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 3/29/20 Wyatt Ryan 3/29/20

COVID-19 and Some Goals pt. 2!!!

Today is the last day of working 14 days in a row straight, and I am so excited to get started on the goals I had outlined in my last post here. BUT - I completely forgot that I finally got my Leica back from being serviced. I sent the damn thing off in August of 2018, and got it in the mail on Thursday.

It’s a Leica M3 Double Stroke from 1958/1959, with a 90mm Elmarit f/2.8 attached. It’s a thing of pure beauty and I can’t wait to finally use it.

So, in addition to learning to shoot and edit videos, I’ll be typing up a short review of the camera after running a roll or two through it. My goal for a video will be something along the lines of shooting with the Leica, showing the use of the camera, followed by the process of developing, drying, and scanning the film, and finish off with the end product. I have absolutely no idea how to input photos into videos so it should be a very interesting week to say the least.

Until I get started on all of that, enjoy some photos of this late 1950’s feat of German engineering.

Shout out to the moron that carved a serial number into this.

Wyatt Ryan 12/30/19 Wyatt Ryan 12/30/19

A Year (almost) With the Fujifilm X-Pro 2

This is going to be my first foray into reviewing a digital camera, as I’ve mostly shot film for the last two years. Specs will come first, because anybody can simply look them up their own, so I’ll keep it quick and easy.

I will be drawing comparisons between the Fuji and my old Canon 5D Mark II throughout the review since it’s the only other digital camera I have used.

Specs

24 Megapixel X-Trans III ASP-C Sensor (1.5x Crop)

Weather Sealed

Mirrorless

Hybrid Optical Viewfinder + Electronic View Finder (OVF/EVF)

Dual Card Slots - One UHS II compatible

Well, that’s enough of that nonsense.

Handling & Useability

Coming from a Canon DSLR was a weird transition. Canon is renowned for their phenomenal grips, something Fuji has only addressed in the X-H1, GFX 50S, and GFX 100S. Most of their cameras come with grips that are seriously lacking security while in the hand. I love the feeling of a solid grip, so I ended up buying a used grip from Fuji (pictured).

The grips on Fujis aren’t great by any means, but the feel of the camera in your hand is very reassuring to the build quality. It eeks quality the moment you pick it up, and people are always surprised how heavy it is.

Fuji has done a phenomenal job of putting everything you could possibly need, right on top of the camera. Aperture is controlled on the lens. Shutter speed, ISO, and exposure compensation are all on the top plate.

I do with that the aperture ring on the lenses were a tiny bit sturdier, as I’ve accidentally bumped it onto something else on numerous occasions. The shutter speed dial is solid and out of the way while taking photos, and locks when in A.

Colorado Springs, Colorado. My Harry Potter glasses are on the side of the road if anyone wants to go look for them.

The exposure compensation dial definitely needs to be more stiff, as I’m constantly bumping it and changing it. Fuji really needs to make it a locking dial, as it’s something I tend not to change while I’m shooting. It would also be advantageous for it to be recessed more into the body like the shutter speed dial. It’s a pain in the ass, but nowhere near as bad as the ISO dial.

Now, onto the infamous ISO dial. It’s supposed to be a throwback to the film cameras with a similar method of setting the ISO, though I’ve never personally had one like that. To change the ISO, you lift up on the collar around the shutter speed dial, and twist it. I shoot with my left eye in the viewfinder, so this is basically impossible to do with the camera up to my eye. I was hoping they would get rid of it on the X-Pro 3, but alas, it’s a no go.

Other than those gripes with the dials, the camera feels great in the hand, and it’s light and small enough that I can take it just about anywhere without a second thought.

The hybrid OVF/EVF is what most people are looking for when they purchase the X-Pro series. Both the OVF and EVF have their benefits and negatives, and I’ll cover the most blatantly obvious ones to me.

The Optical Viewfinder is nice and clear, provides frame lines for the associated lens, and shows whatever information (you pick it out in the menu) you want along the sides of the frame. That information is displayed pretty small, and not always the easiest to see in brighter conditions. You are able to see outside the frame lines, so capturing a moment should be easier since you can see things lining up. Manual focus isn’t possible with the OVF, as it’s the first thing I tried to do when I held the camera in store, though it’s super easy with the EVF and the focus assist turned on.

The Electronic Viewfinder is of decent quality. EVF’s benefit from the fact that you’re seeing exactly what the photo is going to look like when you click the shutter. Change any setting on your camera, and your EVF will show you how that changes the photo. The EVF inside the X-Pro 2 tends to have a lot of trouble with high contrast scenes, and doesn’t always show you the most true representation of what the sensor is capturing. I tend to either use the OVF or live view on the back of the camera. Newer mirrorless cameras apparently have phenomenal EVF’s, showing better contrast, detail, and with faster refresh rates.

Switching between the EVF and OVF is simple enough, just flick the switch on the front of the camera with your right trigger finger. A huge issue I have with the X-Pro 2 in general concerning the EVF/OVF, is the mode button next to it. It gets accidentally pressed, changing how the viewfinder works. Sometimes it blacks out the LCD screen. Sometimes it blocks off usage of the viewfinders. It would be a million times better to have that buried in the settings (which they did on the X-Pro 3) instead of having it’s own button. If you ever turn your camera on and the LCD doesn’t pop up, try cycling through the modes and it’ll probably come up.

Image Quality

It’s good. It’s super good. The Fuji files in combination with Capture One blow me away every time. Bringing up the shadows reveals good detail, with little noise at most ISO’s. Images are easily useable up to 6,400, something that can’t be said for the Canon. The Canon’s limit is right around 1,600, and anything higher than that starts to degrade quickly.

Unprocessed files have a lot of potential if needed, but I’ve found the colors and contrast just need a tiny boost to be at a level I like. Reds seem to pop the most, but the sensor gives a really good baseline for editing. This next photo, I barely had to change anything, partially do to the fact that the light was damn near perfect.

I like contrasty images, so I left the road darker. I could have pulled up the shadows a bit and therefore showed more details in the road, but I didn’t feel it added to the photo at all. Like I mentioned above, I typically just boost the contrast and saturation a bit, and leave everything else as is.

The more I shoot with this camera, the more comfortable I get shooting with the optical viewfinder. I typically shoot in Aperture Priority (set the aperture, let the camera choose shutter speed) and set the exposure compensation to -1 or -1.5 to preserve the highlights. I know I can draw the shadows up easily if need be while not blowing out the highlights. This next photo is a great example, as Miah was just a dark shadow before I started processing the file.

The shadows tend to have a lot of information in them even when underexposed by 2 to 3 stops, which I can’t say for the highlights. I’ve found that I can recover a bit of information in the highlights, up to 1 stop over exposed, but beyond that, you’ll blow them.

Early Fall. Root River Park outside of Rochester, Minnesota.

I was able to pull back the highlights in the sky to reveal more a bit more blue on the right side of the image. If I pulled them back too far, the sun stopped looking like a sun, and more like a random orb in the sky. Pulling back the highlights in the sky too much will give it a fake look (which some people like). If the sun is going to be in the photo, you should try and make it actually look like the sun.

Pahrump, Nevada. Martin the Old Man Manual Mazda. Death Valley off in the distance.

Overall, I really do love using this camera, though I still much prefer my film cameras for more serious work. It is great for everything from snapshots to more serious work, though I don’t think you’ll see anybody shooting with it in a professional studio environment. I actually bought a flash and some studio equipment to learn more about lighting, taking some interesting self portraits in the process.

Now about four years old, it’s definitely still a very capable camera. Though I have my issues with it (like anyone will with any camera) I do enjoy using it and I’m glad I picked it up to become my new main digital camera. I’ll probably trade it for a Fuji X-H1 eventually, as that camera has a much larger grip, which is something I would prefer over the measly grip of the X-Pro 2. Until then, I’ll keep shooting with it and enjoying it while I can.

NOW, onto more photos.

Monterey, California. Just north of Big Sur.

Chloe, Eye Autofocus - On. Twin Cities, Minnesota.

Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Also somewhere in the middle of California.

Miah’s Birthday, Interstate State Park, Minnesota.

Wyatt Ryan 10/1/19 Wyatt Ryan 10/1/19

Canon Sure Shot/Autoboy Review

The Canon Sure Shot is notorious in the film community, with multiple different models being made from 1979 to 1988. The one I had is the Sure Shot 2, which was produced in 1983 until 1986 when the 3 came out. Design and features changed drastically over the 9 years of production, and each model had their own little niche target groups.

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 Sure Shot/Autoboy series are the only point and shoot cameras by Canon that featured a 38mm f/2.8 lens. They used an older type of infrared beam to achieve correct autofocus, and from the many rolls I shot, it seems to work very well.

I’ll drop a couple facts about this camera before diving into the pros and cons of the camera in use:

Brand: Canon

Model: Sure Shot/Autoboy 2

Lens: 38mm f/2.8 (4 elements in 4 groups)

Features: Pre-focus, self-timer (no idea how to use the self-timer), and a FLASH!

It’s a simple camera, hence the type, point and shoot. I found mine at an estate sale for $10, and quickly nabbed it up. Besides some corroded battery terminals, the camera was in great condition for being 36 years old. The viewfinder is nice and clear, though the frame lines do blend into the scene on very bright days. It also features a focus scale on the bottom portion showing you where it is focused, either before the shot (with pre-focus) or after taking the shot. It just shows a person’s head, and a mountain, so not very helpful.

The grip is substantial enough for the weight of the camera, though I’m a fan of deeper grips on my cameras so carrying for a long time is easier to do. The grip itself is made of a good material that your hand can easily hold, and I don’t see it deteriorating any time soon. The camera does fit easily in a pants pocket, though it is very much the shape of a brick and can be a tad awkward.

Besides being an odd shape, the camera functions pretty well! The autofocus pretty damn accurate, though it is very loud. There isn’t a single thing on this camera that doesn’t produce a noise. This camera would not be good for street photography, as everyone within a 20 foot radius would be aware of it. Focusing? Winding noise. Shot taken? Loud click. Frame advance? Grinding noise. End of the roll rewind? Probably the worst noise I’ve ever heard come out of a camera; grinding and winding, it sounds like it’s breaking.

BUT, it does have a pretty great feature that does make it slightly more conspicuous if needed. As you’re taking a shot, if you hold down the shutter button, it will refrain from winding on to the next frame until you release it. This cuts down on half the noise, though pre-focusing beforehand would cut down even more.

If street photography isn’t your thing, I would highly suggest this camera. The lens is fantastically sharp, and it has the strangest and coolest flare I have ever seen. Depending on the angle of the sun, it will produce either a blue blob (below), or a curved blue wave of light (above).

If the shutter speed is going to be lower than 1/60th of a second like the photo above, a little red light will flash inside the viewfinder to serve as a warning. It will let you shoot still, but since it doesn’t tell you the shutter speed, you’ll have to guess if the shot is worth it or not.

The only manual feature of this camera is the ISO, which is found underneath the lens with the window on top. I believe the range is from 50 to 800, but someone please correct me if I’m wrong. I typically shoot ISO 400 films at 320 or 200, to allow for slightly more details in the shadows. I did shoot a roll of E100 through it recently, but have yet to get it developed, so I’ll find out eventually how accurate the meter in the camera truly is.

Overall, this is a great little camera. It’s easy to take with you anywhere, and it’s very sharp for being a point and shoot. I certainly wouldn’t have bought it for the prices it goes for now, but to each their own. I would highly recommend it for someone looking to get into film photography, because it’s not too expensive compared to other cameras, and the results are fantastic.

If it was a little quieter, I would have kept it. For now, I’ll continue playing with my Canonet QL17iii and Olympus XA2 (Affiliate link to eBay). If you’re interested in the XA2 review I have posted, you can find that here! If you’re looking to shoot something that is fully manual, I have reviewed the Leica M3 here.

EDit - 4/4/2024

I purchased an untested Canon Sure Shot/Autoboy 2 (Affiliate link to eBay) for less than $30 total after looking at the battery terminal and overall condition, and that gamble turned out perfectly. I’ve been using it for over a year now with next to no issues, so be on the look out for those!

And now, more photos!

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.

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.