david_chong2

From the "camera" section-

"For the hand-crafted art of photography"?

Perhaps something was lost in translation

Leica is certainly promoting the current MP on the basis of fucntionality & minimalism (or "essentialism" -sorry about the grammar); I think this has great appeal, particularly to people who know what they are doing most of the time- I guess this would include many folk on this forum.

 

OTOH, (1)there is a certain amount of satisfaction to be gained from mastering new technology & getting it to do what you want it to do, hopefully with not much more effort thatn with an analogue machine, & fairly intuitively. So we're talking about mastering the menu on a digital camera (& we can debate which has the easiest menu to master. My vote is for Canon; haven't tried the Digilux, so can't comment.)

 

(2) Part of this learning curve (horrible term) is learning what the new tech does well & what it can't do or does poorly. For one I find the extremely deep depth of field on most P&S digitals a disadvantage.

 

(3) Stating the obvious- technological advances can't be ignored - in this context automatic white balance; changing ISOs; "stitching", I'm not sure about burst mode.

David

I'm also a fan of incident readings- by definition you are metering the light falling on the subject rather than the light reflected off it, & this has got to be more accurate.

As Al & Kevin point out you can meter the major different areas of lighting in a scene beforehand & then adjust accordingly if your picture includes major parts of each area. I don't re-meter unless of course the light is changing fast.

 

Angling the incident cone up or down (or left to right) allows compensation for directional light & camera position & makes me think about what / where the highlights are & the "focus" of the pic.

<<The only problem I've had is with Internet Explorer not allowing me to delete cookies ("Cannot find preference panels..."). >>

Kevin, you might want to try Safari, available as a free download from www.apple.com. Apart from being a superior web browser- privacy features included- I find it's also faster than IE.

David

The subject lines asks it- what proportion of folk on this forum use

an Apple computer?- for imaging or other applications- & why?

My ancient 400MHz G3 Powerbook runs Photoshop 7 OK, though I could do

with more RAM. Anyone seriously considering a new G5 iMac?

Nicest feature of M3 (in my biased opinion)- viewfinder magnification

Nicest thing about M2- clean, clear view - 1 set of frame lines at a time (though lower mag)

Happy camera hunting!

Try this-<a href="http://www.konermann.net/scoop.html">Scoop</a>

Inexpensive & effective.

Best way is to have the beam-splitter replaced; quite a straightforward operation for a competent technician. The silvering on this degrades over time- say 10-15 years & relacement (plus a general cleaning of the rangefinder/ viewfinder) brings contrast back dramatically. After servicing the rangefinder image should be nearly the same as the viewfinder image in terms of brightness & contrast.

If you are in the UK I can recommend CRR Luton- Leica.luton@virgin.net

 

An orange contrast filter (OKARO) over the rangefinder window (I got one on that auction site for $43) may help, but is obviously not a long term solution.

 

David

Jack-

I have an OKARO on a IIIf; it "friction-fits" over the rangefinder window (the one on next to the rewind knob- sorry to be obvious!) Once on, mine seems to fit better if rotated a little & this leads to the conclusion that in time the fit could become less than good, or loose. I've also seen a IIIc on which the OKARO was stuck to the RF window & the only way to remove it was to unscrew the whole assembly. I imagine a competent repair person could tighten the fit or vice versa.

 

 

-BTW if like me you got the OKARO to try & rectify falling RF image contrast, maybe its time to replace the beam splitters in the RF assembly, which brings contrast back to spec.

Does anyone know if/how the glass in an external chrome finder can

be disassembled to allow the glass to be cleaned? I 've acquired a

SLOOZ (2.8cm chrome finder) which externally looks clean & clear but

looking through it there's obviously lots of haze. Dosen't affect

function of course, just somewhat off-putting.

I tend to agree with Patrick; on looking at the pics again they're really quite ordinary & only one or two really exploit the format, & even then don't really make a statement.

Seem to remember a thread about using the XPan for street pictures.

Here's an interesting site I came across some time ago.

<a href="http://www.singlish.org/thepictures.html">Singlish</a>

What would you pay for this combination & how useable is it?

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?

ViewItem&category=30030&item=3818985215&rd=1">IIIf & 2 Telyts</a>

(Not that I have any intention of bidding)

David

Great, Thanks Bill

The subject line asks it all- I'd like to confirm, using this Forum's

huge collective knowledge that IIIc,f & g baseplates are

interchangeable.

Thank you,

David

I thought that the point of portraiture was (is) to bring out some dominant feature, some essence, of the subject's personality. Do people really want portraits that look like everyone else's?

Diederik, this company in Luton, England claim to be able to repair M3 rangefinder prisms-

<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Leica/page10.html">Luton Camera Repairs</a>

 

Cool serial number! the number 54 is of particular significance to any Cantonese Chinese because the pronunciation is v. similar to the words for "won't die". Of course a repeated "54" is doubly auspicious.

How's that for off -topic? Enjoy your M3.

My impression of the current Elmar-M is that it resolves detail just as well at the 50 Summicron & that contrast is higher. Max aperture of 2.8 is fine out here on the equator even with film slower than 400.I'm not sure I like the hood, which is filter-ring screw-in job & can get too firmly attached to whatever filter is on at the time; the nice deep hood for the previous Elmar fits just as well, I'm told.

The only pic made with it I can post just now is a snap of my neighbour's 4x4 tropical jungle trekker- just before a trek- I chopped of its nose, in haste.

 

David<div></div>

Al, thanks both for the information & for consistently providing valuable answers.

Happy holidays,

David

Can anyone who's used/ has got this lens post a summary of its

imaging qualities? I've done a PN search which netted (pun intended)

only 3 results, 1 of which is really quite interesting-

 

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?

msg_id=004X7D">Leica forum 14mths ago-</a>

 

but not relevant to the Summaron at all!

 

Thank you,

David.

Thank you all; this is the kind of thread that makes the Lecia forum uniquely GOOD. Wish Malaysia had four seasons!

David

Talking about the M bodies here- just the right size (pocketable- used to smuggle body & lens into Royal Albert Hall concerts in different pockets); timeless design (sorry not the M5); highly ergonomic; reliable; backwards/ forwards compatibility with lenses; discreet; optics with character; "Leica" engraving on top plates!

I'd echo what's already been said- the important criteria to me being-

1. Framelines & framing; need for accessory viewfinders. Do you like the view?

2. Loading- M2 slower (?- depends on practice) unless its an M2R or has the quick load modification.

3. Rewinding speed/ convenience- crank versus knob.

4. Relative age; plus history & condition of particular examples you are considering. Apologies for stating the obvious- but a desirable find would be a one-careful-owner/ known history body; preferably recently checked or serviced.

If you're looking- happy hunting!

Colour with a "u" & I think the green cast (if it is one) adds rather than detracts from the shot. In b/w the white of the supermarket freezer cabinet distracts the eye from the vapour trails too much, IMO.

Rob, good suggestion; thanks. Another project on the list!

D.