I was just wondering if anyone's using their leicas. I haven't been using mine since I got a digital camera (I know...). I need inspiration to get back in to it. Any ideas?
How satified are you with digital images of fall scenics? Wonder why each leaf magnified looks like Trix breakfast cereal and not like a leaf. Here's the perfect opportunity to dust off the old film camera and reconnect with why film still rules.
If you were bored with your Leica, then you are not a Leica Photographer, or you would have purchased a Leica Digital Camera. When you shoot with a Leica, you should feel the heritage that comes with every Leica, Capa, Bresson, Smith, Gibson, Brassi, Eugene Richards, Robert Frank et. Every time I load my Leica with film, I sense a journey of visual excitment.....
There is certainly something to be said for the instant gratification of digital images... but I still carry my M6 around my shoulder every day. I'm going halfway into the Leica digital age, I shoot film and then scan the negatives. With the outstanding inkjet printers, I'm using the Epson 2200, I find I get the best of the both worlds... the Best camera and being able to make prints without getting my hands wet!
Reviews of the M8 seem somewhat mixed so I'm not ready to jump in to the Leica digital age, I'm using a Canon 40d when I need it.
i recently purchased the Panasonic DMC-L1K DSLR...it comes with a Leica lens. i love it and am having a great time using it. i also have a smaller Panny digital camera with Leica optics that i use. but i highly recommend you read about the DMC-L1K and check it out. you can also use Leica R type lenses with an adapter!
I just purchased a Leica M4-P and absolutely LOVE it! I also own a Nikon D70s; Nikon F2S; Bronica ETRS X 2; Canon P; Voigtlander R2 and other 35mm cameras. The others are sitting on shelves, unused. Yes, I occasionally use the Voigtlander R2 and digital Nikon D70s but the Leica is by far my favorite - not because it is new to me but because of the precision build. And I, too, as another respondent stated, feel as though I'm amongst photographic history and great photographers when I use my M4-P. I might also mention that my first camera was a loaner from a family friend, in 1968, a Leica IIIf - too bad I didn't have it for more than a few months. Yet it did start me on my journey into photography...
The Leica is truly a great camera but I feel it's time has come and gone. I love taking the M bodies and winding it and releasing the shutter, moving the aperature ring and feeling those buttery smooth workings. But Leica has fallen way behind the times in autofocus and other features. Maybe when I retire and have more time I will take them out and use them but then again ebay may be tempting so I can add a new studio light and take great portraits with my Nikon and Contax.
I am nearly all digital now but the Leica M4-P and Summaron 35/2.8 still see action every month or so. It is a pleasure to ditch the batteries and rely on my basic instinct for exposure and scale focusing. I still hit 36/36 of the prints and the quality still holds up to my Nikon D2X and others. I'll use it until the EPA closes down the last of the minilabs...
I still use my film Leica's...all 8 of them. Leicaflex standard, Leicaflex SL, Leicaflex SL2, R5, R8, R9, M3, M6 Classic. For the R8 and R9 I switch either one to digital with the Digital Modul - R when I want to shoot digital. The R8 when I don't need flash assist and the R9 otherwise...it allows High Speed Sync (greater than 250th /sec.) The big difference I see in film versus digital is that digital allows me to enlarge and print at higher repro ratios than scanned negatives do, especially for bird photography which often requires major cropping. But for full frame printing I don't think digital can touch film for natural color and depth especially when printing in a darkroom. For black and white work there is no question in my mind that film still rules...especially when it's done with a Leica rangefinder and Leica glass.
I do have M6 with me all the time and take pictures often. Not that many as I used to with Nikon D2H, but you can't really carry D2H around every day.
I develop and scan color film @ Costco and re-scan (with higher resolution) selected frames at home with a film scanner. Black-and-white processing I do at home.
I also have a tiny Canon SD400 point-and-shoot with me all the time for occasions when I'm lazy to take M6 out of the bag and don't care much about the image quality. It's a good kind of a visual note-taking tool.
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