Advice for a student and film lover! [Film Leica Advice]

Hey, thank you all! you've been wonderfully helpful! I just sent a purchase through for the body I decided on! Soon I will be an M owner too. Sadly not going with a classic for the sake of the work I am actually going to do on it, but that will be next. (it was an M6 TTL .85 btw)

Now to figure out a lens! hahahaha. Anyone selling a 35mm or 50mm for 5-700? *pain*
 
Welcome to this forum and the occasionally dotty world of film photography.

If it helps, I have used for a longtime now, a Leica M4 with 28, 35 (my absolute favourite ) and a 50. The M4 can take some fairly tough treatment even now. It came with a meter on top and it is a really great little meter.

Whatever, you will soon tune your choice of film, processing, and printing to suit yourself. This you might not achieve at a photolab.

Have fun.

Gary Haigh

Oz
 
So my 50mm F2 Summicron Collapsable arrived. The front and back glass seem great, there are some dust particles in the lens and somehow I doubt that will effect too much. I wonder if I should eventually have it CLA'd. The focusing seems smooth, much smoother than any Nikkor lens I've ever used, the aperture clicks are also smooth, I didn't realize how far apart the wide open ones are from the others. Ill take some pics of it!

Got it for under 700 from KEH as a "BGN". Rather impressed that this is a "bargain" lens.

Also my M6 TTL is in town, I missed its delivery being in class, but I will be running to the post office to pick it up tomorrow after work.
 
Check the lens for oil on the blades. If so, it may be something you want to get cleaned. A small bit of dust on the front element is no concern.

Being a collapsible, be careful cleaning the front element as it will be much softer than other glass you have likely dealt with. Congratulations!
 
I think I need to get a cap then hahaha, it was just the lens itself. I won't feel bad when I lock it into the body, but until then I am leaving it in its bubble wrap.
 
Spicy said:
If you want metered, M6

If you want unmetered and:
fast reload/rewind but optimal fondling, M4
fast reload/rewind for cheap, M4-2 or M4-P
only shoot 50mm (or longer focal lengths), M3
want to shoot 35 without an accessory viewfinder, M2
Click to expand...


I got myself an M6 just for that reason @ adorama and love it.
BUT keep i mind that as far as viewfinder goes, M6 is fantastic with 35mm lens. For 50mm the "window" is too small for my taste. I was asking around here on forum and am told that M3 is the answer for that. So now I will be saving up for good M3.
 
I was going to give my 2 cents and it turns out you have already handed on your new gear, congratulations. M6 Classic HM is better than TTL version although it's hard to find. I used to be a M6 guy, put some battery in it and you get you meter, take it out if you want to do more thinking/guessing work. However, I upgrade it with a M7. The viewfinder on M6 is okay, but it's way better on M7/P, flare problem drives me crazy as well. I know M7 is not "classic" comparing to other film Ms, but the AE lock and Av mode really help me a lot. Aperture, EV all under my control and performs extremely accurately.
 
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Teuthida said:
You're overthinking things You've got a camera. Go use it. The sooner you get past the gear fetish the better you'll become.
Click to expand...

Excellent advice that resonates with...

Spend 20 minutes setting up a 20 lb. 8X10 view camera, carefully process the cassette negative, contact print the perfectly exposed image and then...Realize the image is GARBAGE...with no proper subject, theme or composition and the light was crap.

The student never, ever makes that mistake again. They are too humiliating. His brain was filled with equipment details.

He now thinks first and plans for action––knowing what NOT to do.
–––––––––––
AMATEURS worry about equipment

PROFESSIONALS worry about money

MASTERS worry about the light, the subject and especially ... the pre-visualized moment
 
Well that will learn me...

I sometimes wonder if the masters ever actually messed up on the little things like I do sometimes.

So it was fun learning how to load film into the M6... I eventually figured it out. THEN it came to rewinding it. So id been so focused on learning this new focusing method, being completely enamored with my camera, and I realized id never actually looked into rewinding the film. I had wondered what that little R (figured it was a decal for rangefinder) and the nub on the front was but I didn't realize it was the lever to release the film. Some how I figured it was a contraption that if you rewound it, it would release a lock and just go... I don't know why I had such a silly thought.

Long story short, ripped it out of the canister, lost my first 36-37 including some shots I thought I would rather like. It was also an experimental roll to see if there were any issues with the glass I got, but aw well.

At least it was only the roll of HP5+ which is probably the cheapest of the films I have (came in the student bundle with the papers I'm using to print)

Tri-X 400 Loaded and I should be good to go.
 
akiralx said:
M5 or Zeiss Ikon.[/QUOTE

I second the M5. A great, unappreciated camera. I've used Ms for two decades, and have owned an M4, M6s, MPs and an M7, and put a bunch or rolls through the cameras (except the M4) but my favorite is the M5 model, and it's the only Leica rangefinder model I have now. People who criticize it tend to have never used it. It's not built to look at; it's built to take pictures.

Much like the Leicaflex SL, my other favorite camera.
Click to expand...
 
Anyone honest about the matter has made some mistakes and/or found themselves in a pinch. I once shot 45 frames on a roll of 36-- the film never spooled and I forgot to notice that the rewind knob was not turning when I advanced the film. Another time, I was advancing my last frame when the film came loose, making it impossible to rewind the film into the canister. This was solved with a darkbag, tiny tweezers, and luck. Stuff happens now and then. It's good to have a place like this where it's all been done before and the folks are helpful.
 
baisao said:
Anyone honest about the matter has made some mistakes and/or found themselves in a pinch. I once shot 45 frames on a roll of 36-- the film never spooled and I forgot to notice that the rewind knob was not turning when I advanced the film. Another time, I was advancing my last frame when the film came loose, making it impossible to rewind the film into the canister. This was solved with a darkbag, tiny tweezers, and luck. Stuff happens now and then. It's good to have a place like this where it's all been done before and the folks are helpful.
Click to expand...

it was actually a thread here that lead me to a manual that lead me to figuring out where the bloody rewind switch was! hahaha
 
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