A Leica is a visual notebook: You can take everywhere

In 1962, John Shingleton discovered Leica and knew he wanted one. At that time, I was just a four-year-old boy who did not even know Leica existed. For my tenth birthday, I received my first camera, a plasticky Halina D-Lux with 110 film cartridge that acted as my first visual notebook.

It was a basic point and shoot, but I found joy using it. When I turned 18, with the money I had earned at weekends and summer jobs, I bought my first serious camera, a Minolta SRT 100X with a 45mm pancake lens. I was helped with the basics of photography by an old man, Pierre Tauvy, who fought WW2 in the French resistance. His hobby was stereoscopic images. He taught me about exposing, framing and classifying my images.

A Leica as a first reward

I bought my first Leica, a second-hand CL with the 40mm C-Summicron and the 90mm Elmar lenses with one of my first teaching wages back in 1985. I then traded the body for the Minolta CLE which had the aperture priority mode and easier film loading. Likewise, I used the combo for years with the 40mm most of the time. I eventually traded the CLE and Leica lenses when Contax released the T2 and G1 which I used for years. 

A return to Leica

I came back to Leica with the R9, followed by the M8. I’ve also owned quite a few Summicrons and Elmarits, both in the R and M systems.

Finally, after reading John Shingleton’s articles and seeing his images with the X1, I knew the X camera was what I needed. I bought a used X2 at my Leica dealer, and it was love at first sight. It worked flawlessly for six years, then one day the lens simply stopped functioning.

The lens has been recently changed by David Slater, and the camera now all works as good as new.

I added an X-Vario which was the first zoom lens I had bonded with. I just loved going out with one of these cameras. But does that explain what Leica means to me?

Notebooks for capturing light

My Leica cameras are light, superlative notebooks, with which I can record what I see, be it people or landscapes or just inanimate objects. They always capture perfectly what I saw and framed — colours, contrast, and form. In my opinion, no camera can match the quality of the combination of a Leica body and lens.

Intuitive haptics

Finally, I thoroughly enjoy the haptics of the cameras. Everything falls perfectly to hand. No need to dig through eight- or nine-page menus before using it… You just have to concentrate on aperture, speed, and focus. Editing the images it captures is a matter of seconds.

You don’t need to tweak the image for ages, whatever software you use. They truly act as notebooks for light. I also love going birdwatching with my Trinovid around my neck or viewing my slides with Leica glass.

There’s also the feeling of belonging to a community. Here in Le Havre, we have a bunch of Leica users. When we meet, we show our latest images to one another, appreciating one image or gently criticising another. It is always nice to discuss our hobby and the joy of using a Leica.

Leica conversations start here:

Wherever I go, either Leica users, or I, will often strike up conversations when we spot someone else with a Leica. I visited the Leica store in Oporto last month looking for a used viewfinder to fit the X2.

After visiting the gallery, showing the manager some of my Leica images and discussing with him, he kindly offered me the book about the restoration and transformation of the building, although I did not buy anything. He added when I left, “you are part of the family”.

As an aside, I love reading the LFI magazine, and I’ve subscribed since 2008. I also own Leica binoculars and magnifying glass to view and classify my slides. You can view my images from my various “notebooks for light” in the LFI gallery, incidentally.

My wife was a primary school teacher, and she often had her pupils write acrostic poems, so I’ll try one with Leica:

Light as a feather, I can carry my X2 or the X-Vario all day long
Extraordinary are the images these cameras produce
Inconspicuous when street shooting with the EVF tilted vertically “à la Rolleiflex”
Classic, using them and navigating in the menu is child’s play
Amazing in the hands as everything is in the right place

My Leica truly is a visual notebook.

Join the Macfilos subscriber mailing list

Our thrice-a-week email service has been polished up and improved. Why not subscribe, using the button below to add yourself to the mailing list? You will never miss a Macfilos post again. Emails are sent on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 8 pm GMT. Macfilos is a non-commercial site and your address will be used only for communications from the editorial team. We will never sell or allow third parties to use the list. Furthermore, you can unsubscribe at any time simply by clicking a button on any email.