The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
I learned photography with my dad as a kid, he was a journalist and photographer. He's the one who taught me about the exposure triangle, about composition. We were shooting on reflex back then, it was the 80s.
Photography stayed a hobby in my early adult life, I switched to digital on these 5 megapixels Canon that had terrible sensors. Then, the iPhone landed and made photography a commodity. What followed was a photography void of 12 years until I fell in love again with the Fujifilm X-E4 and its film simulations. And then, after two years of practice, I moved beyond my Fuji some would say, while others would say I betrayed it.
I shoot with my Leica Q3 43, digital, 60 megapixels behind an APO glass, a marvelous machine, the good.
I shoot with my Leica M6, analog, a rangefinder black box and 36 frames behind a 35mm Summilux, the bad.
I shoot with my iPhone Air, no description needed, point, shoot, HDR to perfection day and night, the ugly.
The Q3 43 makes me experiment with light, with exposure, and allows me to find the best shot. I take my time, sometimes 30 minutes in one spot, and wait for that moment when the right person is passing the frame, sometimes it's immediate, a moment of life captured on digital. I disappear into this camera, I've shot photos of exceptional quality at the blue hour. I pick this camera and I'm always amazed by it.
The M6 makes me capture memories, either in black and white or in the faded colors that a Kodak Gold 200 renders. It's hard to be more manual than this camera unless you go the M3 route. Yes, I have the light meter and I use it to its full unconditional power. The M6 usually sits around f8 on the 35mm, lets me capture a zone in focus. It forces me to slow down, rewind the film, click, check the light, always check the light. I have to wait for the film to be developed, a slow and quite expensive process. But what a reward it is to see the results.
The iPhone covers the instant, the wide angle I never cover with the 43mm or the 35mm, its AI layering makes amazing photos nowadays, sometimes artificial, sometimes not. I capture what I don't with the other cameras. It's always with me, why not use it. And I've rediscovered being intentional with my iPhone since coming back to photography. This is the one some photography enthusiasts call the Ugly.
But the point is, there is no Good, Bad and Ugly… each camera I own serves its purpose, its dedicated little niche. And to be honest, I love all three of them. I love the capabilities of the 43, I love the tactile feedback and grainy texture of the M6, and yes, I love the iPhone Air because it's always with me and I've captured fantastic memories with it.
There is no good, no bad, no ugly, there is the camera we have with us, whatever the camera, whatever the brand, they all find their space in our lives.
I'm grateful to have these three, they're all amazing to me.