It really depends on what you're shooting IMO. For street photography, you could either go crazy and stick the camera in peoples' faces (as mentioned above), or you could do as I once saw someone with a Leica M6TTL and 35 1.4 do:
Stand on the pavement, out of the way, be discreet, don't look like you're there for photos (look like you're waiting for someone), see a subject, prefocus, hold your eye up to the camera, do the final focus and shoot. Make sure that you're fast and put the camera down as soon as you've taken the shot if you don't want to be noticed. Remember - it's not illegal, so if you get any threats, call the police.
And the best advice for any photography I've ever read:
if something feels wrong, get out of there.
If you're shooting landscapes then you can take a bit more time (depends on how fast the light's changing) - use a tripod,
please make sure your horizon's level, don't tilt the camera unless it's intentional
For low light photography, nothing beats a rangefinder (unless you're shooting a 1DIV or 3Ds with ISO 104,200, but that's not the point
😉) for holding the camera steady - it is technically possible to hold a 35 1.4 still for 1 second (I've seen a photo taken like that…no surprise as that photog shoots mostly Velvia 50 & at night it's a bit more challenging, obviously); just exhale and hold your breath, legs spread slightly (or if you don't mind looking a bit strange in public, horse stance (
http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=horse%20stance&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi), elbows resting on lower ribs, close your eyes (
after composing & focusing) and gently touch the shutter (depending on which camera you're using, this could be easy or difficult; the few times I've played with an M6 I found it ridiculously easy to stroke the shutter)
Oh yes and - run a roll through
every camera - in a lot of cases, certain cameras (even though they're all rangefinders) will be more suited to one type of photography than the other; say if one has a very soft shutter release and vibration-free shutter, clearly it's an advantage to you when doing available-low-light photography. A big rangefinder patch for easy focusing will be well suited for moving subjects where quick focusing is critical (street photography maybe?). For landscapes, I can't really think of anything you would really need…well if it has interchangeable lenses, it's only an advantage for landscapes (portraits too)
When you've tried all the rangefinders, you might find you have 1 or 2 favourites; just don't forget to regularly run all your cameras (commonly used or not), through
every shutter speed once in a while just to keep things going well, also I'd advise exercising the aperture ring just to make sure nothing gets stuck. Same goes for film advance & shutter release. Regular exercise keeps it all going nicely.
