Re: [Leica] How to manage a camera company?

["Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com>]

From: <Ruralmopics@aol.com>
Sent: Monday, October 11, 1999 15:08
Subject: Re: [Leica] How to manage a camera company?


> It's totally off subject and probably inappropriate but
> I'm wondering, did it ever occur to you that your beloved
> Nikon F5 has almost no impact on your photographs.

Sure.  Neither the Leica nor the Nikon really has that much influence on the
photographs, apart from the lens quality (both the Nikkor and the Leica lenses
are excellent).

The reason I bought the F5 is for the pleasure and flexibility of using a nice
camera.  I bought the M6 for the same reason.  As I've said before, beyond a
certain minimum threshold, _any_ camera can take decent pictures, and beyond
that threshold, the only differences are in photographer preferences.  Both the
F5 and the M6 have a whole raft of features and advantages that appeal to many
photographers.  But just about any camera could take comparable pictures,
particularly if you disregard lens differences.  That is, a disposable camera
with a Zeiss lens could take pictures that would look just like anything a Leica
M6 can produce--but a disposable camera is a nightmare to use, compared to the
ergonomy, quality, reliability, and ruggedness of a Leica M6, or a Nikon F5.

> You could make 95 percent of the same images with a bottom of
> the line Nikon or some beat up old Nikon F?

Yes, but I prefer the ergonomy of the F5, so I bought an F5.

> The photographer's brain and the lenses produce the
> images, the camera just holds the film.

I know.  But part of the motivation for being a photographer is in the pleasure
of taking photographs, and that pleasure is limited if you are using equipment
so cheap that it distracts from your ultimate objective of capturing images.

A Nikon F5 is like a Space Shuttle, with all sorts of features that help you to
get any picture you want under any conditions.

A Leica M6 is like a perfectly-machined, incredibly sturdy crescent wrench: it's
small and easy to carry, it never wears out or breaks, and it feels as familiar
as a wrench or a screwdriver--you can forget you are using a camera, almost.

Both cameras have their place.  But neither of them really takes any better
pictures than any other decent (and much less expensive) camera bodies do.

  -- Anthony