I shoot Leica because
My Leica cameras with some of the lenses I use and my Minolta IVf light meter
If you want to buy an M Leica (or Messsucher / rangefinder Leica) because it is fashionable, a great accessory like an expensive watch, then I have to disappoint you. If that is your fancy than you landed on the wrong page, sorry.
When you got here out of curiosity you probably already have some experience with Sony or Nikon or Canon digital do-it-all computerized cameras, maybe even dared yourself to work with medium format Hasselblads or the big Fujis. Oh dear, you spent a lot of money and are probably not entirely satisfied with the experience. That is strange, is it not? These cameras can do everything, can’t they?
Or maybe you discovered film as your medium, with its beautiful tonal range, the glorious detail in the light and dark parts of your picture. Maybe you started out with some affordable gear and the results surprised you, this was good! But what is it about this ‘Leica’ thing they keep talking about? Why do people spend such ridiculous amounts of money for those old fashioned cameras and those outdated lenses?
Let’s find out.
Slow Down?
Do you want to ‘slow down’, do you feel overwhelmed by the point-and-rattle mentality of many digital shooters, imposed by the camera designs?
Then I have to disappoint you, a Messsucher Leica (I wil refer to it as Leica from now on) wil not slow you down.
All unknown camera systems will ‘slow you down’ at first. You wil have to learn how to operate the new system with its options and its settings and that can take a while.
Leica cameras are basic in operation, they are simple to operate and if you master the technique you will be able to shoot faster and more predictable than when you use one of those digital computerized cameras. You just have to learn how to do that and that can take time, especially if you come from a digital world. And all that learning wil slow you down for sure.
Predicting the future
All photography is about predicting the future. When something interesting happens you and your camera must be ready to capture the unfolding event at exactly the right moment. That means that you wil have to prepare the camera before you see the picture coming, in ‘idle time’ so to speak. When the actual picture opportunity presents itself you have only time to make the photograph. The camera must be ready, if possible in front of you eye already.
Even computerized modern cameras can not decide what they are supposed to do for themselves, although the designers added all possible options, computerized the operation and offer the operator a multitude of intrusive choices. For scene x you need setting A unless D1 is applicable and in that case you need option X1. Something like that. These cameras are supposed to be omnipotent but lost the bare photographic necessities somewhere along the way.
The photographer should be in control instead of the camera.
Simplicity
This computerized do-it-all camera’s complexity does not make sense. The mechanics of photography are very simple: technically, we want the photograph to be wel exposed and in focus. Or not, if we choose so.
In other words, to make a technically correct photograph you must allow the right amount of light to reach the sensor or film and you need to focus the lens to the distance to the subject. You don’t need those combined settings to reach that simple goal.
I discussed the magic of exposing a sensor or film in this blog, Getting it right the first time.
Focussing a lens is a very simple process in ‘normal’ circumstances, you can read more about that in this blog, Focus. The only exception would be the usage of long lenses, in that case focusing needs the help that autofocus can provide.
Most modern digital cameras are not simple. They lost the basic features that a user needs. They lost simplicity, the camera ‘gets in the way’ as we say. This complexity creates a barrier between the photographer and the photograph.
The user lost all control about what the camera is doing, lost the ability to decide what is happening with those basic elements, exposure and focus. We surrendered our photographic soul to the camera.
A camera is no more than a light tight box with a hole in it. And in that hole we attach a lens to transfer our subjects reflection into the box. That is it. Everything else is there to hide the incompetence of the photographer. We don’t even need a viewfinder. You can see the subject, can’t you? You can make a perfectly fine picture without looking through any viewfinder. It might even work a lot better and much more 1-1 without a viewfinder. Why do we need all these automated functions and settings?
Some cameras are very big compared to the sensor format used to record the image. A tiny sensor in a big box.
Automated functions can be very beneficial for a photographer, but only when used with the full understanding of what the automation actually does.
Most users of digital cameras do not trust all this automation. They tend to check the viewfinder after every photograph. Did the autofocus work? Did it expose all right? Did I ‘catch’ the right moment? The ultimate ‘incompetence option’ on cameras is the option for burst shooting, taking dozens of frames per second. If the photographer can not catch the richt moment, maybe the camera can.
Functionality hides defects
Extra functionality usually hide defects in camera design. Auto focus does not work very good so we invent ‘subject types’ for pre-selection because the camera can not do that. We add the option to ‘freeze’ the auto exposure because the camera can not expose correct all by itself. etc. etc. Don’t be fooled, most options are not for ease of use but because functions do not perform as advertised.
Daunting
For the novice photographer a lack of automation can be frightening. The automated camera seems to know what to do, even when the photographer does not. The photographer ‘makes’ nice photographs with such a tool. Or not? And what if the result is not what the photographer had in mind?
Why do these cameras have al these settings and options? Because the real world presents us with a complex photographic reality where choices have to be made. We are made to believe that an expensive camera can make these choices for us.
But these technical choices wil support the creative process and should not be assigned to the camera but should be applied by the photographer. See the blog Getting it right the first time.
The basic photographic techniques are simple. Finding the right exposure is not difficult and, spoiler alert, a camera can not do this for you. A camera can only estimate an interpretation of a scene and try to propose a correct exposure. A camera finds focussing extremely difficult, we have to tell the system what it is actually looking at. Sports? vehicles? animals? The photographer knows but has to inform the camera before any photograph can be made. That seems counter intuitive. When the photographer knows, why not set the focus directly without involving the camera’s automation?
Zone focussing
This important technique is discussed in the blog Focus. In short, it means that you use the depth-of-field to create a specific zone in your picture that wil be in focus, e.g. using a setting where a ‘zone’ between 2 and 5 meters wil be in focus.
Using zone focussing means that you can concentrate on your subject and don’t have to manage the focussing of the lens. But that can also mean that your lens is at e.g. 3 meters while the subjects in your picture are located at other distances. With a camera that builds the viewfinder image on a focussing screen (or by using the sensor) through the lens, like most mirrorless and single lens reflex cameras, these objects can be difficult to observe when the zone focussing technique is used. With these cameras the subject may seem partially out-of-focus while they wil be perfectly in focus in the actual photograph.
The actual event
In documentary photography we are usually photographing an event, something that is happening. A good photograph tels a story, makes you think. The photographer creates a relation between objects in the frame.
In order to do that we need to see what all these objects in the frame are doing. This is the main reason that the rangefinder camera is used for documentary photography.
Range finder is actually not the correct name for this type of camera. What we mean is a camera that is equipped with a separate viewfinder, in other words with a viewfinder that does not use the main lens of the camera to view the subject in front of the camera. The fact that there is a rangefinder in the viewfinder is not relevant for this unobstructed and continuous observation of the subject.
Back to the roots
One camera brand has understood the basic needs of photographers for decades. They invented the 35mm camera, what is nowadays called ‘full frame’, the documentary photography camera as we know it. They marketed their first product in the 1920’s and modernized this camera concept in 1954. We are talking about Leitz. They produce the Leitz Camera, the Leica. Basic to the core. Nowadays Leica calls this design philosophy ‘Das Wesentliche’ .
These days the Leica M camera is the only new camera that offers the photographer these basic settings without any distraction. The photographer chooses the aperture and the shutter speed. The photographer sets the right focussing distance on the lens. No more, no less. The photographer is in control instead of the camera deciding on what to do. The photographer ‘makes’ the photograph.
Many older film cameras are just as basic and provide only ‘das wesentliche’. But we need a rangefinder viewer type to be able to see the entire scene that we want to capture. A camera that uses a ground glass is by definition selective in the projection of the scene in front of us.
Leica M
Al this made me select the only camera left on the market that can do all this without any additional bells and whistles. I want to be in total control of what is happening with the technique when I make a photograph. I don’t want a camera that decides for me because I have no time to check if those camera decisions are actually right. Is the exposure correct? Is the focus correct? Answering those questions takes time and distracts from the actual photography. We can set the exposure before we make the photograph. We can make basic decisions about the focussing distance beforehand.
I want to have as much control over the events in my picture frame as possible. I want to decide when to push the shutter button, when to ‘take’ the moment and preserve it on my photographic medium, film or sensor.
In my world, I do not need a camera with functionality that I don’t use and don’t want to remember.
Why all these auto focus options and modes? Why can it not just work? I should activate auto focus and, voilà, the lens should focus on it’s own, correct every time. All these extra selections and modes just mean that the implementation by the manufacturer is flawed.
Auto focus on the Nikon F4 worked for me and so did the dials to set your main settings. I did not have to think about menues or modes, I could just photograph.
After that it went down-hill fast with these SLR and mirrorless models.
So, in the end there was no other choice for me then the Leica rangefinder cameras. Not because of the build quality, although much appreciated. Not because of the brand allure which I don’t like at all. This is a camera that gets out of my way again, just like almost all models and brands I used in the analogue days.
Unobstructed viewfinder
The Leica M viewfinder. From the Leica brochure ‘Leica M-system’
The Leica M cameras have a look-through viewfinder. As explained previously, they do not use the lens that creates the actual photograph to view the subject.
Everything that you see in this viewfinder is sharp. You wil only see some lines that indicate the field of view for some specific lenses, in the example you see frames for the 50mm and 75 mm lenses.
In the center you can see the rangefinder patch that is used to focus the lens.
This is all very different compared to the viewfinder image that is produced by a (D)SLR or mirrorless camera.
In these type of viewfinders you see everything that is happening in front of the camera. You can see immediately how subjects relate to each other and how they interact. You can zone focus without any problem, nothing is unsharp in the viewfinder, you can concentrate on the (inter)action between the subjects in the frame and even outside the frame.
You do not see if your lens is in focus or not. For that you will have to use the rangefinder patch in the centre. You will have to guess how the different objects in your frame wil be ‘drawn’ by the lens you use, the perspective is not shown.
It requires experience to predict how the final photograph wil look and what the perspective between objects wil be.
Open face
And another important aspect of the Leica is the location of the viewfinder on the edge of the camerabody.
When looking through the viewfinder using the right eye the camera does not hide the photographers face. People react very positively to this phenomenon, somehow they seem not to feel ‘photographed’, especially when you try to be fast, take the picture and remove the camera from your eye again. You preserve the full contact with the people that you photograph.
Most Leica’s shutters are very silent, mine are, people hardly notice that you take a picture.
Prepare your settings, guess the correct focussing distance, then -at the right moment- bring the camera to your eye. Adjust focus if needed, click. And down with the camera again.
No intrusion, no motordrive, no autofocus noise, no covered face, no hiding behind the camera. You can stay in contact with your subject.
Warning
I have to warn everyone who wants to start using Leica ‘Messucher’ (M) cameras.
M cameras are very difficult to use. You wil need a lot of experience with general photography to handle the lack of information that the viewfinder provides. You wil have no visual information about the perspective that a specific lens wil produce, the difference between a wide angle lens and a tele lens is not distinguishable. Zoom lenses can not be used with Leica M cameras.
Focussing with the range finder is very different compared to manually focussing reflex cameras or compared to using manual focus on a generic mirrorless camera. There is no auto focus. Depth of field is not visible in the viewfinder, you just have to ‘know’ how your aperture setting affects your photograph.
The viewfinder does not even let you know if you have removed your lens cap or not.
The metering system, if available, differs between many M models and can require some experimenting to master. Auto exposure, if available, gives mixed results when used ‘just like that’.
You wil pay a vast amount of money for a camera that is not very usable and is designed for a very particular use: photographing people, documentary photography. But it excels in that area and is só good for that type of photography that there are no alternatives.
Once mastered, the Leica M camera is addictive. If you understand and appreciate its idiosyncrasies you wil be spoiled for life. That can be a very expensive addiction. But the path to mastering a Leica M can prove to be a very long road indeed and not everybody reaches the destination.
It is just a tool
Having said all that we have to remember that a Leica is just a tool to do a job. I created very satisfying photographs with Nikon, Asahi Pentax, Linhof, Mamiya, Fuji, Hasselblad, Rolleiflex, Minox, Olympus … and I probably forget a few.
It is the photographer that makes the photograph, the camera is just a box that contains the light sensitive recording device.
But we can have our preferences.