{"id":10814,"date":"2010-09-10T06:03:51","date_gmt":"2010-09-10T06:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philipbloom.net\/?p=10814"},"modified":"2010-09-16T08:30:47","modified_gmt":"2010-09-16T08:30:47","slug":"from-dslr-to-rangefinder-learning-to-shoot-stills-again-from-scratch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philipbloom.net\/blog\/from-dslr-to-rangefinder-learning-to-shoot-stills-again-from-scratch\/","title":{"rendered":"From DSLR to Rangefinder, learning to shoot stills again from scratch…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Getting a Canon 5DmkII really made me love shooting stills again, something I had not really done much of since my late teens. It’s an amazing camera and with it’s auto focus and amazing low light it’s been a joy to shoot stills with. The one thing though is it does a lot of the hard work for you, it’s hard to take a bad photo! Now that’s good of course and the images I have gotten have been wonderful, best I have ever taken…but I wanted to feel connected to photography like I used to in my teens with my first Pentax…<\/p>\n

It was not until I used Rick McCallum’s Leica M9 that I suddenly felt a rush of excitement and even a wee bit of nostalgia. There was something about the feel of the camera, the manual controls, the handling and of course the images that made me feel way more connected to shooting stills than I have done with my Canons. It felt like I was taking the photo…sounds strange I know but if you try one you will know what I mean…<\/p>\n

Rangefinders are so much harder to use, focusing is different, framing is very hard and often obscured by the lens as this is not an SLR, what you see in the viewfinder is not what the lens sees!! But it’s so rewarding when you get it right…<\/p>\n

Of course this comes at a price, a crazy expensive price, especially if you want the Leica glass. So for the past 8 months I have been saving up to get myself an M9, 3 Voigtlander lenses and 1 Leica lens. The all Leica glass will come in time when I win the lottery! They are an investment, they hold their value so well. But the Voigtlander lenses are pretty damn good for the money, there is a lot of snobbery out there but honestly I am amazed at the quality, especially the 50mm F1.1 and 35mm F1.2. The 50mm F1.1 is around $900. The Leica F.95 50mm is around $10,000!! Now that lens is in a class of it’s own and I have used it and the bokeh is so buttery it melts in your mouth, but for the cash the F1.1 is stupendously good too, great build quality and sharp and smooth…though if Leica read this and want to help me out I will be VERY grateful!!!! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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