The Leica M6 Proved Me Wrong
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2024
- Loved taking the time to expand on my experience with rangefinders so far! It's now been about 4 months since I got my M6 and shared these initial thoughts on Instagram, and I still hold to each of them. Chapters below if you want to skip around!
0:00 - it's okay to change your mind
0:34 - rangefinders + glasses
3:24 - deep depth of field is boring
5:15 - zone focusing is confusing
6:41 - rangefinders are not portrait cameras
8:38 - it's good to be wrong
9:18 - more images
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zone focusing is underrated by some photographers; but appreciated by some. you can do a hell of a lot going out with a 28mm lens doing street photography and just setting your aperture to about f11, then bumping down to f8 for less light or up to f16 for more. you can just then set the lens to around 8-16ft focus and then only moving the aperture when necessary - without even re-focusing can give you the best of all worlds in terms of depth of field providing the certainty of focus - without waiting for any autofocus nonsense on a digital to catch up. whack in some TMAX and you can shoot all day at about 1/500th or maybe 1/1000th if you have the light, point and shoot anything and everything and you'll be a wee Garry Winogrand in the making before you know it.
Love the transparency and humility, thank you for sharing!
Great video. Zone focussing with a focus tab and wide lens (28 or 35) is really quick. Aperture at f8 and then pull left for close shots, set to middle for middle distance and the right for further away.
Leica-M are good for 5' to 15' 1.5m~5m! You see better and clearer. Slowly you learn what it does, it does great! I love the original SMALL lenses!
I´m a M6 photographer since 1995. Really enjoyed your video. Told me what I love about my M6 and great to hear what you found great about it and the differences from what you normally work with.A camera is a tool. One tool for every job. SLR´s and rangefinders go hand in hand. Nice video and very thoughtful.
Kind regards from Denmark
Thanks for the video.
When I shoot head & shoulder portraits and tight face portraits, my Leica M6 with 90mm f/2 lens is not on the top of my list because it does not close-focus well.
I hear a lot about this camera, but it was cool to hear your journey with it.✨
Love this setup! But after getting a x0.58 vf (on a M7) with this exact lens I never looked back. Solved everything so I really recommend doing that.
Oh that's really interesting! Does that make it easier to shoot 28 with glasses? And how does it affect shooting 50?
@@StevenSchultz Yes it does. It means that you can see the 28mm framlines with glasses on. I love that. Well the box in the vf does get smaller for a 50mm. So it’s probably easier to focus the 50mm on a 0.72. Try 0.58 if you get the chance, from a friend, Leica store etc👍🏻
After picking one up I have a hard time getting past the frame lines. I also wear glasses and have a hard time with the fact that I can't see them with a .72 magnification. I always hear other Leica owners state that one of the added benefits of shooting with a rangefinder is being able to see outside the FL and see what's coming into the frame; unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case for me as I love the switching between ultra wide, wide and long focal lengths. I know of the screw on magnifier but that seems like another add-on that I just don't want to bother with.
I own a Canon A-1 and it doesn't work against me when using different vocals lengths, I can see what the lens sees from the center to the edge of the frame without any attachments and I can still "zone" focus. Also I would argue that SLR's don't really cover your face as much as people say they do. At the end of the day you're still placing a little black box up to your face and squinting, squinting even harder if you're trying to take a close up portrait of someone (I'll stick to medium format for that). But with Leica prices currently dropping I would say if you can buy one to try it out, probably wouldn't hurt.
Seeing outside the frame a crock of poop! You would need, reflexes in Nano seconds.
Buy a diopter. I use a -3.0. Solves the problem. Leica part 24013
Are the rich colours from the camera or a combination of camera and great editing?
Also love your set up, what’s the technique used to paint your backdrop?
I grew up with film and have no desire to return whatsoever, especially with a rangefinder, but your shots are excellent whatever they were taken with!
Thank you very much! :)
Get an M camera w .58;vf magnification. Really easy to see the 28, 35 and 50mm frame lines. The old M6 and M6TTL had it as an option, as did the MP and M7.
Great point. I believe that the M6 but not sure of the others had a .85 option which is close to the M3 which is a better option for 50mm-90mm lenses. I use my M3 for 50mm and for my old Tele Elmarit which is one of Leica’s most compact 90mm lenses
I still have an old M6 that I bought 25 years ago. After a long journey via Minolta AF cameras and Minolta, I bought the Leica second-hand. I was horrified the first time I tried the camera. But I got into it and in the end I felt faster than with the Minolta AF (which was a nightmare, of course) and finally took photos that I liked myself. I had it with me everywhere and at every opportunity.
Then came the digital side, the dark side, and I parted company with Leica because the prices were simply absurd. My old M6 sits in my office and is regularly touched, stroked and triggered. Every now and then I treat it to a "portrait".
I have an M7 and a Mamiya 7II both rangefinders, I also wear glasses and am Left Eye dominant lol. The Mamiya is easier to see the patches align but I gotta practice more because it's still a chore.
Oh wow! Yeah, being left eye dominant with a rangefinder is pretty tough, haha. I do love the patch in the Mamiya 7’s, it’s so bright! Definitely takes a lot of practice, though. Thanks for watching, Maxwell! 😊
Thanks! I never understood the fascination with bokeh. Usually, I don’t want much of it, because for me, even portraits are placed in a specific environment. And lenses perform best between f4 and f11. I have an MP, because I developed a life-long distrust of electronics made by Leica. The problem with frame-lines is mainly that already at 75mm, the field of view becomes very small. In practice, 24mm to 35mm is what I use most of the time, in spite of my glasses. The hot shoe finder for 24mm is very wide and the lines are clearly visible. For travel or just take along, a range finder is the best camera for me. Simple, lighter and smaller. A slight problem is that I, like many people have a left dominant eye, so the camera blocks the right eye. For general purposes, I have used zone focussing for over 50 years.
I love shoot wide open for people images and stopped down to F8 or F11 for landscapes with Leicas. I used zone focus all the time when using the Blad 503 for weddings and my manual Nikons before buying auto focus.
So helpful. Thank you. I am on a waitlist for the M6 re-issue here in Canada. Very excited.
Hi Jerod! Thanks so much for watching! Hope you get your M6 soon, I think you’ll love it!!
@@StevenSchultz Many thanks!!! :)
Once you know the limitations, the 50mm, the 35mm and do try a 90mm! Maybe buy an older M model..
I think the SLR focusing just before AF took over tended to be either split ring or microprism. The rangefinder focusing is quite similar to the split ring device.
As an older person with less than perfect eyesight and glasses I can more easily tell if the images are lined up easier than I can tell if an image is truly sharp, especially on 35mm or wider lenses. With conventional ground glass/focus screen use I am racking back and forth trying to determine focus. With a rangefinder I just go till I see the initial alignment and stop.
My first serious camera was a Nikon F I had my uncle pick up in Korea when he was stationed there. When the Nikon F2 came out got one the same way. These were my main cameras for yesrs….still have my F2. I bought a used M2 and later a used M3 and started using them in the 70’s and haven’t used my F2 since. Using Leica’s just suits my style of photography. Maybe if I was in wildlife photography I would use a SLR. But for what I do just like Leica’s and appreciate their compactness.
I wear glasses and think it’s easier to focus rangefinders vs SLRs. It’s so much easier for me to see the rangefinder patch is lined up vs telling my focus is sharp when focusing the SLR with such shallow depth. I’m near sighted, so I’m pretty sure that’s why it works for me, maybe your experience is different if you’re farsighted. I also don’t have a problem focusing rangefinders without my glasses, but using an SLR without glasses is out of the question for me.
Totally agree with you on the notion of depth of field (the value in not just shooting everything wide open) - and I would add that shooting a rangefinder camera makes you better at composing even at a shallow DoF, since you see everything through the OVF. So any distracting elements you will notice and not just delegate to the bokeh. I believe it was one of Benj's videos that first taught me that. I will, however, challenge you on the idea that rangefinders are built for stopping down, because of what I just mentioned but also because of one of the lens designers (perhaps Karbe?) for Leica who strongly believes you must shoot Leica lenses wide open (because they're good enough to be shot as such). Obviously that's not an absolute, and I do totally get what you mean when you say that. But just an idea to ponder ;). Cheers bro, great video! And great to acknowledge when we've learned or grown.
Ooooo very interesting! I accept that challenge, I'll definitely consider it ;) I honestly think I'll be a lot more inclined to shoot wide open when I purchase a 50 for this, because you feel the effect of that depth more than you would on my 28 at 2.8. A 50 1.4 would be incredible. And if a Leica lens designer said it, who am I to disagree?! Haha but seriously, super appreciate you saying this and watching it! Absolutely loving rangefinders and growing as an artist, it's the best feeling. Hope you're doing well, Austin!! :)
Agree with this. Especially when learning rangefinders (I'm in this process right now with my first - M11/50 1.4 Lux), shooting wide open is in fact the challenge to get right, as well as legitimately learning how shallow that plane is, and something like breathing wrong that pull you out of focus...starts teaching how to get it right. Simply closing down the aperture and being able to get everything in focus, is almost a band aid. And it's a weird light bulb moment, because it's almost opposite on mirrorless/AF systems. That moment I figured out I could pull/push focus and the entire composition itself as a result by simply swaying back and forth a little...game changing mindset shift.
@@ansleythestewart Yeah that "Leica sway" really becomes important - especially with the longer lenses! Just got the 135 Elmarit and boy, that sucker takes some wrangling to nail focus. Sway comes in clutch. Love the challenge though.
@@StevenSchultz haha for sure man, thanks!
Leica has the best lens for DOF, the 50 0.95, and you can focus manually with the rangefinder too. Yes, Leica lenses perform the best when they are shot wide-open according to the head of Leica lens design Peter Karbe.
Excellent video. I have a Leica M. Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it, Richard! Thanks for watching!
Another great video!
Thank you so much!!
how shooting at F8-11 with 800 or even 1600 iso in a cloudy day ? Feel like we should use a low speed hit the right exposure..?
I feel like the problem I have with rangefinder is pretty much any rangefinders that is not a Leica or Mamiya, the focus patch is just not bright enough for me to use it properly.
Well after having the Olympus XA for a while, and it also has a rangefinder. I find it very easy to use and nail focus
Now I am very interested in owning a Leica M6 and a Mamiya 7ii lol
Also the probelm with the depth of field, I find it often that I use shallow depth of field when I am using the SLR system like my Nikon FE2. But when I am using the rangefinder like Olympus XA, I always set it on 5.6 and have it on 3 meter zone focus. Which is a interesting point
I mean, it’s not completely a misconception that rangefinders are more difficult to focus. You just happen to be using a camera with one of the brightest/largest most contrasty rf patches ever made, definitely not representative of all rangefinders. Trust me there are definitely situations such as low light or having the light coming from a specific extreme angle that effectively make rangefinder focusing unusable (on most cameras) but that’s what we have scale focusing for!
“Because I wear my glasses all the time when I’m shooting”
2:11 immediately shows image shooting the camera without glasses 😂
The photos were great. What kind of film did you use for the photos?
Thank you very much! I used Kodak film for all of the images. Primarily, I use Portra 400 and Portra 800, and there was a little bit of Portra 160 in there as well!
Same here... i wear glass but i focus on Leica IIIa with no problem even if im totally blind on my right eye ^^'
Zone focusing rule!
Try Pentax MX ;) Much more better and cheeper Leica. Aproved for Leica m4 owner.
Thanks for the video.
Some feedback if I may. I did find the music a bit too loud, which made it fatiguing when trying to listen to what you were saying.
I appreciate the feedback! I’ll keep that in mind for future videos. Thanks so much for watching!!
Have you considered using a diopter? :-)
Great video. Just found ur channel. Subscribed
Thank you so much!! Glad you liked it and grateful to have you on board!
What 50 do you use?
All of the 50mm images in this video were taken with my friend’s Leica 50 f/2 Summicron!
Funny how shooting a Leica, with film, makes us a slower better photographer.
Get the 28mm auxiliary finder. It works perfectly with glasses!
Congrats on your application video into the cult of Leica ;)
HAHA! Thanks man, I really wanted to impress them 😉😂
"Rangefinders are not portrait cameras"
In the 120/medium format world, bokeh afficionados certainly appreciate faster lens. Mamiya 80/1.9, Contax 80/2, Hasselblad 80/2.8, Pentax 105/2.4.... all of them are SLR lenses. Compare them to say Mamiya 7's 80/4. What... only f/4? 😬
A real Canonet28 !
Nomad Capitalist's twin brother?
Haha oh wow! Just did a quick search, we do look alike! 😂
No M11? :)
Haha!! Not quite yet, but it’s certainly tempting ;) My studio mate just got one and I’m excited to see what he makes with it!
You need a Leica diopter . Get one and remove your glasses.
Background music is too loud
Agreed, don’t know what happened with the mix on this one! Thanks for still watching!!
Switch off the bloody music.
The music overpowered the content. :(
I dont really understand why range finder cameras exist in 2023 its out of date technology. I cant imagine having fun with something that makes everything more complicated
😂is like saying old Porsche with manual gear makes no sense
Oh god. Bandwagon jumper for TH-cam likes.
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