manila camera style - a conversation about cameras

As in sent in all the way from, Natchitoches, Louisiana USA!

MCS’s new friend Sonny says:

My new to me 1986 Wetzlar Leica M6. When I got it, it had a recent cla, by Sherry Krauter who added a M2 wind lever, made the viewfinder show only the 28, 35, 50, 90mm framelines. The body has Griptac skin.

The lens is a Summicron C 40mm milled to show 35mm frame lines (DAG). I added the aftermarket hood from a Hong Kong dealer and painted it with wrinkle finish. The thread is slightly different, but I just screw it in enough to be secure.

I had an M6 for many years, but sold it to go digital a few years ago. I shoot mainly with an M8, and an Olympus EP-1, but sometimes I want to see all of what my lenses show, so I decided to buy this nice M6.

I enjoy Manilacamerastyle, keep it up!

Thanks, Sonny. MCS enjoys receiving contributions from all over the world! Sonny adds:

Here are four samples from the M6 camera. I’ve included a couple of shots from my old 21mm Super Angulon, because it was one of the reasons I bought the M6, since my M8 of course doesn’t show the whole frame.

We now have one mini lab left in our town, and they don’t take great care with the films, (some of my negatives have scratches) not to mention that their CD scans are very low resolution. So I suppose I’m going to have to start mailing film away for processing, or maybe process them myself.

I have my reels and tanks and a changing bag, so that may be the route I take. I think I may even have my old darkroom timer!

Samples with the Summicron C 40mm:

…and with the Super Angulon 21mm :

Marty sends in his Zorki-6!

Says he:

I say: Not bad, my friend! And great job on the reskinning! Thanks for sending this in!

Today we feature our loyal reader Kat’s Kodak Retina IIc, originally released in 1954. This kick-ass camera has a 50/2.8 Schneider Retina-Xenon lens attached to it.

There’s really something cool about folding cameras.

Kat says:

I got this from a friend who had every bit of GAS as I am experiencing right now. :) The friend decided to let me adopt this baby so I could take care of it and take it out for a spin.

And now presenting photos from Kat’s “taking it out for a spin” in Taal Lake:

Perhaps a little late for Father’s Day, we got this submission from MCS’ loyal Joseph - a great story about a dad, a camera, and getting the right exposure…

The rest of the story is in Joseph’s words.

First, let’s start with the camera:

An awesome story and some even better photographs. If this post didn’t warm your heart the way it did mine, then yours is color blue and the size of a walnut!

Thank you Joseph for sharing this. Please give your dad a standing ovation from MCS for all his accomplishments! Hats off to you, sir!

Just like a Magic Mic, this concept lets you know what your “aesthetic score” is, right after the shot. Check it out:

According to the website of Andrew Kupresanin:

Here’s a video:

Nadia from Andrew Kupresanin on Vimeo.

Now only if it would automatically delete the photo if it fell below a certain score… :-)

After Joseph sent in his digital-analog camera, I’ve been curious to try one out.

The opportunity came when a delayed flight left me shopping around the HK airport, where I noticed a nice-looking Panasonic GF-1 in a ever-ready-type case. I played with it in the store, and liked what I saw. I did get on my flight without buying it.

back in Manila, I emailed HK Voigtlander guy Joseph Yao, who said a lot of great things about the GF-1. He called it the “digital successor to the Leica CL”. Whoa! Big shoes to fill! He said this was because the GF-1 can be purchased with two choices of primes - a Panny 20/1.7 and a Leica 45/2.8. He said that was surprisingly similar to the CL’s choice of Summicron 40mm and 90mm (because of the 2x crop factor). Intriguing!

He also added that the size was pretty close too, and with an optional finder (optical or digital) it could feel “analog” in your hands.

Here’s an early “leaked” spy photo of the GF1 with the “Leica CL” lenses:

I swear, if Panasonic marketed it as the Digital CL (or something like that), they would have sold more of this little thing. Needless to say, I was sold even without it. It wasn’t long before I had this:

As you can see, I got the leather half-case, a Domke gripper strap (I love these and have them on my Leica RFs), the optional EVF, and some black tape for the “stealth” look. (BTW - speaking about stealth, I’ve actually had other GF1 owners ask me what camera it is. I guess it works!)

Aside from the above 20/1.7, I also scored this:

Armed with the Voigtlander micro 4/3 to Leica-M adapter, I quickly tried this:

Slapping on the VM Nokton 35/1.2 gives me a 70mm/1.2 equivalent. Add the very usable 1600 ISO of the GF-1 (yes, it is usable especially for black and white prints), and you’ve got a nice low-light portrait lens.

Here’s another view:

BTW, in case you want to see a smaller lens, here it is with the Zeiss Biogon 28:

I’m happy to say that hte GF-1 works well with manual focus lenses. You just have to fiddle with its settings to make it work the way you want it (and set it to “shoot without a lens”). Manual focusing allows you to zoom a portion of the frame while focusing to get precise focus. It’s not quite RF-smooth, but I didn’t expect it to be. It’s still works better than manual focus on a matte focus screen SLR, IMHO.

Oh, just in case you’re interested here are some photos…

With the Nokton 1.2:

Here’s a couple with the Panny 20/1.7 (which I think is an excellent lens, BTW):

Hey R - didn’t you get a GF-1 too? And don’t hold back on that Epson RDS! :-) Let’s see ‘em!

Want a Likea for US$19.95? Now you can get one!

This Likea MPH is a pinhole camera made from cardboard. Twenty bucks gets you the kit, which you have to assemble yourself. Oh, and you’ll have to make the pinhole part yourself out of a soda can.

I guess this is the ultimate test of “It’s not the camera, it’s the photographer”….

Check out the store here. I love the way it’s made to look like the Leica website. Hahaha!

Oh, they deliver WORLDWIDE. Break out those credit cards!

A couple of months ago, my CanoScan 8800F conked out. I took it to Canon, and for some strange reason, it worked perfectly well doing everything, EXCEPT scan black-and-white film. In one word for me: dealbreaker!

So Canon gave me two choices: replace the 8800F, or wait for the new 9000F to come out, and get that instead.

Glad to say that I waited. Waited long, but waited. Then look what came in today:

The CanoScan 9000F is a much more refined version of the 8800F. Not only does it scan faster, more silently, and have a better software interface - but it just looks and feels like a better product.

In the end, it’s all about the scans - right? My biggest criteria on judging scanners has got to be how well it captures film grain.

I never cared for ultra-smooth images. Grain is what gives photos soul - none of this noise-free stuff for me, baby!

So with grain correction off, I made my first scan:

Not bad! The full-res file shows Kodak Tri-X grain in it’s full beautifully rough glory.

So I made a few more scans:

The 9000F handled grain and tonal range really well - and I was really pleased with the smooth range it captured.

I didn’t realize that I missed scanning negatives. There’s something therapeutic about moving an image from a negative to your screen, and the process in between (handling negatives with white gloves, slowly putting it in the film mounts, calibrating the scanner) - right? Someone say “yes”!

I’ll be making a few more scans over the next couple of days to test the new scanner out some more. As of day one, however, I can say I am quite happy!

I’ll post a few more scans soon. All of the above are from the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, which was held in March of this year.

BTW, all of these photos from a Leica M7 + Summicron 35 ASPH, which you can view here.

We come to the conclusion to Rap’s camera entries.

An Olympus OM-1! We’ve featured the Oly OM-1 here and here in the past.

Rap says:

The OM-1 is a tiny gem of a camera and the Zuiko lenses are an amazing lot! The meter from this camera has been repaired but I usually rely on the Gossen Luna for incident readings. This camera is really compact and feels more like a rangefinder on the hand, the shutter speed dial needs some getting used to. I’m looking for Zuiko portrait lenses so if you hear of some let me know :).

And finally, Rap’s photos:

Thanks Rap!