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Fun with Film: images from my 60+ year old Leica M2

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Follow-up from our mini-review of the Leica M2 with Summaron-M 2.8/35 and Super Elmar-M 3.4/21, here are the photographs taken the entire Paris Geneva trip.

Fun with Film: images from my 60+ year old Leica M2

Mini Review of the Leica M2 here.

I shot almost two rolls off 135 film. The first was a fresh roll of Kodak Ultramax 400 film. Rated at ISO 400, this is Kodak’s general purpose commercial film stock. The other roll was a recently expired roll of Portra 400. Expired film is usually experimental. I took a chance at this stock, which expired in November 2024. I do not know the conditions in which the film has been kept. But Portra is Kodak’s top professional negative film, and usually very good.

Leica M2 with Summaron-M 2.8/35mm, and a box of Kodak Gold. I have not use this roll of film yet.

Both film stock prefers to be over-exposed, but 1 stop is typically considered ideal. The development and scanning was done by Konota Singapore and scaned as Base 16 using their Noritsu HS-1800 scanner.

Kodak Ultramax 400

First up, the Ultramax 400. I found the film to be quite good. And am generally happy with the results. The rendering from the Summaron-L 2.8/35mm was quite nice. I liked the subject isolation, and I shot mainly at full open aperture of f/2.8. Colour rendition of the lens and Ultramax was very pleasant. Grain was present, but it was film grain, which is organic, and adds to the vibe of the photographs.

Christian Selmoni. Louvre, Paris. September 2025.

Laurent Perves, CEO of VC. Le Meurice, Paris. September 2025.

Paris. Rooftop of Galleries Lafayette. Sept 2025.

The dome of the Galleries Lafayette, Paris.

Breakfast room which turns into 3 Michelin Star Alain Ducase restaurant by night. Leica M2 with Super-Elmar-M 21.

Same room. Same vantage point from my table at breakfast, but this time with the Summaron-M 35 instead of the wider 21mm used in the previous shot. Both were shot hand held, with my elbows braced on the table top.

Paris Opera. Rear entrance, as the front was covered with a giant tarpaulin showing what would have been visible if not for it.

Cafe outside the Louvre. I quite like the sun flare of the Summaron 35 right in the middle of the photograph. Note the bridal party.

Lex Stolk and Kristian Haagen. Gigi Restaurant, Paris. Sept 2025.

Kodak Portra 400 (Expired Nov 2024)

This image was taken in good light in Lake Geneva of the famous Jet’eau. The grains are prominent. The results were very grainy. With large, multicolour noise. Not ideal. But if looked at a sufficient distance away so that the grains were not visible, the colours were rather good. Perhaps a bad batch.

Jet’eau. Geneva, Switzerland. Sept 2025. Vertical streaks are visible on this photograph, possibly caused by the scanner.

And a look from the lake to the pier.

TGV Lyra bound for Geneva from Paris. Seen here at Gare d’Lyon, Paris.

Here are some portraits on the Portra, usually considered excellent for this style of photography.

Andrew McUtchen in the TGV carriage that took us from Paris to Geneva. Sept 2025.

The welcome at the Vacheron Constantin manufacture. VC staff were dressed in white coats and formed a “guard of honour” to welcome us. These were staffers, and though dressed like watchmakers, comprised of staff from all departments.

Inside, the staircase becomes a perpetual motion walkway for the staff, who danced to music and to choreography arranged by VC staff. What a welcome!

Inside the manufacture, the space was transformed into a funky area. Instead of the usual flat, bright lighting, it was darkened, decorated with show lighting, and with live musicians accompanying the watchmaking doing their thing.

A special building was constructed for the celebrations. Here, we are at the ground floor. With Carlos Alonso.

Marc André Deschoux and Xavier Markl. Plan-le-Ouates, Geneva. Sept 2025.

Morgan Maillard, Master Watchmaker at VC, and recently named successor to Christian Selmoni as the Heritage and Style Director. Plan-le-Ouates, Geneva. Sept 2025.

Objet at VC, with the minion watchmaker with a loupe for a head.

Leaving Geneva, I made these photographs:

Swiss aircraft. Geneva.

Geneva from the sky, onboard Swiss A320.

Concluding thoughts

Frankly the roll of the Ultramax was rather delightful. I enjoyed shooting the M2 very much, and the habit of metering with my phone before composing and focusing was quite a joy to use. The images were satisfying. And when I received the scans for the Portra back, I was quite disappointed with the graininess of the images. But looking through them again, they do have a rather organic film look.

Self Portrait. Geneva, September 2025.

And I rather enjoyed shooting with the vintage camera and with film. What do you think? Do you shoot with film? What is your set up if you do, and what is your go to film stock?

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4 Comments

  1. Fabi on

    I also shoot film. My favourite colour film is Kodak Ektar. I also really like Fuji Superia 200, but I think it is out of production, at least in Europe you can not get it anywhere.