Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]When you set the dial to "T" the only way to get the shutter to close is to SLOWLY move the setting off "T" towards the 1 second setting. As you move it the shutter will close. It's a very hard setting to use. Your better off capping the lens before moving it as you'll move the camera & blur your shot. You're right on about the slow speed dial. Set the top on to "25-1" then set your slow speed. ASA dial is useless. The Sekonic L398M has marks on the shutter speed dial for those old speeds, if you want a meter with 'em. Otherwise, use one with the regular speed & adjust with your aperture. Wide angles require a viewfinder. It makes the camera not-so-pocketable, but you can find a 35 3.5 Summaron for a decent price. It'll probably need to be cleaned. Canon & Nikon made good LTM lenses. Check those lines out. I hear there's a new 35 1.7 Ultron being offered by Voigtlander (Cosina) that will be rangefinder coupled if you want to spend around $750! - -----Original Message----- From: guybnt [mailto:guybnt@idt.net] Sent: Thursday, September 02, 1999 6:00 PM To: leica-users Subject: [Leica] sm question lugnuts, very recently bought a iiif rd + elmar 50/3.5 - i camera/lens combo i have long lusted after. i managed to load it after (only) two tries (not much worse than the m when i first loaded it), having trimmed the film leader with a pair of scissors. i am now shooting my first roll of film with it, and am as excited as hell! i've gone to the archives and researched the iiif info, and yet a question or two remain (and there will undoubtedly be others): first of all, the proper working of the slow speed dial. if i'm not mistaken, to use the slow speeds i've got to have the big dial set to 1/25 (my slowest speed on that dial), then i can use the slower speeds on the smaller dials, right? well, going through the shutter speeds, which all sound great, i found i can't get the the shutter to remain open on t. it stays open a good long while, but does shut without my doing anything. is this normal? if so, what am i doing wrong? does the film speed indicator serve any purpose other than remind me what film is in the camera? if not, it's not very useful for those of us who rarely dip below 100 asa (referred to a 'fast film' in the accompanying manual, which boasts a 35 cent price tag), or have i missed something? is there a definitive answer (should such a thing exist) to the question of these 'international' shutter speeds and how one meters properly for them? i've taken my first few shots metering with my m6, just to see if all is working as it should, but will undoubtedly purchase a small lightmeter (a lunapro, most likely, unless there are similar models you feel strongly about). aside from shutter speeds both cameras share, i'm going to have to compensate one way or the other when i use 25, 75, 100 and 200. any suggestions? finally, since i can't imagine i'll use only the 50 with this camera, what suggestions have you in the wide angle range (specifically 28s and 35s)? hopefully something that would not be too rare (and thus too expensive). what wide angle sm lenses really shine? thanks for your answers and suggestions. guy