My trip to Canada was fun and, because of a last minute gear concept rethinking, quite different than what I first imagined.

The last thing I wrote before I headed off to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was about the gear I had "decided" to bring with me. I kept imagining a package of gear that was small, light but effective. Stuff that would fit into one small Domke canvas camera bag and, while limited in scope, might effectively funnel me into doing good work by eliminating distractions. Mostly the distraction of "too many choices." Yep. It was going to consist of a couple of Leica rangefinder cameras, two moderate focal length lenses and a bag full of long life batteries. ( more on SCL-2 batts at the end ).

I packed everything up in the bag, dropped in the newly refreshed batteries and then went out to dinner with the family. But during dinner my thoughts returned to my very original idea about gear: one lens. one camera body. Some batteries and no bag. In that iteration I was thinking mostly of the SL2-S (good low light camera...) and the newly acquired 50mm f2 APO SL lens. Which optically might be the best consumer lens you can buy. Seemed logical till I spent a day walking around with the combo and decided, in the moment, that the package was too heavy, too dense to carry around for 8-12 hours every day, for six days in a row... 

By the time I got home from dinner my brain was playing Rubik's Cube with my choice matrixes. Around eleven p.m. I made a final, final decision and went 180° from my original concepts. I pulled the rangefinders out and dropped an SL2 into one side of the camera bag and an SL2-S into the other. In a side pocket I shoved in six newly charged SLC-6 batteries. In the lens department I did a bit of a gear collage. As my main option I made the eccentric (but ultimately wise) decision to take the Leica R series 35-70mm f4 ROM lens. A sharpness and contrast champ with no autofocus. You actually have to spin the rings one way or the other to make stuff at different distances sharper or less sharp. I supplemented the zoom with two faster M lenses that I hadn't even considered before; the 28mm and 50mm Thypoch lenses. Both have maximum apertures of f1.4 and I've had great results using both of these lenses on SL camera bodies with Leica M-to-L adapters. Again, no AF. No deep layers of automation flowing from the lens.

When I did a bit of reflecting over past trips to the city I also decided to add the Thypoch 21mm f3.5 lens to the mix. It's an M mount lens and easy enough to interchange with the other M lenses. Oh, and to facilitate being able to use different M lenses on different bodies simultaneously (or nearly so) I brought two Leica M-to-L adapters. That way I could, for example, have the 28mm and 50mm each dedicated to a different camera body, one over each handy shoulder, and not have to bring a camera bag along on daily shoots at all.

The next morning, at the very last minute I dropped a Sigma 45mm f2.8 lens into my roller case just to have the option of defaulting to a lens with autofocus. You know, in case I became a lazy photographer. Quite the sea change from the M packing I'd done on Sunday afternoon. 

I quite literally ran down the clock Monday morning and had to admit, as B. was warming up her car to take me to the airport, that there was no time to make any alteration to the most current plan. The SL2s would be the play. Along with a motley melange of lenses. And the SL2/battery charger as a back-up to ward off Murphy's Law.

I was in Montreal for six nights and seven days. I shot more than 2300 images between the two cameras I'd brought along. Sometimes I used the 35-70mm lens on the SL2 specifically to take advantage of the higher resolution. I would be able set the camera to APS-C format and by doing that crop make the lens into an equivalent of a 52mm to 105mm lens --- and that did come in handy more than once. Still belting out 22 megapixel files with abandon.

Did I choose correctly? As B. reminded me through the process, there really is no right choice. The trip was just for my own fun and relaxation. No clients. No agenda. No shot list. She even convinced me that even if I came home without having shot a single frame that would be okay as long as I had a good time. And since I was going alone whether I had a good time or not would be totally up to me. "Your focus determines your reality." (Star Wars).

In retrospect I should have followed my very first impulse/inclination and just gone with the SL2-S and the 50mm. I could walk on by any scene/object that didn't fit in the frame. And, with that camera ISO 12,000 can be one's new normal. Am I disappointed? Not at all. I had fun with the cameras and lenses I brought with me. I had the option to go out bare bones or to go out ready for a wide range of stuff. 

My fundamental reasons for going to Montreal were: To see the Richard Avedon show of portraits at the Fine Arts Museum. To mentally recover after the psychological trauma of that nasty kidney stone that had me ending up in the emergency room. And the subsequent surgery for a giant, immovable kidney stone discovered on a CT scan. To finally make a clean break from all vestiges of commercial work. To give my retirement accounts a workout and.... to experience nice, cool weather. Sunny and temperate on all but one of the day. That one was overcast and a perfect day to be inside looking at art (or shopping).

My favorite two lenses of the trip were....

I met these guys across the street from my hotel. 

They were taking photos and asked me if I could help by 

letting them all get in the frame and photographing them

with their cameras. One of them  showed me very sweetly how to 

use a camera... They are from Toronto and lovely. 

....the Leica 35-70mm and the 21mm Thypoch. Both are incredible performers and, in the case of the 21mm, I was surprised how much I liked it since I've never really warmed up to lenses wider than 35mm ---- until now. Perfect for showing off vast interior spaces and also for getting into a photographing in really tight spaces. Having a very sharp and contrasty 35-70mm lens with wonderful color characteristics is basically a no-brainer (not a deal-killer).

What could I have done without? Easy, the second camera body. Either would have worked but the optimal choice would be the SL2-S. Essentially I used the handmade,  high precision, VEBLEN SL2, along with a USB cable as a very fancy battery charger for the other camera... And, speaking of batteries, six was overkill. I could have left four at home. Two in the mix and one in the camera would have been more than enough. Lenses are harder to decide about. I think the one lens that never got chosen for use by "team  photo" was the 28mm f1.4 Thypoch. Mostly because the normal-wide of the 35-70 was equally useful and if I felt I really needed to go Wiiiiiiiide then the 21mm was generally perfect (or could be cropped to be perfect). 

Didn't bring a tripod. Not for walking around in the streets. Didn't bring any sort of flash or lighting apparatus. Nature did a fine job lighting the daylight shots and it was an effective documentation of man's ability to light their own lives as the light dropped in the eventing. 

* While it has nothing to do with what I ended up taking or not taking I'm sure you've read here (or elsewhere) about how difficult is has been for dedicated users of the Leica M240 digital rangefinder cameras to get new batteries for their camera. As in, "impossible." I've been waiting over a year for some back-ordered batteries but to no avail.

I visited the Leica store in Montreal. Called, CamTec. I just missed being able to buy a used M240 camera that went out the door as I was coming in. But I did ask the clerk, Francis, if they had any of the most sought after batteries of all time. Amazingly, they had just gotten a small allotment of them in a few days before. He told me he'd have to check and make sure they had set aside batteries for everyone who had prepaid for them and ordered them in advance. If the paying customers were taken care of he'd love to be able to sell me one. 

Bingo!!! I was able to buy one. Now I have five that are mostly from 1019, 2022 and 2024. All charge to 100%. I have three older ones that run down just a bit quicker. But now I have a new 2026 vintage battery for my cameras. I am overjoyed. Even more overjoyed in that the Canadian price was about $85 USD cheaper than the price quoted by Leica dealers in the USA. Tariff much? I put the battery info on the customs manifest but no one batted an eye. I did my part. 

After he'd rung up the sale for my battery and several lesser items he showed me on EBAY where people had been successful in selling used M240 batteries (SCL-2) for as much as $650. Not an "asking" price but a "sold for" price. Those Leica users are crazy. But I understand how important it is to be able to keep using a camera you know and really like.

I also bought a very small, gray shoulder bag from Uniqlo. In the huge, underground mall by Magill University.  It was $20. I put that on the customs manifest as well.  Did NOT claim the donuts I bought from 49th Parallel...

Time to winnow out some of the lens and camera choices from the gear bucket. Too much choice really is paralytic. But which of the little dears can I bear to part with....? Like selling your children...

The two things that shifted my thinking were my desire to be able to use the smaller Leica 35/70 zoom lens and the ability to use the 21 with the EVF in theSL2-S camera instead of needing an optical finder for one of the M cameras. That's my rationale and I'm sticking with it.

A note to the paranoid amongst us: I carried the SL2s openly and constantly, on shoulder strap, and felt or experienced no danger or threat to myself of the camera. Fear is like a magnet. Give in to it and the universe, I guess, rewards your choices. 

And all of this without my own personal security detail. Amazing. 

If you live in someplace like Rio de Janeiro or Somali then, I get your point. In the middle of one of the safest cities in the world? Not so much...

Australian photographer and videographer, Lucy Lumen provides a counterpoint Biro's comment about the need to reduce camera inventory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym7dsXDXoskn  Just Sayin.