Repost for World Goth Day

On World Goth Day it's definitely goth shit

I actually just epoxied two M rear caps together to make a version of the one Leica used to make but with more room for protruding rear elements and I keep the Brightin Star and my 135mm in the same bag space.

The thing that really shows my commitment to rangefinders isn't that I own an M4 and 35mm 'cron—plenty of people ill-suited for rangefinders buy things like that for clout—but rather that I paid three times more for the Nikkor-P.C 105mm f/2.5 common in F mount so I don't have to use it on an SLR...

OK, if we're talking about what goes in to making art and what art is, I must once again implore everyone who hasn't to read "Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" by David Bayles and Ted Orland needs to do so. It's almost a religious revelation the first time.

Who's got two thumbs, a fried brain, and yet remembered to get an extra battery for the Pentax 17 before traveling? That's right, it me.

The Brightin Star 28mm f/2.8 has the juice. Get you one.

Being an artist is so weird and scary because you have all these huge feelings to make art with but then you are supposed to be very cool and detached with how people might hate it but also constantly be a song and dance man shouting about how great it is and also you have to stay alive??

I talk pretty big game on here a lot but that’s because art is a confidence game and I’m my own mark. But truth is sometimes I feel like I may go into shock if I think about the accomplishments and skill of some of the people here who for reasons I can’t fathom also interact with me.

See I keep telling you the lenses on those early Pens were serious business

Rex has learned that there are more types of cheese that we’ve been keeping from him and he is judging us

Habanero Beer Nuts properly understand that addictive things should both be compulsive and painful. A+. Will keep suffering.

these didn’t exactly turn out how i envisioned them but. camera.

Proud of myself for choosing healing and getting my life together, But day by day becoming increasingly angry that the best version of myself is emerging into the worst version of our world

Jennifer Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, 45mm f/1.8

Someone has the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever (show up in boots and ruin his black-tie affair)

Sorry film friends but I'm only taking two film cameras next week for vacation. However, I may still be able to finish this last roll of Kentmere 200 in the IIIf first.

The service tech I want to handle my M4 service has finally announced his next open window so I'll be trying to get in during that when I can. We may still be on track for Barnack Summer.

Life in the bike lane Leica II (Model D), I think the 135mm f/4.5 Hektor?, Kentmere 200

This is relevant to my Wollensak 127mm talk earlier because that sounds like a really weird focal length if you're European and if you know Wollensak is American you go "oh, that's just 5 inches"

I am getting good at identifying when I'm in burnout or depression because my brain starts telling me I've never done anything good and wondering what's the point in posting anything new and I know it's lying because I have clients who seek me out specifically and people who collect my paintings

The aperture diaphragms in old RF lenses were things of beauty. 15 blades and a constant circular aperture. (This one's from a 135mm f/4.5 Hektor)

I still find it odd that the entire market now nods kinda sagely and goes "ah yes, 28mm, perfect for street photography" when the patron saint of the genre used a 50mm exclusively

Reductively: people who take photos (sometimes on streets) vs those who think taking photos on streets is a specific discipline. My preference in all ways is for the former, and I find those in the latter to be more widely variable in how much I appreciate their work.

I'm working on a theory that there are two distinct types of photography that get called "street": those who just take pictures of daily life, which has historically often happened in public spaces like streets those who consider it a specific thing fulfilled by merely shooting people on streets

I don't disagree with the Lens-DB editor that the Wollensak 127mm f/4.5 from Leitz NY is almost certainly literally the same cells as their large format ones, but, I can very much confirm the removable head is the same threading as the Hektor and so would've specifically been for the Viso system.

$1230 for a Pentax 67 kit with 105 and TTL prism means it goes on the list of things that are more expensive than a Leica IIIf and Summitar

Two more days! (Until I get to take some time off and reset)

If I ask if you have any pickles and you say yes and I ask if I can have one and you say yes and you hand me one and I bite into it and if that pickle is a sweet pickle then regardless of your generosity we no longer have the same relationship we did before I am sorry but we just can't be friends

Your friend and mine, the one, the only, the dog of Leica— the 135mm f/4.5 Hektor Model D, Kentmere 200

Like a motorbike; you lean into the turn. Widelux F8 Kentmere Pan 200

Leica II (Model D), 35mm f/3.5 Summaron, Kentmere 200

I came late in life to cats (dad hated them, the first two I interacted with had no enforced boundaries and deep trauma, respectively) so I am allowed to enjoy them now in the ways I am able to. Either way, I understand cats better than JD Vance does Catholicism.

This is a cat checkpoint. Relinquish your most recent cat picture!

Also it makes Cybertrucks look even more fucked up Leica II (Model D), Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 LTM, Kentmere 200

I do have to say I don't think Kentmere 200 is the best pairing with my LTM lenses and after the roll in the IIIf is done I will probably avoid that for the future. The K200 glow is nice on modern coated lenses but is too much on the already glowy vintage Leicas.

Is this an exciting photo? Eh. But let me brag here: This is ~ 1/4 second on a camera where timed speeds stop at 1/20 so I had to use bulb. Hand-held (though, with a 12mm lens that's easier) Leica II (Model D), Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 LTM, Kentmere 200

Poor @nuclearbob.net puts up with me. I love him. Leica II (Model D), 35mm f/3.5 Summaron, Kentmere 200

I have not had a chance yet to take any particularly interesting photos with the Nikkor-P.C 105mm f/2.5, but, I do think this is a particularly good stress test for seeing how it handles isolation and bokeh and am encouraged by the results.

Leica II (Model D), Nikkor-P.C 85mm f/2, Kentmere 200

I watched this dude get out of a Jeep Gladiator smoking a cigar, set it on the wet tire, and go into Meijer. I cannot explain how but this seems like the most Jeep guy behavior possible.

Leica I (serial 1546, 1926, Model A-to-E conversion), 50mm f/3.5 Elmar (serial 127837, 1931, 11 o'clock nickel), Leica Monopan 50 respooled into FILCA cassette (for frame alignment between the sprockets)

I finally took a moment to read No. 44 mentioned in this one, and I do actually applaud them for being willing to say that the loss of a millimeter on the rear element wasn't a big deal because they already had that much variance because of inconsistent glass batches.

Many of you here are the sorta nerds who already know this, but for those who don't know or hadn't considered it, the original Leica wasn't a rangefinder. It has no built-in focusing aid. All of the photos I'm posting were zone-focused or done with the aid of the period-correct long base rangefinder

Leica I (serial 1546, 1926, Model A-to-E conversion), 50mm f/3.5 Elmar (serial 127837, 1931, 11 o'clock nickel), Leica Monopan 50 respooled into FILCA cassette (for frame alignment between the sprockets)

Leica I (serial 1546, 1926, Model A-to-E conversion), 50mm f/3.5 Elmar (serial 127837, 1931, 11 o'clock nickel), Leica Monopan 50 respooled into FILCA cassette (for frame alignment between the sprockets)

The plane has additional cracks/seams in the "after" shot and the entire city in the background is different and people think this is... acceptable? More or less a better way?

Related to this is sometimes you see 36x24mm 3:2 mentioned as "too wide" an aspect and that 4:3 and 5:4 are more desirable. That's all a matter of preference in the end, but worth noting the Leica format was specifically chosen based on the popularity of 6x9 cameras and contact prints at the time.

#foundatUPP Serial No. 1546. Shipped from Wetzlar, Germany on May 20, 1926. Destination unknown. One hundred years later, it’s still shooting. 📷 | @behindthebluemotel.com