My Brief Journey with “Blind” Leicas.

I have to admit that I have a soft spot for “blind” Leicas. The origin of these niche cameras comes from Leica side line of making camera bodies for the medical community. They were made to be mounted on microscopes, so they did not need a view finder or a rangefinder. They were stripped down versions of the M models of that era. First came a now rare MD based on M2 followed by an MDA based on M4. The last one in this line was an MD-2 based on M4-2. MD-2 is the only one which came in black and had a hot shoe. All of them are now somewhat of a bargain and are often found in the hands of thrifty street photographers. Cameras are used with wide lenses and a finder on top. In early 2000s Cosina revived a “blind” M mount body under Zeiss Ikon SW brand. You can find my article about that camera on this site here. Other “blind” M LTM/mount cameras were also produced by Cosina under Voigtlander Bessa brand.

I got my first MDA from a legendary Leica repairperson in Upstate NY. She CLAd the camera but the body had been  scratched with the name of the hospital and the inventory number where it came from. I ended up sending it to be repainted by Camerakote in UK which made it into a beautiful piece of kit.

I used it with a 21mm lens and external viewfinder. It was really fun using it zone focused but I decided that 21mm is not my jam. Shortly the lens and an MDA body found another home.

After that I got a Zeiss Ikon SW to use zone focused with a 28mm.  Do you see where this is going? Zeiss has an electronic shutter and I was always worried that electronics are going to break and I will end up with a pretty (very pretty) door stop. Off it went to another eager owner !

As they say 3rd time is the charm! I recently came an across a reasonably priced black MD-2 which I purchased. I paired the body with a 25mm lens and a 25/21mm finder. I think I found my middle ground in wide lens category sitting some where between 21 and a 28! I feel using an MD-2 zone focussed is very liberating. You don’t have to switch between external finder and a rangefinder. It makes the moment so much quicker and simpler. Also a hot shoe is an icing on the cake. With a 25mm you could really shoot “blind” with a flash and no viewfinder. I gotta to practice more of that flash setup.

I also found that 25mm is a great length for architecture. I feel it has less distortion then a 21 but still wider then a 28.

A couple of weeks ago I needed to go to JFK Airport and decided to shoot the old TWA Terminal with this kit. TWA Terminal was built in 1962 and designed by Aero Saarinen. It is now a landmark and lobby of a TWA Hotel. It was only fitting to shoot it on BW Ilford HP5.

I am over the moon with the results. I think this completes my “blind” Leica journey. There is nowhere else to go and it’s in itself is very liberating.

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