So Much Yes

Yes, I know this is satire, But still. It’s brilliant. I’d love to have this guy do some videos for Leicaphilia.

If you follow it back to YouTube, be sure to peruse the comments, which are almost as good as the video.

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This one? Satire? I’m not sure; it appears to be nothing more than a cute kid trying out film photography. Nothing wrong with that. In any event, Lindsey’s Grandpa sure has a nice M3:

On a related note, is there something inherent in Leica film cameras that compels new users to go to cafes to take pictures?

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Next, a sometimes literate, sometimes rapturous ode to the “Best Camera Ever Made.” While it’s easy to be smug and have a chuckle at their expense, I do like these kids’ enthusiasm, and I suspect I was probably much like them at that age. That being said, enjoy the video….just don’t be a “Hatter” :

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Finally, this from “professional photographer” Kenneth Wajda. Let me preface this by saying: Mr. Wajda seems a nice man and I’m sure he’s a very competent photographer, probably infinitely more competent with a camera than me. He seems the sort of guy I could share a beer  with and learn a thing or two from. But, Dear Lord, there’s something unsettling to me about this, something undeniably disturbing about the whole thing from an existential perspective. Is that how I come across on Leicaphilia? Is this what I’ve been doing for the past five years? Is this me? If so, my apologies. Just shoot me now.

[ADDENDUM: I owe Mr. Wajda an apology. What was meant as harmless fun I realize now was a cheap shot at him. I’m all for taking cheap shots at deserving subjects, but, from all indications, Mr. Wajda is doing a great job of sharing his passion for photography and educating folks in the process. He deserves better than some fool on the internet making fun of him.]

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19 thoughts on “So Much Yes

  1. douglasgottlieb

    Of all of the professional reviewers on YouTube, he is by far my favorite and the most professional.

    I only hope he demonstrates some wildlife birding photography with that camera and some super telephoto lenses.

    1. Leicaphila Post author

      Thanks Doug. Your comments help me and others in the community become better photographers.

  2. Lawrence

    It’s just a camera, albeit a very well made one with some fine optics, but it has its drawbacks too, as all cameras do. Obviously, you love it and that’s great, but a Leica rangefinder is not for everyone. The important thing is that you find a camera that you are comfortable using, which may or may not be a rangefinder (today there are many choices). Don’t be too enamored with the equipment. It’s just a tool and it has to work for you. If not, it becomes a pretty paperweight.

    1. Dan Bandel

      You sound like someone who would love to own a Leica but can afford one, so you regurgitate someone else’s excuse for now owning a Leica. It’s like driving a Ferrari. If you’ve never been behind the wheel, then you have no idea what it’s like. You stand on the sidewalk, watching and passing judgement. But I’d bet if someone gave you a Ferrari or you suddenly became rich and bought one, you’d never drive anything else. At the end of the day that Testarossa is just a car and it has to work for you, or it’s just a paperweight.

  3. serialphotographer

    Outstanding I’m still lol I love the guy double stroke = half the film genius, and I’ve been told I’ve got to get silver lenses

    Can’t wait to see that flash working. Superb review.

  4. serialphotographer

    I’ve just watched the Wajda review this guy has a serious hard on for his m3 which I think he probably calls Irma. I can imagine him taking Irma everywhere and basking in the reflected glory it gives him.

    Another equally funny review but fro entirely different reasons.

    1. kennethwajda

      Actually I’m a professional photographer since 1987 who shoots for a living, I love my work, and I make hopefully inspiring photo talks with some gear reviews on YouTube. You’re welcome to your opinion, though I find your snarky tone offensive. I prefer people, especially artists, who support each other instead of tearing each other down.

      1. Douglas Gottlieb

        You’ve got fans here too Kenneth.

        I really enjoy your videos and enthusiasm. I often wish you showed images in the videos, but have been impressed when I visit your site. And am ALWAYS jealous of the deals you find on used books and gear. But I understand the format: straight to camera, no post production, high frequency. And it works.

        Somehow, I also often appreciate his snark. But it doesn’t lessen my appreciation for your channel. And disagree with the Leicapheliac on his dig at you. He’s just grumpy because he’s fallen temporarily out of love with his German engineered marvel and gotten smitten with an iPhone from Cupertino that’s half his age.

        And sorry, but nothing compares to the guy in Video one at the top. He’s the tops.

        Doug

  5. apparently

    No Tim, that isn’t how you come across on this blog…

    But since we are being gear heads for a minute, I would just say that even though I don’t have an M3, I have had an M2 with the DR and I loved it, but my first week of owning the Nikon S2/1.4 Nikkor has made me think that I have been missing a trick, since it is better built, it weighs less, costs less, and gives more to the user. The 100% viewfinder is brilliant, especially if one uses two eyes.

    I saw this camera come onto the market, went to have a look and it just fell snugly into my hands, almost like my small hands and short fingers were precisely the kind of hands that the designer envisaged.

    But I think the point is not really to discuss the actual mechanics that much, they all do the same thing, and ironically the camera which does the least, is presented by almost every web person as being the camera that gives the photographer most freedom.

    StephenJ

  6. Nick

    Nice to see that the site is on again! Intelligent photo sites are not that frequent, we can’t afford to lose one…

  7. Wayne

    Video 1: That is a hoot. I am still laughing about the last few seconds of the Monochrome “unboxing” video.

    Video 2: Made me think of all those precious times I spent with my twin daughters, now 27, and how much I miss those times. Girls, just being girls, what a joy.

    Video 3: We need beard police.

    Video 4: existentially, it strikes at the heart of internet presence. In normal life, things can fade; with WWW it is forever, and cumulative. I understand your concern in the matter: you do not have to be idiotic, silly, or a bore, you only have to present yourself, just once, as such……..It’s like an episode where you start commenting on something, get into the topic, realize you have nothing worth saying, but, keep talking, anyway. I have done it; am glad nobody ever recorded it on an Iphone and posted it to WWW.

  8. Scott

    The first guy is brilliant. Even funnier is the fact that about half of the commenters on his video don’t realize that it’s satire, and launch into long and detailed posts correcting all his technical errors.

    And Lindsey! Poor simple Lindsey.
    I found her video several weeks ago, and it took me several minutes of watching to figure out that hers was NOT a satire. Apparently she borrowed Grandpa’s M3 but didn’t bother to ask anyone how to work it. In the entire video, she never focuses the camera, and never mentions or shows anything about determining exposure or changing the aperture or shutter speed.
    She seems to think that it’s just a really really heavy iPhone.
    Given the M3’s slightly baroque loading process, what are the chances that the film is even moving through the camera?
    She promises to show her pictures in a later video, but it’s been a long time and they haven’t appeared.
    I’m guessing that, as my Mom used to say, they didn’t come out.

    And no, while Mr Wajda does look like a nice guy, what you do is not what he does.

    1. Leicaphila Post author

      Actually, I’m sort of taken with Lindsey. She’s “cute as a button” as old folks say, an impish little smile that you can’t help but smile along with, putting herself out there wide-open. I’d love to see her follow-up video of the results.

      1. Scott

        I wanted to see that too, so I searched the titles for any other mention of “film.” Apparently the lab lost it.
        .
        I’m just struggling with the idea that anyone would be interested in pictures of my lunch. Or that anyone would think their lunch was worth even a minute of someone else’s time. (See some of her other videos.)
        .
        But I’m REALLY old.

  9. Rob Campbell

    Okay, the film Ms were basic and simple, but so was every other rangefinder camera of the day. As I recall during the 50s, it wasn’t that they were so much better, but that they were supposed to have been lubricated to work in very cold climes. Fortunately, I never had to visit such places – never was the type, apart from having exposed myself to a few sporadic shots at skiing before I gave it up as too much effort going up for scant reward falling most of the way down again; reminded me of Humpty Dumpty.

    If the things had an advantage, Leicas, not skiis, it lay in the wides being better than the Nikkors of the period. My last employer in ’65 used to do room sets for BBC tv using an M3 and a 21mm and yes, the “look” of those prints (which I used to print) was indeed dfferent, in the same chemicals, to the Nikkor stuff. However, as a more versatile tool, the Nikon won hands down. The first quality stuff I bought when I went out on my own was a Nikon F…

    Having said the above, I would love to experience an M9 of my own, just for the hell of it and to fill, finally, the ownership gap that Leica represents to me. Though the business would eventually have had no problem going the Leica route, even the R6 model failed to keep up with the Nikon tribe. After that it was academic – I retired.

    Today, considering I use the older and cheaper of my two digital Nikon cameras the most, stretching to another system seems, for me, ludicrous.

    Rob

  10. kennethwajda

    Apology accepted and thank you for all you do sharing your knowledge and encouraging other photographers! Here’s to good light!

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