Why I choose Leica

Let’s agree that a camera is just a tool to create an image. There are many, and their strengths differ. Some feel good in my hand and not so good in yours. The camera (tool) you choose is a personal choice and as long as it gets you what you want then it’s silly to argue against it. 

With that out of the way I’ll explain my personal choice for those that are looking to buy into rangefinders in general and Leicas more specifically. I’ll go point by point but in no specific order. First, I use Leica M’s for my street photography. I have an M3 from the late 1950’s which I don’t use nearly as much anymore due to the outrageous cost of film and the subsequent costs in time and money of the development and scanning. I love film (I started when it was the only option) but I use it rarely these days. I also have an M10P and an M10 Monochrom. 

The rangefinder experience is really the make or break feature of the Leica M’s. Looking through the viewfinder is nothing at all like SLR’s or modern mirrorless cameras. What you see is not what you get. No matter what lens you put on the camera, the view doesn’t change. It’s the same whether or not it's a 21mm or a 135mm lens. In order to frame your subject correctly, a set of framelines appears in the viewfinder that corresponds to the lens you have mounted. Why I like that is that it allows you to see more than your lens sees and therefore allows you to see what’s happening just outside of the frame. It helps to anticipate action. You know if someone or something is about to enter and you can anticipate where in the image you want that subject to be before you activate the shutter. The performance cost of course is that since you are using just a portion of the finder for the lens, the frame lines are smaller for each progressively larger focal length. It gets pretty small when you are at the far end of the built in lens frame spectrum (135mm). If I were using long lenses a lot then I likely wouldn’t be in love with rangefinder based cameras.

My favorite part of the rangefinder window, which can be found similarly in the Fuji x100 and XPRO series is that everything appears in focus regardless of whether or not the lens is actually focused and it doesn’t indicate the depth of field in any way. Why this is a benefit is that it really makes you take notice of your composition. With an SLR you typically see the view as if it were at maximum aperture and depending on the subject, and the lens choice (everyone lusts after the widest apertures in order to blowout any and all backgrounds and therefore not really worry about what’s in the scene. It’s an easy trick. It’s also a potentially boring trap that I fell into for a really long time. It’s a one trick pony as they say. When you start to compose as if everything is there and in focus then you start to choose more interesting/more complex compositions and your choice of aperture becomes an additional component to your image and not the sole determining factor that it so often seems is the case with so many photographers. To throw myself into the mix, one of my best friends used to joke with me and remind me that there were other aperture choices on my lens. I left it open wide all the time. I feel personally that once I learned to compose as if everything were visible and focused I became a better photographer. It opened a new compositional realm to me. As an illustration to the point (not me becoming better), if you look back at the most famous photos in history and nearly all Pulitzer prize winning photos, very few out of the overall group were shot wide open. There is a great amount of depth of field. The compositions were carefully chosen and the resulting images went on to be remembered by us all. That doesn’t mean everything has to be shot at f8 or higher. It just means that even the softer focused parts of the image will be arranged more carefully and contribute when possible.

Now as far as focussing goes, it just takes getting used to. It’s manual as I mentioned earlier. In the center of the viewfinder there is a small rectangular patch which is brighter than the rest of the window. In order to focus, you place the bright patch on the object you want to focus on. As you turn the focusing ring, you’ll begin to see a ghost image of what you are trying to focus on and start moving toward the center of the patch. To achieve focus, you place the ghost image on top of the object you are focusing on until the two appear sharp and perfectly lined up with each other. It gets easy with practice. A serious benefit with this method of focussing is how low the light can be and you can still focus with no problem. I’ve quickly focused a Leica in a dark room that gave my auto focus Sony A73 trouble (with a fast lens).

Another thing that isn’t a benefit or a feature but is real none the less is how good they look and feel. There is something that goes even beyond that. Something that just calls to you to use one. To carry it everywhere while your lage lensed dSLR or simple SLR for that matter, stay at home, in the bag. Part of it of course has to be the history of them. The amazing photographs made by historic photographers in all kinds of situations and various genres. If they did it, I want to as well. I’ll reiterate what I said in the beginning, cameras are tools. I choose to use the one that makes me happy. I can get results out of lots of different cameras. There is no perfect camera, just the camera that’s perfect for you. For me that’s my Leica(s). For others it is not and I am happy if they are happy. 

Regardless of the system you are thinking of switching from or adding to, there is a learning curve. It requires more thought and in the beginning that will hinder you. Like driving a car. Until you've got some miles out of it you're not really comfortable and therefore you can’t get the best performance out of it. Use it awhile and without really noticing, you start to do things more intuitively and suddenly the performance potential is realized and you are not looking back.

I get nothing for saying any of this other than satisfaction if it helps anyone make a decision one way or the other.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I’m happy to share what I’ve learned over the course of a long life and career with cameras.

Why I use Leica

First things first. A camera is a tool. A particular camera doesn’t make you a better photographer just by using it. 

I do think certain aspects of various cameras provide benefits for the photographer using them but only if you actually need it. For instance, great low light ability is wonderful for me but fairly useless for someone who has chosen to only shoot landscapes in the daylight. 

Now with that out of the way, let me tell you a story.

I’ve been photographing since I was a kid. I’ve been a professional photographer since maybe my early/mid 20’s back in the 90’s. I started with Pentax, moved to Canon for a long time and then switched to Sony for technical reasons at the time which have now been addressed by Canon (too late for me though). 

For most of my adult life I’ve been drawn to the masters of street and documentary photography. Many (not all) used Leica rangefinder cameras for their work. It piqued my interest but I was happy with my camera(s) and I couldn’t justify the price for what I was doing (and getting paid at the time). 

I began shooting more street photography as personal work to keep my head clear and my love of photography intact. With that, I began to crave a Leica again.

This time I had more reason but I still wasn’t being paid for it. It was personal. 

I found a wonderful alternative. I bought a brand new Zeiss Ikon and a 50mm lens (which happens to have the same mount as the Leica M). It was great. I learned everything I needed to know about rangefinders and I didn’t break the bank. 

That said, I still kept looking at Leicas. One day in a camera store in Scottsdale, AZ I had my Ikon over my shoulder and struck up a conversation with a photographer who worked there. He had an M6 and wondered why I had bought a new Zeiss. I told him all the wonderful things about my new love and he told me, you're going to buy a Leica eventually so why not start now (he wasn’t trying to sell me one either).  

I think I told him he was wrong and that I’m more pragmatic. He was right though. There is something magical (because I can’t fully explain it) about a Leica M. From the look to the feel and of course the lineage. 

Would the old masters that I looked up to use one now when there are so many choices? Who knows. They would use whatever made them happy the same way that I do. 

I have used many different systems and shot all sorts of things in my lifetime. I have bonded with many cameras and not others (I’m looking at you Sony) but nothing has really ever made me just feel as happy to hold (talking cameras here) as a Leica. 

I have 3 at the moment, an M3, M10P and an M10M. I don’t see needing another for a long time (or ever) since they are so good now and built so well. Who knows though. They are like beautiful watches and cool old cars. I’m not a collector of anything. I only buy things I want to use. I use the M10s daily. More than any camera I’ve ever had. One of them is with me everywhere.