Yep, this keeps popping up in my head.

Reminding myself that when shooting with M, I’d lose my three biggest current crutches, EVF focusing, stabilization, and perspective control, does no good. Knowing that even the sharpest-eyed rangefinder shooters can have problems with fast glass over 50mm, and that my near vision is not getting any better, doesn’t dissuade me.

This latest G.A.S. attack was triggered by a video I watched the other day in which Mr. Karbe eloquently explains the history and mechanics of the rangefinder, while expressing his strong belief in its relevancy today despite the age of its technology. It was hard not to agree.

And then I realized that maybe rangefinder focusing is the one prominent aspect of photography I’ve never managed to grasp. Focusing on ground glass on a view camera? Done that. Medium format film with a rangefinder and fixed lens? Piece of cake. SLR with split-image focusing? No issues. But accurate rangefinder focusing—especially with fast glass—is something I’ve never been good at.

Modern tools of photography such as stabilization and digital levels of various types have surely taken a toll on my technique over the past few years, as I can plainly see when I switch those off. In my last go-round with M bodies, I made sure I had perspective control and a Visoflex 2 “just in case.” And I ended up using them almost 100% of the time.

Maybe it’s time for me to give it one more try, and to throw away the crutches this time. After all, for the first ninety years or so of rangefinder use, no one had these options and yet they still made great photos.

Or . . .

. . . maybe my thought process is just another excuse reason to add more gear. Justification. It can be just as dangerous as G.A.S.

SL2/90mm APO-Summicron-R . . .