Leica M2 – tim dobbs photography

Shooting long expired Original Agfa Scala 200 slide film ….

I have been trying to sort out my negative filing today and came across a roll of Agfa Scala 200 that I shot last year and had it processed by Silverpan film lab.

The film was given to me and was long expired obviously and I didn’t have a clue how it had been stored so I was not confident on how it would come out or even if it would work at all.

I decided to shoot it using my Leica M2 and exposed it at 100 iso which in hindsight was not even close, I should have gone for 50 iso or even lower.

Anyway when the positives came back it was still a thrill to see B&W slides for the first time even if they were very underexposed and some of the frames were totally unusable.

Thanks to Epson scan and Lightroom I managed to salvage quite a few frames and was very pleased with what I got so much so I have bought a few rolls of the Adox Scala film to try.

So here are the frames that I ended up with …

Click on an image to view larger … comments most welcomed

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

I forgot I shot this roll … My 1st roll of Tri-X for years

I have been trying to tidy up my lightroom catalog of my film scans.

I seem to have at least 15 rolls of film that I have shot over the last year that I have not blogged yet.

Most of the rolls I remember but this one completely slipped my mind which is strange as it was a roll of Kodak Tri-X I shot with my Leica M2 which is a film I have not bothered with for years as I never seemed to get very good results with.

To be honest this roll didn’t really blow me away either, I am not sure what I don’t like as it has plenty of contrast and is sharp which is what I like in my B&W … maybe it’s the grain which makes me feel Meh!.

My favourite image was the one where I managed to slip and fall over ( Tree’s)

I doubt if I will be rushing to shoot it again for a while unless I try pushing it just to see if that gives me something that I will like.

Here is the best of an ordinary bunch ….

Please click on an image to view larger …..

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

Taking the Leica M2 for a walk in the fog …….

I waited years to eventually get to own a Leica and when I did I seemed to use it every week but during the last year my poor M2 stayed in one of my bags while I tried and tested loads of new cameras that I have been adding to my ever growing collection.

The other weekend the weather was it’s usual pants this time of year but I do like shooting B&W then conditions are bad so I was going to shoot my newly acquired Mamiya RB67 with some Foma that I received for Christmas but whilst sorting out which bag I was going to put my stuff in ( the RB67 is a monster) I came across my lovely M2 and immediately changed my mind and went back to the fridge and got a roll of Agfa APX400 which I wanted to try and loaded up the little Leica.

The camera was a joy to use and I quickly sped through the roll wishing that I had brought along another.

The M2 and my Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f1.7 are a perfect match.

I developed the roll using Eco Film developer from Bellini Foto 1+1 dilution for 12 minutes which gave me really punchy negs that scanned really well.

Considering the weather I loved how the images came out with plenty of contrast and sharp.

I need to get back to using the M2 on a more regular basis as this camera makes me happy every time it’s in my hands.

Here is a selection of images from the roll, I shot 2 frames of most of the compositions at different apertures so I have not posted any of the duplicates.

Click on an image to view larger ….

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

1st time shooting Rollei RPX 100 ….

Over the past year I have managed to pick up quite a few rolls of different film stocks that I have never shot before … Rollei RPX 100 being one of them.

Slowly but surely I am trying them and seeing what I like or don’t like with them and whether or not I would buy more.

I have a small selection of B&W developers that I use and after reading up on the web about which may be the best for this film stock and decided on Rodinal at a dilution of 1+25 which should give good sharpness and contrast from the images that I have seen especially as I pushed it to iso 200.

The day was pretty rubbish with grey clouds and sleet so I used the Leica M2 with the 7 Artisans 50mm f1.1 with the hope of trying to shoot a few images wide open.

I was very impressed with how the film performed giving tons of detail with excellent tonality and I will definitely be buying more of this stock that’s for sure.

I need to try the RPX 400 just to see if the extra grain you may get with a faster film will lessen how sharp the images may appear especially if pushed a bit.

Anyway thanks for looking ….

Click on an image to view larger

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

It goes all the way to 1.1 …..

A twitter friend posted the other week that he was selling a recently purchased lens for a really good price that I could not refuse.

I have the Voigtlander 35mm Ultron f1.7 for my Leica M2 so the chance to add a 50mm to my bag was welcomed.

The 7 Artisans 50mm f1.1 is a pretty impressive piece of kit to be honest, it felt really well built and is pretty heavy to boot.

And when attached to the M2 it felt well balanced but it was noticeably heavy when carrying but was great to shoot.

I loaded a roll of Kodak Ektar and set out to test how well it performed.

The viewfinder on the M2 is lovely and bright normally but maybe it was in my head but it did seem brighter and the focusing patch was very easy to get focus quickly.

The lens barrel did creep into the finder but not into the 50mm framelines so it was not a problem.

Anyway here is a selection of images shot at various apertures … only the one of my son at the end was shot wide open at f1.1 as it was too bright when I was out and didn’t have an ND filter with me.

Overall I am extremely pleased with the lens, it is not as sharp as the Ultron wide open or even at f2.8 but how it renders the out of focus areas is lovely so its a keeper for me for sure.

Anyway thanks for looking ….

Click on an image to view larger

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

1st time shooting Bergger Pancro 400 …

A few weeks ago while buying my usual selection of film stock I also bought a couple of rolls of the new Bergger Pancro 400 to try and see how it compares against my favorite ilford HP5+.I loaded up my Leica M2 and went out for a quick walk hoping to miss the rain that had been forecast.

I rated the film at box speed and processed it in Rodinal 1+25 dilution for 8 minutes.

When it emerged from the tank I was happy with the overall look, pretty good exposure and contrast.

The 1st scans confirmed my initial thoughts and the film scanned very well.

I always try to scan as flat as possible and then increase the contrast in Lightroom.

The level of detail was very good as was the grain and what was really impressive was how much detail I got in the shadows while also retaining the highlights.

Overall I was very happy with how this film performed at box speed but I think I would like to push the next roll which is something that I nearly always do with HP5+ with brilliant results.

Anyway thanks for looking ….

Click on an image to view larger

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

A Month with my Leica …

I have been thinking about and then putting off buying a Leica M for an absolute age.

I don’t really know what the actual reason for putting it off was to be fair … everytime I saw one I liked and put it into my online basket something stopped me pressing the checkout button.

Well last month I bit the bullet and got hold of an M2 which was made the same year of my birth which made it that little bit extra special.

I got it without a lens from Red Dot Cameras but purchased an adapter for my Jupiter 8 50mm f2 as a stop gap until I decide which lens I am going to get.

Here follows 4 galleries featuring a selection of images shot on 4 different film stock all processed and scanned by myself.

The Jupiter 8 really impressed me with the colour rendering and sharpness/bokeh … God only knows how excited I will be when I get around to upgrading this little beauty.

Click on an image to view larger ……..

Kodak Ektar

2. Ilford XP2

3. Agfa Vista 200

4. Kodak Tmax 400

Overall my 1st month with my 1st Leica has not disappointed in the least … this little camera oozes class and charisma it is such a pleasure to use.

I now know why photographers heap praise on the Leica M even a 50+ year old model works like a dream and it has to be said .. this is the best camera I have ever shot with … I don’t mean in techy imagey sort of way but as something that makes you feel happy everytime that you use it

God I even like just looking at it … ha haThanks for looking ….

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

April’s Tmax-Party entries in one place ….

This months @TMAX_party entries were shot using my lovely new Leica M2 with a Jupiter 8 50mm f2 on Tmax 400.

They were shot in 2 locations 1st at Porthcawl beach and finished off at home in the Garw Valley. To be honest Tmax is not my favorite film but I have to admit that the tones that it gives when using this camera/lens combination are lovely, its hard to tell looking here but when I look at the full res scans they are very pleasing. I will be visiting the darkroom with a couple of the beach shots to see how they print.