How do you carry your Leica?

BradS · Jun 5, 2019

Do you wear it around your neck/shoulder on a strap? - which one?
Carry it in a bag? - which one and why?
Death grip the bare metal? - do you also carry a handheld meter - how do you manage?

How do you carry your Leica?

Pieter12 · Jun 5, 2019

My M5 is usually carried in a should bag along with a second lens and film. When shooting, I prefer a wrist strap.

Cholentpot · Jun 5, 2019

With a wish...

Honestly I'm looking for a fully functioning beater of a Leica. I want to shoot with a camera not baby it.

choiliefan · Jun 5, 2019

Leica IIIC with Summar and Voigtlander VC meter in the shoe, all hanging on a leather/cloth neck strap.

Ko.Fe. · Jun 5, 2019

Any camera I use has neck strap.
With film Leicas I also use eveready half case or modified to half case.
If I can't take pictures, it is the bag.

Meter is in the phone, unused. Handheld stays at home most of the time as well.

R.Gould · Jun 5, 2019

Leica IIIc or IIIf, leazther strap around my neck 50mm folding lens attached, with a turret viewfinder attached, other lenses, in a shoulder bag, and one of my Westos master meters also around my neck

bdial · Jun 5, 2019

With any of my cameras I generally keep it in a bag on my shoulder until I'm ready to make a picture. For the Leica and similar small cameras, the bag is a small military satchel I found in an antique shop, not sure of its original purpose.
Occasionally I go bag-less, and generally hang the camera on my shoulder with the neck strap.

guangong · Jun 5, 2019

I suppose my habits are erratic. Screw mount cameras are either slipped into a Leica leather pouch while resting in my jacket pocket, or rest on chest with a neck strap and sometimes in my shoulder bag. With M cameras, including M5, hanging from neck, sometimes in case, sometimes not. Whether with or without case, a shoulder strap is precarious for a relative massive piece of equipment like a Leica.
The pouches were made with the kind of springy mouth resembling some sunglass cases, only bigger...to protect camera from pocket lint.

jim10219 · Jun 5, 2019

I use Timothy (pronounced Teemoh-Tay) for that. He carries it in his cotton gloved hands until I desire a shot. Though, I have no idea how he manages that when he's on rickshaw duty carting me through my private forest, as I am too engaged in the scenery to be bothered with his procedures. I shall ask one of the maids to remind me to inquire how he does it when next I draw on his services.

Hatchetman · Jun 5, 2019

I wear the strap like a sling so the weight is on my shoulder but it couldn't fall off. Just around my neck is too damn heavy and liable to swing and bang into things.

Ballinderry-Michael · Jun 5, 2019

Leica IIIf, Cultured Kiwi neck-strap, unadjustable: Leica R6.2, ditto. IIIf kit, Lowepro backpack: R6.2 kit, Lowepro shoulder bag. Cameras go into the bags if there's too much rain.

film_man · Jun 5, 2019

Peak Design Slide strap for my M4 (and all the other cameras too). If it has to go in a bag it's a Peak Design messenger 13 or their 20l backpack.

darkosaric · Jun 5, 2019

BradS said:
How do you carry your Leica?

The same as Nikon and other cameras: no name strap, in no name bag. It gets no extra attention, it gets scratched, dirty ... it is for heavy use, just like any other camera.

LeftCoastKid · Jun 5, 2019

Both my M6s came with leather neck straps; they serve their purpose, so I've felt no need to switch either. My M4 and M4P bodies have wrist straps, purchased from a Washington State-based advertiser to this site. Bag-wise, if I'm going out with more than a 50mm 'Lux or 'Cron, I use a baby Billingham that fits my 28mm, 90mm, and a body with a 50mm lens. Meter-wise, I use, for periodic reference, a Gossen SBC, given to me by my parents for Christmas, years ago,

craigclu · Jun 5, 2019

I stumbled into a compact solution. What looks to be too small for this is the Billingham Hadley Digital. I keep a Leicatime case and strap on the camera (M6) and when I need to, I can carry a ZM 35 mounted, a 28 ZM, a 50 ZM and an Elmarit-M 90. It also has room for a flash, batteries and film. To look at it, one would never guess that it would all easily fit as it does. This the nylon version, so it's much more pliable than the canvas versions. The lenses all have soft, protective pouches so I don't feel like I'm beating them up with this method. I had the case for another duty and would have never thought to order one and have it work as well as it does.

removed account4 · Jun 5, 2019

in a sac but when i use it, serpentine around the neck .. i use the onboard meter ( sunny 16 )

Theo Sulphate · Jun 5, 2019

jim10219 said:
... I shall ask one of the maids to remind me to inquire how he does it when next I draw on his services.

Surely in that situation the camera is carried by the flank attendant, who is also the gun bearer carrying your Howdah pistol.

I use this small pouch, shown here next to a ZeroImage 2000; the pouch has belt loops.

awty · Jun 5, 2019

In the nude, always an reaction.

summicron1 · Jun 5, 2019

Generally on its own strap on my shoulder. Nothing fancy. A small Swiss army gas mask bag s enough for a cupla lenses, a meter, an energy bar. For trips I use a backpack bag of some sort.

But for rambling shooting, less is more. And I don’t baby it. Leica are tool that need use.

mshchem · Jun 5, 2019

Tamrac strap, around my neck.

removed account4 · Jun 5, 2019

jim10219 said:
I use Timothy (pronounced Teemoh-Tay) for that. He carries it in his cotton gloved hands until I desire a shot. Though, I have no idea how he manages that when he's on rickshaw duty carting me through my private forest, as I am too engaged in the scenery to be bothered with his procedures. I shall ask one of the maids to remind me to inquire how he does it when next I draw on his services.

I have a feeling Timothy knows my former Butler, Jeeves who was trained at the Institute Benjamenta. When I was laid up after The War in an Iron Lung Jeeves helped me with my photography. He devised an elaborate set of mirrors so I could see the ground glass on the 11x14 camera, and he used a variety of secret formulas that were for either excessively sharp or excessively grainy (nothing inbetween) negatives. Now that I am no longer n the Iron Lung, and Jeeves is no longer my butler it's not quite the same anymore. To be honest, I am quite bored.

OP if you can swing it, a Butler is definately the way to go !

Cholentpot · Jun 5, 2019

jim10219 said:
I use Timothy (pronounced Teemoh-Tay) for that. He carries it in his cotton gloved hands until I desire a shot. Though, I have no idea how he manages that when he's on rickshaw duty carting me through my private forest, as I am too engaged in the scenery to be bothered with his procedures. I shall ask one of the maids to remind me to inquire how he does it when next I draw on his services.

Ah, I see you too are a man of culture.

Do you perhaps listen to the motor drive in the quite of the midnight with no sound to disturb you? I find the help tends to be clumsy and heavy of foot.

MattKing · Jun 6, 2019

awty said:
In the nude, always an reaction.

View attachment 224740

Rangefinders are so much better when it is absolutely necessary to always remain completely aware of your surroundings even while composing your photos.

Bill Burk · Jun 6, 2019

Love the reaction awty...

I've got an Asahi Pentax neckstrap on my user M2. When idly carrying the strap is over my head, under my left arm and camera rests halfway around my back... When I am anxious to be ready for a grab shot, I wrap the strap a few times around my hand and hold the camera in my right hand.

The lightmeter in this case is probably the Sekonic TwinMate around my neck. I've already used the meter in sun and shade and set the camera for sun (remembering the f/stop for shade), so I'm not metering each shot.

Patrick Robert James · Jun 6, 2019

I always carry small cameras bandolier style. The Leica goes on a long strap. The Hexar RF goes on a climbing sling with a split ring attached to one post. That is my preferred way of carrying but the Leica wasn't up to attaching it by only one post.

If I am actively shooting I sometimes carry the camera with one of those finger slings and without a strap. The camera gets pretty heavy after a while though.

How do you carry your Leica?

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency