I’m starting this post with a confession: every time I travel, I get an uncontrollable urge to buy a new camera. The intoxicating high from testing fresh gear in a new location is very hard to resist.

With a 10-day trip to Switzerland coming up this October, my Gear Acquisition Syndrome kicked into overdrive.

Since I am thoroughly fed up with digital technology, my attention turned to film gear. I began hunting for a small, high-end point-and-shoot film camera.

Film. Oh shit.

From the 80’s all the way to 2000’s. I discovered there was this fascinating niche product category: small film cameras with a fixed prime lens. Often a sharp and luminous 35 ~ 40mm, with AF. And a good level of control: aperture priority, shutter priority or even full manual.

My initial list included the Canon AF35ML, Nikon 35Ti, Fujifilm Klasse S, Konica Hexar AF, Leica CM… All beautiful and capable. Damn difficult to make a choice.

Limitations

I narrowed down on the Fujifilm Klasse S and Konica Hexar AF.

Then I started my meticulous research on these two beautiful cameras. I had to make a decision. I read all user reviews and videos I could find.

That’s when my initial motivations completely evaporated.

I found that both have nice specs on paper, but they actually operate with limitations. In fact, this happens not only to these two cameras, but to all the aforementioned cameras.

To name a few… The Konica Hexar AF tops out at a sluggish 1/250s. It has a fast f/2 lens, yet to shoot wide open in the outdoors you need an ND filter. Doing so you’d have to compensate the exposure manually because the camera does not read light TTL.

Whereas the Fujifilm Klasse S has a top shutter speed of 1/1000, but it forbids you from shooting wide open at that speed: at f/2.8 consider yourself happy with 1/500 max speed. Objectively not that bad, I agree. But knowing the spec’ed 1/1000 is only available at f/16, feels like a fraud.

And oh, it suffers from shutter lag. The camera focuses only when you fully press the shutter button, instead of when you half-press it. It has to focus before capturing the photo, which causes a delay.

Not sure how to focus and recompose in such case. There must be a workaround, but fuck it.

Why this

That’s when I asked myself: why the hell am I doing this?

I have a Voigtländer Bessa T. It’s a completely manual camera with zero stupid electronics getting in my way. It’s small and portable, in fact smaller than the Konica Hexar AF.

I have full control. It makes zero decisions for me and reaches a superior shutter speed of 1/2000s anytime I want, irrespective of the aperture.

My everyday lens is the legendary Leica 35mm Summicron. It’s fast at f/2 and razor sharp. It features a mechanical aperture ring where I can actually control and see the physical blades move. No electronic restrictions.

I can shoot with whatever aperture or shutter speed I want. Whenever I want. I under or overexpose at my own discretion, without the camera’s scrutineering, judgement or attempt to stop me.

And there is no unreliable AF to bust my balls. I am the one focusing and I know exactly when, and where. No misreading. If there’s a miss, I blame myself, not the camera.

Remission

I returned to film photography for simplicity and control.

Why pay a premium for electronic stupidity, slow shutter speeds, focus hunting and lag?..

For the first time ever, I am not buying a camera for a trip.

I am happily looking forward to shoot with my Voigtländer Bessa T. I can couple it with a Zeiss Biogon 21mm f/2.8; the Leica 35mm Summicron; or the Leica 50mm Summilux.

I can bring all three lenses with me and decide which one to use on any given day. I need no stupid and expensive point-and-shoot, pretending to be advanced, but really not.

For the trip, I’m buying high-quality film stock instead. Kodak Ektar 100 and Kodak Portra 400 are already on the way.