Not Digital vs Film

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rpilottx

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I spent some of yesterday shooting photos at an Indian wedding, primarily because they needed a white horse for the groom to ride and the white horse was mine. Anyway, I took a bunch of photos with a DLux 5 and many fewer with a M2 in b&w.

It is funny because the Dlux5 produced excellent results but I felt like they were snapshots and not serious photos. When I picked up the M2 to shoot, I felt I was in control and actually making a photograph. I just acquired a blad and thinking of even greater control with less exposures per roll compared to 35mm and the camera on a tripod.

Perhaps the feeling of being in control and taking photographs is my strongest reason for sticking with film and not moving much into the digital age. I know I could do the same with digital but would it feel the same. Would a M9 give me the same feeling as I get from my M2?

The feeling and difference between using the M2 and Dlux5 yesterday was a revelation. Anyone else experience something similar and have you moved past it or just stayed with film?
 
The Leica M9 is as close to operating a classic Film camera as you will find with any Digital. Manual focus and relatively simple metering makes it comparable with a 1970s aperture-preferred exposure, manual focus camera. I tend to compose pictures, bracket a few, but end up shooting about the same number of photo's on an outing as I would with a film camera.
 
I don't know why it wouldn't.
After all, it's not exactly a fair comparison - an M2 in one hand and a point-and-shoot in the other. Of course you are going to have more control with the M2. The very nature of the camera demands it.

I was out shooting Friday afternoon when my wife and I went to a botanical garden.
I was actually thinking just the opposite of what you were. I had my M8.2 with me. Several times during the day, I changed ISO on the fly. Kept thinking I was glad I didn't bring my M6, as I would have had less control over the process. Not to mention the fact that I'll be able to decide later whether I'd rather have the shots in color or B&W.
 
You are right, it is not a digital vs film thing going on but a P&S vs RF going on. I would think you would get the same feeling of control using an M9 vs you have with the M2. I feel just as in control with my D700 as I was with my F90x. You only have as much control in making a photo as the camera will allow you to have or conversely as much as you want to relinquish to a camera with multiple modes besides manual mode. Try an M9 and find out.

Bob
 
Because digital is "free", you tend to overshoot and underthink and hope for something decent.

It you pretend each shot has to be developed and contacted or whatever process you use, then you use your head more and use your finger less.

There is no reason why you need to just use digital sans thinking. If you use the same care, then you get the same results. After time with film, you learn what pics will work well, and what will not. Same applies to digital. For what it is worth, after I climbed the digital learning curve seeing what dig can and can not do, I take no more photos than I did with film.

I still like film though.
 
FWIW...I have an M8 and in my opinion it is very much an "M" providing a Leica rf experience. I think you are correct that it is a p&s-vs-rf conversation.

Best regards,

Bob
 
When my wife and I go out to the aviary, she'll use my Pentax K10D. Very solid, excellent camera. She'll take several hundred photos and then rarely never look at them again, which I always find curious.
 
Guess I am Just Spoiled by M2

Guess I am Just Spoiled by M2

Don't feel any pressure to get a digital M. I bought a used M8.2 from Tamarkin about two months ago and kept it for a day. Then I tried a Nikon D7000 and kept it half a day. That is how I ended up with a DLux5.

For travel, I throw it in a pocket and forget about it. When I want to go out and take photos, I take the M or blad. The feeling I got yesterday was a revelation to me and the point of the post. Am not knocking either digital or film users. And the technology available on modern cameras is simply amazing.

A couple of my friends freelance for National Geo and technology forced them into digital workflow about five years ago. However, Randy has pointed out to me on several occasions that there is simply nothing as satisfying as an M2 with a 35 or 50 mounted and loaded with TriX. And he uses whatever tool is needed for the job including the latest and greatest DSLR and has a couple M9's in the bag as well.

And the Dlux5 does not come with a viewfinder. However, an EVF is available and I have one living on the camera so it is not held at arms length. And actually the Dlux5 allows total manual control if I want to go there. But all that wonderful technology then goes to waste. And yes the M2 feels like a camera but the Dlux5 not so much. Of course, the feel comes from my age. If I was born a few years ago, an Iphone would feel like a camera as I got older.
 
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Yea, I guess it is all in what you are used too. A bit surprised that the M8.2 did not do it for you though. I think I could accept an M9, aside from the price, as a substitute for my M4 and M4-P. Different strokes.

Bob
 
Film imposes a natural discipline due to the limited number of shots per roll but it's a discipline that can be adapted to digital as well. No doubt it's easier to go nuts with digital because of the ease of shooting but it doesn't have to be that way. I got my Pentax K20D in March of 2008 and I've just recently clicked over 15,000 images shot. Of those, about 4500 were shot on holiday trips that my wife and I take every year--where I tend to go a bit crazy sometimes--so my base shooting has amounted to just over 10,000 pictures in three years. Still quite a few, I suppose--and more than I would have taken if I were shooting only film--but not, I think, excessive.

One thing I've noticed is that as the novelty of digital wore off my yearly shot count has declined and I've returned to a more measured style of shooting. This has been reinforced by browsing back through my image library and realizing that in many situations where I took 20 or more shots of a single subject 2 or 3 would have been sufficient...
 
Ronald M said:
Because digital is "free", you tend to overshoot and underthink and hope for something decent.

It you pretend each shot has to be developed and contacted or whatever process you use, then you use your head more and use your finger less.

There is no reason why you need to just use digital sans thinking. If you use the same care, then you get the same results. After time with film, you learn what pics will work well, and what will not. Same applies to digital. For what it is worth, after I climbed the digital learning curve seeing what dig can and can not do, I take no more photos than I did with film.

I still like film though.
Click to expand...


Have you priced an M9 recently? 😀
 
Keith said:
Have you priced an M9 recently? 😀
Click to expand...


I have. Bought it, love it. Best camera that I have ever owned. I've owned a lot of cameras.

I used it exclusively on vacation, visiting family for a week. I shot the same number of images that i would normally with my film cameras. It was nice to leave copies of the images with my Sister before coming home.

Use what you like. The handling of an M9 is as close to a film Leica as you can put your hands on.

If you like the M2, and like using film- great. If you want a digital camera that handles like a classic film Leica, try an M9. My M3 gets used, as do many other film cameras. But of late, picking up the M9 has been working for me.
 
I'm amazed how many people have stretched their budgets to an M9 ... it says a lot for the camera IMO.
 
After a year tryout with an M8 I swapped it for an M7 here at RFF and feel the struggle to become a better photographer is back in my control. Not sure what that means but photography is a mystery to me anyway. I have become reacquainted with my neighborhood film processor, and with the nuances of film characteristics, and I think it will be this way till I win the lottery so I can try an M9. It's all good. Digital is providing new life to photography.
 
Shooting with the Leica m2 i have never felt so much in control with my camera. Biggest differences i found over my DSLR was, as many have said, the limited number of shots I have. Each shot becomes that much more of a conscious effort, from framing, to lighting, to angles. I would say Im prone to being lazy, and the biggest issue with my DSLR had been i found myself shooting away, checking what it looked like, and readjusting accordingly. But often the shot has changed, the light might be different, the person moved, the object no longer there etc...

The best thing i'm finding with the Leica is thinking about EVERYTHING but doing it efficiently so that its good the first time and you dont miss the shot. So in some ways it slows me down, but overall its really speeding up the number of GOOD shots i take. But im still new to it all and have never used an M9. Sounds like if i ever find $6000 that i should buy one 🙂

I must say though, the leica is changing how i operate my dslr ... for the better. Applying the same techniques and thought process has helped me to become a better, more conscious photographer. Really am grateful how this camera has helped me, and with so much more to learn from it I'm really excited to see what the future holds
 
Funny, I always felt the same as the OP. Ialso thought it was because I liked my M's more then my 5d2.
A while ago I shot a studio session with my 5d2 and my 1v. Comparable cameras in the way of operation. I still feel better about the film pictures.
CHeers,
Michiel Fokkema
 
Keith said:
I'm amazed how many people have stretched their budgets to an M9 ... it says a lot for the camera IMO.
Click to expand...

It does. If you habitually use Leicas and want/need digital, it's worth it.

'Need' digital? Yes. If a reasonable part of your income depends on photography, it's next to impossible to use film only. You've got to be a lot better than I am.

Cheers,

R.
 
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