The best camera is…
Have you heard the phrase, “the best camera is the one you have with you”?
17 years ago, I received a hand me down from my sister, a Nikon F100. If you’ve never held one, it feels like a tank. The camera has a wonderful rubbery grip, a big beautiful viewfinder, and an authoritative thunk when the shutter fired… I was hooked from the moment I started using it. Inside the camera bag were a couple of lenses, a flash, and even the manual. Yet, my journey with the F100 was short lived. As soon as I enrolled in a photography 101 course, which was the impetus for the hand me down, I was required to purchase a fully manual camera with a 50mm lens. I am forever grateful of this requirement.
A boy enjoying the open fire hydrant on a hot summer day in the South Bronx. This is one of my earliest photos taken on a Leica M4 and Tri-X.
“Film required patience, intention, and the process of making, it required a deeper level of care.”
My next camera was the Nikon FM with a Nikkor 50mm F1.4 AI lens. I don’t recall taking any good photos in my first photography course, but the lessons I learned from professor Gaskins taught me to how to use light. Furthermore, shooting black and white and working in the darkroom is an experience that is almost indescribable. The mystery of light and chemistry and the slow reveal as you develop your image is why I am forever grateful for shooting manually. Film required patience, intention, and the process of making, it required a deeper level of care.
A tornado begins to touch down on the Colorado and New Mexico border. This was one of my first digital photos taken on a Nikon D60 that my father bought me.
After using the Nikon FM and D60 alongside one another to photograph life and everything in between, I built up a strong enough portfolio to start getting assignments with the Village Voice. Next camera up, the Canon 5D. I traded in the D60 and purchased the following lenses, 17-40mm, 70-200mm and 50mm. After some success working as a photojournalist, I said goodbye to the Nikon FM and hello to my first Leica, the M4. The Leica came everywhere with me and helped scratch and itch… the itch was the joy of photography, a practice of observation and timing, being in tune with the world. Not to mention, it weighed less than my digital cameras and it was fun to shoot. 99% of the time I loaded Tri X and made photographs as I went about my life. Diaristic in nature, I shot about 1 roll per week and truly felt like I was making photographs, not taking photographs. I felt like I was learning how to be a photographer again.
Fast forward, I made my way through a number of cameras, 5D MK II, 1D Mk II, Nikon D700, D600, Leica M8, Leica M6, Fuji X100, Fuji XT2, and Fuji XT3. I used all of these at some point over the course of a decade, and a film Leica was sidekick to all of them. The shortest lived camera was the Leica M8… it just felt clunky. Second shortest lived, the Leica M6, I couldn’t stand having a light meter and it was unnecessary. In 2019, I sold my Leica M4 as I grew tired of scanning film and Fujifilm succeeded in making the most filmic digital experience ever. From 2018 to present, I mainly used a Fuji XT series with a 40mm lens. Light, simple, film like imagery. Last year I moved on to the Fuji XH2-S and my wife received a hand me down, the well used XT3. Despite the XH2-S being a remarkable camera and visual tool, I woke up one day recently with another itch… I missed my Leica.
Enter the Leica M246, also known as the Leica Monochrom. Paired with a 35mm Summicron from 1972, the imagery is creamy, sharp, soft, and tonally deep. Film is special and unique, and the monochrom feels nearly the same. I knew instinctively that shooting a Leica would bring back a joy I had missed for years. The same joy I referred to above, the intentional, diaristic process of looking and making photographs. It’s not that I wasn’t making photographs for years, I just wasn’t using my preferred tool. In conclusion, the best camera is the one that excites you and makes you want to take it everywhere.
A few images from the first 2 weeks of owning the Leica M246. Follow along below for more updates.