Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/02/05

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Jazz Photography
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 20:52:21 -0600

At 03:32 PM 2/5/98 -0500, you wrote:

>Any thoughts?  No, I'm not going to spring for a Noctilux for the job, but
>I do have a Summilux.  I also have a Hasselblad and a slew of Rollei gear.

Marc,

The Summilux is just fine. Just make sure to meter the highlights and make
sure they don't get too hot. Nasty light makes for cool musician pictures.
Shoot at the slowest film speed possible. P3200 is remarkable film. Give it
a try. And process at 85 degrees. It's shortens wet time (which increases
grain with increases in time). But Tri-X pushed up to 1600 is really good too.

The main thing about such shooting is to not overexpose the film. Let the
blacks go really black.

And also shoot some with very slow shutter speeds. The jazz photos by Roy
DeCarava are outstanding. One of the things I like about them are the
movement in the picture. With streaking highlights against the black
background really is a nice effect. That means a lot of wasted film, but
Tri-X is cheap! <g>
==========

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

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