View camera ?

[dee]

Notwithstanding a brief encounter with a Zorki 4 , back in the 70s [ hated it , still do ! ] ... I dee's covered the dee-lightfull , enlightening , Leica II / Zorki 1 / Fed 1 , just a yera ago ... culminating in am M8 ... some culmination !

However , dee-termined to waste all of my inheritance, before it is frittered away on food / bills and other peripheral stuff , I tried a DSLR .

And the world closed in again !

It was a real shock - OK , the focusing on a Leica IIIc is squinty , but there is a clear window on ALL of the view to select from - the SLR closed in on a fragment , I had to move it around to see it all .

I know that this is obvious , but having used SLRs from the 70s , then my little gems , I could not get my ASdee dee-storted head around WHY the dee-minutive Leica opened up the world for me .

To actually view '' the world '' without a camera , is dee-ficult , ' cos I can't filter any of it or be selective [ though I now have that 50mm lense back in my head , camera attached or not ! ]

The Leicas and ex-USSR derivatives create an open window , the SLR , a restricted one . This seems to be CRUCIAL to my ability to contain the chaos , the restricted view of the SLR , cannot . [ Unless a 24mm is permanently attached I guess , but that adds a tiny element of disortion ]

NOW I know why that Leica M 8 , despite it's cost , and the mouthfull title , ''emma '' for shsort , is so freeing for me !

dee

 

[Trius]

You can keep both eyes open with a real view camera and get a real view of the world... 4x5 or larger, depending on how much inheritance is left. 😀

 

[sepiareverb]

If you're gonna go large go all the way and get an 810.

 

[Trius]

Pixtu: I didn't see Dee mention street, sorry. What??? She didn't??? 😛

One can do anything they want with any camera they want, and as you say, there's a comrade in Havana who does street work with a view. A friend of mine photographed him, so I am familiar with him.

I've always thought that some day I'd set up my 4x5 on some street(s) and see how I got along. Maybe I'll find a Kalart rangefinder and shoot handheld.

 

[dee]

The M 8 is as big and heavy as I can manage , thank you !

But the contrast with the SLR , which I had kind of accepted as the '' best '', 'cos of seeing through the lense , was dee's orientating - indeed , that seeing through the lense is the SLR's problem !

My street photography tends to be of buildings and trees etc - ASdee does not see
people - too confusing and '' not constant '' enough !

dee