Leica news, before it happens

Today’s guest post is by Iain Parker (www.zvezdaphoto.co.uk) who documented his trip to Japan, Australia, India and Nepal with a Leica M7:

In May-August of this year my wife Ulyana and I went on our honeymoon, four counties in three months, Japan, Australia, India and Nepal. Ulyana is a painter and I am a photographer. My choice of cameras for the trip were my M7 with 28mm Elmarit ASPH and an X100 for digital work, a small and relatively light weight kit. I chose the M7 over my a la carte MP with 50mm Summilux ASPH for the simple reason that the M7 is my trusty old work horse and the wider angle of lens would be more beneficial on the road. For street photography the M7 is an ideal tool, being that bit quicker to use in the field than the fully manual MP. I tend to use one camera and lens combination when travelling or working as I find this enables me to be present a lot more effectively than thinking about which lens is better to use, the camera and lens become part of you, the extension of the eye. Although it may appear to be a bit restrictive I find it easier to move myself in and out of the picture by this process.

I have owned several Leica M’s over the years including a digital model, but have always been drawn to the film versions, the M7 and MP with the lenses mentioned and with the edition of the 35mm Summarit, although the ‘cheaper’ 35mm lens in the Leica stable, it is a wonderful little lens that I prefer to the Summicron for its characteristics and picture quality. As with all photographic equipment using it in the field is the most important and you should trust your equipment implicitly not to let you down, and more so as a photographer, to get the best use out of it without gathering dust in cupboard.

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