Oh, I had been warned about all the things that could go awry in my first few weeks of owning a LeicaM. But I was vigilant, I didn't take any pictures with the lense cap on, nor did I load the film improperly or not at all. Yes, I was pretty darn proud of myself. But when I got my pictures back, I kept saying to myself that the compositions weren't as tight as I thought they should be. Then it dawned on me last night, I had been using the 75mm frame lines rather than the 50mm lines for my 50mm Summicron. Now I feel really silly.

-- Hyatt Lee (shahmat@ms63.hinet.net), May 24, 2002

Answers

Yes, I understand. For the 75mm frame lines you should have been using a 75mm Summicron. Just be patient.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), May 24, 2002.

Join the club, Hyatt. I recently put a V/C Nokton 50 mm on my CLE and framed using the usual 40 mm framelines in the viewfinder. Talk about tight compositions. And I'm not a beginner with RF's.

-- Olivier (olreiche@videotron.ca), May 24, 2002.

When you do use the 50 frames you will still be very loose on the framing! the actual area of the frame at infinity is quite a bit bigger than what is framed. I have a set crop I use in Photoshop to give me what I actualy saw/framed. I reckon the 50 frame is more like a 40mm?

-- Johann Fuller (johannfuller@hotmail.com), May 24, 2002.

the opposite error is far worse, n'est ce pas?? p.s. why the need to publicly confess. i generally incinerate by moonlite fire all the many many rolls of film i shoot with lenscap fixed (or in some cases with no lens at all).

-- roger mchel (michel@tcn.org), May 24, 2002.

From my Leitz M6 Manual: ". . . These frames correspond to an image field of 23x35 mm (slide mount format) at the closest focusing distance for each lens. At longer distances the image will contain a somewhat larger subject field than that shown within the bright-line frames." In fact, my own experience is that frame line accuracy (of my camera) is pretty damn accurate. I suppose that the frameline accuracy, much like the rangefinder itself can go out of alignment. Within the past six months, I had a CLA & rangefinder overhaul at Leica USA. I like having the 75mm frameline within the 50mm frameline. For me, it becomes a framing tool, and I also use it for tight portrait shots, cropping in the print process. For me, the 75mm frameline is a framing accesory, much like a grid. in fact, the corners of the 75mm frameline almost seem to correspond to the rule of thirds for the 50mm frameline. Ralph Gibson likens the Leica M to a Stradivarius. To become an expert with the Leica M requires practice. But when properly tuned and played, the music you and it can make is like no other.

-- Glenn Travis (leciaddict@hotmail.com), May 24, 2002.

How about exposing half a roll of RDP with a #6 filter still attached after just having switched from TriX? I'll learn one of these days.

-- Brooks (Bvonarx@comcast.net), May 24, 2002.

I had practiced with my new an first ever m6ttl for six months before taking it out as a fourth camera to a wedding three weeks ago. I intended to use it for no flash candids. After shooting the first roll I reloaded, and continued shooting. The shoot was hectic as usual. I noticed that the rewind crank did not move after the first two or three advances. I went over possible causes in my head. "Slack inside the film canister" was my verdict. It happened before and if I opened the back it fogged the beginning of the film, and it was properly loaded. I was not going to repeat this stupid mistake this time. And I was in a hurry. I started shooting, and after a dozen or so frames remembered to check the rewind crank again; it was turning properly. After processing the film I only got about 18 images on this roll. The crank was not turning because I misloaded the camera. Evidently repeated advances tightened the film end on the take up spool and after a while it started pulling the film through. If I had remembered to keep an eye on the crank each time I wound the camera until it turned I would have caught the problem after the first several frames. Luckily I shot a lot that day and had enough images of all kinds. But talk about feeling stupid especially after tens of properly loaded films. Leica will find a way to teach me humility.

-- Igor Osatuke (visionstudios@yahoo.com), May 24, 2002.

time to buy another M body? M2 maybe?

-- Fred Ouyang (yo54@columbia.edu), May 24, 2002.

"time to buy another M body? M2 maybe? "

...or an M4-P. The -P has tiny little tick marks for the 75 frames - much less easy to confuse with the solid 50 lines.

They might be TOO vestigial for a heavy 75 user - but some folks claim at infinity the 50mm lines are actually MORE accurate for the 75 than the 75 lines themselves (!!?) With the tick marks serving as the 'close-focus' correction marks, as in Leica's accesory 90mm/135mm finders.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), May 24, 2002.