I’ve shot with Leica M cameras a handful of times and have fallen in love every single time. It’s such a unique process of shooting, and completely different than anything I’m used to. As a street photographer, shooting with a Leica M represents to many the most pure and organic shooting experience, and retains the classic feel and sensation of film while combining the convenience and ease of digital.
Last year, Leica upped the bar and released a handful of updates to their M lineup, including this $8,000 black and white digital rangefinder. This camera is built with the same familiar body as the M9 and M9-P, but the sensor is new, and is something entirely unique to anything else on the market.
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The Lomography Bel-Air has to have been one of the most exciting announcements this year. The camera has taken the company’s typical image of being nothing more than a hub for hipsters and flipped it upside down. The Bel-Air represents Lomography’s attempt to give users a more advanced camera while still remaining true to its core value of simplicity.
At the company’s 20th anniversary party, we had some fondling time with the camera; and there is quite a bit about it that amazed us. If you’d like to know even more though, you should check out our Q+A with Lomo.
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Voigtlander has announced their new 21mm f1.8 lens for M mount cameras. The company has always been known for creating beautiful glass but hasn’t been as prominent as Zeiss and Leica. Voigtlander is in fact a more affordable option, and this new lens isn’t the new exception.
The new lens features 13 elements in 11 groups with one Aspherical element. Plus it features 10 aperture blades and an all metal design: just like all their other lenses. The 21mm f1.8 also features a non-removable lens hood. Here are some more specs (after the jump) straight from the horses mouth.
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Check them out: forum after forum will be plagued by people asking for affordable rangefinder cameras. Indeed, these cameras have always been surrounded in a certain mystique and many are curious about and yearn for the simplicity that comes with shooting one. Personally, I trained myself on a Leica CL; and the skills and style I developed during that period have stuck with me even into my DSLR shooting and now mirrorless shooting styles. In fact, they’ve even become apparent in my use of strobes.
In the end, once you train yourself or learn how to use a rangefinder, you’ll develop a special courage and learn new skills that will teach you to only become a better photographer. If you don’t want to break the bank while doing so, here are a list of affordable rangefinders to keep your eyes out for.
The Leica 21mm f/2.8 Elmarit ASPH was, for a long time, one of the best ways to get into a super wide angle lens for your Leica M system, but in June 2011, Leica announced a replacement for the aging Elmarit: the new 21mm f/3.4 Super Elmar. I’ve been testing it for a couple weeks now with a Leica M9-P, and I think it’s fantastic.
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I’ve been told by friends and colleagues that street photography came as a breath of fresh air into an otherwise mundane world of shooting landscapes and studio portraits, while many others, myself included, found it to be inherently uncomfortable in just about every way possible. Finding the beauty in the commonplace, and capturing it without disrupting your environment isn’t something that comes easily to all, but it seems we can all agree that there is a certain type of candid allure on the streets that simply can’t go undocumented.
Also be sure to check out our Editor in Chief’s post on how the camera retaught him street photography.
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