wayne_murphy4

After a Voigtlander Vito B and the obligatory Pentax Spotmatic, I

bought a second hand Leica M3 for night candid shots for a studio -

commission on sales.

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The Leica was great except that it gets a bit hot in Australia, and

on a warm night, I would get a film of perspiration on my forehead.

I was using an old Braun flash with the wet cell shoulder pack and

when I held the M3 against my forehead to shoot, the flash synchro

socket and cord was against my head. I would press the button and

POW! trigger voltage to the forehead. Some people say I've never

been the same, but then I always wasn't.

Correction to previous message.

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Of course, the smaller back-focus dimension of the M lens is the

controlling factor. Therefore it looks like a digital M camera.

Have I got this right?

If you need depth of field read it from the lens scale. Early on, I

tried to keep everything in focus, trying to keep my 35 lens to F8 or

F5.6.

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I now think that one of the main strengths of Leica lenses is that

they can deliver great photographs with both excellent in-focus and

out-of-focus areas, and this differential-focus quality is really

outstanding. I choose not to use the mythicial (mystical?)"B" word

to describe this effect.

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It takes a bit of nerve/confidence to shoot at F2 or F1.4, but the

results can be spectacular. They can also be out of focus

sometimes. So what? Go for it.