My previous 'go-to' camera setup consisted of a mirrorless Sony body plus 24-70mm zoom lens. I found for most of my work this focal range covered pretty much everything.  As Leica don't produce zoom lenses for the 'M', in order to replicate that range I have opted for three prime lenses, a 25mm Zeiss and 35mm and 75mm Leica lenses; this becomes my lens Triumvirate!

Apart from the physical size (the Sony front-to back was over twice the length of my Leica when fitted with the 75mm), the weight saving is also significant, as with the Sony I was shooting with a weight of over 1400 grams, whilst the maximum weight with the Leica is between 920 and 985 grams, up to 35% less!

​Obviously with a zoom, the active focal length is throughout the whole of that range, however the inconvenience of now having to change lenses is for me compensated by having less bulk to carry around, plus one of my other key reasons for switching back to a rangefinder is the fact that I now  have to be more considered when choosing which lens to use.   This of course won't suit everyone, particularly if you're photographing wildlife, weddings or motorsport for example, although 'back in the day', most of these genre's were successfully photographed with rangefinder cameras! 

When using a rangefinder camera, focussing is usually achieved by aligning a 'ghost image' overlaid on the subject image when composing through the viewfinder; this is my preferred method of shooting. However, focussing can be tricky in low light and when using a wide aperture (f5.6 or wider).  There is also the option to use the EVF LCD screen with 'Live View' which utilises an effect called 'focus peaking'. FP creates an illuminated fringe around an object in focus.  

The two images above which are a large crop of the original, were taken using both methods.  On the left, the image was focussed using the rangefinder, and the image on the right using Live View and focus peaking.   The aperture being used was f2.5 and f3.4 respectively and FP certainly made focussing on this berry much easier.   So you may ask,"why not using Live View and FP all the time?'  I prefer composing using the viewfinder in the traditional way as I find it more comfortable and better for keeping the camera steady.  Using the LCD can be useful at times but can also suffer from glare in certain situations making it difficult to view.  So both methods have their pro's and con's, and are there to be used accordingly.  

My camera can identify the lens in use and provide useful EXIF data such as settings for the exposure and the version of the lens used; to enable this the lens needs to be coded (called 6-bit), only one of my lenses is coded.  If the lens isn't coded you can use a manual setting to detect the lens and match it to an equivalent coded lens.  The detection is via a sensor window on the camera lens mount which picks up the code from the lens mount and sets the camera accordingly.  I couldn't set my non-coded lens to a manual setting because the menu option was 'greyed out', and couldn't fathom it out!  After conversations with friends who have similar cameras, it was simply because the sensor and lens mount needed cleaning. Two minutes of cleaning later and the camera sensor now recognises my non-coded lens and sets equivalent EXIF information; code cracked!

When changing my equipment I opted for a general 35mm lens and a much wider 25mm wide angle lens which will be used mostly for landscapes.  The lens made by Zeiss is quite compact and has a useful maximum aperture of f2.8.  These are some of the first images taken.  I'm also looking forward to trying it out for street photography.

A chance to capture a moving object. The steam train was running on my local heritage railway so I took the opportunity to capture the locomotive as it passed through a picturesque spot in the forest.