I no longer have my first SLR. It was a Nikon F, with the photomic head and a 50mm lens, that I bought used in 1974 while I was in high school. I carried it every day. I was one of those yearbook nerds 🙂
In the fall of 1975 I started college at Rochester Institute of Technology as a photographic arts and sciences major. That Christmas, the I found the Leica M3 you see here under the tree. I used it almost exclusively for the next year and half at RIT. And I used it as a news photographer on many occasions. In my final year in news photography (six years total before becoming a magazine freelance writer/photographer), I used the Leica exclusively.
Using that camera was what led to my love of rangefinders. Its why I look for digital rangefinders when I buy cameras today. There is just something about the feel of a rangefinder. Maybe someday I’ll try to put that into words.
My latest purchase, that I have mentioned before, is the SONY a6400.
It’s been decades since I last ran a roll of film through the Leica. And if I were at all interested in being retro, I’d use it exclusively. But I’m not interested. It sits on a shelf near my desk where I can keep an eye on it. Every couple of months, I “exercise” it to keep the shutter limber. Is that a thing? I don’t know. It’s just something I do.
