[Mint] +++

Today's episode is sponsored by Squarespace. What's better than being forklift certified? [music] Being forklift certified twice and also getting your camera back from CLA. That's right, the M6 storyline continues as I try to achieve full Leica palingenesis. >> [music] >> A while back I said this in a video. Now my Leica build is almost complete, which is a pretty good feeling. The final missing piece is just some brown [music] replacement leather to have it finally looking like a smoke show. So a little bit of the behind-the-scenes YouTube legend Cam Mackey reached out to Caleb who reached out to me about a leather supplier for our camera accessories, not bondage. A leather supplier that might be able to get me something close to that beautiful Hermes edition Leica M6, which I think is one of the most beautiful cameras ever produced. My own titanium Leica M6 is probably from the mid-90s and every time that I brought it into a Leica store, all the Leica techs gave me the same fortuitous warning, that camera needs a CLA yesterday. I think that they only ever really arrived at that conclusion because the camera still had the original ostrich leather on it that was present when the factory shipped [music] it out. Um, unfortunately through some anecdotal reports I had been hearing that Leica M6 CLA service by Leica was a bit backed up. Some estimates that I was hearing were saying it could take a full year. A year is a bit of a tough sell for me because the M6 is one of the main tools that I use on this channel pretty regularly because every time I use the whole guy get kidney [music] stones. Luckily, there's Gus of Ken Rockwell endorsement fame and a local legend on this channel. He offered to help me out. Gus is a true compendium [music] of knowledge on these old film cameras, so I knew I was in good hands. Thus, I finally received the new brand leather in the mail and sent it [music] alongside my M6 off to Gus for a total CLA and more. Naturally, the camera would be down for a few weeks for maintenance just like my toilet after the [music] incident, but it eventually returned to my doorstep one day feeling brand new and polished. Feeling kind of like a mint plus plus camera that I just ordered from Japan. Anyway, there's a long list of items that need to be spanked, [music] oiled down, and kissed firmly but passionately into place to get it back to factory spec. But first, let's take this mint camera out in the field [music] and un-mint it. Sorry my car is so dirty, by the way. It's either a park under a tree and get pollen all over it or park under power lines and get pigeon all over it. So, I was joined by local film photography hottie [music] Chris Sturm, a fellow enthusiast for good light. Neither of us had shot anything for quite some time and we wanted to get back on the horse if we could find one around there somewhere. Uh, you've upset the the dogs over there. >> What's different about it? >> titanium version. >> The titanium version? That's >> So, with my [music] clean-ass M6 perched right up on my dirty-ass car, which makes clear my priorities, I loaded some bulk rolled [music] E100 that I got from a source I will not reveal because I can't afford to go to Kodak prison. Monica has already [music] said that she won't wait for me. >> [music] >> We found a window of clear weather in the forecast and after hitting on a local to gain valuable information, she told us that the swells the past few days have been utterly insane. So, we knew we were in for something good. For this shoot, I went in like a sniper looking for the whites of the eyes with my light lens lab 35 mm 1.4 in titanium. Obviously, I have had some issues with this lens in the past and its greenish wet pickle cast. I made a whole ass video about it, so you really have no excuse not to know what I'm talking about. Unless, of course, you just hate me. So, this time I was shooting with a KR3 filter, which is a little bit rosier in tint to counterbalance the native drippy cucumber green from the lens. And I think it does a wonderful job in place of the usual uh 81C filter. Mix it in with that huge Leica flip-up polarizer on the nose and produces my favorite look for color photography, even when the orange sunset daylight is still loading. But, hey, at least it'll be here before GTA 6. Anyway, just like D-Day, we stormed the beach looking for photographic bangers and found a few. I like the shot. What a juxtaposition. So, I wasn't really seeing anything wrong with my images on the technical end. There was no shutter drag, no half frames. The rangefinder light meter seemed to be calibrated okay, but that's always how it goes, right? You bring your functional 96 LS 400 into the shop and they tell you everything under the hood is a show and they refuse to work on it. These cameras might not really display much of an issue on the celluloid until it's too late. It's not like they imprint a tiny check engine light when things start drifting out of spec over time. One day, you will start seeing maintenance problems. Unless, of course, you're shooting Nikon, in which case hell will have long since frozen over. But, for someone who shoots a ton of E100 to the point of near financial collapse, I can't really afford to have any frames be up. The official report that I got back from Gus stated that the uh 1/1000 and 1/500 shutter speeds were issuing incorrect and uneven exposures. I guess the official name for it is gradient imaging. These high shutter speeds are typically the first to go, in my experience. Also stated in the diagnosis, inside the system was some debris build-up and some sort of green chemical muck that was cleared out before I ever got a chance to at least taste it. Chris tested the light meter as well and found that even for its age, readings from EV6 to EV15 were accurate, so that's a rare win. The light was starting to get, you know, pretty dreamy as we returned to the sketchy beach slums on the other side of town. And it was time for me to replace my short roll with another bulk roll. Honestly, it felt pretty good to stretch my, you know, atrophied particular muscles again. I was telling Chris the whole time, you know, in between freaking out about how good the light was, that honestly I could shoot these seaside towns all day and just never get tired of it. Maybe that's my calling. The US has 95,000 mi of coastline, 87,000 mi if you avoid Florida, which I already do. Jurassic Park microwave, as Chris puts it. Anyway, the light was absolutely beaming in here for the for the shot, but E100 just can really hold on to both shadow and highlight info, so I asked these photos from the set. [music] Chris did a good job with it, though. Probably because he was shooting color neg, not some bum ass slide [music] film with extremely narrow exposure latitude. But there were still bangers to be had inside of whatever was left of this old surf shack. >> [music] >> Outside the light was [music] peaking like a guy at a festival who timed his drugs wrong and saw the beauty of the ever expansive cosmos [music] in a humid porta potty. It was that perfect orange color and I took this. Truthfully, a bad photo amongst these conditions would be tough to pull off, but I quite like this one and I feel like it was something I wouldn't really normally give a go because, [music] you know, when it comes down to it, there's no real subject. It's kind of just a feeling. And yeah, I followed it up with a rare self-portrait, but there's a better version without me in it. >> [music] >> I like the shot a lot, too. So much vibrant orange. It feels like summer to me. The only thing really missing is that stupid summer reading assignment that I'll inevitably put off until 10 minutes before school starts [music] up again. So, last but certainly not least, an upgrade was in order. Gus was a legend and sourced a flare-resistant [music] rangefinder kit for me, which I can't even begin to tell you how much of a difference it made. Looking through the viewfinder feels like there isn't even [music] any glass in between me and the the scene. It's crystal clear, which only makes me question what sort of nasty ass super fungus got in my viewfinder in the first place, but whatever. >> [music] [music] >> Had to take the polarizer off for this one cuz we're running out of light, but hopefully I got it. I did [music] get it and it's pretty good for the last of the roll, but I maybe should have shimmed a stop or two of light off the top in hindsight. The reflection is a little It's a little hot. It did feel really good being out there with this freshly tuned camera [music] and the upgrades, but I will admit it didn't fix the one problem I always seem to have, human error. Yeah, no no tension. >> [sighs] >> Well, what can you do? I took the last frame, advanced the film, and ripped it off the roll cuz I didn't do a very good job bulk rolling it. So, I got to take it into a dark bag now. This is the comp I should have shot. Light's way more diffused now. Anyway, we waited the sun out keeping our eyes locked on the horizon for the legendary green flash while this, you know, pervert ass cursed effigy watched us. >> [music] [music] >> And I didn't see But before I close this video out with a beautifully mindful monologue for the ages that you won't want to miss, I'd like to first thank today's sponsor Squarespace for their ongoing support. 2026 is the year to set up an online marketplace and start the flow of economy back to you. And what better way to do that than through an industry leader in the space, Squarespace. Get started crafting your online empire by choosing one of hundreds of stylish, sleek, and modern templates designed by professionals for you. Take it even further with Squarespace's own proprietary tools that utilize groundbreaking AI to custom build the site of your dreams down to every last detail. 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[music] And if you use the code grainydays at checkout, you can get 10% off your first purchase. >> But the camera itself is a box. Are there those you can't you you just can't let go sell whatever? >> Yeah, definitely. It's like being a cowboy, you know, on the on the western frontier and having your favorite horse. I was actually thinking about this the other day. If I had to get rid of all my cameras, there's one I wouldn't get rid of and [music] it's the the titanium like M6. Yeah, it's just it's one of those cameras that I'll forever I'll forever keep, you know, it's it's going to be buried with me one day. It was an incredible feeling to have my freshly oiled down M6 in hand for this one. Not because it's once again, you know, functioning at a level only seen before when it left the factory, but because it's >> [music] >> kind of the end of a long road I've been on with it. This camera is a legacy camera for me personally. It's my main workhorse. I made the pilgrimage to Wetzlar itself to have it engraved and it even started snowing after the work was done. Every time I look down at that engraving, I think of, you know, my family being together out there abroad with me in Wetzlar for my mom's birthday. Now [music] with this brown leather completing the look that I can only describe as a blatant rip-off of the Hermes edition, I can now [music] stop daydreaming about modifying camera until the ends of the earth. Even if everything, you know, >> [music] >> goes down the drain and gets so bad a plumber even refuses to fix it, I'll never get rid of this camera. It's completed to me. But realistically with photo days with the, you know, kind of light that Chris and I had that evening, I was reminded why I do this. It sounds corny as hell, but yeah, it's true. It's ultimately not because of the gear, but more so because when the light touches down and you get that shot that hits perfectly on celluloid, it's a special feeling. It's better than drugs, probably. I don't know. I haven't yet tried all of them.