Pregled posta

Marketing

It's been a little over a year since I took the plunge and bought my Leica M8 rangefinder. Like many photographers, I had always coveted one (my Dad also used to shoot with a Leica back in the day) and when they came out with a digital version, I just couldn't talk myself out of it anymore. This past weekend I made a bold decision, I sold my entire Canon kit. I just couldn't justify the expense of owning both camera systems and I have been wanting to add another Leica lens to my collection. Unfortunately, I just couldn't afford, or justify, having both.

The M8 is worlds apart from shooting with a DSLR. Part of the reason I wanted it, aside from the fact that it's quite simply a work of art in design and sports the infamous Leica red dot and reputation, is that I wanted to simplify and get back to the basics of photography. Although it is digital (and I am one of those photographers that have fully embraced the digital age and very rarely shoot film anymore), it is very basic: it's manual focus only, the only meter setting is average/center weighted, there are only two shutter speeds: manual and aperture priority. Truthfully, I wondered if I would be able to adjust. Boy, did I ever-to the degree that my beloved Canon 5D just sat on the shelf for most of the year. I upgraded to the 5D Mark II, and even that model couldn't spur me to put down the Leica for long. Yes, it's very expensive camera and definitely has it's quirks, but oh my gosh, the build quality, design, and the images that the Leica glass yields is well worth it.

Leica M6,
Leica 50mm f1.4 Summilux,
Kodak TriX ISO 400,
Developed in XTol 1+1 for 9min at 20C,
Scanned at 3200dpi using Epson F-3200 scanner,
Processed in CS3.

This the main Jessops camera store in my town. It was a victim of the recent rioting and looting but just a few days later it's "business as usual." Before the riots, the store had a Pentax 645 medium format digital camera displayed in a perspex cabinet and priced at Ł9999.99. It was the most expensive item in the shop. When I went in to the shop after taking this picture, the Pentax was no longer there.