M
merciful
Guest
Wide-open and holding my breath.
How do you shoot your Leica?
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jdos2
Well-known
How do I shoot my Leica?
Come upon a scene I can't do without- bring the MP up to my eye...
1) Focus and meter.
OOPS! Lens cap is on. Oh! Is that the filter? It's on there too... Let's see- what did I have loaded? Was it 80 (Pan F) or 1250 (Tri-x)? Ew. Why's that light meter on 800? Oh for heaven's sake. Um... I think it was... Well, let's see (moves front lever to R, starts rewinding film, remembers to check the frame number after only a few turns of the rewind lever) Ah! I have Velvia in here. Lovely. Sure hope that filter- oh NEVERMIND. (reaches in bag, grabs a roll of Pan-F and loads it in a couple busy seconds- and remembers to change the meter! <- That's a victory in itself!)
1 (again)) Okay! M is loaded, frame one,
2) and... Um... Rats- wind again, didn't have it set for frame one.
3) And focus, Noctilux wide open, 1/1000, and
4)"click" and "click."
Excellent.
The only time it's worse is when I've not shot with the Universal:
1) Focus,
2) shoot,
2a) Curse, remembering that I didn't wind the lens.
2b) 50 percent of the time, remember that I don't wind the film until I take the picture, otherwise forget and get a perfect double exposure.
3) Wind lens
4) advance film (ha!)
5) Focus/frame
6) shoot
*** Wait- *** Left the durn darkslide in.
7) Pull out darkslide
8) wind lens
9) Start to advance the film before remembering that there wasn't an exposure on there- finish winding the film with teeth gritted.
10)...
Come upon a scene I can't do without- bring the MP up to my eye...
1) Focus and meter.
OOPS! Lens cap is on. Oh! Is that the filter? It's on there too... Let's see- what did I have loaded? Was it 80 (Pan F) or 1250 (Tri-x)? Ew. Why's that light meter on 800? Oh for heaven's sake. Um... I think it was... Well, let's see (moves front lever to R, starts rewinding film, remembers to check the frame number after only a few turns of the rewind lever) Ah! I have Velvia in here. Lovely. Sure hope that filter- oh NEVERMIND. (reaches in bag, grabs a roll of Pan-F and loads it in a couple busy seconds- and remembers to change the meter! <- That's a victory in itself!)
1 (again)) Okay! M is loaded, frame one,
2) and... Um... Rats- wind again, didn't have it set for frame one.
3) And focus, Noctilux wide open, 1/1000, and
4)"click" and "click."
Excellent.
The only time it's worse is when I've not shot with the Universal:
1) Focus,
2) shoot,
2a) Curse, remembering that I didn't wind the lens.
2b) 50 percent of the time, remember that I don't wind the film until I take the picture, otherwise forget and get a perfect double exposure.
3) Wind lens
4) advance film (ha!)
5) Focus/frame
6) shoot
*** Wait- *** Left the durn darkslide in.
7) Pull out darkslide
8) wind lens
9) Start to advance the film before remembering that there wasn't an exposure on there- finish winding the film with teeth gritted.
10)...
Erl
Established
I shoot M6 Classic & M6TTL. I prefer the TTL version, only because the speed dial 'goes the right way' as indicated by the LEDS.
Apart from personal work, I shoot assignments using both cameras, ranging from weddings to stage and theatrical work. In the past I used Hasselblads and auto Nikons for the same work. The Leicas rule! ... after I developed a technique of handing, the point of this thread.
I leaned to load quckly, even in near total darness, I work with highest pre-set shutter speed that allows me some margin to vary the aperture according to the light, that best suits the subject. For stage and theatre work, I am frequently restricted to max. aperture, when I only have variable speeds at my disposal. Adrenalin rushes!
Some concert work, eg. orchestras, I need to 'focus' on one instrumentalist, but retain the environment of the orchestra without making the image 'busy'. The Noctiux with f1.0 is brilliant for this, but exposure must be controlled by speed dial. That is why the M6TTL better suits my purpose. An M7 would be a dream because of the auto feature, but the digital M will probably steal my dollars first!
SUMMARY: Every shooting situation demands a different approach to camera technique. You MUST be familiar with you camera ergonomics to adapt without conscious thought as to how you will prioritorize handing. That means practice, practice, practice . . . .
Apart from personal work, I shoot assignments using both cameras, ranging from weddings to stage and theatrical work. In the past I used Hasselblads and auto Nikons for the same work. The Leicas rule! ... after I developed a technique of handing, the point of this thread.
I leaned to load quckly, even in near total darness, I work with highest pre-set shutter speed that allows me some margin to vary the aperture according to the light, that best suits the subject. For stage and theatre work, I am frequently restricted to max. aperture, when I only have variable speeds at my disposal. Adrenalin rushes!
Some concert work, eg. orchestras, I need to 'focus' on one instrumentalist, but retain the environment of the orchestra without making the image 'busy'. The Noctiux with f1.0 is brilliant for this, but exposure must be controlled by speed dial. That is why the M6TTL better suits my purpose. An M7 would be a dream because of the auto feature, but the digital M will probably steal my dollars first!
SUMMARY: Every shooting situation demands a different approach to camera technique. You MUST be familiar with you camera ergonomics to adapt without conscious thought as to how you will prioritorize handing. That means practice, practice, practice . . . .
peter_n
Veteran
The only other Leica I've used is an M6TTL so as far as I'm concerned the shutter speed dial very much rotates the right way!vincentbenoit said:... so that you don't have to worry about the shutter speed dial rotating the wrong way?peter_n said:
Erl
Established
Should have mentioned above, that nearly ALL exposures are measured using Incamera meter and most images focused rather than pre-set, but a series of one motif will be shot once fosus and exposure are determined.
tetrisattack
Maximum Creativity!
There was an earlier comment about shooting indoor scenes at f/2, 1/30th sec @ iso 400. I just wanted to throw in that, while I'm not a leica user, that's exactly how I operate my R2A. Often there's just well-known situations and often I can make an educated guess to within a stop, which I will pre-set for a given scene, which allows me to concentrate on getting good focus and composition.
Of course, with the R2A, I have the option of putting the camera into Av when I know I won't have time to set up an exposure, but I try not to exercise that option in favor of the added challenge and satisfaction of manually setting my shutter speed.
Of course, with the R2A, I have the option of putting the camera into Av when I know I won't have time to set up an exposure, but I try not to exercise that option in favor of the added challenge and satisfaction of manually setting my shutter speed.
I usually take a reading up close to the subject with the Weston Master 715 for the Leica's. It was in a box for roughly 60 years in an optics lab. Still very accurate.
S
StuartR
Guest
I generally go by the best aperture of the lens if I am in daylight and have no particular depth of field reason to use another speed. For the 50mm f/1.4 ASPH, that is f/4 or f/5.6, f/4 for the 35/1.4 ASPH, f/5.6 for the 75/1.4, and f/8 or f/11 for the 21mm f/4 Voigtlander. One advantage of this is that Leica lenses tend to have their best apertures fairly wide open (f/4, f/5.6), and using these apertures means you can keep the speeds pretty high as well. In terms of camera shake and steadiness, 1/250th or 1/500th is probably better than 1/125th, all else being equal.
For inside, one thing to remember is that you do not need to "chase the meter", particularly if you are using negative film. By that I mean you need to meter only once for any given lighting situation. If you have taken a reading of a neutral gray object in the same lighting, just use that EV and don't bother fiddling with the aperture or shutter speed just because the camera says there is a half stop more or less light...it is probably that the scene you are pointing at is just a little darker or brighter than 18% grey. Your original reading is probably still right. Otherwise just use your own judgement. With slide film you have to be more careful. A film like Trix is very difficult to mess up....the more modern tabular grain emulsions (Tmax, Delta) are pickier.
For inside, one thing to remember is that you do not need to "chase the meter", particularly if you are using negative film. By that I mean you need to meter only once for any given lighting situation. If you have taken a reading of a neutral gray object in the same lighting, just use that EV and don't bother fiddling with the aperture or shutter speed just because the camera says there is a half stop more or less light...it is probably that the scene you are pointing at is just a little darker or brighter than 18% grey. Your original reading is probably still right. Otherwise just use your own judgement. With slide film you have to be more careful. A film like Trix is very difficult to mess up....the more modern tabular grain emulsions (Tmax, Delta) are pickier.
FrankS
Registered User
I totally agree with you Stuart about "chasing the meter".
Some fine comments above... We talk about knowing our gear well enough to use it almost by habit, and it helps to be using the same film, or at least the same film speed, all the time. Then you get familiar with typical exposures under various conditions, either obviating the use of a light meter, or anyway giving some check on what the meter is trying to say.
I use a lot of EI 250... FP4 at 250 in Diafine, XP2 400 at 250, UC400 and NPH at 250, etc, sort of a common film speed for me to be using... except I mostly use NPZ at 500, just one stop up and on AE, with the 645 RF cams.
With a manual exposure camera, I usually pick a middle aperture and vary the shutter speed based on the conditions... leaving it alone as long as the light's the same. There are some shots I want to close it down more for more DoF, or open it up for less, as far as allowed by sensible shutter speeds. It does really depend on the circumstances. It's handy to have fast shutter speeds of 1/2000 or faster to help with wide apertures, and it can be irritating to bump against a camera's 1/500th fastest speed! That will usually mean choosing a slower film which then is more limiting in dim conditions.
I too leave the shutters always cocked and ready to shoot! There are still occasional times there's a glitch in procedure and I carefully choose my moment to squeeze off a shot only to find the shutter wasn't cocked. Grrrrrr.
I use a lot of EI 250... FP4 at 250 in Diafine, XP2 400 at 250, UC400 and NPH at 250, etc, sort of a common film speed for me to be using... except I mostly use NPZ at 500, just one stop up and on AE, with the 645 RF cams.
With a manual exposure camera, I usually pick a middle aperture and vary the shutter speed based on the conditions... leaving it alone as long as the light's the same. There are some shots I want to close it down more for more DoF, or open it up for less, as far as allowed by sensible shutter speeds. It does really depend on the circumstances. It's handy to have fast shutter speeds of 1/2000 or faster to help with wide apertures, and it can be irritating to bump against a camera's 1/500th fastest speed! That will usually mean choosing a slower film which then is more limiting in dim conditions.
I too leave the shutters always cocked and ready to shoot! There are still occasional times there's a glitch in procedure and I carefully choose my moment to squeeze off a shot only to find the shutter wasn't cocked. Grrrrrr.
dr.kollig
Member
Usually I shoot M3 with b/w film around 100-125 ASA, so shutter speed is set to 1/125 and aperture controlled to adjust to light conditions, sunny 16, minus 1 to minus 3 for using filters, so on a fine day it may be a #29 red, so -3 gives 1/125, f 5.6 on a overcast day yellow or no filter but -2 or -3 for being overcast gives 1/125 f 5.6 as well. If it gets rainy I use a 400 ASA film to get back to 1/125 5.6....
If it gets dark I might reach for the Noctilux so 1/125 f 1.0 or 1/60 f 1.0. The two lenses I use wide open and adjust the speed are the 50/1 and 75/1.4.
Using the M5 I might change and adjust speed as it very easy on that camera and shown in the finder.
Wolfram
Hopefully my 1/125 will not wear out, like the gears on a racebike.
If it gets dark I might reach for the Noctilux so 1/125 f 1.0 or 1/60 f 1.0. The two lenses I use wide open and adjust the speed are the 50/1 and 75/1.4.
Using the M5 I might change and adjust speed as it very easy on that camera and shown in the finder.
Wolfram
Hopefully my 1/125 will not wear out, like the gears on a racebike.
peter_n
Veteran
I don't think it will Wolfram but I think its a good idea to exercise all the gears. If I have the time between film changing, I run through all the shutter speeds on my M6TTL and fire off a few shots on each. I do that about once every month or so.