Going analogue with the Leica M7

Leica M7, originally uploaded by Guido Steenkamp.

Photo by Guido Steenkamp / Berlin (c) 2008

After some blogging absence I am back now with an enhancement of my choice of photographic tools. Since march I am exploring analogue paths.

Things started with a planned visiti to Europe's biggest Lomo store in Berlin.



There, I acquired a Lomo LC-A with the new Instant back (photo above taken with this combo). A funny and akward thing :-)

More than a month later, I found a Leica M7 on eBay. The price was fair, the condition is unused, and is has the 0.58 viewfinder and the MP advance lever (very similar to Guido's photo above). As I had 10 days to test the camera I put 6 rolls of Kodak Ektachrome and Fuji Colorfilm through it while being on business trips to Kassel, Frankfurt and Nuernberg. Surpringsingly, I was able to put the camera to work at once, even loading film was a breeze after finding some help on YouTube Videos.

The M7 camera works - as my M8 and M9 - precise and smooth. Nicely is the lack of noise for rewinding. And thanks to a local camera store, the films were developed and scanned to a CD in less than 2 hours after delivery.

Workflow in Lightroom is much faster than with RAWs because I took less pictures and the files needed less tweeks. But, the Scans do have much less room for working on them as they were only JPG mid resolution scans.

So far, shooting film was much fun. I'll continue to follow this analogue path and look forward to learn more about the characteristics of the different film types available.

In my fridge, a selection of rolls are waiting for exposure. I went for a roll of . . .
. . . Neopan 400 135-36, Delta 400 135-36, Tri-X 400 135-36, Portra BW400CN 135-36, HP5 Plus 135-36, XP2 Super 135-36, Neopan, Acros 100 135-36, PanF Plus 135-36, Kodak Ektachrome E200 135-36, Portra 400VC 135-36, Velvia 100F 135-36, Fuji Color XTRA 400, Fuji Color XTRA 800, TMAX 400, TMAX P3200, Kodak 160CV and the Kodak 400VC.

These rolls will take some time and travels to be exposed :-)

Some basic Film informations can be found on this website blende7.at (click on the film logos to get infos about this brands film - in german language only).

Looking for some analogue experiences on the web, I found these sources to be inspiring and helpful . . .

Feeling negative? - Very informative website and Blog
Returning to film - Blog by an enthusiast

Have fun,
Carsten