Nikon M Impressions and Pics

[Mackinaw]

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day in northern Michigan so I grabbed my recently CLA'd Nikon M w/5cm F2.0 (rigid) and spent a few hours Saturday afternoon wondering through Traverse City taking a few street pics.

All shots are with T-Max 100 on D-76 1:1 (I normally don't use Kodak B&W film but this is all I had in my freezer). Most street shots were taken at F2.8 at about 1/200th. The fruit stand shot was taken at F2.0 at 1/60.

The M is a very high quality camera and is capable of taking superb pictures. The focusing wheel works surprisingly well but is definitely an acquired taste (I guess I've spent too many years grabbing for the focusing ring on the lens), plus it focuses the wrong way (compared to a Leica and Canon). The viewfinder is a typical 1950's squinty-style, but good nonetheless (bright with good contrast). One nice feature, to me, is the 24mm X 34mm film format. Much easier printing on a standard 8 X 10 piece of paper as well as leaving a lot of room between negatives on the film strip. While the Nikon won't replace my MP as my main shooter, it will take an honored position next to my Canon L1 as one of my favorite "alternative" cameras.

Jim Bielecki

 

[Sonnar Brian]

That lens is sharp!

Glad to see an "M" in use. Quite rare. The finder is squinty, and it is easy to see why the Leica M3 took the competition by such surprise.

 

[Nikon Bob]

Nice combo that Nikon M and rigid 50/F2. The shots look good to me, wish I could develope B&W that good.

Bob

 

[Mackinaw]

Brian, yes, Stephen Gandy's repair gal/guy did a real nice job on the lens as well as the camera. The element behind the aperture, which was cloudy, cleaned up nicely. The lens, not surprisingly, is a tad soft wide-open, but sharpens up nicely at F2.8. A very useable optic.

Regarding the viewfinder, once I polished off the roll of T-Max with the "M," I grabbed my MP to take a few more street pics. Zounds! What an incredible difference! Almost like coming out of a tunnel into bright sunshine. I can definitely imagine the amazement the 1950's Leica, Canon and Nikon photographers must have felt in 1954 after they looked through the viewfinder of the M3 for the first time.

Bob, the T-Max 100 was developed in D-76 1:1 for 11 minutes at 68 degrees. The negs were scanned with a Nikon Coolscan V. No photoshop trickery, just pretty much straight scans. I haven't used Kodak B&W films much the past several years, preferring Ilford and Efke, but I must admit that T-Max is an OK film.

Jim Bielecki

 

[Nikon Bob]

Interesting choice of words regarding linking photoshop and trickery.
Still nice scans.

Bob