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At the Café Auszeit, an outdoor café for the city’s students, located next to the main cafeteria, a crow needed a rest. How fitting, since “Auszeit” means “downtime”.  Leica CL + Jupiter-8 50mm f/2 + Kodak Portra 160 (b&w conversion in Lr 3) It seems I’m in a black-and-white mood recently, even if I’m shooting color film. I recently shot through my first roll of Ilford Delta 3200, not knowing what I would have to expect. I had been using Fuji Neopan 1600 as my dedicated fast film before and loved it. Sadly, the film is no longer available. So I bought a roll of Delta 3200 and Kodak T-Max 3200 each, to see which I would go with. To make it short: Delta 3200 is fantastic. Wonderful tonality, great colour sensitivity, and rather unobtrusive grain for such a high speed film (though definitely noticeable.) I will shoot the one roll of TMZ just to see what it’s like, but I have little doubt that I’m going to go with Delta 3200 whenever I need a really fast film. Anyway, I’ve uploaded some samples to flickr, so please take a look by clicking on the image below.
 I think this picture of my little brother is exemplary for the awesomeness of Delta 3200. A little back story: I was shooting the roll of Delta 3200 in my Leica CL over the holidays, mostly on the inside, though I took two pictures in daylight (at f/11 or f/16, I believe, even though it was overcast and dreary). When I shot the last frame, I put a bit too much force on the advance lever (not having looked at the film counter and thus unaware that the film was ending there) and ripped the film out of its canister. I quickly darkened the room and tried to get it back into the canister, without success. So I decided to simply wrap the film around the canister and put it into an opened 120 film wrapping, in which to my surprise it just fit. I sealed it off and sent it to the lab with a not as to what had happened, so they wouldn’t open it up in a lit room. Needless to say, many of the pictures had some minor or major light streaks, but the lab handled it very well and most of the pictures came out somewhat usable. So what did I learn from this experience? 1) Delta 3200 is really sensitive! The smalles amount of unwanted light hitting the film may ruin your pictures! And 2) In the future I will be much more careful when advancing film in my Leica CL — especially when the counter has already hit the ’36’ mark … A while ago I was debating whether to sell my Leica M8, due to financial issues. Well, I made a decision, and now it’s gone. Its new owner is quite enthusiastic about it, which reminds me a bit about how I felt when I first got it back in 2010. I’ve now spent almost two and a half years with it, and we had a great time together. But as it is with great times, they all come to an end eventually. Some sooner, some later. If I could have, I would have kept the M8. No question. I loved this camera. But to be honest, during our last holidays this summer, where I only took the Panasonic G1 and 20/1.7 lens, I didn’t miss the M8 at all. And now that it’s gone, I must admit I am also a bit relieved. The M8 is not an easy camera. It’s a dog. It rewards you with some of the most gorgeous pictures you’ve ever seen, if you’re doing it right. My Micro Four Thirds cameras are much easier to use. Heck, even my old Pentax ME is easier to use (apart from the scanning/post-processing involved.) I will in due time write a retrospective post on my time with the M8. I also still have some 1000+ pictures that haven’t been processed yet, so even though the M8 is gone now, my time with it is far from over. The M8 still has a place in my heart. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll get another one. For the moment however, I got myself a replacement. It’s not digital, it’s not convenient, it’s a dog, too. But it’s a proper Leica. It takes M mount glass, it is a marvel of German-Japanese engineering, and it fills the hole that selling the M8 has left. And it is … a Leica CL.
The CL is the smallest analog M-mount rangefinder ever built, developed by Leitz and Minolta and produced by Minolta in Japan. It was also sold as the Leitz Minolta CL and the Minolta CL, and its successor, the Minolta CLE, is the most advanced M-mount rangefinder before the M7 and Konica Hexar RF came along (and its metering is still more advanced than that of the latter two.) This particular CL may look like a beater, but believe, mechanically and electronically it is working a charm. I couldn’t be happier. Also, its beaten exterior means I could get it at a very reasonable price. For the moment, I am using it with my 28mm Zeiss Biogon (which, btw, is up for sale, so if you’re interested drop me a line). But I am awaiting delivery of a russian-made 50mm f/2 Jupiter 8 lens. Besides a first test roll I haven’t used the CL much yet. All I can say is that the shutter speeds seem to be accurate and that the meter readings are plausible. I will drop the test roll off at my local drugstore today and will report on the results shortly. So, goodbye M8 and welcome CL! |
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February 16th, 2013, 1:16 pm | 
