If you were to buy your first Leica...

Leica M5

Leica M5

Hi all. Don't diss the Leica M5.... a truly unique and functional camera. The meter is first rate and its analog scale along the bottom allows easy settings. You can use it as either a aperture or shutter priority. Also, its NOT mechanically complex. It operates as the other Leicas. It IS a bit bigger, but i dont have the largest hands and find it operable. Mine is a new old stock M5 i bought via Shutterbug magazine about 10 years ago. I guess it dates from 1972 and operates 100% today. I use it for B&W abstract work and develop and print my own photos. Plus, to me, it is the most beautifully/ugly camera in the world, and is lighter weight than most SLRs.
 
No one has mentioned starting with the M3. Add a 50MM lens, any one that you can afford and start teaching yourself the "basics". The "sunny" 16 rule should come with a hand -held meter.and a roll of film. Go from there. Learn to see in the 1X1.5 format. That is the hardest pa.rt
 
Actually, the M3 was my first choice when I started thinking about a Leica...

Now, how do you meter with it? Do you briefly put the meter on top of the camera as if it were a flash? Do you point the meter to the subject? If shooting b&w do you take a reading of the shadows, set f-stop and shutterspeed and shoot? Inquiring minds...

BTW, I have a Sekonic L-208.
 
To be honest, I have, since 1952, had the habit of metering the area where I am BEFORE I start looking for pictures. I keep the variables in my head and set the camera accordingly. I use negative film exclusively so the film latitude saves me when I make an error. I still have my original M3 but mow use the M5. Though the M5 has a great built-in meter system, I still choose the exposure before I look at the scene though the viewfinder. i'm not bragging, mind you, but i'm 80% within 1/2 a stop of the final meter reading.
 
SolaresLarrave said:
Thanks a lot! You confirmed my initial choices... I am planning on getting myself a Leica next year (yes, must save a bunch) and even though I was aiming for a M3, suddenly I realized that if I have to meter the scene, or try to reach an EV to fit a number of shots, I'd lose valuable time.

<snip> :(
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Francisco,
You get used to operating without a built in meter. I have actually come to prefer it. I'm not saying that having a built in meter is bad, just different. You actually use the meter less when you have a handheld meter than with a built in meter. It turns out that you depend more on the best calculator available, your bean. ;)
 
kajabbi said:
To be honest, I have, since 1952, had the habit of metering the area where I am BEFORE I start looking for pictures. I keep the variables in my head and set the camera accordingly. I use negative film exclusively so the film latitude saves me when I make an error. I still have my original M3 but mow use the M5. Though the M5 has a great built-in meter system, I still choose the exposure before I look at the scene though the viewfinder. i'm not bragging, mind you, but i'm 80% within 1/2 a stop of the final meter reading.
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Exactly the point I was trying to make. This is how I basically use my M4-2. When I get ready to shoot, I'm ready and can make changes on the fly using my head. When I do use a camera with a built in meter I find I use the same technique, but start to second guess it and often ignore it. I've gotten to where I prefer not having it in the viewfinder it gets in the way of my composition. YMMV.
 
I don't know what was it that got hold of me, but this afternoon I just went and placed a bid on a Leica M3 body. I don't think I'll win but... it's a weird thrill nonetheless.

And I need some reward. Last night I lost a neat Canonet 28 to some auction sniper. :mad:

I'll keep you posted.:)
 
A screw mount Leica with a collapsible lens is in a special category. Particularly with an Elmar (or Industar-22) the camera is tiny and can be easily carried in a pocket or one of those small belt pouches sold for a digital camera.

Not as elegant in use as a M series Leica, but it is a camera which you're more likely to have with you.
 
Having gone through IIIC, IIIF, IIIG, M3, M2, M6ttl & R5 -- I have returned to a mint++IIIF RD ST with mint+ Red Scale 50mm 1:3.5 Elmar. I guess exposure (just got a little Sekonic L208 for security), and my photos delight me. It's a classic, wonderful combination. There is no finer photographic instrument than a IIIF (see Steve Gandy's article)

Paul, 9/11/03
 
The M2 uses a detachable spool instead of the 'magic fingers' take-up of the later models. In fast-moving situations, it was customary to have a spare roll of film clipped into the spare take-up spool so all the photographer had to do was pull the baseplate, grab the used roll and spool, and slot the new one in. If I was buying another Leica, it would be a 2, a 4, or a 4-2.
 
Paul is close to the mark with his IIIf/3.5 Elmar combination. If you shoot indoors at all though, the collapsible Summicron f2 is a delight.
 
If I were to do it again, either an MP or and M7 (probably the M7), and a 35mm f/1.4 asph. Good luck...
 
rsilverberg, thanks for asking. I can tell you something: had I won that Leica, you would have heard of it for sure, as I would have posted a triumphant thread on the matter.

But no, I didn't win that and neither did I win the next one I bid for. The first went wildly high (somebody went for a bidding war) and the second... was ended even BEFORE I could bid for it (and sold for, believe this, $ 227). Granted, the lens had a slight defect (not fungus, but a bit of a scratch that didn't affect images always), but I was interested and when I went to place a bid, I saw the seller had ended the auction and sold to the highest bidder.

I'm thinking about going kinda slow here. First, I want a lens: if not a 35mm, a 50/2. Later, I'll see how to finance a M5 or M6 body. Sorry, Paul & Scoop, but I'm not feeling like wrecking miles of film on an unmetered body yet... Once I learn how to develop film, sure! Right now, I can't.

Now... what's the difference between Summitar and Summicron? Are they design designations, like Planar and Sonnar, or is it that Summitar predates Summicron? Also, I've seen Elmar collapsible lenses for the M mount. Any comments on these things? Thanks a lot!
 
<<Now... what's the difference between Summitar and Summicron? Are they design designations, like Planar and Sonnar, or is it that Summitar predates Summicron? Also, I've seen Elmar collapsible lenses for the M mount. Any comments on these things? Thanks a lot!>>

The screw mount f3.5 Elmar was a Zeiss Tessar variant . It was a very good performer for its day and quite compact, both of which helped gain a reputation for Leica. I owned several of them, plus a later f2.8 version and consider them okay, but I prefered the f2 Summicron, a bigger lens but also collapsible. It made for good enough totability, and I prefered Summicron for its wider maximum aperture and overall image quality. The Summitar was a transitional lens between Leica's first "speed" lens, the f2 Summar, and the 'cron. Its larger front element eliminated the wide aperture light falloff characteristic of the Summar. It was not bad lens, about equal to the Elmars and Summicrons at f8 on down, but not as good at wider apertures. It also lacks click stops, an disadvantage when it's necessary to set the lens opening by feel. Any of these screw mount lenses can be M adapted.

The M Summicrons, all versions, are better lenses, overall, than any of the others. Actually, I liked them all for their distinctive picture qualities. A lens doesn't have to be technically perfect to produce pleasing images.

I have no experience with the latest M versions of collapsible f2.8 Elmars, but a friend uses one and gets excellent results. It sure slims the package for carry and is acceptably fast, although I still feel a little more comfortable with an f2 or 1.4, even though I seldom shoot wide open.

The best 35 mm Leica lens I ever used was the (suprise!) Summicron, although the f2.8 Summaron is actually quite good, too. In this focal length you might consider a Cosina/Voigtlander alternative. Come to think of it, they also market a sweet 50 mm f1.5.
 
First off, thanks a lot znaps. Your post was most enlightening.

Re: the Voigtlander... I know about it: it's a LTR affair called Nokton, and it does have a quite appealing virtue: speed (f1.5, almost like the Noctilux). But if I went down that route... what'd be the point? I'd like to have Leica glass on a Leica body.

It seems it won't be anytime soon... I've been lurking around e-bay and checking out camera stores. To be quite honest, at times I feel like I deserve to buy it, and at times I'm plain scared. But I'm persistent... And you'll hear me holler when I get the lens.
 
Any words about the performance and/or quality of the Summarit 50/1.5 M-mount? What would you pick, a Summarit 50/1.5 or a Summicron 50/2?

Thanks!!
 
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The f1.5 Summarit had a so-so reputation, but some photogs thought the lens was unfairly maligned. It was pretty good at moderate apertures, but crapped out at its widest apertures, not a good thing for a lens intended to be used there. All this is second hand, I never actually used a Summarit. However, one of our local (Columbus, OH) Leica heroes, Mike Tatum, said the performance of this lens varied a lot from sample to sample. Mike was so highly regarded a Leica-ist in the late 1950s that the Leica distributor used to send him stuff to try out. He tested several Summarits and declared the one he kept equal to the Summicron. Even if that were so, it would probably be a safer bet to go for a Summicron, pretty much a proven item.

Mike, who later became a Leica rep and then a Kodak rep, used to make up giant enlargements from his Leica negatives and paste contact prints of the negs next to them. Awesome quality, looked like from a view camera.
 
znap, I can always bank on your responses.

Well, I ran a search on photo.net about these two lenses and found out pretty much what you said: the Summarit was fine at middle apertures, but not as good as the 'Cron wide open. I saw sample shots (even though some people argue the 'Cron suffers from flare) and picked one from the shelves of a New York camera store, whose manager is a splendid person: Jeff Cole.

I ordered via e-mail, and it'll be shipped today. I believe that for $435 I struck gold, considering it's a chrome lens that has both caps and a hood. :D

Gotta pinch myself... Can't believe what I did! Oh, well, the saga won't end until I find a body (wow, that sounds creeepy!)
 
Well, the 'Cron came at last on Friday, and today, Monday Sept. 22, I placed an order for a chrome Leica M6, used but minty, with box, strap, batteries, body cap and manual. Should be coming on Wednesday.

You'll hear me scream... And, of course, I'll post something here: the works of Summicron!

Keep you posted...

Suspense is killing me!
 
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