Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/03/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ah, another fan of the venerable 50mm lens. Jeffery Smith New Orleans, LA http://www.400tx.com -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Scott McLoughlin Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 5:40 PM To: Leica Users Group Subject: [Leica] Back in the saddle with Leicas, sort of 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) _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information