"I wish I had the resources to start out with a rangefinder..." - Chris Weeks

A rangefinder camera. Film. I get what hes saying.

I finally got one, A Leica M6 with a zeiss 50 Sonnar. I hate to think this is the camera I should have gotten, instead of the Nikon, instead of dismissing it as an old relic.

Over time though, it made sense, why anyone would want to use one.

I get what its about now. Forget about how a rangefinder has frame lines or how you can see things coming in and out of frame. How its old, has innacurate framing and focus.

Its more like this:

You're drawing an imaginary box around what you're shooting.

Thats a rangefinder.

My first SLR camera was a Pentax ME super. I still shoot with it. Its got the biggest viewfinder ive ever seen through. But it only shows you what the lens sees. I got a Pentax K100D, it did the same thing. Even worse maybe, it only showed 95% of the frame. So much for precise framing. Nikon D200, D3 100% viewfinders. But you couldnt see what was coming around the corner.

Come the Leica M6, I have a "120% viewfinder". I can draw the box around my subjects. I can let them wander in and out. Its freedom.

And when the shutter trips, no one is the wiser.

Its old school. The rangefinder design predates the slr design by 20 years. Its manual focus. Manual shutter speed. Seperate dials. Film. But I dont care. Formula 1 cars are still mostly manually controlled.

Leica makes an M9. Its digital, full frame. At that price though, Im okay with waiting 5 days for developing time.

Id rather save the money and get more Leica glass. Im jonsing for a wide already.

Its true, rangefinders arent for everyone. I respect those whove tried it and didnt like it. But dont hate when youve never run a roll of TriX or HP5 through one. In fact dont hate if youve never used film before.

Im keeping my Nikon digital, Ive invested way too much money to sell that damned thing. I use it when I need to see the pictures right away. It still has its place in my tool box.

But this Leica, its gonna be by my side a lot.

You'll see what I mean soon enough.