What’s Like a Leica?
And here we arrive at the second of the double entendres inherent in this article’s title. What alternative will be most like a Leica? What photographic tool can I use to drastically improve my street photography without triggering personal financial ruin? The street photography bug has bitten and, like Lyme disease, it’ll infect you for life. So how best to live with it? My ability to miss hundreds of fleeting moments with the Canon gear has sent me looking for alternatives. With “bulk” and “speed” being detriments of the dSLR and “cost” being a detriment of a Leica, my first inclination was to try using some sort of advanced point-and-shoot camera for street photography. To this end, I’ve been using the Panasonic LX series for a couple of years. These cameras are superb. Borrowing both an optical design and body lines from classic Leica rangefinder cameras, the LX series is light weight and, in spite of the tiny sensor, captures remarkably usable images. It offers full manual exposur
