Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]really a XJ over a mark 3? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Douglas M. Sharp" <DouglasMSharp@netscape.net> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Saturday, June 19, 2004 2:41 PM Subject: Re: [Leica] An R series question R8 - pretty ? > Hi Frank, > I can't disagree with your viewpoint either but couldn't help thinking > of something I read > a long while back . " A camel is a horse designed by a commitee" (which > probably has nothing to do with > this thread at all) > > Putting a 135/2.8 Tele-elmarit (with the specs) on the front of an M6 > Titanium makes for the ugliest Leica set > I can think of, but the performance is quite exceptional. > > My great heroes of the past, Brunel, various Stephensons, > Trevithick,Abraham Darby,Barnes Wallis , were all > engineers, visionaries and to a certain extent, artists working with the > new media of cast iron, steel, copper and brass. > They all had the touch of breathing life into inanimate objects, > something which has very nearly got lost in the past 50 years. > Take a look at a steam engine - stripped down to the very basics an > ugly machine - add a bit of fluting here, a doric column there, > a little more polished brass and copper, a touch of colour and you get a > living entity, no wonder the old engineers and mechanics > were proud of their machines. > > I don't have to, and unless there is no real alternative,still will not > accept personally perceived ugliness as a product attribute, regardless > of the desirability of the products' function(s). We all have to make > compromises at one time or another, but I'm not YET ready to > do it in the direction of a Leica R9. If I was to find that this camera > body would increase my "success-rate" or "quality" of my shots > to an enormous extent I might just, if my income was dependent upon this > factor, consider buying one the basis of economics. > As it is, for the present I'll stick to what I've got and what it does > - my eyes still work, I've got some reasonable lenses, and the camera > bodies I use > do what I want them to. Above all I'm still mobile enough to get to some > nice places or events to cater for the all important "being there" factor. > bfn > Douglas > > > > FRANK DERNIE schrieb: > > >Hi Douglas, > >as an engineer I make a clear distinction between > >design - which I see as fitness for purpose and > >functionality, that normally done by the engineers. > >And styling - the aesthetics, sometimes by engineers, > >sometimes by "designers" and sometimes the management. > >In a camera the functionality is far more important > >IMO than the looks. Having the controls fall under my > >fingers and that viewfinder make up for the hideous > >(IMO) styling for me. I find the M5 ugly but it is IME > >the best M camera. > >I feel the same about most things. A beautifully > >styled car which is overweight and/or handles badly is > >of absolutely no interest to me, though I would prefer > >it to look nice, mind you there are almost no cars on > >the market today which appeal to me. > >cheers > >Frank > >_______________________________________________ > >Leica Users Group. > >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > > > > > -- > Ihre bevorzugten Shops, hilfreiche Einkaufs-Hilfen und gro?artige > Geschenk Ideen. Erleben Sie das Vergn?gen online einzukaufen mit > Shop@Netscape! http://shopping.netscape.de/shopping/ > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >