I haven’t been able to shake this and I’m not sure what it really means. There’s a million things more important, but hey, I’m writing about it. As I witnessed all of the current state-of-the-art at the Leica’s Photoville event it made me think of all that money for all that digital jewelry.  I’m certain all those that had the latest and greatest hanging around their necks felt empowered to make the best pictures possible.

Look, if it makes you feel good, do whatever makes you happy. And why not? We live in partially functioning democracy, so go for it. I just sat and took it all in. Someone even asked me if they could try my seventy year old Summicron on their M11 then and proceeded to make ten or twenty shots in less than thirty seconds.

This made me think about another great piece that appeared a number of years ago on the Leicaphilia website. So I had to find it again. Here’s an excerpt written in 2014, discussing digital and the great lengths people were going to in order have convenience while trying to emulate the look and feel of Tri-X:

“Which leads to the obvious question: why spend $7500 on a digital camera that emulates the “film look” when you can just buy a used Leica M film camera for $1000 and a 100′ roll of Tri-X and get the real thing? And another thing to think about: in 50 years that M4 you buy on Ebay for $950 will still be working just fine, no batteries needed, while your Monochrom will have been consigned to the junk heap decades ago.

The M4, all parts made by Leitz, is all mechanical, all parts capable of being replaced without much ado by a competent repairman or machinist. The MM (and all digital ‘cameras’) are consumer electronic commodities meant to be replaced by newer, “better” commodities every three years or so. Your Monochrom employs specialized chips and other parts, not made by Leica and therefore out of their control, which exist in finite supply: a proprietary shape and voltage battery manufactured by a third party, proprietary code to run itself, a proprietary imaging chip. Your Leica MM also depends on a host of other third-party technology (e.g. computers, image processing programs, web browsers) over which neither Leica nor you have any control. In 15 years, while your M4 loaded with Tri-X sits happily on your shelf next to book binders full of sleeved negatives you can touch and manipulate at your leisure, your Monochrom, all electronics and tiny motors, will be unrepairable because there won’t be parts. And good luck finding and/or retrieving all your MM DNG files.”

As far as I could tell from the Leica event, not much has changed since the above was written. That said, Leica is a great company and we are lucky to have it!!! Nothing I’ve said changes that fact. They arguably make the finest lenses and their cameras are beautifully made, best of breed tools designed to meet given sets of goals very well. They build a product that people want to buy. This keeps the company profitable and in business. And yes, Leica still makes film cameras!!!

Thank you Leica for helping to keep analog photography alive. I’ll think about all you’ve done and continue to do when I load my next roll of Tri-X into one of my M cameras, look through its gorgeous viewfinder and focus my Summicron lens.

Stay well,

Michael