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I bet you had a Double Stroke Leica M3! Or else, you would not asking this question. Not many cameras are Double Stroke.

Go to the library and look at the Mckeown Camera Collection Guide. If my memory is corrected, this model does not exist. If this is really a Limited Edition F2, the serial number should be different.

I heard that some people said this is a rare lens and it gives a

soft effect when taking a portrait. It is very important to have the

original soft filter. Rumor said that this is a very speical lens

that no other lens could achieve.

 

Q.A What is the differences between a regular 90mm lens with a soft

filter vs. the 90mm Thambar lens?

 

Q.B This lens production is 1936, I believe. Is this one of the

early lens that have the "MAGICAL" stuff? I do not really know what

is the term "magicial" when people talk about early lens.

 

Q.C Why this lens is so expensive compare with other early lens?

 

I also read an article recently about this special lens without any

further explaination.

 

I hope Jay could also answer this.

Whenever I see photographs pasted on the Leica forum, there is

always a beautiful scene or subject that create a nice picture. A

teenage kid with a point and shoot can do that as well.

 

My question: Can you use a camera to shoot unpleasent thing but turn

into a piece of Fine Art. Such as, seeing dog poo on the street,

walking into dirty alley or seeing whore standing on the street? How

would you approach it? I really do not know and most books did not

address this issue. (Books and magazines always taught us how to

take picture in a nice scene only.)

 

Again, I prefer Leica M due to the quite shutter. An advantage for

street photography.

 

I heard some said professionals always have their own style to

approach picture taking. What is STYLE, really?

Yes, I heard Kodak cut lots of people in the film factory.

I would not be worry because there are always Fuji and Agfa available. They have good black and white film, too.

When people paid top dollars for a camera, most of us expected that

it is well spent and worth every penny.

 

This is not the case with DSLR.

 

I knew that there are some lens have more C.Aberr than others. The

funny thing is, are we paying our money for testing lenses and

camera? We should have the camera for FREE on testing it.

 

Do I have to buy all the lenses for testing it? Yes...but give me a

break and NO thanks.

If you take a look on any ad. or ebay, you will know that the Leica

M are selling a much higher price than R? Why? I have looked B&H,

Keh, ebay and national camera exchange, etc. Used M bodies and

lenses are selling at a higher price than any used R. Of course, I

am comparing them as in same condition and same focal length plus

speed.

When I use my SLR, I always use my right eyes and so does everybody

else. Now, there is some problem whenever I try to use my right eyes.

 

Back to photography 101, the camera should hold firmly against your

nose in order to keep it steady. This is what I have been told from

my instructor a long time ago. I have found the camera is a lot

steadier whenever the back touch firmly against my nose. If you use

your right eyes on the M, it is impossible to let the back touch

your nose, especially, when you are wearing glasses.

 

The bad new of using my left eyes is my right eyes glasses hit my

thumb everytime. It is hard to avoid this. I do not want contact

lens, so

 

Are there any other solutions? If you have no idea of what I am

talking about, take out your Leica M for a moment and see for

yourself.

 

I use the M3 and it is good that you can shut the advance lever and

release the shutter to avoid hitting the glasses.

A penta-prism is better than penta-mirror. Penta-mirror is dimmer. I am not sure what you are asking.

I played with D70 for 6 hours and I found out that the D70 has a

penta-mirror, not a penta-prism. A expensive camera like this should

have a prism. The viewfinder is small when it compares with D2H, D1x,

D100, F100, F to F5 series camera. The best viewfinder Nikon ever

made are the F2 to F5 series camera. You will miss it if you switched

to Nikon digital.

 

Why this expensive camera can not have a prism?

 

If you use a AI or AIS lens, there is no meter and you have to do

everthing in manual. Using a manual focus lens is a pain due to the

fact that the viewfinder is small.

 

Really, I still prefer the D1x over the D100, D70 and D2H. The D1x

has a higher resolution than the D2H with the most durable body.

 

And, yet, Nikon digital cannot be better than Leica M in term of

picture quality.

 

Should I buy the D70? Maybe not, because I could well spend that

amount of money to purchase another USED Leica M kit or lens. What do

you guys think of my idea?

I asked this because if you look at the camera closely, the Digilux2

is totally different than the first Digilux1. I think the Digilux3

will have the interchangable lens mount and guess what, IT IS A

DIGITAL Leica M.

 

The lens on the Digilux2 looks like interchangeable to me. It is

just a step further to make this true.

 

What do you think? Did I miss something?

Thanks Jay and the others who have help with my decision.

The truth is I own a 50mm current version Elmart f2.8 lens. It is a

great lens and one person recommend me to buy this lens. I agree.

 

However, I am also a Nikon users and I always love my 50mm f1.4 and

my 35mm f1.4 lens. Therefore, when I use my Leica, I always feel

that something is missing.

 

But really, I like to use my Leica M3 more due to the size and

shutter sound. Plus, a rangefinder itself is more friendly to the

atmosphere or environment. Most people don't like being shot by the

PRESS. If you hold one the Nikon F-F5 or Canon EOS 1v, people will

think that you are working for the PRESS. However, carrying a

rangfinder is less disturbing and most people are feeling more

comfortable psychologically. The Leica M is my favourite choice as a

street photographer.

 

Anyways, I do feel the speed is important but I am not sure if the

extra speed worth it for doing indoor shot. Using a flash is not an

option because of the slow flash sync and disturbing the atmosphere.

Such as, shooting a pic in a coffee shop..., etc.

I want a tack sharp Leica 50mm lens with nice bokeh. Which one

should I look for? I mainly shoot color but I sometimes do black and

white. Here are the lists:

 

Summarit 50mm f1.5

 

Early Summicron 50mm f2 silver collapse without meter scale

 

Late Summicron 50mm f2 silver collapse with meter scale

 

Rigid 50mm f2 without Google eyes

 

Rigid 50mm f2 with google eyes

 

Early 50mm f1.4 Summilux

 

Late 50mm f1.4 Summilux (Too expensive)

 

Summicron 50mm f2 with focus tab Made in Canada.

 

Summicron 50mm f2 with focus tab Made in Germany.

 

Summicron 50mm f2. Era 1980 black without focus tab. The word of

Leitz Wetzlar are engraved on the front of the lens.

 

Late version Summicron 50mm f2 with the word Leica engraved on the

front of the lens.

 

Early Elmarit 50mm f2.8 lens without meter scale.

 

Early Elmarit 50mm f2.8 lens with meter scale.

 

Late Elmarit 50mm f2.8 lens with the word Leica engraved on the

front of the lens.

 

Noctilux 50mm f1.2 (Too expensive)

 

Noctilux 50mm f1.0 (Too expensive)

The M3 viewfinder is for 50mm, everyone know M3 does not have 35mm

frame line. If I get a 35mm summaron f2.8 lens with the google eyes

attached, will I able to see the view of 64 degree in the viewfinder?

512 MB MicroDrive?? You are carrying old technology. Two years old is considered outdate in today digital world. Man, this is why I hate digital. Compact Flash Man!!!

MICH, Why not tell him to get a Leica M3 Single Stroke? A much better camera to use and collect. It is not only my opinion, the shutterbug magazine said it, too. THE BEST 35mm CAMERA EVER MADE.

I suggest you save a bit more and get a used Hasselblad 500C kit with 80mm Zeiss lens. It costs about US$600 on ebay. The Hasselblad 500CM will cost a lot more because it is newer. You will be happy with a hassy.

Get a Nikon F2A or F2AS. You will be happy forever because you will not lose money when you want to sell it. It is 100 percent mechanical means you can use it in cold weather or extreme condition. No worry of getting batteries recharge when you are in Third World countries.

If you have plenty of money, get a Leica M3 plus a summicron lens as back up camera or vice versa. DO NOT buy the FM2 and FM3A because it limited your choice of lens. Both of those not allow you to use Non-AI lens.

Get a USED Leica M2 or M3 in excellent condition. Do not buy the BESSA R2. I made the mistake of buying that camera and end up selling it on ebay. The R2 focus patch will fade out when your eyes shift a bit or if you focus in a strong light environment. The Leica M3 does not flare in the viewfinder. Leica M3 focus patch will always there.

 

My combination is Leica M3 DS with a late version of 50mm Elmarit f2.8 lens.

YOU GUYS, TRY TO LOAD A FILM INTO A LEICA M. You will know how lucky you are with Nikon film loading system. The hardest film loading system in a 35mm camera is Leica IIIa, b, c, d, e, f, g.

Remember the old days in photography 101? A Nikon F2 or FM2 with 50mm

f1.4 lens. Add an extra 35mm f1.4 or f2 lens plus a telephoto like

105mm f2.5 lens. Wonderful!!!

 

I like digital as another tool for photographer BUT

Now, it could not be the same and may never will. Sometimes I am

thinking that Canon has variety of good prime L series lens but Nikon

does not. We, Nikon users, love the 35mm f1.4 lens very much but

where is the AF version that we have been waiting for? Especially, I

like to use it on the DSLR like a 50mm normal f1.4 lens. By the way,

35mm x 1.5 factor will not be equal to 50mm, therefore, we will never

have a true 50mm lens, 35mm lens, 28mm lens and 105mm lens on a Nikon

DSLR camera. Does it matter? Yes it does in some circumstances.

 

Let's cut the crap on those f3.5-4.5 zoom lens, they are making

photographers more headache to calculate a correct exposure, unless

you always trust the electronic camera to do the job for you which I

do NOT. The constant f2.8 zoom lens work fine but I sometimes want to

use prime f2 or f1.4 lens. Why?

 

A. They are much lighter and shorter. Able to shoot more steady

without the gimmick of VR function. VR = Vibrate Reduction.

 

B. Low light lens on DSLR not only can shoot indoor subject without a

flash (thanks to the auto white balance), they can make the subject

more pop out at the same time due to the fact of less depth of view.

 

C. The picture quality on a zoom lens is not as good as a prime lens

but they are close.

 

Canon has AF 35mm f1.4 zoom lens. What is Nikon doing in the past ten

years? I remember back in the old manual focus days, Nikon made

different speed on each prime lens. For example, on a 35mm lens, you

can buy a f1.4, f2 or the least expensive f2.8 lens. On a 50mm lens,

you can buy f1.2, f1.4, f1.8 or the least expensive f2 lens. Nikon, I

hope you are listening.

I have made two trips to the repair shop. It is none of their fault.

First, the repairman done a good job of hammer out the ding and fix

the reset film counter. The ding was near the film counter. Then I

discover the flash sync would keep fire when I plug it in, so I bring

it back and have that repair.

 

<p>The first job in excellent because there is no finger print left

inside the viewfinder. However, the second job did and it distract me

in focusing in bright light. Second, I have to release the 1/10th

shutter speed first in order to get the 1/5th shutter speed fire

correctly. 1 sec and half sec slow speed are working fine. What

should I do? Should I bring it back? I am afraid that he will charge

me $$$ for another repair. Help.

 

<p>The Leica M3 serviced in Camtex, B.C. Vancouver by H.M.

Really, after so many yrs of F5, where is the F6 we all have been

waiting for??

Both camera are not a good choice. If you willing to spend the money to buy FM3A, why not get the F100. Since the digital D came out, the price for used and new F100 has dropped a lot. Trust me, if I have the money, I would also get the F100. Unfortunately, I got a Leica M3 and cannot afford a F100 for now.

Get a Tripod. NO matter how steady you can hold, it is still moving. For example, when you looking through a Binoculars, you will notice the shake of your hand. This is why serious photographers on a magazine show that they use a "Man....", "Silk", "Sandbag" or study but light carbon tripod to capture the image. I hate to carry tripod arround but when I am doing my assignment, I always get my heavy tripod.