There are many wonderful advantages to using rangefinder cameras; cameras with optical viewfinders. They are quick to focus, very exacting at focusing wide angle lenses. They show you, with most normal lenses (down to about 35mm) what objects are outside the frame lines which allows one to anticipate a moment better. As in: "Oh. Look there's a nude bicyclist about to enter the frame from the left. Let's make sure to get her into the frame as well...."
Most rangefinder camera shutters have fast reaction times as well. But there are several gotchas that tend to snag the less attentive user. Or those who are new to the whole optical viewfinder thing. I own a handful of Leicas but only one is an optical rangefinder camera. The others work just like all the other mirrorless/EVF cameras on the market, complete with previews in the finders. I haven't shot with an optical rangefinder camera in well over a decade but with all my previous experience what could possibly go wrong?
Well....... let me count the ways.
The image at the top of the blog post is of three people in the Jean Talon market, shopping. I had previously been photographing some close ups of food. I pulled the camera up to my eye, momentarily forgetting that the finder would show a sharp image in front of me no matter where the focus was set. I would not be looking "through the lens" and was totally responsible for focusing. But since the finder image looked sharp, and I was rushing to get the shot, I just went ahead and snapped the image. And....it was perfectly focused for close up objects...but not the objects I wanted to be focused on. Lesson one is to always focus with the rangefinder or, alternately, use careful zone focusing. Don't rely on the sharpness of the optical finder for any sort of focus confirmation. Never. Don't.
I wanted to include an image to showcase my second caution but I was too lazy to spend time making a black, featureless frame so you'll just have to work with me and imagine that just under this type is a black rectangle. Okay?
And it would be a black rectangle if you made the same mistake I did when shooting in Montreal from time to time. On my first shot of the day I would see something fun and exciting, bring the camera to my eye, focus carefully, and then take the shot. I'd hit the "chimping" button to see what I got only to be confronted by a dark LCD. Then it dawned on me that I'd seen this problem ten, twenty and thirty years ago. I had left the lens cap on the lens. The optical finder just shows me what's in front of the camera but not what's coming through the camera. The optical finder works even if the lens doesn't.
My advice? leave the lens cap in the hotel room or take it off and put it in your pocket as you step outside the door. It's actually kind of embarrassing to have worked professionally for 45 years as a commercial photographer, bragged about the fortune I've billed for my work, and then to have that kind and patient person I've asked to photograph remind me that my lens cap is still on the lens.....
Yes. Embarrassing.
This exquisite portrait of a Tim Horton's, extra large coffee cup (not mine) is a good way to illustrate my last point about the vagaries of rangefinder cameras. As above, when you set the lens on your camera to f2.0 and shoot up close the finder will still show everything in the frame as being sharp. You have no confirmation that the background will be rendered into a silky warm bath of bokeh until you stop and review the file you've already taken.
By the same token if you comped the same scene and wanted everything in focus and set f16 as your aperture you still have no way to preview the actual effect, you can only check in after the fact to review it.
The finder is neutral to issues of depth of focus and depth of field. It's all on all the time.
Remembering these key issues will help you minimize your frustration. I wish I had written this and then read it before stepping out on day one of my trip and making each and every one of these common rangefinder camera mistakes.
One good point for optical viewfinders = they'll keep you focused on your game or slap you down hard.
Just sayin.
