Leica M2-R

Moon Landing (!) …

2020, Beyond 200 feet of My House™, Favourite, Film, Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400, Inspiration, Leica M2, Leica M2-R, Print, Q&A, Scanner - Plustek 8200i, Voigtländer 40mm f/1.4 Nokton

…metaphorically speaking, of course.

It would be more accurate to call this Over the Moon because that’s how I’m feeling.

Why?

This image represents the first frame from the first roll of colour film I’ve ever self-developed.

I’ve been dragging my heels for years about doing this, stubbornly sticking to black and white film, much to the chagrin of my colleague-in-crime Mark, from iftimestoodstill.net industries (apparently now defunct according to the owner, but we know he’ll be back 🙂 ).

Anyway, thanks to the great expertise and guidance of Mark, I was able to develop this successfully (Mark, I owe you big time).

The rest of the frames from this roll will be posted in the near future.

(Technical:  A colour cast may be perceived here, but it’s actually the true colour from the low sun when I shot this.  You’ll see what I mean when I eventually post the other images).

—Peter.

↑ Leica M2-R, Voigtländer 40mm Nokton f/1.4, Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400, and Plustek 8200i.

Two half-innings before the storm came.

2020, Baseball, Beyond 200 feet of My House™, Favourite, Film, Filter (Yellow), Inspiration, Kodak Tri-X 400, Leica M2, Leica M2-R, Portrait, Scanner - Plustek 8200i, Sports, Voigtländer 40mm f/1.4 Nokton

Two photos from two halves of the very 1st inning… before the rain stopped the game.

Photographed through the chain link fence.

—Peter.

↑ Leica M2-R, Voigtländer 40mm Nokton f/1.4, Kodak Tri-X 400, and Plustek 8200i.

The Conversation.

2020, Favourite, Film, Inspiration, Kodak Tri-X 400, Leica M2, Leica M2-R, Portrait, Scanner - Plustek 8200i, Voigtländer 40mm f/1.4 Nokton, Within 200 feet of My House™

This is from Test Roll #1 (evaluating my M2-R and Voigtländer 40/1.4).

I thought I was shooting @ f/1.4, but realized too late I was @ f/2.8… hence the underexposure.

Still, I like the moment that was caught; in fact I like it more than anything else I’ve done lately.

—Peter.

↑ Leica M2-R, Voigtländer 40mm Nokton f/1.4, Kodak Tri-X 400, and Plustek 8200i.

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”)↓

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(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.