The unmodified Leica CL.
The Leica CL with an added grip and base extension. (Today's add-on).
The "must have" thumb grip for the Leica CL.
It is rare to meet a photographer of the male gender who does not openly or secretly enjoy adding things to, and otherwise modifying his cameras. The understood goal is usually that the adaptation modifies and improves the handling of the camera in such a way as to make it easier to hold correctly, easier to control and use with only one hand, and because it adds to one's image of professional panache. The idea being that the user spends so much time with his tools (cameras) that he finds things through experience that hamper his performance, diminish his ability to respond to a scene in front of his camera with the utmost finesse, which can only be remedied by taking his choice of camera and personalizing it. "Tweaking" the operational characteristics. "Fixing" some sort of ergonomics that got "overlooked" by the camera maker.
And I totally get it. We all have different sized hands and our fingers fall onto the camera's surfaces in different ways. If a few bits of apparatus can make using the camera more comfortable and efficient then why not give them a try?
Some people are strap-sensitive and like to find different camera straps that better serve them. While I am a traditional strapist and strongly dislike several of the recent and popular straps I'm certainly not against other people using them if they find more enjoyment of photography as a result. For the record though, the straps I strongly dislike are the Peak straps because some design fool put the sticky, please don't slide off my shoulder stuff on the wrong side of the strap. If you use the friction-y side then the buckles face in towards your torso. A complete design failure. I understand that the whole idea of the Peak straps is to wear them across the chest and let them slip-slide around but as a traditionalist I always want the more discreet "over the shoulder" carry instead. And really, $50 for a slippery strap with some little red disks held on with strings? No thanks.
And don't even get me started about the camera-killer strap-crap from Black Rapid. Yuck. Bad-gineering
But finding and using a great strap (for you) is an important part of camera modding. Especially for the camera that is your every day carry camera.
Another add-on is the soft touch augmentation of any shutter button that is center-threaded. People love to put little metal mushrooms onto the shutter buttons hoping it will make the whole process of half presses and full presses more tactile and controllable. Some of the button plugs are made in colors out of anodized aluminium. I think those look pretty cool --- on the right camera. I have a black one right here on my desk but currently have no cameras that have threaded shutter buttons; the kind that were made to accept cable releases.... But I do have one.
I have become a sucker for using thumb grips on smaller cameras because then my right thumb has somewhere to rest. I never appreciated the thumb grip concept until I bought and began using a Fuji X100V. That was a really good camera which was made remarkably easier to handle and shoot with once I added a thumb grip to the hot shoe. After I installed them on both of my Fujis they never came off again. I just gave up shooting with flash on that camera altogether because the thumb grips seemed the more valuable extension to the camera.
When I got around to buying a Leica CL I realized that it was the same size, generally, as the Fuji X100V and would probably benefit equally from a thumb grip. I checked on the Leica grip but was aghast at the idea of spending something like $175 for a simple curve of metal. Not when I could get one from a different maker for something like $50. I tried an inexpensive one on the CL, loved it and when the second CL landed it was fitted with a thumb grip as well.
The thumb grip improved the handling of the Leica but there was one other thing that was sub-optimal. The camera is short. from top to bottom it's just...short. When I use it in it's naked form I have to put one of my fingers under the camera body. It's okay and I can handle it just fine but I always wondered if one of the grips made for the CL would improve the handling noticeably.
Yesterday, after I billed my two big portrait/composite projects for the month I was feeling the swagger of impending cash flow and I was emboldened to splash out for a Chinese version of the CL grip. I didn't bother to check on the Leica branded version because I knew I wouldn't want to spend crazy money on it. And the Hoage model (yes, from China) got lots of praise in reviews on two different camera retail sites.
The grip arrived today and it's actually well finished and almost pretty. If you can call a hunk of camera metal "pretty."
I'm not sure if it's going to work for me or not because it's hot outside, it's late in the day and I haven't spent any time with it. But the bottom plate and front grip is my latest modification. If it's great I'll get a second one for the other body. And I will have mindlessly modified yet another tool in the camera bag. It's only a matter of time before I convince myself about the value of leather half cases....
I like to make modifications that aren't permanent and can quickly and easily be reversed. Other people are more daring. I had a student in one of my classes at UT that decided to paint his then brand new Olympus OM-1 bright red. He taped over every port and control and sprayed the camera's metal body with red spray paint. I had to admit it looked pretty good. I saw a Hugh Brownstone video in which he interviewed an English filmmaker whose gear was stolen. One piece of gear was a Leica SL but instead of a black anodized finish his was left in a bright metal finish. A special edition? "We deliver less and charge you more?"
I'd love to have a metallic finish SL. But I'm not willing to scrape off the current black finish to get there.
Recently I watched a video on YouTube about the photographer, Steve McCurry, using a Leica SL2 in Italy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nThspSqTzBA I was baffled to see that he has a grip or handle screwed into the bottom of his camera (tripod mount) and holds the grip with one hand and stabilizes the camera with his other hand. Rollei used to make grips like that for the square format TLRs but I can't see how Steve McCurry is at all comfortable turning that camera sideways for verticals. His elbow sticking out to the side in a perilous fashion... But he's famous. And that's one of his mods. And not the first time I've seen video of him working that way. Eccentric but most modding probably is.
A recent and somewhat odd trend for photographers is the adaptation of video camera cages for their specific cameras. Sure, there are mounting points galore on cages for stuff like external monitors, huge batteries and audio equipment, and I understand that this is great for videography but it makes little to no sense for people who just want to do still photographs. I guess you could make the argument that the cage protects the camera but in my mind any protection is offset by the huge reduction in handling comfort conveyed by a cage that should either be sitting on a tripod or a gimbal. Right? I think these people are just trying to announce to the world that they are really --- film makers.
Have you modified or augmented your camera? Are you willing to tell us with what?
Just trying to stay cool and keep the trees on the property alive. We have fourteen live oaks that are between thirty and fifty feet and I'd hate to lose one to the drought and the heat... I've stopped bathing so I can give them my ration of water (just kidding, kind of) but the grass will probably be sacrificed sooner or later.
We're in stage one water rationing. If the city catches you washing your car in your driveway they send out a team to slash your tires. It's all very fraught.
My workaround is to swim every day and then shower at the pool. Seems to work. Ready for the cold front.....any time.....is any body listening.....?
Steve McCurry's right hand has been damaged since he was a small child. It's not something he talks about and which he handles in a way that makes it relatively unnoticed when you are with him. But he can not hold a camera in the conventional manner.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional info Bill. That makes a lot of sense to me now. What a great photographer!
ReplyDeleteReally Right Stuff bottom plates to make a small camera bigger.
ReplyDeleteEugene Smith used to fashion broomstick ends to work as "pistol" grips under his cameras. Others used the tiny and odd Leica tabletop tripod (with the three legs left all together) as a hand grip. Lots of different ideas out there.
ReplyDeleteUPstraps on everything. Those around-the-body sliding straps drove me crazy for the six minutes I used them. Don't get me started on belt-mounted accessory bags.
ReplyDeleteI "modify" the very small Sony RX100 VII with strips of black gaffer tape which is invisible on the camera (if you're into aesthetics) but gives you a better grip on it.
Not on the camera, exactly, but when I was dragging around a big camera bag with several lenses, I'd write the focal length on the lens cap with a silver Sharpie. Comes off with alcohol and a little scrubbing.
My mods relate to my photo interests - landscape and wildlife.
ReplyDeleteI have Arca-Swiss compatible L-plates on both of my cameras. Obviously useful for tripod work but I've found that they offer a bit of protection and also allow me to steady the camera when hiking without having to maintain a death hold on the hand grip (I have a strap as well).
Speaking of straps, I use some sort of generic slightly stretchy strap, with a different color for each camera (one Nikon DX with telephoto, one Nikon FX with wide-angle) which minimizes confusion.
Referring back to your previous post about hot weather photography, when hiking I often wear a pair of old bicycling gloves. They provide sun protection, a bit of hand protection if I slip or stumble, and also reduce sweat transfer from hand to camera. I also like to thread my camera strap through a light colored Buff, which I can stretch over the camera (depending on the size of the lens) when I'm not shooting to provide a bit of a sun shield.
I have been doing steampunk art cameras for quite some time now. Steampunk started out as Victorian alternate history, but these you can blend from more eras.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, I take one of my cameras and construct a shell around it to remind people of the large format cameras of the past century. Generally, I try to put gadgets on it that might mimic things in modern cell phones. I have stuffed animals to do some actions. And add blinking lights.
The camera inside is an Olympus E-m5 mark I, with a Sigma 16mm f/1.4 lens.
Here is a picture my wife took before I went out on my last steampunk festival:
My steampunk camera
My mods are pretty boring--thumb grips and soft releases on all my Fujis. The Nikon DSLRs are naked. I've never found it possible to improve the handling of Nikons. So, of course, Nikon is planning to discontinue them. So it goes.
ReplyDeleteCanons are made the right shape to start with ;)
ReplyDeleteFirst thing I always do is to not to use the supplied strap that comes with the camera. I have a dislike of all Canon/Nikon etc labeled straps. The one I got with the Olympus EM1 MkII was particularly awful. Stiff and could slice a finger off. I just use an OP/Tech black strap which are cheap, modular and comfortable and inconspicuous. As a tall person I need a long strap, most straps are too short. I reserve a particular dislike for all the straps like the Peak slide or any that use the QR plate to hang the camera upside down at your hip. Ouch. I want a strap that is over the shoulder so that discounts most fancy boutique straps because they are just not long enough. I also rather dislike the straps with grip fast coverings, which seem to be most of them. Otherwise apart from a QR plate, I have never added anything to a camera. Never seen the point of a "soft release". In my Leica days I did like to add the small motor drive (not the original big one) to the M6TTL. That really made shooting a joy particularly in the portrait mode.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you're familiar with Hans Eijkelboom but he has his camera hung round his neck in portrait format normally, some kind of bracket, he has a cable release or remote in his pocket and shoots without using a viewfinder, he picks a look like "green jacket" then shoots pics of people in green jackets for the next hour or something, then picks something else, then makes these montages of all the similar people, he displayed one at martin parr foundation in bristol which was huge, martin has a large format canon printer that accepts rolls, they printed a single length of paper for each wall of the gallery with several hundred of these portraits on each, all the green jackets were together in a line, then "linking" shots had pics of 2 people, one with one look, and one with the other look which continued on the other side of that image, it was really impressive to see it all laid out like this, he did a book called paris new york shanghai I think which is 3 separate hardbacks, they're attached at the covers so it opens out like a concertina 3 books wide, so you can see the sequences
ReplyDeleteI am not at all fond of shoulder straps and only use them when I need to carry the camera for a long time or when I'm on a job where there is no good place to put the camera down. Mostly I use a minimalist hand strap attached to the right-hand strap lug so I can rest my grip without losing the camera. Some hand straps I made myself but others are just cat collars.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do use a shoulder strap it is most often an older Panasonic factory strap with S-biners on the ends for quick on and off. Currently I'm using a GH-1 strap on a G9. Another favorite strap is from an old JVC video camera I bought in a thrift shop to get the case it was in. Tossed the camera but kept the strap and case.
In the old days I made up any number of L brackets for vertical orientation on a tripod, but now that they are readily available I buy ready made.
And so on ... I like to tinker and make stuff as a break from mental work.
For a second I thought the thumb rest was a film wind lever. Ha!
ReplyDeleteWell, lets see,.....how, or what do I add to my cameras? My FP has a wooden grip with a thumb rest so I won't hit the buttons by accident. My CL has the same. Back in the day, I learned a little trick from a guy named Sean Flynn, he used bootlaces for a camera strap on his really beat up and brassing Leica. I asked, why a bootlace, and not a colorful camera strap, or one with the manufacturers name on it? His reply, " It dangles and swings, like your Dick, it will get you in trouble like your Dick. Bootlaces are small, like my Dick, can be tied in knots, short or long and no one pays much attention to them, oh ya they're free. You can get them from you boots then go get a new set from the Quartermaster." To this day all I use are my old woran bootlaces, not shoe, bootlaces on all my gear. For a lot of other reasons as well.
ReplyDeleteDoes blood count? When traveling with Doctors without Borders a few years back (I'm retired 6 years now) a couple of times my gear got blood on the camera bodies. One of my Minolta's still has it as a reminder, to remind me of how nasty and mean the human race can be, and no matter how hard you try you can't save everyone. Not even children at play. To much information?
Roger
I favor camera bags and straps which are emblazoned with the names of defunct camera-makers, but Bronica straps can be pricey, my Minolta strap disintegrated in the wash, and lately I haven't wanted to parade about with Zenit-branded accessories.
ReplyDeleteJeff in Colorado
Actually, W. Eugene Smith used screwdriver handles with the shafts shortened and threaded to fit in the tripod holes of his cameras.
ReplyDeletefile:///C:/Users/David/Pictures/Professional%20Photography/W.%20Eugene%20Smith/Smith-1.pdf
I'm not into modding my cameras, but a nifty little leather half-case from Amazon makes my Fuji X-T20 handle perfectly.
Roger, "Too much information?" Never.
ReplyDeleteUnable to find an L-plate for my Leica CL that didn't block access to the SD card and battery, I took a saw to a discontinued Really Right Stuff Universal plate and made my own.
ReplyDeletePriceless comments on this post!
ReplyDeleteThanks @JC for the idea of gaffers tape! I lost the thumb pad on my Pen F (blaming Olympus repair for not getting it stuck back on well) and was wondering about an alternative to spending $20 to get another. Just happen to have a roll.
I rent cameras, therefore I always have the tool for the job .
ReplyDeletec.d. embrey, did you mean to write: "I always have the RIGHT tool for the job"??
ReplyDeleteI guess that's a lifestyle choice. To each their own.