As a true nerd I nerdly enjoy keeping up with used Leica camera body prices in Tokyo. So if I’m in a part of town with a camera shop (most of Tokyo) then I’ll pop in to take a nerdy gander at all those shiny Leica bodies lined up next to little tags with lots of zeros on them.
So say on one such visit to Lemon-sha you discover one of your favorite cameras off all time with a tag that has a usual standard-type number and some zeros- but upon noticing that the price lacks the usual “1″ or “2″ in front, you too would probably drop the “window” part of “window shopping” with little hesitation*, right?
Need I remind you that the M5 has match needle metering? That is the most preferable metering system for me.
*usually you should hesitate. Usually I do.
This sweet sad story would make for an excellent short film.
These are all the lenses that I have.
More specifically these are the only focal lengths that I own. I do have two Nikon F2s- one with a beat up forty year old Nikon 50mm and a the other with a 28mm Nikkor. The a 35mm on my Big Mini probably ought to count as well. But that’s it. And that’s enough.
I’ve been going through each of my 2500+ negative files over the past few evening. It looks like about 85% of every frame was shot with a 28mm lens. Second place would be with a 40mm I sold a few months ago. A close third would be the 35mm focal length and finally it looks like less than 20 rolls were shot with a 50mm. This is what works for me. I suppose I have 28mm eyeballs with black and white, and 35mm ones for color. I bought the 50 thinking it would be good for portraits- but if you know what you’re doing a 28 is even better.
Looks like I’ll quote / mention Araki once again this week:
From an essay titled Taking Photographs with the mind’s lens
It may seem like a good idea to take a single camera with a zoom lens when traveling, but it’s too simplistic. It means you can’t decide on the lens you need for your subject. It means you haven’t got your ideas in order. Once you know what you’re all about, all you need is a single Leica 35mm camera. This is how it should be done. If you can’t do it like this, it means that you’re still not up to being a photographer!
a few paragraphs later he adds:
The lens you use depends on a whole range of factors such as the era and how old you are. If you really want to feel close to someone’s face, if you want to feel you’re in direct contact with their good qualities, it’s best to use a 50mm lens at the distance of 50cm or a meter. I don’t like taking people with skew-wiff expressions. I guess I just don’t like using the lens for expressive purposes. Photographs aren’t about expression with a lens. Absolutely not!
his essay ends with
The important thing is to shoot with an open frame of mind. You mustn’t let yourself step back. You mustn’t make things too complicated. You mustn’t change lenses. You need to take photographs with the lens in your mind!
1. From today I am looking for an original of this ad to be framed and hung on a wall. The hunt for 1971-1976 issues of Nippon and Asahi Camera is officially on. … that’s like 120 issues of magazines- and an estimated 30,000 pages (I’m guessing at least 250 pages per issue). Perhaps the internet version will suffice.
2. I am seriously considering looking for a Canon F-1. This advertisement = continued success.
UPDATE= Aya Takada, the photographer who loaded this wonderful content onto the web informed me that this came from the Feb. 1975 issue of Camera Mainichi. Which apparently not only features great ads for manual SLRS, but exemplifies the 1970s in the best way possible through font selection. Awesome.
I will go so far to say that flipping through random 30 to 40 year old issues of Camera Mainichi, Nippon Camera, and Asahi Camera is exponentially more enjoyable and fulfilling than most any photo publication on the newsstands today. Even the current issue of Nippon Camera? . . . Yes. Especially the part I am featured in again.