That old thing about Leicas being stealthy...

[ferider]

Here are other things that help you being noticed:

- Canvas camera bags, green or sand color'ed, the latest color'ed messenger bag, etc., possibly with 4 or more lenses.
- Two bodies around your neck (even though every Leica man has to have a backup body)
- Beautiful, possibly color'ed leather cases.
- The coolest, lizard or austrich camera covering.
- changing lenses as often as possible.
- Colored soft releases and/or grips.
- Going about in a group of people all carrying RFs for collective "street" photography.
- Holding a baseplate in your mouth and a half case under your arm while changing film.
- Hand-held light metering. Incident is an eye catcher in particular 🙂
- Being surprised when being noticed. It will show.

Sound familiar ? Ask me how I know 🙂

Cheers,

Roland.

 

[claacct]

Besides the knee pads mentioned above, here are other things that do not help being stealthy:

- Canvas camera bags, green or sand color'ed, the latest color'ed messenger bag, etc., possibly with 4 or more lenses.
- Two bodies around your neck (even though every Leica man has to have a backup body)
- Beautiful, possibly color'ed leather cases.
- changing lenses as often as possible.
- Colored soft releases and/or grips.
- Going about in a group of people all carrying RFs for collective "street".
- Holding a baseplate in your mouth and a half case under your arm while changing film.
- Hand-held light metering. Incident is an eye catcher in particular 🙂
- Being surprised when being noticed. It will show.

Cheers,

Roland.

In the words of colonel Kurtz (Sorry Conrad):

The Horror! The Horror!

 

[dave lackey]

Dang, Roland, are you sure that wasn't an RFF Meet?😛

BTW, where's the pictures of those guys taking pictures?

 

[paulfish4570]

yeah, where are those photos? 🙂

 

[Moriturii]

In this regard Rolleiflex is better than a Leica.. You set your frame by looking down at the groundglass, no matter if the "subject" notices you or not. Once the "frame" is set, hold the camera fixed with finger on the shutter release.. Start looking at the subject, not at the groundglass anymore.. A few seconds later he/she will ignore you and once you "catch" the moment you were after, release the shutter by still looking at your subject. A great advantage of TLRs over rangefinders...

http://youtu.be/gCXhqYYuN40?t=4m49s

One of the reasons I've always wanted to try a TLR camera, might do it one day.

 

[JohnTF]

It has been my experience that anyone using old film cameras stands out in a crowd because they are different. I was in Angkor Wat area of Cambodia in May, and someone asked me about my Contax IIa. They appeared to be disappointed when I answered, "no, it is not a leica". Same thing happens to me when I use my Canon P around the DC area- it is obviously not a digital,and sticks out like a sore thumb. After all, you have to bring the camera to your eye to use😛

If you see a nice looking woman there with a couple of young kids, shooting with a Bessa, ask if she is enjoying her birthday present. ;-)

Well, almost every day is her birthday, she is very good though, if she can find time with family obligations to get back to her shooting.

Regards, John

 

[JohnTF]

I'm in Prague now, for a combined beer/food/photo holiday... I can say that the M3 does not attract anything like the attention of the 1936 Leica III I use about half the time. People seem to think it cute. It's a great ice-breaker, certainly.

They will notice both if you drop in to Foto Skoda, ask for a Gold Skoda discount card. My avatar came from Skoda.

My most used words might have been Prosim Pivo in Prague, try Granet,

Pazdera across the street from Skoda, deal with the owner's son, you can find some unusual items you may be looking for. I would tell you it is on Vodickova, but I can't spell it. ;-)

Husa on Vinorhady has excellent pub food, beer and Argentinean steaks. It is a couple stops past Namesti Miru as I recall, and there are a couple of camera shops near the Metro as well, I think Flora is the stop uphill from it, I cannot pronounce or spell the other one, hardly unusual for me in Prague.

Regards, John

 

[StaaleS]

FotoSkoda... do NOT get me started on FotoSkoda, please. A dangerous, dangerous place. I've already bought three lenses from them this holiday (15 Super-Wide Heliar, 50 1.5 Nokton and one of those Soviet 35mm Biogon jobs) and I am seriously in lust over a Leica Standard that they have sitting in a glass-case, looking lonely. Black, with the right amount of brass shining through... minimalist photography taken to the extreme; my 50 Heliar 3.5 would look good on it methinks. As for beer, I am working down the list. It's a long list, alas. I'm in an apartment in Zizkov, will pop over the hill to Vinohrady one of these days and try that steak!

 

[StaaleS]

Husa on Vinorhady has excellent pub food, beer and Argentinean steaks. It is a couple stops past Namesti Miru as I recall, and there are a couple of camera shops near the Metro as well, I think Flora is the stop uphill from it, I cannot pronounce or spell the other one, hardly unusual for me in Prague.
Regards, John

Jiriho z Podebrad, then? The open square with the large, blocky, rather ugly modern church in it?

 

[d_sikes]

In Europe no one pays much attention to me shooting in the street but I look like a tourist taking photos which isn't that unusual. In Virginia I have to be extra stealthy because many polite southerners will actually stop in their tracks to avoid walking into your frame and "ruining" your photo.

 

[Sparrow]

Err ... relatively?

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

The statement that Leica owners want to be noticed by 2 members above sounds pretty cynical.

Well, I was in Arles last week for the photo festival. There were loads of people with Leica's, X100's and film cameras in general. Funny enough I hardly saw anyone making pictures with it. The camera's looked as they were worn as jewelry. The people that where making photo's were the ones with the DSLR.
Of course there were a few exceptions like Roger, Frances, Robert and Simone and myself.

Cheers,
Michiel Fokkema

 

[jsrockit]

I think what sets US apart from THEM is that we look through our viewfinders. Most of GenPop stares at an LCD... And everyone knows the quality sucks. There's also some ambiguity as to what you're actually focusing on - not so much with a viewfinder and lens pointed at someone's face! Of course, this applies equally to SLR shooters.

Well, as someone who fits into the US and THEM categories, I say use what you are comfortable with. I can work with an LCD just as easily as a VF. One method is no better than another... bad photos are made by both methods and good photos too.

 

[filmfan]

Who cares about stealth. I think stealth can be creepy and i do not enjoy photographing that way. Maybe some people have great success with it, but I never did. Leicas are the best cameras to me because they are small and light and so are their lenses. This makes it the ultimate travel camera and that is what I like to do.

 

[emraphoto]

The statement that Leica owners want to be noticed by 2 members above sounds pretty cynical.

100% Frank. take a few thousand people and quickly paint them with a single brush. sure fire accuracy🙁

 

[emraphoto]

Who cares about stealth. I think stealth can be creepy and i do not enjoy photographing that way. Maybe some people have great success with it, but I never did. Leicas are the best cameras to me because they are small and light and so are their lenses. This makes it the ultimate travel camera and that is what I like to do.

i agree. stealth is only on my radar when getting caught could result in serious problems. most likely i am not using a Leica at that point.

 

[emraphoto]

I have decided on purely mindless exercise, I will photograph any Leica shooter that i come across. I want to find out how prevalent Leica use is and either debunk or affirm the theory that most Leica owners are on the internet and very few on the streets... And the best part about photographing photographers are that they cannot object otherwise they'll appear hypocritical. It should be fun in a nerdy way.

i don't think 'Leica' owners have the corner on the market there.

 

[fuji645]

I was just out with my mostly "stealthy" M7 (okay, it has a black dot) and it didn't stop two park officials from slowly closing the gate behind me and standing there while I was jockeying for an image of a water-spraying dolphin thing in the park.

"Are you taking pictures of the tail?"
"Is this for a lawsuit or something?"

I mostly ignored them and opened the gate to walk out, saying, "I'm just a photographer killing a lunch hour." You could see the gears spinning in their heads but I continued on... Whatever. 😉

I think what sets US apart from THEM is that we look through our viewfinders. Most of GenPop stares at an LCD... And everyone knows the quality sucks. There's also some ambiguity as to what you're actually focusing on - not so much with a viewfinder and lens pointed at someone's face! Of course, this applies equally to SLR shooters.

Was recently shooting in NYC with my M645 with w/l finder--no one took notice. Shooting yesterday with my M3 and 85 Serenar in crowded urban park amidst a see of DSLR's, p/s and I-Phones --stuck out like a sore thumb! Sometimes the more furtive you are attracts the most attention.

 

[paulfish4570]

i couldn't be stealthy if i wanted to. my mug alone shortstops any attempt at stealthiness ... 🙂

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

M4-P with Summicron 35mm
Plus-X with D76