maik

<p>Great picture, congratulations.<br>

Maik</p>

<p>Great picture, congratulations.<br>

Maik</p>

<p>Great picture, congratulations.<br>

Maik</p>

Good Job, Alex! Well done.

We'll see if I can get that here in Germany.

Rich!

 

I really really like these photos, #1 the most. Would you share some of the details re speed / aperture or what you did in PS.

...They are a "normal" Leica and even an a la carte dealer as well...

Maybe I have not made this clear above. It is clearly stated on the invoice that the camera is sold without serial number. I was well aware of that, hence the cheap price. And there is no way that this dealer is selling hot stuff. The are a "normal" Leica and ࠬa carte dealer as well.

Hi forum,

 

here is one thing that I'd like your opinion about. About one year ago I saw a

R8 here in the store of a reputable Leica dealer. It was on show as a used item

for EUR 800,-. I decidet to buy it. When we did the transaction, me paying and

the clerk wrapping up the camera and printing the invoice from their computer

system it said on the invoice "2 years warranty". Normally they give a 1 year

warranty for used items. The clerk was as astonished as I was and phoned his

boss about this. It turnes out that this camera was actually a new camera that

they just had on show in another branch and that it was sitting on the shelve

for about 6 years. Still really cheap I thought. But then (still in the shop) I

discovered that the little plate with the seriel number on the baseplate of the

camera was missing. And that turned out to be the real reason why they sold the

camera at that low price. Personally I could not care less, the seriel number

is not helping me taking pictures and I like the ergonomics of that camera even

without the seriel number. But when I decide to sell the camera in the future

(I am not planning to now, but who knows...) to upgrade. Will this be a

problem. I do have the invoice of that shop. As said a very reputable dealer.

Will this be enough? Will it be one thing you'd have to mention when selling

via ebay? What do you think?

 

Cheers, Maik

hi dave,

i have experienced the same with one R4 that i had about a year ago. the shutter was stiffer than everything else i used before. i found that it did not affect the ability to shoot 1/60th or even 1/30th handheld as there is just a little bit of time between depressing the shutter and the picture actually being taken. i would not worry about that too much. instead of cla'ing that r4 that i had i traded it for an almost new r8. one of the best deals i ever made. i just love that camera. i'd suppose that for the price on a cla for the r5 plus the money you'd gett selling the r5 you will get a used r8.

cheers, maik

its all about the light. brilliant!

hi bob,

 

this is what i do, it might work for you:

 

a) when i have the possibility to use a spot meter like on the R-cameras i own or a hand held meter i'll meter the center of the face and then recompose for the shot. i don't mind getting no contrast in highlights or shadows as long as the face is metered correctly.

 

b) when i use average metering with any camera i'll usually overexpose for 0.5 to 1 stop (using the exposure compensation) because i found that faces tend to get underexposed in average metering, especially when you have a bright sky in the background.

 

c) when i use my M3 and a hand held meter i'll take an incident reading and then overexpose 1 stop. that'll work for low-light as well.

 

my main concern is to get the exposure of the face right but you have to cut back somewhere.

 

really cool people will take multi spot readings and then adjust accordingly but i just cannot do that (too dumb). There is even a few cameras that can do this for you like the Canon T90 and the Olympus OM4 but i have never owned one of them and i am not sure how that works.

 

but especially for natural light portraits i found using a fill-flash stopped down 1 or 2 stops brings the best results.

 

the above has worked for me, just try it. the best rule of thumb would be to just try try try and then make up your own rule.

 

cheers, Maik

hi t m!

 

did you get a manual with the camera? if you have not, here is a place you could get one:

 

http://www.horizon.bc.ca/~dnr/r4book/newr4index.htm

 

with the r4 the manual and the first aperture mode are spot-metered whereas the second aperture-mode, T-mode and P-mode are average metered. that could be the reason you get different readings in these modes. I found my two r4s to be very exact. on one r4 i have a motor attached and i have not had a problem with that.

 

so what lens did you get with the r4?

 

welcome to the forum and have fun with the camera.

 

cheers, Maik

really really really professional looking camera. nice! a disguised holga i'd say. thanks for the link.

Pedro!

 

The 2 50mm lenses I have are a 3,5 Elmar 50 and the CV 1,5 Nokton 50. I use them on a M3. As I don't control the process after taking the picture but have to rely on others to develop, print and scan the negs these are my subjective observations:

 

The Elmar is quite sharp but not as sharp as the Nokton (actually quite soft at 3,5 and best/sharpest at 8 or smaller). I'd rate the Nokton as the sharpest lense I have ever used (and I normally use it at around 2,8 to 5,6). When taking photos of people I'd rather use the Elmar then. The color-rendition is "softer" with the Elmar the Nokton delivers very bright colors, another pro for the Elmar when taking pictures of people. The Elmar scores again when it comes to size. This lense collapses almost flat on the M3's body. It is only the lenscap that adds some depth. As I travel a lot and like to have a 1 body 1 lens combo with me it is mostly the Elmar I use when not actually taking the camera to an event where I know I am going to shoot a lot.

 

But

 

I find the Elmar to be a pain to use. The f-stop scale will rotate when focusing. That is just awful. The Nokton is bigger and therefore easier to handle. The hood can be taken off but the lenscap will only fit on the Nokton with hood. That makes quite a big outfit with the M3's body.

 

And

 

load your M with something ASA 3200 and put the Nokton on: when you can see it you can shoot it.

 

cheers, Maik

very weird, skillful and outstanding portraits.

Frank,

 

don't let the other replies tick you off. I guess most of them are meant funny anyway. You are the best thing that happened to this forum for quite some time and I enjoy your posts a lot.

 

Maybe this stranger knew something about your GSN that you were not aware of....(x-files music starts here...)

 

But to get this on topic a bit more: you have been using the CL and that 40 'cron next to your GSN now for a few weeks. How do they compare? Any thoughts?

 

cheers, Maik

Raid,

 

the price for getting the MC meter oparating again (replacing the selenium cell) is about US$80-100. That is more than a working MC meter will cost you. I just bought one that is still working for around US$70 and I am hoping it will work for another year or two. These selenium cells will eventually stop working. For a lasting solution you should consider the MR meter.

 

cheers, Maik

"Antics" by Interpol. Can't wait to see them in Hamburg next monday.

Hi all,

 

I am thinking about buying a grip for my M3. Has anyone experience

with the different products. The original Leica, Tom Abrahamsons

model and the one offered at Photovillage are the ones I know of.

Also on Abrahamsons site it says that a M3 can be converted to take a

rapidwinder. Any experience with that?

 

Thanks for your input.

 

Maik

Evan,

 

give us a hint on where you will be staying. I could give you some adresses of used camera stores that always have some good Leica opportunities depending on where you'll be staying. If you want to buy new though buy in the USA - much cheaper there. If you'll be buying used stuff there might be some good deals waiting for you. Drop me a mail at forum(at)anskat(dot)de and I'll get in touch with you about adresses.

 

Enjoy your trip.

 

Maik

Nice shot!

 

I like the tone and the light in the picture a lot. Now if I would have taken that picture I'd be standing in the center of that road. Why didn't you?

 

cheers, Maik

Hey all,

 

maybe if nobody ever replied, Frank could fill this thread all by himself :-)

 

 

Frank,

Sorry about your mother..

 

and congrats on that camera.

 

Post some pictures and keep up that spirit of just writing what you think and feel. I've liked that in the last couple of days.

 

cheers, Maik

Hi Travis and congratulations!

 

wow, not a single off-topic or provoking post so far. So congratulations to all.

 

I'll join in with the others that wrote don't bring a camera to the OR for the delivery. Help your wife, she will be grateful for that and be prepared to be experience your wife like you have never before. Wait until the stress is over (maybe one hour) and then take some pictures of your wife and the baby. Be sure to give your wife a few minutes to make herself ready to be photographed, she'll appreciate that later. I waited until we were taken from the OR to our room and then took some pictures there. I had a single body with 35mmm lens and some fast B/W film and that just worked fine.

 

Hope everything goes well, good luck!

 

Maik

Thanks for all the input. Unfortunately the MR Meter that I had set my eyes on was just sold before I got to that shop. It had been lying around for over a year and than gets sold only days before I finally decidet to buy it. Rats! So I got me a working MC Meter (compared it to my Digisix) for not much money. It is from around the same time as the `64 M3 I got it for and makes a nice combo. It was still in that little red box and looked really clean and I even got a one year warranty with it. Lets hope it will work for a few more years.

 

cheers, Maik

Thanks all,

 

I am going to use it on my M3. I actually have a Gossen Digisix but would like to try a compact bundle lightmeter and camera. Thanks for the info on using WeinCells in the MR. That should make my decission easier.

 

cheers, Maik