MF SLR vs RF for discreetness

[Keith]

Of course for taking photos without looking like you actually are, a TLR is hard to beat!

Alternately, if you really want to stand out and have people jump every time you fire the shutter you can't go past a P67! 😀

 

[bgb]

I could never make up my mind what to get ... rf or slr ... what i needed was a camera that doesn't get in the way of the image i want to capture.

I have a GSN and it's ok I have a Nikon F80 which has all the bells and whistles, my FED2 has only the basics yet it's ok ... the XA has everything in a tiny package ...

It wasn't until i looked through the viewfinder of my OM2 that i realised that i had found my camera ... small, light & reasonably quiet with good lenses at a price i could afford.

A Leica M might be 'better' but I can't afford one at the moment

My .02 cents worth of advice ... try an OM

😀😀😀

 

[Steve M.]

Buy a Leica CL. I have had several, and I swear, those cameras seemed to be invisible when I was out w/ them. Even w/ a big 50 DR lens w/ hood, they're still a tiny package. People would see me and never blink an eye. It's probably because they look like a little P&S. That Yashica you have is a very large rangefinder camera, so not much stealth there.

 

[Beemermark]

Buy a TLR. How's that for an answer. Most people don't even take a camera like a Rolleiflex seriously. Since it's at waist level you can take your time focusing and composing and people don't even realize your taking thier picture. And nothing is quieter than a leaf shutter.

 

[Keith]

I remember being in a fairly busy environment with my little Voiglander Brilliant .. you could pretty well stand in front of some one and compose on them without them twigging that you were taking a photo.

Except for some old guy who spotted the camera from fifty feet away and came bounding over to check it out and ask me about it! 😛

 

[Bob Michaels]

When I hold any camera up to my face and point it at someone, I assume any hope of discreetness is long gone. Ditto cell phone cameras. Even looking down at a TLR pointed at someone is a pretty good sign that you are photographing them.

Just be confident and abandon any hope of discreetness because it just is not there.

 

[peterm1]

I actually think that in my case an AF SLR is more discrete. I am so damn slow focusing my MF rangefinder that its hard for subjects not to see me. With an AF I can shoot and be gone before they realise. Not to say I do not enjoy using my M8 though. Of course part of the reason I struggle with focussing is that I like shooting longer lenses and not only that, I like shooting them wide open whenever I am able to do so and that only makes it harder.

 

[yanchep_mike]

Try a Pentax MX for size with a 28mm, i liked that better then my Yashica Electro, but the lens on the Yashica was superb IMO.
Mike

 

[back alley]

the photographer needs to be discreet, not the camera.

 

[Frontman]

the photographer needs to be discreet, not the camera.

Best answer so far.


I have actually shot pictures of people with a Speed Graphic 4x5 camera (not discreet) without them realizing it, I just pretend I am fiddling around with the camera like I am trying to figure out how it works.

Too many people are saying "buy" or "try", but there is no such thing as a perfect camera. HCB had no trouble with squinty finders and scale focusing with his early Leicas, it is the photographer and not the equipment which matters most.

 

[jan normandale]

the reason for rangefinders being popular for "street" is due to the history of 35mm RF cameras preceding 35mm SLRs. However I think the best reason for their continued popularity as a "people / candid" camera is the ability to anticipate the lead into the frame of the camera itself. An SLR doesn't permit this significant advantage in framing the shot because there's no view "outside the frame" like a RF has.

Anyway shoot however you want, it's only photography

 

[Snowbuzz]

Enjoying the replies. I guess it's the camera the photographer is most comfortable using out in the open with people around that makes her/him fade into the surroundings. I tried a Voigtlander Bessa: fail; Canon 5D2: fail; OM-2N: fail; and now, the last camera I'd ordinarily think of, a Rollei 6000 series SLR. It's big, it's loud, it's weird and I'm just ignored. Some people do squint curiously at the "ROLLEIFLEX" on the camera, but that's about it. Maybe it's the chimney finder trick that makes the camera less threatening.

 

[David_Manning]

"Discreet" is definitely relative.

I had my M6 with me trying to take some pictures in Mexico City recently and felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb...with all the violence in other parts of Mexico, security is very visible, and I felt like I was doing something "wrong" walking around on the streets with a camera over my shoulder.

My own answer was to go smaller and "more discreet," and I bought a Contax T3. That thing is seriously a pocket rocket. For *me*, it's basically my M6 (which I use with only a Zeiss 2/35) which I can slip into my pocket.

Recently I was at the local Science museum, and starting shooting candids. Nobody said boo...I looked like a tourist with a little P&S. Of course, I think I felt a bit less conspicuous myself, so that loosened me up.

After some internal struggling (which I'm still doing now), I've pretty much decided to take only the T3 and slide film to Paris in a week. I have the utmost trust in that Zeiss 35/2.8 Sonnar lens.

 

[GSNfan]

Watch this famous photographer with a huge DSLR, and even a handle for the DSLR and yet he shoots like his invisible (skip to 2:00): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uic6p4lwX8

... Its all about the confidence and skill of the person holding the camera.

 

[Calzone]

the photographer needs to be discreet, not the camera.

+1

Generally I wear my camera on my right wrist, but I'm kinda known for shooting Nikon F3's with loud motor drives as well as a Leica.

Even in a crowded NYC subway, I can shoot, and generally people just look around for the camera because they heard it, not knowing what I took a picture of because by the time they notice anything the camera is again resting by my side.

I often get asked if I'm a working pro, possibly because of how I handle myself, but I generally respond that I'm just a guy with a ponytail who is a nobody.

Cal

 

[Turtle]

the photographer needs to be discreet, not the camera.

Yes and a lot of the discreetness comes after the shot, not just beforehand. Take a shot and stare at your subject afterward and you are asking for trouble. Take a shot and look casually around as if it was nothing and if they look at you, they often come to the conclusion that it was nothing too. Be quick, keep moving and always have answers ready. I have learnt a lot from watching videos of Bruce Gilden, Winogrand and others and taking the bits I think will work with my style and character.

... But smaller less professional looking cameras do help make you look less serious and more casual. There is no doubt about that in my mind. My Leica is easier to be discreet with than my Mamiya 7. Size and bulk change the way you carry cameras and they way you shoot them. Both affect your body language and 'flow.' Its breaks in normal human movement that catch people's eyes. I guess its an animal thing... we are all encoded to detect attacks or other dangers. With a little RF I can keep it in my right hand the whole time, I can move my arm, I can shoot on the move easily. Now think of how you would shoot a MF SLR for street and hoe that would change your appearance? I've done quite a bit of candid work in Afghanistan and there are fewer people on earth more private and camera shy than here.

 

[Turtle]

I should add that the most serious confrontation I have ever had was when I refused to take someone's picture!

In Feb 2011, while in India, a man-troll leapt out in front of me (from nowhere. It really was magic), while I was following and photographing some people on a narrow track. He blocked my way standing in the pose of a sumo wrestler and making grunting noises and waving hands aggressively, which I finally deciphered as 'take my photo not theirs, right now, or else'. I tried to pass and he blocked my way again... then again (while making more strange grunting noises and with a facial expression resembling 'gurning'), so finally I firmly but gently eased him out of the way with my right arm and passed. He attracted my attention seconds later with even more vigorous animal noises and after looking over my shoulder, my eyeballs were introduced to his loins.