Saturday, September 05, 2009
I have been lusting over a Leica since I handled it some seven, eight years ago. During my last trip, I was thinking a lot of my current set-up and felt that I really do not need my professional level gear. It is not that I do not like my D2Hs and 17-55mm; I really like them but they have been too bulky and I have been really underutilising them. I realised that my ultimate photography set up is still film and no DSLR can give me the same satisfaction as seeing the slides or negatives.
Fast forward today and I have sold off most of my digital gear and am left with primarily my film gear. Recently, I have also been back eyeing on rangefinders again. Ok, maybe not recently but I have been giving serious thought on whether I should get into rangefinders. It has not been an easy decision because I am not sure if I should go into two different systems/brands or should concentrate more on one of them.
Regardless of that, I still have been doing some research on the rangefinders and have narrowed my choice down to either the Voigtlander Bessa R2A or the Leica M6. The reason for these choices is simply due to me realising that my preferred focal length is 35mm. I have also rationalised into the pro and cons of both cameras.
The pros for the Bessa includes it being a much cheaper choice (and brand new), M mount and having aperture priority. The cons of it includes it being much louder than the Leica and I am not sure how lasting it really is; it is not that I have not heard about dud Leicas but Leica in generally are known for its durability.
For the Leica, the pros would include its built quality, resale value, probably able to hand down as an heirloom and of course, it is the camera that I have really been wanting for so damn long. The cons would include the much higher cost (two brand new Bessa R2A would cost less than one second hand M6), lack of aperture priority and not being able to get the Leica lenses at this point. I have further rationalised that for the Leica lenses bit, I will probably have to save up for at least a couple more years before I get my holy grail of the 35mm Summicron and in the meantime, get the Voigtlander 35mm f1.4.
Last Saturday, I went to Peninsula to have a look at cameras and was struck by a Leica M6 that was on sale. The price to me is just right and the condition looked really great. I told myself that I would go back and seriously consider it and if it was there on Thursday, I would go back and get it. On Thursday, I did go back and the M6 was still there! I went into the shop and the owner was really nice to allow me to have a feel of the camera with a lens.
I must admit that the feel of the camera was really good. But when I looked into the camera, I thought that the focusing was pretty much harder and I had to get use to the position of the focusing and aperture ring. I really do not know if it was just me getting cold feet or really not liking the camera. In the end, I politely told the owner that I would give it more thought before committing myself to the purchase.
Two days later, I am still thinking of the M6 and was pretty shattered when I thought this guy had bought it. Thankfully, he did not get it but from overseas. I am again thinking of the Bessa and am wondering if I should drop by Chiif's place to have a feel of it before deciding on which camera to get. The problem is that deep inside me, I know that I will not be completely happy with the Bessa and I will ultimately still be yearning for the Leica. At the same time, I am not sure if I can justify forking out such a sum of money for the camera (which is actually not that expensive as it cost much less than a D300).
When I was shooting today, I was just very distracted and was wondering if maybe I should just give up photography altogether. That way, I do not need to make such choices.
he spoke at 9:12 pm
What a rough week it had been. It all started on Sunday with that crappy sale of the lens. I hate being accused of things that I have not done or that I do not know. Yes, I sold the lens but no, I do not know about the dust (or now as I understand, paint in it). I am not a professional lens dealer so I have no fucking idea about the fucking spots. The lens worked well for me and I do not see the reason why it should continue to do so. Bah... do not want to talk about such an unpleasant incident. But it really sucks when no one really believes me when I said that I did not know that the spots were in the lens.
he spoke at 7:52 pm