A while ago a reader
questioned that Leica continues to manufacture film cameras. The opinion was that in this world of digital
photography, it would be too costly to continue to make film cameras,
especially ones with the level of quality like Leica.
Of course, the writer is
wrong. Leica does indeed continue to
make film cameras, both the Leica M7, Leica MA and the Leica MP. It is easy to think that high end film
cameras are a thing of the past. Both
Nikon and Canon websites do no longer list any film cameras. Does that mean that film is a thing of the
past?
Definitely not. Film continues to have an avid
following. That is the very reason why
the Leica film cameras are still being made.
Unlike with many other makes of cameras, especially Leica enjoys a
faithful film shooter following.
That made me think of my
own film cameras of which several are sitting on my shelves, waiting to be
used. I have to admit, I haven’t shot a
roll of film for a long time and just about when I am ready to keep it that
way, I come across an article by Ricky Opaterny that makes me think about film
again.
He too hadn’t been
shooting film for several years.
... So last week when I
had the chance to shoot a couple rolls of film with a Leica M7, I wasn’t
expecting much, having not shot any film since 2004.
Leica M7
Photo by Ricky Opaterny
That caught my
interest. I have never shot with the
M7. My M6 was the last film Leica that I
shot film with before changing to digital.
Ricky continues...
A few years ago in the New
Yorker, Anthony Lane described the sound of a Leica shutter as a seductive
kiss. I had never handled a film Leica M series camera before last week, and I
have to say that Lane’s ostensibly cheesy observation is dead-on. After I loaded
my first roll of Kodak Portra 400VC in the camera and advanced it a couple
frames, I thought there was something wrong with the shutter. “Why isn’t it
making more noise?” I asked myself. Seduction begins with a little mystery, I
suppose.
This man sat next to me to
watch the Spain vs. Germany game at the soccer store on Haight
Photo by Ricky Oparterny
That mystery eludes
me. Probably because I have owned a
Leica since my dad gave me one for my 5th birthday. After all those years, I have learned what
the Leica can do for me. Shooting with
that camera is no longer a mystery but it has proven to be a thoroughly
professional tool.
Handling the camera was
great. It just feels absolutely right when you’re holding it. And I had mounted
on it my favorite lens of all time, Leica’s 50mm f/2.0 Summicron.
One of the great things
about the Leica M cameras is that you can shoot them at very low shutter
speeds—even with the 50mm lens, I can reliably get shots as slow as 1/10
second. It’s like having a faster lens or better high ISO performance or just,
generally, an extra stop! This comes in quite useful indoors where light is
usually low. With the exception of the first shot, I don’t think any of these
were taken at speeds above 1/50 of a second. Normally, on an SLR with a 50mm
lens mounted, that would be the minimum shutter speed that someone could expect
to use—here, it was my maximum shutter speed.
I have to agree. I have never shied away from using a Leica at
relatively slow speeds. I suppose this
is one of the reasons why I think that the current quest for ever higher ISO
capabilities of digital cameras is a wasted effort to some degree. But to each his own.
Ricky makes special
mention of the Leica viewfinder. He
considers it easily the brightest viewfinder of any camera. He is right.
Another advantage of the Leica bright line viewfinder is that it always
shows more than the area covered on film.
This allows seeing and observing the scene past the edges of the image
area. It allows the photographer to
become more aware of his surroundings, something that no SLR camera ever
offered.
I even liked the images
that showed more of the film grain
Photo by Ricky Opaterny
Because I was shooting
film—expensive film that would need to be developed at additional cost—I was
patient waiting for shots I was anticipating. I tried to avoid wasting a single
frame. I spent more time thinking about what I was doing rather than blindly
snapping away.
That comment definitely
made me think. I used to take the same, more
deliberate approach, and I must admit that since shooting digital, that has all
but disappeared. The gratification of
instant frame review does allow for more of a machine gun approach without any
cost penalty. The only time I still work
substantially more deliberate is when doing studio shoots, especially with
product photography. There it eliminates
a lot of trial and error shots to get things right.
Shooting, with a Leica, as
many others have noted, makes you slow down. It makes you more careful about
composition and exposure. And shooting with film compounds those effects. In
general, I’ve spent the past few months trying to regain two abilities I feel
I’ve lost in the Internet age—that to be patient—to delay gratification—and
that to concentrate on something for an extended period of time.
Digital photography
conditions us to expect instant gratification, providing us with instant
previews of our images. In some cases, this is useful and helps us get the shot
we wanted. However, more often it’s simply a distraction from doing the thing
we should be focused on—taking photographs. Is there any other activity in
which people so immediately evaluate their performance with such scrutiny as
photographers checking the LCD image previews on their cameras?
The bruschetta was very
good
Photo by Ricky Opaterny
It isn’t just the process
that blew me away; the results were awesome. I waited with anticipation for the
local lab to develop and print my film. What would it look like? What surprises
lay in store? I can say that I felt my patience was rewarded. Even though their
content is boring, the prints I got back from the lab had a contrast and
vividness that makes them look not only unlike digital images, but cinematic in
a way that I absolutely love—rich, textured, almost tactile. Unfortunately,
getting to that result means paying a lab for developing and printing, which is
why I don’t think I can shoot exclusively on film.
I wholeheartedly agree and
it makes me think all the more to get some film, load one of my film cameras
and shoot. Of course that brings up the
question of what film to use. My main
interest is black and white. Therefore I
don’t think I will bother with color film.
My favorite black and white film used to be the Agfapan APX 25. Unfortunately that is no longer
available. Then I switched to Efke KB 25
which was later available as the ADOX CHS 25.
Unfortunately, to my knowledge nobody offers an ISO 25 film at the
moment. Of course there are times when
ISO 25 just isn’t enough. For those
times I occasionally used Agfapan APX 100 or later the Efke KB 100 or the ADOX
CHS 100. But my favorite higher speed
film is without question the Ilford XP-2 Super.
It has the advantage of an ISO range from 100 to 800 without the need of
any exposure or development compensation.
However, at the lower speeds it does display noticeably finer
grain. This allows the user to switch
between higher and lower ISO indices on the same roll of film and thus assure
the finest possible grain under varying lighting conditions. XP-2 super is a chromogenic film meaning that
it must be developed in C-41 color chemicals, like all standard color films.
Watermusic
Photo by Heinz Richter
Leica M6, 50mm f/2
Summicron
Agfapan APX 100
Melanie
Photo by Heinz Richter
Laica M6, 50mm f/2
Summicron
Agfapan APX 25
Lou Bellami
Penumbra Theater, St.
Paul, MN
Leica M6, 135mm f/2.8
Elmarit
Ilford XP-2 Super at ISO
800
Stage lighting
Don Stolz
Old Log Theater,
Excelsior, MN
Leica M6, 50mm f/2
Summicron
Ilford XP-2 Super at ISO
800
I guess I have convinced
myself to shoot some film. Now I just
have to decide which film and which camera to use. Maybe I will be back here at a later date for
a report.
For the complete article
by Ricky Opaterny go to: Rediscovering film with the Leica M7
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The Ilford XP-2 film sounds very interesting. Is it possible to achieve even higher speeds with push processing?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not. I have tried to have it push processed at a professional lab and the results were not good. There was no appreciable increase in speed over ISO 800, and the shadow detail was very bad. ISO 800 is definitely the limit.
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