NaChase
Well-known
My Timeline:
My Timeline:
It seems that I have experienced much of what others on this thread have experienced, albeit at an accelerated rate.
My first camera was a Casio Exilim point and shoot that I got for graduating from high school in 2006. It was a perfectly serviceable camera and I used it frequently until its back LCD decided to break.
However, after an intermittent period of photographic apathy (from 2006- 2007) I decided I wanted to get a bit more serious about learning photography's ins and outs. This prompted me to buy a Nikon F2S, an equally beautiful and indestructible camera (I am confident it will outlive me by some margin and I only just turned 22!). Moreover, this camera, along with the 50mm f/1.8 that I got with it (I have since added a 24mm f/2.8 and a 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor), has taught me more about photography than any of the classes I have taken ever could.
Also, drawing on similar experiences from previous posters, I felt that film, while useful, was a dying medium and that digital was the way to go. This prompted me, after much saving, to buy a Canon EOS 50D, as awesome a digital camera as there ever was. However, despite its amazing image quality, speed,and general ease of use, I found myself feeling a little disenchanted with the super-clean, almost clinical look to the images it produces.
Thus began my rangefinder odyssey. It was only in the last year or so that I became aware of the existence of rangefinders, however, soon after this revelation I found myself lusting after one, albeit in a hypothetical sense (the cost, in my valuation, was outrageous!). Then again, the only rangefinders I was looking at were the Leica M7 and MP, it was only later that I discovered that "vintage" Leicas could be found "cheap." Thus, after much searching, working, and saving I found my Leica, the venerable M3 no less. This camera, along with a collapsible 50mm Summicron, has since become my primary workhorse. More importantly, the images I find myself creating with it are the best I have ever made (the fact that I shoot it meterless has taught me more about light than I ever thought I wanted to know). Also, this camera facilitated my interest in home development in a big way (my house routinely reeks of stop bath), which, along with my photo scanner, has afforded me a much higher degree of control over my work.
In conclusion, it has been a fun, if abridged, journey from my now deceased Casio point and shoot to my Leica rangefinder.
My Timeline:
It seems that I have experienced much of what others on this thread have experienced, albeit at an accelerated rate.
My first camera was a Casio Exilim point and shoot that I got for graduating from high school in 2006. It was a perfectly serviceable camera and I used it frequently until its back LCD decided to break.
However, after an intermittent period of photographic apathy (from 2006- 2007) I decided I wanted to get a bit more serious about learning photography's ins and outs. This prompted me to buy a Nikon F2S, an equally beautiful and indestructible camera (I am confident it will outlive me by some margin and I only just turned 22!). Moreover, this camera, along with the 50mm f/1.8 that I got with it (I have since added a 24mm f/2.8 and a 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor), has taught me more about photography than any of the classes I have taken ever could.
Also, drawing on similar experiences from previous posters, I felt that film, while useful, was a dying medium and that digital was the way to go. This prompted me, after much saving, to buy a Canon EOS 50D, as awesome a digital camera as there ever was. However, despite its amazing image quality, speed,and general ease of use, I found myself feeling a little disenchanted with the super-clean, almost clinical look to the images it produces.
Thus began my rangefinder odyssey. It was only in the last year or so that I became aware of the existence of rangefinders, however, soon after this revelation I found myself lusting after one, albeit in a hypothetical sense (the cost, in my valuation, was outrageous!). Then again, the only rangefinders I was looking at were the Leica M7 and MP, it was only later that I discovered that "vintage" Leicas could be found "cheap." Thus, after much searching, working, and saving I found my Leica, the venerable M3 no less. This camera, along with a collapsible 50mm Summicron, has since become my primary workhorse. More importantly, the images I find myself creating with it are the best I have ever made (the fact that I shoot it meterless has taught me more about light than I ever thought I wanted to know). Also, this camera facilitated my interest in home development in a big way (my house routinely reeks of stop bath), which, along with my photo scanner, has afforded me a much higher degree of control over my work.
In conclusion, it has been a fun, if abridged, journey from my now deceased Casio point and shoot to my Leica rangefinder.