Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARRY Z!!! ric On Jul 25, 2007, at 12:08 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > Today is my birthday. While I'm not the oldest member of the LUG, > I'm probably in the top 5%. In other words I still remember when > the two kilo 6 x 9 cm. Kodak Medalist was called a "miniature" and > real street photographers used Speed Graphics. > > My family treated me to a picnic party with joke presents. One of > my gifts was a carefully wrapped roll of slightly outdated (8/04) T- > Max 400 film which my wife discovered in the back of a drawer. My > kids insisted that I use it to film the festivities with that "old" > Leica I took their baby pictures with. That old Leica, a 1954 first > edition M3, had been sitting unused on a shelf in my equipment > cabinet since Sherry Krauter did a CLA on it six or seven years ago. > > Now I've been using mostly plastic digital cameras for the past few > years and I've gotten accustomed to their light weight, auto focus > and auto exposure. My first observation at handling the M3 was > "This camera is HEAVY." The second observation was that during the > period of disuse, the camera's selenium cell Leicameter had died. I > would have to estimate the exposure by using the Sunny 16 rule. > Obviously both my muscles and photographic skills have atrophied > over the years since I was fully aware of the camera's handling > peculiarities, its weight, and the necessity to mentally calculate > exposure. Twenty years ago it all would have been done by reflex > action. > > Still, I enjoyed a return to the middle ages of photography. It > took a while to reactivate dormant skills but by the end of the > party I was clicking away like old times. I have a shelf of old > classic 35 mm cameras in reasonably good condition, a few Leica > LTMs, another later M3, a CL, and a pristine Contax IIa. There are > a few carefully wrapped bricks of film in my freezer. I doubt that > I will reactivate my wet darkroom for printing but I have a good > scanner and a nearby Kinkos that will produce high quality paper > prints up to 24" x 36". > > But before I return to the wonderful world of film photography, I'd > better schedule a few workouts at the weight room of the local gym. > > Larry Z > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information