It’s past time for another Lunch Break! I’ve got a few things to get chatty about while I eat, and I know it’s been a while since the last post. The weather has just been so crazy! Cold and cloudy, warm and cloudy, warm and sunny while I’m at work, cold and rainy while I’m at home. Ugh! It’s not encouraging a productive photography hobby. Opening the bag of clutter called my thoughts let’s see what I can dig up.
Too Many Cameras
I have too many cameras. I don’t mean that I have too many filling up space, but that I have too many choices when I walk out the door. I’ve got to pare down the choices. Interestingly, I was listening to a podcast today and the host mentioned he fixes up old cameras, runs a roll through each, and then they just sit on a shelf for display. I’m the same way, I just get the urge to shoot something I haven’t shot in a while, and then I end up with too many decisions to make. I’ve got 3 Holgas, two folding cameras, several rangefinders, multiple Polaroids, an Instax, and the list goes on and one. So when I go to pick out a rangefinder, it’s Leica, Canon, or Zorki ? Lenses it’s 50mm, 35mm. Poor me, right ? 
Yeah, maybe I should just stop and develop some film. I’ve got two more rolls in my jacket I’ve got to develop, too.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Light Meter!
That’s. not. right. Sometimes we do need a light meter. However, I’m not a pro shooter, and I don’t have a studio so a light meter that costs as much as my cameras is not really practical. For most folks that aren’t as self-flagellating as me, the in-camera metering is nice. I personally use a light meter app called, appropriately, Light Meter, and I can tell you it’s really good. I’ve used it for a couple years now. It’s free, but the paid version bumps up available ISO ranges. I’ve tested it against both my TTL meter and an old Selenium meter and it’s really accurate.
New Lens for the Leica
I finally did it. I stopped being a cheapskate (kinda) and bought a 35mm lens (used) for my Leica M3. Of course the new lens is LTM threaded, so I had to use my adapter. Again, only kinda stopped being a cheapskate. It’s a nice lens. The aforementioned three rolls of undeveloped film are shot with it. I know it’s nice because it takes good photos on the Fuji X Pro 1 (also, using adapter). I can’t believe I was dumb and sold my 35mm f/1.4 XF lens for that camera. I’m still kicking my own ass over it. Anyway, this new lens is a Voigtlander Color Skopar 35mm f/2.5. It’s a smaller lens than my Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5, and it suits the M much better. It makes the camera not so front-heavy. It feels more discreet. I think it’s going to be a good street photography lens by forcing me to get closer to the subject. We’ll see.
The odd thing is the viewfinder. It has no framelines for 35mm. Well, I have 3 options here. 1) buy an external VF. 2) Tape over the light window to block out the frame lines or 3) shoot with the 50mm framelines and adjust for a wider shot. I’ll go with 3 for now, because I don’t have to remove any tape or switch VFs if I put the Nokton back on.The last nice feature of this lens is it fits on 4 cameras I own. The Canon 7 (red Girlfriend) , the Zorki 4, the Fuji X Pro 1, and the Leica. So I’ve got some options if I don’t feel like shooting film, and yeah, lately I’ve been missing digital a bit. I’ve got about 6 rolls of film hanging in a closet that I developed 6 months ago plus another 6 rolls to develop in the kitchen, and I haven’t even scanned any of them. It’s not time to switch to full digital, but it’s certainly calling me. I’m going to break out the Fuji X100T for a few weeks and get it out of my system.Lastly, the Facebook account is officially deleted. I’m still on IG , though. I’ll share photos there and here.-Aragon
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