Rangefinders in Literature

[JoeV]

Okay, maybe it's not 'literature', but I began reading a contemporary novel that my wife had checked out from the library, when I happened across this description of the book's character (Mr. Delabano) using his older Leica rangefinder:

"...there was something remarkable about seeing the moment with no mechanism intervening, seeing through the little window and bringing the two images together, body and soul in perfect focus."

-"Ordinary Horror", pp.156, David Searcy

Has anyone else found an interesting camera-related reference while reading; preferrably rangefinder-related? Let's see it!

~Joe

 

[GeneW]

Has anyone else found an interesting camera-related reference while reading; preferrably rangefinder-related? Let's see it!

~Joe

I can't quote the passage exactly, but in Agatha Christie's _They Came to Bagdad_ there's a scene where a somewhat mysterious lady packs her luggage in a hotel in London and "added her Leica camera and a couple of rolls of film"

Gene

 

[sbug]

Augusten Burroughs mentions his Leica in his book Dry. I don't rememeber if he names a specific model though. I'll have to page through that one again sometime and check.

 

[iml]

William Wordsworth:

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
"Bugger", I thought to myself
"I wish I remembered to bring my camera with me
That'd make a lovely picture"

Ian

 

[RichC]

Holy Fire by cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling (pub. by Bantam, 1997): the heroine ends up using an old rangefinder modified to use a digital sensor (seriously!) - though it's not name checked, by its description it can't be anything else but a Leica. 😎

One of my favourite books...

 

[photogdave]

Okay, maybe it's not 'literature', but I began reading a contemporary novel that my wife had checked out from the library, when I happened across this description of the book's character (Mr. Delabano) using his older Leica rangefinder:

"...there was something remarkable about seeing the moment with no mechanism intervening, seeing through the little window and bringing the two images together, body and soul in perfect focus."

-"Ordinary Horror", pp.156, David Searcy

Has anyone else found an interesting camera-related reference while reading; preferrably rangefinder-related? Let's see it!

~Joe

Sounds like he plagiarised Erwin Putts!

 

[dll927]

That must have been some Leica that could bring "body and soul together in perfect focus". How do you photograph a soul??? I'm not aware that my M4-2 can do it.

 

[Sparrow]

That must have been some Leica that could bring "body and soul together in perfect focus". How do you photograph a soul??? I'm not aware that my M4-2 can do it.

M8 under the certain lighting conditions???




Sorry about that, I’m trying to bite my tongue………. honest

 

[VinceC]

Robert Kincaid in "Bridges of Madison County" used a Nikon SP.

 

[ghost]

'teddy' by j. d. salinger prominently features a leica. not in a good way, though.

 

[jl-lb.ms]

"Afterward, she logged on to Ebay to see if any of her bids had been accepted for the classic Leica M3 rangefinder camera, the antique silver hairbrush, or the bronze swan garden loveseat."

Sellevision: A Novel; Augusten Burroughs

 

[surlysimon]

Check out the "Monsieur Pamplemousse" series of books by Michael Bond (he of Padington Bear fame), the main character has has a IIIg and i think an M3 as well as an R3 and a selection of leitz binoculars.

 

[jl-lb.ms]

Here's a good one; not in the genre of literature:

"The Leica was a 'rangefinder' camera. There were two separate lenses, one for the photographer's eye, the other for the film itself. The picture taker had to 'line up' the two images before taking the shot. The SLR, in contrast, used a single lens for both the film and the photographer's eye."


Sheesh...
From "Managing Imitation Strategies", Steven P. Schnaars