philip_woodcock

I'm ready to receive a huge flaming for this question...

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Has anyone here ever used a T4 mount on a Leicaflex SL to allow third party lenses to be used. I'd love a decent size telephoto but money isn't in abundance at the moment. If anyone has and is willing to admit it what lenses did you buy and were they any good?

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Hope I haven't offended too many of you with this outrageous suggestion

There is a point to the recent 'Eyes Wide Open' question. It's a bit off topic a theory, how many of you use just one particular eye to compose a picture? has anyone tried composing with there wrong eye lately?

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The reason behind asking what may seem to be a obtuse question is that I recently tried it. My left eye is stronger than my right eye, but it's the right eye that does all the work. The reason I tried it was because of a conversation I had with two friends of Chinese descent. Both are fluent Chinese and English speakers, I asked them 'In which language do they dream?' it was a question they'd never thought of or even considered. One dreamt in Chinese and one in English.

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So back to this 'Eyes Wide Open' is it posssible that one eye can be more creative than the other? Most people have a dominent left eye but most people use their right eye to focus and compose...

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Before you flame me for an alcohol induced question please have a think about it... I know I have for years!

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p.s. I had my 'Flex SL back yesterday from a service and my right eye is very happy

Yep, I think Lartigue is (was) right. When it looks good in the

viewfinder I click the shutter. I've learned not to argue with my

eye, it seems to have good judgement.

What's David Bailey going to do now? Retire? Or move over to the

Leica Side....

It should when done properly produce a high contrast negative. It

usually looks far too much over exposed. Also it has no orange base

color like conventional C-41 films, the base is clear. You see it in

a lot of fashion/pop music shots

I recently decided to experiment with cross processing some E-6 film for the first time since I graduated 7 years ago. I was advised to try Agfa RSX II 50 and as I run a lab time wasn't a problem. The result was excellent, well balanced, OVER saturated in a BIG way, and very striking.

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Does anybody else cross process and what films do you use?

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confession, I took them on my old Mamiya NC1000 as my SL is being serviced.

Cheap and practical... I use the clock on my mobile phone, it also

plays Tetris and gives me Football results. Can a watch do all that I

think NOT!!!

Actually there is a way to tell whether it is the lab or the camera.

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If the scratch runs end to end then it is the Lab's fault or the

velvet on the film cassette is contaminated.

If the scratch starts just before the first frame and finishes 1 or 2

inches from the end then it is the camera, and not necessarily the

back plate check all around the spool end too

There are loads of good photography and art bookshops along Charing

Cross Road.

I run a photo lab and scratches on the 'shiny' side aren't a problem.

Just use nose grease! yes that sounds disgusting. it's a really old

trick.

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First wear a clean cotton glove

next rub a finger across your nostril or brow.

rub the finger across the scratch mark very gently

wipe the neg for dust.

now you should find the scratch has disappeared from any print.

the grease difuses the light transmitted through it.

A leica brummie here, Jacobs on Corporation Street and Jessops which

is just off Corporation St (by Rackhams Dept. Store) both sell some

second hand Leica stuff. If your not familar with the area

Corporation St. is right in the centre of Birmingham

Here's a harmless trivial Leica question...

Did Leica ever update the family tree poster? I have one from around 1992-3 on my lab wall at work and an engineer who was servicing a machine asked about it.

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It occured to me that the R7 and R8 have been out since then, so has anyone seen a new one?

another vote for yellow, orange and green.

the only ones I ever bought and use.

I'm a newbie to this forum and I do find Alfie's outbursts a tad

annoying too. I'm only here to try and find out more about my camera,

after all it's only a tool and not a way of life (please don't flame

me). I'm a very unassuming lad, I'm a published photographer but I

don't see a need to make a song and dance about it.

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Anyway I'd just like to thank everyone that's passed on advice to me

lately, I find the rest of you wonderful!!!

I'm not sure if I'm asking a stupid question or not, so here goes.

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When I take a close-up picture (6 feet or nearer) with my SL the photos they invariably aren't in focus the way I thought I focused it. It's usually a little bit out. At first I thought it might be to do with me needing new glasses. So I got a nice new pair, new prescription, nice new Kodak lenses with a very high refractive index.

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So today I take some photos and they're a little bit out of focus. As an example, I shot a group of bottles from a range of 4 feet, focused on the centre bottle but the bottle behind it was the sharper, and before anyone asks I do know how to focus and it's never been a problem until a few months ago.

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Is it possible for an SL (or any SLR camera) to become out of focus?

What might be wrong? I can't see any fault or damage, I've always looked after my SL and despite its 32 years (on 14-1-2002) it looks perfect just very minor wear on the body.

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My only thought is that the prism housing must be perfectly placed with the focal plane to be sharp, can they become slightly wrong?

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I hope I've made sense and I desperately hope one of you lovely people can tell me whats wrong.

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Thanks in advance

When I started to study photography seriously I discovered most of my

favourite photographers used Leica. Once I got to university I

realised my sh@**y Canon had the optical qualities of a blind bat!

I came across my SL and bought it with this theory in mind...

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'If a bad workman blames his tools then buy a tool I can't blame'

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As soon as I started using it I found I was having to think more,

about exposure, about composition, about everything. Sometimes the SL

blesses me with freakishly good shots, the rest of the time it just

does what its told.

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These cameras are very basic, you have to do everything for it.

Garbage In - Garbage Out.

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Leica Photography is about thoughful considered photography.

Concerned Photography (to borrow a phrase from Cornell Capa)

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ps. Shortwave radio rocks!!! SWL'ing for 20 years

Can someone explain this in layman's terms, as the front 'tube' of my

50mm summicron tends to become loose occasionally. Is the is bad?

if you're interested, I run a photolab and will be testing Portra BW

this weekend with my SL, doing various tests and conditions

(hopefully). I'll put my opinions and perhaps even a picture here too!

When I was 19 i started work at a cinema,

at 20 I bought my first SLR,

at 21 I started night school,

at 22 I started at university studying photography,

at 23 I bought a Leica.

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it all began with the cinema, when i think of where i learnt most of

my education of composition I think back to the cinema.

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p.s. don't forget to credit the Dir. of Photography and the Lighting

men too, they do all the hard work!!!

I run a photolab and I can honestly say that in my Leicaflex's negs

look more evenly balanced and consistant (and damn easier to print)

than the Nikon F users I print for.

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I did some 'zone' experiments years ago, and the Nikon lenses always

seem to be more contrasty compared to Leica. I always had a theory

that Leica make lenses suited for even tone mono exposure.

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Anybody else have this thought?

Thanks everybody, I suspected a lot of this. Having looked back at

old photos taken with different cameras I can see 'good' and 'bad'

bokeh.

My first SLR was an old Praktika with a few nice Zeiss lenses and

they always looked nice even when I didn't know quite what I was

doing with it. The Canon that replaced was HORRIBLE, even sharp

pictures never felt right. Fortunately I had the good sense and luck

to replace it with my SL a year later.

It all seems to make perfect sense now, the old Zeiss lenses - my SL -

and a friend's 'Blad, always looked good.

Yes we are spoilt by Leica, I'll never have anything else.

I'm new this group and although I've been a Leica owner (user sounds cold to me) I never really got into the philosophy of it. However having read a lot of the archives it seems I adhered to many of its principles naturally, I suppose that must how the camera changes its owner (I know it changed the way I take pictures).

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Well this concept of 'Bokeh' fascinates me, could any of you kind people fill me in on the origins of 'Bokeh' (and how do you pronounce it too)? Are there any rules to 'Bokeh'? Who thought of 'Bokeh'? and how many of you regard it as integral to their 'art'?