j, with me, it was my first "real" camera. i had used company-provided yashicamat 124 tlrs with big honeywell flashes when i worked for weekly newspapers a couple of years. mostly stand-and-stares, and some high school sports. that kind of sparked an interest in photography that blossomed when i got my first daily newspaper job. i hung around with photogs a good bit. they suggested a nikon f or pentax spotmatic for my very occasional photo duties and hobby. i looked at 'em in a shop, and made the mistake of handling a used double stroke m3 with 50/2.8 elmar. it was love at first touch. i think i paid $125-$160, more than a week's pre-tax pay at the time.
thus i began learning to see in 3:2. a couple of years later, i was in management, and seldom on the road any more. i got married, and sometime after my daughter was born ended up trading the M for an slr and couple of lenses. the photo hobby faded, other hobbies - and a divorce - intervened
i came back to photography 30 years later when my daughter asked me to photograph her daughter - my first grandchild - in black and white. i made some nice shots with a pawn shop practika ltl, and 50 and 28 lenses. then the cam failed, and then came my journey back to RFs.
the M taught me to see in a 50mm focal length, at polite distance. there is only so close one can get with a 50 elmar. the M taught me a cam could be carried at all times, just about anywhere. it taught me to keep things simple.
anyhow, that is how i taught myself to "see." i see the same whether it is an RF or SLR. the business about being able to see more while shooting with an RF doesn't work for me. i concentrate purely on the viewfinder. it is tunnel vision no matter what cam. the M also taught me what my hands like in the way of size and layout. that is why i like my x100 and om-1s and R2m. they feel right, and they see right.
