The power of the simplest camera

[radiant]

I agree that a simple mechanical camera is the best!!! The pocketable aspect is less important to me, I prefer an SLR, but do have a number of rangefinders that I have acquired over the r=years. The best camera is always whatever you have and shoot with!!!

That is why I carry really small point and shoot in my jacket. It is always with me, loaded with film. Rangefinders and SLRs are too big for this purpose.

 

[Mike Lopez]

Well give him credit. He came to the point.

I don’t know. He didn’t take very much time to consider the question, and I thought his response came a bit prematurely.

 

[WilmaD]

Leica is a simple camera?

 

[Europan]

A simple camera looks like that.

Just 16 frames per second. No explicit single-frame function. You can rewind the spring during a take, thus prolong indefinitely. A feeler tells something about how much film is left on the 50-ft. spool. Newton two-glass finder. The GIC was made for 16-mm. and for Double-Eight film as well.

The 9.5mm format will turn 100 years this December.

 

[NB23]

Leica is a simple camera?

you betcha.

 

[Huss]

Leica is a simple camera?

All you need to know

 

[awty]

It was in mint condition, hardly ever used. Collector grade, Huge find!

And last month I found a IIIg, mint collector, I even ask myself if it was ever used at all. And the price was half market value.

I’ll use them a lot.

Good, it's a travesty not to use such a fine camera, it's not likely you will wear it out, well not in one lifetime.
My slightly younger iiib has been well used, I wonder how many times its changed hands or was it just one hand that used it so often, the shutter button is heavily warn, has a slight woble, but everything works fine as the day it left the factory 84 years ago.

 

[NB23]

Good, it's a travesty not to use such a fine camera, it's not likely you will wear it out, well not in one lifetime.
My slightly younger iiib has been well used, I wonder how many times its changed hands or was it just one hand that used it so often, the shutter button is heavily warn, has a slight woble, but everything works fine as the day it left the factory 84 years ago.

View attachment 296215

One just doesn’t wear out a Leica.
Leica wears you out.

I’d like to see the finger/s that wore out the shutter button on your Leica: probably worn out with a dead, green dryed nail.

 

[WilmaD]

you betcha.

Leica needs user interaction, focusing, picking fstop and shutter, not point shoot. Leica is unsimple.

 

[Don_ih]

Leica needs user interaction, focusing, picking fstop and shutter, not point shoot. Leica is unsimple.

That is what is required to get a photo as good as it can be: focus the lens, set the exposure, compose, take the picture. That is simplicity in functionality. It doesn't provide you with anything else.
A view camera is equally simple but with the added functionality of movements. Added functions that remain under your control and more fully enable the realization of your image without usurping your knowledge don't make a device more complex. They make it more complete.
Photography is something done by the photographer.

 

[AZD]

Obviously everyone has a different take on “as simple as possible”, hence a range of solutions. I’ve been thinking about this lately, but from the perspective of “no more complicated than necessary”. It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of assembling a kit that can do anything, any time, anywhere. You end up pretending you’re going to visit the Arctic and the Sahara all in the same trip, taking portraits, wildlife shots, landscapes, macro, etc. Pretty soon you have more than you can carry and too many competing visions.

Then I look at my favorite pictures… 90% with a normal lens, the others with wide or short tele. Some brand of 100 to 400 speed black and white. Good lighting. Neither in the Arctic nor the Sahara. I’ve been making this all too complicated lately.

 

[NB23]

Obviously everyone has a different take on “as simple as possible”, hence a range of solutions. I’ve been thinking about this lately, but from the perspective of “no more complicated than necessary”. It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of assembling a kit that can do anything, any time, anywhere. You end up pretending you’re going to visit the Arctic and the Sahara all in the same trip, taking portraits, wildlife shots, landscapes, macro, etc. Pretty soon you have more than you can carry and too many competing visions.

Then I look at my favorite pictures… 90% with a normal lens, the others with wide or short tele. Some brand of 100 to 400 speed black and white. Good lighting. Neither in the Arctic nor the Sahara. I’ve been making this all too complicated lately.

A barnack, Leica M with the simplest lens, or a Rolleicord (with a proper focusing screen). Incredible how they make every Outing a serene experience.
SERENITY NOW.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Leica needs user interaction, focusing, picking fstop and shutter, not point shoot. Leica is unsimple.

And that is exactly what makes it simple. No automation. No electronics.

 

[Sirius Glass]

A barnack, Leica M with the simplest lens, or a Rolleicord (with a proper focusing screen). Incredible how they make every Outing a serene experience.
SERENITY NOW.

You forgot the Hasselblad V Series.

 

[AZD]

A barnack, Leica M with the simplest lens, or a Rolleicord (with a proper focusing screen). Incredible how they make every Outing a serene experience.
SERENITY NOW.

Yeah, there’s some truth in that for sure. Whatever the camera, being familiar with it and reducing the number of unknown variables is a good idea.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Yeah, there’s some truth in that for sure. Whatever the camera, being familiar with it and reducing the number of unknown variables is a good idea.

So now you are recommending a box camera?

 

[Don_ih]

So now you are recommending a box camera?

Ah, but you're not a real photographer if you can't get a good photo using a box camera....

 

[ic-racer]

Referring to the cellphone I assume?

Is a cellphone a 'camera?' Is there anything mechanical in it? So, no.

 

[AZD]

So now you are recommending a box camera?

Well, not exactly. Reducing unknown variables is not the same as reducing overall complexity. Rather, it is becoming proficient at understanding and controlling each part of the process, whatever it is. My personal take is that once your equipment begins to get in the way, you are unlikely to achieve consistent results. The point at which this happens will vary wildly among photographers.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Ah, but you're not a real photographer if you can't get a good photo using a box camera....

Like a Hasselblad, Rollei 6000, Bronica?

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Is a cellphone a 'camera?' Is there anything mechanical in it? So, no.

Anything that records an image is a camera.

 

[Don_ih]

Like a Hasselblad, Rollei 6000, Bronica? View attachment 296258

Sure - all of those. Just replace the lens with a miniscus. Cut out some cardboard circles as aperture stops.

 

[(f)leef]

Leica needs user interaction, focusing, picking fstop and shutter, not point shoot. Leica is unsimple.

I agree 100%

And that is exactly what makes it simple. No automation. No electronics.

That does not mean simple, it just means it is not electronics, simple is a lightproof box with a lens and shutter, like a Holga, Brownie, Argus FA or something similar.

Anything that records an image is a camera.

Ah, but you're not a real photographer if you can't get a good photo using a box camera....

I agree 200%

 

[Huss]

Ah, but you're not a real photographer if you can't get a good photo using a box camera....

Kodak Brownie #2: