leica
I started using Leica's, and specifically the MP, a little more than three years ago. And I will admit that I have wanted a Leica for many, many years. I was always fascinated by those small little rangefinders and the wonderful photographs people made with them.
Before using Leica I was a dedicated Nikon man. I still like my Nikons. I'm not about to get rid of them just because I started using Leica's, but the overall clunkyness of the SLR makes it less pleasurable to use and to carry around and generally to use.
A simple case in point is that under varying
outdoor lighten conditions I found the only way to get a decent photograph from my Nikons was to lug around a tripod. A tripod always gives
you the most stable platform from which to operate, but lugging around a tripod plus all the SLR gear gets a little old. Now I could
avoid using the tripod if I shot faster film, but the films I like, Kodak Ektachrome E100VS and Fuji Velvia are not fast films. Add in
a polarizing filter and you need a tripod. I found myself using a tripod almost all the time with my Nikons. You could always argue
that replacing my heavy Manfrotto tripod with a carbon fiber Gitzo would be a better use of my money than to buy into another camera
system.
True, using a Leica doesn't mean never having to use a tripod, but I find that I can make shots at 1/15 of a sec hand held with my MP that I never could make with my F3. The SLR with it's mirror slap just doesn't lend itself to hand held low speed shots. Not always carrying around the tripod means I am more likely to want to carry around my camera gear and make photographs.
From the moment that I got the MP I knew I was hooked. Small, simple, unobtrusive, completely manual and just a joy to use. I took this camera everywhere. The MP together with a few lenses, I had everything I needed for most of the photography I was interested in. There is something about using a Leica rangerfinder that is unlike using any other camera. It comes to your eye quickly, and the bright viewfinder allows you to focus fast. And when you press that shutter trip you hear a near silent click. I've shot in quite settings like the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery of Art (both East and West buildings) without worrying about my distrubing any of the other patrons. Try that with a motor driven SLR! The Leica rangerfinder allows the photographer to be just that, the photographer and not a part of goings on. Blending into the background, as an observer is good.
But it's true, you can't easily do everything photographically with the Leica. Something like macro photography doesn't lend itself well to the Leica rangerfinders, but I have my Nikons for that. However, for a lot of the types of photography I have been doing like landscape, architectual, and people this MP is all I need. I have never used a camera as much as I've used this MP. I have been getting out more and doing more with my hobby than I have done in years.
