 The Rolleiflex TLR is, alas, no more. DHW Fototechnik GmbH took over the Rollei brand name then ceased operations in April 2015.
No more Rolleiflexes, alas. We may never see their like again. The secondhand Rollei market may stay active for a while though, if the Rolleiflex USA website is anything to go by.
Panasonic Lumix GX8 with Olympus M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens and Peak Design Clutch camera strap attached. Product shots made on Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 24-105mm f/4, lit with Rotolight Neo LED lights and processed with DxO OpticsPro, DxO FilmPack and Adobe Photoshop CC2015.
But in the Panasonic GX8 we now have something similar in effect. The Rolleiflex waist level finder with flip-up magnifier combined with its 6cm x 6cm square format was perfect for two different though somewhat related types of photography, portraits and street photography.
British portrait and fashion photographer/director David Bailey came to prominence with his celebrity portraits shot on Rolleiflexes. The recently-discovered self-taught photographer Vivian Maier was an exponent of street portraiture with the Rolleiflex.
There is something about using a camera by bending your head down to it that seems to disarm portrait subjects. Doing the same in public appears to turn photographers almost invisible, ignored by the swirl of people surrounding them.
Panasonic Lumix GX8 with EVF tilted up a little. The review loaner camera came with Panasonic LUMIX G 14mm f/2.5 ASPH II Lens and LUMIX G VARIO 14-42mm Lens. Tilt the EVF all the way up for a contemporary simulation of the classic waist-level finder experience or tilt it down for a classic rangefinder-style way of seeing and shooting.
I certainly experienced that when shooting with the GX8, often tilting its beautifully sharp electronic viewfinder fully perpendicular or close to it. So sharp and certainly the next best thing to seeing through an optical viewfinder window like the ones in my Leicas and Texas Leicas.
I had long ago developed the knack of keeping both eyes open when shooting, the left to survey the wider scene and track people about to enter the narrower view through the camera’s viewfinder.
Two eyes, two viewpoints and a split view in my brain. Paying equal attention to both. Hitting the shutter at the exact moment. Knowing what is about to come next. Being ready for the next graphically significant moment.
I called it “visual athletics” and it was a whole heap of fun. My photographs gained a life and an energy from kinetic and potential energy frozen in 1/250th of a second.
Panasonic Lumix GX8 with tilting EVF at 90 degrees. Although it looks almost nothing like a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex camera, the effect of bending over the camera while looking downwards has a similar effect and point of view.
Try as I might, I could never reproduce that way of seeing and shooting with non-rangefinder cameras. Especially 35mm SLRs and DSLRs, even when using burst mode. Relying on eyes and trigger finger got results that were missed in the in-between when shooting in burst.
The GX8, I have discovered to my enormous pleasure, is the best of those several worlds. Its 20 megapixel sensor, the biggest of any Micro Four Thirds camera so far, delivers quality rivalling that of my Texas Leicas. Surpassing it, given the degree to which one can fine tune digital compared to images in silver halide.
The GX8’s EVF is the closest thing I have seen to date to the view through an optical rangefinder. I can operate with two eyes and two simultaneous views with impunity because both of them are equally sharp and detailed, without any discernible lag. Better yet, I have all the technical information I need overlaid in its display.
Oddly, the Panasonic design and engineering team chose to use 2.5mm audio-in instead of the industry standard 3.5mm port. I bought a straight 3.5mm-to-2.5mm stereo adapter and this right-angled one at a local electronics supply store and mostly use the right-angled one. Microphone is a Røde VideoMicro, a great, portable cardioid-pattern all-rounder that should fit in any camera bag.
Ultra-fast, incredibly accurate autofocus is another GX8 strong point. With other cameras, I rely on manual hyperfocal focusing and the main subject hitting the sweet spot as I hit the shutter button. Wit the GX8, I found myself letting it take care of focus over 90% of the time. As I gain confidence, that may become 100%.
Exposure is another area where I increasingly handed it over to the GX8. My street photography often takes place in hard sunlight with deep shadows scattered about. I steadily replaced manually set exposure with reliance on the camera’s electronic eye, especially in A-for-aperture mode.
Choose a reasonable ISO and aperture to get everything crucial in focus, hand the rest over the GX8 and pay attention to the scene in which I am embedded. Focus mind and eye where it most counts. See the image, get the shot. Go on to the next.
A Precision Gained from Collaborating with Leica?
There is a precision in so many other aspects of the GX8. The years and man-hours (human-hours?) Panasonic has spent in close collaboration with Leica digital cameras, and lenses for that matter, has paid off here.
The GX8’s DNA clearly contains some of Leica’s DNA, past and present. Compare the GX8’s rectangular looks and feel in the hand with those of Leica’s brand new Leica SL. The “Straight Pro”, as it states on the Leica website front page.
Place the GX8 next to one of the Leica SL’s digital rangefinder predecessors, though do bear in mind the not inconsiderable price difference and manufacturing quality. Just as I found it hard to ever put my Leica M-series analog cameras down, the GX8’s clean lines and finely-textured hard-edged feel tempts me to pick it up, hold it, carry it, use it. Especially now that I’ve equipped it with Peak Design’s Clutch and Cuff camera straps, with Peak Design’s new SlideLITE or Slide Summit Edition often coming along for the ride.
Even Closer Collaboration, Please!
I’d like to see Leica and Panasonic work even closer again than they have so far. A camera like the GX8 that has so much of the Leica shooting experience to it demands more Leica-like lenses.
Although Panasonic Australia kindly sent over a Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 Aspheric pancake prime and a Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II Mega O.I.S. standard zoom, the GX8 seemed to demand something more substantial in build, with metal barrel instead of plastic. I found my Olympus M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro on the front of the GX8 more than I would have thought. A sharp-looking metal-crafted camera seems to want an equally sharp metal-crafted lens attached.
The Lumix 14mm prime and 14-42mm zoom lenses do possess some excellent qualities. I installed the latest firmware on the 14-42mm and put Panasonic’s new Dual IS to the test in available darkness and equally poor lighting conditions.
It was a welcome change from the GH4’s lack of in-body stabilization and a pleasant reminder of the benefits using my Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 via its OIS-supporting Metabones adapter. I switch lens stabilization off when shooting video with it but often switch it on for stills.
A scene in the Sydney CBD from a currently all-too-rare day in the city. I started off shooting in my more familiar 16:9 ratio, then jumped to 3:2 then to the sensor’s full 4:3 format. Why waste all that lovely 20mp sensor after all?
The Panasonic Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 is an outstanding little pancake lens for its size and price. It stayed on throughout my time outdoors in the city and delivered great results as two images on this page attest.
I really appreciate discrete cameras and lenses, especially when blending in with the crowd in tourist destination cities. I benefit from tourists and day-tripping locals lugging their full frame DSLR rigs around their necks and going through the whole big camera, big lens, slow and steady routine. I slip quietly through the throngs, within inches of my subjects, and get my shots with speed and precision, never overshooting.
I am much too unfamiliar with the whole range of Micro Four Thirds lenses and right now I do not have the budget to buy everything that I want. But I have been blown away by the Panasonic Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm f/1.2 Aspheric with Power O.I.S. I too-briefly tried out the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro but even so