Remembering How Good Film Can Be = Cled Lewis
02nd August 2024
In: News, Members' Articles
This week, Cled tells us a story about how the Leica M series met the objective laid down by the original designer of the Leica - Oscar Barnack.
'When loaded with a high quality film the camera would deliver high quality images'.
Cled's story also says that the range of Leica M lenses certainly in the last 25 years can also stand up well when combined with high quality, high resolution digital sensors.
Days of Film by Cled Lewis
Do you remember the debates about different makes of camera and 35 mm versus larger formats?
While clearing out old photographs recently I found four virtually identical photographs of the Docks building in Cardiff Bay. They were 16 x 20 Black and White prints which had formed part of a presentation entitled Focal Length and Perspective.
The talk continued useful information but also some “tongue in cheek” items and these four prints were in that category.
The images were taken on four cameras, Leica M3 and M6 sharing a 50mm Summicron; a Bronica 645 with a 75mm lens and a 5x4 camera with a 150 mm Schneider lens. In effect the standard lens for the format.
To be honest the idea was to demonstrate the quality of the Leica.
The film stock selected was Delta 400 for the M6 and Delta 100 for the Bronica and 5x4. The Leica M3 was loaded with Technical Pan. For those of us who are not familiar with film photography this was a very fine grain film rated at 25 ASA.
The M6 Delta 400 was “the sleeper” in that it would be relatively grainy and thence be identified as the 35mm.
The choice of the subject matter was also carefully chosen to eliminate clues to depth of field. The Leica Summicron pictures were taken at f5.6 which is the sweet spot; those of the Bronica and 5x4 at f11 and f22 respectively.
When asked to identify which camera took which picture, other photographers ALWAYS identified the Leica M3 / Tech Pan picture as the 5x4, The M6 Delta 400 as the 35mm with the Bronica and 5x4 in the middle.
The other tongue in cheek image is that of Cardiff Castle a 16 x 20 Black and White print with the 35mm negative of the image taped to the top right hand corner. The print was handed around to the audience and was accepted as a reasonable print.
When it was returned, the 35mm negative was lifted to show a piece of a contact print 15mm x 10mm.
In effect the print was actually a 40x enlargement which effectively demonstrated the quality of Leica in combination with Tech Pan.
Personally, I thought the combination of Leica and Tech Pan was a match made in heaven for certain subjects.
The two images referred to are attached and are of the original prints taken with an iPhone. Obviously these digital copies cannot show the quality of the prints.
'When loaded with a high quality film the camera would deliver high quality images'.
Cled's story also says that the range of Leica M lenses certainly in the last 25 years can also stand up well when combined with high quality, high resolution digital sensors.
Days of Film by Cled Lewis
Do you remember the debates about different makes of camera and 35 mm versus larger formats?
While clearing out old photographs recently I found four virtually identical photographs of the Docks building in Cardiff Bay. They were 16 x 20 Black and White prints which had formed part of a presentation entitled Focal Length and Perspective.
The talk continued useful information but also some “tongue in cheek” items and these four prints were in that category.
The images were taken on four cameras, Leica M3 and M6 sharing a 50mm Summicron; a Bronica 645 with a 75mm lens and a 5x4 camera with a 150 mm Schneider lens. In effect the standard lens for the format.
To be honest the idea was to demonstrate the quality of the Leica.
The film stock selected was Delta 400 for the M6 and Delta 100 for the Bronica and 5x4. The Leica M3 was loaded with Technical Pan. For those of us who are not familiar with film photography this was a very fine grain film rated at 25 ASA.
The M6 Delta 400 was “the sleeper” in that it would be relatively grainy and thence be identified as the 35mm.
The choice of the subject matter was also carefully chosen to eliminate clues to depth of field. The Leica Summicron pictures were taken at f5.6 which is the sweet spot; those of the Bronica and 5x4 at f11 and f22 respectively.
When asked to identify which camera took which picture, other photographers ALWAYS identified the Leica M3 / Tech Pan picture as the 5x4, The M6 Delta 400 as the 35mm with the Bronica and 5x4 in the middle.
The other tongue in cheek image is that of Cardiff Castle a 16 x 20 Black and White print with the 35mm negative of the image taped to the top right hand corner. The print was handed around to the audience and was accepted as a reasonable print.
When it was returned, the 35mm negative was lifted to show a piece of a contact print 15mm x 10mm.
In effect the print was actually a 40x enlargement which effectively demonstrated the quality of Leica in combination with Tech Pan.
Personally, I thought the combination of Leica and Tech Pan was a match made in heaven for certain subjects.
The two images referred to are attached and are of the original prints taken with an iPhone. Obviously these digital copies cannot show the quality of the prints.
Comments
By Ken Davis: A good reminder of the quality we could obtain with film and how we can still exploit the lenses that delivered this performance.
You are quite right about the quality of slow speed B&W fine grain emulsions. My personal favourite was Adox KB14 developed in Neofin Blue. This was rated at about 20 ASA and I had some exceptional prints from what was supposed to be a very basic, three element standard lens - a Meritar on a Praktica IV (I couldn't afford Leicas in those days) By David Askham: Cled, when I started my photographic journey, it was in the days of glass plates in a Zeiss Ica 9x12cm folding hand or stand camera. It belonged to my father and the novelty soon faded. For years it was roll-film until I bought my first 35mm camera in the 1960s. I flirted with 5x4 cut-film which taught me a lot about spending time choosing a viewpoint and suitable lighting before making an expensive exposure. Those were valuable lessons. I enjoyed seeing your early examples.