Pete Askew
Admin
No not a misspelling but a family of (mostly, M and M-fit bodies and lenses). Inspired by Hamish's photo of his Bessa family I decided it was about time to re-unite (or, in some cases introduce) my various M-fit range finders by taking them all to the same country!! At first I intended to do a 'group' shot as it were but that turned out to look like a dogs breakfast so, individual it was.
First up is the elder of the bunch, an early '80's M6 here seen modelling a tasteful Carl Zeiss Biogon 21 / f1:2.8 plus the Leica Universal Wide-Angle Viewfinder M that can accommodate lenses 16-28 mm (and one size up for each step when mounted on an M8) with manual parallax correction. The M6 has the classic mechanically operated, cloth shutter.
Next up is another M6 but this time one of the last produced in the late '80's. Again a cloth shutter but with the later more accurate range finder and TTL metering for flash as fitted to the M7. Here seen fitted with a Summarit M ASPH 28/1:2.8 and without a gaudy finder.
Following on is a Leica MP, again equipped with a cloth shutter and probably the most accurate range finder ever made by Leica. It's fitted with a Summilux M 35/1:1.4 and to the right can be seen an eyepiece magnifier (1.25) which is very useful when shooting with focal lengths of 75mm and longer.
On to the digital range for this season with have a M8 sporting a Zeiss Planar 50/f1:2...
...and accompanied by an M9 fitted with the legendary Noctilux M 50/ 1:1. Just look at the size of that aperture!!
Something a little lighter comes in the form of a Zeiss Ikon. This film camera is made under license by Cosina in Japan and can be seen to have a much wider range-finder base than their own Bessa series cameras. It is fitted here with a Zeiss Distagon 18/1:4 and matching view-finder.
Essential accessories this season include:
The interesting Elmarit-M 135/1:2.8 with range-finder magnifier.
A pair of lovely short telephotos (very this season!): Summilux-M 75/1:1.4 on the left and Summicron-M 90/1.2 of the right (complete with special modification to the lens hood courtesy of being dropped down some steps while fitted to a MP - both survived and no high heels were involved - honest!).
Next a brace of 'normal' focal length Nokton lenses by Voightländer: 35/1:1.2 on the left and 40/1:1.4 (single coated variant) on the right.
And finally, to accommodate those of us with the fuller figure, are a pair of wide angle lenses (again by Voightländer) with the Ultra-Wide Heliar 12/1:5.6 (range-finder coupled version with, the essential, viewfinder) on the left and the Ultron 28/1:1.9 on the right showing that even last years models can be brought up-to-date with an M-converter! (this is the only screw thread lens I use with any regularity on M bodies).
Not shown in this years catalogue are the Color Skopar 35/1:2.5 pancake lens currently on tour on a Bessa R and a Color Heliar 75/1:2.5 currently doing duty on a micro-4/3rds video camera via a lens mount adapter (both of course, like the 28mm Ultron, are Leica screw thread) along with a Voightländer 25/1:0.95 which, as Hamish correctly points out, is native micro-4/3rds.
And that, ladies and gentlemen - and Hamish! - brings today's show to a close!
First up is the elder of the bunch, an early '80's M6 here seen modelling a tasteful Carl Zeiss Biogon 21 / f1:2.8 plus the Leica Universal Wide-Angle Viewfinder M that can accommodate lenses 16-28 mm (and one size up for each step when mounted on an M8) with manual parallax correction. The M6 has the classic mechanically operated, cloth shutter.
Next up is another M6 but this time one of the last produced in the late '80's. Again a cloth shutter but with the later more accurate range finder and TTL metering for flash as fitted to the M7. Here seen fitted with a Summarit M ASPH 28/1:2.8 and without a gaudy finder.
Following on is a Leica MP, again equipped with a cloth shutter and probably the most accurate range finder ever made by Leica. It's fitted with a Summilux M 35/1:1.4 and to the right can be seen an eyepiece magnifier (1.25) which is very useful when shooting with focal lengths of 75mm and longer.
On to the digital range for this season with have a M8 sporting a Zeiss Planar 50/f1:2...
...and accompanied by an M9 fitted with the legendary Noctilux M 50/ 1:1. Just look at the size of that aperture!!
Something a little lighter comes in the form of a Zeiss Ikon. This film camera is made under license by Cosina in Japan and can be seen to have a much wider range-finder base than their own Bessa series cameras. It is fitted here with a Zeiss Distagon 18/1:4 and matching view-finder.
Essential accessories this season include:
The interesting Elmarit-M 135/1:2.8 with range-finder magnifier.
A pair of lovely short telephotos (very this season!): Summilux-M 75/1:1.4 on the left and Summicron-M 90/1.2 of the right (complete with special modification to the lens hood courtesy of being dropped down some steps while fitted to a MP - both survived and no high heels were involved - honest!).
Next a brace of 'normal' focal length Nokton lenses by Voightländer: 35/1:1.2 on the left and 40/1:1.4 (single coated variant) on the right.
And finally, to accommodate those of us with the fuller figure, are a pair of wide angle lenses (again by Voightländer) with the Ultra-Wide Heliar 12/1:5.6 (range-finder coupled version with, the essential, viewfinder) on the left and the Ultron 28/1:1.9 on the right showing that even last years models can be brought up-to-date with an M-converter! (this is the only screw thread lens I use with any regularity on M bodies).
Not shown in this years catalogue are the Color Skopar 35/1:2.5 pancake lens currently on tour on a Bessa R and a Color Heliar 75/1:2.5 currently doing duty on a micro-4/3rds video camera via a lens mount adapter (both of course, like the 28mm Ultron, are Leica screw thread) along with a Voightländer 25/1:0.95 which, as Hamish correctly points out, is native micro-4/3rds.
And that, ladies and gentlemen - and Hamish! - brings today's show to a close!
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, this camera is 30 years old but is very low mileage, anyone know of a good repair man ?
