Leica M5... good choice?

BLKRCAT said:
Erik perhaps you could answer this but I've owned my M5 for almost 5 years now and I've never quite understood why there is a B1-B30 setting on the shutter speed. Is there actually any use for it or merely cosmetic.
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there's very little practical use for it to the average leica user IMHO - but it does allow you to match an aperture to those long shutter-speeds ( which you then have to 'time' yourself with a cable / bulb / self timer etc ).

try setting your asa dial to '6' and you will see the needle sweep through that full range of slow speeds.

combined with the calculator wheel on the back door of the camera ( which i have actually used once or twice for nighttime stuff when i can find my reading glasses ... ) it does show a strange ( unique !? ) attention to long exposures for a 35mm camera.

AP
 
It is tied to the light meter and gives the exposure needed on "b". Of course, you have to manually release the shutter and time it.
 
harvester said:
there's very little practical use for it to the average leica user IMHO - but it does give you a meter reading for the selected shutter speed ( which you then have to 'time' yourself with a cable / bulb / self timer etc ) try setting your asa dial to '6' and you will see the needle sweep through the full range of speeds. combined with the calculator wheel on the back door of the camera ( which i have actually used once or twice for nighttime stuff ) it does show a strange ( unique ! ) attention to long exposures for a 35mm camera.

AP
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+1

Thanks
 
A similar question is why Leica bothered to put a complex dial on the back. The only useful information it displays is the film type. The exposure reciprocity calculator dial isn't really of much use. It's probably only there because there was a useful film speed reminder on the backs of previous models.

Cheers,
Dez
 
Dez said:
A similar question is why Leica bothered to put a complex dial on the back. The only useful information it displays is the film type. The exposure reciprocity calculator dial isn't really of much use. It's probably only there because there was a useful film speed reminder on the backs of previous models.

Cheers,
Dez
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Good point, and it brings a question I have still to address. I sometimes forget what film I have in the camera, so I am taping a piece of the box on the bottom of the camera. Is there any other elegant way of remembering what film is in the camera?
 
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:) tape does the trick. i can't read those reminder dials anymore anyway ...

AP
 
pepeguitarra said:
Good point, and it brings a question I have still to address. I sometimes forget what film I have in the camera, so I am taping a piece of the box on the bottom of the camera. Is there any other elegant way of remembering what film is in the camera?
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I use www.filmtrackr.com

Really useful especially if you have many film cameras...
It also keeps a history - as detailed as you want - of what you shot/when/with what etc.

And it is free.
 
maitani said:
my 2-lug chrome
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Please post some photos shot with this lens! 20 years ago a working photographer friend told me his copy of this f1.2 lens was a piece of crap and told me to avoid it, so I did and now it is completely unaffordable to me.
 
thanks for the feedback. The M5 allows it also to be used with the hood without throwing the camera 'back' (like on the smaller M's) i guess the same is true for the older E43 lux with the external hood.

Rayt said:
Please post some photos shot with this lens! 20 years ago a working photographer friend told me his copy of this f1.2 lens was a piece of crap and told me to avoid it, so I did and now it is completely unaffordable to me.
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I disagree with your photographer friend, but i can imagine sample variation on those handground lenses is quite high, this is a superb copy who belonged to a pro photographer and was used as workhorse lens.
 
I am also OK with a collapsible Summicron on an M5. Is there a difference in the penetration of the proper M version and the LTM version with an adapter (which is what I tried).

Cheers,
Dez
 
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