tom5

I remember reading somewhere that Tom Abrahamsson said that he left off the flower because of the added cost in making a replica of the basket. To the best of my memory, he said that one could take the basket off of the old baseplate.

 

I also got a rapidwinder for Christmas - but one of the new Barnack winders. I tried it out but then I was instructed by my wife to put it under the tree.

I only have used a current 50 Cron in the past few months. A couple of weeks ago I took pictures indoors with high speed film and some bright light sources outside the image frame. I was surprised to find evidence of flare, something I've never experienced in similar circumstances with the 28 or 35 Cron ASPH. I didn't have any filter on the 50 Cron.

 

I bring this instance of flare up because it was so unexpected! Perhaps I just hit the wrong set of conditions. I'm now using the 50 with a B+W rubber hood, which doesn't seem to vignette and is convenient for me to use.

 

I love the 50 Cron for the nice focusing action - mine is a demo bought from Rich Pinto - it is very smooth! However, I really dislike the built-in hood, whether or not it protects adequately from flare.

Nobody seems to mention the several expert repair people who work on screwmount Leicas - I've had excellent work done by John Maddox and Don Goldberg. Maddox only does screwmount cameras and his prices are very, very reasonable. I'd suggest having him do a clean and adjust and for you to use this beautiful camera. The IIIf is a work of art and still really useable, given a little practice and a good light meter.

 

Maddox's phone number can be found by a quick search on this site. I recommend giving him a call in the late afternoon or early evening.

John Maddox cleaned and fixed the bad 1/1000 speed on my IIIa for less than a hundred dollars. His work is very good and very, very reasonably priced.

I have both the 12 and 15. The 15 is more of a general use lens for me than the 12. The 15 has less light falloff to the corners and the perspective is less extreme, permitting photos that often don't look like they were taken with a superwide lens.

If there is a rule against photography, let the rule makers post a sign. Such signs sometimes appear at shopping malls, but I've never seen them in a grocery store, on rapid transit, or in airports, all locations that some have been stopped while photographing.

I have the Summitar with the higher number of blades - 12? I took some pictures that had lovely bokeh but recently I had a couple with terrible , ring-like out of focus areas. The out of focus rendition seems to depend a lot on the exact focus distance and the aperture.

My wife used one of my Fuji NPZ (800) rolls and didn't reset the ASA from 400. Normally overexposure isn't too bad for color negative, as I remember. So, should I have the lab pull the developing one stop or let it go through, as is?

Fortunately, I haven't had the luck to deal with Leica directly on a repair - My two M6's are still healthy. But I have had screw mount Leicas worked on by Don Goldberg and John Maddox and I spoke to Sherry about my choice of Leica M's to buy. All of these people are fine, honest individuals that one can deal with directly.

 

My feeling about warranties is that if you have any doubts about dealing with the manufacturer's repair people, you take the loss gracefully and go to a private repair person. It is better to spend a little money supporting the fine individual repair people out there, get your camera fixed correctly, and be happy in the end, than having a frustrating time of it. If either of my two Leica M6's fail in the remaining warranty period, I'll seriously consider NOT sending the camera to Leica.

My 28mm Summicron had this same feel when it was new. After a few months of use, the focusing became quite smooth. I assume that in my case of a new lens, that lubricant wasn't evenly distributed overall.

A second for Rich Pinto. Rich has only a modest consignment fee for selling equipment - much lower than many dealers. And, Rich is just nice and straightforward. I recommend him.

The Zona service sounds good. I suppose I could call them - I have a phone number off the web but no email for Zona.

 

I'm presently having C41 B+W and color processed at the local drugstore. Their hi-res scans (about 1500x1000 only!) cost $6.00 for the CD and another two dollars and something for processing (one hour). Then, I play with the pictures on the computer and order 4x6 prints from ofoto,

for best pictures.

 

We have a local black and white processor in Miami. He will process black and white film and print but doesn't offer scans.

 

In the best of worlds, I'd like to have places to send C-41 and true black and white negative film and get higher res scans than the local drugstore offers. Then I could get small prints from ofoto or larger prints from local color or black and white labs.

 

Any suggestions as to the best and most cost-effective places to get processing and CD's will be appreciated - C41 or black and white negative.

I like this picture! The very best of the best I've seen here.

I have a Pentax ZX-M, the cheap $150 K-mount body. This came with a strap that has a wide neck band attached to a 1 cm. wide strap. The ZX-M doesn't use rings. Instead, the 1 cm straps pass through slots in the camera body. I don't have an extra strap but maybe you can order one from Pentax parts. Will a 1 cm. strap pass through the CL slots?

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I also made some additional measurements: The original strap for the Bessa L is about 1.25 cm. wide. This is the strap that came with the camera, and is removable from the rings, NOT the new fancy cloth strap. I measured the width of a couple of other camera straps and they seem to be about 1.25 cm, so maybe that is a kind of standard. The Pentax ZX-M (or MZ-M, I think, outside the USA) is the only camera I have with a narrower strap. Hope this helps.

I own the 12, 15, 28 (f/3.5), and 75 Voigtlanders. The 28 is my favorite. I have the 28 Summicron for the M Leicas but the Voigtlander lives on my LTM Leicas. I haven't done any scientific tests, but the lens gives wonderful pictures for me.

I agree with Jay. Things break or malfunction, even the highest quality products under careful use. Fortunately, there are some very good technicians out there and one need not worry. Just pack it up in bubble

wrap and plastic peanuts and sent it to someone. I suggest FedEx in the USA, with US Postal Service, priority or express, as a an alternate carrier.

I just had a couple of LTM Leicas CLA'd and a shutter curtain replaced by John Maddox. For the LTM Leicas, he suggests that one is better off storing the camera with the shutter wound. He reasons that in the wound state, one the shutter curtain that is wound onto its spool is on a large diameter spool and thus the curtain material is not under too much tension. But, apparently, in the unwound state, the wound-up curtain is tightly wound onto a small diameter spool. He thinks that the stress on the curtain in the unwound state is worse than stretching out a spring in the wound state. But, I don't know if this is the same for the M series Leicas. In any event, Mr. Maddox did a wonderful job servicing my equipment, even resurrecting an old Zeiss 2.8cm accessory finder.

Rich Pinto at Photovillage has sold some equipment

of mine on consignment. He is absolutely trustworthy

and has a low consignment fee.

I've flown several times in recent months. I've had nothing unusual happen. Camera bags have gone right through x-ray, domestically, with no further searches. My wife did have a bag containing cameras searched but that was because a couple of non-camera items she was carrying, small antiques, couldn't be identified on the x-ray. So, if it looks like a camera on x-ray, I expect that the bag will go right through. But, last year in Canada, all cameras had to be taken out of their cases or bags, and turned on! I wonder what I would have done if I had one of my LTM Leicas along - How would I explain that there is NOTHING to turn on?

I recently bought a Chinon SLR to provide a backup body to my beloved

Pentax MX. To my suprise, the very inexpensive Chinon has the same

advanced system to switch off the meter as my M6's do. Simply turn

the meter switch to B. How clever of them (and cost-cutting too)!

Paul, sorry. Your Leica II looks sooooooo beautiful that I had a hard time being convinced that it really is a Leica. You are very lucky to have a Leica II in such excellent condition.

Unscrew the lens. If you see a roller wheel on the ranger finder coupling arm (at the top of the lens opening), it is likely that this is a real Leica. If you see a sort of curved finger, without a roller, then the camera is a converted Russian camera.

I use the Voigtlander 75 on my 0.58 M6.. The CV 75 is a really nice lens for me and compliments my 35mm Summicron nicely. I've had no focusing problems.

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I bought an M6 from him, have had a couple of orders for small items, and sold a couple of items through him. He has treated me very well each time and is easy to communicate with!