Why I still use a Leica

[Ole]

Own the next best thing....Voigtlander R2 with a 35mm lens for $399

Same here - or at least similar: Voigtländer Bessa-L with 21mm, and a FED-2 with 50mm

 

[removed account4]

i use a m3 and lenses that belonged to my father. he bought them new and used them throughout my childhood taking family photos + slides of special occasions. i don't use it as much as i should ( probably ) but i like the idea that i am making photos with something that was handed down to me ... i guess it is a continuity thing.

oh, it takes nice pictures too

- john

 

[Woolliscroft]

Why do I still use my Leicas? They still work, why stop?

David.

 

[jvarsoke]

But tell me this: I can not afford a Leica of any sort - the closest I can come is an old Leica SLR body... but no lens. Please advise me: should I just quit? Should I give up photography?

As much of PN's Leica forum demonstrates, owning the finest camera in the world won't make your crappy snapshots and bug-zoomins into art.

And generally, the glass is more important for the image than the body. The body is just important for actually getting the image at all. That's why I like my Hexar. Summicron quality lens, 300$ price-tag.

HCB would have still be HCB, even if he was toting around a Holga.

It's the vision you can't buy.

Though I'm not sure Ansel would have been Ansel witha Holga.

 

[gnashings]

...Though I'm not sure Ansel would have been Ansel witha Holga.

Hehehehehe

 

[George Papantoniou]

I use it (when I want to make post-stamp size negs) out of respect, for it exists since 1959 (therefore for 8 years longer than myself) and still works fine. I don't work that fine, although I take care of myself better that I do of her (the M3).

As for advice for the ones that want to shoot on a lower budget, buy an old manual Yashica SLR... They're cheap and when you have the money, you'll be able to fit them Zeiss lenses...

 

[Claire Senft]

Just a thought DFC,
They way I originally read your thread and viewed your very nice photo inspired me to respond about Leica's and Holgas as photographic devices and the photos they can take and the reactions of emotions they can bring. This I thought is an interesting thread and once again presents me with an opportunity to display my ignorance. So I made a couple of responses about what I thought was the topic.

Later I was instructed about what this thread really intended. With my revised understanding I conclude that this is even a more interesting topic.
It is exrtremely worthy of discussion.

I do apologize for my misreading of the topic and making inappropriate response.

 

[df cardwell]

Aw Shucks, Claire.

Launching a thread is always interesting, especially using words like Leica and Holga !

But the cool thing is always taking pictures. And finding tools that work, for a purpose, for a given person.

As I'm doing less professional work and WORKING at rekindling my own interest in photography I see that my favorite PRO tools aren't my favorite personal tools.

Sometimes, old pro tools take on a second life. Like using my Mole Richardson quartz lights to help paint the house.

The pictures that I WANT to take now are usually personal, and insignificant. By that I mean they have no intentional importance or meaning to anyone but myself, and most of the time I have no IDEA why I take the picture at all. A normal lens is always just right, and often f/1.4 is handy. And when my eyes are tired, it is simply impossible to focus any SLR without making it a chore. SO, now I leave the old Leica laying around with an old lens and some kind of B&W film.

Happy as I can be.

So, why not an Holga? I guess because it has a slow lens, is kinda fussy, and it isn't meant to focus on a single detail. I'm certain it's a good camera for lots of folks to use to record the insignificant moments of thir life, but not for me.

Sometimes the dumb comfort that comes from having a small brick-like camera always ready is rewarding out of all proportion to what the photographer deserves.

Last October, I camped in a pasture, rising when the crows got rowdy, and while the stove heated water for coffee, I took morning snaps. Leaving the Leica on the table, under a cover, attached to a monopod. Here is a picture that came halfway through the first cup of coffee as I watched dumbstruck an early morning rainbow on Cape Breton Island.

 

[narsuitus]

I have only owned one Leica (an M1 that I used on a microscope). At the moment, I really don’t need a Leica to meet my photographic needs. However, I must admit that I have been suppressing a long-standing irrational desire to own an MP or an M6.

Please don’t tell me that resistance is futile.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Nice double rainbow! It's hard to make them pop like that in B&W, but when the light is just right...

 

[eric]

I think I'm going to cry. Half my gallery is made with a Holga
I'm going out today and buying a REAL camera!

 

[df cardwell]

Nah... just go hang out on an island for a while !

d

( your stuff is cool: love it )

 

[df cardwell]

I have only owned one Leica (an M1 that I used on a microscope). At the moment, I really don’t need a Leica to meet my photographic needs. However, I must admit that I have been suppressing a long-standing irrational desire to own an MP or an M6.

Please don’t tell me that resistance is futile.

Resistance is absolutely NOT futile.

But dragging a Research Microscope into the field... approaching futile.

Especially when you're trying to shoot flash and figure guide numbers with a Numerical Aperture.

 

[df cardwell]

Nice double rainbow! It's hard to make them pop like that in B&W, but when the light is just right...

Orangey-greeny filter.

I couldn't begin to figure the exposure so I shot one at everything.

Put the camera down and drank the coffee.

Sometimes, even a blind squirrel can find a nut.

 

[Claire Senft]

My goodness gracious us! That kind of instance coffee is hard to get locally.

I am going to resist any thought of Jackie Gleason. Hopefull am I that I can avoid saying: "How sweet it is".

Gosh, I do not think I can. How sweet it is. Your very effective instance coffee came with a special sweetner.

 

[SuzanneR]

Ever notice that the most presonal and insignificant photographs resonate with so many people? I mean, images made of everyday life can be powerful statements of the human condition, or simple a lovely photograph of a pair of hands knitting.

 

[Lee Shively]

Leicas are expensive, for sure. But I bought both my M6's used and what I paid for each of them was only a little more than what I paid new for a motorized body Nikon F2 Photomic in 1977 or 78. Since the Leicas were in nearly new condition, they seemed like bargains at the time. My Leitz lenses were all bought used--I don't own any of the current Leica lenses. I patiently waited until I could find what I wanted at a price I could afford. I also have a couple of Voigtlander lenses bought new. They are excellent and perform well enough for my purposes.

Funny thing about my attitude toward Leica--I consider it to be a very good hammer. Or saw. Or any other tool. I like using them for some types of photography because they don't scream "photographer!" People usually don't pay much attention to you when you're shooting with a Leica. Unless you're also a photographer, the Leica looks like any other compact camera.

I don't really think Leica lenses are any better than Nikkors or Canons or Minolta or what-have-you for most pictures. They're really good lenses but I don't often push lenses to their limits and shoot wide-open, which is where Leitz optics are reputed to out-perform others. The best thing about Leica lenses, for me anyway, is that they fit on the Leica rangefinder camera.

 

[firecracker]

shot with my (right) kind of a personal tool

I carry around my buddy-camera, Canon New F1 with a 17mm lens attached to it when I go take my "personal" photographs in a countryside. To get a sense of imtimacy in the environment where I grew up as a child, I've found this to be the best tool.

The lens quality is not the best (slow F4 aperture with light fall-off) among other Canon lenses, but it certainly seems to produce images the way they project my sentiments towards the subject matter.

I don't know where these photographs belong to other than myself (and my portfolio) because maybe they are just too rough and too blurry for other people. But I love them for some reason, and I cannot figure out why.

If I succeed attaching a couple of files here, you will be able to see the images. Sorry, they are straight neg-scans at this point.

 

[Arklatexian]

Love those photos. I'm a fairly new user of Leicas, mine's not quite as vintage, and Canadian made, (somewhat less collectible), and I'm so glad I took the plunge!

Somewhat less collectible, hmmmmmmmmm! If I were looking for a used Leica lens right now and had my choice of two identical lenses, one made in Canada and the other somewhere else, I would pick the Canadian. Why? Because of what I have read and the fact that the outgrowth of that plant is still making lenses for the U.S. Space program. Not as collectible? Good, maybe I could buy a superior lens for less money.......Regards!

 

[chip j]

Yeah, Leicas focus great. But how many photos by great Leica photographers are sharp?---not many.

 

[OptiKen]

I have never regretted buying a Leica nor selling it when the novelty wore off.

 

[removed account4]

Yeah, Leicas focus great. But how many photos by great Leica photographers are sharp?---not many.

most of the photographs i have seen by photographers who use leicas are sharp as nails.

 

[Ai Print]

Yeah, Leicas focus great. But how many photos by great Leica photographers are sharp?---not many.

I just got done looking at about a dozen framed silver gel 12"x18" prints that were shot by HCB in 1971 when he was artist in residence by my primary client. All of them are very sharp.

You need to maybe not post so much on interweb forums and get out more, in the real world.

 

[chip j]

Look at HCB & others in the 30s. How about Winogrand--he took WAY more Leica pics than anyone, and didn't even care to look at them--he must have just loved using the thing w/film in it.

 

[greg zinselmeier]

df, I didn't need to know why you still use a Leica. Why you do isn't really anyone's business but yours. But since you've raised the issue, what puzzles me is why you felt it necessary to justify your practice in public.

Cheers,

Dan

+1, was probably THE BEST answer ever here on APUG . . . . A+