Street Photography for the Purist

Yes, a good photographer always has backup. But lets just say a body has a problem draining batteries. It happens. It happened to me. What the
fuck are you going to do?
Think you’re going to get a proper fix in Podunk-anywhere?
I don’t fucking think so.
No, you don’t have to use Leica.
In fact, you don’t have to use new Leica. Seriously, though, what are you going to do with your vintage camera in a foreign country or even the
United States when it breaks or requires repair?
Nothing.
One of the other reasons I prefer Leica bodies is that they look vintage even though you may have purchased it only yesterday.
When people see you making photographs they think you’re some photo geek using some old-school camera and tend to take pity on you, “Oh look
at that poor fuck using his grandfather’s camera from the forties.”
I like that, actually.
That is if they actually see my camera.
evil laugh
Or cameras.
There are rangefinders other than the Leica to choose from. I’ve used all of them. I don’t remember them all. Some are better than others.
Build quality and toughness – tested myself – are surely won by Leica over all of the competition.
You do not have to buy new, though, as there is a brisk second-hand market.
That said I don’t think – if you are going to have only one body – you should buy anything past the mid-eighties. They will break more often. They
will need a CLA (see prior reference to fondler term) more often.