Vintage Digital/Father & Son Galavanting: Leica M Edition.
The rig. A favorite camera and lens.
The occasion. Galavanting with my son.
The pics followed by some thoughts.
Started with a trip to the camera shop.
Thoughts.
A lot more talking than picture taking. As it should be. Doing my best to help this young man navigate his way through young adulthood.
The camera was a joy as always. As was the lens.
Both are of a similar spirit. A least expensive solution to what can be an eye watering-ly expensive image capturing solution.
The M was marked down and in need of a repair. As much as makes no sense to me it was far less than a film Leica M6 used or new. The culprit it seems? A miscalibrated rangefinder. And KEH.com fixed it at no cost under warranty after purchase. And not even because I used to write for them. Just what they do. A good to know in case this is ever needed again. But two years on and we are good.
The lens was a wonderful compromise between a small collection of 50mm-ish lenses that has proved to be the best solution for me. And for hundreds used instead of thousands new like the native brand options.
Are the native lenses better? I imagine so. At those prices I will never know.
Am I good as is? Yep.
I really like this camera and lens. As my son and I discussed briefly, while I could have taken these photos with any camera… I likely would not have. As frustrating as I find not being able to sufficiently explain why there is no denying that I take different pictures when using a digital rangefinder.
Better? Maybe.
Do I enjoy the experience and resulting images more? Yes.
But most importantly I do not take the time spent with my children for granted. A good time was had.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 