Re: [Leica] M[67] ramblings LONG

[Christer Almqvist <chris@almqvist.net>]

snip

>One can pick up good M6's (new) + some glass for the price of an M7. (BD
>has me thinking about the 35/1.4 Summilux (current) or the 28/2.0)
>
>Those who have gone over to the M7 ... do you feel like you gained a lot?
>I know I like AE in other cameras (F3), but I've never missed it in a
>rangefinder.

more snip

Hello to Lindome and/or Oslo,

you have one more option these days; get a (so-called) used M7. 
Current prices in Germany are exactly two-thirds of the list price. I 
speak based on personal experience. One of the two 'used' M7s I got 
was new in the box, the original batteries still in their original 
seal. The seller said he had had to take the M7 as part of a deal 
where he returned a large format camera with a quantity of lenses to 
his dealer. I used the facility on the Leica website to check that 
the serial number was not on the stolen/lost camera register. The 
other one I got from a photographer who needed money (don't they 
all?), and it was not on the stolen camera list either. That seller 
also gave me a cable release and  a leather case, and I sold the 
latter on ebay for 70 euro. That camera had been used for a good half 
year, but it makes no difference to me, both of them are now covered 
with black or grey textile tape. I have sold my two M6s and also got 
an average of two thirds of what I had paid four and five years ago. 
The depreciation has been ten dollars per month per camera, and I 
think it has been worth it  ;-) In any case that is less than for 
most of the other less-expensive-to-buy cameras I have owned.


Now to your question: do I feel like I have gained a lot? The answer 
is yes. If it had been 'no', then I would obviously not have changed 
both my M6s. The main gain is psycological. I feel much more at ease, 
particularly when photographing people. With the M6 I often wanted to 
check the exposure before pressing the button, just for safety's 
sake, and that distracted from composing the picture or getting the 
right moment. This in spite of the fact that I did not have much 
problem with correct exposure with the M6. What I generally did with 
the M6 walking down a street would be to measure some medium grey on 
the sunny side of the street and then set the exposure, and the redo 
the measurement for the shady side and remember how many stops 
difference there was. That was the end of metering. Then straight 
shooting on the shady side and closing down three stops or whatever 
for shooting on the sunny side. In that situation, I am not sure the 
M7 will get better exposures - except in the case when I had not been 
planning to make photos  and thus not made any measurements at all, 
and then the picture opportunity is there, but just for a second. 
Then the M7 will win.

In fact the M7 will always win, because I can concentrate  on the image.

Much of my shooting is in difficult light situations, like backlit 
situations, or situations where a person is photographed against a 
black or a white background, and this coupled swith changing light 
conditions. Then two measurement with the M7 to see how much exposure 
compensation is needed, and then set the compensation correspondingly 
and shoot a whole series in changing light without having to worry. 
Then M7 wins. Or for single shots, measure some average gray, lock 
the exposure, frame and then shoot

What I liked about the M6 was that it forced me to understand 
exposure, and I think I can use that knowledge to my advantage with 
any other camera, automatic or not. But now that I have learned it, I 
prefer not to have to go though the exercise any more - unless I want 
to.

I did some shooting outdoors a few days ago when it was about 8°C 
below freezing  (15°F approx) and I got the dreaded "bc" message in 
the display of the `really used´ (now nine month old) M7. I had 
remembered the exposure time in the display, so I just went on to one 
of the mechanical times, and adjusted the aperture accordingly and 
shot. I had brought spare batteries along but never used them as I 
only had a few frames left on the film. Back home I checked the 
batteries with a volt meter end they were OK. Does somebody (who has 
read this far) know if lithium batteries do not like cold weather. 
Anyway they are the same batteries as used in the M6, but the past 
few years have not been really cold here so I have no comparison.

Thank you for reading all this
- -- 
Christer Almqvist
D 20255 Hamburg and / or
F 50590 Regnéville sur Mer

please look at my NEW  b+w pictures at:    http://www.almqvist.net/chris/dozen/

old pictures still at:     http://www.almqvist.net/chris/new
- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html