Leica M2-R (Test Images).

2018, Favourite, Film, Inspiration, Kodak Tri-X 400, Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4, Leica M2, Leica M2-R, Q&A, Scanner - Plustek 8200i, Teaching point, Within 200 feet of My House™

Yesterday, I posted some images of the Leica M2-R I was fortunate to acquire.  The photos were taken with a Leica M10 and processed in Lightroom with relative ease.

In contrast, today I set upon the boring and arduous task of testing the M2-R without — of course — the immediate feedback of digital photography.  As I subsequently stood in my basement processing the film, I must admit that I had second thoughts about whether all of the hassle was worth it.  It’s especially frustrating when the effort of processing and scanning is undertaken only to find out that the camera is in some way defective.

Fortunately in this case, all is good.

And as I watched the images magically appear — first on the negative as it was unspooled following its final wash, and then in more detail on my monitor as the scanner did its thing — I realized for the 1000th time why I keep coming back to film: even mundane test shots look better on this antiquated “sensor”.

The following images are not meant to be interesting.  However, they are useful to me.  In them, I’m verifying:

  1. Shutter speed accuracy (in various types of light)
  2. Rangefinder precision (in near, mid, and far distances)

Technical:

  • Lens: Leica 50mm Summilux
  • Aperture: f/1.4 (except the last image which, because of brightness, necessitated f/2).
  • Shutter speed range: 1/60 – 1/1000 sec.

—Peter.

(focus is on the small word “Elect”, above the J)↓

(focus is on the number “50”)↓

(focus again is on the number “50”)↓

(focus is on the letter “G”)↓

(focus is on the poor sap )↓

(focus is on the faint word “KeepRite”)↓

(focus is on the round thermometer)↓

(focus is on the door of the house across the street)↓

Leica M2-R + Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH f/1.4.

6 thoughts on “Leica M2-R (Test Images).

    1. A scanner to fill the void between the current Plustek and Hasselblad offerings has been the desire of many a film enthusiast for quite some time. There must not be a big enough market (I’m guessing) or else someone would have surely done it by now.

      Having said that, if such a scanner is eventually built it is very unlikely that it will be priced at less than $1000.

      On another note, I’m not sure I understood the last sentence of your comment.

        1. Oh I see; interesting. I can see the appeal of something like that.

          To be forthright, I’d be happiest with the build quality of a double-stroke M3 and the framelines and minimum focus distance of an M2.

          —Peter.

    1. Thanks Mark. I wasn’t necessarily looking for an M2-R — any regular M2 or M3 would have sufficed (in fact, I prefer the film loading mechanism of those older models) but this one was in such good condition that it was hard to resist.

      Regarding my fatigue, I’m surprised that you noticed, but I had had 4 hrs of sleep when that shot was taken and lately I’m lucky to get 6 hrs on most nights.

      I hope your fatigue is temporary, but with the size of your family I suspect you’re in it for the long run!

Leave a Comment

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s