New camera…not really…

I just received a ‘new’ Leica M3 the other day. I didn’t really need it, but to be honest, I had a lens around that was just crying to be used and…well you probably know the rest of the story.
I love photography and wish I were better at it. I’ve made a few good images and I have some idea of what I like in an image but it really takes practice. That’s one reason I like cameras that let you adjust everything manually. Mind you, I make a ton of images, perhaps in this case I should say take pictures, with cameras set on auto. But it’s when I actually have to think about what I’m doing that I’m more likely to make something I like.
A Leica M3 is about as manual a camera as you can get. There’s no meter. There no ‘mode.’ There’s just the aperture, the shutter speed, the film, and a lens. It helps to have a light meter, but one can really estimate the light and make an okay image, at least with print film.
So…how am I doing?
Let’s see. Today I loaded the camera up and immediately messed up at least a half of roll of film by not locking the lens in place. Sigh. I loaded another roll and gave things a try.

Not anything to write home about, but I’m still impressed…not with the images, but with the camera and lens combo.
I was using the Sunny 16 Rule and more or less took these shots unmetered. Focusing the old Leica was easy and accurate. The film is cheap Fuji 200 consumer print film. It’s not great, it’s not bad. It’s what I had.
Here’s the deal. The camera was focused on what I wanted it focused on. I got the exposure more or less where I expected it to be. In short I wasn’t surprised by what I got. That’s a great start in my book. Now I just had to practice, practice, practice. It does get easier with time.
Aloha!