Selling My Film Cameras for an M9 -- Wise?

First shot -- 50/2 Summicron @ f/2, ISO 500.

The Last Morsel!
morsel.jpg
 
A new shot from today - I was shooting for a magazine restaurant review, and grabbed this going out the door.

ISO 160, 1/30 @ f/2 (Summicron)
Tatu1.jpg


I am really liking this camera!!!!
 
Roger Hicks said:
I do my own E6 and (used to) shoot a lot of Elite Chrome 100. This means that film and processing cost about £5/roll. Allow another £2 (at the outside) for GePe mounts (the best). At £4850 for an M9 that's 700 rolls.

What's a pro lab charge nowadays, if you can find one? And how much are the fancier slide films? You'd be lucky to get away with £10/roll processed($16.50); £15 is quite likely ($23); and £20 ($33) is not impossible. That's 485 rolls, 325 rolls and 245 rolls respectively: quite a lot of film, but at an average of a roll a week (a very modest amount, I'd guess) it's 13 years for 700; just over 9 years for 485; rather over 6 years for 325; and well under 5 years for 245.

If I didn't think my M9 would give me at least 10 years, and quite probably 20, I wouldn't have bought it. As it is, as already noted, I've shot maybe 10,000 pictures in 15 months (277 rolls equivalent) and even if I shoot twice as much digi as film that's around 140 rolls.

Of course you have to deduct the opportunity cost of the money invested in the M9, but at current interest rates you'd be lucky to see £150/$230 a year on £5000/$7000: 10-20 rolls, on the above calculations.

In other words, if you shoot lots of pictures, the only reasons to shoot film are (1) you prefer it or (2) the upfront investment in an M9 is too rich for your blood or (3) you're forever chopping and changing cameras and don't really know what you want anyway.

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree, Roger, but only to plug my good friends at Rapid Eye on Leonard Street in Old Street. A very good pro lab dealing in colour film only, they will process 35mm or 120 film for £4 or £4.50 a roll (depending on your order), first class processing, service when you need it and sleeved in professional sheets. Used by a lot of London pros they also do 5x4 and 10x8 to and you can, as I have, hire their excellent darkrooms and do traditional colour printing at very reasonable prices too.

I don't have one, but have nothing against the M9, and love my M8.2, but as I am sure you would too, I would be much sadder if businesses like Rapid Eye went under than if another digital camera came along and made the current one obsolete.

As for black and white, I'm a complete novice compared to you Roger, but now being able to go and and shoot 120 and 5x4 in the day, develop it in my darkroom in the evening, and scan it at night is at least as much fun as using any digital camera I have. Nevertheless, I can understand if you are only shooting commercially, then digital (whether M9, 5D2, M82 or whatever) has a real advantage in terms of money and time).
 
Vince- nice shot in the restaurant.

I see the first shots posted are B&W. I still think Leica should offer a monochrome version of this camera. I'd buy one of those, in addition to the color camera.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Vince- nice shot in the restaurant.

I see the first shots posted are B&W. I still think Leica should offer a monochrome version of this camera. I'd buy one of those, in addition to the color camera.
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian -- I think this is why I was talking about the M9 being a 'bridge' for me between my personal and professional work, and it seems to be doing just that. This shot was something I grabbed for myself after doing the 'money paying' photos at the same location, and this shot seemed to work for me in B&W. I shot it in the DNG & JPEG mode, so if I did want it in colour, I have it in DNG form. Suppose I could post the same photo in colour to see the difference?

The very interesting thing is that this shot is full-frame, and is almost completely untouched (just some very minor dodging on the counter where the place settings are, and that's it). And if you look really closely, there is actually shadow detail on the person's face.
 
VInce, congrats! Can we see the Mountain Elmar on your new M9? A funky combo if ever there was one. Enjoy the new camera in good health. Glad you still have plenty of film gear in reserve just in case.
 
robklurfield said:
VInce, congrats! Can we see the Mountain Elmar on your new M9? A funky combo if ever there was one. Enjoy the new camera in good health. Glad you still have plenty of film gear in reserve just in case.
Click to expand...

Here you go!
mountain.jpg


I'll try to do some better shots of it with the Mountain Elmar, 73mm Hektor, 50/1.5 Xenon, and the 90/4 Fat Elmar.
 
Vince, I really appreciate that your M9 has been getting some good use. It even looks like it has! I agree that the restaurant pic is a fine image.

This thread is a bad influence on my desire for one of these bodies. It certainly appears that the M9 is better than the M8 in ways that I appreciate.


Best,
 
Okay, here's my first 50/1.5 Xenon photo (of course, the obligatory cat photo!)

Shot wide open at ISO 1000 with no post-production sharpening (I swear!)....not bad for a 75 year-old lens.
Willy.jpg
 
Vince Lupo said:
Okay, here's my first 50/1.5 Xenon photo (of course, the obligatory cat photo!)

Shot wide open at ISO 1000 with no post-production sharpening (I swear!)....not bad for a 75 year-old lens.
Willy.jpg
Click to expand...

I really like this one ! Using classic lenses with the M9 must be fun. Now I would like to see the 5cm Elmar and 3.5 cm Summaron. 🙂
 
Would people inserting images into the thread please learn to resize their images!! This horizontal scrolling is unnecessary. End of rant.
FWIW Vince I'm not singling you out, it's pervasive at RFF.
 
Last edited:
Guess it also depends on what resolution you have your screen set for. At 1920x1200 on my laptop I can see the whole image without having to scroll at all (and I just tried it at 1680x1050 and I can still see the whole image).

Having said that, I can make all future photos smaller if need be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom