Wyatt Ryan 5/17/20 Wyatt Ryan 5/17/20

Short Term Review of the Leica M3

The Leica M3 is one of the most fabled cameras in the film community. It was the first camera I bought once I started shooting film again in the summer of 2018. I bought both the body and lens I have on eBay for pretty cheap, but ended up sending them off to be fully serviced so they would be in good working order.

A little over a year and a half later, I finally have the camera back, and have put four rolls of film through it so far. I’ll go over some of the generic details of the camera and lens and a little bit about my specific ones.

The Basics

The Leica M3 was manufactured from 1954, all the way to 1966. There were two different variations, a Double Stroke (DS) and a Single Stroke (SS). All that means is you either need to crank the film advance once or twice to get to the next frame of film. My version (serial number 854 256) is one of the later DS variations. They started producing the SS versions around the serial number 915xxx. Looking it up, my specific M3 was built in 1957, so is about 63 years old!

I’m not sure when or by who, but some dingle dick decided to carve another serial number into the back of the M3, below the film advance, Y932534. Probably why I got it so much cheaper than they usually sell for.

The Leica Elmarit 90mm f/2.8 was made from 1959 to 1974. It’s not great optically wide open at f/2.8, but gets better and better as you stop it down to f/5.6 or f/8. According to my serial number (1879958), my particular lens was made in 1961. It’s in pretty great condition for it’s age, and was definitely taken care of much better than my M3.

All of the following images were shot with Ilford HP5+, developed at home with Ilford HC-110 (dilution B) and scanned with an Epson V750.

Wide open at f/2.8, not super sharp but it does the job.

Shot around f/8, in a mostly dead downtown Rochester.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed using this set up so far, but I’m not really sure it’s the camera for me in the long run. It’s an absolute marvel of German engineering so very beautiful thing to look at, but in day to day use, it’s not very practical for my needs and how I shoot. I’ll take it on some more hikes in the coming months with some color film and really try and put it through its paces. Fully manual cameras really do shine when you have static objects to shoot.

We’ll see if I can get some more shots I’m proud of down the road, and hopefully some portraits that aren’t of Miah. I’ll end this mini review with a shot I somehow got of Miah running towards me with one of her toys.

Feel free to sponsor us Jolly Pet. — Feel free to sponsor us *Jolly Pet.*

If you’re looking at a bunch of different film cameras to purchase, I also have reviews of the Canon Sure Shot/Autoboy here and the Olympus XA2 here. They are vastly different cameras than the Leica M3 but at the end of the day, they serve the purpose of capturing moments on film.

Wyatt Ryan 8/22/19 Wyatt Ryan 8/22/19

Comfort Zone

Over the past few months, I’ve begun to realize how much I really love taking photos of people. Taking a photo of someone I know well makes the whole process incredibly easy, as they’re already relaxed. I’ve also realized that street photography (think candid moments of total strangers) terrifies the hell out of me. I’ve been working on it with some of my smaller point and shoots, and occasionally my medium format cameras, but the whole thing is a little nerve wracking.

Shot with the Bronica ETRsi, Sunny 16, self developed and scanned. Fuji PRO400H

Street photography requires quick actions to capture the moment, and typically the image becomes more powerful when the subject of the photograph is in some way interacting with you.

But, I’m an introvert, so interacting with total strangers is an absolute no-no for me. I’d much rather just sit back and wait for something to unfold in front of me. As I think shows in the photo below, it works sometimes.

Just sat and waited. Canon Sure Shot. Kodak Portra 400.

Another personality trait that I so graciously acquired, perfectionism. I hate failure, so if I don’t think I’ll succeed fully at something, I might quit at it halfway through just to avoid that failure. I’ve written about failure before, and also the benefits of recognizing those failures.

Performing in Madison, WI. Canon Sure Shot. Kodak Portra 400.

So to stick with the spirit of failing and pushing my personal boundaries, I’m going to give myself a challenge for the next thirty days. Take one portrait, of one stranger, each and every day. Just the thought of it makes me uncomfortable, which is exactly the reason I should, and need to do this. I’ve done weird little personal projects from time to time, but never anything so far out of my comfort zone.

It starts today, so expect to see another blog post pertaining to this one in about a month and a half. Until then, enjoy some more random photos :)

Wyatt Ryan 7/9/19 Wyatt Ryan 7/9/19

Preservation

I’m still trying to wrap my head around what happened and why, but a friend of mine passed this weekend. I got a call Sunday night from one of her friends who I know from the rock climbing wall in Mankato. I didn’t know how to react, and I was in a state of shock until later that night. After that phone call, I raced home and started searching for the negatives I had of Abigail, the ones I had taken almost four years ago.

I don’t remember how exactly I met Abigail, but I know we both shared a passion for photography and rock climbing. She was bubbly and always smiling, and it was contagious. She became one of my better friends that year. We spent a lot of time together, whether it was rock climbing, hiking, photography, or just hanging out at her apartment listening to music. When I started my film class in the spring semester, Abigail was absolutely ecstatic to help.

On one of the many dreary spring mornings we had that year, I headed over to Abigail’s apartment to hang out with her and her roommate Brooke. My assignment that week for my photography class was to shoot portraits, so Brooke and Abigail became my subjects for the day. I pulled out my brand new light reflector and started bouncing light around like any photographer with a new tool would. I moved them all around the living room, which had nice white walls and an open window, essentially acting as one giant light reflector.

Abigail wasn’t very good at acting serious, but at the time that’s what I wanted to photograph. She dealt with my requests and gave me her all the entire time. I photographed her and Brooke for maybe 30 minutes, or as long as it took to finish the roll of film. After I got done shooting, and since it was still morning, Abigail wanted to do her thing and make some coffee. I don’t know where she got the idea from, but she heard about turkish coffee readings. Turkish coffee is very finely ground, so when you finish drinking it, all of the grounds are left on the bottom.

The method (from what I remember) goes like this: drink the coffee in one go, and flip the cup upside down on the plate. Let it sit for a few minutes so the grounds have time to settle. Different patterns and shapes carry different meaning. After my coffee sat for a bit, Abigail flipped it over and gave me the news. (Sorry for the proceeding picture as I took it with my phone over 3 years ago)

Abigail saw the creature that had formed, and described it as a demon that was haunting my life. At that point in time, I was drowning in my depression, and knew exactly what that demon represented. Abigail asked if I knew what it could be, and I told her I had a couple things in mind. We hung out for a couple more hours, I said my good byes and headed home with a lot to think about.

Abigail was the first catalyst in me getting help with my depression. I think I told her later that night about it. I truly do not know where I would be without having met Abigail. She was an incredibly positive influence in my life, and I will always be grateful for having the opportunity to know her. I’m especially grateful to have these pictures of her. They bring a lot of emotion to the surface, and help me remember that day and the others that followed.

So I’ll end this emotional roller coaster of a post by saying this: Please take pictures of the ones close to you; friends, family, whoever, just take photos of them. The more time that passes, the more meaning they start to carry. Holding the negatives with Abigail on them brought me a weird happiness, but one I’ll hold onto for a while.

Abigail, thank you for being in my life, I’m going to miss you a lot.

Wyatt Ryan 6/27/19 Wyatt Ryan 6/27/19

Olympus XA2 Review

Let me start out this review by saying this; I never thought I would own a point and shoot camera. I went to an estate sale on my day off, looking for film cameras, and ended up leaving with two point and shoots, both from the same era.

The Olympus XA2 and all of its plasticky goodness.

DISCLAIMER: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and trust.

The XA2 is not nearly as popular as its predecessor, the original XA. The XA put a little bit more of the exposure equation in the hands of the photographer, allowing them to choose focus distance, ISO, AND the aperture. The XA also had a slightly faster lens, with an f/2.8 instead of the XA2’s f/3.5 lens. While there are slight differences between the original XA and all its subsequent siblings, they all revolve around a 35mm lens in a very pocketable body. Most came new with some sort of flash unit attachment, which adds a little bit of length as it attaches to the side. The XA2 came with the A-11 flash unit, which I have, for the most part, left at home. The flash is like a bomb going off, usually providing a wonderful ‘deer in the headlights’ look.

The Body

Now that I’ve said my part about the flash, I’ll start with the body itself. It’s basically a plastic brick that fits in the palm of your hand, slides easily into any pocket, and does not draw any attention to the one holding it. The slider conveniently covers the lens, viewfinder, and light meter when closed, and also deactivates the shutter so you can’t accidentally take any shots. This small plastic brick houses a 35mm f/3.5 lens which is surprisingly sharp for it’s age. To keep the body as small as possible, they used a leaf shutter instead of a focal plane shutter. For those don’t know what either of those terms mean, just know that a leaf shutter is massively quieter than a focal plane shutter. The leaf shutter in this camera is one of the few things that isn’t plastic. Pressing the shutter button provides a quick click sound. Maybe the sound of a pen clicking, but much quieter? I’m not sure honestly, but it’s quiet.

The loudest thing about this camera is advancing the film to the next frame. Think disposable camera wind on noisy, and that’s exactly what this sounds and feels like. My particular copy doesn’t have the most consistent framing, but I have not had any shots overlap, yet. Besides pressing the shutter and selecting ISO sensitivity for the lighter meter, you can also shoot the focus range! The options are located to the left of the lens and show pictures interpreting the distance that the lens should about focus to.

Bottom - Head & Shoulders - 4 feet
Center - Full Body - 9 feet
Top - Mountain - 40 feet

This method is called zone focusing, and is essentially a guess as to where your subject is. If it’s bright enough out, it doesn’t really matter if you set it in the right place, though I usually leave mine in the default center position. Which reminds me, the tab for the focus resets to the center when you close the slider, handy, but also annoying at times.

So there are three different things you can control, focus, ISO, the flash (if you have it on), and firing of the shutter. There are a few things about this camera that I don’t quite understand. There is the red light on the front of the camera, and I have no idea what it does. I haven’t seen it light up at any point in time since I’ve had it. There is a red light on the inside of the viewfinder that lights up if the shutter will be too slow, but the front light does not light up with it? Superfluous red light cover to make it look better? Another thing I don’t quite understand was the addition of a tripod socket on the bottom. I can’t imagine any person, ever, mounting this on a tripod. The socket itself is plastic, so I’m not sure how many uses it could take before it breaks. Also on the bottom of the camera is a little switch for a self-timer (which would explain the need for a tripod socket), and the battery check. I have no idea if it’s just my camera, but when I turn the switch to battery check, it makes a horrendously high-pitched whining noise. It doesn’t sound right, but the camera works so I haven’t worried about it. I haven’t tested the self-timer, but I’m sure it’s something like two or ten seconds before it goes off. I’ll try it one of these days.

Shooting Experience

Now that I’ve covered most of the body, I’ll dive into what I like and don’t like about shooting with it.

First off, sometimes it’s nice not to have to think about what you’re doing. See something cool? Point, and shoot. These cameras are great for a quick capture, a moment. If that sounds like your perfect shooting scenario, go ahead and get one of these, because they’re perfect for it! Most of the time I am very methodical about what and how I shoot. This camera is simply fun to use, so it’s an appreciated deviation from my normal style. I wish I had a little bit more control like I could with the original XA, but I’m not sure it would be quite as enjoyable of an experience.

So far, the camera is quiet, fun, and easy to use. The thing I absolutely love about this camera is how incredibly portable it is. Back pocket, front pocket, fanny pack; you name it, and it’ll fit. I haven’t tested the durability of it, but you could take this camera along with you just about anywhere, and it wouldn’t add more than half a pound of weight.

Fuji Superia 400. My therapists building is incredibly photogenic in the morning light.

Portable, quiet, fun, and easy to use. It’s honestly a great camera, one of the only major complaints I have is the rewind crank. Remember when I said the camera is a plastic brick? So is the rewind crank. It feels like it is going to break the entire time I’m rolling up a finished canister of film. 36 frames feels monstrously worse than 24 as you have 12 more frames of resistance to fight back into the film canister. I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t broken yet. Another thing I despise about the rewind crank is how it’s engaged. There is a tiny little button on the bottom of the camera, it unlocks the gears in the camera that advances the frame. If you don’t press this little button in, you can still get the film rewound, but each and every sprocket will rip and tear, and your entire roll of film with essentially be destroyed. Any guesses as to how I figured this out?

Kodak Portra 400, wine tour in Wisconsin.

If this does happen to you, I wish you the best of luck in cleaning out the tiny little squares of broken film sprockets, and I hope developing it goes as smoothly as possible. I’m surprised I even wasted time developing that roll of film after how fucked it got. I ended up throwing the entire roll of film away, just glad that the camera could take pictures.

If it weren’t for the rewind crank, and the rewind crank button, I think this would be an almost perfect camera. But since I can’t get over the rewind crank, I’ll probably keep looking for a better point and shoot that will work for me better. My next review will be on the Canon Sure Shot, which is another point and shoot that I’ve enjoyed using these past couple of months. The review for the Canon Sure Shot/Autoboy can be found here! If point and shoot cameras aren’t really your thing, I have a review on the classic Leica M3 here.

TLDR: It’s fun and easy to use, get it, but be careful rewinding the film.

And if you purchase an Olympus XA2 (Affiliate link to eBay) through that link, I get a little bit of a kickback so I can keep making reviews like this! And please feel free to let me know other cameras you’d like to see reviewed in the future.

Now onto more pictures!

Fuji Superia 400, taken 5 minutes from my house.

Kodak Portra 400, parking lot of the place above after a lot of rain.

Kodak Portra 400, lake after the rain. Featuring Miah in her constant state of movement.

Wyatt Ryan 5/25/19 Wyatt Ryan 5/25/19

Cult Classics

These three cameras have some what of a cult following in the 35mm film community. Each one easily slips into a pocket without much fuss. Prices vary considerably between the three, but all will cost easily above $75 depending on where you purchase them.

Canon Sure Shot, Rollei 35s, and Olympus XA2.

The Canon Sure Shot is the most automated of the three cameras. The only thing you have control over (sort of), is the focus. The switch on the front allows you to “Pre-focus”, though it’s anybody’s best guess where it’s actually focusing. There is a small scale in the viewfinder showing you about where it’s focusing, but I really have no idea what the scale means in practice. Other than the pre-focusing option, all you do is point and shoot and hope that the photo turns out.

A little bit about the camera:

35mm film
38mm f/2.8 Lens
Completely automatic point & shoot (except for the pre-focus)
Decently sharp lens

The Rollei 35 S is completely manual and the most compact of the three cameras. It does have a light meter to help determine proper exposure but finding a battery for it isn’t the easiest; I’ve been guessing exposure. Shutter speed and aperture are controlled by the two front dials. Focus is of the zone-focusing style, which is basically guessing distance and hoping you get it right. This is the most well made camera of the three as well. 1960’s german engineering is something else.

A little bit about the camera:

35mm film
Completely manual
40mm f/2.8 Sonnar Lens
Most compact and extremely well built

The Olympus XA2 is a strange mix between the two other cameras. You must move the switch on the left of lens to determine where it will focus, so a much less accurate version of zone-focusing. Exposure is completely automatic. I feel most comfortable sliding this camera in a pocket since the lens is covered when closed. I’m not sure which one is quieter, this camera or the Rollei. Advancing to the next frame is the same as disposable cameras, with an edged wheel on the right side.

A little bit about the camera:

35mm film
35mm f/3.5 Zuiko Lens
Mix of manual and automatic
Easily the lightest of the three

I will write up a full review of each of the three cameras in the next month or so, going into more detail and showing pictures I’ve taken with each one. In the mean time, I’m going to hunt for a battery for the Rollei so I hopefully get some in focus shots.