[Leica] Lugrumpiness and LTM

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

New term: Lugrumpy, adj., someone who is made surly, peevish, or grumpy
by nonsense, pomposity, or disputation on the LUG. <g>

Antidote: LTM, Leica Therapy Mode.

To change the atmosphere to something warm and pleasant, I just wanted
to report my gratifying initial experiences with my new/old IIIf and
recently arrived 50mm f/3.5 Elmar, coated, SN 1M+, with cap and hood.

I got the lens yesterday morning, and by early this morning had my first
"short stack" of workprints in hand. Shooting LTM may not be practical,
but boy, is it fun. Impressions: I had one bizarre misloading problem,
but then, I expected there to be a learning curve. Everything else,
positive. Wierdly, I *like* the two little windows; I didn't expect
that. Also weirdly, I like the minified, black-surrounded viewfinder.
Maybe it's just because I'm still in "tryout" mode with it--a mode I've
become altogether too comfortable with--but I found it very relaxing and
easy to visualize pictures that way. Makes me worry less about what's in
view and just fire away. Knob wind is zero problem: it's a very nice,
hands-on .4-fps winder. Rewind's pretty slow, but as Stephen says, no
pain, no gain.

Of course I was shooting with no meter.  I imagine if I were doing this
"seriously" I would dutifully carry a meter. But everything "came out,"
no problem.

I may be nostalgic for my year with the M4 and collapsible 50mm
Summicron, but it was very relaxing to get out on the town with the LTM.
It sure drew some attention. A guy in a '57 Thunderbird was pleased by
the fact that my camera was older than his car; a fan of the original
(real) Voigtlaender cameras stopped me to talk about it, and I handed
him the IIIf to "fondle"; and my son and I had our picture taken by the
town's septuagenarian local photographer, Barney DeWane, who still
remembered how to work the Leica's controls despite not having used one
since the '60s. (I live in the town where the Bill Murray movie
"Groundhog Day" was filmed, and yes, WE ARE AMERICANA). It was the first
time the two young ladies in the local 24-hour lab (a Wolf Photo) had
ever seen a Leica.

Another surprise: this lens is a honey. I like Tessar-types (and
apologies to Max Berek, but this lens is Paul Rudolph's baby--the reason
the very early ones were called "Anastigmat" was that Zeiss changed the
name of theirs from Anastigmat to Tessar but made everybody else stick
with the older name for a while...Marc, please do correct me if I'm
wrong here, and I do mean please). I've used Contax's version, and the
new Elmar-M, and seen pictures made with the Nikon and Pentax versions
as well as some medium-format iterations and a point-and-shoot lens or
two. The Elmar is to the manner born: plenty sharp, and not very flarey,
although of course it didn't stand up to the "sun in the picture" test
all that well (although it's not the worst I've tried, either, by quite
some). If anything, there is simply not much old-timey character to the
lens (...I mean in the pictures! In appearance and operability it is
about as old-timey as you can find in a fully functioning lens). The
prints look very nice and sharp as I need. I ran my typical "bokeh" test
and it passed with flying colors, ranking a solid a 8.5 or even a 9 for
bokeh on Mike's Totally Indefensibly Subjective Comparison Chart, which
is better than most lenses do. I shot the marquee of the town movie
theatre at night and a picture of the girl in the Wolf's, both wide
open, and both pictures look fine for what they are.

Furthermore, at the Wolf's, I found a Lowepro point-and-shoot case that
fits the IIIf like a GLOVE. Like it was made for it. No, it's not a
Kameraleder case, but then it only cost $4.59. I've got it on my belt
right now. I'm thinking about a slightly larger Tamrac point-and-shoot
belt pack--one with a tiny extra pocket--as my "big" camera bag. I
admit, that tickles my funny bone.

Anyway I don't see how I can keep this as a mere curiosity; I may have
to continue to shoot with it, at least for a while. Take this with a
grain of salt, though, as one of my pleasures is trying new cameras, and
this one, like every other one, won't stay new for long.

But for now, I can start giving some of you guys hell for shooting with
those crazy, newfangled modern M cameras, instead of with a REAL Leica.
<g> (Kidding! Down boys!)

Lugrumpy no more,

- --Mike