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intresting films about street photography and of course rangefinders


martin

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...nice, but a bit too Leica-centric for comfort. Whilst rangefinders are great tools for street photography, SLRs work just as well - it is simply a matter of application. For the record, I am rangefinder-only.

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...nice, but a bit too Leica-centric for comfort. Whilst rangefinders are great tools for street photography, SLRs work just as well - it is simply a matter of application. For the record, I am rangefinder-only.
it is true that you can use an SLR for street photography but you get a rather tunneled detached view as an SLR does not allow you to see outside the frame as you can with a rangefinder camera. I would imagine that digital cameras with a viewing screen much compound that issue and move you even further away from the action. My vote would have to be rangefinder system after all if it worked for HCB then who am I to disagree?
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it is true that you can use an SLR for street photography but you get a rather tunneled detached view as an SLR does not allow you to see outside the frame as you can with a rangefinder camera.

 

I agree, but then the (recently) late great Willy Ronis used to use a Pentax SLR and a consumer zoom lens, so it is possible - and Ronis was a far better photographer than I can ever hope to be.

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Guest Bernd Banken
it is true that you can use an SLR for street photography but you get a rather tunneled detached view as an SLR does not allow you to see outside the frame as you can with a rangefinder camera. I would imagine that digital cameras with a viewing screen much compound that issue and move you even further away from the action. My vote would have to be rangefinder system after all if it worked for HCB then who am I to disagree?

 

my best shots have been done with a NikonF. The always mentioned wider area beside the frames isn't true when f.e. a 28mm lens (great length for street) is put on a 0.72 RF. Then there is no extra space to look whats coming into the scene.

For me this "feature" is only marketing gaga to hide the disadvantage of shrinking active field with 50 and 90mm lenses.....

 

It's the photographer who has to have street photography friendly software between his ears.....and a Leica is also not always necessary....:rolleyes:

 

klick on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

Good shoes is a must:D

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Excellent and inspiring short film.

Perhaps unsurprisingly as I post here, I am a convert to the RF promotion within. I would add another point, generally for outdoor photography the RF makes me think about composition more (whether this is street or architecture etc). I think it must be because you see everything in the viewfinder, and the camera does not get in the way of your face (as it can with an SLR). Both points made in the film. I do also think more about composition when using a medium format camera too, but this has less of the advantages for street shooting that the 35mm does. Finally, I think more about composition, and nailing the correct exposure, when using film rather than digital because of the fear of waste, one reason film RFs are my preferred option for street shooting.

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they don't take me serious when I'm out with the Ms,

they think it's old fashioned.

Sometimes after a few minutes they don't take care of me when using a small M,

but when I'm out with one using a DSLR, a big black one, the marked place is empty and people look in the other direction and they don't smile any more.

 

It's not the camera alone,

Bernd that's quite shure,

it's also the way you use it.

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Okay, perhaps it is a commercial for Leica products (but I disagree that it is less interesting than watching grass grow.) I've shot Leica Ms since the early 1960s. I put them away when my newspapers needed sync fill-flash for color images. But I think for street shooting an SLR is a bit intrusive even if you are quick and professional. It's a huge black thing in front of a face that is coming at your subject very quickly. God forbid you've had to install a fill-flash apparatus on top to meet the limited repro capabilities of newsprint. You only can succeed if your subject has just watched their spouse die or their house go up in flames. The size of a rangefinder camera - and with practice, its ease of use - makes it into something that only subliminarily registers on the people at whom it's aimed. You're there, you shoot, you're gone. And if you were to turn back and read their mind, they're wondering if really they saw you or just imagined you because the camera was so small in front of you. And, on your end, as much as you may praise or need the resolution of your DSLR, you have that same image quality with the rangefinder film (or now M9) camera. I've done street shooting in the past few years in the UK, France, and all over the US with both my DSLRs and my Ms. It may be the phobia of iscovery or personal prejudice against the size of the DSLRs in such intimate situations, but I feel more comfortable with my Leicas and I like the images much better as well.

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it is true that you can use an SLR for street photography but you get a rather tunneled detached view as an SLR does not allow you to see outside the frame as you can with a rangefinder camera. I would imagine that digital cameras with a viewing screen much compound that issue and move you even further away from the action. My vote would have to be rangefinder system after all if it worked for HCB then who am I to disagree?

 

While I agree in my preference for RFs for this purpose, we cannot use HC-B's 'choice' as a guide.... because when he began street photography there were no SLRs!

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Excellent video and tutorial for those who want to see how street photography is done. We can all learn from it.

 

My thoughts exactly - well worth 40 minutes (+/-) of anyone's time to watch all three installments.

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Not sure about this one. Loved the films. But they seem to be taking a awful lot of time for their shots - it might as well be studio photography. What happened to stealth? Point and shoot? Standing over those poor boardgame-playing blokes for what must seem like an eternity to them is neither civilised, sorry to say, nor candid. Not to mention in London that is about the time it takes for someone, authorities or otherwise, to come over and tell you off.

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There's a great user comment at the bottom of the linked page

 

"I live in New York city and struggle to find things to photograph"

 

gave me my second lol of the day, after hearing that Mandleson would be happy to work for a Tory government :D

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