About twice a year I go through my entire film camera collection (~50) and check on their overall health and well being. Without fail, I notice a camera that has been neglected a bit, and decide to shoot with it right away. This time it was the Leica MD-2 that caught my eye. This camera was designed for technical applications and was manufactured without a rangefinder or meter. In recent years, film shooters have picked up these bodies to use with wide angle lenses in conjunction with a hot shoe mounted viewfinder for framing.
The brief, should you decide to accept it, is to load a roll of your favorite film into your 'blind' and meterless camera, and go out for a photowalk. Expose using Sunny 16 and set focus using the appropriate hyperfocal distance on your lens. Desert island photography at its most fun. I was shooting Pan F at 1/50s (flash sync speed :)) and f/5.6 for this shot. If you can come back with decently exposed and mostly in focus images, that of course is the goal. Next time out you can loosen up and shoot freely.
For this shot, I had sufficient depth of field to cover the chairs. I thought they made an amusing yet transient tableau. You see, these were nice chairs and the pickers will surely snag them right away.
Good light to you this weekend!
Tasting notes: Leica MD-2, Voigtlander 35 mm f/2.5 Color Skopar, Pan F Plus film, DDX developer, digital camera scan.
