Searching for Simplicity.
“Il semble que la perfection soit atteinte non quand il n'y a plus rien à ajouter, mais quand il n'y a plus rien à retrancher.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A quote from the collection of essays 'Terre des Hommes' that can be translated as "perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away". It is in itself a simple concept that philosophers, writers, politicians, and artists have focused on through a wide variety of periods in history. It is something I reflect on quite regularly, and something I continually wrestle with trying to achieve in my own life. It is a difficult thing for me, existing in a complex society of ambition and materialism, constantly connected, constantly being pushed towards striving for greater and greater things. In that internal conflict, of wanting simplicity and feeling a pull towards complexity, it is nice to be using tools that bring the basics to the front of my mind. For me, some of my favorite tools are cameras. Cameras take me away from my 3D world of creating every object, light, and surface and offer me the chance to observe, to appreciate the natural beauty of the world that exists around me.
However, cameras have traditionally cut both ways for me. They pull me away from the complexities and stress of my job while offering up nuances and intricacies of their own. It wasn't until I started using my Leica M3, a film camera from 1955, back in 2014 that I really started to grasp how much a camera could be a fully agnostic and transparent part of the creative process. It is the reason why I enjoy that camera to such a deep level, and the reason I will never sell it. However, as much as I love shooting on 35mm film, I do find myself continually drawn to the side of technology. Amazed by the doors it opens, and constantly trying to find the right balance so that it doesn't take over more of my mind and my time than I care to give it. It is a constant struggle for me, and I would imagine for a lot of people in our world today - how to use technology without becoming beholden to it. I do believe that the line is changing for everyone, and in different elements of life, it will be drawn in various places. For me, when it comes to the right equilibrium of how much technology to use in my photography, it feels like after 10 years of looking, I may have finally found an answer.
I have been using the Leica M262 for two months now, and I feel I can finally say that it is the camera I have been looking for since I bought my M3 back in 2014. I thought the answer was getting away from digital photography, but I am fairly confident that one a very personal level, in my own eyes and nothing more, the goal was to get away from the digital clutter. Every new generation of cameras brings a slathering of new specifications, higher resolutions, more options, more clutter. There are artists that look for those new features, who can exploit them to incredible extents, and who need them in their work - I am not one of them. And more importantly, the M262, first released in 2016, is a camera that completely and unashamedly turns the other way. It is a successor to the M240, and the only 'improvements' that it offered on that camera were taking away all of the various options and menu functions it had. No video, no live view, no auto focus. Just a camera. In my eyes, it is just my M3 with a light meter and the ability to write directly to a digital format.
It is interesting for me to compare how I use the M262 in contrast to my Fuji X-Pro3, another 'minimal' camera. I remember being so excited when the X-Pro3 was first announced because it felt like there was finally a camera being made exactly how I wanted a camera to be. It had a hidden screen, optical/hybrid viewfinder, and all of the settings that you needed were on dials. ISO, aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, it was all at your fingertips. It was the only camera in my life I have pre-ordered, and I have used it happily for five years. However, the inherent 'digitalness' of the camera is not something that I ever could get past. No matter how much I tried to focus with it, there are still way too many pages in the settings, complex film simulation settings, movie recording, microphone options, and more. The hidden screen was nice, but it was not enough. The auto focus and auto exposure were fantastic, almost too good for what I was looking for. I was left, still with the experience of using a digital camera, and switching from the X-Pro3 to my M3 felt like choosing completely different worlds to be in. As much as I prefered the world of the M3, I found myself returning time and time again to the fuji. Because digital is just more convenient.
So that brings me back to the M262, a camera that brought along the conveniences of digital photography without making me feel like I left the world of the M3. Looking through the rangefinder, I am never faced with a digital element other than a little red arrow telling me how far off my exposure guess was. There are no simulation modes, complex options, or any digital clutter other than what is absolutely necessary. For me, in my little world, looking for a camera that offers the convenience of digital with the feeling of film and no clutter, this one is perfect.
The image quality is beautiful, soft, natural. There is a quality to the files I get out of the M262 that is hard for me to put my finger on. When I compare it to the Fuji, even when using the same lens, there is a perfection to the files in the Fuji that I tend to want less of. The overly sharp, perfectly balanced shots I get from most digital cameras are the opposite of what I am looking for. Life is full of messy distractions, movement, noise - that movement is what I love to see captured in an image. Not something perfect, but something real. Everybody has their own list of things they are striving for, and photographers are no exception. There are thousands of cameras out there offering all different options, ergonomics, lenses, resolutions, and more - but after feeling lost in the noise for years looking for something that fits my approach to taking photos, I am glad I finally feel like I reached a conclusion. In a camera released almost 10 years ago. I couldn't be happier.
