One and one is one.
Yesterday I realized that I had blown right past the end date of my one year/one camera/one lens/one film experiment. That means I’ve spent the last year shooting (almost) exclusively with a Bessa R2A, a Zeiss 35/2, and some Fuji NPZ 800 (or whatever Fuji’s calling it these days). I’ll be spending the next few days sifting through the output; the results will probably get condensed into an iPhoto book as well as a gallery on the revamped shutter.dirtystylus.com. Expect more on the culmination of that project shortly.
What reminded me about this was a pair of strangers asking me about my camera yesterday. One was an older guy who was curious about rangefinders. We had a nice conversation about the pros and cons of digital, and I clued him in to the shockingly wide range of great lenses for M-mount rangefinders. Since Leica’s patent on the M-mount expired a few years back, everybody’s been making M-mount lenses – Leica, of course, but also Zeiss, and Cosina/Voigtlander. That’d be like Nikon, Canon, and Pentax all making lenses for the same mount: unheard of.
The second guy asked me if I was a pro (which made me laugh, of course) and wanted to know a bit about the “Leica” I was carrying. I had to explain that no, it wasn’t a Leica, but then again I didn’t have 3 grand lying around.
Today I just read the new digital rangefinder from Leica – the M8 – is going to cost $5,000. I’m hoping that either Zeiss/Cosina or Epson/Cosina (who already make the only digital rangefinder out there, the RD-1) has something cooking for the mere mortals out there.