Wonder of the Seas Cruise

Our family decided to try a cruise vacation this year.  My daughter wanted to experience what it was like on the ‘big cruise ships’.  While my wife and I have been on a few cruises previously, they were on smaller Carnival vessels.  This trip was on the ‘Wonder of the Seas’ from Royal Caribbean.  I knew the ship was big, but until you actually get on it, it is hard to fathom.  My primary camera this trip was the new-to-me Leica M10-P with the Laowa 11mm f/4.5, Voigtlander 28mm f/1.5, Mandler 35mm f/2 and the Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5.  I did bring along a Nikon Z6iii with 24-200mm zoom in an underwater case, but I only felt the need to use that on days where we were snorkeling and swimming with pigs.  The M10-P handled everything else very well.  The full Leica kit inside a Wotancraft 3.5l shoulder bag and was easy to carry around.  The camera felt out of the way and was just an accessory that was slung crossbody as I walked around.  Using the Leica this trip made made me feel exactly why I missed having a digital rangefinder.  The image capturing was intentional, framing was deliberate and it just got out of my way.  While I can appreciate that I could have easily used my Nikon and some primes to accomplish the same thing, arguably easier with IBIS, the differences in handling and feeling are overwhelming.  The results are fantastic and the act of capturing the images was awesome.  For me, using a rangefinder is like driving a manual transmission car or using a bolt action rifle.  You can find faster or higher performing automatics, but in some ways it loses its soul.  In my short time with the M10-P, I’ve come back around to loving the experience.