First roll with a Leica CL [Archive]

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sbegueria

02-18-2008, 14:42

Yes, I'm so excited with my new Leica CL that I had to post the first results... I just bought it from an Austrian seller, it is in mint condition and in perfect shape (well the RF is a bit vertically missaligned, but not too bad). It's my second rangefinder camera after the Vivitar 35es and yes, there is a difference! CL just feels more like a real camera. Want to see some results, look here:

http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/02/17/index.html#000254

and

http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/02/16/index.html#000253

Cheers,

Santiago

Roberto

02-18-2008, 14:49

http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/02/17/index.html#000254

and

http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/02/16/index.html#000253

WOW! :D amazing pictures, I love them.. and please don't tell me it's because of the camera.. it's you...

Mike Ip

02-18-2008, 14:52

I enjoyed those pictures. Good work.

underbyte

02-18-2008, 15:06

Very nice, and in color too. I have only shot one roll of color through my CL but a lot of black and white. I have been very happy with the quality of the Summicron-C. Sharp with very nice bokeh. Enjoy the CL!

sbegueria

02-18-2008, 23:51

Hi Roberto, Mike Ip, underbyte,

Thanks for the feedback, I'm hapy with the results too! I also shot a roll of XP2, but in the lab they told me they had to send it to another place so it will take longer to develop... I'm anxious to see the results. I kind of like color for snapshot, though...

Will post more. A nice forum here.

Santiago

-kk-

02-20-2008, 04:42

nice, ive never actually run a colour roll through my CL... perhaps its time.

strange that they will send the XP2 to someplace else, given that its a C41 roll? If they can develop colour, then they should be able to develop the XP2 as well.

Hates_

02-20-2008, 05:13

Some really great photos you've got there!

sbegueria

02-21-2008, 07:17

Thank you Richard, you've got a nice set of street pictures too!

sbegueria

02-21-2008, 07:23

Hi Kelvin, I recently saw your collection from Barcelona and really enjoyed it. About the XP2 I think the girl at the counter didn't know much about it. It happens this days. Anyway, someone did a mess with that roll and it really took one week to arrive. But the scans from the other lab came out to be much better. I might post some pics with the XP2 tonight.

Cheers!

dazedgonebye

02-21-2008, 08:02

Heck of a nice start!
Welcome to the forum.

-kk-

02-25-2008, 06:56

Hi Kelvin, I recently saw your collection from Barcelona and really enjoyed it.

thanks for the kind words :)

hows did the XP2 roll turn out?

sbegueria

02-25-2008, 15:16

Hi Kelvin,

I got the XP2, and it came out very good in my opinion. I had never used it before (or any other chromogenic b/w film), and I was very pleased with the results. I shot at ISO200. I liked especially the tonal range and the richness of the medium tones. Well, you can see some of the results on this post:

http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/02/23/index.html#000260

Thanks for visiting!

mcctoronto

03-01-2008, 14:50

Your pictures are looking great! I was browsing the forums trying to decide on a new rangefinder and this thread had me sold on it. A few days later one popped up on craislist for 450 cdn with a 40 f2 summicron So I grabbed it. Cant wait to see the results. I will be happy if they are half as good as yours.

dshugar

03-01-2008, 14:57

Great stuff! I really like the contrast and saturation you've achieved. What was the colour film you were shooting? Any special tricks? I just came back from the lab dropping off my first 2 rolls from my new M4P and am anxiously awaiting the results!

-kk-

03-03-2008, 01:40

hunghang

03-03-2008, 01:55

I had a browse of the rest of your site... WOW!!! Love the Vietnam pictures!!!

mcctoronto

03-05-2008, 18:17

450 for the CL and 40 cron is a steal and a half!
good to hear! I just got the first test roll and everything looks great. Hopefully I can post a few soon once I get access to a scanner. cheers!

sbegueria

03-06-2008, 23:01

Hi mcctoronto, congrats on your new acquisition! It's a little camera but a lot of fun. Hope to see your pics soon.

Only problem (with me) is that I started to want more, so I convinced myself that I needed something wide for street snapshots and I got a CV Snapshot Skopar 25mm f:4.0 (the one made for the Bessa T, non RF coupled, with clic stops on the focusing ring). I'm still trying to get used to the wide angle of view and to the paralax error:

http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/03/03/index.html#000262
http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/03/06/index.html#000263

The CV is great, but the Summicron-c is just awesome with the bouquet. I need to shot more with it, though.

By the way, the film I was using was a cheap film from HEMA, a big Dutch drugstore. Not bad, surprisingly, but I wanted to try something 'better'. So now I switched to Fuji Superia 400, but the two rolls I shot last weekend came out underexposed -> a lot of grain and not so nice scans. Next time I will rate it at ISO320 and will try to measure the light better. So far I didn't like the Fuji very much(too contrasty, etc), but I need to shoot more, again.

Well, thank you all for reading and for looking at my pictures!

Santiago

(BTW, I have more great stuff from Vietnam that I will post soon. I have not had the time to process the more than 1200 pics yet.)

sbegueria

03-06-2008, 23:12

Hi Dan, congrats on your new toy! I had a look at your site, I'm also working on natural hazards (landslides and debris flow modelling). This is a small world, isn't it? Your research sites look cool.

Have fun!

dshugar

03-09-2008, 15:47

Hi Santiago - landslides too, eh?! Small world, indeed. Perhaps we'll run into eachother at AGU or GSA one of these days.

sbegueria

03-10-2008, 14:57

I'd love to go to an AGU meeting sometime... until then I'm most likely seen on EGS/EGU meetings, but who knows...

mcctoronto

03-18-2008, 10:12

Got my first roll back. heres a few from it. shot on ilford fp4 plus. no photoshop just resized and some slightly cropped. cheers!
http://justacouplephotos.blogspot.com/2008/03/first-roll_15.html

Todd.Hanz

03-18-2008, 10:30

excellent work, love the low budget film shots.

Todd

mcctoronto

03-20-2008, 08:52

hey sbegueria, I just had a look through your blog and am loving the photos even more. your shots with the cv25 look amazing. I was considering getting one as well but am scared its going to be another flat 3rd party lens. I have copped out before and bought the off name brand and it was a bad idea. lots of them are for sale at a store here for decent prices. anyone else have any experience with the cv's? is it worth buying or should I invest in a full contax G setup and use the trusty zeiss lenses for wide angle?

sbegueria

03-22-2008, 07:07

Hi mctoronto,

What can I say about the CV25... it has very nice qualities to me, despite a rather flimsy touch of the aperture ring. For being a 25 mm, it is almost free of geometric distortions and the IQ does not diminish in the corners (to my naked eye at least). It's an f/4, so you can forget about the nice out-of-focus rendering of the Summicron-c you already have; but that's not the purpose of this kind of lens, anyway. In my case, I wanted a wide angle for street snapshots at a good prize, and that's exactly what this lens is. At this prize, why don't you get yourself one and try it for a while? You can always sell it off if you don't like it afterwards.

Thank you for your comments, and keep on posting more pictures with the CL!

mcctoronto

03-23-2008, 08:56

palec

04-01-2008, 04:53

sadly my budget doesnt allow me to "try" any product out unless its borrowed. I have to save over a few months time and can only afford to make a purhase I know is right. The cv 25 is looking better and better though!

I don't think it's sad. The more time you'll spend with just one lens the more you'll know about it and about what interests you on photography. Enjoy your new camera.

sbegueria

05-13-2008, 14:18

since I started the thread... just to keep it up to date...
I've been shooting regularly with the CL these last two or three months, and I know now what a good purchase I did. I love this little camera. I am using the CV 25mm almost all the time, not because of the rendering but because I very much like the angle of view it gives, I find it perfect for the kind of street pictures I am working in.

Some examples of what I'm saying (I hope it's not a bad thing to link to one's own site here):

http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/05/13/index.html#000284
http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/05/12/index.html#000283
http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/05/06/index.html#000280
http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/05/02/index.html#000278
http://blog.santiagobegueria.net/archives/2008/04/24/index.html#000277

Comments and critics are welcome! You can tell me it's boring, I'll live with it.

Thanks for reading!

sbegueria

05-13-2008, 14:20

BTW, mcctoronto (http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/member.php?u=23069), what did you do in the end? I'm just so used to the bright external VF of the CV25 that I don't like anymore looking through the vf of my slrs...

I cannot agree more with Palec. Get one camera and one lens, and go take pictures until you can compose without even looking through the VF.

mcctoronto

05-14-2008, 17:37

I just got a 21cv skopar last week. Only got to shoot a few test shots in the store before purchasing it but it seems great. Cant wait to actually shoot a full roll on it. the viewfinder is great as well. VERY BRIGHT! heres the only thing I have got to shoot on it so far http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=85882

tooffy

07-12-2008, 05:27

Enjoyed your series of photos. Really nice indeed! Thanks!
CL+Cron40 is nice combination.
Looks like I'll be looking for a CL soon:)