Boris Liberman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: "The idea of (candid/stealth) street photography keeps crossing my mind more and more often. Since I never did this, I am asking those of you who are experienced in such a thing for advise. Namely, would ME Super and 50/1.7 lens be a good way to start. I really think that AF and film advance noise of ZX-L is a bad thing here. So what could I start with?"
I suggest that you join the Yahoo group, "Street Photography." You will find like-minded people. Are you willing to consider using a rangefinder or scale-focusing compact camera? Since they can be nearly silent, they might be a better choice than an SLR. If so, read about them at http://www.cameraquest.com You might also want to join the Classic Rangefinders group. I think it, too, is a Yahoo group, but you can learn about it at Cameraquest. I belonged to that group during my 18-month excursion into fixed-lens rangefinders and compacts. Perhaps you will decide to use a compact fixed-lens camera that's "shirt-pocket" size. If so, you live quite close to former PDMLer Daphne, who has tried just-about all of them (Rollei 35S, Contax T*, Minox 35, Olympus XA, Nikon 35Ti, others) and usually owns three or four at any one time. In fact, she is getting out of SLR photography to concentrate on compact 35 photography, which suits her shooting style. She can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] . I favor the later Minox 35 models that use a needle for exposure reading: GT-S, GT-E, and GT-X. If you're still interested in using an SLR, many list members favor the combination of a pancake lens and an MX. All the pancake K-mount lenses are quite good; you shouldn't need the 43/1.9 Limited, which incidentally is noticeably thicker than the pancakes, almost as thick as a 50/2. I think you would find autoexposure useful, but try to stay with a small, quiet manual-focus model; your ME Super is probably the best choice (quiet shutter, no motor). For those who don't already own an ME Super, the manual-focus MZ-M (ZX-M) would make a small, very light package, but the MZ-5n has a quieter shutter. Their smaller viewfinders won't be a major problem, for many of your shots will be accomplished by prefocusing, perhaps using the hyperfocal setting. I tried about eight fixed-lens rangefinders and compacts; many were discussed on Cameraquest. For lens quality (wide-open sharpness and color), I preferred full-size (f/1.7) Yashica Electros. But it is impossible to lock exposure, even by keeping the shutter release partially depressed. And I found that doing it the alternative way--changing the ISO setting--took considerable time and coordination.
