My first pictures with my first Leica

G

gutguido

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Oct 28, 2008
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First time with a manual camera ...
First time with a rangefinder ...
First time with film ...
First time with a Leica.

From a DSLR with a thousand controls, I'm now down to the aperture ring, the shutter knob, and the shutter.

It's very humbling to have found out for myself how little skill I have left when I lose all the automation. But I will learn.

In the meantime, I am having such a wonderful time hopping around, documenting other people's lives as they happen.

Thank you for sharing my joy with me.

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Wonderful shots, you obviously understand the rings, knobs and stuff. Keep in mind it was you took the pictures, not the camera, as wonderful as it is.
 
Thanks to all for saying hello and the kind words. I am really surprised and delighted by your responses.

I'm shooting with an MP. The first two images I shot with my Summilux 50mm, which is likely to be my go-to street lens for candid photography; the next two I shot with a Noctilux I borrowed from a friend (now I'm not sure if I'm going to give it back to my friend.) :D

I'm sorry I didn't record what settings I used. This being the first roll, I wanted to get a feel for how the MP meters. For the indoor shots, I set the shutter speed at either 1/15 and 1/30, which is the slowest I can trust myself holding the camera steady; for the shots with the Noct, I shot either wide open or close to wide open to isolate my subjects and/or go for some light falloff on the side, which I felt suited the mood I was trying to capture.

The film used was a Kodack BW 400 CN. I picked it because ... it was the only B&W film at anything other than ISO 100 I could find at the nearest photo processing lab chain. I know it must be criminal shooting B&W without even putting any thought into the choice of film, and not developing the film myself, but I don't know how. I hope to learn in due course.

To friends who said I seem to be adjusting fine, thank you for the encouragement. What you didn't see was the rest of the roll which I almost had to throw away in disgust, because either the exposures were way off, or the focus is all wrong. One thing I have discovered is that I am awful, awful at estimating distances. For a lot of the candid shots I made, I didn't have the luxury of taking time to focus, so I tried to pre-focus a lot, and the first attempts were very spotty. I hope it would improve with time.

Just some personal sharing on one of the pictures. My favorite is picture #4 with the couple. I saw this couple while walking along the side of Victoria Harbour, and something about them made me just stop, stood behind them, and watched them for a long time talking with each other. I put the camera up, but somehow I didn't want to pull the trigger, and I couldn't explain it, I didn't even know what I was waiting for. Finally, they stopped talking, moved a little closer to each other, and the man slipped his hand around the girl's waist. So I took the shot. The moment I snapped it, I knew it would be the photo I liked the most, because of the feeling and emotion I invested into it.

Thank you again for indulging me sharing my joy with you.
 
I like #3 & #4. Seems you have captured the magic moment in #4!

As I am located in Singapore and have been to HK a couple of times, the pictures really relate well with me. Me being Chinese also.:)
 
Focus, aperture, shutter seem a whole lot more simple than the 500 page manual that came with my new Nikon.

You did a great job. Keep it up
 
payasam said:
This is fine stuff. Obviously you know a thing or two about exposure in difficult light.
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Hi. Thank you but ... I really don't. Beginners' luck! Not to mention the failed attempts that I didn't post here.

Can't wait to go out and shoot again over the weekend. Too bad I then have to wait a whole week for the film to be developed. :bang:
 
gutguido said:
Hi. Thank you but ... I really don't. Beginners' luck! Not to mention the failed attempts that I didn't post here.

Can't wait to go out and shoot again over the weekend. Too bad I then have to wait a whole week for the film to be developed. :bang:
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You've come this far.....why not get a tank, changing bag, chemicals, and do your own, - it's not difficult, and will increase your satisfaction even more!
Dave.
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
You've come this far.....why not get a tank, changing bag, chemicals, and do your own, - it's not difficult, and will increase your satisfaction even more!
Dave.
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You are evil, evil.

I'm not doing it yet simply because ... I don't know how. I don't even have the faintest idea of how film is developed into photos. :confused: I will indeed try to pick it up a bit later though, once I've gotten more comfortable with shooting manual and in film.

One problem with Hong Kong is that space is at a premium, and there's no way I can transform any part of my tiny apartment into a dark room, without throwing out a lot of stuff, not to mention risking a divorce. (Dark room, wife ... pretty easy choice.) Gotta look for a place that rents a dark room.
 
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