Chasing Leica: The 1958 Canon VL – review and comparison with the Leica M6
Hey, this is the second video in my Leica M series. This time, I'm shooting a vintage Leica rival – the Canon VL from 1958! How does it feel to shoot one of these cameras today? Can they be a real Leica M alternative? Let's find out now!
This is kind of a long video. Use the time stamps if you'd like to skip to specific topics:
0:00 Intro
1:07 Canon rangefinder history
1:53 Canon = Leica copy
2:46 The Canon VL viewfinder & comparison with M6
4:08 Shooting & samples
4:40 Canon VL vs. Leica M6
5:16 Loading the Leica M6
7:16 Shooting with Sunny 16 #1
8:03 The Canon LTM 50/1.8
8:36 The Canon VL's cool auto parallax feature
9:23 Camera A vs. camera B – comparison gallery #1: Cologne
10:58 Shooting with Sunny 16 #2
11:59 Camera A vs. camera B – comparison gallery #1: Walk in the countryside
12:46 All the Canon series V models & metal shutter
14:24 Canon VL shutter controls
15:16 Leica Thread Mount lens selection
16:25 Verdict – part 1
17:43 Verdict – part 2
19:12 Camera A vs. camera B – comparison gallery #3: Tilburg
20:00 Outro & answer: which camera was A & B?
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Many thanks to Flintsauctions for providing product photos of classic cameras! Check out their website here:
https://www.flintsauctions.com
Many thanks to Takahiro Oda for filming this video:
/ takahiro_oda
My instagram:
/
Here's where my film is developed:
http://www.kontrastlab.de
(This is no affiliate link or anything like that. I'm just very happy there's still a dedicated analog development & printing service in Cologne!)
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About the scans:
All the photos were scanned from the negatives using my digital Fuji X-E4 camera and Olympus OM Zuiko 50/3.5 macro lens. So they're scanned at 26 MP resolution.
Whenever it says ".... zoomed in" you're watching a 100% crop from these 26 MP scans, provided you're using a 4k screen.
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Score:
The Moon Drops – Nathan Moore
Nothing On Me – Patrick Patrikios
(Available via YouTube Audio Library)