[Leica] Violins, lenses and cameras

[pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein)]

A number of my friends are symphony musicians.  Today, one of them 
posted on Facebook that she had found a great online deal on a set of 
high-end violin strings, and wondered if they were OK.  This led to a 
discussion of the fine points of shelf life, variants of the brand, and 
whether a platinum-coated E-string is better than a plain tin one.

And I wished that the "your camera (or lens) doesn't matter" crowd were 
listening in.  Yes, musicians argue over instruments, strings, reeds and 
mouthpieces, just as artists *do* argue over paintbrushes, and 
photographers argue about cameras and lenses.  Does anyone seriously 
believe that  a cheap school-orchestra fiddle should sound as good as a 
Stradivarius or Guarneri violin?  Yes, the best players might be able to 
make the bad fiddle sound reasonably good, but no way would it sound as 
good as the Strad.

So why do some of us constantly down people who prefer Lens A over Lens 
B, or Camera 1 over Camera 2?   The lens "resonates" the light, 
emphasizing some aspects while diminishing others, just as the 
instrument resonates the sound.  The camera's ergonomics and design are 
optimum for one type of picture over another.  And a camera that you 
have to fight to get the shot is just as hampering as the violin with a 
bad "wolf" tone in an exposed passage.

Yes, of course musicians can get cultlike about this brand over that, 
just as photographers do about cameras and lenses.  Yes, a good 
photographer my be able to take a decent picture with any camera or 
lens, just as the musician may be able to turn in a decent performance 
with any instrument.  But if my friend is going to play a big solo, she 
wants the best violin and strings she can afford. If you handed her a 
cheap school fiddle and told her that "instruments don't matter, it's 
the musician that makes the music," she would probably think you were an 
ignoramus (to be charitable). And she'd be right.

The hard truth is:  Tools do matter.  Maybe not so much with Web-sized 
JPGs, and maybe not to rank beginners.  But once you're doing things 
"for real," they do matter. A lot.

--Peter