Leica M3 Kodak Tri-X
I did this film in Lyon, France, during my visit of the Lumière museum on May 2, 2024 and along the Saône banks on May 3, 2024.
The Leica M3 camera was loaded with a 36-exposure Kodak Tri-X film. The Summicron lens was equipped with a Hoya HMC AUV screw-on 39mm protective filter plus the Leitz shade hood for the first series on May 2 and a push-on 42mm FOCA Dyma filter (coefficient. x3.5 see bellow) for the second part of the film on May 3. Expositions were determined for 400 ISO (or 125 ISO with the Dyma filter) using an Autometer III Minolta light meter fitted with a 10° finder for selective measurements privileging the shadow areas.
On May 2, the weather was very cloudy and a bit dark ever in the afternoon. Indoor, I used the 1/50s or the 1/25s at full aperture f/2.0, 2.8 or 3.5.
On May 3, outdoor, the weather improved and I used the 1/250s at f/5.6 to f/11 with the Dyma filter. The filter is called "Dyma" due to the presence of neodymium in the glass giving an unusual absorption by bands in the visible spectrum. In particular the blue and yellow colors are more absorbed than the rest of the visible spectrum. The filter existed in two different versions with the coefficient x2.5 or 3.5. Here the 42mm push-on Foca Dyma filter used is a x 3.5. This filter was an exclusive product of Optique et Précision de Levallois S.A. (O.P.L.), France, that produced also the FOCA camera's.
Quais de Saône, May 3, 2024
Quai de la Pêcherie
69001 Lyon
France
After exposure, the film was revealed using Adox Adonal (Agfa Rodinal) developper at dilution 1+50 and 20°C for 14 min. The film was then digitized using a Sony A7 body fitted to a Minolta Slide Duplicator installed on a Minolta Auto Bellows III with a lens Minolta Bellow Macro Rokkor 50mm f/3.5. The RAW files obtained were processed without intermediate files in LR and edited to the final jpeg pictures. All views of the film are presented in the dedicated album either in the printed framed versions and unframed full-size jpeg accompanied by some documentary smartphone Vivio Y76 color pictures.
About the camera and the lens :
This Leica M3 circa 1956 (Ref. Leitz ISUMO), double stroke, was sold to me with a Leitz Wetzlar Summicron collapsible normal lens 1:2 f=5cm of the same period equipped with a 39mm screw-on protective filter, a 42mm push-on Leica lens cap and an original Leitz shade hood (Ref. Leitz IROOA).
The camera was serviced in Paris, France, in 2018 by Gérard Métrot at Photo-Suffren, (a Leica boutique) who worked on the maintenance of camera's of famous French photographers as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. The camera was inspected by Odéon-Photo, Paris, another historic Leica place in Paris, in April 2024.
I sourced at the same time in Germany a stunning Leitz Leica leather bag (Ref; Leitz IDCOO) of the same model that appeared on the back cover page go the Leica brochure year 1954. This bag can accommodate the camera and a mounted Leica-Meter type M. The interior in covered with a carmin velvet in perfect condition.
The Leica M3 is one of the most iconic range-finder 35mm camera of the 50's and the 60's. It was produced in Wetzlar, Germany, in different versions at 226178 exemplars, between 1954 (n° 700000) and 1966 (n° 1164865, www.summilux.net/materiel/Leica-M3) . The Leica M3 was the result of the study of a "super-Leica" that was started before WWII and only achieved in the 50'S.
The greater improvement of the M3 compared the classical Leica's was in a magnificent and very complex range-finder combined to the view finder permitting the framing with the two eyes open, integrating the frame in the real and normal vision. The shutter integrates too the normal and the slow speeds in the same barillet. The film advance of this version of Leica M3 is also the typical "double-stroke" advance that was exclusive to the Leica M3 first versions.
The camera was transported to me from Paris to Lyon, France on April 26, 2024 and the bag arrived the day after.
Leica M3 Kodak Tri-X
I did this film in Lyon, France, during my visit of the Lumière museum on May 2, 2024 and along the Saône banks on May 3, 2024.
The Leica M3 camera was loaded with a 36-exposure Kodak Tri-X film. The Summicron lens was equipped with a Hoya HMC AUV screw-on 39mm protective filter plus the Leitz shade hood for the first series on May 2 and a push-on 42mm FOCA Dyma filter (coefficient. x3.5 see bellow) for the second part of the film on May 3. Expositions were determined for 400 ISO (or 125 ISO with the Dyma filter) using an Autometer III Minolta light meter fitted with a 10° finder for selective measurements privileging the shadow areas.
On May 2, the weather was very cloudy and a bit dark ever in the afternoon. Indoor, I used the 1/50s or the 1/25s at full aperture f/2.0, 2.8 or 3.5.
On May 3, outdoor, the weather improved and I used the 1/250s at f/5.6 to f/11 with the Dyma filter. The filter is called "Dyma" due to the presence of neodymium in the glass giving an unusual absorption by bands in the visible spectrum. In particular the blue and yellow colors are more absorbed than the rest of the visible spectrum. The filter existed in two different versions with the coefficient x2.5 or 3.5. Here the 42mm push-on Foca Dyma filter used is a x 3.5. This filter was an exclusive product of Optique et Précision de Levallois S.A. (O.P.L.), France, that produced also the FOCA camera's.
Quais de Saône, May 3, 2024
Quai de la Pêcherie
69001 Lyon
France
After exposure, the film was revealed using Adox Adonal (Agfa Rodinal) developper at dilution 1+50 and 20°C for 14 min. The film was then digitized using a Sony A7 body fitted to a Minolta Slide Duplicator installed on a Minolta Auto Bellows III with a lens Minolta Bellow Macro Rokkor 50mm f/3.5. The RAW files obtained were processed without intermediate files in LR and edited to the final jpeg pictures. All views of the film are presented in the dedicated album either in the printed framed versions and unframed full-size jpeg accompanied by some documentary smartphone Vivio Y76 color pictures.
About the camera and the lens :
This Leica M3 circa 1956 (Ref. Leitz ISUMO), double stroke, was sold to me with a Leitz Wetzlar Summicron collapsible normal lens 1:2 f=5cm of the same period equipped with a 39mm screw-on protective filter, a 42mm push-on Leica lens cap and an original Leitz shade hood (Ref. Leitz IROOA).
The camera was serviced in Paris, France, in 2018 by Gérard Métrot at Photo-Suffren, (a Leica boutique) who worked on the maintenance of camera's of famous French photographers as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. The camera was inspected by Odéon-Photo, Paris, another historic Leica place in Paris, in April 2024.
I sourced at the same time in Germany a stunning Leitz Leica leather bag (Ref; Leitz IDCOO) of the same model that appeared on the back cover page go the Leica brochure year 1954. This bag can accommodate the camera and a mounted Leica-Meter type M. The interior in covered with a carmin velvet in perfect condition.
The Leica M3 is one of the most iconic range-finder 35mm camera of the 50's and the 60's. It was produced in Wetzlar, Germany, in different versions at 226178 exemplars, between 1954 (n° 700000) and 1966 (n° 1164865, www.summilux.net/materiel/Leica-M3) . The Leica M3 was the result of the study of a "super-Leica" that was started before WWII and only achieved in the 50'S.
The greater improvement of the M3 compared the classical Leica's was in a magnificent and very complex range-finder combined to the view finder permitting the framing with the two eyes open, integrating the frame in the real and normal vision. The shutter integrates too the normal and the slow speeds in the same barillet. The film advance of this version of Leica M3 is also the typical "double-stroke" advance that was exclusive to the Leica M3 first versions.
The camera was transported to me from Paris to Lyon, France on April 26, 2024 and the bag arrived the day after.