DSLR less obvious than Rangefinder these days?

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dondecastro

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With so much DSLRS everywhere my rangefinder looks different enough for people to notice me instead of the guy pointing their dslr at them.


I had my rollei 35rf with 15mm voigtlander, strolling through Union Square in San Francisco and noticed a few people look inquisitively at my camera when I looked through the viewfinder, but didn't blink an eye at my Aunt with her DSLR when she would take her pictures.

I just find it ironic that one of the most cited reasons for a rangefinder is that its less intrusive and less noticeable, but with the ubiquity of the DSLR, I found myself being noticed more so than the massive amount of folks who had their DSLR in tow.
 
fair comment! Out here in HK I get noticed far more for this Leica than everyone else with their 1Dx's and D4s. These guys use those cameras to shoot pics of their kids playing in the park!
 
Oh the irony ...

I agree. People tend to look at folks with massive DSLRs and Superzoom point and shoot cameras, shrug and move on.

On the other hand, smaller, more "interesting" cameras tend to attract quite a bit of attention, as if you are hiding something. This is especially true on rapid transit stations around my city at least.

Of course, if you are looking for some positive attention, you can always take out a TLR (a Rolleiflex in my case), and go out shooting. :D
 
Could very well be. I was at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Sf last week carrying my M6 and you would have thought I was giving away $5 bills....was stopped numerous times by all sorts of people wanting to see just what was around my neck.
 
no people who have places to be don't wander and see what kind of a purse a lady is carrying or holding a camera or shooting it...DSLR users with their telephoto stalker lenses are the most obvious looking because they obtrude the side walk when doing so, i hate them
 
People are pretty switched on camera wise over here, I probably have one person a week come up to me and comment on the camera.

The most comedic moments I see are when people bring tripods for their P&S cameras in the daytime. I literally have no idea why. Except for entertainment purposes :)
 
rich_ said:
People are pretty switched on camera wise over here, I probably have one person a week come up to me and comment on the camera.

The most comedic moments I see are when people bring tripods for their P&S cameras in the daytime. I literally have no idea why. Except for entertainment purposes :)
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i love the people who have a fat nikon full frame dslrs , have a backpack full of 4 different lenses and they put on a huge telephoto lens and walk all professional and stuff.

Those type of people I see everyday, in fact today I was walking by a bar nearby where I live , it's in the ground level and you have to take the stairs going down and its all dark , and this guy was trying hard looking professional zooming on the ground of a dark wooden floor of the bar and taking pictures.. I love these guys
 
People will notice you no matter what camera you use... but they won't turn away immediately when you point a Leica at them :)

Point a DSLR with big zoom lens at them though, that's a different story... Small cameras are less threatening.
 
denizg7 said:
no people who have places to be don't wander and see what kind of a purse a lady is carrying or holding a camera or shooting it...DSLR users with their telephoto stalker lenses are the most obvious looking because they obtrude the side walk when doing so, i hate them
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'hate' is such a strong word...

if one wants to disappear...wear an hawaiian shirt and use a sony rx100...completely invisable!
 
I find people to be a lot more cheerful when I point something other than a dSLR at them- and this ranges from a small rangefinder up to a sodding great RZ-67. I think the fact that my non-dSLR cameras all leave my face unobscured might help to put them at their ease (or else my ugly mug is stunning them into submission).
 
weird thing last week. There is a basketball court nearby where i live..

I'm walking on the street a fox news van is on the side , no driver nobody in..

There was a huge video camera on the ground, wanted to pick it up and run away. Had a strong urge...Did not.
 
Good karma coming your way!
I found somebody's wallet a few weeks back and returned with about $1500HKD/180USD.
I then hoped for someone to stop in their limo and present me with a new camera. It didn't happen so I had to go to the shop :-/
 
Leicas were unobtrusive when photographers were carrying tripods and hanging black cloths over their head. amazing how long a good reputation can survive against better proof.

hide in the crowd, carry a DSLR :bang:
 
denizg7 said:
Those type of people I see everyday, in fact today I was walking by a bar nearby where I live , it's in the ground level and you have to take the stairs going down and its all dark , and this guy was trying hard looking professional zooming on the ground of a dark wooden floor of the bar and taking pictures.. I love these guys
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A month or two ago, a concert hall in Melbourne had a grand reopening weekend after almost two years of renovation. I saw heaps of people traipsing about with DSLR's; a few of these guys were zooming in to champagne glasses that were on bar tables, rather than shooting the superb new building that had just reopened!

The more I go to the City, the more I see DSLR's in almost everyone's hands, from skungey kids to portly dads. Hardly anybody has a rangefinder, and I do get comments from time to time. They are just so different from the normal DSLR or superzoom that they attract attention. I often feel less conspicuous with my OM-D and Panasonic 12-35/2.8 than with a Leica!

Edited to add: I find myself sometimes thinking with a weird form of camera snobbery, especially since going rangefinder. I have to remind myself that the mother taking photos of her kids in broad daylight with a DSLR and pop-up flash is not a clueless moron, and might be trying to use fill flash. If I see someone lugging about a massive Canon or Nikon pro body and chunk of glass I think, 'I'm so glad I'm using a rangefinder, much smaller and lower profile'. Never mind that he/she might be a pro and taking better photos than me! But if I see someone with a film camera, no matter how old or cheap, I think it's cool.

When I got my first DSLR, I would often look at people toting 1D's and 5D's with admiration and envy. Now I have a 5D Mark II, an M9 and a slew of lenses for both, and it takes a digital Hasselblad to even marginally impress me.
 
I was stopped today by an asian man in his 20`s and he asked if that was a Leica . Yes. What kind is it. Digital I said. And showed him the glass on the back. Wow, ah so.

I have to admit the chrome M9P + 50 rigid Summicron in mint condition does look pretty classic Leica like.

Nobody ever asks about my Nikon Digitals. One lady asked about my Zone VI 4x5. She wanted to know it it really worked. I assured her it did.
 
Each of the first four times I was using my M6 in this relatively big city, I was directly approached by someone who thought it was "one of those expensive Leica digital cameras". I thought it would be inconspicuous, and instead it looked like it was 8X more expensive (and desirable to a thief).

When I was back home in the midwest, nobody seemed to notice I had a camera.
 
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