What have you done with your Leica?

[dara]

Answer is B ...I photograph mostly with Canon G7 bought it last year, although a very good camera with a excellent lens and easy to carry around, due to its small sensor it can never have the quality of 35mm film especially when taken with Leica equipment. One just has to accept the camera for what it is and live with it or don't buy it at all. I know that advanced DSLRs from Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc also produce very high quality and impressive results like 35mm film, I like to buy one some day, but at the moment they are not within my budget. After reading your post, I took out my Leica (I don't have Leica M camera) only Leica R5 (black Wetzlar Germany) with 28mm Leitz Elmarit put the little battery back in, pressed the battery check button red Led lit up. Looked through its bright and very sharp view finder, changed from spot to average metering, everything perfect. Clicked the soft shutter a few times beautiful mechanical sound and relatively quiet for SLR camera no mirror slap vibration etc. Played with the Schalthebel (film wind lever), all that mechanical/optical precision a very different world and l am in love again. I am going to go out and shoot some rolls of film with it and then digitalize them. (Here in Germany the cost and quality of developing film is still very good). So I shall try to make it AB from now on. Thanks for reminding me of my Leica. I shall never part with it.

[bobtodrick]

I so much want the answer to be A:,...but in fact it is B:

 

18 months ago I sold most of my Leica film gear to finance my switch to digital, which now comprises a Digilux 3 with the kit lens and Summilux 25 F1.4. I kept an old Contax IIIa/Sonar 50mm that is in great shape for those days I was in a B&W mood.

 

Sadly, I get in those moods, think about film processing, contact printing and final printing and end up picking up the Digilux.

[james_lai]

(A) I'm back to using film for the summer in my M4 and also asked my wife to go back to using her film P&S for the summer. I have a rather large backlog of digi photos waiting for me to edit, post-process, burn to CD and print and I really don't want the backlog to get any bigger.

 

Up until this past spring however, the answer would have been (B).

[paul_neuthaler]

Let's face it: this is what every boy wants (as they said in the movie Risky Business)<div></div>

[ron_breeze2]

C. I sold them all M4P (3), M6, Leica I, II, IIIC to buy an M8 and haven't looked back or regretted it. Wish I had more films to sell to buy a second

M8 body.

[clark_yerrington]

i had a leica CL briefly in '06-'07. loved it, used it all the time. it was mint and had 40 and 90mm lenses, filters, close-up lenses, etc. just a beautiful, elegant precision instrument. couldn't believe the sharpness of the frames. i took a lot of tripod-mounted night shots.

and then it was stolen.

i've missed having it and recently bought a voigtlander bessa T. just waiting for it to arrive.

[gdwhalen1]

I shoot with it. It is a tool.

[david k.]

Leica M glass works very well with digital capture........no need to sell off "film" M gear.

 

The more I use digital, the more attractive medium format (especially B&W) looks .

 

I think you need an E. response: use digital and enjoy film as well.

[michael_dimarzio]

A-An MP get 10 rolls a week.

 

Paul, a 500CM sits and the M and me have spent 20 of every 30 days hiking. I do have to get the CM out, little negs make little prints. :)

[Uhooru]

Well, confession is good for the soul...

 

I use my M7 quite often, keep an M6 just in case there is a problem with the 7 and an M3 just because I like it and enjoy it now and again. It's like using an old preceision lathe, from the heighth of the machine age. But if I'm going to shoot 35mm film its generally going to be the M7, very nice in the street.

 

And then there's this silly IIIF which was bought cheap as a curio and i never use it. I alsoI shoot MF and digital. Lately, I've been shooting a lot more film than usual, though I just came off a 10 day vacation/shoot using a GRD which rocks.

[l_dasousa]

I am between B and C. I have not shot film in a long while and my M6 rests in a closet. I have been using a DLux-3 because the cost of an M8 is beyond what I feel sane to pay for any camera that I will use on week-ends for unprofessional purpose. My big plan was to buy one secondhand after time, but because of all the reported troubles I am fearful to not have warranty. So I might become in category C soon, and find myself amongst the DSLR people.

[nrb]

A: M6, M2, CL and IIf.

[paul hart]

C.

 

M8 just too flakey.

 

Using dSLR and Rolleiflex. Enjoying it immensely. No more lens-lust.

[robert_haller]

A - and it will be like this for the next quarter of this century -> 2050

 

... everyone who does not appreciate the simply and plain vanilla feel of an M is missing a lot ...

[james mitchell dc]

A., followed by using the M8 a whole lot too. I don't have the free time to shoot every day or even every week, but when I do I have gone back to shooting at least 50% film with Leica Ms. The rest is almost entirely digital with the M8. Then there's the Nikon S2 and the GRD-II...

[gwebster]

Almost strayed into B territory recently, but now tending back towards A.

 

Those pesky film Ms just look at you from the shelf imploringly and each time I put another roll of film through them ... well it's like I need a cigarette afterwards (and I don't even smoke!) And they know I can only ignore them for so long!

[photo_reality]

A: Have an M3 (In the shop at the moment though) - use it monthly. Must admit that I do happily use digi compacts (Nikon S210 - Konica

Revio) for happy snaps and family shoots though. Also have Nikon F80 with 35-105, 50mm, 70-300mm lenses that come out monthly on

average too! :-)

[ashton_lee3]

All the Leica gear is gone, except a Digilux. When I shoot film now it is with various 4x5's... but to be honest that is for the experience of working slowly. The Nikon D-300 gives me better prints than even the 4x5s.

 

When Leica can make a full frame body I may be back.

[love4leica]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Horses for Courses - also use DSLR<div></div>

[love4leica]

Also Screw Type Leicas<div></div>

[harvey_edelstein1]

B now and some A planned. I only use one M the M4P and 5 lenses. I just got an VF for my Zeiss 25mm F2.8 Biogon, of all things its a Mamiya 50mm VF for a medium format camera that covers the same angle of acceptance, got it like new on Ebay for less than $20. I shoot mostly Nikon film with F3hp, F100, F801s and Digital with D70.

 

Last weeks we asked about how many bodies were manufactured with M mount for all brands to see what the size of the potential market would be for a reasonably priced DRF. The best guess was 1.1 million M's were made, I suppose that means at least 100,000 owners might be interested in a digital home for their lenses.

 

Will someone please give us a near FF digital rangefinder.

[summitar]

Not enough. I have 7 Leicas, 4 screwmounts. I tend to worry about taking these jewel-like treasures out into the world.

[steve george]

A)

 

I use digital professionally but still put a roll or two a month through my M6 for fun. Sometimes I find being stuck to a single focal length, single colour or black and white option and single ISO annoyingly restrictive, sometimes I find it liberating in it's simplicity.

[lookupinwonder]

E)

 

I got a bit bored with digital and bought an M2, four lenses and counting.

 

My D200 is a fine tool, but Tri-X in my Leica thrills me more.

[tom_burke3]

A-ish; I use my M6 (bought this year, with 50mm Summarit) occasionally, when I particularly want to do so. Otherwise I

use a Nikon D80. I think the two experiences are quite different, and I get different pleasures from each.

 

However, photography is very much a 'spare time' activity for me, so neither set of equipment gets a lot of use.