Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I almost skimmed & passed your post because it is long. I'm glad I read the whole thing through. It's going into my save box. Sam S Mark Rabiner wrote: > On 2/1/04 9:32 AM, "rclompus@cox.net" <rclompus@cox.net> wrote: > > >>Hi All, >> >>I had the opportunity to try out and view some 8 1/2 X 11 color prints >>from the Canon Rebel with the $100 18-55mm lens. The whole deal >>costs $999. I was blown away with the quality and depth of the photos >>from such a cheap outfit. >> >>I have been in love with Leica M and R since the late 1980's when I could >>finally afford to buy the bodies and lenses I needed for my personal >>photos. I have multiple bodies and over two dozen lenses. It all >>changed today. I'll keep a few for my artsy work but the rest will >>probably go. I know the cheap Canon body and lenses will be worth >>nothing in a few years but I'll be taking more photos and enjoying >>photography more. I never bought equipment for investment purposes. >> >>I wish Leica had an alternative but that was not meant to be for me. I >>donated my extensive Zone VI darkroom to my daughter's high school >>this year. Silver halide is wonderful but it "died" for me this week. It's >>all >>in the mind but what a tidewater change for me. My next investment will >>be in the new Epson 4000 printer to supplement my P2200. >> >>Richard Clompus >>Roanoke, VA >> >>-- >>To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > This of course is a real pain in the ass thing to say on the Leica Users > List but when this kind of post happens I wonder and my question often has > been this in effect: > How much died? > Was he a great person with a great future? A great loss? > How tragic of a thing are we really talking about here? > Perhaps this person was slight and is finally being put to of a long drawn > out misery. > We should cry a whole lot less maybe. > > Are we having a big funeral for what lets face it had been a fairly small > commitment in the first place? I hope not! > > Had they been in their darkroom cranking out 16x20's every weekend and now > they're ratcheting out even more exquisite reams of A3's instead as they > answer their email? > > Had they been shooting a brick of Kodachrome every week but now wearing a > necklace of compact flash cards around their neck like dog tags? > > When you see a post like this it strongly implies the PROCESS let them down. > Has been proved mediocre. > The new one is taking over as it reigns supreme. > > This implies strongly the strength in the new technology and the weakness in > the old. > But when I ask if I get an answer it's amazingly often a sheepish "No they'd > not really been using their cameras that much anyway for quite some time. > The darkroom had been sitting mainly dormant. > They have no real body of work > No stack of prints to show friends when they come over. > No "book" as in prints stuck in pages. > No tray (round of 80 slides to stick on a projector). Or Pages of slides or > in boards. > No website. > Nothing uploaded much of anywhere. > Not much of nothin. > They are 4x6" once every month or so minilab for the most part people. > > So I wonder; How much Tri X had he been shooting?. > ...Before giving it up for charge coupled devices. > Did they have so much Dektol in your blood that now they're going to go cold > turkey? !! > > I'm just guessing no - > It's a new hobby to replace one that wasnąt really there. > > Two dozen lenses? That's a sure clue. > > Of the two dozen pro's I know personally locally and globally none of them > come close to using or owning Two dozen Leica lenses for their shooting that > I can think of. > Is this the death of a Leica shooter? > Because it just sounds like a funeral for a Leica collector or Leica buyer > and seller. A Leica dabbler. > > 24 lenses! > That's 3 times 8! > 4 times 6! > Enough glass for 3 4 5 6 committed Leica shooters! > > How anyone can look me straight in the face and put out the phrase "Canon > Rebel with the $100 18-55mm lens." as a balance of some kind against a more > than abundant setup of Leica gear is beyond me!!! What could be the > correlation between one of those cheap plastic zoom lenses and any Leica > glass ever made including wale blubber incrusted? > ...A "Rebel" against an M or R? How do they in any way relate? > Opposites perhaps? > That's pretty simple actually! > > But as I said earlier when someone says they're going digital now I say: > "Really how lovely!!!" > "Lets look at your prints!!!!!!" > I love to see how the two technologies compare. > > I LOVE to see how the new A3's (11.7x16.5") and letter sized prints stack up > against the old thick 11x14's and 8x10's. > They stick out on all sides by about 3/4s of an inch and get all crinkled at > the edges that's how! > I think plenty of people who struggled in the darkroom do fine at their > computer. Maybe printing now for the first time. > But also very much visa versa. > They are just tools put into the hands of the unskilled and uncommitted to > produce very casual results. Hopefully to be traded for something else > sooner than later. And without making a Federal case out of it. > > Mark Rabiner > > > > > Mark Rabiner > Photography > Portland, Oregon > http://rabinergroup.com/Catagorypages/PersonalWork.html > > NO ARCHIVE > > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html