a._nakajima

Do you have any suggestion for a "small" flash with bounce and zoom functions

that works with the R-D1s or R-D1?

I'm shooting with R-D1s with mostly Biogon 25mm, Summilux 50mm and Planar 80mm.

Something like the Metz Mecablitz 36 C2, perhaps... Or does the flash have to

be "digital compatible"?

Thanks.

P/S - I have a similar post in rangefinderforum as well...

I'm not sure if this was already posted earlier but check out this

site auctioning rare Leicas among many other neat equipment...

http://auction.igavel.com/ClientInfo.taf?_function=info&skip=1&id=1290

Please don't flame me if this was discussed in earlier forums.

But it just occurred to me that shutters inside digital SLRs may not

be necessary. I could only assume that the shutter mechanism inside

professional DSLRs like the Canon 1D series are quite sophisticated

components but is it really needed?

Since all DSLR's operate under battery power, the sensors could

still run in real time and / or stand-by modes. When the trigger

button is hit the electronics should be able to capture whatever

light-image was on the sensor at that time - much like many pro-

sumer camera operate. Unlike film, sensors isn't affected by "over-

exposure" syndrome.

If one of the shutter's function is to protect the sensors from dust

for example, then have something similar to Mamiya 6 rangefinder

light curtain.

The benefits I see are that the so-called shutter speed would have

more steps, the lowering the cost, and more silent operation (only

the mirror slap). On the negative, perhaps the battery would drain

faster...

I'd like to read your thought on this subject?

Please don't flame me for not doing a thorough search...but I think

I saw in one of the forums about a company based in Hong Kong or

mainland China that produce vertical battery grips for variety of

camera bodies including Canon 20D.

Would someone out there know the web address?

The grip appeared much smaller than Canon's own BG-E3

I just purchased a 50mm Summilux (not Asph.) but hate the sliding

hood. I'm looking for a 46mm hood and noticed besides B+W that

Contax makes their GG-2 for their 45mm Planar, which happens to be

46mm filter thread as well.

Anybody out there tried this combo? Any vignetting?

Thanks.

Thanks everyone for the kind complements again.

I'll most like be attending the Vancouver Camera show next month (April 10th) and look forward to fellow Pacific North West photogs and Leicaphiles!

As for the serial number painting, That was harder to do because the engraving is not as deep at the Wetzlar / script. I just couln't get a clean finish so I left it...

Cheers again...

One last thing.

In total, the cost of this project was under US$300 and did it all within a 3 week period.

Cheers again...

Hi it is me again.

Due to using a computer running on Japanese version Windows, I noticed that all my quote marks became question marks.

Cheers again...

Hello all, and thanks for the kind complement to my DIY M3

restoration. Indeed, I also received thumbs up from Tom A., Kevin Li

and Didier Ludwig.

For those of you interested in performing this task and save time

and money (vis-୶is sending your beloved Leica to Shintaro or Kanto

in Japan and not knowing when it will return) here?s my personal

step by step process.

First get a M3 service manual (cost = US$10)

http://manuals2go.com/service/2.htm

Top-plate:

Remove exterior rings (winder, view finder, vertical alignment,

accessories shoe, etc.) with beryllium-copper flex clamp and spanner

or needle nose pliers. The flex clamp won?t mar the paint finish. I

got my set from Micro-tools (cost = US$75). You?ll also need to

remove the ?L? wax at the mount?s 12 o?clock position.

http://www.micro-tools.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?

Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MT&Product_Code=LF-KIT-C

Carefully pull the top-plate from the body. You will have to remove

the rangefinder, brightline & front viewfinder by soaking in tepid

water. This will dissolve the birch glue that?s used to seal the

edges. Be careful not to boil it as the possible temperature change

could fracture the glass while removing the internal clip that hold

the glass pieces in place.

Bottom-plate:

Simply unscrew the locking mechanism. (nice idea to keep all loose

parts in a fishing tackle box)

With the metal top plates in hand, then use paint stripper to remove

black paint in the engravings and script.

Next comes de-chroming and de-nickeling. De-chroming chrome can be

done by soaking the top plate into a solution mixture of muriatic

acid (HCL or more commonly known as pool cleaner) and water.

Environmentally speaking, it?s pretty toxic stuff and you can?t

just dump it anywhere. Taking off nickel after de-chroming can be

achieved by using high grit sandpaper but be prepared to spend a lot

of time doing this. There is chemical nickel stripper but again you?

re dealing with really nasty substance. If you?re keen and

interested, you can go to this link?

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/metalx.html

Instead, I sent my plates to a local silversmith who also chromes.

Any chromer can do the opposite (revers electrolysis). If you can, I

would caution hiring automotive / motorcycle platers as they will

not handle your camera parts with care and tend to over-charge! For

your interest, I go to Acme Plating & Silver Shop in Vancouver (next

door to BEAU PHOTO). The charge is about US$ 30. Their website

appears to be down, so check with g**gle for more details.

With both plates down to the brass, it?s a good time to restore the

vulcanite skin. I got my burgundy lizard skin from Morgan Sparks of

cameratleather.com fame (US$70). Also if the plates suffer from

dents and other blemishes, it?s the best time to hammer it out with

a small mallet and wooden dowel used as punch or fill it with

automotive ?bondo? (it really works!).

Next comes the fun part, painting. I though about painting it in

classic black finish but decided against it because of having to de-

chrome many more pieces (levers, screw heads, etc.). Keeping it

simple (top and bottom plates only), really only leaves me with

olive or hammertone finish. Olive is nice but would not match my

burgundy skin. Hammertone is better because it has the ability of

hiding poor paint jobs. You can choose to spray paint it with a off-

the-shelf can or paint gun and compressor, if you're lucky to have

them. There?s Rust-o-leum, Tremclad, Krylon, etc. I chose Tremclad

because they have a very nice looking Anthracite color (sort of like

the recent limited production MP?s). For the baseplate I naturally

chose matt black.

Spray lightly and in multiple coats. As you can imagine, you don?t

want to over-paint and filling the engravings. After the final coat,

cure the paint in a warm place (on a fireplace mantle or inside the

oven ? not too hot that would melt the paint or deform the brass).

The longer you can allow it to cure, the better and harder the paint

will stay (unless you want to show the brassing immediately?). To

paint the engravings, I use a paint stick and basically crayon over

it, the paint stick is soft enough that paint will lodge inside the

grooves. I simply wipe off the excess amount with a tissue paper.

So now your painting is all done and it?s back to assembly again

reverse the dismantling process and ?bob?s your uncle?! Don?t

forget to fill the rewind know screw head with red paint stick also.

One caveat though, I decided not to seal the glass windows because I

figure that I?ll be experimenting with other paint colors. But if

you insist of sealing the glass to the top-plate, Gerry Smith over

at Kindermann Canada suggested useing slow setting epoxy. I don?t

have any condensation or moisture problem with my M3 anyway so no

glue.

Finally, with the body re-assembles and looking really nice and

pristine, get it CLA?d. At the very least, get the rangefinder re-

calibrated and re-aligned.

Well, that it. Simple. And all this can be done cheaper and faster

than sending it out to Japan.

Cheers,

Akira (Soul Shooter / Zen-Shooter)

<div></div>

Hello Joop,

This is what your M3 might look like if you repaint it in anthracite hammertone (Tremclad spray paint). Like you I had a beater (not user M3) and decided to strip the chrome and nickel finish. It's quite easy to do if you have the right tools...Good luck

Hi Ka-ho,

Do what I did with my 90mm AA 'cron.

I purchased a Filterview from Photo Equip (http://www.photoequip.net/ - Eric's) which can be used as a 60mm vented set-up. Then get a metal 77mm (tele) from just about any photo shop. I got a cheapo hood at e*pray and the combo works great.

You can also get the Filterview (AKA Steps) from Leica Goodies ( http://www.leicagoodies.com/ - Lutz's)

Hope someone can help me as it is my first time servicing /

restoring my M3.

Following closely to the service manual, I was able to take the top

plate off the body but then discovered that the glass windows at the

front (RF, VF & frame) have what appears to have brownish glue at

the edges - it's dried up. The normal glass clip is also there but I

don't want to force it off and accidentally break the glass.

Should I soak the top plate in a solvent and hope it disolve? I will

need to do that anyway to remove the old paint lodged inside the

script and texts.

As you might have guessed, I'm painting this sucker either black or

hammertone blue...

Many thanks in advance...

Sanford,

Another thing to consider I guess is what other lens are you using?

If you already have one fast lens, then you may just want to get the PII.

For me, I didn't want to carry my PII and Nikkor SC 1.4 any more, so I decided to sell them and get the Nokton 1.2. It served me well...

Cheers...

After paying a king's ransom to have the my 90 Apo-Cron front lens

replaced by Solms, I decided to look for a fixed/rigid lens hood; a

vented hood at that. From what I read in the forum it appears to be

a common problem for those with newer 50 crons, luxes, Nocts, 75mm,

90mm and 135mm.

After searching high and low, I discovered that Photo Equip (Eric

Paulsen) sells his Filterview a filter adapter that could screw onto

popular Leica threads (60mm, 55mm. 46mm and 39mm) and use 77mm

filters. I recently got it and a cheap 77mm tele-hood from e-b*y.

Well, the combination seems to work well indeed with no vignetting.

Albeit, it does make the lens longer potentially attract would be

thief.

Being a vented hood, it does block a fair portion of the VF but on

the 90mm the frame lines are not that bad. I don't have any 50mm,

75mm, or 135mm to try but at least I feel better that the front

element is protected. I'm sure that there are other more elegant

solutions to this problem but I'm happy with it.

Here's a pix of the hood and lens...

I concur with Jeff.

In terms of performance value the PII is hard to beat.

But it all depends on your shooting style.

If like shooting rapid snapshots outdoors then PII would be a fine choice. On the other hand, if you prefer taking your time focusing and composing or need the extra speed, then Nokton 1.2 might be your cup of tea. Due to the extremely narrow DOF at wide open, your RF would have to be perfectly calibrated.

In the end, you get what you paid for...As for print quality, I'm sure that the the general population wouldn't be able to tell you what kind of lens you used anyway...

Happy shopping and shooting!

I recently sold the Pancake II and now using the Nokton F1.2.

What would you like to know specifically?

take a look at this link and draw your own conclusion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/galleries/essays/

Happy shooting,

A.N.

I have the 1.25X on my M3 and I love it with anything longer than 50cm. Focus is a breeze. It's also very nice with the 135 Elmarit with goggles, albeit the viewfinder gets a little bit dark but no problem outdoors. Of course the RF patch gets bigger but again that's no problem. see my picture of it with Rich Pinto's Bumper.

In Japan MS Optical also has a 1.35X but will probably not allow any diopters or eyecup to attach.

http://www.mapcamera.com/shopping/select_f.php?ssid=53

Happy shooting!<div></div>

With the pending introduction of Zeiss Ikon lens in addition to

Leica and Cosina/Voigtlander, M-mount shooters must be waving their

hands up high with joy (much to the chagrin of our spouces...sorry

dear...). With wider selections, one could predict that prices would

become more competitive (affordable?) and quality of the products

getting better.

Obvious point but I'm already celebrating. And feel somewhat

vendicated for selling my Nikon D1X system in favor of M3 + lots of

neat lenses, earlier in the year...Long live film!!!

Cheers,

Just noticed that Stephen has updated his site with the latest C/V

equipment...

Cheers,

A. Nakajima

How about...

http://stores.ebay.com/AMERICAN-EAGLE-FILTERS-ACCESSORIES

or

http://stores.ebay.com/Shiva-Kunal-Import-Company

I just recently purchased caps, filters and hoods from them...

In Japan, there is a company called MS Optical R&D that converts

just about any lens into Leica screw mount lens and M-mount

(prominetly Contax G - Carl Zeiss). They all come helicoid /

rangefinder coupled.

So if you can't afford Leica's own 21mm then the Carl Zeiss 21mm

Biogons would be an interesting alternative. The 16mm would be

extremely useful particularly when matched with an Epson R-D1

(giving a simulated focal length of 24mm).

http://www.mitte.nir.jp/~mitte0576/news.htm

The web site is in Japanese so you will have to use a online

translator like Babblefish to get an idea of what they do.

They also can convert Contax T2's 38mm 2.8 Sonnar, Leica's Minilux's

40mm 2.4 Summarit among many others.

Cheers

Hi Mark,

I have the first generation Emarit and it's not a bad shooter. Not the sharpest or the best in contrasts but if you are looking for something that offers a unique "look" for say portraiture photography, then by all means go for it. My lens gives sort of an "angelic"-soft focus look to my pictures. One caveat, I would add is use the lens with high magnification body like the M3 or .85's. Otherwise I would suggest adding the 1.25X magnifier to assist your focus.

In terms of weight, I am not too bothered by it if I compare it to my dearly departed D1X with 80-200 2.8 AF-S zoom. So weight is relative to the purpose.

Enjoy...