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Arrival

Godfrey

Well-known member
My black Leica M9 arrived yesterday evening. An ex-Leica USA demo, tested and certified with a one year Leica warranty, sold at a healthy discount from new.

It is almost better than new ... Only 388 shutter actuations had been made on this body when I powered it up. I've now added 50 to that just testing it. ;-)

I bought it from Tamarkin Camera ... an excellent dealer whom I have done business with before. Excellent personal service and support, he went above and beyond to be sure the camera was in my hands for this weekend. Highly recommended: Dan Tamarkin is a straight up guy who is a pleasure to deal with.

Giottos LCD protector installed, strap on, batteries charged, memory card in place, Color-Skopar 50mm lens fitted, Thumbie installed (thanks again, Steve!), date and time configured ...

... I think it's time to go for a walk. :)
 

Mike Woods

New member
Many congrats Godfrey. M9 is out of my league at the moment, so I'll live vicariously through your images :)

Mike
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Thanks!

Just returned from my first "familiarization" walk with it. Funny ... I'm not used to having aperture priority AE with a Leica M body and probably blew a number of exposures that way! ;-) But it's a lovely thing to work with—I know much more about it now. In particular, it is so natural to use manual metering with ... just like the M4-2, really, although a little thicker and bigger overall.

For instance, I now know that I will prefer to have a half-case on the M9. Steve's Thumbie is great, like it a lot, but I want the thicker feel and grippier surface of the half-case leather for this size/weight camera, never mind the additional protection for the body. I guess I'll have to send Luigi a photo of the camera with the Thumbie on it so that he can customize the half-case to suit it.

(BTW: The GXR is quite safe: they are two entirely different cameras in almost every possible way. Both have a unique feel and work in their own way.)
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
First posted M9 photo ...


Leica M9 + CV Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.5

The feel and rendering differences, compared to the GXR, caused by the larger format are immediately apparent as I scan through these first test images. :) Very exciting!

Thanks for looking!
 

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
Very nice, Godfrey (the shot above); I will be interested in your experiences re. critical focussing too, but the image above evokes a sense of Paris, and being carefree, for me.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Geez, Godfrey!

Isn't it customary to post a self portrait/mirror reflection? :D

Look forward to seeing lots of photos!
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Um, ok. But I don't have any cats ...

Me in the mirror with the camera




Don't have any cats, only Little Polar Bears


Both with the CV Color-Skopar 21mm f/4 lens.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Ahhh! that's a picture of a man who's just blown all his readies on an M9!
Congratulations Godfrey - I hope you're very happy together (and I'm sure you will be)
 

trisberg

New member
Good taste in cameras - I have an M4-2/M9 combo myself. How do you like the CV 21mm on the M9 - any red edges?

-Thomas
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
... How do you like the CV 21mm on the M9 - any red edges?
The two pictures above are the only two exposures with this lens I've taken so far, so I can't say for sure what kind of imaging issues there might be. From what I see in these, however, it seems to work very nicely.
 
M

Markus

Guest
Congrats on the M9, Godfrey!
Will you keep the Ricoh GXR as well? (Sorry, didn't notice your comment on the Ricoh..).
 

richardman

Well-known member
Congrats, Godfrey! I bought my "used" as well, 3 months after 9/9/09 for a good discount. I though I would have to wait 9 years :)

Enjoy! If I don't love my XPan so much, I'd use the M9 even :shocked: more :shocked:. OTOH, my Occupy photos are mostly from the M9. It really is wonderful.
 

250swb

Member
Well done Godfrey!!

I'm sure we are going to see some great work.

The Thumbie will fit with a half case made 'for that other thumb device' if you just mount it level with the top plate. Mine fits with a Zhou half case for instance. I just feel that a half case is one step closer to the overall bulk becoming like a DSLR all over again, but I have small hands.

Steve
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I have 17 images taken with the M9 from Sunday's clambering about the USS Hornet in Alameda posted on a temporary basis to a MobileMe gallery:

MobileMe Gallery

I took them with using Color Skopar 50mm, Ultron 28 and Hektor 135 lenses. Just beginning to learn how to process these files ... These were done with Lightroom 4 Public Beta.

The lighting was a quite nasty mix of fluorescent and arc types, so I don't want to make any judgements about color shifting, etc, from this set. I almost just rendered them all to B&W as they were all over the map!

enjoy!
 

Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
I have 17 images taken with the M9 from Sunday's clambering about the USS Hornet in Alameda posted on a temporary basis to a MobileMe gallery:

MobileMe Gallery

I took them with using Color Skopar 50mm, Ultron 28 and Hektor 135 lenses. Just beginning to learn how to process these files ... These were done with Lightroom 4 Public Beta.

The lighting was a quite nasty mix of fluorescent and arc types, so I don't want to make any judgements about color shifting, etc, from this set. I almost just rendered them all to B&W as they were all over the map!

enjoy!
Nice first set Godfrey! Quiet a different subject as usual. :)
Enjoy your new Camera!

Keep us informed about your findings in the Ricoh thread.

Michiel
 
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