Leica M11-P
36%
The one that leaves the house most. Rangefinder, zone focused, quiet enough that nobody looks up, which is the entire argument for it on the street.
My camera bag
Not a wish list, what actually took the pictures. The shares below are counted from the files themselves, across a sample of nine hundred frames drawn from the whole archive.
Bodies, by how much they get used
Measured from the archive
Leica M11 Monochrom
26%
No colour filter array, so no demosaicing and no way to change your mind later. That constraint is the point: the black-and-white decision gets made in front of the subject, not in the edit.
Leica M11
11%
The colour M. Comes out for the pastel work and anywhere the colour is the subject rather than a distraction.
Leica Q3 · Q3 43 · Q3 Mono · Q2 Mono
12%
Fixed lens, autofocus, macro when needed. What gets picked up when the day isn’t planned, the 43mm in particular sits between the two focal lengths I would otherwise argue with myself about.
Leica SL3
5%
The working body. Longer glass, video, anything on a client clock where autofocus and a proper finder earn their weight.
Leica D-Lux 8 · Fuji X100VI · Ricoh GR IIIx
4%
Pocket cameras. The GR for when carrying anything visible would change the picture, the X100VI for travel, the D-Lux when a small zoom is genuinely useful.
Sony A7CR · A7R V · A7 IV
2%
Product and studio work, mostly for Owlkrown, where resolution and tethering matter more than being discreet.
The rest of the bag
Nothing exotic
Glass
- Summarit-M 50mm f/2.5, the one that lives on the M
- 35mm, when the street is tight and I want context
- A yellow filter for the Monochrom, to darken sky the only way a mono sensor allows
Film
- 35mm colour negative, rated a stop slow
- 35mm black and white, a roll at a time, no channel to mix afterwards
- Lab developed and scanned, grain and shifts left alone
- What the finite count changes →
Small things that matter
- A lens cloth in the pocket, not the bag, wet nights ruin more frames than anything else
- Spare battery, one card, no laptop
- A 3-stop ND for daylight slow-shutter work
On the camera itself
Owlkrown
HotGrip
- Machined thumb grip that indexes off the hot shoe. The grip is the base, the rest of the system mounts to the same body.
EyeKup
- Eyecup for the rangefinder finder. Keeps stray light off the eye on bright days, which is when the finder is hardest to read.
FlexCase
- Half case that works with the grip fitted, so the camera doesn’t have to be stripped down to be protected.
Made by me, for this camera
These are Owlkrown’s own accessories, designed around the M because that is what I carry. Full range, sizes and fit guides live on the store.
See the range at OwlkrownA note on gear
None of this list is a recommendation. Three quarters of the archive would look the same shot on something far cheaper, because what actually decides a frame is where you stand and how long you are willing to wait. Buy the body that makes you carry it every day; the rest is detail.
Read the journal instead