in the back seat as it was opened. Next thing I know, a

delighted squeal of laughter from behind me as the kid leans forward

to proudly show his finger stuck between the shutter curtains of my

then-brand-new M6. How the heck an eight year old figured out how to

open, wind, and fire an M6 almost simultaneously is still beyond me.

<i>"The lenses are superb,all the pro's test it and say the optics

are better than Leica."</i>

<p>'Course I'd have to test them myself first, but if they are

indeed "better" (oooo, canned worms, yummy), then yes I'd probably

switch. It's all about the optics, I don't care about the name.

<i>I'm not sure whether or not she was a Leica user, but my guess is

yes. </i>

<p>Not that it matters, of course, but yes she was a Leica user. As

mentioned in another post, she did a series on "The Misfits", a few

shots of which were included in Leica's "Magic Moments" world

exhibition in 1994. According to the technical data she used M4 and

35/1.4.

<i>$522 at Robert White. Leica lenses are cheaper than the US also,

although not any better than grey market prices at Tamarkin.</i>

<p>What about warranty status? With the seemingly nonexistent

quality control with the Konica RF focusing issues, I'd sure want to

make any possible return or warranty work easy on myself.

The most recent additions to my collection are "Magnum Degrees"

(which is not really an essay but a collection of recent work from

Magnum) and "Portraits of America" by William Albert Allard (same).

Just an alert that there is a copy of this out-of-print book available at eBay:

<p><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1507036619" target="_blank">William Albert Allard: The Photographic Essay</a>

<p>This is a great book with some really good photographic work, and most importantly it gives a glimpse into Allard's philosophy and technique. I'm not affiliated with this seller but I have a copy of the book and highly recommend it. At the time of printing (early 80s) Allard was using R4s and M6s (not that it really matters, just to bring this back on topic).

With all the reports of incompatibility problems, it seems to me like

it's not even worth it to try to mix these brands. The "ho-hum-ness"

of Konica about the issue raises even more red flags about using

their stuff specifically. Off the top of my head, the Konica "KM"

35/2 Hex retails for about $700 at B&H (I haven't seen any on the

used market up to this point, so I assume that's what you'll have to

pay if you want one). That's about the price of an exc+/mint- Leica

pre-ASPH 35/2-'cron. Given that comparison, it's a no-brainer IMO.

Get the real thing.

<i>"The 32Z-2 is available, but useless w/o the hotshot adapter.</i>

<p>This isn't true, the 32Z-2 comes with a standard foot that will

allow you to use it in non-TTL mode with any camera that has a

hotshoe (which is how Leica photogs have been getting by for the

past - oh - 30 odd years? And even longer before that using

coldshoes and PC syncs)... TTL isn't that big of a deal, its only

real advantage is more convenience in terms of aperture settings.

Glad you found the SCA3502 but even if you hadn't, you wouldn't have

any trouble just buying the 32Z-2 by itself and then picking up the

adapter later.

What do you mean by "looked a little funny"? Were they all green or

something??

John, I have the 21/24 diffuser permanently attached to the front of

the reflector, it seems to work quite well in taming the output. If

I shoot it naked it looks OK to me exposure wise, but with the

increased specularity I can appreciate how it can look a little

overexposed. Another problem is the closest distance at f/2 and ISO

100 - 2.3 meters, so when you approach this distance or shorter your

chance of overexposure are higher. The diffuser helps in this case

also, and if you want to get REALLY close there's an ND filter in the

kit too.

How about Bill Allard's take on it, from "William Albert Allard: The

Photographic Essay", ISBN 0821217356, p.41:

<p>"With an SLR, you're looking at your subject through the optic;

you're literally seeing what the picture is going to look like. You

have a device that will show you your depth of field, the area that

will or will not be in critical focus. This is particularly true for

me, because I'm often shooting at the maximum aperture of the lens,

the aperture you actually view through. This helps you see how areas

of color are affected. It can tell you if that blue has a hard edge,

or if it's somewhat soft and blended into something else.

<p>"When you're looking through a rangefinder, though, everything is

sharp. The rangefinder window is by and large a focusing and framing

device that lets you pick a part of the subject you want to be in

critical focus. The only real way you can tell how the rest of the

picture is going to look is by experience, or maybe a quick look at

the depth-of-field scale on the lens itself. I think the rangefinder

frees you up in a certain way. You're probably going to work a

little looser in a structural sense, because everything is clean,

clear, and sharp. When I look through an SLR, I think I'm a little

bit more aware of compositional elements, of the structure of the

image. With a rangefinder camera, I'm seeing certain spatial

relationships."

I have one of these little cases attached to my M6 neckstrap. It

actually came standard with the kit. My M6 is a Wetzlar model so

maybe Leitz included it back then. I don't use the neckstrap though

as I prefer a wrist strap. I carry 12 batteries, each sealed in a

1cm x 1cm ziplock (you can buy these cheap in bulk on eBay) to

prevent shorting, in a small AA battery belt pouch by

Greenbatteries.com:

<p><a href="http://store.yahoo.com/greenbatteries-

store/nylbatwal.html"

target="_blank">http://store.yahoo.com/greenbatteries-

store/nylbatwal.html</a>

<p>I also have a spare M6 battery cap thrown in there for good

measure. $20 for peace of mind from Leica NJ. I'm an obsessive-

compulsive clumsy oaf who's dropped one too many battery caps into a

sewer drain while changing out on the fly.