New M3 and Summicron DR

hans voralberg

hans voralberg

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My 'Cron DR arrived today so I now have a full kit to start shooting. This is my first Leica and the lens feels like a holding a cast-iron ball, really substantial, man I'm in love. I think I need 40 or 21mm now :D

The DR is in surprisingly good condition, almost no mark, no haze, few tiny specks of dust, everything is snappy except for the focus ring get a tiny bit stiffy near infinity :D which i acquire for £175

The M3 is in good nick as well, bit scratchy bottom, and the film spool is kinda rusty.

and here's the pics :D

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Very nice, Hans! Your M3 is the same vintage as mine (#902nnn) and I have the rigid 50 rather than DR 50 lens (I also shoot with a collapsible Elmar 50/2.8 when I want to go lower profile). Your kit looks great and should be a real pleasure to use. Looking forward to seeing some shots from you soon!

Best,
Randy
 
I just loaded a roll of Delta400 in :D Im kinda short on fund for chemical and scanning now so it might take a while, but definately will post ^^. Quick question, any recommendation for meter people ? Im only so so at guestimate exposure and at a 50% success rate i'm gonna burn a lot of film
 
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RE new M3

RE new M3

I just got an M3 a couple of weeks ago. My first couple of rolls were good as I was using Sunny 16, but just bought a Sekonic L208 to help sharpen my skills. I am very happy with it. Inexpensive, small and quick. Best of luck!
 
hans voralberg said:
I just loaded a roll of Delta400 in :D Im kinda short on fund for chemical and scanning now so it might take a while, but definately will post ^^. Quick question, any recommendation for meter people ? Im only so so at guestimate exposure and at a 50% success rate i'm gonna burn a lot of film
Click to expand...

It may be a bit more than you want to spend, but the CV meter is a perfect fit, both in terms of size and aesthetics, for the M3. It works well too - highly recommended.

-Randy
 
Congratulations, Hans! Just like my kit. You're going to LOVE those pictures! Shoot some B&W, preferably Tri-X. Portraits at 5.6 or wider will blow your mind! It's 3-D! Cars just sparkle.
Vic
 
Nice setup. I had a DR up until recently when I swapped it for a 50 lux.

As for meters, I've used the Voigtlander VC, accurate & small; preferred it over the MR-4, which was accurate, larger, and has the older CdS cell that can be affected by bright light.

However I found it difficult to get a reading with the VC; point the camera at the subject, but you then can't see the LEDs on the top; look at the LEDs, and the camera is no longer pointed at the subject so the reading changes. Maybe I missed something obvious but I couldn't figure out how to lock in a reading. [EDIT: the later model VC II may have fixed this.]

But now I use a Gossen Digisix as it's very tiny, lightweight, and can take incident readings.
 
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Yeah, the VC II locks in each reading. Just point it at whatever you want to meter, press the button and then you can play with different aperture & shutter settings until you get the center green diode to light and the neighboring red diodes to go out. And not only does that give you one reading, but by looking at the two aperture/shutter wheels you can easily read off all the reciprocal readings as well. Further, while I did say the meter matches well the look of the M3, I tend to not place it in the hotshoe and, instead, keep it in my pocket and merely take occasional readings as needed/desired. That also avoids having to rock the camera back and forth to take meter readings, etc., as digitalintrigue described above.

-Randy
 
I only shoot BW on film, and Vic what you mean by wider aperturewise ? f5.6 -> f2 ? or towards f8 ?

I'm considering the Sekonic L208 or the Gossen. The Sekonic would be most affordable , atm i cant shell out ~£150 for the VC II. is the Sekonic big ?
 
My first Leica set-up was the same; DS M3 and DR Summicron. Great camera and lens to start a Leica journey.

BTW: your M3 looks to be a Canada made M3 - large 'M3' engraving - somewhat a 'collector's camera.
 
congrats on the M3 and 50 DR!!! A very fine kit! I recommend a digisix by gossen. small, accurate and very small; did i say compact and small? :)
 
The 50 DR could be my all-time favorite lens (though the 50 Summilux I recently picked up is a close second). Something really special about it's character that just really resonates with me. It's sharp but has a nice "roundness" to not be clinically too sharp. It's contrasty enough but not so much that the images look digital. Gorgeous results with classic B&W films like Tri-X, HP-5, FP-4 and even Neopan 100SS.

Enjoy! It looks fantastic on your M3!

Some 50'cron DR examples of mine attached....
 

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I love my M3, I use it exclusively with a 50 collapsable.

My girl and I did a hike of a peak yesterday, it was more cold and windy than we expected at 14,000 feet. But on the way down we saw a goat in full Winter regalia at around 12,900 feet. We had about 10 minutes of sunlight left so it was dark by the time we got to tree line. The image in the trees was from another hike, kinda spooky, but love that collapsable wide open.

All in all, a great outing with the M3....
 
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The VC II is $174 at Cameraquest or Photo Village...that's only about £85 currently...

hans voralberg said:
I'm considering the Sekonic L208 or the Gossen. The Sekonic would be most affordable , atm i cant shell out ~£150 for the VC II. is the Sekonic big ?
Click to expand...
 
Hans, by wider I meant more toward F2. The Summicrons seem to me to really do their best work at those wide apertures. I also have a collapsible, and at f2 it's absolutely painterly!
Vic
 
An M3 and a DR 'cron were what I cut my RF teeth on. They are still what I shoot with most. Load your favorite 400 speed film and shoot away. I use a small hand-held meter, Sunny 16, and experience to determine exposure, but I wouldn't mount a meter on my M3- it's lines are too beautiful to spoil with a meter on the deck. If I can't tell the correct exposure by looking, I measure the light in my location before I start shooting. (The more often you do this, the less you need the meter. It's great.)
 
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