rolly

<p>I have the 75 cron as a counterfoil for my main lens, the 35 cron 4th version. I shoot black and white. Flare doesn't bother me; sometimes I even want some entering a picture. With that said, I wanted a sharper, smallish lens and an extra stop for low light, so I looked long and hard at the 50 lux asph and rented one for a week. This was shooting on Agfa APX, self-developed. I found the sharpness I wanted, but was VERY bothered but the out of focus qualities in my photos using the Lux. Could have been my selection of aperatures, I guess. I'm a much bigger fan of the 35 cron 4th v OOF. I then compared the Lux and the 75 cron for sharpness, and ended up deciding the 75 was just about as sharp. Of course the worst thing about the 75 is that awful frameline in the camera itself-- always a compromise somehwhere. I decided to stick with the crons.</p>

I agree with Jon. There are very few objects so well designed for the hand as the Leica M film cameras. Or lenses so well tuned to film. To me it is all about a rhythm of work, and rhythm in photography is about a relationship between me, the camera and the light. For that, I just want to be simple. The Leica fosters simplicity. I gave up color, mostly, and now it's just BW-- an Mp, 35 cron, agfa apx400, develop it and scan it; I still have the negs if I want to print silver or I can be sending those digitized pics in emails to friends or post them on a little website, or even print them on inkjet. ALl this is no savings of time or money-- it's not apples and oranges. It's about that pleasure Jon said above, hard to explain, but if there is appeal in it, why not rent a rig for a fewdays? Samy's in LA, for example, rents you a body and an asph 35 cron for $100, pick up FRiday return monday. See if you like before you commit.

Ah, now I get it! Thank you both.

A rank novice question-- but what is meant by 1+25, 1+1 etc?

 

The film I am using still has quite a few years before expiration, so maybe it is part of the Rollei/Maco production run. I really like the way agfa 400 looks-- lots of grays, to my eye, a very rich look. But as I mentioned, there has been too much inconsistency in how the lab I use sometimes nails it, sometimes is off.

Lex-- I aways shoot apx at 200. I have always had it developed commercially as if at "normal" for dip and dunk.

Thank you all for the input.Evan, that's a great web resource, I appreciate it. Bill and Keith, thanks for the more explicit directions, which is what a novice like me needs. Keith, no I am not satisfied with my lab which was why I decided to save the money on development and also put matters into my control.

I shoot Agfa 400 APX black and white and have decided to start developing the

film myself. I would appreciate a few suggestions as to developer to use for

this film, and even more some simple directions about how to develop, step by

step, for the developer you are suggesting. Long ago I used to develop BW so I

recall all the prefatory stuff like winding the film onto the reels and the

general progression from developer to fixer, and getting the right temperature

of the liquids.

 

This is a lot to ask, but I would be grateful for the help. Thanks ahead of

time. rolly

The Leica dealer-- nice guy-- is on Beaumarchais near the Chemin Vert metro, on east side of the street. Winfried is right--No bargains. The owner is very knowledgeable, and when my MP broke down in Paris last year he was very helpful in setting up a repair with the authorized repair service near Place D'Italie. He also has a big selection of Medium and Large Format gear as well as Leica.

MV Labs-- I agree with John-- they are the ne plus ultra for BW. You shoot a few rolls of your film so they can get a bead on the right development. But no scanning; you have to go elsewhere if that interests you. But for devel and printing-- tops.

Lexington Labs, now known as Print Edge, 51 West 19th Street. Ask for Dino. They do a good job of working with your film and are also good at getting it scanned. I lived in NY three years and they did a lot of film-to-scan for me. I'm in LA now, and use A and I who are not as good, esp with the film devel. One man's opinion, of course.

Thanks to all so far who replied-- very helpful. Meanwhile for those with the battery issue I reported above, I found a newer solution at www.paulbg.com, a press-on brass ring and mercury px625 battery set up that looks like it should work for CL battery replacement. Anyone use this yet?

A friend has had a nice windfall-- his father left him a pristine CL, hardly

used in thirty years. I'm an MP user and I have scant knowledge of the CL, so am

hoping some CL buffs can help with a few questions:

 

1. The battery-- this battery is shot, so what's the protocol on finding

replacements? The thread I looked at from '05 suggests a few work-arounds...are

there any more recent suggestions?

 

2. Should this be CLA'd after that many years unused?

 

3. Can the CL take the 35mm cron? I tried my 4th gen. cron but it would not go

into the mount all the way.

 

4. The strap-- what do any of you sugest for a replacement there?

 

 

Many thanks!

 

Rolly

Philip Perkis

 

http://www.photocollect.com/second.php?id=9&page=gallery

 

Retrospective book, The Sadness of Men, just published (avail from Amazon). Also terrific little book "Teaching Photography"

 

www.quantucklanepress.com (imprint of Norton)

I used all but two of the Contax lenses. But first I'd suggest the G2, and recommend that over the G1 because the autofocus is more refined from G1. Lots of people like the handling better on the G1. Slightly smaller size. But if you want to have a semi-automated camera set up, the G2 will give you very reliable AF, even in dimly lit settings like church interiors. Lots of people were bothered by the viewfinder being dim, having no brightlines-- neither bothered me. (Try the camera with different lenses before you buy it.) Easy to use auto exposure allows quick shifting from one f stop to another for changes in depth of field. Best glass is, in order, IMO: 45, 21, 90, 28, 35. The 35 is a good lens above f4. 45 would be your normal lense, or the 35. Only drawback to the 21 as your primary lens is that you might tire of that wide angle which is very dramatic but the more you look at that angle of view, photo after photo, the more tiresome it might get. All lenses are terrific for color, less good for BW. For the money you can't go wrong. (I switched reluctantly to Leica, after nine years with the G2, simply because I got into BW film and Leica lenses left open the possibility of moving to a digital body whereas Contax G is, sadly, a dead-end system.)

I second the Contax G system-- the G2 (it's autofocus is very reliable) plus the G 45mm lens is a terrific starter kit especially if you want to shoot color. You should be able to find that simple kit for under 500, check Tony Rose or the online auctions, or classifieds here and on Randgefinderforum. The system is compact, and the lenses are now a complete steal. Best Contax G lenses IMO in order are 45, 21, 90.

For your reference: www.forloren.dk/lbf/leica_lens_serial.htm. Useful list of lens serial numbers and dates.

Joel-- Re passing tri-x film through security x-rays-- I'll defer to those who have not had ruined film even after ten or more passes (the European security people claim their machines use less xray than US)... Another strategy though is to have a good BW lab hand develop your film. I decided to try this in Paris at ARKA-DUPON 52 Rue Notre Dame des Champs (south of Jardin de Luxembourg in the 6th Arr. They were terrific. Not cheap at 10 Euro a roll, but I knew I'd taken a lot of good shots and didn't want to chance fogging even after six potential xray passes, and they also mail back to US. Something like this as a back-up strategy might be worth considering. (Dupon gave me better developed negs than I get in NYC). With your schedule I'd figure out realistically how many hours free I would have and try to not bring more film than you can shoot. One body and one lens, small unmarked bland bag, cover the Leica dot, avoid wearing it about, in hand with strap wrapped about wrist is how I would go-- shoot and stash, not only because of theft but in towns like Paris people have an aversion to being the subject of your photos. Pays to be discreet and as inconspicuous as possible. There are numerous threads about the etiquette of contemporary street photography. rolly

Because my flight plans took me recently to Paris but via Heathrow London, I was concerned about having my rolls of Tri-X zapped so many times on the round trip that I wanted to find a good lab in Paris where I would just have the film developed by hand. Then I would pack it up and have my NYC lab do the proof sheet and scan the film onto CD as well.

 

I took it to Arka-Dupon, 52, Rue de Notre Dame des Champs, which is near Ave. Vavin, the Jardin de Luxembourg and the Gare Montparnasse. Metro stop is Vavin.

 

They were excellent. 9 Euros a roll-- yes, expensive, but very clean job, left uncut and boxed. This method resolved my stubborn insanity of not carrying a digital camera to France despite the inadvertent effects of terrorism on shooting film.

 

24 hour turn around. They can also mail the developed film back to US. Contact sheet and development is nearly 20 bucks US, and they do not scan rolls to disk, just one shot at a time. R Kent