[Leica] best leica lens for foot surgery....

[Kyle Cassidy <cassidy@netaxs.com>]

john collier tells us:

>Well I have to disappear for a day or so while I accompany my wife during
>her foot surgery and recovery. My apologies if I have left any threads
>dangling, I will catch up when I get back. Now do not panic, I will be
>back in time to post the Weekly Housekeeping Messages that you all have
>come to

john, it seems the general consensus is that a nocti would be best for
photographing the foot surgery, though bernard may be correct in that
there will probably be more light on the actual foot (so the doctors can
see) so you may be able to get away with a summmilux. for the recovery, i
recommend eithe a summilux 35 1.4 or possibly that new voightlander 1.5,
perhaps you could give it a test and report back. as for film, tri-x is
always a good thing to have in your billington, so i'd pack a few rolls,
but for actual _surgery_ you may want color. i've been having good results
with the fuji 400, but then i like oversaturated colors. perhaps the kodak
would be better for the reds (i hear fuji does best with the green end of
the spectrum (correct me if i'm wrong folks)). 

i tried (unsuccessfully) to photograph my own root canal with a sumicron
and a visioflex, but holding the camera backwards there was just no way to
focus so i have a lot of shots of my shoulder, an out of focus window, a
tray of instruments. next time i'll set up a mirror.

(though i should say that i _did_ very successfully photograph my college
roommate joe's radiocaratotomy -- a big burly nurse was standing next to
me with smelling salts (i kid you not) to catch me and revive me if i
fainted. he said it happened about once a day -- i shot it with a
nikkormat and a vivitar 28mm f2 on tri-x pushed to 1600 ... that was still
in the dark ages before i'd discovered leica. i don't know that the leica
would have done any better, but it would have been more fun. i'll dig
those pix out and post them.)

good luck w/ the surgery and especially the recovery. one last note, you
can NEVER bring the wife too many flowers. 

take care,

kc