There’s often a conversation about how much or how little cameras and lenses matter to making great images. I mostly side with the very little side of that conversation.
That said, there’s a 5% range at the top (and I suppose the bottom) where the gear, especially the optics, makes a tremendous difference. I strive to make images that get into that five percent as often as possible, where the tool can truly enhance the image. For me, that is typically delivered when using a Leica Noctilux lens.
Who is Aaron?
I’m originally from Alaska (USA) but moved to Salt Lake City when I was fairly young and lived there for a couple of decades before moving around a bit over the following decades, and I recently moved back to Utah, right at the base of the majestic Wasatch Mountains.
In Alaska, my dad was a mountaineering pioneer, and unbeknownst to me at the time, was shooting thousands of slides using a Leica IIIa from 1936-37 with a Cooke 50MM lens that he had picked up at a yard sale in the 1960’s. So though my roots and residence are in the mountains and the Western United States, I’m a city boy at heart and consider NYC my photographic home.
My journey to Leica?
When I was young, I shot with whatever I could get my hands on. I couldn’t afford gear, and so my photography was definitely not about the gear. In the early 2010’s I settled in with Sony for several years, but simultaneously had some of the more affordable “basic” Leica cameras – a D Lux, an X Vario, etc.
In 2015, when the Leica SL (601) was introduced, I read everything I could about the system and “needed” to get my hands on one. I went to the Las Vegas Leica Store (RIP) and picked one up not long after the release. It quickly became my “go to” for most uses.
It was the announcement of the 75MM Leica Noctilux that brought me “all the way” to Leica. This lens was a marvel (and way beyond my then interest in “investing” in a lens), and I wanted it. I got my hands on one as quickly as possible, finding a barely used one as new ones were trickling out of the factory, and I couldn’t wait.
More on the 75MM Noctilux later, but needless to say, this was the gateway to M cameras and lenses for me, and I’ve never looked back.
Why Leica?
I choose Leica for two reasons, honestly, they’ve probably come to have equal weight for me; craftsmanship and community. The Leica community: the artists, the international and U.S domestic staff, and even, maybe mostly, the fans who aspire to participate in the Legacy of Leica, is such a tremendous source of inspiration and friendship.
Opposite of the false stereotype that Leica’s just sit unused in drawers next to Rolex watches, Leica users are ferocious creators, passionate friends, and endlessly curious. I’ve never seen a photographic community as open and inspiring as the Leica community.
Then there’s the craftsmanship. Leica equipment is extraordinarily well built, every detail is considered, and the quality is clear in every aspect of the equipment. However, when I talk about Leica craftsmanship, it is the optics that hold the most weight. There is nothing like Leica glass; the sharpness, the character, the variety, the longevity, it delivers in that 5% I mentioned above.
Leica glass challenges me, and once I’ve “unlocked” a lens, it can deliver images that I could not in any other way. To me, Leica lenses are the best in the world and reside there in a class all their own.
What Do You Photograph and Why?
I’m a generalist, I shoot everything. If I could only shoot one subject, it would always be people: beauty, fashion, street, documentary. I love people and capturing them. I want to make them look and feel their best, illustrate their situation or story as best as possible, and to help others see them as they should be seen.
So, though you might find me capturing images of animals, cars, life, whatever, I’m always on the lookout for an interesting person to put in front of my lens.
I’ve followed Matt for many years and appreciate his insights into photography and Leica, but we’ve only met in person once. But as is often the case in the Leica community, one in-person meeting is more than enough to have a meaningful connection and friendship.
But in-person at Photo London, we were quickly in deep conversation and passing the gear we had with us back and forth.
Favorite Leica Camera?
This is always a tough question, but I always answer with the camera I use the most or the camera that I would keep if I could only have one. That, of course, changes over time, but for me, it is currently the Leica M11 Monochrom.
Ask for my favorite vintage or favorite special edition, or some other narrowing question, and I’ll have another answer, but my favorite is the one I’m going to go out and create with the most.
Favorite Lens?
This is easy, though I love a lot of lenses, the 75MM Leica Noctilux f1.25 that I discussed previously is the favorite for sure. The shallow depth of field and optical perfection gives me everything I want when it comes to making portraits. For my desired outcomes, I’ve never seen a lens that delivers like 75MM Noctilux. This lens is a marvel.
Favorite Film?
I haven’t shot film in a long time and am generally resisting shooting film again. I enjoy consuming the film creations of others, I appreciate the extension of art that film can bring, but I’m simply not patient enough to shoot film at this stage.
I met Aaron at PhotoLondon 2026 and was kindly introduced by Iain who you might remember from his recent article. We instantly started chatting all things Leica and kept in touch.
I can definitely relate to Aaron’s story to Leica. I love my Leica iii cameras but it was a Leica M mount lens that pulled me to Leica (actually a Voigtlander Nokton Classic 40mm f1.4).
I was shooting Leica M cameras before the Leica SL 601 was a thing but unexpectedly transitioned to the SL series cameras as the years passed (after getting the little Leica CL). These EVF cameras just make it too easy.
From a creative point, I like to see my focus and exposure “real-time” (before clicking), but just as important for me, I want to see the lens flare (and bokeh to a lesser extent). For fast glass like the Noctilux lenses the bigger SL series cameras balance nicely and the EVF lets you nail your focus every time.
Fun fact. I used to shoot weddings with a Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.0 (v2) lens (wide open) on my Leica M9. Why? Two reasons. First there wasn’t enough light in the old English churches for the M9. Second to create images that other wedding photographers couldn’t replicate with their mainstream DSLR cameras and autofocus lenses (at the time).
The 5% “rule” Aaron mentions is real and it matters to me too. That’s why I love playing with vintage lenses (and Chinese replicas of!) Thanks Aaron.
“Podcast host and self-labelled photography “tourist” Iain Farrell might have to accept he’s on a path to becoming a photographer”.
Who is Iain?
Iain Farrell is a self taught and passionate photographer. He hosts the podcast Prime Lenses and makes photos with his Leica M11, beloved Zeiss C Biogon 35mm lens and is learning to shoot film with a Leica R8.
Headshot by Tom Oldham
My journey to Leica?
I’ve had a camera close by for as long as I can remember, my Dad was a very keen photographer which rubbed off on me. I discovered Leica almost by accident when looking into lenses that could be paired with my mirrorless Sony cameras, a NEX-5N and then an A7.
I loved those cameras but there was a look and feel to the images I was seeing made by Leica shooters that I wanted to understand and emulate. Initially I was attracted to the Leica Q series for the size and lens quality combination. I must have talked about it for years and once even made a presentation for my wife explaining why I should get a Leica Q to justify the purchase. In my late 30s my wife bought me a Leica Sofort, joking that it would be the only Leica I’d ever own xD
Joke’s on her, a few years later, when a bonus arrived from work one Christmas I asked my wife if it was ok to blow it all on a camera and she said I should! That used Leica M10 from the Manchester Leica store was the gateway drug and I haven’t looked back.
Why Leica?
It’s a feel primarily, a way of operating that I value. I love photography and almost never met a camera I didn’t like, but if it’s up to me, it’s a Leica M.
What Do You Photograph and Why?
Mostly I photograph my family and friends. I joke on the podcast when speaking to photographers that I’m a “tourist” because photography isn’t my job but I try to apply what I learn from and see in the work of others to the family and landscape photos I can make near my home in Scotland.
My poor kids. There are going to be many thousands of photos of trees for them to wade through on a NAS or two when I shuffle off this mortal coil.
Thoughts
As a photographer and podcaster I think I’m on a bit of a mission to cultivate and share conversations with some really great photographers.
I found our mutual acquaintance once I started searching online for Leica information. Matt’s MrLeica.com website and then latterly YouTube adventures are always so thorough and well considered. When I started the podcast I knew that I wanted to track him down to be on the show and as luck would have it we met at London Photo in 2025 (and again in 2026!)
Favorite Leica Camera?
I loved my Leica M10 but the Leica M11 is probably my favourite ever. It’s lighter, makes beautiful images with modern perks like USB-C charging and phone connectivity which combine modern convenience with a classic shooting experience and excellent battery life. I also need to shout out the Leica Sofort. The first version is a really lovely analogue camera, I love mine.
Favorite Lens?
This is easy. I LOVE my Zeiss C Biogon 35mm f2.8 lens. This compact lens renders beautifully. When I was a kid I used a 35mm compact film camera, the Canon MC. This was also a 35mm f2.8 and I think this just cemented in my mind that this is what a photo looks like. This lens almost never leaves the front of my M although I do also really enjoy my Leica Summicron 50mm f2.
Favorite Film?
I am just getting back into film photography and really like Kentmere’s black and white films, but I have most experience with Polaroid, and will also shout out the lovely Leica instant film for Sofort and Sofort 2.
I know it’s technically Instax, but Wetzlar have put their mark on it by offering a slightly different colour of border and I really like their options.
I remember Iain stopping me to say hello at PhotoLondon 2025 and we were chatting about the Zeiss Biogon 35mm f2.8 ZM lens. He then reached out in 2026 and invited me on his podcast (listen here). We then cross paths again at PhotoLondon 2026, a fantastic event for meeting people as well as the photos! Thanks Iain.
I’m Raf, a Brazilian photographer based in NYC who finds inspiration in the energy of everyday surroundings and cherishes the art of street photography on film. Beyond photography, on my website CameraClara.com, you can expect to find my insights on the intersection of analog and digital processes, philosophical debates about editing or not editing film photos, technical explorations of developing, scanning, conversion, film borders, editing, and how photography helps us define our artistic language, along with some nice photo sharing. Whether I’m wandering the streets of New York or documenting family moments, my goal is always the same: tell a story, meet new people, and have fun along the way.
My journey to Leica?
My first Leica was a Leica Q2. I bought it in 2023 on Craigslist during a business trip to Seattle, WA. The moment I got it, I fell in love with the lack of distortion on the lens and the full frame sensor in a compact body. I love symmetry, and I think I have a good eye for it. When I see straight lines with my eyes, I want them to be straight in my photos, especially near the borders.
My passion for rangefinders started with a Fuji X-Pro3, then a Fuji X100V, but the cropped sensors and lenses of the Fuji X series were somewhat disruptive for the quality I was looking for, especially regarding geometry and distortion. I always liked the idea of rangefinders, but the Fuji models have too much technology in the heads-up display, and the focus mechanism is not analog. That makes a huge difference in latency, because I want the whole focusing system to be at lightspeed, not passing through a wire, processed by a CPU, painted by a focus-assist color of choice, and finally viewed on a mini screen.
The Leica way of doing focus and rangefinder is perfect for me to exercise my distance-measuring brain. It keeps me from relaxing when it comes to composition, focus, and light metering. It helps me become a better photographer. The fact that I don’t see through a mirror or a screen while photographing makes me constantly think about how my photo will render.
From there, I fell in love with film at the beginning of 2025. My first film Leica was a Leica M7, then a Leica Minilux (point and shoot), then another M7, a Leica M10-R, and perhaps a Leica M6 in the near future (which I’m already eyeing on eBay).
I like having multiple film cameras to load them with different ISOs. For the convenience of using the M lenses I own, I got an M10-R, even though I think a Fuji GFX 100rf (medium format) or a Hasselblad X2D2 makes more sense for digital, but the Leica digital is so satisfying to use! When I shoot digital, I usually capture in RAW and use software to perform film simulation in batch, without any sort of exposure correction. I believe that photographing with the correct exposure should be the duty of every photographer, and Leica rangefinders help me a lot with that.
Why Leica?
When I bought my first, I completely fell in love with the full frame in a compact body, and with the brand itself. The community is strong, and you can notice that whenever you go to a Leica store: there are artworks on the walls and books on the shelves. Some even have films and chemicals! As a brand, Leica has a strong foundation in culture, without forgetting about their roots because of technological chips and sensors.
Unlike other brands that are high-end computers in a box with a lens attached, Leica cameras have character. They can spark a conversation with someone in a coffee shop on their own. I’ve lost count of how many times my Leica camera started a conversation with a stranger who later became a friend. It’s no coincidence that the emoji image for a camera resembles a Leica so closely (the silver one, of course!). It’s an icon. The brand is strong and recognizable for its quality, mechanical precision, customer support, culture, and community.
My Leica camera allows me to do candid shots without people noticing, and even when they do, they don’t care, and that’s because the camera is discrete, and not like a big camera used by Paparazzis.
What Do You Photograph and Why?
Among many different topics like cityscapes, shows and concerts, and macro, my passion is traveling and doing street photography on film. By the way, this is exactly what I am doing right now as I write this. The place where I live makes street photography easy (NYC). Some people even joke that it’s like having a cheat code, so friendly are the scenes and personas. I think that always bringing a camera with me to capture street photography is my fuel for my daily 10,000 steps.
One of my greatest joys came when I accidentally photograph a scene that echoes a milestone piece of art. On a cold winter night in Hoboken, I walked past a pizzeria glowing against the darkness and captured a lone customer watching basketball through glass windows. Weeks later, a friend saw the image and said: “Nighthawks by Edward Hopper!” I went home and searched for the painting. I was stunned. I had never studied Hopper when I made that photograph. I responded instinctively to the light, the geometry, the solitude. The connection only emerged because someone else recognized it. That taught me something valuable: certain visual truths transcend individual intention. We tap into shared vocabularies without realizing it.
Thoughts
I really like doing comparisons between film and digital film simulations for my readers at cameraclara.com, or any sort of A/B testing. One day, I went out with a dual-camera plate mount with an M10-R and an M10 Monochrom with the same lens (35mm Summicron). Both cameras have the same sensor, with and without the Bayer filter, and I took the same shots side-by-side (paying attention to parallax). Then I created software to distort one image in relation to the other (so the compositions look alike), and another piece of software to slice half of each image, to compare them side-by-side. I wrote a detailed article comparing these cameras with a unique perspective and technical view, available on CameraClara.
I’ve also done other types of comparisons, such as shooting real Portra versus a film simulation.
These benchmarks are something unique that I enjoy doing, and I see a lot of value in them, because comparing multiple pieces of equipment while isolating variables is something challenging that pushes both my photography and software development skills to the limit, for example, a comparison at ISO 12,500 between an M10-R and a M10-Monochrom.
I met Matt’s work through his YouTube channel, and I really like the assertiveness of his videos. His videos are not the typical YouTube stuff that takes forever to convey a message. Matt goes straight to the point. His introspective style is also something pleasing that, for some reason, calms me down while watching. I like to watch before going to sleep, lol.
Recently, I’ve been following up more closely with Matt because of Substack. I also subscribed to his newsletter and I am interested on doing a workshop with him.
Favorite Leica Camera?
My favorite is the M7 (Silver). I know it’s a film camera with more electronic components than the average film Leica Ms, and for that reason, it’s more at risk of failing on me, but the electronically controlled shutter gives me intermediary shutter speeds that are not on the shutter speed dial, like 1/45 sec (very useful), while still being able to shoot at 1/60 and 1/125 of a second if the battery fails.
Thanks to the precision of this shutter, exposure is usually nailed. The camera also has an on/off button that prevents blank shots from being taken when it’s inside the bag. It has exposure compensation, TTL metering (useful for orange filters and B&W films). The battery also lasts very long, especially with the ability to turn it off, so it doesn’t engage the light meter while in the bag.
Favorite Lens?
Leica Summicron 35mm f/2 v3. I have a black one for my Leica MP and a silver one for my M7. I really enjoy that focal length, and the bokeh on the Summicron is beautiful and creamy. I’m familiar with the focal distance, and it’s perfect for the crowded streets in Manhattan. 28mm is too wide and you might capture too much chaos, 50mm is too close and you may need to get far, resulting on having people in between the camera and the subject. 35mm is the perfect focal distance for photographing what I love.
To me, the Cron hits the perfect balance between excellence and price, it’s not as expensive as the Luxes. With those, I’m afraid to drop on the floor and damage the focus barrel. This is my number one concern when using Leica lenses: the fragile (and consequently precise) inner threads of the focus barrel. I’ve been thinking a lot on the Light Lens Lab too. I also have a Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.5 that is a charm, sometimes I prefer using it because it costs a third of the price of the Summicron, and it’s f/1.5, I like bringing it to places where I could potentially harm my equipment, like protests, bike rides, etc.
Favorite Film?
CineStill 800T no doubts here. I think that if I’m shooting film, I should look for a unique aesthetic that digital struggles to replicate at scale. CineStill does a factory chemical bath on their films that removes the Remjet (or anti-halation) layer, allowing the light to bounce back from the camera back to the emulsion, resulting in red halos around highlights . I’m developing a project collecting photos of the NYC Subway with it.
The name will be “Runner’s Blade – The Way Commuters Cut Through Traffic), and will exhibit subway scenes resembling a post apocalyptic scenario inspired in Blade Runner (film).
In person, you’ll surely find me on the streets of New York, in a nice coffee shop, or organising film photography photowalks around the neighbourhood.
MrLeica comments on this article
Thanks Raf! Raf reached out to me when I first signed up on Substack so I was keen to invite him to share his Leica story. It’s always interesting to read peoples different journeys to Leica and the cameras, lenses and films that stand out to them the most.
I must admit I’ve not shot Cinestill 800T for years but it truly is unmatched for mixed lighting, night photography and that famous halation. I recently treated myself to a roll so I’m excited to feed it to my Leica MP!
“How a blazing Nikon F5 led me to a love for Leica”
Who is Thomas?
I was born one September Saturday night in 1989 in the Netherlands, and my father always says that that day was the first and only time he ever saw me do anything quickly. That might sum up my character actually, as I like to slow things down in general. I suppose that helps explain my passion for film photography, and a love for old cameras that impose challenges which don’t necessarily speed things up when it comes to taking a picture.
My journey to Leica?
My father has been a professional photographer for his entire life. Selling cameras in the 80’s and early 90’s. Later working in laboratories in the hay day of analog photography, printing everything from family photos to commercial billboards and gallery exhibitions. Later when labs were not doing that good anymore, he started photographing commercially himself, weddings, events, and anything similar you could think of. None of this rubbed of on me in my youth.
When I moved out of my parents’ home, for the first time I thought about taking a proper picture of my hometown to hang on my own wall (I moved cities). My father/Santa gave me a Nikon D3200 for Christmas soon after. I did not use it for years… It was not until some health problems at the start of 2020, led me to being bed strained for a number of weeks, when I finally caught up on the online course that came with my previously gifted Nikon DSLR. I learned about photography. I learned ISO, aperture, shutter speed. I learned composition, light, subjects. I finally understood how interesting photography could be, and I wanted to go out and do it!
After recovering during the first few months of the pandemic, the following year or two provided an excellent environmental calm, and time, needed to practice my new hobby. I quickly switched to a Sony A7, as mirrorless seemed to be all the rage, and it meant I could borrow a couple of nice professional lenses from my dad who was using the system as well. As he saw that I was enjoying photography, my dad decided to get back into the hobby. Professional photography for some tends to kill the passion over time, as it appeared. He bought a Leica R6, something he always wanted to try. On this camera, using a 50mm Summicron-R, I actually learned proper exposure and manual photography.
This would help me later to expose for proper negatives, when my dad also taught me about dark room printing! In the meantime, I was told a Minolta XD-7 was similar to Leica SLRs, and I did not think I needed or could afford a premium film camera, so I bought into that system. This was my first film camera, and the relatively cheap lenses helped to kick start my analog camera addiction. Because as you all know one cannot just stop there.
Why Leica?
At this point I was photographing anything and everything really. I was still trying to find my footing and what my preferences were. One day I was finally trying to make those photos from my home town to hang on my wall. I tried using a tripod but the learning curve was steep for something seemingly simple. When returning home late one evening, I encountered a shady looking stranger in some deserted woods between the train station and my apartment. He was working with a tripod, so I thought it would be a great idea to ask this random person to critique my photos and see if he had some tips. Today he is one of my best friends and joined me and Matt on a trip to Budapest last summer. I love how a seemingly solitary hobby like this helps you meet so many new people if you are just open to it! Long story short, my buddy was working with a proper DSLR, a Nikon D610. The heft of this machine impressed me and I decided to leave my lighter weight feeling Sony behind and move on to the Nikon system. I also loved its contrasty and saturated images, something I initially thought would drive me in my personal taste of photography. With my new friend and a Nikon D810 I went out many times to do night photography (by now understanding how to use a tripod of course), and I was doing landscapes during the day too.
The change came when I met a girl who was open to me experimenting with portraiture, and was happy to have me take her photos. I strongly felt I should explore this further, and I started looking for people to photograph. Instagram became a big help, and I met many more like minded people through this platform and had the ability to work with a lot of people on portrait photography. By this point I had actually bought a Leica M3. I honestly don’t remember what drove me to it, but I do have a soft spot for 50’s and 60’s technology. I restored a 1962 Volkswagen Beetle with my dad when I was in my teens, still drive it in summer. I learned about the Leica M3 years before starting photography and thought it would be a cool period correct accessory, little did I know… Also, I read a lot of Ken Rockwell, and by this time I had already found MrLeica, both of which thought the M3 was the best thing since sliced bread. One of the things challenging me on Nikon were the colours out of my D810. They were never really doing it for me in terms of skintones, it would always turn orange after a bit of editing. This coincided with me getting acquainted with Matt, and him putting gentle but continuous pressure on me to buy a Leica SL. And once I gave in, it fixed my colour issues, but I was also forever hooked to the Leica eco system…
What Do You Photograph and Why?
Portraiture is still what I mostly photograph and share online. I love the interaction with people, and I was amazed after my first workshop with Matt how much fun a one or two hour photoshoot with a model could be if you know what you are doing. I providing someone with pictures that they will love. For me the beauty of the model is less important than the fun we have during a shoot, and the enthusiasm they have for the pictures once they receive them. I only dread looking at my pictures after a photoshoot as I’m afraid there won’t be any good ones and would have to disappoint the model, but luckily that never really happened! I think a lot of that, both quality of the photos, and the inspiration that comes through in them, comes from Matt.
Another YouTuber that I have always liked and followed, if only for his sarcasm but definitely also the photographs, is Grainydays (Jason Kummerfeldt). We actually met him with Matt when we were at the Leica campus in Wetzlar a year or so ago. It was pretty cool to have a coffee with two of my biggest inspirations at once. Jason photographs what I guess is called Americana, abandoned and derelict buildings and environments encompassing the American historical spirit. My take on that is a European version, and specifically in Poland. I have photographed the old ports and other derelict places in Gdansk with Matt already several times, as he also likes it. I travel to Poland more frequently to visit friends and family (I’m half Polish), and I always see cool opportunities along the way in the Polish countryside as well. Recently I have been trying to stop and capture those more. Obviously this takes a lot of time, and I have a day job plus other responsibilities, but I can see myself coming back to this kind of photography more often in the near future.
Thoughts
I admire people who can do photography for a living, but also know those whose passion it killed. My goal is to have a creative outlet, in the meantime hopefully taking me away from screens, a major part of my daily life currently. I struggle sometimes with the balance of photographing for myself and sharing it with others. I like to make pictures for people, but I dislike promoting myself on social media. On the other hand it would be a shame if I don’t share good photos with others. Also, social media has led me to meet and stay in touch with so many cool people outside of my own bubble, and I definitely don’t mind meeting even more of you! Lately I have been introduced to Substack and I will try to see if it is for me, Instagram unfortunately is crowded with irrelevant, cheap and time consuming content. Sometimes I flirt with the idea of just shelving my digital cameras and continue only analog. Whoever I happen to cross paths with in life will be invited to view my private physical gallery if interested. But then who knows what more of this great community I would be missing out on?
I think what helped me recently was to let go of the strict regime I put on myself when posting to Instagram for example. I tried on regular schedules with coordinated hash tags and the ideal 4:5 aspect ratio. Now I just do uncropped 2:3 pictures with random hash tags at random times, still care too much what other people will think, but at least have a more natural and fun approach to all of it. Even if I don’t post for a while sometimes, I feel much better when I do. Hopefully for Substack I can write some articles that come from the heart, and not try to cater to a specific audience. Photography should stay fun and not feel forced, and I just do what I want because I want to. This has already brought me so much richness in life, and I’m looking forward to see what else this will bring on my path in the future.
When I was still photographing with the Nikon D810 I bought a couple of classic Af-d lenses, both zooms and primes, as they were relatively affordable. Actually, I quite liked the DSLR experience. In some of my childhood memories I am using one of my dads Nikons, and he is teaching me to use the center focus point and then recompose. After realizing that these Af-d lenses could be used on film Nikon bodies, why let them go to waste?
I found a Nikon F5 in mint condition with two more professional zoom lenses not far from me, which I was going to pick up shortly. Before arranging to pick it up together with my dad, who would probably be better suited to judge its condition, and was excited to buy a camera with me that was out of his price range at the time, I did what any of us would do. I checked the reviews on YouTube. Guess who has an awesome and creative review on the Nikon F5 on the internet, even in his early video days? Yes, this is how I learned about Matt!
Favorite Leica Camera?
I can only mention one camera here, and that would be the Leica M3. I have had four of these over the years to find the nicest sample, I have sold two. My eyesight is not necessarily among the best, so I mostly appreciate the larger viewfinder magnification. Over the years I also learned that the M3 is considered one of the best built of the M film cameras, and in my own opinion it is also the most beautiful. I’m not saying it’s perfect. I started photographing without my glasses on, but my eyesight has deteriorated a bit. Also, I have astigmatism, which makes it hard to use standard diopters. I decided it would just be easier to photograph with glasses on as I also don’t want to take them off every time I’m taking a picture.
This is when I realised that my early double stroke M3 had an extra retaining ring in the eyepiece, which further increases eye relief. I had to buy a single stroke M3, and I still don’t see the entire framelines without moving my eyes. Also I had to add a small plastic snap on ring to the eye piece as the metal from the early Leica’s would scratch my glasses. This means you can’t screw on the 1.25 and 1.4x magnifiers anymore, so the extra magnification becomes even more valuable. I am still surprised when I manage to get in focus pictures wide open on a 90mm Summicron, but apparently this system just works!
On the digital side, I use a Leica SL2s now, and it has brought many improvements over my old Leica SL. With back side illuminated, next-gen sensor technology and in built stabilization you can effectively take pictures in the dark (and easier to focus with the improved EVF). There’s no other camera I can think of that can get you this level of image quality with the same ease, as I have already gotten shots that I otherwise would have missed.
Favorite Lens?
35mm Leica Summicron V1, also called the 8-element. I have the goggled version, to fit on the M3 (and similar to its glasses wearing owner). The only drawback of the goggles is it slightly reduces clarity in the viewfinder, but the image quality is perfect (for me). I bought the lens from the son of its first owner, as well as his M3 (now my main M3) and 90mm Leica Elmarit f2.8 (also fantastic), which probably means this lens has always been with the same camera. It has apparently seen the world already as it was used for professional photojournalism, yet remarkably it’s in mint condition, so I try to keep it that way. My M3 and this lens are standard issue when out and about and I intend to put many more miles on them. It’s a nice everyday focal length for me and combined with a soft rendering wide open it can be used for portraits as well. I also use it on the SL2s, but I admit it looks pretty funky with the goggles!
Late last year I bought a 28mm Leica Elmarit v4 pre-asph after a trip abroad where I realized I missed some shots because of not having something wider. I am not sure it’s the end all of 28’s for me, as there are things that I like and don’t like about it. I have however been using my SL2s a lot more recently out and about so I do enjoy the focal length. Also the 50mm Leica Summilux f1.4 pre-asph is a recent addition after yearning for one for a long time, and I can confidently say it is everything you need for a portrait session. Although I tend not to go out for portaits without my trusty old 90mm Leica Summicron f2 pre-asph as well, I just use it for much tighter head shots now. I think these last two lenses can please both vintage and modern look enthusiasts, and that’s rare in a lens. I have tried both the older and newer versions of both, and they are pretty similar in terms of sharpness and rendering, with slight variations in colour balance due to coating advances. The later lenses are much lighter and more practical in use, but the early ones just look and feel cooler, and they are more repairable.
Favorite Film?
I have shot colour film early on, but found it to become too impractical. Developing chemicals are sometimes difficult to source (although I believe this is improving now), and don’t stay fresh as long which forces you to shoot a lot of color in a short amount of time. Furthermore I enjoy analog photography for the entire process including dark room printing. For colour there are no gallery grade fibre based papers anymore that I could find. And worse (or better, as supposedly their quite toxic), there are no more chemicals produced for printing colour positive film. Finally Fuji Pro 400h used to be my favourite colour film, and that is out of production due to material shortages. If these things change, I would consider going back to colour.
Luckily I enjoy black and white photography and printing more than colour. I used to be an enthusiastic advocate for Ilford Hp5. Super versatile in terms of speed (and I still use it at high ISOs) and a nice combination of grain, sharpness and tonality. Unfortunately the negatives come out very flat, even when developing for ISO 800 (although at 1600 they get quite nice, but you lose some shadow detail). If you scan the negatives this is all fine and dandy, but I found the negatives a real challenge to print in the dark room when you want to get skin tones just right for example.
Perhaps this is why it’s called HP5 professional, and I’m not quite there yet! I tried Kodak Tri-x but it gives me negatives similar to HP5 at 1600, although I have only tried developing it in Hc110 so far. But when speed is not of the utmost importance, I found lately that Ilford FP4 gives me everything I want. Sharp 35mm negatives with the dynamic range or tonality where I personally want it, so no complicated dark room processing. Classic but fine grain is pleasing and I have the option to make slightly larger prints when wanted. And since Leica introduced their film variant in ISO 50 and everybody is raving about it, the 125 of FP4 actually seems to be quite versatile in comparison!
Thanks Thomas! It’s crazy to think that I met Thomas thanks to making my Nikon F5 video. Thomas went from being one of my workshop students (model photography first then later model photography with Leica cameras) to now a great friend.
I feel the Leica M3 is the perfect camera for Thomas. It suits the clothes he wears and the old Mercedes car he drives. His M3 + matching silver chrome lenses look good and deliver the results too.
“Using Leica cameras in the work of a professional documentarist and photojournalist.”
Who is Ondřej?
Ondřej Trojan is a documentary and reportage photographer focused on black-and-white humanist photography. His work has been featured on the official Instagram accounts of Leica and Leica USA, and in 2024 it was exhibited as part of Czech Press Photo at the National Museum in Prague. In the same year, he held his first solo exhibition at the Matějovec Gallery.
Between 2023 and 2026, he has participated in numerous group exhibitions and photographic projects, including Kafka 2024, FOTOSTART, and Traveling with Leica. His photographs were published by Respekt magazine in the book World Intellectuals. He has also collaborated with Czech Television and the organization Paměť národa. Since 2022, he has worked as a staff documentary photographer for the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University.
My journey to Leica?
I see my path to Leica cameras as a very natural evolution. I started with Nikon cameras and later moved to Fuji. From DSLR systems I transitioned to smaller mirrorless cameras, and I was drawn to their compactness. Around eight years ago, I discovered the work of the English photographer Alan Schaller, and I was completely struck by the quality of his photographs. I noticed that he was using Leica cameras, and I immediately knew that I needed to have one.
Around the same time, I began exploring the old French school of photography, including my favorite photographer in the world, Henri Cartier-Bresson, who never let go of his Leica. As a result, I eventually purchased my first Leica, a Leica M240, and began using it for all of my professional work.
Why Leica?
Leica is a camera I know I will never let go of. Over the years of using it, it has grown so close to my heart that I can no longer imagine working without it. It is small, discreet, fast, and above all I love the lenses I can use with it. I fell in love with this small German miracle, which represents the pinnacle of precision and engineering. I can operate it even blindly, and I need nothing more.
What Do You Photograph and Why?
I am a freelance photographer, working both on commissioned assignments and, above all, on personal work. I focus on long-term projects; at the moment, I am working on around five of them. I love to travel and always have a camera with me. I try to capture the essence of each place I visit. People interest me the most—photography without people feels empty to me.
My work is rooted in documentary photography and long-term projects focused on various themes. For several years now, I have been working on a project titled Northern Bohemia, in which I seek to capture the environment in which I grew up—an area that is not widely known. During the Second World War and in the period shortly after, terrible events took place there, and traces of them are still visible in the landscape today.
Thoughts
As you can see, my work is primarily black and white. I made this decision right at the very beginning, and I’ve stuck with it ever since. Personally, I think I can’t even shoot in color. Someone once told me it’s just an “artistic” stylization, but I strongly disagree. Black and white is a way of storytelling—it’s not just “decoration.”
For me, it can express more than a colour photograph, because it shows things more directly and doesn’t distract the viewer with a layer of colour. Black-and-white photography still makes sense today; it is relevant and contemporary. It needs to be approached as an independent photographic discipline, not merely as an editing variant.
I discovered the channel a few years ago when I needed to find information about different lenses. I have to say that it has always been extremely helpful in helping me decide which lenses or cameras are the right choice for my specific needs.
Favorite Leica Camera?
For me, it’s the Leica M3 and the Leica M10—I use both for my work, and there isn’t a day when I don’t have one of them (or both) in my hands. But if I had to choose the one I’d take with me to the grave, it would be my M3. For me, it is the absolute best camera.
Favorite Lens?
Personally, I fell in love with the 50mm focal length about two years ago, when I was still shooting primarily with a 28mm. Once I put a 50mm lens on my camera, I almost never took it off. It’s a focal length that truly reflects how I see the world, feels the most comfortable for me to work with, and can do everything I need. At the same time, almost all of my favorite photographers used a 50mm, so through their photographs I also grew to love this perspective.
At the moment, I’m using the 50mm Leica Summarit f2.5 and Leica Summicron 50mm f2v3. The Summarit is perfect—tiny, lightweight, and incredibly sharp. I often use the Summicron for shooting film; I like having the option of f/2.
Favorite Film?
I use Kodak Tri-X 400 film for a simple reason: it’s the best black-and-white negative on the market, with a long-standing tradition—and I simply love the look of classic photographs by the masters from Magnum Photos. Yes, it’s a bit more expensive, but it does everything I need. I love its grain, sharpness, and latitude. I’ve been using it for so long that I can’t imagine shooting on anything else.
Thanks Ondřej, and for sharing what’s important to you as a working photographer. I always admire people that use Leica cameras as work tools rather than fashion accessories. It’s what they were made for!
Ondřej reached out after seeing my Instagram story from Prague and we met for coffee in the Leica Gallery. All very spontaneous. I was with my buddy Tobi and we were both really impressed by what Ondřej has already achieved.
When you meet Ondřej he just comes across as a regular guy and quite humble (but you can tell he’s smart). What he fails to mention in his article is that at the young age of 26 he’s already selling his prints for over a 1000 Euros each! (I hadn’t even discovered photography at age 26!)
I’m not sure how you measure success but in my mind that makes Ondřej in the top 1% of photographers around the world. (If people ever ask to buy my photos I normally say £50 each so 1000 Euros is a million miles away from where I’m at).
Thanks Ondřej for being proactive and asking to meet up while I was in town – If you ever see me visiting your town feel free to reach out.
“I photograph through purposeful constraint. If the gear disappears, the work gets better.”
Hey everyone! I’m Matthew Daiter, often based in Zurich or San Francisco, and I’m a camera engineer as my main profession. For an interim as full-time, and now contractually, I’m also a photographer. My work centers around events and usually falls under “culture and conflict”. My work ranges from recording Yerevan mass demonstrations during the Nagoro Karabakh / Artsakh conflict to an Azerbaijani palace wedding; Japan’s national sumo wrestling tournaments to Australia modeling shots; and Sri Lanka + Bangladesh tourism exposes (personal work) to the Milei election night in Buenos Aires. Photography serves as my outlet and a creative product of my engineering work, along with being an alternate lens (no pun intended) into another culture.
Photography grants you access to worlds otherwise unaccessible. That’s what keeps me coming back.
Who is Matthew?
I started photography in 2019 after picking up a Minolta X-700 for 200 euros at a Dutch photography shop. My friend Quentin (IG: @___lancelot) had recommended a X-700 to me a few years prior, and I was already in grad school for optics and camera development. “This could be the artistic and creative outlet I’d been looking for previously”, I thought. An innocent thought flashed through my head: it’s just a plastic camera with some film, how hard could it be?
Oh lord — did time teach me that answer.
That camera was my ticket to events, and so to events I went. Anything from a casual trip to Dover Cliffs, to compensated gigs recording hackathons, and I was there. Photography made me default to being more social: it was, by far, the easiest way to finagle my way into events, talk to people, and share my work with others. I was hooked.
About six months after starting, a hackathon in Boston invited me to photograph the event. Right before the event started, a photographer from a company I had worked at approached me and said “Oh, film? How cute”. That dismissive, disregarding tone pushed me to ensure that with the three rolls of film I had brought to that event, I would outshoot anyone there. My first sense of feeling accomplished as a photographer was winning almost all coverage of the event through my own exclusive photo set, outshooting professionals on multi-thousand dollar setups with a 200 euro camera from the 70s.
My goal, from then on-out, was to prove to myself that anything could be shot well on a reasonable system. My mantra going forward was, firmly: artists learn the limitation of their gear and push that to make the best artwork possible. Consistency through purposeful constraints > anything else.
My journey to Leica?
So my journey to simplifying my setup began! First, I transitioned from a SLR to a rangefinder (Voigtlander Bessa R2A) with a 50mm, a 90mm, and a 28mm. That was my first true “pro-am” setup, and the camera I shot the majority of my work in Azerbaijan and Armenia with. Having a rangefinder on-hand made it easier to focus in the dark, simpler to tuck into the pocket and carry, and a fun lecture to anyone else trying to use my camera to take a photo 😉 . That’s where I learned to first truly zone focus and frame without looking through the camera.
Why Leica?
Sadly, the Voigtlander Bessa R2A electronics died, and I wanted yet another challenge. So, I decided on a purely mechanical system with a light meter, which left me with the Leica system. After yo-yoing an “oh shit” at the price tag and sending $3k over eBay to a guy in Philadelphia, I received a Leica M6 TTL with a loose top-plate. Luckily the Leica store repaired it on-the-spot, and it was good to go.
After a few years of only-film work, I picked up both a Leica SL2-S for digital, video and documentary work. The M6 was my daily driver, and my SL2-S was my event / experimental camera when immediate results were necessary. For modeling shots (with MrLeica!), my SL2-S maintained a tactile feeling, compactness, and visual aids to help use purely mechanical lenses onto my SL2-S. The M6 probably received the most use as a simple, mechanical system.
Since that point, I’ve shot a documentary on Afghan women smuggled into Greece on my Leica SL2-S, the aftermath of October 7th in Amman’s Palestinian community on both cameras, the Milei election on my digital system, an Azeri palace wedding on my M6 TTL. Even on world-trip sabbatical for nine months, just those two cameras and three M-mount lenses got the job done. And, carrying them around doesn’t make you feel like you’re about to go on a safari / film your kid’s soccer game / spy on your neighbours (looking at you, Nikon).
What Do You Photograph and Why?
“Culture and conflict” — anything from cultural events to diaspora documentaries, with the occasional headshot / modeling gig thrown in.
My why’s fairly simple: photography serves as a window into another world. It’s the greatest excuse to make a conversation with someone, take a trip, keep pushing the boundaries of what you knew about another culture, and reflect and elevate how you experienced that setting visually. For the conflict and documentary work, the bonus is that you can make a dent in a cause that matters to you.
Some of the most purposeful work I’ve done in the past few years has been recording stores of Afghan victims in Greece for a doc that never released to the general public. Why? Those victims know their stories have been recorded and are actively being used by NGOs and UN/EU establishments for reforming broken migrant treatment. That alone makes the weeks of visiting migrant camps, attending demonstrations, and conducting interviews to produce this documentary worth it. Those were the same sorts of motivators that drove the work surrounding the Milei election coverage, the Amman October 7th protest coverage, and the Yerevan demonstration coverage during the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, recording the National Sumo Tournament of Japan still stands as a portfolio highlight. With no other profession (that I can think of) can you roll up to an event with a camera (and no plan), show a few photographers your portfolio, and be invited to the front row of such an event. The gratitude photographers show others worldwide is always humbling, and the perspective photography allows you to experience and capture of another culture is unparalleled.
Thoughts
tl;dr: Modern lens marketing has been getting under my skin. Specifically, this obsession on “lens performance” and upselling people to “professional lenses” over making the work with what you have. At the benefit of camera marketers, upselling has somehow eclipsed purposeful lens / camera constraints while making good art.
Purposeful constraints make a great lens what it is. The photography industry has lost its way by eclipsing purposeful lens constraints with technical performance.
(Rant incoming)
There are a few factors to any lens:
1. Compactness / ergonomics. I’d actually say this is emphasized least in a kit lens, and most in high performance lenses (like a Leica). For example: is my lens weatherproofed? If I work on a boat, waterproofing matters far more than an extra f-stop. Autofocus or manual? Tiger paw focus grip? Thread size so I don’t need to buy 4 extra filters anytime I upgrade? Rubber focus ring or metal? My headspace is: if you nail ergonomics and compactness, you gain a mammoth artistic benefit from consistently taking your camera everywhere. This far (far) outshines having an extra f-stop or a bit sharper of a center point. 2. ”Sharpness”, which only brings you so far. But marketers have a convenient way to sell lenses through that metric, and so people hyper-obsess about this. 3. Bokeh quality and falloff. That’s my biggest tell. Bokeh can make or break an image, because it inherently becomes something people internalize and learn to deeply connect with. 4. Element count / aspherical / yada yada. These are important, but less important.
Ken Rockwell has a great article on sharpness that I agree with fully. I went to a MSc in electrical engineering with a specialization in Optics and had open offers from multiple camera companies to work on lenses after graduating, and I mostly agree with what’s said here. As a more visual person: I’d say that the distinguishing factors between entry and pro are contrast, size / weight, and aberrations (spherical, chromatic, etc).
Most kit lenses look kinda clinical and not so sharp. Others make the (bad) exchange of trying to do everything under the sun. Great lenses make it quick and easy to dial in settings (focus point + aperture), ensure poppy colors / bokeh, and then get out of your way. (Said otherwise: every 10x dollars you put in, you’ll usually see a bump in “3D pop” or “hyperrealism”)
For the amateurs swayed by marketing and hype factors, when purchasing a new lens I’d focus mostly on:
Does the lens focus fast and cover the ranges I like to see?
Does it give me sharp photos wide-open that I can use? (<- this is a bar to pass, not a metric to constantly adjust)
Does the lens give me purposeful constraints to lock into?
The Leica Summaron f/5.6 28mm is a pro level lens that weights 180g, is a 28 f/5.6, and sells for $2.5k. It’s incredible at what it does (all manual focus + aperture, super discrete, incredibly sharp, great bokeh + no aberrations). But probably not what everyone (especially a studio photographer) needs. Street photographers loves this lens for its high “performance”. But the MS Optics 28mm f/2 Apoquilia goes for that rate as well! Super swirly bokeh, very different output. Super consistent though, and easy to use. The Petzval bokeh, pancake shape, and compactness are constraints of the lens. In a wedding photographer’s hands, probably bad constraints. In street photographers’ hands, it’s so good.
For F-mount, the Nikon 135mm f/2 DC has incredible defocus control, for unparalleled bokeh. But it doesn’t beat a Zeiss 135 f/2 APO. I still went for a Nikon 135 f/2 DC though, because I don’t want to carry around a manual focus lens that weighs almost a kilogram on my neck. And I can’t even fully see the color that the APO lens corrects for. So who cares? A MTF chart?
If you’re an amateur, though, neither of these should be your first choice. Why? They’re both super heavy, and it’s gonna be a chore getting reps in on either of these. A Nikon 135 f/2.5 AI-S should be your first tele-photo: it’s small, manual, and sharp enough for Nat Geo to have published arguably their most famous photo. So it’s good enough for you too. And they typically go for around $150.
Whatever helps you accomplish what you need to do without getting in your way (and guaranteeing consistency) is your definition of optimal. It’s different for everyone, you kinda need to decide. Sadly, the camera marketing industry has been so wrapped up in “we can sell more cameras if we tell people more megapixels / APO-chromatic / sharpness” that it’s kind of lost its way. But whatever can get you a clean rendering of what you want, in a package that you like, with the visual signature you prefer, is your pro lens.
I used to be a Leica M6 TTL user for a while. I almost never used a battery. I really only purchased the TTL because the shutter dial’s bigger than the M6 reissue, and my fingers are clumsy. My only lenses were the Voigtlander 50mm f/1.2 ASPH and the Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8 APO-chromatic. Most of my professional work was made on that lens setup. Sharp wide-open? Absolutely not (for the 50). Best in-class bokeh? No. But, compact travel setup that led to incredible images? Yes. Investing more in education (through classes and books) led to more tangible artistic “gains” than any lens swap would have led to, yet amateurs myopically obsess over swapping lenses to cover for poor decision making.
A few years later, I swapped to a Mamiya 6, where each shot costs $4 (price of film) and the body + lenses cost $2500. My shots were…okay, but the pricing made me so conscious that I missed way more than I took. Definitely “sharper” than the Leica, due to it being medium format. But that’s not a constraint I actually care about. I care about “can I put it in my jacket”, “are the electronics gonna die”, and “does it burn a hole in my wallet when I take a photo”. Better lenses / film sharpness (on the Mamiya, head to head with not-$8000 lenses from Leica)? Sure. Suited to my constraints? No.
(The irony was: this photo took $5 to take on this setup, but none of the lens / camera attributes “made” the photo what it was. It’s really about leading lines, rule of thirds, and using tasteful abstraction)
My second photo in this article of the woman gesturing in the augmented reality headset was taken on a lens and camera combo that cost $200 total. Minolta x-700 and a 50 f/1.8 (nicknamed the “plastic fantastic”). Stupidly good. Zero thought required. Outshot pros with $5k worth of equipment multiple times.
The tl;dr of my mini rant is: lenses are like clothes, and the definition of “better vs worse” lenses is really a relationship with your personal preferences / aspirations / use cases. You eventually develop tastes to understand what your metrics of professionalism and quality are.
One of my favorite portrait sessions last month is below, where lens sharpness / bokeh (the typical selling points of a lens) mattered way less than the ergonomics of shooting in low light and making a unique expression that captured my friend’s personality (what actually mattered).
At first, through the YouTube channel! A late-night gear-video spiral landed me at his YouTube. Many (many) videos later, I found that I really enjoyed his style of “gear → output example → back to gear”. It’s simple and cuts through the noise of a lot of superfluous lens characteristics that trip up amateur photographers (looking at you, MTF charts).
A half-year later, I booked a day-long session with Matt in London. To some readers, that might come as a surprise: glamour photography doesn’t have much overlap with event (and especially not conflict or documentary) photography, so why book a glamour guy to help elevate my work?
Turns out, my portrait work had become pretty reliant on environmental lighting, and I realized how inexperienced I was with any artificial lighting source. In turn, my work had suffered to isolate and elevate individual characters while telling a visual story, both through a studio and augmented lighting setting. I needed to grow into more of a portrait photographer.
When we met up in London, what surprised me was how casual and on-brand his personality was to his YouTube presentation. We grabbed some coffee, he (casually) approached and secured the contact info of someone he wanted to TFP with, and we went about our day in the studio.
Matt has this fascination behind gear, and it bleeds through in his videos. But the biggest (and by far the most helpful) takeaway I got from his course was: body language and energy on-set are 80% of the job.
If you put your subject at ease, the photos will come naturally. If you’re tense and shifty on-set, the photos will suffer. Energy is contagious. Gear (ironically, for the guy called MrLeica) just has to pass a certain bar. Beyond that, it’s really about how you work together and communicate with your subject to create the best possible art.
(two examples from our photo session)
(two direct applications of using the principles learned in his class in the wild)
Favorite Leica Camera?
Here’s my rogue choice: the Minolta CLE, the off-spawn of the Leica CL that was co-designed by Leica and Minolta in the 70s.
The reason the Minolta CLE takes the crown for me isn’t that it has auto-exposure, a 40mm rangefinder frameline set (if you haven’t checked out the Minolta 40mm f/2 MC-Rokkor, you absolutely should), or a TTL system and additional features that rendered it the most advanced M-mount electronics and metering system until the late 90s. It’s that it did all of this for way less than any other Leica camera cost.
The Minolta CLE’s philosophy is what won me over. Mechanical, unkillable camera compared to a M6? No. But it was never really meant to be. It was meant to be an advanced, “more than a prototype” camera for the average consumer. A gateway into modernity and Leica glass.
It let so many people enter into the world of Leica that would have never been able to get a M-mount rangefinder camera. Even now, the Minolta CLE lets you enter the ecosystem for around $700 on eBay. Compare that to the Leica M6, coming in new at a hot $6415 dollars(!). The Minolta CLE let more people enjoy and elevate their work through a world-class set of lenses, without having to shell out money for a body that does an identical function on a mechanical body.
Funnily enough, the original Leica CL superseded the Leica M-system at the time in terms of nearly every capability, cannibalizing Leica M-system sales so much that the Leica team ended the manufacturing contract and ripped the product off the walls as soon as possible. Minolta rebranded and sold the CLE as a “Compact Leica Electronic”.
(Also, bonus points for not having a big red dot that screams “steal me”. That might be more of a me-thing though.)
Favorite Lens?
For M-mount? The Voigtlander 28mm series (Ultron, Nokton) probably takes the cake on the best price-to-performance lens system before multi-thousand dollar systems. I tend to ding up my equipment pretty heavily, and the Ultron stuck has survived everything from a bridezilla to a full-scale Middle Eastern riot. Ironically, what killed my 28mm Ultron was dipping it into a bog in Bangladesh on accident, and even then the sea water took a few months to erode the helicoid metal. And even though I couldn’t really twist the lens to focus, it’d still take tack-sharp shots by stopping down.
For a M-mount hipster lens? The MS-Optics 28mm f/2 Apoqualia is pretty incredible. Miyazaki-san doesn’t mess around. It’s compact, it’s got incredible Petzval curvature wide-open, and it snaps fast between “slightly soft” at f/2 to “tack sharp” at f/4. I’ve only had a limited exposure to it, but it’s like what Leica should have done with their Leica Summaron f/5.6 28mm, but with the additional three stops of exposure and background separation in a smaller package.
For innovation, regardless of the mount? The Nikon 135 f/2 DC series is pretty compelling. Having a defocus control to adjust spherical aberration and bokeh dynamically is pretty incredible technology that was sadly discontinued in the 90s.
For future lenses? Panomicron’s 1.5x anamorphic’s what I’m most excited about in 2026.
Favorite Film?
Kodak Tri-X 400 for most of my work. Velvia 50 for landscapes, Provia 100 for color, although I usually lean on Ektachrome when I can’t grab Provia. I’m partially color-blind though, so my hands tends to hover to Tri-X most of the time.
Thanks Matthew for a fantastic write-up. It’s so refreshing to see someone using a Leica film camera as a capable work tool rather than just a fashion accessory (in the modern era). (Fun fact – When I first spoke to Matthew he only shot film for his travel work. I was like.. this is a cool guy!)
Let me quickly touch on a few of the gear topics –
New lenses – As a lens junkie (gear-head) I agree once a camera or lens passes my ‘bar of approval’ I’m happy to then use it for creative purposes. (I’m very much a 50:50 split – part ex-auditor / mad scientist that just LOVES to test and experiment. Part creative and former painter that loves to use light to shape my images. A new lens won’t improve our photos (unless you a craving a specific look). It’s better to master lighting through practice than buying new lenses.. but as a YouTuber I’m guilty of both!
Leica CL vs Leica M bodies – The CL or CLE film cameras are great for street and travel but I don’t use mine as a portrait photographer. Why? The effective base length of a Leica CL is short, like many Voigtlander Bessa cameras, meaning ease of accurately focusing fast lenses is drastically reduced compared to something like a Leica M6 0.85x or Leica M3. As my eyes age, a camera’s EBL is becoming a top priority for me.
Compactness (in general) – 100% agree. As most of my photography is now overseas I’m SO reliant on smaller gear. Cameras or lenses might be great but if they’re too large or heavy they won’t get used. Examples: Leica Summicron 90mm f2 Pre-ASPH – Fantastic portrait lens but I never carry it. Leica CL is usually my first choice beating my Leica M10-P or Leica SL2-S. Leica iii cameras are smaller than Ms (and definitely smaller than my Leica R kit). I carry ultra-compact 35mm f2 not my best 35mm f1.2 and small 50s not my best 50s. My chunky Mamiya RZ67 and 4×5 cameras wait impatiently in the meantime.
Better than a Leica – If you shoot film and want more detail, as Matthew says, skip the premium Leica lens and just buy a medium format film camera instead! 6×6 is like 400x the resolution of 35mm as the negs are just so much bigger. The Mamiya 6 paired with the 75mm “kit” lens is super compact for 6×6, as it the Fuji GF670 if you want even bigger negs (or the popular Mamiya 7). If those are too expensive look at vintage 6×6 and 6×9 folding cameras like the Voigtlander Perkeo II and Agfa Billy Record II. (I’ve done reviews on most of the popular medium format cameras from owning over the years).
Minolta cameras – Even as the “Leica guy” I own the budget Minolta X-300 and these cameras can be fantastic. As a takeaway thought.. of every premium Leica camera and lens, every medium format (and large format camera) setup I’ve used in my life, my most like photo by FAR is the image below, shot with.. a £50 Minolta X-300 (It’s what you arrange and light in front of your camera that’s important, not the camera itself!)
Always wear a camera – The importance of being ready for fleeting moments.
Who is Dan?
A short introduction about me first. I began taking photography seriously back in 2015. I became fascinated with the photographers of yesteryears, the greats; such as Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Frank and Gary Winogrand to name a few. It was also during this time that I picked up my first Leica M camera. A beat up old M3 paired with a 50mm Summicron ridged. After a few years finding my footing, I now run Analogue Cameras here in the UK, a second-hand film camera store which I consider a dream job!
My journey to Leica
While in college I fell in love with film photography. I was very lucky in a sense that I had unlimited access to the darkroom we had one site. Often, I would be the only person printing, this allowed me to really home my skill and become a pretty competent printer.
Over this period I really developed a skill in making traditional B&W silver gelatine prints. When it came the time to look to upgrade from my Olympus OM-10 and Nikon D3200 I was using, it seemed logical to go down the film route. I was able to pick up a rough Leica M3 and 50mm Summicron Rigid for less than the current mid-range full frame DSLR at the time. Since then I have not really deviated from the Leica path. For me the Leica is a tool which feels comfortable in the hands and after years and years of use does feel like an extension of my eye as cliché as that sounds.
Why Leica?
Having heavily studied the master photographers of the past I found one thing in common with them. Most of them shot Leica’s. I wasn’t interested in landscapes, macro or studio work. This meant that the perks that other camera systems offered didn’t appeal to me. Leica’s are small, unobtrusive and reliable, all factors which matter a lot to me.
What do I photograph?
Many would label it as ‘street photography’ but I really dislike this term as it doesn’t describe anything. For me I prefer documentary photography because I prefer to work on a cohesive body of work. This can sometimes take years to complete but for me it gives photography a meaning and allows me to really focus on a subject matter. An example of this would be my recently completed body of work named ‘The Mechanics of Talat Noi’. In this series I explore the slowly disappearing street mechanics that can be found in the Talat Noi area of Bangkok. Many of the workers here have called this place home for decades but with new development plans being made this area is being redeveloped and some of the workshops are needing to relocate elsewhere.
Even when I am reviewing camera equipment for my personal site, I like to work on projects closer to home whether that be on the London underground or in Northern Wales, both being projects I have yet to complete.
Thoughts
I think as I have grown as a photographer, I have learnt that likes and social media are not everything. You can easily fall into the trap of questioning your work if it doesn’t generate the engagement you had wished for. We need to keep in mind that not everyone is going to like our style of work but for me as long as I am happy with how a picture or series turned out that’s all that matters. And if others also share the same opinion, then great and if they don’t, I won’t lose any sleep over it.
I had followed Matt for a few years and really enjoyed his series on cheaper Leica alternative lenses as there are so many hidden gems out there.
It was in the spring of 2024 when I was in the process of lunching ‘Analogue Cameras Type – 517’ 35mm film that I reached out to Matt directly and we worked together on testing and launching this product.
To date I have sold over 8,000 rolls and only have enough film to make another 4,000 rolls so if you have not tried this film yet, get some before it’s gone for good! (Buy Here). Photo below was shot with ‘517 –
Favourite Leica camera?
I do cherish my black M4 but I am sorry to say it has to be the Leica M3. This camera has been with me since the beginning and has never skipped a beat. Being fully mechanical you don’t need to worry about batteries and while yes I am a big fan of the 28mm focal length I prefer to use external viewfinders for this anyway.
Favourite lens?
This is a tough one but I would probably have to say the first-generation Leica 50mm Summilux f1.4. This is a lens I have only recently acquired and mine is in poor condition but out of all the 50mm’s I have shot with there is just a magical quality about this one. Tac sharp when stopped down and having painterly qualities wide open.
Favourite film?
Kodak Double X has become my new standard film replacing Kentmere 400 that I had used for years. I spool this myself and have found the results to be very close to Kodak Tri-X at more than half the price.
Thanks Dan! I wish I’d had access to a darkroom in college.. I was very much a late bloomer pushed to film from my dislike of my Nikon D800 files in around 2012. (I met up with Dan in London for his photowalk and hope to collab again in 2026!)
I can confirm that the respooled Ilford FP4 cine film (aka, Typ 517), is excellent. The photos below shows the tonality I achieved from Typ 517 with my Leicas.
Typ’517 shot with a 1931 Leica ic camera during a morning run
You might know the YouTube legend, Peter Elgar who still makes videos today. I was keen to invite Peter to share his thoughts on Leica. This is what he said –
Who is Peter?
I discovered the Magic of PHOTOGRAPHY in 1951 at East Ham Grammar School when on a trip to the Festival of Britain a School Mate showed off his Kodak Brownie Reflex camera – we all peered into the Viewfinder – it was all in Colour too! ” You can learn to do your own Processing at the School Photographic Society, Thursdays in the Chemmy Lab” he said, so I went and in a Semi-Dark Room the Chemistry Master ‘Gabby ‘Heyes was handing out small sheets of paper to boys who took it and put a negative onto it in something like a Picture Frame then held it under a Light on a Retort Stand, then across to the sink where they took out the blank Paper and put it into a dish of liquid and LO and BEHOLD !! A Miraculous Event happened — the paper darkened and a photo appeared ! Then into two other liquids then dry onto blotting paper – I was HOOKED !
I rushed home and got my Mum to find her Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Box Camera from the 1930’s and cycled 4 miles to a wonderful Emporium in Leigh Bridge Road Leytonstone called ‘Marston and Heards’ where the Ancient Proprietor sold all manner of ex- WWII Films, Chemicals and Papers — he would blow the Dust off a purchase – I bought some Ferrania ORTHO film 120 size as I was told ‘ORTHO FILM’ could be handled under a Red Light — so I wrapped some Red Paper around a 25 watt bulb in the bathroom and ‘blacked out’ window with an old blanket, then See-Sawed the Film though a dish of Home-Made developer as shown by the Chemistry Master then Fixer — the Greyish Negatives I got I thought were the Bees-Knees !
As School Boys no-one could afford a 35mm Leica or Contax or even a Paxette on our Pocket Money so all prints were done on Kodak ‘VELOX’ Chloride Contact Print Paper . It was a Big Day when the School bought a ‘Gnome’ enlarger so I could do Half Plate size prints! I joined the South Essex Camera Club in 1952 age 16 and entered the ‘Beginners Section’ — there were many Fellows of the Royal Photographic Society there and one, George Crosby FRPS showed me how to do enlargements using ‘Amidol’ home-made print developer and his wife Anne would keep me supplied with Marmalade Toast then I would cycle all the way home with a load of damp prints.
One evening a member showed 20×16″ enlargements done with a 35mm LEICA on Ilford Pan-F film processed in the Beutler Formula — magnificent ! By that time I had got a British ‘Ensign Selfix 16/20 Model II’ but his prints beat my efforts although I was not printing to 20×16 ” only up to 10×8″ — It set the Seeds of LEICA into my brain.
My journey to Leica?
So as I did not go to University the Armed Forces beckoned and I joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as a Pathological Technician — I kept up membership of the S E C CC as I was stationed in London at the RAMC College then to The Royal Herbert Military Hospital Shooters Hill . Then in 1957 was sent to GERMANY – WoW ! The Camera Shops in my first Posting Munster were full of Rolleis, Leicas, Contaxes which the British Public could not get due to Import Restrictions. I still had my Ensign Selfix though, Then sent to the BMH BERLIN in the British Sector where a Camera Dealer used to come round once a week — he had a LEICA III with 50mm f2 Summitar all scratched but a CONTAX III with 50mm f1.5 Sonnar so I bought THAT one after all for about £38 Sterling.
So I had a 35mm Camera at last – I used it for the early AgfaColor CT18 film and B&W Agfa Isopan, then when I got sent to BMH ISERLOHN in the safety of the British Occupied Zone discovered ADOX films !
In the Town was a Camera Dealers with NEW LEICA M3 and IIIg Cameras for 820 D-Marks when we got 11.50 D-Marks (Deutsche Marks) to £1 Sterling but I was paying off the £38 for the CONTAX still … then in the Canadian Maple Leaf Store I bought a Braun Hobby flash for £14 when they were over £39 in UK IF YOU COULD GET ONE — BUT they also sold NEW LEICA IIIf + 50mm f3.5 Elmar for £45 ! I could not afford on Army Pay to get one.
Many years passed – I joined Barking Photographic Society in 1959 after the S E CC folded and joined the Royal Photographic Society as well – must have been the youngest but KEENEST Member in my 20’s The Legend of LEICA was at the back of my mind but I exchanged the CONTAX for an Asahi Pentax S3 in 1961.
Fast forward to the 90’s — I heard of a Clergyman of St Lawrence Church , Village of Blackmore with LEICAS for sale — he sold me a 1934 Model II + 50mm f2 Leica Summar and a Model III + 50mm f3.5 Leica Elmar for £250 — (Don’t Tell The WIFE! )
The Model II was STOLEN at Thorpe Park in a drive-by theft. Then a Camera Club Mate was going Blind and sold me his 1965 LEICA M2 + 35mm f1.4 Leica Summilux and 1957 90mm f4 Leica Elmar collapsible for £450 – then another Camera Club Mate wanted to sell his 1986 Leica M6 + 35mm f1.4 Canadian Leica Summilux so I lashed out and got it for £1,000 ( DEFINITELY Don’t Tell THE WIFE!! )
Luckily all these Purchases were income Tax Deductible as by that time I was a working Professional with my ‘Letters’ ARPS and ABIPP gained in 1970 by submission of work .
My Leica M system: L-R is :90mm f4 collapsible Elmar with hood from1957, 1965 M2+ 35mm f1.4 Summilux German 1988, 1986 M6 with 50mm f2 Summicron from 1989, 35mm f1.4 Summilux Canadian from 1989
Why Leica?
I wanted to experience the ‘Mystic’ attached to the Leica brand for myself. It has not meant I take any BETTER Snaps though and the 35mm f1.4 Summilux lenses both 1966 Canadian and 1988 German are just too soft at full aperture easily beaten by a Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 I tested from a mate.
I did Photography for a Studio in Barking where I got introduced to local PRESS Photography and got my Asahi Pentax S3, then after a stint with School Photography got job at University College London Geology Dept where I introduced Asahi Pentax for making slides for lectures, then set up as Freelance in 1970 doing the Dreaded Weddings, PR work, Theatrical Work, Local Press Photography.
I used LEICA for some jobs but the very SLOW FLASH Sync Speed of 1/50th was no good for fill-in outdoors when the opposition had NIKONS with 1/250th Flash Synch Speed – so I also used Rolleicord and later ‘flex and also a Mamiya Press Super 23 — all Tax Deductible.
When I was at UCL Geology Dept in 1969 NASA sent us a slide with Moon Dust that Neil Armstrong had put into his pocket and I had to do Photomicrography of it — I was on about £27 a week by then and all the well-paid Professors looked at the results and said there was a Globule of Glass formed by the action of Sun on the Moon Dust and it was Published half Page in the Sunday Times with my named Credit ( NO CASH ! ) but I was suspicious as I could press down on the slide cover slip and the Globule would change shape — I was RIGHT – it was a minute piece of PLASTIC from the Sieves that NASA used to sieve out all the Best Bits before sending us the remains — but I was only a Lowly £27 a week Snapper — NOT a Professor !
Now I am retired an 88 years old but Still Snapping with Old Cameras I get Given and Outdated Film! I still make up my own Film and Print developers as taught in 1952 at School ! The Magic of LEICA has FADED somewhat now– I find I need autofocus for my Street Candids as trying to follow-focus with the small Rangefinder Patch is so difficult.
Thoughts
I have done the famous 20×16″ size prints from LEICA but now it’s just too Expensive on my Pension. I am Past President of Brentwood & District Photographic Club and teach the Beginners (but they don’t get Marmalade Toast) !!
If you’ve ever searched for film camera reviews on YouTube you may have come across Peter’s channel. Straight talking, no fluff and often with fantastic darkroom prints. What a breath of fresh air Peter is in today’s world!
I do my best reviewing all the various Leica camera and lenses but I wanted to hear how Leica cameras were perceived by the previous generations. Thanks Peter for sharing your story!
I’ve been photographing my entire life, but I don’t know what a rangefinder is. 2023 changes all that, and how I perceive photography. My name is Rex.
Who is Rex?
I grew up in Hong Kong in the 1990s, surrounded by camera shops, and photography has always been a part of my life.
Now, as a transplant living in the mid-Atlantic of the United States. I worked as a full-time commercial cinematographer. However, when I am not filming, I often collaborate with models for portraits.
My journey to Leica?
While Leica was always a name I knew growing up, I had never seriously looked into what that name really meant. I was very comfortable with my Canon cameras from the analogue age onward. When I transitioned to digital, I stayed with the brand to minimise reinvestment, since I had invested in flagship lenses early on.
After 15 years of photographing digitally, my 2020 hobby was getting back into analogue photography. That sparked my curiosity to explore other camera platforms beyond Canon. Rangefinders sparked my interest due to their compact form factor. As soon as I put my eye through the viewfinder, pushing the focusing tab of an entry-level Minolta, I was hocked.
I spent weeks watching Matt’s video and sniffing through his Patreon community as I patiently shopped on eBay. In May of 2022, I finally found a Leica M3 double stroke that is in dire need of CLA and repair for a good deal.
With the camera away for repair, I asked myself, why stop there? So I quickly began a search for a digital Leica. At first, I was about to commit to a Leica M8, but again, my patience paid off, and I found a local listing of a Leica M240 for just $2000 USD!
Why Leica?
Having a digital M body was the most significant paradigm shift in my photography since I purchased my Canon 5D mk ii in 2011. It changes how I perceive photography entirely.
The mechanical nature of the M platform invites me to use the camera more than any other camera that I have ever owned. It’s like a spell that one simply cannot walk away from.
The tactile feel of a manual focus lens with a robust focusing tab connects its user to the scene more than a microprocessor-driven servo. The beautiful range finder that lets you experience the world without a computer interpolating it.
What Do You Photograph and Why?
Many people often ask me that question. It took me a while to figure out why I have been doing photography all these years.
It is a bit of curiosity about machines and physics. Now that I am committed to analogue photography again, I have been photographing with all formats, from 135 to 120 roll film to large-format sheet film. I enjoy learning and tinkering with cameras of all origins and formats.
In the process, I also became an amateur collector of old film cameras and early digital cameras. Last month, I even fulfilled my long-held desire to shoot on a digital back with my Hasselblad 501CM, using a 2005 Leaf Aptus 22 Kodak CCD fat-pixel sensor.
I enjoy portrait photography because it lets me push my lenses the most, especially with vintage glass. Being able to focus on the subject at minimum distance allows maximum background separation and seeing how a lens would render the background. Plus, it is more fun to work with models during my time off than with a golf cart, chairs, and pliers when I photograph for work.
Photography will forever be a learning process for me: to learn, explore, and master.
Thoughts
While I am sure that with proper maintenance, the Leica M240 will outlast us, like any electronics, the battery will die one day, and Leica will release the battery pattern, so a third-party company will continue to make replacement batteries for the camera.
I am still in the honeymoon of shooting on the digital medium format back. While I converted only shooting digital with my 501CM at the moment. Once I am more comfortable with the limit of the Aptus, my goal is to use the digital back in conjunction with film back, and leave the full-frame digital at home.
I went into a deep dive on what rangefinder cameras I should pursue. It didn’t take me long to discover Matt on YouTube plus his MrLeica.com blog.
Aside from his vast knowledge of Leica, Matt was also a passionate model photographer like me.
From the glimpses of behind-the-scenes photoshoots I saw on YouTube, I found that our photography pacing is very similar, which convinced me to join his Patreon.
Favorite Leica Camera?
As much as I love film, my go-to Leica will always be my Leica M240. Having an intuitive digital camera lets me freely compose photos on the street without having to jump through menus. It is a camera that I wear on every trip with a 35mm lens glued to it.
I say wear because when I am traveling, I like to have my camera ready at all times, and the black paint M240 with a red-dot delete is as discreet as any other camera, especially with its small footprint.
Favorite Lens?
Lenses, damn the lenses! They render beautifully like paint brushes.
It is funny that we spent years pursuing the sharpest, most corrected lens and the fastest, most accurate autofocus system. Now we went back and looked for vintage lenses that are flawed and imperfect.
My Canon cameras and lenses are tools for my trade, while my Leicas are where I play. For my model photography, I like to paint, partially with light, just as crucial as with my lenses.
The M system offers a wide variety of compact optics. But vintage glass grabbed my attention the most.
Leica Summarit 50mm f/1.5 – Currently, my absolute favourite. The high-aperture blade counts produce beautifully rendered bokeh, even when slightly stopped down to compensate for its vintage softness. With its non-coated elements, it flares dramatically under the right light. However, I do have to be careful with its off-center sharpness, or the lack thereof.
Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f1.4 SC II – Let’s not forget M lenses from other manufacturers. This is my favourite 35mm. It creates a similar swirl bokeh to the Summarit, especially when it is wide open at the minimum focus distance. The single-coated formulas also allow a more classic flare.
Canon 85mm f/1.9 – My most recent pick up is this post-war lens. It was the very first generation of its kind made in the 1950s, when Canon was still copying optical formulas from its Western counterpart. This was also before they had“corrected” the design in their later offerings, which I found boring.
Favorite Film?
I go through a good amount of film as I try to photograph one roll per model session. My favorite film without any doubt is FOMA 400, which I almost exclusively shoot at 200 and use box development time with Rodinal 1+50 dilution.
FOMA 400 yields a smooth skin tonal transition and just enough sharpness for portraits. However, the thin film support of FOMA causes excessive curling in 120. With my new contact glass scanning setup, scanning has become quite challenging. But until I find an alternative to 120, I will continue with my FOMA 400 workflow.
Thanks Rex! As a long time M240 owner (and now M262) I appreciate the punchier colours from this sensor versus my M10-P (or the M11). That and the fact that the battery lasts almost all day one a single charge! (I first met Rex in New York when teaching Leica workshops in 2024 and then twice more in 2025 when Rex visited Europe. Rex is a regular face on our monthly Patreon calls).
If you like the idea of larger formats, Rex also does great work with vintage medium format cameras + large format. Be sure to check out his Substack!
The best cameras already exist, and they’re over 10 years old.The Leica M9!
Who is Tobi?
Hello, my name is Tobi, and you might have seen me in one of Matt’s YouTube videos. We travel a lot together, whether it’s to the Canary Islands, Italy, the Czech Republic, England, or Poland. No trip is complete without cameras. Leicas!
I’ve been photographing since 2008, but my first camera was already in my toy chest as a child. An Agfamatic Pocket Camera. Even then, I enjoyed pretending to take pictures. In 2008, I swapped the Agfamatic for a Canon DSLR. The reason I ended up with Leica and Phase One today has a very specific explanation.
My journey to Leica?
I bought my first Leica, an M9, in 2019. That camera had been floating around in my mind for much longer. The reason was my Epson R-D1, which I had since 2010, paired with two Voigtländer and one Leica lens. The camera was no longer in use, sitting on a shelf. But every time I looked at photos taken with it, I felt nostalgic. It became a pattern, and I began to research why.
The lenses! Yes, the lenses had to be the reason. So, I bought an adapter for my Canon cameras. But they were just part of the magic, and I kept searching. I studied different cameras, lenses, and sensor technologies like CCD and CMOS. And one thing kept popping up: Leica. Whether it was about shooting with a tactile feel or a nostalgically romanticized rangefinder. Even while researching CCD sensors, the M8 and M9 kept coming up. Tactile people loved the craftsmanship, visual people admired the clean design, and even audible people raved about the pleasant shutter sound. I couldn’t escape the Leica myth.
Why Leica?
When I finally held my steel-gray Leica M9 in my hands, I wasn’t immediately in love. I was skeptical; after all, I had just paid almost €2,000 for a ten-year-old camera that didn’t even have autofocus.
But the love grew as I worked with the first RAW files. That was what I had been looking for. The images already looked much more alive without any editing, compared to what I was used to with my latest Canon cameras. And with a little RAW development in Lightroom, I was exactly where I wanted to be.
But I quickly realised that this didn’t happen with every lens. And now, with lenses from the past 80 years and from various manufacturers, I could use them all seamlessly. It opened up a whole new playground. One that I’m still exploring. I’m particularly drawn to lenses from the 50s and 60s, which are only partially coated and not optically perfect. They work beautifully with the already high-contrast Leica M9 sensor, resulting in stunning colours and contrasts.
What Do You Photograph and Why?
I primarily photograph models, from portraits to nudes and body-painting. I love to travel and discover new places. Through body-painting, I’ve become part of a global network of artists and models. I’m often invited to events and jams. It’s perfect for me — artists and models are already on site, which often gives me the opportunity to stay an extra day or two and photograph my own projects.
When there’s no bodypainting event, I often travel with Matt and Thomas. We book an Airbnb, find some models, and have a great, creative time together.
Thoughts
When we travel, I usually have a Leica M9 and a set of lenses with me. However, I love to think outside the box and try new or old things. Since 2008, I’ve witnessed the majority of the digital photographic developments. Even though cameras from 15 years ago couldn’t compete with what we have today on paper, they were still more than sufficient for over 80% of my shots. And I’ve realized that the remaining 20%—the extreme shooting situations—rarely produce results good enough to show.
In short, I believe that the technological progress in camera technology over the last 15 years hasn’t enabled me to take better photos. Maybe it made it easier, but certainly not better.
I claim that the best cameras were made between 2008 and 2012. It might sound crazy or nostalgically romantic, but give me a few lines to explain.
Since 2010, I’ve always had the best Canon cameras, and around 2016/2017, I realised something was missing. I didn’t know exactly what at the time, and I still don’t know for sure today. But I have a feeling. I’ve already talked about my journey back to the M9 with a CCD sensor. In 2020, I bought a Phase One IQ180, also with a CCD sensor. Since then, I’ve done some crazy things, including scraping the RGB layers off an M9 sensor to make it monochrome. If you’re interested, check out Matt’s video on my “Chopstick M9” or visit my Substack, where I’ve posted more detailed articles about it.
Over time, photographers have approached me, asking if I would compare their camera with the M9. And no matter the brand, the older the camera, the closer the results were to the M9. We’ve tested this with the Leica M10 and M240, and I even tried it with old Canon DSLRs. The RAW files from the old CMOS sensors, under good conditions, result in a very similar look to the CCD sensors of that time. So, is it really the sensor technology that makes the real difference, or is it the shift towards higher ISOs and dynamic range that causes colors to fade and colour fidelity to decline?
I can’t shake it, and I’ll continue testing older cameras and sharing my findings on Substack and Flickr.
I discovered Matt through his MrLeica.com blog when I was searching for information on the M9 and compatible lenses. This was before Matt started his YouTube channel in 2019. At first, I was only interested in the technical details, but I soon became captivated by his travels, especially the way he traveled.
I looked at his model photos from Budapest, Gdansk, and Uzhgorod and got stuck on his colour shots with Kodak Vision3 film. It took a few more years before, in 2023, we teamed up and created a three-day bodypainting jam in Italy. I think Patreon existed by then, and I asked Matt if he would come to Italy.
Why and how he agreed spontaneously remains a mystery to me. Initially, he was quite overwhelmed by the colorful and in-your-face world of bodypainting. But I believe that the strong teamwork and the relaxed atmosphere between shoots eventually won him over. Anyway, I met Matt for the first time at the airport in Ancona, Italy. Since then, we’ve traveled to multiple countries together and photographed many beautiful models.
Favorite Leica Camera?
Guess what? It’s the Leica M9. I think that’s no surprise. I came to the M9 because of the CCD sensor, and that’s why I’m staying. Even though the newer Leicas always lure me in, and I can never keep my hands still without testing them, I always return to the M9.
Over the years, I’ve learned to deal with the camera’s shortcomings. Yes, the M9 needs a break after seven shots to clear the buffer, and that models often look at me confused when I show them the photos on the tiny display, which doesn’t even deserve its name, but I can live with that. There are many other things that annoy me, but I think it’s like a marriage—you learn to live with the quirks.
No matter how hard I try with another camera, my photos don’t get better, so I’ll just stick with my M9.
Favorite Lens?
Okay, this could quickly spiral into unforeseen dimensions, so I’ll keep it brief and start with my absolute favourite lens and name two others in different focal lengths.
75mm f1.5 Carl Zeiss Biotar – This is my absolute favourite lens. I love it for portraits. It’s often described as having swirly bokeh, but its character changes depending on the distance to the model and the background. That’s what makes it so valuable to me. (Before I found the very rare Contax RF version of the Biotar, I shot with an Exakta-mount 75mm Biotar that I converted to Leica M mount to use on the M9. It taught me the lens’s language and that’s probably why I kept searching for one of the rare Contax versions – only 225 ever made).
50mm f1.4 Carl Zeiss Biotar – A lens originally made for Pentaflex AK16 film cameras. I’ve adapted one to Leica M with rangefinder coupling like I did with the first 75mm Biotar. The 50mm Biotar is my watercolour paint brush when it comes to fast 50s.
35mm f1.4 Similar Artralab – A hidden gem that I only discovered a year ago. A compact 35mm f1.4 lens in the classic design that doesn’t suffer from field curvature. This makes it possible to compose off-centre in model photography without the centre of the image being significantly sharper than the edges. The bokeh is fine and unobtrusive.
Favorite Film?
This is a bit tricky for me, and I’m definitely not the right person to give tips and tricks on film photography. Although I’ve shot film on and off for the past few years, I don’t have a true favorite when it comes to film.
This is mostly because I’m always disappointed when I scan the analogue negatives myself or receive the scans back from the lab. I can never get a consistent look. Different lab, different colors. Different scanner, different colors. Different software, different colors.
It’s gotten to the point where I’ve questioned the “magical film look.” I’ve seen Portra 400 ruined so badly that it could have been a cross-processed Lomo 800.
Anyway, if you hand me a nice analogue Leica with a characteristic lens, please load up some Kodak Vision3 250D. That makes me happy—thanks to Sunbath Lab in Paris!
