I'm 45. However, I am more likely to quote songs by Gershwin, Porter,
Rodgers/Hart/Hammerstein, Sondheim, etc. than 60s rock. I came to
Zuikoland recently, by a roundabout route.
I started in high school with a borrowed Mamiya/Sekor SLR, which had the
LOUDEST shutter I've ever met. I began doing my own B&W darkroom work.
Bought a C*n*n TL and 50/1.8, added Vivitar 28/2.8 and 105/2.8. I was
never completely satisfied with this outfit. I did a lot of B&W "decisive
moment" existing-light pictures, and I found an SLR hard to focus fast.
I sold the C*n*n and got a used Leica M2 rangefinder with 50/2.0 Dual-range
Summicron and 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit. And a Gossen Lunasix III. Always
wanted a 35mm lens, too, but never found one I could afford. Used this
outfit happily for years, doing my B&W work for myself, my high
school/college newspaper and yearbook, local newspaper, and for theatrical
productions. I was an avid hiker then, and shot Kodachrome II, 25 and 64
outdoors.
After college, I succumbed to the need for money and sold the M2, which I
still regret. Some years later, the bug bit me again. Leica M's were by
this time *way* out of my reach. I ended up with the least collectible
Leica screw-mount stuff: A IIIf with 35/3.5 Summaron, 50/1.4 Nikkor, and
90/4 Elmar. And a separate Imarect viewfinder with manual parallex
adjustment. Not the most convenient outfit in the world, but it took good
pictures. And I could fantasize that I was doing it just like Eisenstadt
had. :-)
Lately the IIIf has been getting unreliable--seems like the shutter needs
adjusting every few months, which I only find out about after some
important pictures. Used a Konica Z-up 110 point and shoot for a while.
This is a surprisingly decent snapshot camera, but I missed the quality and
control I'd had before.
So I researched cameras. The only system rangefinder camera left besides
Leica is Contax, and it's a bit expensive. Going SRL seemed inevitable. I
decided that Olympus was the way to go, for several reasons: The bright
viewfinder, quality optics, lightness, and general reputation. I've
assembled an outfit OM-2 with 28/2.8 MC, 35/2.8 SC, 50/1.8 MC and /1.4 SC,
and 100/2.8 SC lenses. I got most of this stuff last fall. Right after I
got it, our Seattle monsoon season began, which has been particularly soggy
due to La Nina. Looking forward to some real shooting now that it's
finally stopped raining every bloody day.
Also discovered this list. It's has been a wonderful source of
information, and great fun. Of course now I have multicoat envy, and a
quiet, insatiable desire for more and faster lenses. This will have to
wait until I find a new job. . .
--- Peter
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