OK, M7 Newbie here

[greggebhardt]

Please be nice. 😡

Long time Nikon DSLR user but am looking for more.

Today I ordered a new M7 Titanium and scanner. I have spent thousands of hours in the darkroom when I was bit younger but have no desire to do so now. I will send my film to the local lab for processing and scan myself. Not all of my photography will be with the Leica but I am looking forward to the latitude I enjoyed with emulsion.

The M7 kit comes with the 50mm f1.4 lens and I know I will be looking for the 21, 35 and the 75 in the near future. I got my M8 ordered thru Tony Rose and was hoping this would tide me over till it gets here.

Have spent alot of time and effort in PhotoShop but never used a scanner. Have no idea what I am doing but hope that after getting my film scanned, I can do the rest with CS.

Have I stepped into it or what?😕

Hope you all do not mind this 50+ year old hanging around here, so much to learn🙄

 

[Nick R.]

Congratulations, Greg. That's a pretty neat outfit to get your feet wet in RF, but then again. Why not the best?

 

[peter_n]

Awesome Greg! Welcome to the site from a fellow M7 user. 🙂 You will love your new kit I promise!! 😀

 

[greggebhardt]

Congratulations, Greg. That's a pretty neat outfit to get your feet wet in RF, but then again. Why not the best?

Thanks Nick,

I must admit that I had the RD-1 for several months and really enjoyed it.

Looking forward to slowing down and getting back what I used to enjoy about film. The Nikon CoolScan 5000 is all that scares me as I have never used such a beast.

Thanks for the Welcome!

 

[greggebhardt]

Awesome Greg! Welcome to the site from a fellow M7 user. 🙂 You will love your new kit I promise!! 😀

Hope so, I really hope so. Looks like I will be buying my first film in a few years. Good grief, film, what kind of film? SHot almost all chromes long ago but am going back to film for more latitude so I guess I will be looking at negative film. Looks like Kodak for starters and am looking for suggestions.😕

Good grief it uses film!😱

 

[wlewisiii]

Welcome, you'll fit right in.

The Coolscans are supposed to be pretty straightforward so don't worry too much. Just play with it once it arrives.

If you want to shoot color, I'd avise you to stick to Fuji films; Reala is an excellent film with good skin tones while still having some punch to it. Good latitude too. Black and white from Kodak is still good; I do love Plus-X, though Fomapan 100 is rapidly gaining my preference over it.

Have fun!

William

 

[greggebhardt]

Thanks, just got off the phone with a person who still does all his weddings with film and he said that Fuji is his choice for color negatives. I will be going to the local camera shop who carries a good range of the Fuji line.

Thank you.

The Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 is surposed to be good. I was wondering if there is additional software required or will it's output be read by PhotoShop CS?

 

[RayPA]

From yet another M7 user, you'll love the camera and you'll love the hybrid approach to photography (film, scanner, PS and eventually inkjet). Titanium, huh? Wow. Nice.

🙂

 

[SteveRD1]

Greg

Greg

Thought you were done with film after reading yoru posts over at DPreview. Went for the best (I wanted that titanium kit so bad!) I see! I just went for the M7 starter set a couple months back after shooting digital for years. Love it, and its been fun usig all of the different films and scanning. The Nikon coolscan V is what I use and its easy as 1-2-3. No problems. You can then have a huge file to bring in to PS and mess around with it.

My fave films have been Tri-X, Kodak UC400, Ilford HP5 and I habe shot 3 rolls of Fuji Reala but did not like it much at all. The Kodak UC is VETY saturated, and standard Kodak Gold is decent. I have yet to shoot any slide film, but will soon.

Good luck with the kit, its the best!

 

[greggebhardt]

From yet another M7 user, you'll love the camera and you'll love the hybrid approach to photography (film, scanner, PS and eventually inkjet). Titanium, huh? Wow. Nice.

🙂

I thought alot about what photography would now be like with the new M7. Not being able to "chimp" my images is going to take some getting used too! I am wanting to get the scanner under control. I have put MANY years in the learning curve on PhotoShop and am anxious to see what the scanner outputs for me to work with.

What DPI to use and when will be something I need to figure out. I have thousands of chromes that I am looking forward to visiting. I would like to bring a few of them into the digital world for printing. SOme are over 30 years old but look to be as good as new. We will see.

Yep, I could not resist the Titanium. I thought, what a shame to use such a collectors item for a working camera. I may use a little less when the M8 arrives but from the images seen from the 21mm, it will always get some use. I am hoping the M7 and M8 will reside, together, in the bag.

 

[greggebhardt]

Thought you were done with film after reading yoru posts over at DPreview. Went for the best (I wanted that titanium kit so bad!) I see! I just went for the M7 starter set a couple months back after shooting digital for years. Love it, and its been fun usig all of the different films and scanning. The Nikon coolscan V is what I use and its easy as 1-2-3. No problems. You can then have a huge file to bring in to PS and mess around with it.

My fave films have been Tri-X, Kodak UC400, Ilford HP5 and I habe shot 3 rolls of Fuji Reala but did not like it much at all. The Kodak UC is VETY saturated, and standard Kodak Gold is decent. I have yet to shoot any slide film, but will soon.

Good luck with the kit, its the best!

I thought so too and the last time I used film was for some yacht interior shots from my Hassey SWC. Looks like I will be eating my words. Doubt that film will replace all my work but am really looking forward to the Leica M7. Hoping that this little storm does not keep my Fedex delivery on Thursday from getting here. 😱

Film is going to be another mystery, guess I am going to try alot of what is suggested and see what I like best. I do some portraits and some architectual.

I thank everyone for their support here, RFF is, without a doubt, the place to be!

 

[Avotius]

you got too much money, but I wish I had too much money too. That TI M7 is a nice looking camera, if I had the dough I would pick one up too. Enjoy that M7, hopefully one day ill have one too, time to start saving up the gum money again...

 

[greggebhardt]

you got too much money, but I wish I had too much money too. That TI M7 is a nice looking camera, if I had the dough I would pick one up too. Enjoy that M7, hopefully one day ill have one too, time to start saving up the gum money again...

Before you go wishing you were in my shoes, I own a paint contracting company in Jacksonville, Florida. Over the past 12 years it has grown and grown but I have become a slave to it and have not had a true vacation in those 12 years. I got 43 employees that depend on my company paying them every week.😱

I watch other people go one these long trips for weeks at a time, including my employees! I only dream of seeing America, maybe the Grand Canyon while I can still see!🙁

I am not complaining but having money is nice, but there are time I would not mind less if I had some time to just get away for a few weeks🙁

 

[KM-25]

Before you go wishing you were in my shoes, I own a paint contracting company in Jacksonville, Florida. Over the past 12 years it has grown and grown but I have become a slave to it and have not had a true vacation in those 12 years. I got 43 employees that depend on my company paying them every week.😱

I watch other people go one these long trips for weeks at a time, including my employees! I only dream of seeing America, maybe the Grand Canyon while I can still see!🙁

I am not complaining but having money is nice, but there are time I would not mind less if I had some time to just get away for a few weeks🙁

Man, I am really sorry to hear that.

This touches upon a documentary I am doing on the fading American dream. It is all being shot on Kodachrome and will be the very last rolls that go through Dwayne's in a few years. This story is the main reason I even got my M6 and 35 2.0 Aspheric. David Alan Harvey is helping me get organized to pitch the story in a few months. I have 800 rolls of Kodachrome in a special freezer.

You see, I grew up really poor. I was out on my own at age 14 earning a living, but I knew that I was to be a photographer since age 9. Let's just say I am now 39 and after 30 years of shooting, 16 as a full time pro, I wish I could live to be 200 years old. All I saw growing up is snotty materialistic people who quantified their lives with shiny possessions and big houses, even as a kid, this illusion confused my better judgement.

So you know? I took the long road. I am now very successful, talented and happy in what I do, live in one of the most beutiful and sought after little towns on earth. Some would say I sacrificed a lot. I don't see it that way. Because if you look at the images I have made, the experiences I have had and the places the world over I have seen, you will find that I am a very wealthy man.

When ever I travel, I see many Europeans and other societies, but very few Americans. Americans work too hard for a now failed American dream by and large. My aim with this project is three fold:

1. To pay tribute to what I think is the very finest photographic medium ever conceived.

2. To portray the beauty of diversity of people and places that is truly America.

3. To mirror to the U.S. that the face of it's own American dream has changed...to show Americans that they might have lost touch and how that looks to other countries.

Your 54, sell your contracting company and live. Take a risk of a positive nature, the one you are taking now is by far more scary.

Show us that the M7 and all that great glass can produce fine imagery with insight to who you have not allowed your self to be. Otherwise, it is just another shiny trinket in America's soulless trophy case.

Do it!

 

[greggebhardt]

SOrry, but worked too hard to just sell. I have hired a new Vp who can now do alot of what I do. This poor sole does not know it but he will own this company. He will get 20% next year, along with the tax burden the bottom line brings at the end of the year!

He is my ticket to freedom for my last years of planned travel.

As far as your suggestion to sell it all and take a risk of "positive nature", that would be against my nature and I can help that. Showing what I can do with the my new M7 is not my nature either, showing myself what I can do with it is far more rewarding!

 

[joebt]

Hello Greg. Congrats on your new Leica M7 purchase. I'm glad to see you have not totally given up on 35mm film photography.

With your photographic background, you should be up and running in no time.

 

[greggebhardt]

Hello Greg. Congrats on your new Leica M7 purchase. I'm glad to see you have not totally given up on 35mm film photography.

With your photographic background, you should be up and running in no time.

I thank you for the kind words. The box just arrived about 10 minutes ago. Waiting on a conference call that will come at 12:10 and when it is done, I will be taking my new toy out to play.

Guess I will be sending in the warranty card as the 5 year thing is too good to miss. Scanner arrives Friday so I will have the weekend to play!

I will be taking the Grady offshore this Monday, weather permitting, will be a good opportunity to take some images of my fishing buddies!

Thanks again, I am really looking forward to this and the M8!

 

[RayPA]

...I thought, what a shame to use such a collectors item for a working camera. I may use a little less when the M8 arrives but from the images seen from the 21mm, it will always get some use. I am hoping the M7 and M8 will reside, together, in the bag.

No way! Let that dawg hunt! 🙂 Sticking that thing in a collector's cabinet would be the sin. Use it. Abuse it. It can take it. Have fun. Looking forward to your output and some of the 3o yr. old slides.


🙂

 

[greggebhardt]

No way! Let that dawg hunt! 🙂 Sticking that thing in a collector's cabinet would be the sin. Use it. Abuse it. It can take it. Have fun. Looking forward to your output and some of the 3o yr. old slides.


🙂

No doubt it will be used! Just opened the box and I must say, I have not seen a nicer boxed camera since I opened the RD-1!

I love wide angle and my next lens will be the 21mm for sure. I suspect the M7 will be used for years to come. This this thing feel great in the hands. The TI finish is quite striking! Leaves no finger prints.😕

As pretty as it is, it will be a working camera, filling out warranty card now!🙂

 

[greggebhardt]

Help!

Help!

I can feel LENS LUST already! While the 50 is very nice, I need wider ASAP. My choices are 21, 28 or 35. I am buying for not only my new M7-TI but for the M8 that will be coming soon.

It will most likely be the 21 or 28

Help me!:bang: