leica camera

[John Hodgin]

Superb camera, congratulations!

[sscrooge]

Thanks John, now im going to get some 35mm film and give it a go, apparently i have to trim the film first , cheers Dave

[Longbranch303]

There are other methods to loading one of these without trimming the leader, but in my experience trimming the film leader is the best way to load these. Just take the film, pull it out to the same length as the camera, and trim the leader back to the film canister. Then, using the take-up spool, stick the tip of the leader in it, follow the diagram on the bottom-plate for orientating the film, stick the film/take-up spool in the camera (sometimes it takes a bit of wiggling as the pressure plate can snag the film), push them all the way in, put the bottom plate back on, and wind one frame. Then, turn the rewind knob until it won't turn. This makes sure the film is securely on the take-up spool, and when winding, you can make sure the film is feeding properly by seeing if the rewind knob is spinning as you wind the camera to the next frame.

Your Summitar lens is a good lens, easily producing a picture quality that rivals, if not surpasses, many modern lenses. Here's some images I made with a later 50mm Summicron on a Leica M3, as well as some other images I made with a pre-war Leica IIIa and Summar 50mm lens (the Summar was the predecessor to the Summitar). Performance of a Summitar is closer to that of the Summicron. Take a look:

http://www.burninfilm.blogspot.com/

[sscrooge]

Thank you very very much for the film loading tips as i really am a novice at this and appreciate your help, your photos look outstanding thanks for showing rgds Dave

[Longbranch303]

No problem lending a hand. I'm just glad the countless hours I've spent learning all of this can help someone else.

These cameras are the most fun when you can develop your own B&W film at home, then scan it using a film scanner. It's amazing the quality you can achieve. I wish I still had the time to do so! Nothing is more fun than shooting 5-6 rolls of film on a beautiful day, then going home, developing it, downing a few beers, and then scanning it all in, picking out the best images while watching a good movie or show on TV. Remember, with film, only about 4-5 images on a roll of 36 tend to be true "keepers." The ratio is the same with digital, you just get to erase all the bad pictures for free. With film, it's $3-5 a roll... Those pictures you saw on my blog... yeah, that was probably $100 worth of film...

It's a hobby you have to love... and no worry about fakes!!!