[Leica] Fluff and garbage at the edges

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

Francesco Sanfilippo: >>>I barely have time to go out shooting even on
weekends.
When I do go out, I can sense the lack of practice and I
can see it in my results<<<

Man, I know that feeling. When I "bonded" with my first Leica I was
shooting every day; I got very good at handling it. Ditto when I was
shooting with no light meter. Shooting less often, my skills never got
so good again. Frustrating.

>>>I have been shooting exclusively with an M6HM and a 35/2 ASPH
and I am finding too much fluff and garbage around the edges of
my negatives.  Feet, arms, halves of other bodies, halves of trees,
pieces of trash on the ground, you get the idea...<<<

Probably because there is more on the film than the framelines cover
except at close focus. Look at the width or thickness of the framelines.
Focussed close to infinity, on the film there will be three or four
thicknesses' worth *outside* the framelines included on the negative.
The closer you focus, the less this is true. The framelines aren't very
accurate (except for the 40mm f/2 Rokkor-M, which can easily be modified
to bring up the 35mm framelines).

I got around this by learning to "crowd" the framelines when framing.
Frame tight, and the camera will give you the little extra air that you
need.

The other trick is to visualize without the viewfinder. With a 35mm
lens, the picture area will be about as wide as the subject is from
camera position. That is, if you're focussed on a person 10 feet away
from you, the picture at that distance from you will take in an area
about ten feet wide. This sounds very difficult (and feels that way when
you first start trying it), but it's like everything else with a
Leica--keep practicing, and it gets almost automatic. I still find
myself looking at objects and imaging mentally how wide the frame will
take in! Even though I haven't had a Leica with 35mm lens for years now.
Ditto with the pre-focusing routine--I still look at objects and imagine
where to place the the focusing tab (on the 35mm Summicron I sold in '93
<g>).

Forgive me for repeating this if you know all this already.

- --Mike