How difficult is it to transition from AF to M10 rangefinder?

[AndyCapp]

Having a non-functional M6 is kinda beside the point, don't ya think? If you own one but it doesn't work, you have no benefits from having it thus far.

Do you know that it doesn't work at all? Have you tried it?

G

I tried, yes. The shutter does not close completely unless aided a bit with a finger. (not touching the curtain, thank you.) It would spend a year in Wetzlar or two months in Paris. The latter would cost me 450€ plus freight unless parts are needed. For the time being, I left it aside and went digital. I have not found BW developers in Réunion. The idea of sending a failed film back and forth via the Internet and paying money for the disappointment seems stillborn.
Time is passing by. I shoot Leica now getting immediate feedback. I have my reasons and my conditions.

 

[AndyCapp]

Hand-holding 1/30 sec with a 75mm lens is well below a reliable threshold. You'd have been better off going to f/8 for 1/60 second.

G

No motion blur! See for yourself.

 

[Richard G]

Prices of the new M6 make the prospect of the usual uneconomic pre-sale CLA worthwhile, considering the price of second hand genuine M6’s now.

 

[Richard G]

Regardless of the menu screen it is often claimed that the frame lines shown are merely approximations .I don`t know how true this is or whether that aspect has been improved of successive iterations . Thinking about it (I`ve been using them for so long) I probably make allowances for this. I know a fair few M users who have never raised the camera to their eye in all the time that they have been using them .They always shoot from the hip.

Fred Herzog said he didn’t like disturbing his subject by raising the camera to his eye. He shot Kodachrome as he worked and was time-poor. No development or printing, just unload the film and into the prepaid mailer. But he got the camera so level with those hip shots. No adjustments in Lightroom. Amazing work.

 

[Michael Markey]

Fred Herzog said he didn’t like disturbing his subject by raising the camera to his eye. He shot Kodachrome as he worked and was time-poor. No development or printing, just unload the film and into the prepaid mailer. But he got the camera so level with those hip shots. No adjustments in Lightroom. Amazing work.

Yes ..... I was watching a vid last night by Alan Schaller ( How to hip Shoot ) in which he gave a useful tip for ensuring that the camera is level based on looking at the lens mount . https://www.youtube.com/@alan_schaller/videos

 

[Dogman]

If you have an M6, why did you start a thread asking how difficult it is to migrate from AF to M10 RF? Shoot with the M10 in exactly the same way you shoot with the M6... ??

Have you not used the M6 at all?

G

Actually it was JohnSantaFe who started the thread. And John has apparently skipped the conversation. He joined on March 15 and hasn't been back here since March 19.

 

[Godfrey]

Actually it was JohnSantaFe who started the thread. And John has apparently skipped the conversation. He joined on March 15 and hasn't been back here since March 19.

My mistake. @AndyCapp has been the major complainer ... ah, he started the other thread, something about 'the purpose of it all' ... 😉

G

 

[AndyCapp]

Somebody asked the question, "How difficult is it to transition from AF to M10 rangefinder."
As someone who is doing precisely that after decades of using SLRs and DSLRs, I feel qualified to comment on this subject.
Somebody who's been shooting Leica for half a century cannot possibly know what the transition might mean to an inveterate tracking eye focus user like myself.
I have made the choice myself. I have no reason to complain. I try to describe my adventure honestly, acknowledging my weaknesses in understanding...a plethora of things.
Put me on "ignore" if my style does not please you. Semiliterate gnarling is tiresome.

 

[Godfrey]

Andy, if you're qualified to comment, then why ask so many questions? Why not relate your successes and challenges, and leave it at that? Quipping "...shoot with an M6..." etc is case in point: responding "I have an M6" without further information implies that you shoot with one, know how to shoot with one, and all that. Adding a post or two later that it's a garage find that doesn't work is kinda ridiculous because it means that you have no idea how one shoots with an M6, which is the contraindicative implication to "I have an M6".

Although I've owned and shot with Leica RF cameras since the late-'60s or early-'70s, my standard camera for most of the years between 1968 and 2004-ish was a Nikon SLR .. mostly F Photomic FTn, FM, FM2, FE2, and F3. Personally, I've always found the AF features of most modern cameras to be far more work than advantage ... I don't find eye-focus and such to be of any particular advantage in the vast majority of cases, just like I don't really find multiplex mode metering options to be of much advantage either. Simplicity seems to always work best, for me at least, and promotes an understanding of what the photographic process is, and what the camera needs to do.

I don't set ignore on too many people because I welcome different opinions and perspectives. But it does become noisome occasionally when I try to give good advice to questions and then see responses which seem to mean that the individual is either not listening or doesn't care. I've been doing this stuff both professionally and personally for more than a half a century, successfully, and it's sad to me when people choose not to even attempt to understand, after they've asked what seems like an honest question.

G

 

[pseudobreccia]

Some people spend way too much time wondering about nonsense...just get out there and take some pictures. Either you will like the type of camera you are shooting with or you won't! The answer will never be forthcoming from the opinion of a stranger...because everyone has different likes or dislikes. Good luck with you future photography!

 

[Michael Markey]

Some people spend way too much time wondering about nonsense...just get out there and take some pictures. Either you will like the type of camera you are shooting with or you won't! The answer will never be forthcoming from the opinion of a stranger...because everyone has different likes or dislikes. Good luck with you future photography!

Is the best way to do it because of the reasons you give .

 

[boojum]

Hip shooting by whomever reenforces my belief that it is what is within the confines of the field of view first and all the rest second. If it is a crappy picture the fact that it is in focus and absolutely level is small comfort. Boring pictures of trivia will always be boring pictures of trivia regardless.

As for the question of why we take pictures, well, I guess that self-examination is less comfort to some than others. And not practiced at all by others as can be seen by what is presented. This is just a pinhead's view but I would suggest that a photo is a mirror of the shooter. It reflects what the shooter's interests are. Some are prosaic and pedestrian, some are not and some are quite wonderful. Of course the viewer influences that, too. What is important is that we can each just bang away with our camera as we wish and hopefully enjoy what it is that we pointed it at. At the end-up they are tools of pleasure.

 

[splitimageview]

FYI Andycapp requested his account be closed.

 

[Godfrey]

FYI Andycapp requested his account be closed.

I'm sad to hear that. I hope he continues to enjoy his camera and make photographs with a mind more open to learning and seeing.

G

 

[brusby]

That's a shame. In my experience he was one of only a few people who would leave constructive, positive comments.

 

[boojum]

A case of the good driven out by the bad?

 

[brusby]

I didn't follow the thread.

 

[Archiver]

A case of the good driven out by the bad?

Some of his comments came across as argumentative, others were odd; see Godfrey's post above for an example. He mentioned that he had been banned from multiple camera forums in the past, so maybe he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder? On the other hand, he was an honest explorer of the rangefinder niche, and his search for knowledge and comments were clearly positive. So a mixed bag, perhaps.

 

[Michael Markey]

Some of his comments came across as argumentative, others were odd; see Godfrey's post above for an example. He mentioned that he had been banned from multiple camera forums in the past, so maybe he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder? On the other hand, he was an honest explorer of the rangefinder niche, and his search for knowledge and comments were clearly positive. So a mixed bag, perhaps.

That`s exactly how I felt .
Sometimes interesting in terms of content but it was the tone and the insistence in which the comments were made which made me cautious.
Too combative despite some thoughtful observations.
The banning from multiple forums was an odd thing too.

 

[wlewisiii]

Some honest questions but little attention seemed to be given to the answers, honestly, and way too low of a signal to noise ratio overall.

IMO and all that and I'll just leave it there.