New Friend

New friend, just joined the ranks.  It's a Leica M2, anodized black (it was made in chrome silver), and in a more or less good shape.

The top looks a bit chipped.  I have repaired some of the finish with a permanent black marker, but this camera will definitely need a better, professional black paint job.

Here is the front; notice the two small screws next to the viewfinder window.  They're not original of the camera.  Let's hope it's not a banged up job of rangefinder replacement or some such thing...

By the way, these photos are not mine; the seller, Ken Hansen, took them and used them in the eBay auction in which I bid and won this camera. 

However, the camera isn't too bad of a picture taker.  I put a nice Zeiss Biogon 35mm lens on it, and then loaded it with some B&W film (which I haven't developed yet).  Later, I also used some color film with it, and here are some of the results.

Violin practice: part of our daily routine here in DeKalb.

My in-laws backyard.

The Chicago Apollo Choir, singing in front of the Art Institute, right after Thanksgiving.

Skater at Millennium Park (prefocused shot, exposure at 1/250, f4, on ISO 400 Kodak color film)

For the moment, I've yet to scan some of my film "production."  I just don't feel like scanning... because I'm afraid it's going to take forever and I won't be happy with the process or the results.  But I must try, sooner or later, and it's not like I don't have negatives...

Some time soon, this camera will leave for the Leica Spa in Oregon, WI, with Don Goldberg.  I want him to repair it or at least check it before I send it to Youxin Ye in March 2015, for its paint job.  In the meanwhile, I'll keep you guys posted!

Sometimes I use color film

Sometimes I use color film.  My favorite is Kodak Max 400.  I simply like the greens and blues it yields.  I've tried other brands (Fuji, Konica, old Ferrania) and I always returned to the big K. 

Here is the reason.

My favorite corner: Thornbrook Road meets Park St.  There's something with that fire hydrant that draws me in all the time.

The corner of State street and another street in Sycamore, IL, at night.

Still Hall in Northern Illinois University, with a very appropriate sign next to the Photographer Huskie.

Sunset, as it's seen from Thornbrook Road.  Given that this is film, I knew I'd get the orangey tones in the sky (which is where I metered, by the way).

One small variant in all these shots (in addition to the fact that they all were made in February 2014) is that I used a different focal length—which only means new lens: a Cosina Voigtländer Ultron 28mm f2.  Do I like it?  I do, but I keep it on a (new) Leica M4-P body because it has the correct framelines for it.  In this camera, I had to guess a lot, hence the absence of "excentric" (not aligned in the center) subjects.

Xmasy Winter Photographs

Some photographs of Chicago, through the eye of my black M5 with a Nokton 35mm f1.4 on Fuji and Kodak ISO 400 color film.

Near the Art Institute of Chicago

German Christmas Market

Streetwise Newspaper vendor, in front of the Art Institute.

There are more to come... while I scan some slides made with my M4-2. After all, that's the camera for which I started this blog.

Of course, I must confess and inform that I am currently expecting delivery of a new family member, pictured below...

Rear view...

Front view...

Of course, the photos are not mine, but rather courtesy of Don Tamarkin, of Tamarkin Camera, who kindly send them to me before sending the actual camera. I don't know when it'll come, but the payment was already sent. Of course, I'm trying to get busy, so I don't fret and get jonesing about it.

Colorful or not? Street shots

Color and black and white for street shots. Kosher or sacrilege? These are mostly streetscapes, so there may be something to say about their not being "street" but then... Take a look.

Isolation, or poor frozen bike (M5, Nokton 35 f1.4 on Kodak Plus, at f1.4, 1/125.

Corner with light and snow. Same gear as above, and almost identical EV, but on Kodak BW400CN.

Chair-Line by the Water Tower, on Michigan Avenue. Same rig, lens slightly closed (probably at f2.8) and a nice shutterspeed (like 1/250).

Why is it I remember all this? Simply because the M5 requires me to pre-meter, almost as if I had a meterless body, so that in the final adjustment I know what changes I'm making instead of turning madly the shutterspeed dial or the aperture ring.

Any preference? Let me know!

Color

Using color film... can be a problem. No, I don't avoid it. In fact, I like it, but it's a problem dealing with one's exposure mistakes, as they translate into weird tones, strange casts, unexpected renderings of skin color. However, I just keep trying. Here are some samples from last summer.

My wife, on a rare moment of peace now that we have a baby (I compensated the exposure one stop and a half, IIRC, exp. 1/1000 at f4)

Potential undergraduate students touring the NIU campus (exp. 1/1000 at f13 or thereabouts)

Cat in a DeKalb store. I offered a print to the cat's owner... and shall deliver soon (exp. 1/60 at f4, IIRC)

Who Else Uses Leicas?

Who else uses Leicas? How about a Leica M4-2?

I'd like to know...



Mostly, because this blog got started right when I got my own, first Leica M4-2. 

To some, it may seem a weird decision...  Why bother getting a meterless camera body, when there are so many advanced camera systems out there? 

At some point, the control-freak inside a photographer shows up.  And starts longing for a camera that gives you a lot of control (that is to say, forces you to make decisions) over your the way you photograph.  

Besides, one starts needing a number of lenses that are not only reliable, but also fast, small and unobtrusive.  Hence, the longing for a camera like the Leica.

Now, by the time I got my first Leicas (which should have been subject for a separate blog... and I may do it one day), I was already relatively bored with SLR bodies.  Granted, they are versatile, flexible and easy to use, but people see you coming a mile away and, more often than not, they assume you know something or other about photography.  I've been taken for a professional more times with my Nikon gear than with any other cameras.  

So, my Leica decision was, rather, a move towards the new.  I could have gone with medium format, or even digital, but I'd have the same conspicuousness problem.  So, rangefinders were there.  I went for the metered bodies because my short experience with an unmetered medium format body didn't really satisfy me.  Probably, I wasn't ready to learn the little traps about taking a reading with a meter instead of using a camera.  

Why a rangefinder camera?  What was the draw to a metered or unmetered body?  What did you do it?  Was it the B-and-W look?  Was it the brilliance of the color?  

Let me know!

(FWIW, Street carolers in Hinsdale, IL, M6TTL, Summilux 35mm on Agfa ISO 400 at ISO 1600, Nov 2007; Brazilian musicians at the Bembo Haus, Nuremberg, same rig, but with Provia ISO 400 pushed three stops, 2008.)