What to do.

I spent the past week in a downward spiral over what to do about my now deceased Leica M6 and Digital medium format camera. Both cameras have served me well, each giving years of service and reliability. The digital camera lasted more than a decade, but was never the same after a bump last year and then the shutter packed up along with the focusing thingy. The M6 demise was a slow one whereupon the shutter kept sticking and then failed completely resulting in labor costs that exceeded the value of the camera. Choosing a camera is a total minefield and something I would rather not deal with taking up way too much time. Reviews are often biased and we all have our preferences so there’s no point in asking someone else. The digital aspect has been the worst with all it’s megapixel nonsense claiming that bigger is better, but from experience I know this is far from true, especially with a medium format censor where the pixels are more evenly dispensed. If I wanted an huge file I would shoot film and scan it (image above shot on film, scanned to produce a 2gb file and printed to 12 feet). Then there is the nostalgia aspect where I imagine myself parading around the desert with some old vintage camera which may look nice, but like a classic car, will break down and leave you for dead.

So for now I will let the amateurs spend money on nice looking cameras they will rarely use while I look for something sensible for the next ten years..