Why a Leica?.. Article from the New Yorker magazine

[Jim Evidon]

Many forum users ask from time to time what is so special about a Leica.
The question is answered, sometimes well, and sometimes derisively.

I came across this article from the New Yorker magazine dated 9-24-2007 which says it about as well as anything I've read or heard elsewhere. IMO, it says it all. Just copy and paste in your browser.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/24/070924fa_fact_lane?currentPage=all[/b]]

A Critic at Large: Candid Camera: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

 

[rya]

This was also published in the 'Best American Essays - 2008' book.

 

[Merkin]

Fantastic article. Thanks for sharing it.

NHSW- I think his point about the Miura is that it will kill you very quickly, not that it is the best vintage italian supercar. Above 100 to 120 mph, the front end floats very badly, due to a complete lack of weight and downforce. At those speeds, the slightest mistake will send you in to a tree.

 

[POINT OF VIEW]

Yes !!!

Yes !!!

Anthony writings are as elegant as the camera he describes.

 

[fixbones]

I don't own a Leica.....yet. Hopefully sometime in the future.

The article is well written...thanks for sharing.

 

[Mackinaw]

Well, kind of the same thing for me. I'm 58 and remember gazing at a Nikon F, way back around 1970, and wishing I had the bucks to buy one. All that changed when I accompanied a journalism buddy of mine to the local college newspaper department. Got to play with a Leica M4 and that was it, I was hooked. 35+ years later, and I'm still smitten with my Leica(s).

Jim B.

 

[KM-25]

I like the article, but I wrote my own rambling not long ago:

"Why a Leica one might ask?

I scoffed for years at the price, easy to do when you are a broke newspaper shooter. But then in 2006, I decided I had better try one in light of the Kodachrome Project. So I found a guy who was selling a classic M6 ( non-TTL) and 2nd version 35 Summicron for $1,700 and I went for it.

The very first thing I noticed is that I had my life back again. And what I mean by that is that I too got to witness the moment I was capturing due to no mirror black out. All those years of getting the shot meant that the only memory I had of it was the before and after and the photo it self, I personally, missed the moment.

With any rangefinder, you see in spatial relationships as the area outside the frame is also seen in the finder. This makes the Leica an exceptional tool for the "Decisive Moment" or people photography in general. If you are one to heavily quiet down "Noisy edges" with objects protruding into the frame, then at first, the Leica might annoy you with it's lack of framing precision.

But after awhile, it grows on you and you start to shoot more loosely, less contrived and controlled and you leave more up to chance than control. You simply see more with a Leica. Needless to say, the Leica is not the best tool for architecual or landscape photography if precise framing is paramount.

So in short, the Leica M is the camera that simply but precisely gets the heck out of the way of making great photographs."

 

[Al Kaplan]

Shoot wide and forget about the finder. Use the intuitive framelines in your brain.

 

[lensjunkie]

That article was my downfall. Now my formerly precious A1 gathers dust....