Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Leica for the digital age

Dear friend Tony pointed me to an essay by Michael Reichmann titled "A Modest Proposal For Reinventing the [Leica] M Series".

Like Michael, my brain knows that digital has so many advantages that it is the way to make pictures today, but my hands crave the speed and ergonomics of the Leica rangefinder cameras.

My favourite camera today is a Ricoh GR Digital III. On my recent trip to Coffs Harbour it served me well.

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I've started shooting RAW as a matter of course. The extra dynamic range is often handy when I'm trying to capture scenes with a mix of shadow and harsh daylight.

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I did purchase the external optical viewfinder for the Ricoh but I need the heads up display that you get on a digital viewfinder. I think what's needed is a mix - an optical viewfinder with a HUD that shows all the stuff you get on the back of the camera but the live view with depth that Michael alludes to.

There's more I want in digital cameras, more form-factors. I want a digital cube camera with a look down viewfinder (like a TLR) too. These days my skill at taking shots unobrutively is reasonable but I need a camera that is able to focus where I want and hold that with ease. Rather like you could on a Leica M3 way back in 1953. Thanks Tony, thanks Michael.

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