Retro Is As Retro Does...Are We There Yet, Leica?

I have long struggled with the word "retro" in modern culture - in particular when it is applied to photography. I think I am expected to know what it means, but at my age I can't remember...

Actually, I can remember far too much. The clothing styles of the 1950's and 1960's exist in my wardrobe and are regularly worn - to the horror of the family. Whenever I see "retro" clothing styles I compare them to the actual garments and laugh - modern versions are nothing but cartoon sketches.

Likewise with lots of images that crop up in magazines and on the net. Unless you replicate the lighting and add a great deal of digital overlay, you can't quite get it - Instagram is not enough. You might get close with Alien Skin Exposure, but you're still going to have to have to know what the original looked like to know how far to go.

But.

If you really want the retro experience, the Leica company are your friends. They have been making cameras for 101 years. They have been at the forefront of the 35mm market for 101 years. They have pulled so far away from the rest of the trade with 35mm rangefinder cameras that they are the only ones out there.

They still make the Leica MP. 35mm rangefinder camera. Classic M mount. Classic lever winder and rewind knob. Aperture ring, shutter speed dial. Flash shoe. Tripod screw socket. And you have to know what you are doing every inch* of the way. When you do, you are rewarded with the best retro photography experience available yet in this century.

It will cost you. If you are a Leica enthusiast you know that this will be the case, no matter what the gear is. What you have to realise is that it will cost you time, study, and social skill to succeed:

1. You need time to purchase the film, load it, figure out the exposure, focusing, and framing. You need time to take the film for processing or ...gasp...process it yourself. You need time to decide what to do with the negatives or transparencies and then to do it. it is time well spent.

2. You Need To Know. There is enough Leica literature to fill a library and you need to read it. You also need to talk to other enthusiasts. It ain't on television - you've got to read.

3. You need to develop a deep and meaningful relationship with your processor and printer. If they don't know what you want, you won't get it, and if you don't know what you need to give them to get that result you won't get it. See no.2. above.

What do you get by going retro? Bragging rights, in some circumstances. A haunted look at other times. When you get really into it you'll need to explore the question of dressing the part.

Come to my house. I got this wardrobe...

*Inch. retro.