Leica, not in Disney World

In NYC I spot a Leica at least once a week, and up to 3 or 4 times a day on a nice Saturday or Sunday (as jsrockit said, a nice day in NY brings out the camera geeks). Only twice have I seen a woman carrying a RF, though a decent amount of high school and college girls seem to be using film SLRs. I see probably 50-100 DSLR's a day.

In Australia (only 3 weeks) I saw zero film cameras.
 
I'll argue that photographer who noticed and fixated on what other photograper is using, that means that he didn't pay attention to what he's supposed to be noticing and observing. Most of the excellent pro-shooters I know, and they're a bunch of eclectic group using films, polaroid, digital, etc... they hardly pay attention to what other's are using....they are just so focused on what they're trying to capture. Sure we talked shop and gears during get-together but outside of that context gears are never talked about.

But overall, I notice that males photographers tend to notice "gears" and female photographers tend to completely ignore "gears" as long as the gears work for them.

-d
 
David Hegar said:
I'll argue that photographer who noticed and fixated on what other photograper is using, that means that he didn't pay attention to what he's supposed to be noticing and observing. Most of the excellent pro-shooters I know, and they're a bunch of eclectic group using films, polaroid, digital, etc... they hardly pay attention to what other's are using....they are just so focused on what they're trying to capture. Sure we talked shop and gears during get-together but outside of that context gears are never talked about.

But overall, I notice that males photographers tend to notice "gears" and female photographers tend to completely ignore "gears" as long as the gears work for them.

-d
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If these excellent pros don't notice what other people are carrying, I'd argue that they're not particularly observant.
 
GBR66 said:
I walked back from work in London with my M8 last night via Whitehall and Parliament Square, where crowds of people were waiting for the announcement of the new Government, I noticed: 1. I had the wrong lens....50mm Nokton gave no context to why people were there or where they were waiting...
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Maybe I saw you. I was watching here in the U.S. thanks to the hours of streaming live video BBC has made available online since last Thursday. (Most BBC video is usually unavailable here.) Going by what I saw, with any lens you would have needed to arrive early enough to avoid being stuck behind the crowds. If you had been allowed beyond the Downing Street gates, you would have seen dour Laborites or happy Tories milling about, depending on your timing.
 
jsrockit said:
Recently, I saw a younger woman with a Bronica in Central park, a man with an M6 when I picked up my new glasses at Moscot in NYC (he was picking up his), a man with an M9 in Soho (I had my Leica CM and he was oggling it), a woman in the wall street area with an MP, a man in the Wall St area with 3 Leica Ms around his neck (lol), a man walking on the Upper East Side with a screwmount Leica in his hand... no strap, a man in the park on the UES with a screwmount Leica, a group of college kids with older film nikons (metal bodies)... oh yeah, and at the HCB at the MOMA I saw an M3, M9, CL, etc. When the weather is nice in NYC, the camera geeks come out in full force.

All of those aren't counting my meetings with fellow RFF members (gear galore) and going to the Lomography store in NYC (college kids with film cameras galore).
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I was just at Moscot with my M6.....when was your sighting? 🙂
 
David Hegar said:
I'll argue that photographer who noticed and fixated on what other photograper is using, that means that he didn't pay attention to what he's supposed to be noticing and observing. Most of the excellent pro-shooters I know, and they're a bunch of eclectic group using films, polaroid, digital, etc... they hardly pay attention to what other's are using....they are just so focused on what they're trying to capture. Sure we talked shop and gears during get-together but outside of that context gears are never talked about.

But overall, I notice that males photographers tend to notice "gears" and female photographers tend to completely ignore "gears" as long as the gears work for them.

-d
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Well, I'm not in photography mode 24/7. I work, I go on dates, I hang out with friends, etc. This is when I tend to notice cameras, not when I'm photographing. It is such BS that people think you should be doing anything 24/7. I photograph when I want to...plain and simple. Sometimes I even enjoy myself without a camera ... can you believe it?

As far as females, that's generally correct, but I've had numerous women in NYC notice my leica and comment. Women might not be gear-centric, but they do notice Leicas. 😉
 
When you see their work, you will know that they are all very observant.

And I know this because I asked them, and most often they didn't pay attention to what other people's photo gears just because to them photo gears are not interesting at all. Do they notice that people are carrying their cameras? Of course they noticed it, but most of them have zero interest of what camera gears those people are carrying.

-d

snausages said:
If these excellent pros don't notice what other people are carrying, I'd argue that they're not particularly observant.
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one M rangefinder (i didn't ask which one), one Holga and my Graflex at the Kumbh Mela this year. everything else was huge lens'ed digitals.
 
I see Leicas and other nice film cameras all over the place, Berlin, London, some pro with a Hassy in Madrid (they noticed my Rollei and we mutually congratulated each other..), large format a couple of times.

I'm sure it's something to do with familiarity that makes me notice, as Roger Hicks suggests. With bikes (I've worked in a bike shop for years) I can usually tell brand, model and even model year with a glance, sometimes I have to make a conscious effort not to look because it looks like I'm checking people out 😉

And now I speak German I notice how many Germans there are in London, have they all just arrived in the last couple of years or do I notice them more now?
 
I never saw another rangefinder in the streets or at events.
I met quite a few nice people in the camera shops in Shanghai, striking a short conversation (that always just seems to go about what lens is this, … , which is a bit sad, as I find it more interesting, to talk photos and how to capture difficult things).

What I really like is, how an old looking rangefinder gets underestimated ;-)

We were to visit the EXPO in Shanghai with a small group of employees on the 2nd day. Everybody brought their camera - most compact PS, but quite a few DSLRs with zooms, huuge camera bags and alike.
People smiled and joked about me, as I was shuffling through 4 lenses during the day out of a very small cotton satchel, using an M8.2.

None took me serious. I made sure, to have a few portraits of all persons and a few candid shots with wide angles with some context.

As I always do after photographing somebody, I brought a package of prints to the company, showed first a 4 minute slideshow, quickly hacked together in iMovie and then shared the prints with the people.
It was wonderful, to see the reaction and happy faces. The comments about how the photos turned out were quite amusing ;-)
 
The last time I saw a rangefinder on the streets was in early 2009 when I was in Venice. A guy was there with a film M in each hand. He took a few photos with the camera in his right hand and for winding the film he had to stroke the lever 2 or 3 times in small steps. I don't know if the results were ok but it looked damn cool with the two cameras. Perhaps I should have asked him to use the two cameras simultaneously like Chow Yun Fat uses guns 🙂
 
I took my Yashica Electro 35 and Canon QL17 GIII to Florida in February this year.
From the Canon:

4608961888_1bed30f202.jpg


and from the Electro:

4507683118_a78eff294a.jpg


It's seemed to me to be 'DSLR-Land,' although I was asked about the Yashica by a young (20-something) couple.

Best regards
RoyM
 
tom.w.bn said:
The last time I saw a rangefinder on the streets was in early 2009 when I was in Venice. A guy was there with a film M in each hand. He took a few photos with the camera in his right hand and for winding the film he had to stroke the lever 2 or 3 times in small steps. I don't know if the results were ok but it looked damn cool with the two cameras. Perhaps I should have asked him to use the two cameras simultaneously like Chow Yun Fat uses guns 🙂
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And by the way, Chow Yun Fat does a lot of large format works.
 
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