It’s one of the first things I put on the cameras, this is mostly due to the fact that I rarely put camera’s in camera bags when I take them with me.
Some of the smaller ones, like the GRDII, I’ve even put in my pocket (although that’s a bad idea since the GRD series lenses don’t have seals to keep dust out!)

If you’re familiar with Giottos, you know their protectors are one of the best.
I had placed one on my Leica M8 when I had it, and was surprised at the performance of them.

They have 4, 6, or 12 layers of protection in each screen protector they make.

Since the X-Pro1 is fairly new, Giottos hasn’t produced a screen protector specifically for the X-Pro1.

Unprotected screen (Photo credit, username Mookie on Fujix-forum.com)

I was browsing fujix-forum.com and noticed a thread started by a user name “Jager” who had went and measured the screen area of the X-Pro1, and compared it in Giottos current selection to find a compatible protector. (Original thread)

I’m very glad he did! It’d save us all a lot of trouble and I went ahead and ordered the one he mentioned.

It’s the Canon 450D (EOS Rebel XSi) SP8306.

I bought mine from Adorama (Don’t worry, I don’t get paid for links clicked, ha!), but it seems like they’ve run out of stock!

This protector is the 12-layer variety, SCHOTT Germany glass, multi-coating, anti-reflective etc. etc. It’s a fantastic glass screen protector that I think is worth the extra money, you’ve spent so much on the camera already, to invest a little bit to keep one of the most important and bits from scratches is worth it. I’ve had no experience with the $6 dollar or $4 dollar protectors, but i’ve heard good things about them.

The screen size is exactly perfect for the camera, and it does cover the Zoom in and out, and trash can icons a little, but that’s good cause the bezel is easily scratched anyways (i’ve already got some rather noticeable scratches on the bezel).

I’ve noticed in the light the screen works perfectly with it, no glare, no reflections, and is actually smudge resistant. Perfect.

Great product I suggest you get one the next time you get a digital camera.

I originally had no interest in buying into this system, there was moaning about the X100′s focus speed, accuracy, low-light performance just to name the few. In the end, it became a methodology of just trying it for myself. No one can make the decision for anyone about what they purchase, especially in a field not clear cut like photography. The only way to decide something when it comes to this, is to physically own it and try it for yourself.

If you have no interest in reading about the conundrum, feel free to skip to the next section to see the X-Pro1 review.

Previously, I had owned a Leica M8 in the hopes of using the M8 digital’s attributes to combine work and hobby. This was going well, but in practice, there had been more than a few situations where high-iso performance was needed. The M8 simply could not deliver that unfortunately. I had been using a Zeiss 35mm f2 Biogon to achieve some low-light performance, holding the camera as slow as 1/5th of a second to achieve good clean files. Long story short, it wasn’t going to work, and on top of that, I had rung up quite a few shutter actuations on the body.

I traded the M8 for an Epson RD-1 and some lenses, the RD-1 is the worlds first digital rangefinder, taking a Nikon D70 sensor, and fusing it into a Voigtlander Bessa R2 body. It’s a fantastic, quirky, little camera. I love it for the fact it requires a manual film advance style lever to re-cock the shutter. As fun as it was though, the 6.1mp sensor yielded files that weren’t quite big enough for work use, and the batteries were spotty at best. There was a real electronic drain after taking photos. You could see the mechanical needles fluctuate, especially the battery gauge (signified by E and F). In the end, I had to let this camera go as well, and so the hunt began for trying to find a digital equivalent of the M8, but better.

At the time of the trade, apparently the M8 had developed some dead/stuck pixels on the sensor, giving me basically an ulcer waiting for the diagnosis of what would happen to the camera. It turns out, a $350 dollar sensor re-mapping was the fix, instead of the $1200 dollar sensor replacement from Leica. As a hobbyist with few paid jobs, this is something that would’ve devastated me.

The hunt went on, The M9 is still clearly out of the question in terms of price, and still may have some of the same issues as the M8 if you’re unlucky. I saw the lowest one as being $4800 with 10,000 actuations. I wasn’t going to take the dive into a system that i’ve used before, and wasn’t too impressed with the performance (for 2012). The novelty of owning a Digital Leica was literally broken in front of my face when I sat there staring at my screen at the numerous red lines on the image, followed by the few days of strenuous waiting. It’s a fantastic theory, being able to use some of the worlds ‘best’ lenses, on a rangefinder coupled mechanically driven camera. The unfortunate and obvious problem is the specialty of the device, and reliability and cost to repair if it were to go wrong.

I really didn’t want to go back into digital SLR system, investing hundreds into cumbersome glass, and a big plastic/metal body to lug around. It’s gear like that which took the fun completely out of photography. I then saw the Sony NEX-7. A great 24.7 megapixel body with an ridiculously high resolution Electronic Viewfinder (EVF). It’s a fantastic camera, the size is tiny, there’s a lot of shooter geared buttons and functions. I picked up the best lens you could get for it, the Zeiss 24mm f1.8 E-mount. A $1100 Carl Zeiss design licensed to Sony, creating this wonderful lens. Unfortunately, the lens wasn’t performing at all what I expected. There was tons of Chromatic Aberration all over highlights and high contrast areas from f1.8 to f5. The thought of spending $360  dollars for a Sony A-mount to E-mount adapter, and a 16-70mm f2.8 Sony A-mount lens for $600 dollars really made me feel like this wasn’t going to work. The amount of money spent on the system would be pretty high, especially when I actually realized I didn’t like the delay from the EVF. I love going around and being able to just pop the camera up, frame, and take the photo. Zone focus, metering the scene before hand, all of these techniques I love were completely hindered by the latency of the EVF. I took the NEX-7 for some street photography, and was shown this flaw immediately.

I couldn’t take it, I returned it for  the only thing that had an Optical Viewfinder, the Fujifilm X-Pro1.

I had messed with that very camera a few weeks before hand, going Ooo, Ahhh. Confusing, kind of like a Leica but not.

Strangely, the Sony NEX-7 with the Zeiss 24mm f1.8 lens was exactly the same price as the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and the Fujinon 35mm f1.4 Aspherical lens. Both of which were about $600 dollars cheaper than my old M8 setup, with the Zeiss Biogon 35mm f2.

Over the course of a week, the Fujifilm turned me from being a skeptic, to someone who just loves shooting with it.

Fujifilm X-Pro 1

I wanted to be a smug, Leicaphile and shrug off the X-Pro1 as a toy, a wannabe, a poseur trying to cash in on Leica’s cash cow of exclusivity and that fangled rangefinder coupling.

I was proved wrong with the whole chain of events described above. This camera is perfect for my digital applications.

I really didn’t want to get another dSLR, with big bulky lenses, flashes, limiting use only for paid work. The X-Pro1 is not a Leica,  that’s for sure and it doesn’t have to be. Once you get your head wrapped around the styling cues resembling that retro feel or whatever, you start to realize how much of a shooters camera this really is.

Having tried recently the NEX-7 and failed to fall in love, the X-Pro1 was the only logical step forward before just admitting that dSLR would have to come back into my life.

I’m so glad I did try the X-Pro1.

The X-Pro1 has been closely affiliated to that of a Contax G1 and G2, film rangefinder cameras with interchangeable lenses. I think it’s more closely related to that of the Epson RD-1. The first digital rangefinder, with mechanical toggles for aperture, shutter speed, and EV comp. On the X-Pro1 There is a dial for shutter speed on top, the apertures are selected directly on the lens itself, and an EV comp dial mounted behind the thumb grip area for easy changeability on the fly.

I can closely relate this to film bodies all day, but I think it’s best to relate it to the comfort, and the familiarity you get once you’ve owned numerous Nikon dSLR bodies. The two wheels, button placements, toggles etc. It’s like an old glove. I feel super comfortable using the X-Pro1, the Sony’s rather weird design aesthetics were great to look at and marvel, but in usage proved to be somewhat quirky and almost cumbersome in situations.

I love the retro design. Sure, retro things of late can be rather cheapish and an excuse to innovation.. but those are aesthetics, and rarely ever do anything with the actual functionality like this.

In the hands, I feel right at home, as it were a Leica actually.

Of course with the addition of a great 16mp APS-C sensor they call X-trans CMOS Sensor, contrast detection autofocus, 1/4000 focal plane shutter that is strangely as quiet as my Leica M2, an amazing Optical Viewfinder with electronic screen overlay, and a ridiculous 1,230,000 dot screen, and a whole slew of other specifications and bits you can find everywhere else on the internet.

This camera performs.

It performs as well as what I wanted my M8 to do. It performs well enough that I don’t even think I want an M9 anymore. That’s how good it is.

Fuji X-Pro1, Fujinon 35mm f1.4 — 1250 ISO f1.4

It’s funny to think back, with a camera like this, you’d expect a person to just get overwhelmed with all the gadgets, bells and whistles of the camera.
I didn’t even open the manual, I opened the box, I charged the battery up, put an SD card in it, updated the firmware of the lens and body real quick, and went shooting. All the photos you’ll see here are straight out of camera JPEG’s.

There isn’t RAW support or Lightroom support for this camera just yet, Fujifilm is being slow at releasing it. I have no problem with that though, as I like to do as little post-process as possible. That’s where this Fuji is amazing.

When I owned dSLR’s I actually owned a D50 first, then a Fujifilm S2 dSLR. The S2 was basically a film Nikon N80 with a Fujifilm CCD Sensor Jammed in there, and used Nikon F-Bayonet lenses. It was an old camera that needed 8 AA batteries to run it, but every single photo I took with at body was perfect in JPEG form. I truly believe this still exists in this X-Pro1. I won’t get into the boring details, but from my own experience, the colors, and rendering from the Fuji sensors have always been my favorite of all the major manufacturers.

It doesn’t have as many megapixels as a Sony NEX-7, or the “This is what you get” predictability of a dSLR, but I like that. To me, it has that digital Leica image quality, mostly due to the lack of an Anti-aliasing filter. The sharpness at 100% is just ridiculous. It gave me the same feeling as when I first opened up some Leica M8 and M9 files. I just think its wonderful Fuji jammed this sensor into a rather small body with interchangeable lenses, to me, this is all I need. I don’t need an SLR for SLR image quality.

The ISO performance of this camera is truly amazing. It’s an APS-C sized sensor (nerdery alert) but the noise is almost nonexistent. To me, it’s better than the now replaced Canon 5D MKII, and the M9. This opens a whole new avenue of photography without worrying about noise clogging up the images, or post-process work. There is no doubt that the X-Pro1 has a huge positive in the High ISO performance, that will surely last beyond this model.

I also had a chance to use a EF-20 flash, from the Fuji X-100 on this camera and I must say it’s very impressive, This will have no problem satisfying my flash needs for dark events where bounce flash will be necessary. It fills nicely and evenly through the frame, the camera takes care of it completely. You just adjust the strength inside the menu and it takes care of the rest.

The reviewers, are they reviewing the same camera?

I spent the past few days reading reviews before buying the camera myself, seeing what I was getting myself into. Everyone complained about a few things I’d like to shed my experience on.

1. Can’t focus for shit in low-light, or moving objects.

This was intriguing to me. There was an update to the firmware of the camera and lenses the day I brought the camera home. Some have claimed to see improved performance in focusing, and some haven’t seen any, and some even say it’s worse. I spent the past few days shooting in very low-light conditions. ISO 3200, 1/50th of a second  in dark places. Every single time, the camera focused where I wanted. It may just be the nature of shooting rangefinders all the time, you just find the area where you think it can focus the best (or in the case of a film Leica, where the rangefinder patch would actually work). If it hunted once, or if I was worried it wouldn’t achieve focus, I would place the camera into Macro EVF mode and it achieved focus 100% of the time.

Fuji X-Pro1, Fujinon 35mm f1.4 — 3200 ISO,  f1.4,  1/25th

For moving subjects, instead of half-pressing to lock focus, I found that just following the object in a panning motion and pressing the shutter button completely allowed it to focus on the subject and take the photo immediately. This works quite well for some motion, it’s definitely not a sports photography camera like a 1D MKIII though.

2. Shutter Lag

There’s been complaints about shutter lag. I’m still unsure if people are complaining about the focus speed, followed by the shutter actuation, or the pressing of the button. From what I can experience, there’s considerably less lag than a Konica Hexar RF, Yashica T3 and many other film electronic equivalents.

3. The Fujinon lenses aren’t sharp, surely no where close to Leica.

This has been a hot debate recently, since everyone seems to want to believe that justifying a psychotic price for a lens decimates everything else even remotely close in focal length. I recently had some coffee and a chat with my photo friend, who owns an Leica M9 with Summilux’s and did a few snaps, just to see if I wanted an M9 still and to fix his curiosity on the X-Pro1 system. The results were interesting. I honestly could not find justification for the cost of an digital M system anymore, beside the rangefinder coupling experience. That’s generally a good thing, since the X-Pro1 is considerably less, I won’t be spending so much to get the performance i’d like. Personally, My next lens is the 18mm f2, which is an 28mm equivalent in 35mm. There’s also a Zoom coming, and a slew of other lenses. The Fujinon line looks like it’ll be a fantastic line-up in the next few years.

I’ve uploaded some samples between the M9 and the X-Pro1 here: (Click link to view them)

Both shots taken the same location, same 400 ISO.
M9 with Summilux 50mm f1.4 Pre-ASPH, 400 ISO f1.4 1/70th
XP1 with Fujinon 35mm f1.4, 400 ISO f1.4 1/90th

and one more stopped slightly down, with higher ISO..
M9 with Summilux 50mm f1.4 Pre-ASPH, 1250 ISO f2.8 1/60th
XP1 with Fujinon 35mm f1.4, 1250 ISO f2.8 1/80th

Revelation

After spending all this time digging the internet, reading the garbage, seeing the videos on YouTube, I realized why I bought the camera in the first place.

To take photos.

And not only take photos, but it served really well for my work purposes too–Product photography, candids, and so on.

It’s a fantastic kit, the Macro mode with EVF is genius (Like the X100).
Focus with the 35mm f1.4 is about 7 inches in Macro, allowing me to get close product shots.

Fuji X-Pro1, Fujinon 35mm f1.4 — Macro EVF mode, pretty close and well detailed.

The ease of function of the X-Pro1 relating it to the  M2 are what truly got me hooked with it.

You can make it as complicated or simple as you like, with the X-Pro1, you can even shoot by looking at the back screen like Micro four-thirds cameras and Point and shoots even. This almost gives it a light-hearted take on itself, it’s not so serious as to remove the screen and give you only a black and white sensor, it’s about flexibility, and making sure it gives you the opportunity to take photos the way you want, all in a classic form with familiar dial placements and relatively small size.

After all, it’s considered a High-End point and shoot. For all of this, I really do enjoy this camera quite a lot. It has merits of simplicity, technology and fantastic optics, while keeping it simple and current. More importantly, this is an example of just getting out there and experiencing the camera for yourself. Only you can tell whether or not it’s made for you, not a review. I’m very glad I did try all the cameras—Thank you Dodd Camera locally here in Cleveland, and Igorcamera.com, my Local camera friend who also sells high-end equipment.

Here’s some more sample photos taken with the X-Pro 1 in my short ownership.

There’s more photo’s on my Flickr section for the X-Pro 1: Here

Links of interest for the Fujifilm X-Pro 1:

Dante Stella’s review on the X-Pro 1: “That dreaded Fuji X-Pro1 review”
The ever-amusing Ken Rockwell Review: “Fuji X-Pro1 Review”
Fuji X-Forum: X-Pro1 Forum

I had just ran a few black and white rolls of Neopan, and confirmed that the light seal DIY had worked.
I did a quick walk around the Warehouse district in Cleveland, I had marked previously what I wanted to shoot, and how. Luckily I got the shots with ease, and little distractions, unfortunately upon receiving the developed roll I saw what looked like light leaks again. I got frustrated and decided, “Well I may as well have the back get a full CLA (Clean lubricate and adjust) than me messing with it anymore.”

The back is now on it’s way to get CLA’d by a well known Hasselblad enthusiast.

I have to say though, these shots are amazing to me. The depth, clarity and oh my that Portra color!

I do no color adjustments, beside make the frame black, the black of the image to be consistent.

I love this combination, the CF lens definitely shines in theses situations, as well as being able to set the EV value straight off my light meter. It’s things like this that make me wish my Leica had an EV dial, which locked the aperture and shutter speed in similar fashion.

Well while the 500CM’s back is off being CLA’d, i’ll have to keep myself busy doing some digital shots with my new Fujifilm X-Pro 1. I’ll write a review in a bit, to echo that of a Leica user and a photography enthusiast.

Here’s the photos taken from the first roll of Portra.

This decision came from researching the different kinds of cameras, such as rangefinder Fuji’s, Mamiya’s, other Japanese 6×6 cameras, but finally evolved into just getting a Hasselblad.

This one is from 1974, with a matching 1974 back.

I’m going to take a wild shot into the dark but I think it was used a few times and stored away for a very very long time.

The lens it originally came with was a Zeiss 80mm f2.8 T* with a whole lot of scratches on the elements and haze. That was soon replaced with this Zeiss 80mm f2.8 T* CF lens, which has a better ergonomic feel.

I shot a test roll and realized that there was this nasty odd light leak on my photos:

This was unacceptable, so I did some research, and as it turns out, there is a foam and metal seal located at the dark slide location of the camera. When you pull the dark slide to expose the film, and take the photograph, there is just enough light to ruin the shot like that.

There is a $13 dollar kit on eBay for Hasselblad 500CM or C’s, which allows you to do a DIY seal replacement. If you are using the Hassy a lot, i’ve read it’s been suggested to change it once a year to ensure that there’s no light leaking.

I put together a few shots to accompany the DIY guide supplied with the seal.

I’ll type everything out as how I followed it, if you’re doing this, and chances are you got the same seals from the same person, you’ll want to follow that print-out and match them with my images.

—

1. First step, place the dark slide into the back and remove the back from the camera.
2. Once you’ve removed the back, treat it as if you were loading film into it by taking the cartridge out, and the dark slide too.
3. Remove the 9 screws holding the face plate of the film magazine, be sure to remember where each goes where, as some may vary in length or other issues. I’ve marked the areas where the screws are in orange. Also be sure NOT to dislodge levers and arms underneith.

   

   
   The levers are very thin and barely visible, but a good jolt or messing with them may dislodge them, making your job just that much harder.

4. Here we can see the seal exposed finally, the old foam seal looks miserable, like it’s been in there since 1974.

   

   Upon removal, you can see how it’s constructed. These old ones were metal backed with a thin piece of steel or something.

   

5. Clean the area where the old seal was, a light dusting will do fine. Make sure pieces of old foam don’t go into hazardous places in your back as it may create undesired lomo effects.

   

6. You are now ready to place the new seal in, i’ve included this photo to show what instructions will look like, and the new seal on the bottom right.

   

7. Now here it is placed into position, it fits in pretty much one way.

   

8. Here’s the trickiest part now, in the instructions, it says to fold the flap that’s hanging out over on top of the foam, while placing the face plate back on.
   It may take some practice but you’ll get it, you just have to use both hands, one to place the faceplate on top and the other to fold the flap over.

   

9. You will then spend some time further wrapping the edge over on top of the foam by sliding the dark slide back into position. I did it without screwing the face plate down, but if you are having issues you can screw the two screws facing the dark slide exit to help. The instructions mention using a flat device to push the flap further into the crevice where the dark slide slides in. I used a very thin flathead and combined it with the force of the dark slide to achieve this.

   You do this since when the dark slide is pulled out; the flap and foam take up the space the dark slide was in. If the foam and seal is old and worn out, it won’t expand correctly and you’ll get a nasty leak.

10. Go ahead and screw the face plate back on, you’ll have to do with while pressure is still on the plate. You won’t want to lose your pressure from forcing the flap all the way into the body. As snug as it was when you unscrewed it is more than enough. You will end up with the result like this:

    

11. Once it’s all put together, you can test it for light leaks.
    The way I could find out it was leaking in the first place, is placing the back without dark slide into a harsh angled light source, like a lamp, or a flashlight.

    

    

12. If it passes this check, and you slide the dark slide in and out a few times, you can call it a job done.
    It should last you some time before you have to change it again, and by then, you should probably just CLA (Clean, lubricate, adjust) the back anyways.

Go out and test the camera with a new roll with utmost confidence that you did it right:

That’s it!

I hope this little guide helps accompany the guide offered by Dick Werner, who creates these kits. They are readily available on eBay or other sources like his own website.

I took some photos of the local tree’s blooming, as well as my sister and her dog, Princess. There’s a few shots taken on my way to work, and a few tighter cropped shots of textures. I’m a huge advocate for taking the camera with you everywhere. You’ll never know when you’ll run across a fantastic photo.

Well ,it’s cooled off now, and I had time to develop my first roll of Portra 400 in 120. These were taken with my Bronica SQ, coupled with a new to me Zenzanon-PS 80mm f2.8 lens. A fantastic lens. My overall experience with this ‘cheap’ 120 Medium format camera is pretty addicting. With local development a feasible item, I find myself wanting to shoot more and more 120. This opens up new doors for me, definitely, and more exciting news is on the horizon.

I decided to go on a weekday, as I think it’s a bit more interesting seeing people in their daily routine. You see true character not onlyin their appearance but their movements.

A special note; there’s a photo from a local ice cream/soda parlor Sweet Moses Treats that has delicious ice cream. Yum!

There is also a few photos from Hartville, a bit south of Cleveland at a Flea market my fiancee and I frequent in the warmer weekends.

If you haven’t taken a good walk around your city in a while, there’s nothing more refreshing and encompassing the warmer weather than just doing nothing, but go for a walk with your camera.

I even snuck a fog shot in there, @k4rly.

So, keep on shooting and bring in this great weather.

Leica M8 and Carl Zeiss 35mm f2

The past weekend there was a camera expo that travels, called Photorama. Tons of amazing equipment and people I met, as well as some of my friends being there, it made for a fun time. I have been wanting a 120 SLR, and wondered how it would be if I were to get a Hasselblad, but before doing the big leap, I figured i’d try one of these more affordable 120 systems first. There were numerous cameras in different formats, 6×4.5, 6×7, etc.

I ended up going for a 6×6 camera, and the Zenza Bronica was just about the only choice.

It also helps I got a fantastic deal.Once again landing me into the ‘reasonable to me’ pricing.

It actually is pretty scary comparing prices per roll for 120. Makes you cherish the photos you take just that bit more.

Some basic info:

The camera was introduced in the era when Medium format cameras were owned by every professional photographers shooting 6×6 or larger out there. These machines are amazingly well kept, and the one I got was no exception.

A bit of viewfinder cleaning, and general dusting made this Bronica SQ much better.

It’s a SLR 120 camera for with interchangeable components, similar to that of the Hasselblad V system.
Unlike Hasselblad, Bronica didn’t make it through to adapting digital technologies, but Tamron has since moved in and bought up the dying Bronica but never capitalized on carrying the system to digital.
it’s sad to see and hear about Bronica disappearing off maps, and their prices reflectively falling off too.

Max shutter: 1/500
Detatchable everything.

I was very excited to finally run a roll through it, Excuse some of the shots that are probably horridly boring but I was trying to see if there was any mechanical issues, and if I could even shoot with it.

This photo set was taken mostly from downtown Cleveland, or the suburbs closely surrounding .

I’m loving the square format, and it really does help when you’re shooting above your head. I found that you just raise the whole camera and rotate!

The detail of the 120 negative is immense especially when you take a close look. I feel this will be a great tool for landscapes definitely and portraits.

After re-covering the M4-P, I wanted to get a roll through to see if the camera works, and how good this lens really is. It’s commonly referred to as the Japanese Summilux, by those who have been doing this a long time.
I was skeptical, but knew the quality of Japanese lenses of the era, since I owned a Nikkor-S.C 50mm f1.4 LTM and had a similar, “Oh my” experience.

Both the M4-P and the Canon 50 performed amazingly. I really do enjoy the rangefinder experience, and even when I use my new Digisix lightmeter, it work’s a treat. I like using my brain to calculate exposure, it gets me more involved in the process of making the photo. What a great setup, I’m going to be shooting a lot more with this soon. Just another tool in my arsenal!

These were mostly taken not in Cleveland for once, but south. You could say I was testing waters for a next series I want to work on. Canton, Ohio.

Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO, shot at 400 for once, Rodinal 1+50 at 68 degrees for about 14 minutes.
M4-P with Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM 

Apparently that isn’t the case. It seems the camera seals aren’t the best. It does give a nice lomo-ey effect I must say.

These photos were mostly taken downtown Cleveland, some of them in the Flats district, which is largely empty and re-zoning right now.

Yashicaflex + Kodak T-Max 400 ISO — Rodinal 1+50 for 10 minutes

All old Leica’s with original Vulcanite covering have some sort of chips, or beginning to fall apart. Because of this many sites have created grip coverings to replace the degrading vulcanite with new, fresh and in the case of this Griptac, much more tactile. It feels great in the hand, very grippy and no fear of dropping the camera.

So I decided to go right at it.
Following the many DIY’s on rangefinder forum and on respective camera cover replacement sites, I decided to just use the knife method. Specifically I used a larger razor blade for cardboard boxes.

The total time for this project was 2 hours and 15 minutes… from chipping all the paint off, cleaning residue, to applying the new covering and removing the paint from the lettering.

I chose to remove the Leitz red dot and the ASA/DIN reminder on the back, giving it a really nice clean look.

I’m very satisfied of how it turned out, and am going to love shooting with this setup.

I started by just picking off where the vulcanite had already come off, and chiseled more.

Once all the old vulcanite was taken off, I used goo gone and rubbing alcohol to clean residue off and prep the body.

Applying was cake, I didn’t bother using the wet method, which is similar to applying decals. I instead went for the dry method of just applying it on. They’re relatively small pieces so it’s not catastrophic to just pick it back up.

Once I had done the sides, I went ahead and did the back cover. Vulcanite is very brittle and little bits went everywhere, clearly seen here.

I also took the slight bit of time to remove the white paint out of the letters, I think it offers a cleaner look that is more homage to the classic M2, M3.
The griptac feels wonderful in the hand, and the color is actually very nice.

I mentioned earlier I chose to not have the film reminder or the red dot, as I think this offers a cleaner appearance, I’m glad I did, I think it looks great.

What a cost efficient way to regrip your Leica or film camera, they have multiple different styles for all sorts of cameras, even 120 Medium formats.

The way this camera handles, it’s making me thinking about regrouping my M8 now!

Here it is, coupled with a fantastic Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM, commonly referred to as a Japanese Summilux. I’m excited to try it out.