First Photos with my M3

ironhorse

Joe DuPont
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Aug 29, 2009
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A very different experience from shooting with my Nikon Digital SLRs. A slower and more thoughtful process attentive to exposure, etc. All photos were made with a Serenar 50mm f/1.8 on Tmax film and scanned with a Canon 8800f. I plan to process the film myself in the future and can see that dust is a major problem. I need to get a program that will handle that. I am having a great time and look forward to expanding my range. Critique and comments always welcome.

Joe

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Great shots , the last one is exceptional and love, love the Dog. The photo's okay, but I love the dog. How does he see with all that hair.
You have a good eye and Im looking forward to seeing more of your work from the M3. Have you got any more from this roll:).
Forget the nonsense about the M3 being slower than the DSLR. Ther limitation are only in your mind. These camera's can be very quick in the hand and on the street. As far as exposer have you got a hand held meter, or using using your DSLR or the sunny 16 method?
 
Thanks for the comments. These were the best from the roll. I bought a working Weston Master III ( I couldn't resist. Its beautiful) but am trying to use the sunny 16 method. I agree that it is me that is slow and not the camera. The next challenge is to become adept at "street photography" for lack of a better phrase. I am accustomed to being behind a telephoto lens.

Somehow these dogs manage to function with all that hair and herd sheep. We breed Bearded Collies and she is the youngest in our household.
 
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Okay Joe, Tomorrow as a sign of solidarity to one M3 owner to another Im going take M3 and do some street shooting between my classes. Im going shoot some XP2 and going blast the whole roll. If your up for it and have time do the same. Take care of them dog. Just wondering how many sheep you got there in N.Y:).
 
Forget the nonsense about the M3 being slower than the DSLR. Ther limitation are only in your mind. These camera's can be very quick in the hand and on the street.

Agreed. It'll be slower in some situations and quicker in others. I was on a cruise last year, and a big whale popped up near the boat out of nowhere and quickly went back down. Everyone with a digital camera was fumbling to turn it on, and wait for shutter lag, missed it.

With my exposure and focus preset (it was all sunny 16, infiniti) and no shutter lag, I was able to get the photo.

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The results from the lens look great , maybe a little veiling flare in the bridge pic, but it looks like it's coming from the humid air not the lens. The Honda CRV is sharp as you like. The dust's on the negatives, not in the lens.
And Sunny 16 is a liberating experience!

My very best,
Alex
 
Wow Joe. Nice pics. I'm waiting for my M3, will also be a new experience for me (coming from a DSLR).

Have you used a rangefinder before? If not, how do you find the experience so far with the M3? Just curious.

Cheers,

Patrice
 
Nice, is this your first rangefinder? my first rangefinder photos were terrible. I am worried I have a bad/old lens. I have yet to develop my third/fourth attempts with the camera.
 
Thanks for all of the responses.

JJ Kapsberger........In what way do you think the lens is seriously flawed? I am not sure how sharp this lens is suppose to be. I think the bridge and the old Domino Sugar factory are reasonably sharp.
 
Hi Andrew, thanks, I am enjoying the M3. The camera is a joy to use. The quality of the build and the brightness of the viewfinder were surprising. There is a learning curve so I'll just have to shoot a lot of film. I will probably go for a better lens fairly soon as well. It is funny that I'll shoot 800 frames at a sporting event but it takes me a week to go through a roll of Tri-x.

Regards,

Joe
 
Patrice and heatherselkie.......This is my first rangefinder and I have been having a great time using it. It is much less obtrusive than my Nikon DSLR system and easy to carry with you all the time. I started shooting Tri-X with a Pentax Spotmatic in High School in 1970 and am happy to get back to basics. It is also an excuse to do a different type of shooting than with my digital cameras. I will start developing my film when I get a bit more time.
Looking forward to seeing your photos as well.

Regards,

Joe
 
Joe, earlier this year I went from a Nikon D700 to an M4 and M3 with the Voigtlander 50mm F1.1 Nokton. I also use a CanoScan 8800F for scanning and I develop my own B&W and C41 films.

The CanoScan should have come with software. Mine came with ScanGear and it's a great program. I'm using Photoshop CS4 which opens the ScanGear. There are lots of options in there under the "Advanced Settings" tab, including dust removal. Check it out if you've got it.

What program are you using for the digital side of your editing?

Some recent Street Photography from Berlin and Wurzberg with the M3/Nokton:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050048&id=1139559599&l=4498a00ce8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050495&id=1139559599&l=d10c695df7
 
The Serenar 50/1.8 is a great lens for the price. Here's some shots on cheap color film, scanned by the 1h lab:

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