A new crossroads to navigate!

I have been an amateur photographer pretty much as long as I've been able to afford it, meaning since I was about 8 or so. Oh how long ago that was, and how far we've come! It started with the cheapest possible russian Smena camera, and of course B&W developed at home. However, the point of this blog is not to bore you to tears, so I'll get to it.

What sparked the creation of this blog was a recent struggle to find the most enjoyable way to take pictures of the things and people that matter to me, and this search has brought me to a crossroads. I am a DSLR user who is somewhat unhappy with the DSLR way of doing things. Why am I unhappy? Mostly the size of the camera required to get a high IQ. It is next to impossible to get a small DSLR with a fast 50mm lens. In my case (Canon fan) I would have to get a full frame body (5D or the like) to be able to use the Canon 50mm f1.4. Those bodies are huge and heavy, meaning they will most likely sit in a drawer all the time. This is pretty much the fate of my present 400D with its ponderous 15-85 zoom.

The next logical step (or so I thought) was to get a small, fast prime. Of course, the Canon 50mm was excluded from he start because it's effectively an 80mm almost-telephoto. The 35mm is a better choice, focal length wise, but have you seen the size of that thing?

The root of the problem is the 400D's 1.6 crop factor, which means I have to use lenses that are not optimized for it, since Canon does not bother to make a 35mm f1.4 EF-S.

After a while, and not having come up with any better ideas, I decided to try a Voigtlander 40mm f2 Ultron, an overall excellent lens. However, another problem came up: since it is manual focus only, and most of the EOS line isn't designed with MF in mind, I end up with quite a few shots that are misfocused, or missed completely because I couldn't focus quickly enough.

Another ideea popped up, and I got myself a Fuji X100. A thoroughly outstanding camera, especially with the updated f/w. Still, the same problem crept up: slow focus. Enough times the camera would run through the focus range, only to stop at some seemingly random position, leaving the lens unfocused. Argggh! MF on the X100 is an exercise in futility as well.

So, what do do? More research was put in and an idea formed. Drumroll please:

Rangefinders! More specifically, the Leica M8!

The road to that conclusion was pretty long and I won't bore you with the details, but the next few posts on this blog will have to do with my experience comparing the 3 or 4 options on the table:

DSLR AF zoom
DSLR MF prime
X100
Leica M8


I've got an M8 coming, as well as 2 new lenses, the Zeiss 28mm Biogon and 50mm C Sonnar. I am particularly curious about comparing the M8/Biogon combo with the X100. At least spec wise they appear similar, 35mm effective FOV, 10 vs 12MP, both highly rated IQ. I will write new posts as I get more time with the Leica so stay tuned for that!


For those curious, I also plan to do some comparisons with the Voigtlander 40mm on the 400D and on my EOS Rebel film camera using Fuji Velvia! That should be interesting!