Lessons of youth

@newbee

There is no question what you say is true for me as well. As much as it is possible to turn off the auto focus and other auto stuff on a contemporary cameras… it just seems impossible to do it… at least for me. Forcing myself to think about depth of field made me control it. On the other hand the Leica does excel at some things that make it unique.

I was lucky enough to travel internationally nearly half time for many years. No matter how tired I was I would go out and do photography most every evening. I shot a Fiji X-pro or Nikon D800 (or predecessor). Under those circumstances the automation (fast changing street photography / low light) automation helped. But with time, forced manual use was of great value.

@mapman 

I just couldn’t resist.

@larsman

I have a Nikon F sitting behind me on a book shelf with a couple lenses. I remember dreaming as a kid of some day owning a Nikon F series. It was of great pride when I could… then the best of the digital series and a dozen of their best lenses. It has been a very enjoyable ride… like putting together my audio system over a period of fifty years.

@larsman

Me as well… since the 60’s. I slowly switched to digital in the 90’s and really started get good in the 2000’s. A hundred thousand photos from around the world as I traveled for work.  A few years ago I finally decided to ask myself if a Leica was worth it. I preordered a M10. The output was different. It took me a year to fiigure out why. Virtually all the best photos I have taken were taken with my Leica. This is where I got exposed to the same stuff we get here about interconnects and power cords… makes a huge / no difference… expensive is better / rip off of the ignorant wealthy.

BTW, there is a “Leica Look”, it is a unique camera (M series) that lends itself to more inspiring or artistic photography through greater lens resolution, better focus when lenses are wide open, greater color detail and color contrast at lower light levels. While theoretically you could modify photos in Photoshop… there is a lack of detail in the categories I mentioned above that would make it very difficult. So, throw this into a photo forum and you get everyone throwing stuff at each other… except from long termed Leica owners that have also figured this out.

Photography forums can be real ego trips for some…