[Leica] Back in the saddle with Leicas, sort of

[bruce at ralgo.nl (bruce)]

Good to hear that you're coming back into form, Scott.

The final arrival of Spring, that tingling feeling in the  
fingers ................ and the new 90mm must all help. I know a  
number of people here, who own and use it with great satisfaction.  
Await a show ...

As a UK comedian used to say, in his series: "every day, in some  
little way, I get a little better .....".

B.

On 1-apr-2006, at 1:40, Scott McLoughlin wrote:

> After shooting with my FM3a and D70 for a while, I finally got
> off my butt and sent my damaged .72 M6TTL (framelines won't
> come  up) off to DAG for repair. Been putting it off for months,
> and it's a load off my shoulders.
>
> Stuck the 1.25x mag on my .58 M6TTL, and mounted my 50/2.
> With the mag, a little dimmer, but not a bad size on the 50mm
> frame lines, actually.
>
> Stuck my 28/2, 90/2.8 and SF24 in my little Domke satchel, and
> went out and started shooting pics. Mostly just for comfort, as
> I usually shoot with just one lens per body and am not so fond
> of the SF24 performance (compared to the Nikon flash system).
>
> Still don't have the energy to soup film, but I'm shooting some
> XP2 and that will have to do.  Too bad for all that Delta 100,
> FP4+ and HP5+ in the freezer. Now that it's spring and color is
> coming back, I might even try out the Velvia 50 that's been in
> my fridge for way too long. Since it's been discontinued, I
> still hope that Fuji will develop it via their mailers that I bought
> some time back.
>
> Just wandering and shooting, I was quickly reminded that a sturdy
> camera, a suberb 50mm lens and some B&W film is just about all
> I need a good 80% of the time. Going through Paul Hardy Carter's
> wonderful body of work on his website only reinforced the power and
> flexibility of the normal lens and  B&W film.
>
> Shooting was a real pleasure.
>
> So quickly, the gear just melts away in one's hands, or maybe
> "into" one's hands. Like riding a bike. I found myself reflexively
> metering off of the grass or other ersatz gray cards. And then
> it's just compose, focus and shoot with again, mostly reflexive
> tweaks of the shutter dial or aperture ring.
>
> It's such a pity that these mechanical and optical wonders cost so
> darned much; so many shooters will never know their unique
> pleasures.
>
> ----
>
> On the Nikon front, I did end up buying a macro lens for my
> Nikon system, despite the wonderful Leica macro advice I got
> from list members. Maybe some day, sigh :-)
>
> In fact, I bought a Tamron SP 90/2.8 macro lens, my first non-
> Nikkor (gasp!!). I surfed for days reading reviews of different
> options and this lens just got varying degrees of *rave* reviews,
> particularly for it's bokeh compared to Nikon's own 60 and 105
> macro lenses.
>
> I'm sure I'll get around to shooting some flowers someday, but for
> now this macro lens is for a specific indoor  and studio lighting  
> still life
> project I've been thinking about for quite some time.  I plan to  
> "proof"
> the shots on my D70, and then shoot the final pics on Delta 100  
> (I'll have
> it processed professionally at B&W Labs here in town).  Hard to get
> moving on this project, but I'll find the "umph" somehow sometime
> soon.
>
> Anyway, nice to be weilding the Leica M again.  SO nice.
>
> Scott
>
> -- 
> Pics @ http://www.adrenaline.com/snaps
> Leica M6TTL, Bessa R, Nikon FM3a, Nikon D70, Rollei AFM35
> (Jihad Sigint NSA FBI Patriot Act)
>
>
>
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