Disapointment with the M ?

[fraley]

Totifoto, if you can shoot a roll with a camera before purchasing it, you will have a better idea what works for you. No one camera can offer the best design in every category. Some things will be a compromise and others will be optimal. Every camera has its good points and its problems.

 

[hlockwood]

Thanx for all the answers.

I dont wear glasess, yet at least 🙄

I have also looked into the ZI but the thing that is keeping me away from them is that I live in Iceland and there is no dealer with them here so there is no repairshop either. But we have a Leica dealer.

The only camera they have at the shop at the momment is the MP I tried and the M8. I´m going to Boston on friday and hopefully I will find a Leica dealer there and can try out th .85 viewfinder there.

What about the 1.25 magnifier? I only have framlines 50 and up with that dont I?

Well, of course you would remove it when shooting with the 35mm lens, possibly for the 50mm as well. Also note that with the 0.85 vf, there will be no frame lines for lenses with FL < 35mm.

Harry

 

[ully]

Don't know about the M but for squinty try a Fed 2. Tiny little small patch but it is contrasty, hard to use with glasses on.

 

[hlockwood]

Cameras with .85x finders are probably not that easy to find outside of big cities or the occasional well-stocked dealer. Are you going to be _in_ Boston on Friday? It might be possible for me to let you look at an M6/.85 of mine, depending on scheduling. Email me (do not pm me) if you are interested and we can see if something would work. Email is my user ID here at gmail dot com.

i live in the Boston area, and I couldn't find a dealer having an M7 with 0.85 vf. Hen's teeth I'm afraid. I eventually got mine by mail order from Sam Shoshan at Classic Connection.

I would also volunteer to show the OP my M7/0.85, but I'll be out of town into the following week.

Harry

 

[tmfabian]

If you're in boston there's a joing up in rockport that specializes in Leicas...can't think of the name right now but it's right next to the taffy joint there....but then again i can't say for sure that he'll have a .85 m7 either. EP Levines carries a ton of leica stuff too so you could give them a hollar as well.

 

[David Murphy]

@ pachuco
For me the ZI will become obsolete as soon as I will be able to buy a digital ZI or equivalent camera (without compromising on size, weight and responsiveness of the trigger), which will give me a full frame B&W image of the same or better quality that film gives, without the hassle of dealing with film. I don't know how long it will take, but I don't think more than 5 years.

Some people find battery hungry and battery dependent cameras, digital cameras with requisite multi-thousand dollar computers and software, photo printers with $75 ink refills, etc. quite a hassle. All that and one still cannot achieve the equivalent pixel count and color fidelity of a surplus roll of Kodachrome deleloped at Walmart for $4. Film still rules in the quality game. That's one reason why movies and other high-end TV productions are shot on film and will be for the forseeable future. This despite the existence of video for decades (and now digital video).

 

[ywenz]

David: Would you not buy a computer if you didn't have a digital camera?

Which walmart process kodachrome for $4? Do you mean fool the photo department and process the kodachrome in C41 chemicals?

 

[David Murphy]

David: Would you not buy a computer if you didn't have a digital camera?

Which walmart process kodachrome for $4? Do you mean fool the photo department and process the kodachrome in C41 chemicals?

Walmart sends Kodachrome out of course -it's been that way for this film since 1934 (or something like that). If I were doing digital "right" I'd certainly have a different computer setup than a simple cheap PC I'm using now. The pros seem to take expensive laptops, portable hard drives, etc. tons of memory cards (etc) around with them. I read the modern photo press from time-to-time and I'm appalled at the amount of computer gear they keep in tow -- they complain about it even.

FYI I've been involved professionally in scientific digital imaging for about 20 years now and have publications in the field -- I'm not a Luddite. I may be a contrarian however 🙂

 

[ywenz]

really? walmart? $4 for the middleman fee? or $4 total to get the slides back? I'm intrigued because I have a bunch of kodachrome 64 in the freezer.

 

[mfogiel]

David, I've almost lived in a darkroom for a couple of years when I was a student, but these days it is out of the question, mainly for lack of time... So inkjet printing is for me the way to go anyway, BTW I've tried last week the new Ilford Gallerie Gold Fiber Silk - this paper is wonderful, AND IT SMELLS OF FIXER !!!! 🙂

 

[David Murphy]

really? walmart? $4 for the middleman fee? or $4 total to get the slides back? I'm intrigued because I have a bunch of kodachrome 64 in the freezer.

Oh yeah you didn't know about that? Actually I think it's $3.88 for a 24 shot roll including tax (here California). We've had a few threads here about this, and it's controversial among the arty types that abound on RFF since many don't like Walmart. I learned about this from Super 8 Kodachrome users. Walmart will process movie film, even 16mm movie film it is said, and black and white, and medium format. I've only done Kodachrome so far, but with excellent results. It's all sent out to big labs and Walmart uses its purchasing clout to get it done and cheaply too. I've read that the Kodachrome and movie film goes to Rocky Mountain Labs.

To get Kodachrome processed at Walmart, put the film in the long term envelopes and check the special instructions check box. Then, in the special instructions text box write: "Color slides process K14 - process and mount". It comes back in 10-14 days mounted in old-school Kodak like slide mounts -- I love it! May be this will wean you off digital 🙂

 

[David Murphy]

David, I've almost lived in a darkroom for a couple of years when I was a student, but these days it is out of the question, mainly for lack of time... So inkjet printing is for me the way to go anyway, BTW I've tried last week the new Ilford Gallerie Gold Fiber Silk - this paper is wonderful, AND IT SMELLS OF FIXER !!!! 🙂

OK -- you're good by me now. Anyone who haunts a dark room for a couple of years meets my muster 🙂

 

[gdi]

Oh yeah you didn't know about that? Actually I think it's $3.88 for a 24 shot roll including tax (here California). We've had a few threads here about this, and it's controversial among the arty types that abound on RFF since many don't like Walmart. I learned about this from Super 8 Kodachrome users. Walmart will process movie film, even 16mm movie film it is said, and black and white, and medium format. I've only done Kodachrome so far, but with excellent results. It's all sent out to big labs and Walmart uses its purchasing clout to get it done and cheaply too. I've read that the Kodachrome and movie film goes to Rocky Mountain Labs.

To get Kodachrome processed at Walmart, put the film in the long term envelopes and check the special instructions check box. Then, in the special instructions text box write: "Color slides process K14 - process and mount". It comes back in 10-14 days mounted in old-school Kodak like slide mounts -- I love it! May be this will wean you off digital 🙂

Walmart sends the Kodachrome out to Duane's. They also will take 120 film, which they send out (not sure where). Both take a while, but are cheap. I think I paid 3.88 or so per roll of C-41 120 with prints.

 

[JNewell]

The Rockport place does business as "Camera Corner" or something like that - best way to find them is to google their former name, which was Park Square Photo (add Boston for a google search). You could probably also find them by googling Leica Rockport MA or something like that. I am pretty sure that they're closed on weekends, though.

EPLevine is also closed on weekends, so that may not help the OP - unless he's free Friday during the day?

BTW, for the OP, I misID'd my gmail email addy in my earlier post. If you try to reach me, it should be newellj at gmail.

If you're in boston there's a joing up in rockport that specializes in Leicas...can't think of the name right now but it's right next to the taffy joint there....but then again i can't say for sure that he'll have a .85 m7 either. EP Levines carries a ton of leica stuff too so you could give them a hollar as well.

 

[ywenz]

Walmart sends the Kodachrome out to Duane's. They also will take 120 film, which they send out (not sure where). Both take a while, but are cheap. I think I paid 3.88 or so per roll of C-41 120 with prints.

120 prints huh? So they are square? What size? I've never gotten prints done of my 120 negatives so I'm a bit ignorant! 🙂

 

[wgerrard]

If I were doing digital "right" I'd certainly have a different computer setup than a simple cheap PC I'm using now.

As with anything digital, if we want to stay current with technology, we will be buying and selling hardware much more frequently than if we resided in the film world. Depending on your point of view, that's either an advatange or a disadvantage. Then there's the dead certainty that no piece of digital equipment will maintain its value as long some of the analog equipment people use every day. E.g., no one is paying premium prices for a 1988 IBM PC. Likewise, twenty years from now, no one will be paying anything for any current DSLR. They will be usable, but essentially worthless.

I'm not arguing that we should buy hardware based on its ability to retain value. I am arguing that the rapid obsolesence rate of digital hardware is a factor that bears on the film versus digital debate. That's even more true when a tech breakthrough prompts an entire industry to change standards and platforms.

Many folks seem happy/resigned to spending a few thousand bucks every 2-3 years to upgrade their computers. I do. I'm not so sure I want to get into that cycle with digital cameras that cost as much as my computer.

 

[splitimageview]

Does anyone have a URL for Duane's?

 

[ChadHahn]

Does anyone have a URL for Duane's?

Just enter dwayne's into Google. Also sending film to Dwayne's costs alot more then going through Walmart. Both in the cost of processing and shipping.

Conspiracy theorists think that you get a crappier job done to your slides if you drop them off at Walmart. I sure haven't had any problems.

Also, I've been reading about the demise of film for over five years now. I guess nobody told Fuji about that since they are still coming out with new emulsions.

I'll stick with film, it's fairly permanent, negatives and slides will be able to be viewed decades after the digital files are unreadable, and resolution is still higher on film.

It also looks like film camera prices are going back up. I bought a N80 for $80 earlier this year. Checking on eBay this morning it looks like the price has climbed closer to $125.

 

[Rafael]

Does anyone have a URL for Duane's?

http://www.dwaynesphoto.com/

 

[edlake]

@Michiel Fokkema
The reason is simple - because in the ZI viewfinder you can actually see something... and you get just one frameline and the focusing patch is bigger, as well as the RF is more accurate, believe it or not, even if ZI is only 0.74 against 0.85.
@hlockwood
M7 is obsolete, full stop, and the film is dying out, full stop, at this point I find it wiser to throw out 1/3rd of the money to get twice the performance on a ZI rather than on an M7.

I was originally going to get a black ZI just after they came out. However, I got an M6 TTL instead, for about the same price. My M6 TTL is nearly perfect even though used. I don't regret it at all. 🙂 (Don't regret my SP instead of an M3 either)
Cheers.