[Leica] 3.5/50 or 2.0/50

[drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)]

Jan,

Sounds like you're making some good moves on the lens front. There are
many good lens choices out there. I say keep the Leica lenses, if you
can manage it. Even if you buy the others it's always nice to have the
old lenses around. You can use them just to change things up now and
then.

I've changed things up by using different film. But I think I'm through
experimenting. I've shot a dozen different types of BW in the past
month. Or at least developed a dozen types. Some were shot over the past
several months. I had too many issues. Some rolls were improperly
exposed or were over or under developed. Not buy a lot, but it doesn't
take much. If I'm not familiar with a given film I stick closely to
manufacturer's recommendations, I don't think they're always on target. 

Sometimes recommendations are nebulous. Like ADOX CHS 20. Develop 5 to
5.5 min at 20 or 6 to 7 at 25. That's a pretty wide development range
over 1/3 stop. A person almost need to commit to 20 or more rolls and
shoot several exposure/development ring-arounds to find the sweet spot.


Getting the right exposure and CI for scanning is pretty important. For
a while I thought I was bad at scanning. I've come to realize that maybe
it's a film exposure/development issue. Different films may even look
the same on a light board, but they scan differently. 

I also didn't like the physical characteristics of some films. Some have
too much curl. Other's have a very thin base and are difficult to load
onto a spool. I like films that are easy to handle. I use hand tanks --
one, two and four roll -- for everything, and develop one batch a couple
of evenings each week. Usually it's a single roll.  

Now that all my film odds and ends are used up I hope to limit my film
choices. Tri-X in 35mm. FP4+ in 120.  I can load these onto spools in my
sleep and develop them with my eyes closed. I just hope I can stay
disciplined. I'm a sucker for trying different films. Playing with
different films doesn't lead to better pictures. It may be just the
opposite.

Playing with different lenses, OTOH, is fun and not nearly as
frustrating as using a bunch of different films. I have five 50mm lenses
in M mount. Everything from a Noct to a collapsible Elmar. Each lens has
a different signature, and it's interesting to see. There are several
older lenses that I wish I still had. 

Buy but never sell Leica :-)

DaveR


-----Original Message-----
From: Jan Decher [mailto:alcedo@verizon.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 9:18 PM
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: RE: [Leica] 3.5/50 or 2.0/50

David,
 I shoot both, B&W and color (neg & chromes).  My favorite B&W fim is
Neopan 400. 

First film with this "new" M6 kit was a roll of Sensia 100 (outdated
film that came with the camera but spent some years in the sellers
freezer).  

I have considered selling both lenses and getting the ZM 1.5/50 C-Sonnar
if I am not pleased with them, but I want to try them first and of
course the SOMKY close focussing device and 39mm filters that came with
the 3.5/50 Elmar  wouldn't work with the ZM 1.5/50 (= 46mm thread).  

Since I didn't get a WA with the M6 kit I ordered a chrome 2.8/35
C-Biogon which should be here tomorrow.  Just couldn't afford a 2.0/35
Summicron. Considered the 1.4/35 CV Nokton MC, but I really prefer the
character of Zeiss optics having previously been with the now sadly
defunct Contax C/Y & N system. 

 I scanned some slides. How do I get them into the LUG Gallery? Is there
a charge?

Jan