If you are packing your bags and wonder if the M6 makes for a great travel camera, here’s everything you need to know about Leica M6 travel photography.
Introduction
We all know the Leica M6 is one of the best Leica film cameras ever made but how does Leica M6 travel photography fare? Turns out, really great actually, but there needs to be a few considerations before.
What lens to bring?
One thing that isn’t great about being a traveling photographer is bringing along all of that gear. Up to you to decide what you want to bring but the Summicron 35mm is really a stellar lens for travels.
35mm is wide enough for street photography and it’s also great to shoot portraits with, especially wide open, that Bokeh is stunning. Plus the Summicron strikes the perfect balance between lens speed and lens size, meaning it doesn’t weight much!
Film consideration
Whatever your film stock of choice is, bring it along. Film is dead, might not be for you or for me but for most of the world, it is. So unless going to a big city like Paris and don’t mind going out of your way for film, you need to bring the amount of film you will need with you.
Also, make sure to take the film out when going trough airport security as the new scanners can really make a number on your precious film and ruin it.
Security consideration
Let’s face it, even if it’s a small company, lots of thieves know that red dot when they see it. Hence a recommendation is to hide it with a piece of tape. Not the strong kind but the kind that can peel off easily, having an ugly camera is one way to deter thieves. Who’d want that piece of junk anyways.
Also, when walking down the streets, make sure your bag isn’t facing the street but the opposite side. In some countries motorcycle snatches are still a thing.
What bag to bring
When traveling, what bag you chose is important, if it screams “There’s a camera in here!!!” it’s not good. Why attract unneeded attention to yourself and your gear? Bring a bag that doesn’t look like a camera bag in order to go incognito.
Leica M6 travel photography
So, what is Leica M6 travel photography like? Amazing. It’s such a great camera to use in the first place and it really shines in travels.
Sure you need to have rolls at the ready at all times but the fact that you do not need to worry about charging and have no possibility to check if you’ve got an image is liberating.
You get completely lost in travel photography with the M6. Being such a unique camera it will bring in quite a few looks and you can see the amazement of people when you show them that there’s nothing in the back.
Image quality and colors
Well, the M6 really delivers when it comes to image quality of course. But really the star of the show here is colors. There’s a certain je-ne-sais-quoi when you mix travel photography with film that is really hard to reproduce in digital.
Travel twice
But probably the best part about Leica M6 travel photography is that you get to travel twice. When shooting digital, with the instant feedback, you don’t really appreciate the images much. But if you traveled a few months and headed back home and then developed your film, you get to experience things all over again.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this article about Leica M6 travel photography. In short it’s a joy to use. You get lost in the images when traveling, and there is a beauty to the images that is simply hard to beat. Plus once you actually develop your images, it’s like being able to travel twice. Highly recommended. Get your M6 here.