Classic!! :)
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Went for a walk in a cemetery during lunch today.... Brought along a camera that has sat on the shelf for a long time, a Nikon D50, which was converted to IR. The novelty of IR wore off quickly, but it's fun to shoot with once in a while.
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Got the photos back from my film camera experiment. Primary lessons learned: film processing is still slow, expensive and, unless you have a trusted shop to do the work, of dubious value.
Anyway, nostalgic, smudgy looking photos without all the bother of Photoshop plug ins.
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2875/9...59bba5c5_c.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3666/9...e4351cb6_c.jpg
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from GoodWood Revival
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"Never assume anything."
It's the motto of many a professional photographer, and it seems fitting for me today. As much as I critiqued the Leica M9 earlier - particularly it's sensor, review monitor, and shutter/winder sound - further testing showed that none of these flaws could be considered fatal. Especially when I could buy a used one in great shape for 65% retail. After borrowing the same camera (a lightly used M9-P in black) last weekend, I came to the conclusion that it was worth acquiring while I waited in line for a black M 240.
Here it is with my trusty '82 35mm Summicron Type 4 (sharper than my much newer 35 f2 Asph from f8 on). Other M lenses in my compact travel kit are an '82 50mm Summicron and a '77 90mm f2.8 thin Tele-Elmarit. I'm looking forward to using it for many years. :)
Congratulations, Randy.
As noted, the slight difference in shutter sound level and the other points outlined in a previous "review " you posted some time ago hardly disqualify the M9 series from rightfully belonging on every enlightened photographers shortest of short lists of todays most effective full-frame digital cameras.
As you use it everyday and get increasingly & intimately familiar with it I can't help but feel that you'll be very happy with your new M9 P, and that the arrival of the M240 will merely constitute an incremental improvement in your images, not a significant leap forward. Now, if you were waiting for a Monochrom I'd be very concerned that everyone else would be left in the dust.
Good shooting......and please post some pictures. I'd very much like to see what an old hand at using rangefinders can do with an M9.
JZG
Thanks, John. I am already getting used to it - the digital FF M is a simple and intuitive machine!
Leica M is all about the "decisive moment" for me. Static subjects are easily handled by more complicated equipment (with faster cycling!). Here's one from my recent shoot with the M9-P and a 21mm. Post #523 above is from the same weekend, with a 35mm.
Here's one of my people shots. You guys know this guy, right?
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John
no, who is he?
To continue the people motif, here's a shot I took on the way to the hotel on the last evening of Rennsport III at the Daytona Speedway. All the invited & famous ex-Porsche factory drivers were posing for a group shot for Speed Vision who were gathering material for a planned 1-hour special later in '07.
It was only my fourth or fifth day with my new first digital camera, a Canon 5D with an f4 24-105 Canon zoom and their most powerful consumer flash, when I happened by and caught this "princely heap of men" - Shakespeare's phrase, not mine - posing for the cameras. I took a couple of quick shots not really knowing what I was doing, since I was far from familiar with the new Canon rig, and they really weren't great images, but I think I managed to salvage most of the information in the original color shots by recently converting them to B & W.
I can recognize the following:
Derek Bell
Forbes-Robinson
Gijs van Lennep
Dick Barbour
David Piper
David Hobbs
Sam Posey
Gerrard Larrousse
Willy Kauhsen
George Follmer
Vic Elford and
Dickie Atwood
added after original post: Norbert Singer, on extreme right.
Perhaps other members can identify the rest, those I'm unable to name.
JZG