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In this section I will detail some of the cameras and systems I have used over the years. If you are not really interested in the technical side of photography, then please skip this bit and go and have a look at my album section; however if you are the sort of person who knows their fisheye lens from their tripod, then I think you will find it interesting and you might even resonate with some of the things I say, in terms of the general process of deciding what gear to go for. We’ve all been there!

Early years

It would be around the mid-1980s when I first took an interest in photography. I absolutely devoured magazines and books about the subject, mesmerised by the amazing diversity of incredible equipment on offer. From a myriad of 35mm compact cameras and SLR systems offered by the likes of Olympus, Nikon, Minolta and Contax, to medium format cameras from Hasselblad and Mamiya. Of course, as a student teenager at the time, pretty much none of it was within the realms of affordability. However, for me in those early days, one camera stood above all others, the one I wanted most of all - a Minolta 7000; my first dream camera. This camera was actually one of the most significant cameras ever made as it was the first ever SLR cameras to offer autofocus; it was like a spaceship, impossibly exotic and utterly amazing.

Back on planet real world, of course, such a setup was a far off dream. Instead, I satisfied my photographic passion by borrowing my fathers’ Ricoh 35mm compact camera; and eventually, saved up enough money to buy my first camera, a Minolta FS-E II. Well, it wasn’t the 7000, but it was a Minolta, so I figured that I was half way there, at least.

For those who are not too familiar with what compact cameras were like in the 1980s, they were a bit like what modern mobile phone cameras are today. You see something that you want to take a photo of, point the camera at it, press the button, and hey presto, a photo - and a good one at that. It was pretty much the same with my compact camera; or indeed, any compact of the era. The quality was very good. However… for a creative photographer like myself, the camera was really restrictive as it was auto-everything - again, much like a mobile phone. Yes, there is a certain amount of fun to gain from a camera that does everything, but the lack of input you have to the camera setting is not really conducive to creative photography.

Achieving the dream

So, I did what any teenager would do - I saved up as much money as I could, and eventually, I had enough coin to achieve my dream, and got a Minolta 7000, with 50mm standard lens. Of course, when I got the camera, I knew so much about it, as I had studied the various brochures and magazines so much, it was as if I had used it for ten years. I was now a ‘proper’ photographer and I was a happy bunny. Over the years, I added telephoto and wide-angle lenses, along with various accessories; after all, I was a ‘photographer’, you have to have all the gear of course. I eventually upgraded to the Minolta 9000 (pictured left), which was a pro-level camera with a higher spec than the 7000.

However, it was towards the end of the 1990s when I realised that although the Minolta system was excellent in many ways, with the sort of photography I was doing, I began to think I might be better served with something else. I was using manual control more and more, so the autofocus and automatic exposure modes were becoming less and less used. Also, I was aware that there were systems out there that were of higher quality overall. Not that there was anything substandard with the Minolta gear; it was just that there were systems that would suit my photographic creativity better. As an example, the Minolta 9000 and 7000 were essentially autofocus cameras, they of course had a manual focus option; however, because the lenses were designed as autofocus lenses, the manual focus ring was quite narrow and not really designed to be used that often. A manual focus camera would have a wider and nicer dampened focus ring for better manual focusing.

Catching the Red Dot Fever

So, I started to look around for something else. One camera that seemed to tick all the boxes was the Nikon FM2. A manual-only camera with a mechanical shutter, and access to the simply amazing Nikon lens and accessory range, which was probably the most extensive of any camera system in the world. There were other systems that had their own merits, but eventually, and perhaps largely inevitably, I started to look at the most famous name in the history of photography… Leica.

When people think of Leica, they will picture a rangefinder - and more specifically, their M system. However, for all the plus points of the Leica M, such a system was not really suitable for me. I was photographing wildlife - requiring the use of long lenses; landscapes - which uses various filters; and close-ups of flowers - which uses macro lenses. All of which is either difficult or not really practical for a rangefinder. Instead, I looked at their SLR offering - the R system, and in particular, the R6.2 camera. This was, like the Nikon FM2, a fully mechanical SLR, but had a major trump card - access to the simply incredible R lenses, recognised as being some of the best in the world.

in 1999, I took the plunge and got an R6.2 and a number of R lenses, and from that point on, never looked back. I found that I never really missed autofocus, and generally I found the camera easier to use than an automatic, which sounds really paradoxical, but when you are trying to create the best photo you can, having complete control of the picture taking process makes it much easier to get the shot you want. I used this camera setup for the next fifteen-odd years.

In a hide in the Leighton Moss RSPB nature reserve in Cumbria, with the massive 400mm f/2.8 lens, resting on a home-made beanbag. Hand-holding this monster is absolutely out of the question as it weighs 5.5 kgs!

Leica SL with adapter and R lens attached, a combination that works really well. Camera strap (or more accurately, lens strap - the lens weighs nearly 2kg!) was a rather nice birthday gift, which inspired the design of the website logo at the top of the page.

Circumstances outside of my control

So we are now in the min-2010s, and outside forces were starting to have a major impact on my photography, specifically, the industry was firmly going down the path of digital. At this time, I was happy to still use (slide) film, but this was proving to be more and more difficult. My favourite film was Kodachrome, which had been discontinued for a number of years. I had moved on to Fujichrome, but with digital taking over, it meant that such slide films were less popular, and, conversely, more expensive. Add in another major factor, that of brick and mortar camera shops disappearing from the high street, meant sending away for film, and sending it off to be processed when the film had been fully used; all adding hassle and cost, with the end result being that it was costing in total around £1 per photo, which was just not viable. At this time, I was actually doing other things in my life, and I didn’t really have the inclination or the intention to put effort into finding a suitable digital system move into; so photography for me was put on hold. I knew, however, that I would return to the fold; I just didn’t know when or what sort of form that would take.

The spark returns

Happily, I regained the photo bug in 2023. After a break of seven years, I wanted to get back to taking photos. The first thing of course was to decide what sort of camera I was going to use. It was clearly going to be digital. I definitely wanted to keep using the truly magnificent Leica R lenses, so I was on the hunt for a digital camera body to take these lenses.

The ideal solution would have been a Leica R digital camera body; sadly, no such thing existed, and indeed Leica had discontinued everything to do with the R system some years before, and they had never developed one. However, they had made a rather intriguing item that looked promising; a unit that would fit onto a Leica R8 or R9 camera body that would convert these film cameras into a digital camera called the Digital Modul-R (DMR). However - and normally with camera gear, if there is a ‘however’, it usually signifies a major problem - and even more so if there is more than one ‘however’, which was the case with the DMR, having a number of significant issues. Firstly, as with all Leica R gear, it had been discontinued some years previous, and when it was available new, it had been made in limited numbers. So getting one would be rather difficult, and especially so one in good condition. Also, it was only compatible with the R8 or R9 camera bodies, not my R6.2, which would have meant extra expense having to buy one of these cameras as well, making the whole thing exorbitantly expensive. And just to finish off with the extra ‘howevers’, it used a specific battery that was no longer available, so it just wasn’t a viable option to consider. It was quite a unique thing though. I decided to leave that one for the vintage camera collectors to fight over.

The eventual solution

So, it was back to the drawing board. After looking at a number of cameras, it became likely that the solution would be a camera body and an adapter to allow the use of the Leica R lenses. The camera I went for in the end was in many ways quite an obvious choice. In 2015 Leica had introduced the SL, which was their digital mirrorless camera, and I discovered that they had recently introduced an adapter to allow R lenses onto SL camera bodies, and in an instant the solution was there. So, in early 2024 I got an SL (typ 601) and an R to L adapter, and I went digital.

The SL is actually a truly fantastic camera. Compared to the R6.2 it is light years ahead in terms of specification, but solid build quality and general ergonomics are top standard and feel very familiar. With the adapter working flawlessly, it feels very much like a digital R camera rather than a camera that was designed from the ground up as a totally different system. It does have aperture priority automatic exposure mode, which I will admit can be useful at times!

So, that is my current setup - a Leica SL with R lenses from 19mm to 400mm. It is the best of both worlds really; if I ever feel the need to have an autofocus lens setup, then I have the camera to do that; and if I ever decide to go back to film, then I can just dust of my R6.2 bodies and use them again.

One of my Leica R6.2 camera bodies; a fully mechanical camera. I had two bodies; on both, I replaced the battery for the first time after 20 years of use!