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Published: 2014-11-21 13:05:53 +0000 UTC; Views: 550; Favourites: 25; Downloads: 0
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Leica M Test Drive - Texel, September 2014
I've had the privilege of test "driving" a Leica M camera together with the Summicron 2/35mm and 2/50mm lenses for a couple of days. Although the system has it's quirks, I have come to love it dearly.
Thank you Leica / Transcontinenta for this opportunity.
One of the things I had to get very used to again was the manual focus. It was still on infinity in this shot and less than ideal for this framing.
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Comments: 13
This landscape looks like unearthly... [Venus, Jupiter? 
By the way, I have a photo of my old lens we have been talking about recently, maybe it's interesting for you to take a look: link . I made these shots using them: *** and *** 
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I couldn't remember the name for this, so I left it out of my first post, but I do remember now: Hyperfocal distance
This wiki page explains it completely, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfoc…, but in short: it is the focus distance that provides the maximum DoF.
It doesn't help you in every situation but it is very good to know which distance it is for the lens you're using.
To make it better, most old MF lenses (like your Helios) have some sort of diagram printed on the lens to help you select it fairly easy: 1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kcwb8tubN1Y…
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Thank you for these links, my friend! ^^ Actually, I know it, too.. But when it comes to my Helios 40-2 (85/1.5), it's most interesting at the open apertures. Bokeh is swirly and lovely, it looks like this: lost and not found | 3 | and this: the edge . The back side of the medal is extremely little DOF which you have at open apertures. If you focus properly, it works for you: the model's eyes are sharp while the hair is blurred, so the picture gets volume, it doesn't look flat. But because of that DOF is only few centimeters or even less, it's quite easy to make a mistake. That's why people use Live View with 10x magnifying, but as you have said, it demands a lot of time. It's not usable for photojournalism and other genres, where you have to catch the moment or something.. I have to get familiar with your links and new technologies mentioned by you, maybe there is another smart solution for manual lens like mine. For now it seems to be that even a big light viewfinder like pro film cameras have isn't enough.
ps This Helios doesn't have infinity at all ^^ [holy shit
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Hehe, I'm having the same problem with open apertures. I simply like them too much even though I should know better.
And no infinity, is that because you use an adapter for another type of mount?
The first image is giving me a 404 btw
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Nope, I don't use another type of mount. I shoot on zenit which has M42 as well as helios. Well, helios is zenit's native lens. So, I'm in middle ages now [using mechanical and dumb camera lol]
Yup, I deleted it not long ago [I thought you have seen]. Here it is: 15239222834 6336a866b2 Z
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Why did you delete that one? It's really nice as well.
And film simply has some sort of magic around it.
Do you develop your own film?
I started shooting film at some point but never learned how to develop my own film. And having it done each time in a store is too expensive. So in the end I decided to just stick with digital
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I wasn't satisfied with compo, to be honest. I like bokeh, but something is wrong with this pic.. It's a pity because I like the background
Nope, machine at lab develops it. I think about sticking with film ^^ 
I agree that film is expensive and it's bad you depend on labs or something.. Maybe I'll try to develop my own film one day too. For now... it's a kind of boring ^^ lol
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That said, I still have a lot to learn myself when it comes to manual focusing... As is evident on most of the Leica photos
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Thanks!
That looks like heavy lens indeed. In such a case a battery grip can help to balance the weight.
Manual focus is always a challenge on DSLRs. The viewfinder is not build for that. For some camera types a different type of matte glass can be bought, which is more alike to the ones of analog camera's. They have a prism that helps with the focus: www.katzeyeoptics.com/.
Live view could help as well, but is too time consuming and there's better alternatives if you ask me. Leica has the electronic viewfinder for example which places red lines on the display to indicate what is in focus and what not. Other brands offer this as well, see this thread about Sony NEX for example: www.luminous-landscape.com/for….
I believe it is possible on Canon camera's as well by using Magic Lantern ( www.magiclantern.fm/)
And what also helps is knowing what your Depth of Field is with your current focal length and aperture (and distance to subject). This helps to get to know your boundaries and play with them as well.
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