[Leica] Leica and Hasselblad -- conformity and comfort

[Andre Jean Quintal <megamax@abacom.com>]

At 12:57 -0400 06/09/99, Eric Welch wrote:
. . .
But they are the Nikon of MF. Image, or
>reputation, and a wide market in used hardware. That's some of the reasons
>why Hasselblad is so popular. And great lenses. But marketing plays a very
>large part. I hate to admit it, but with all its warts, I'd probably buy
>Hasselblad if I went MF. (Only because the flash sync. on the Contax 645 is
>1/125).

	--> and you just luv a real chunk of a camera !
>
>Why is the RB-67 so popular after being so obsolete for so many years with
>portrait photographers? Peer pressure is my guess.
. . .
>Eric Welch

	--> I don't often recommend books but this one
	is where it's at:

	Thomas Carlyle's  classic "Sator Resartus",
	or "The Philosophy of Vestment",
	a XIXth Century work that eventually makes the point
	that we are basically stark naked and surrounding ourselves with
	various forms of garments, of which photo equipment,
	as identity factors, as social anxiety reductors.
	Hence "peer pressure": a degree of mutuality and support
	through espousing norms and conformity signals
	that we ASSUME by inner transfers from significant
	dominant others and group dynamics. Think General Semantics.
	( Let's forget about memetics for a while. )

	Go to any in vogue restaurant or 'chic' drag bar, or garden party,
	better still, make it a political convention (that word ! )
	and let your mind's eye be your virtual camera:
	within 60 minutes time you have enough cynical quid pro quo takes
	to carry you through the next year, in live color.

	You don't have to be sarcastic: just be a realist !

	Have you EVER wondered why NBC once used a peacock
	as its emblem ? Now Bill Gates owns the thing: Square One.

	" Is THAT a Leica ? " -- said the cute blonde . . .

	Andre Jean Quintal