Saturday 16 July 2011 Part 1

Or, London Leica Meet

Above, Outside the Street Photography exhibition, Leica M9 with Leitz 28mm Summicron f2

Above, The Barbican, Leica M9 with Leitz 28mm Summicron f2

On Saturday 16 July 2011 some of the members of the Leica Users Forum met up, starting with a tour of the Museum of London in the Barbican and the Street Photography Exhibition there

Above, In the museum cafe, eica M9 with Leitz 28mm Summicron f2

As usual, it was good to meet up with other Leica users, and for me a great day to experimene more with my Leica M9

Above, Leica User portrait, Leica M9 with Leitz 90mm Tele-Elmar f2.8

After the exhibition we adjourned for a pub lunch in Camden.

Above and below, Leica User portraits with Leica M9 and Vo's Leitz 35mm Summicron f2 (pre-asph version IV)

I love the portrait above, by the way.

Above, Fish shop with girl in doorway, Leica M9 with Leitz 35mm Summicron f2

Above, Bar maid, Leica M9 with Leitz 35mm Summicron f2
Above and below, More Leica portraits with Leitz 50mm Summilux f1.4 (first version).

The one above, if George, is my favourite of the portraits in the pub.

I should mention it was very dark in the pub. I had to shoot 800 iso with the M9 - and considering I disliked iso 640 on the M8.2, I am pleased to say 800 iso was pretty much OK (and better than 640 iso on the M8.2).

In all these remaining photos I used my old Leitz 50mm Summilux f1.4. It's the very first version, and said to be not as good, in particular more soft wide open, than the later version and much less soft than the modern aspherical version. However, I was very pleased with the rendering of the lens and most of these portraits were taken at f1.4 or f1.4 and half a stop.

Above, Bar maid 2

Above, Self portrait with M3. In these next few photos I am using my 1954 Leica M3, again with the old Summilux lens and Kodak Tri-X 400 self developed in Rollei RHS (normal).

They are way too grainy and contrasty, in part I think because of the low light and the fact it was Tri-X (I prefer Fuji Neopan 400 for finer grain), but then we don't want all of our photos to look too clinical.
No doubt, in low light, the M9 did better than a Leica M and 400 iso film, and did pretty good I thought.

After lunch we walked down to St Pancras station and some of us did a little street photography. I was very pleased with the results from there, and am just falling further in love with the M9. I shall put up the photos from St Pancras in part 2, tomorrow.

You can see all of my pics from the 16 July (updated more tomorrow) on flickr: here.

Thanks to everyone from the LUF who came along, and those who organised. It's always such a pleasure to meet up, even if, when talking about our equipment, we usually realise we share a collective madness. It's one I'm happy to have though.

For more photo and discussion from other LUF members who attended, please visit this thread on the LUF: http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/forum-member-meetings/182965-london-meet-6.html