Yes, I know this is taken from a Beatles song. Precisely, from the comparatively under appreciated Let It Be album. It’s one of my favorite Beatles songs and I think it is appropriate as a lead-in to telling you about what I have used, why, and how I got to where I am now. It’s a sometime meandering road, with a few detours along the way, but I think I have ended up in a good place.

You might find it interesting because it really isn’t about GAS per se, but about a journey of trial and error, and learning about what you are comfortable with to accomplish what you want to do. As I have said elsewhere, you can make a great picture with any camera/lens … and really, isn’t a camera just a light tight box that has a lens mounted to it and holds film? Yes that’s true, however, in my opinion, anyone that says there isn’t something special about the intimate relationship you have with a particular mechanical device (primarily the camera body and to a lesser extent the lens) and how it works is simply not telling the truth.

Maybe this will be instructive; it surely was fun writing and it brought back many fond and not so fond memories – so here we go!

I started out with a Kodak Brownie as a young boy and progressed on to a Kodak Instamatic. As I became a teenager I became more interested in photography. Wanting more control over the camera, I graduated to an Argus C3, and finally to Voigtlander and Konica fixed lens rangefinders. I loved taking pictures but I also couldn’t get enough of going to the various local camera stores that were in walking or bicycle distance from where I lived. There I could look at all the new and used cameras, talk to the people behind the counters and learn everything I could. They would let me hold and marvel at anything I wanted to see even though they knew my paper route money wouldn’t get me too far. It really was a different time.

After a lot of research and sole searching I was finally able to purchase my first new camera, a Honeywell Spotmatic F with a 55mm f1.8 lens. Boy, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I loved that camera, but unfortunately it met its end during a car accident. That led me to purchase a Nikkormat FNn with a 50mm f2.0 lens. It was a wonderful camera and gateway into the Nikon system.

Given my economic situation, I became adept at buying and selling to get what I wanted and finally ended up with a Nikon F2, which was and still is a spectacular camera. I also was able to somehow finagle a Hasselblad 500C with a gorgeous chrome 80mm f.1.8 Zeiss lens, along with a few accessories. I was able to sell the accessories to pay for the main event! As much as I loved the camera, I soon needed money to buy a car, so off it went. Having a ride was better than having your parents drop you off for a date!

During college I read about the new Canon F1 with its built in semi spot meter. So off went the Nikon and in came a brand new F1 with a 50mm f1.8 lens. Another incredibly built and wonderful picture making machine! But because I was paying for my education and was usually cash poor it eventually had to be sold.

During my second year of graduate school my wife bought me a Canon EF that had a shutter priority automatic exposure feature. I have always thought that if you were going to use AE wouldn’t it be nice if you could select the shutter speed for those moments when there was little time to think? Why would you want to make a perfectly exposed blur (another discussion for another time!)? In any case the EF was not really for me and I purchased another F1.

The F1 served me well until I walked into a camera store one day and saw a used Leica R4 body with a 50mm f2.0 Summicron R lens. I had never seen a Leica of any kind in the flesh. I timidly asked if I could see it. OMG, it just felt right … and IT WAS A LEICA! Yes I know what you are thinking and I am not going to say that Leicas are any better than anything else or that their use will result in better pictures, etc.   I immediately knew I had to have it. Thank goodness for installment paying (I don’t think anyone does that anymore; I didn’t have a credit card at the time). I think it took me about five months to pay it off but it was finally mine! Can’t remember if I slept with it next to me when I got it home … but it’s possible.

In the early Eighties that camera accompanied me on many trips overseas, most memorably to China. I was able to purchase a used 90mm f2.0 Summicron R lens to go along with the 50mm but only used it once on the China trip.

About a year or so later, I met someone who owned Leica rangefinders and I quickly decided I would like to get one for the types of street and documentary photographs I was interested in making. So I finally was able to get a used Leica M3 single stroke along with the really outstanding 50mm f2.0 Dual Range Summicron lens. No camera seems to cause user angst like the remarkable Leica M and most who use one experiment with different versions over time. Suffice to say, I have had a number of Leica rangefinder bodies over the years: M2, M3, M4, M4-2, M5, M6, M6TTL, M7, and MP. There is something about Leica rangefinders where you tend to want/need to try them out. Indeed, it can be a slippery and expensive slope – and that doesn’t factor in the cost of the lenses!

And though I have used Leica rangefinders on and off over the years I can honestly say that I am not infatuated with them. Blasphemy? Perhaps. That having been said, they are truly wonderful mechanical picture making devices, impeccably designed and built to perform well in the environment they work best in.

I currently own and use two of them.

Somewhere along the line in the mid Eighties I purchased a Plaubel Makina 670 medium format folding rangefinder camera, equipped with the outrageous fixed Nikkor 80mm f2.8 lens. I had that camera for a long time and it replaced everything I owned. The 80mm on 6×7 equates to a 40mm when using a 35mm camera and it may be an ideal focal length if you were to only have one lens. It was a quirky but spectacular combination. Not for everyone, but it travelled all over the world with me until it started to develop reliability issues. Of course it was no longer being made and very expensive to repair. It had also become a cult camera. I regrettably sold mine, but happily used the cash to purchase a more modern Mamiya 7II medium format rangefinder camera, equipped with the equally outrageous Mamiya 80mm f4.0 lens.

I made some very nice pictures with that camera but realized while visiting a West Bank refugee camp that rapid film changing was not its strong suit.

This experience forced me to think about the best tools for me, for the job at hand.

So back to Leica rangefinders and Leica single lens reflex cameras for situations where having these types of camera makes sense … for me. Again, horses for courses; the right tool for the job … or the one that works for me in certain situations.

I don’t believe in rules. But I think that the small quiet Leica excels in candid human interest and low light situations. I also think that the rangefinder viewfinder is similar to, as some have said, looking through a window into the scene as it is playing out vs. concentrating with a single lens reflex on a single point or area where precise focus is critical. That having been said, I have made meaningful pictures in these different situations using both types of cameras. So please don’t feel obligated to use what you think is expected or what is the current convention. The key in general photography is to use what works for you and gives you the results you want … in a manner that gives you enjoyment. In the end, isn’t that the right tool for the job?

I experimented with the incredible tank-like Leica SL and SL2, the R8 affectionately known to some as the “Hunchback of Solms” and eventually, for a number of years, settled on its successor, the improved R9 (“Son of Hunchback of Solms”?) – one of my all time favorite SLRs (I just wish it wasn’t battery dependent!).

Detour Alert!!!! Along the way I made the mistake of becoming infatuated with large format because I admired the photographs of Adams, Weston, Strand, and other landscape masters of the twentieth century. I had to do it and couldn’t help myself! The fatal flaw was that what I photographed and the way I photographed didn’t really synch well with the way these cameras were meant to be used or to their particular strengths. Nevertheless I soldiered on with various brands (Deardorff, Arca Swiss, Sinar, Phillips, Ebony, Zone VI), types and film sizes, not too mention various tripods and tripod heads. I went through several phases, finally to realize it wasn’t for me, even though I wanted it to be for me. Since I pretty much never made a print larger than 8×10, was the larger negative really necessary for me? Remember, this is about me and as some like to say, your mileage may vary. No matter what my experience has been – and it hasn’t been all bad – I will never say that large format does not produce exquisite images, and the use of the equipment forces a truly contemplative approach to making wonderful photographs.

There also were a few very quick experiments along the way. Contax, Fuji/Bessa, Bronica and Hasselblad (again) medium format cameras, as well as Contax and Zeiss Ikon 35mm cameras.

Wow… I need to stop and catch my breath!

Today I have 35mm rangefinder (Leica M3 with 50mm lens, Leica M2 with 35mm lens and a 90mm lens that rarely is used) and single lens reflex (Leica SL and Leica SL2 with 35, 50 and 90mm lenses) systems. Take a look at What’s In My Bag? 

So, have I tried and owned a lot of gear and kissed a lot of frogs over the years to get what works for me and provides an enjoyable experience as part of the bargain? You bet! That having been said, it has been an entertaining, if sometimes frustrating journey. But I have learned a tremendous amount about what works … and about me as an individual. I honestly can say that it was never a diversion in the way of my making photographs. But I can see how it could have been and might be for others – an icky side effect of GAS (see my previous entry on this subject!).

I don’t suggest buying for the sake of buying, which is one of the symptoms of GAS. And I don’t want to promote this kind of a journey at the expense of what is most important – the journey of making meaningful photographic images. But I do say that the vast majority of film cameras and lenses are relatively inexpensive today … some Leicas notwithstanding … so make sure you are happy with what you use. I think owning and using something that gives you pleasure, and also happens to support your particular way of seeing and purpose is a good thing!