Category Archives: Photography

Adding EXIF data to film scans – improved

Film, Leica

A better mousetrap.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.

I wrote about adding EXIF data to scanned images here. While effective that tool is rather clunky in use, even if the price is right, as in free.

But there’s something better to be had for the modest sum of $17 or so, and it’s named Capture Time to EXIF. While originally intended to change capture times in EXIF data it’s a good deal more versatile than that and makes it easy to change lens data, ISO, camera serial # and a host of other variable, thus:



The variables which can be changed.

In practice this tool is not restricted to film scans. I use it on Leica M10 files where the lens name, derived from 6-bit coding, is incorrect. The camera only stores Leica lens names (duh!) whereas I use Voigtländer and Canon LTM lenses on my M10 body. Because I tend to remember images by the lens used, having the right lens name in EXIF data helps greatly when retrieving images in Lightroom Classic. After download move the plugin to this directory on a Mac, replacing ‘Tigger’ with your username:



The plugin location.

The plugin permits saving of your favorite lens data sets and that’s important because if you mess up on the wording even one tiny bit you will see two lenses where there should be one. For example ’35mm Canon LTM f/2.0′ and ’35mm Canon LTM f/2′ will be shown in the LRc Metadata panel as two different lenses. But if you save your preferred setting then the name used will always be the same. Here are the ones I have saved so far:



Saved files.

Note that in the above example I am leaving the files’ Date and Time unchanged (‘Use the Date Created field’ at the top).

In use you highlight the files where you wish to make changes then invoke the plugin in LRc->Library->Plug-in Extras->Save capture time. A recent outing during which I took 37 pictures on the M10 is instructive. Of my three 6-bit coded lenses, one is made by Leitz, the 90mm Tele-Elmarit, so no changes are necessary. The two Canons, coded as a 35mm Summicron and 50mm Summilux respectively, need the lens’ names changed. Here’s the Metadata panel with the file first loaded in LRc:



Metadata as downloaded from the camera.

After selecting the 35mm Summicron files in the Metadata panel, I invoke the plugin and load my saved Canon 35mm profile in ‘Save capture time’:



The 35mm Canon saved data file has been chosen.

The full lens description is ‘Canon LTM 1:2/35′, partly hidden in this screenshot but consistent with the Leica lens naming methodology. When you run the plugin there’s no need to save Metadata to XMP files. It’s automatic. The file write takes around one second per image.

I then repeat the process for the 50mm Canon LTM lens, running the plugin after selecting all the ’50mm Summilux’ images in the metadata panel. And here is the happy result after reloading the Metadata panel:



EXIF data corrected.

Simple and effective, the plugin represents a good return on a modest outlay.

Stop those scratches

Cameras, Leica

Inexpensive protection.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.

These inexpensive leather protectors for the top plate of your camera prevent scratches from your camera’s strap or from the D rings used to attach the strap.



Note that one of the two non-cut thirds
of the D-ring is in contact with the strap.
A piece of Scotch tape finishes the job.



The ring must first be removed to install the protector.

To install you have to remove your strap and D-ring, place these small leather patches over the strap lug using the center hole then install the D-ring (some garage language may be called for) followed by the strap. It takes a while. The hole in the protector is perfectly sized for the Leica’s strap lug – M film or M digital. (If you are unlucky enough to have bought an M5 no rings are needed; the strap material threads through the rectangular lugs on that misbegotten camera).

The D-rings these come with seem too flimsy, so I transplanted those from my Nikon D800 studio camera which are robust. I have yet to find a reliable source for these. One possible source for round rings is Simplr, but I have not used these. They are sized for 3/8″ (10mm) straps which is what the Upstrap uses, and are made in the USA. Hooray! Amazon also lists suitably shaped protectors for round rings. One disadvantage of circular rings is that they will rotate, eventually exposing the strap material to the sharp cut ends. That’s why I prefer triangular rings on a $5,000 camera.

Be sure that your strap is not in contact with the split in the D-ring as that is invariably sharp cut and will eventually wear through the strap. These patches also prevent the D ring from rotating, so the sharp third can no longer come in contact with the strap if correctly installed in the first place.

The instructive images at Amazon are clear and at $7 the pair what is there to complain about?

Canon 50mm f/1.4 resolution test

Leica, Lenses

An excellent standard lens.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.



On the Leica M10. I added the red indexing dome.

When I first profiled the Canon 50mm f/1.4 LTM lens attached to my Leica M3 film camera I described it as “An affordable standard lens”. Now with some test images aboard the Leica M10 digital camera that description needs an update. It’s an excellent standard lens. Film dumbs down everything.

Here are the test images taken at all apertures from f/1.4 down to f/22 – I used a 6-bit coded LTM-to-M adapter for in camera correction of chromatic aberration and vignetting, coded to be the 50mm Summilux-M pre-ASPH:



Test images from f/1.4 to f/22.

Except for minor corrections of a less than level camera hold by yours truly, these are SOOC.

You can view all 9 images in medium size by clicking here.

To view full size 22mb originals click here. It’s a large file so be patient when downloading. You can zoom in on these to your heart’s content.

Conclusions?

  • Slight flare at f/1.4, easily cured with LRc’s ‘Dehaze’ slider
  • At f/1.4 the extreme edges benefit from a touch on the Sharpening slider, say to 120. At that point the whole frame is usable and will easily make a large print with excellent resolution
  • At f/2.8 all flare is gone and the image is sharp edge-to-edge with no need for additional sharpening
  • Peak definition is reached at f/8 but there’s very little to choose between f/4, f/5.6 and f/8
  • From f/11 diffraction starts to reduce definition but the lens remains very usable even at f/22
  • No meaningful color fringing or vignetting at any aperture – that’s the 6-bit coding doing its magic

By the way, disregard the f stop data in the EXIF information. The M10, even with a 6-bit coded adapter does a very poor job of estimating the aperture used. (There is no electrical or mechanical link between the lens’s aperture setting and the camera, so Leica estimates the aperture based on the shutter speed and ISO used). Go by the file names, moving the decimal point in the last three digits one place to the left to see the aperture used. So, for example ‘220’ means f/22.

A special lens with the caveat being that you will likely have to buy from Japan on eBay where most listings are from, and you have to disregard all the nonsense about ‘Ex+++’ and ‘Mint’ sellers there seem to revel in. Any mention of ‘tiny fungus’, ‘minor balsam separation’ or ‘cleaning scratches’ means you should move on. These are 50 years old lenses so it takes diligence to find a clean one. ‘Tiny dusts’ (sic) are usually OK but you want a smoothly rotating focus collar and well defined click stops. Ask before paying to get the seller on the record with eBay. Don’t worry if the listing states ‘No returns’. If you have the seller’s responses on the record and they are clearly fraudulent, eBay will refund you. I know, having been there. I paid $331 for mine with tax and shipping, plus $35 for the correct Fotodiox Pro 6-bit adapter. I explain how to fill in the coding pits for best results here. Add a few pennies for the red indexing dome and $20 for a multi-coated 48mm UV filter (strange size) and my total outlay was $400.

If you can get a good one and do not fancy paying Leica’s ridiculous prices, new or used, the 50mm f/1.4 Canon, which handles beautifully on the Leica M body, is recommended.

Leica M10 – red dot be gone!

Cameras, Leica

No more gauche exhibitionism.

For an index of all Leica-related articles click here.

I’m not sure when the geniuses at Leica decided to emblazon their products with that loud red dot, an embellishment which announces to the world that you probably have more money than sense while simultaneously screaming “Steal me now”. It may have been with the Canadian Leica M4-2, but it was a long time ago. Why, they even have a gigantic one on their headquarters building in Wetzlar. There’s branding for you.

And Leica M users stuck with this execrable excrescence have been taping over the red dot ever since, in an effort to remain discreet and unembarrassed.

As my previous M bodies have been M3s, the M2 and an M6 I have been spared this pain but when the Leica M10 came along I immediately found a suitably sized washer in the garage and crafted a chrome sticker from flue tape, to cover The Red Dot.



Silver tape temporary disguise.

The red dot covers the rangefinder vertical adjustment screw, as I further explained in Part II.

When Leica introduced the M10-P, an M10 with a quieter shutter and the gorgeous script restored to the M10’s sadly barren expanse of top plate, they replaced the red dot with a color matching screw to respect the stealth preferences of users. Around that time Grant at AGS Supply realized that this was an elegant solution and while the M10’s red dot opening is not tapped for a screw, the recess will neatly retain a replacement imitation screw with two-sided adhesive.

There are all sorts of varieties of replacement faux screws. The M10’s is 10mm in diameter. That for the porker M240 is appropriately larger at 12mm. And of course there are color variations – satin chrome (yes!), black chrome and black paint. You can see the full range on the AGS site.

While the first screw shipped to me was the wrong size, a call to Grant not only found him profoundly apologetic but also disclosed an interesting person, a Leica aficionado and a great back story. He had crafted a handful of the stick-on screws for himself and friends and before you know it was inundated with demand, suggesting a commercial opportunity. And while the imitation screw is not cheap I regard it as nothing less than insurance cost mitigating theft risk and, equally importantly, saving the M owner embarrassment.

Grant overnighted the correctly sized replacement and I set to removing the red dot without trashing the top plate.

Here are the instructions, which I followed to the letter, allowing a drop or two of isopropyl alcohol, applied with a Q-tip, to soak in for a few minutes before attacking that wretched dot with a couple of plastic spudgers. To provide working room for the spudgers I replaced the lens on the camera with a body cap.

Use metal anything to try and twist the original red dot and you will trash your camera. The raised ‘Leica’ lettering on the red dot, which you use to torque the dot this way and that until it yields, is shallow and your tool will almost certainly slip a time or two. And the thought of inserting a sharp metal point to try and pry up the red dot makes me shudder. You have been warned. But as the images below show, the effort is well repaid. I’ll bet that Wetzlar has a million dollar heated twisting tool which applies the right temperature to the nearest one hundredth of a degree Celsius, and can do this in a trice. It took me a few minutes with a somewhat cheaper tool kit, at a steady 72 Fahrenheit. I preferred to avoid the use of heat for fear of damage to the underlying innards.



Instructions.



Spudgers at the ready. I have already started the twisting process, as you can see.

You do not want to touch the adhesive on the replacement with greasy fingers. I used a pair of miniature tweezers to place the replacement in position, carefully removing it from the greaseproof paper on which it ships.



The miniature tweezers used to place the new dot in place are from a Swiss Army knife.
As is obvious the fit is perfect and the color is very close.

Ah!, you ask, what is the right angle for that screw slot? Well, needless to say, Grant has studied this carefully and the answer is that …. there’s no right answer. Check Leica’s US or German web sites and the angles of the screw-in screws on the M11-P, M11-Monochrom and M11-D (and their M10-P, M10 Monochrom and M10-D predecessors) are all over the place, suggesting that Leica is hand tapping the thread with no consistent starting point for the tap. I immediately dismissed the idea of horizontal orientation for the slot (boring) or vertical (too aggressive) and after much deep thinking decided on a jaunty ‘up and to the right’ placement, consistent with the behavior I wish for my investment portfolio.



All done, and a great color match. Now I can sleep at night.

Thank you for a fine product, Grant.