I by no means got down to be somebody who would even contemplate promoting their cherished Leica M2. That digital camera was a promise to myself – a dedication to shoot black-and-white movie correctly, and to do it on a Leica.
I’d romanticized the method, after all, and rightfully so. There’s one thing sacred about spooling Fomapan 400 into that chilly metallic physique, manually advancing the body and figuring out that every shot calls for consideration.
However after greater than two years of taking pictures monochrome – each on movie and digitally – I’ve began asking myself a query I by no means thought I’d entertain: would I be higher off simply shopping for a digital digital camera for black and white pictures?
It’s not a query born out of dissatisfaction with movie. I nonetheless find it irresistible. I like the imperfections, the feel and the sensation of dealing with negatives.
However as I’ve shot an increasing number of with my Leica M-E, utilizing its monochrome JPEG setting, I’ve realized how a lot I admire the sharpness, the readability and, oddly, the consistency.
There’s a selected soul I attempt to channel into my black-and-white work – this quiet magnificence discovered within the mundane – and whereas I at all times assumed that movie was the one method to do this authentically, digital monochrome has began to whisper in any other case.
The thought of proudly owning a devoted digital Leica Monochrom – a digital camera that sees solely in shades of gray – is beginning to make an excessive amount of sense. It strips away the temptation of colour totally. There’s a purity in that, which I discover extremely interesting.
I wouldn’t be buying and selling my soul for comfort. I’d be buying and selling course of for focus. Positive, I’d lose the tactile ritual of movie – the rewind levers, the odor of fixer, the delicate clunk of a completed roll – however I’d achieve immediacy, and arguably extra time to make footage quite than simply develop them.
And if I’m sincere, that is completely a textbook case of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome, for many who aren’t but with it). I may simply double down on movie, enhance my scanning setup (my CanoScan 9000F Mark II has seen higher days) and get extra out of the negatives I’ve already shot.
That may be the pragmatic path. However then once more, even after I scan a body completely, I can’t assist however discover that I choose the picture I bought from my M-E. The digital model is cleaner, sharper – perhaps much more sincere.
But, right here’s the dilemma: I can’t afford to simply add a Monochrom physique to the lineup. One of many Leicas has to go and, whereas I’ve grown immensely keen on my M2, there’s no method I’m parting with the Leica M-E. It has been with me by way of quite a bit, and it continues to shock me.
So that may imply promoting the M2 – a thought that, up till not too long ago, felt nearly sacrilegious. However after I take a look at the type of work I’m making and wish to proceed making, a digital Monochrom looks like the suitable software.
I do know this isn’t a singular downside. Loads of photographers wrestle with this unusual tug-of-war between the center and the top, between romance and motive. Movie feels good. Digital seems good. Typically they overlap, however usually they don’t.
And whereas I don’t assume the Monochrom is an ideal reply, it’d simply be the digital camera that finest displays the type of work I wish to do going ahead. Clear. Quiet. Unapologetically black-and-white.
No matter I resolve, one factor’s for certain: colour is off the desk. My photographic world lives in greyscale. Whether or not it is captured by way of grainy emulsion or a stripped-down digital sensor, I’m chasing the identical factor – a sense, a stillness, a fact.
The medium could shift, the gear could change, however the intent stays. And that’s what actually issues.
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Clearly there are the Leica M11 Monochrom and Leica M10 Monochrom, however you must also contemplate the Pentax Ok-3 Mark III Monochrome.