[Leica] A fun day

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

Dear LUGpeople,

On monday, my wife, my daughter, and I drove over to the Monterey Peninsula
(Carmel, Monterey, and Pacific Grove) for the day. I took my newly acquired
M2 and 35mm Summicron (3rd version), and my Linhof Master Technika. We
wandered around Carmel, visiting shops, eating, eating some more, etc.
Other than to just get away for the day, they were having a sale at my
wife's favorite yarn shop (in Carmel). I loaded some T400CN B&W film in my
M2, set my incident meter to ISO 200, and basically just clicked at
interesting things. Around 2pm, we headed to Point Lobos. My wife and
daughter set out on a hike and I gathered-up my Linhof stuff and headed to
the rocky shoreline (near Weston Beach... Edward Weston beach). Something
about being inspired by a master... Anyway, I wanted to test two new
Christmas presents. A Bromwell wax filled ground glass screen, and a new
Nikkor 500mm T*ED lens. The weather was perfect. But I've never, in the 50+
years that I've been to Pt. Lobos, seen so many people. This cramped my
style as after setting up for each photograph, I had to wait eons for the
people to clear out. I managed to take four different scenes over four
hours. Nothing spectacular. This was mostly a test.

I have to tell you (any LF people out there), that the Bromwell ground
glass is a godsend! Bright, clear, smooth, grainless, everything a ground
glass screen should be. No Fresnel circles to inhibit focusing. Nothing.
Just a wonderfully plain clear screen. I was worried about the fact that
the Nikkor 500 T*ED is an f/11 (wide open) lens, worried that the ground
glass, without a Fresnel lens, would be too dim. The worry was wasted. At
f/11, the 500mm was bright and clear. Even for these 60 year old eyes.
Other than the mobs of people, I was very very happy.

At sunset, we headed back to Carmel. The traffic was the worst I have ever
seen it. Highway 1, from Pt. Lobos to Carmel (maybe four miles... probably
less), forty minutes! Insane!

We got to our dinner reservations on time (barely). If any of you visit
Carmel, the place to eat is the "Flying Fish" restaurant. Bottom level of
the Plaza, corner of Junipero and Ocean. We have been eating there for
years and it just keeps getting better.

The light is very low, a small spot light directed onto the table where
reflection off of the white tablecloth illuminates everything else. I
pulled out my M2, opened up to f/2, set the shutter to 1/15 and took some
pictures of my daughter. My incident meter registered somewhere around 1/4
to 1/15, depending upon where it was. I figured that the T400CN film had
enough latitude to make 1/15 fairly safe. Our waiter (Milo) saw me with the
M2, and started to tell me about his father's M3 and M5. What masterpieces
of engineering they are. I agreed.

On Tuesday I dropped off my 4x5 film at Calypso, and headed to the one-hour
lab near my house. I opened my M2 and discovered that I somehow loaded E200
Ektachrome instead of the T400CN B&W. What a surprise. My friend at the lab
 laughingly said, "I don't think you'll like the results if I do it in C41
soup" and I agreed.

Two hours later my 4x5 film was ready for me to pick-up. So I dropped-off
the E200 while picking up the sheet film. The 4x5 stuff looked OK. The
Nikkor lens worked like it was supposed to (was there any doubt?). I went
back two hours later and picked up the E200. I was afraid to look at it as
I was sort of winging-it, thinking I was shooting wide latitude ISO 400 B&W
film. Well... what a pleasant surprise. All but one scene (in the yarn
shop) were right on. And the 35mm f/2 Summicron-M lens gave a glow to the
slides that is absolutely wonderful. I love this lens at f/2 - f/4 . At
f/5.6 - f/16 it's like any other 35mm lens. Sharp everywhere. I also like
the fact that I can handhold the M2 at slow shutter speeds, slower than I
would ever dream of handholding my R7's.

Fun day.

Jim