M2, Summicron, Tri-X, people, street

[Ronald_H]

I might be finally getting it... this is what photography with Leicas is supposed to be all about isn't it?

Last roll of Tri-X. Two street shots and two shots backstage at an amateur fashion event. Measured with my Gossen Digiflash, correctly adjusted to what my M2 does after its CLA.

 

[HuubL]

Ronald, great shots! And excellent development. I love the bokeh in the shot with the three girls! What version summicron is that?

 

[tomasis]

LEica and TRIX .. maybe most loveliest things in the world hehe

 

[Matthew Allen]

The second one is excellent, really like that.

Matthew

 

[Ronald_H]

It's a Dual Range Summicron from 1963, like the M2 in fact... 45 years old, 8 years older than I am!

 

[Teus]

I don't like the last one very much, the other ones are nice... especially the second one is great

 

[payasam]

Good pictures, but I don't know if any particular kind of photography can be called specific to Leicas.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Good pictures, but I don't know if any particular kind of photography can be called specific to Leicas.

Yeah, I have done a lot of street photography with non-Leicas. I've never owned a Leica.

All of these were 'street photography' and they weren't even done with a rangefinder. All done with an Olympus OM-4T, an SLR.

 

[Austerby]

Yeah, I have done a lot of street photography with non-Leicas. I've never owned a Leica.

Yes, but isn't the whole point that a) the sort of lightweight, fast, impulsive type cameras were invented by Oscar Barnack working at Leica and b) Leica cameras were often used by photographers to take the sort of photo's that have inspired you to take these excellent examples.

Olympus cameras have many merits and are fine pieces of equipment, but they didn't invent the sort of photography that you're using them for - that's what Leica did and that's why they still have a resonance to this day.

 

[Pherdinand]

He didn't say, this kind of photography is invented for leica, i.e. only leica can shoot this.
He said leica is invented for such kind of photography.

Now, of course, many will say, anything can be photographed with a leica... 😀
🙄

 

[ferider]

He didn't say, this kind of photography is invented for leica, i.e. only leica can shoot this.
He said leica is invented for such kind of photography.

Now, of course, many will say, anything can be photographed with a leica... 😀
🙄

1) anything can be photographed with a leica 🙂
2) Barnack did not only invent RFs - he invented 35mm format; the Leica I is as well a parent of the M8 as of the OM4 🙂
3) OMs are honorary RFs, anyways 🙂

Nice photos, Ronald & Chris.

Roland.

 

[briandaly]

I might be finally getting it... this is what photography with Leicas is supposed to be all about isn't it?

Last roll of Tri-X. Two street shots and two shots backstage at an amateur fashion event. Measured with my Gossen Digiflash, correctly adjusted to what my M2 does after its CLA.

Great results, Ronald.
How are you developing the film?

 

[pfoto]

I really like # 2 and 3, OP. Those rigid/DR Summicrons are just incredible lenses. Congratulations!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Yeah, I have done a lot of street photography with non-Leicas. I've never owned a Leica.

Yes, but isn't the whole point that a) the sort of lightweight, fast, impulsive type cameras were invented by Oscar Barnack working at Leica and b) Leica cameras were often used by photographers to take the sort of photo's that have inspired you to take these excellent examples.

Olympus cameras have many merits and are fine pieces of equipment, but they didn't invent the sort of photography that you're using them for - that's what Leica did and that's why they still have a resonance to this day.

Neither Olympus nor Leitz/Leica invented street photography or any other kind. They manufacture cameras and lenses, and the things those and other camera manufacturers have invented are just cameras and lenses...tools for making photographs. No camera maker has ever invented a style of photography. Ever. Not even once.

 

[Tom A]

First a small correction - Herr Barnack was not the first with 35mm film, he was roughly number 31 in the line-up. What he did was approach it from a photographers view point. This was always the strength of the Leica - it was always ergonomically better than the competition.

You can do street photography with any camera, but the strength of the Leica is the "direct" vision (no flopping mirror), the fact that you are being able to see what happens outside of the frame and can "plan" for the movement of subjects. The M also has a very short time between deciding to shoot and releasing the cameras shutter. Sometimes the idea of a shot and the shot are almost simultanious.

I am a devoted M2 user and I find that if I use a metered camera (MP/M6) my "reaction" time is slower as the diodes keep drawing my eye to them, rather than what's within the frame. With a basic set up, a M2 and 35 or a 50 you are not distracted by anything. Apart from that the DR 50 is one of the great lenses, a bit heavy- but so smooth.

TriX and the M was always a match in heaven - the TriX is flexible as to exposure and you dont have fret too much and still you can get a print out of it. Well, 1000's of photojournalists and millions of rolls of TriX cant be all wrong!

 

[Haigh]

M2 Tri x shots

M2 Tri x shots

Ronald,

Yes these wonderful shots have that Tri x Leica look that I sometimes get with myM4.

Regards,

Gary Haigh

Australia

 

[payasam]

While Barnack was by no means the first to use 35 mm cine film in a still camera, his design was the first truly successful one. It also dominated for long the world of the small, quiet, unobtrusive camera -- so much so that all 35 mm photography came to be labelled "Leica photography". Certainly it made possible a kind of work whose spontaneity was new: although it could be argued that people like Erich Salomon with his Ermanox had done it already.

 

[Ronald_H]

Thank you all. Firstly, I have shot 'street' with all kinds of cameras: (d)SLRs, Olympus Mju-II, Canonet and digital compacts. So I don't need a Leica, I merely wanted one 😉

Still, I like the M2 very much, it feels 'right' and the feeling of craftmanship is wonderful. What's most important, it doesn't shout 'photographer!'. I thought it was all a cliché, but an M IS stealthy. It really works that way, and what better, even if people notice it, they just think 'funny old camera'.

I developed my Tri-X in Diafine, the only developer I used so far. It's extremely nice with that film. Diafine is not so great with slower films though, but my local photo store still has ID-11 and D76 in stock, I might try that next.