LeicaView and Eisenstaedt

["C.M. Fortunko" <fortunko@boulder.nist.gov>]

LUGs,

A few months ago, I received in the mail a copy of the most recent
Leicaview. In it, there are many wonderful photographs by Eisenstaedt and an
offer to buy a print of his La Scala photograph for a mere $5400. Mind you,
this is a special price. Others would have to pay $6000. Cheap per Afred E.
Newman.

I must say that the pictures selected for reproduction in Leicaview are
wonderful. However, details of Eisenstaedt's life are slightly on the
inexact side. For example, Leicaview claims that Eisenstaedt was wounded at
Verdun in 1916. In fact, he was wounded in Flanders two years later. Such
details and others can be found int the wonderful book by Eisenstaedt
himself and Arthur Goldsmith: "The Eye of Eisenstaedt."

Leicaview also claims that Eisenstaedt usually only carried the latest M
model and 28, 35, 50, and 90mm lenses. I wonder what he used to get the
wonderful images in Ethiopia before it was liberated by the Italians in the
late 1930s. In fact, Eisenstaedt used many other cameras, including the
Eastman #3, Ermanox, Rolleiflex and Nikon F. Finding this book makes me feel
much better. I like to use an SLR to compose scenery. Just today, I used my
SL2 and 50mm lens (Summicron 25...) to photograph a nearby cement plant,
which claims to be reclaiming a big part of a Colorado hill. With a
90-degree, 2X viewer this job was a pleasure.

Moral of the story, don't believe everything you read and do your own research.

Best of Light,

Chris