Re: M6 emotive quality

[Bert Keuken <bert.keuken@pi.net>]

George Huczek wrote:
> 
> I had the opportunity to test an M6 recently. The pictures seemed
> to display a certain emotive quality. I am wondering if this is
> typical of what others experience with this camera.
>    I was photographing my children at play. They are 6 and 7 years
>    old. I have been photographing them from birth with 35mm SLRs.
> The pictures appear as if the kids were almost unaware that they
> were being photographed, even though most of the pictures were
> taken at close proximity with a 35 mm f/1.4 lens.
>    The Leica photos showed the kids displaying emotions of joy,
>    anger, and frustration. They have a penetrating quality.
> The reason why I found this peculiar is because whenever I photographed
> them in the past with an SLR, they seemed to react differently.
> Once they were old enough to know what a camera was and what it
> did, they became all too aware of the camera's presence, and began
> posing or making faces when the pictures were about to be taken.
>    With the Leica, they seemed to go about their play, and the
>    camera was able to capture some very powerful expressive qualities.
> Is this a common part of the Leica owner's experience with an
> M6? I have heard people describing similar phenomena when describing
> the camera and the images it is capable of capturing. I would
> appreciate some feedback on this matter, because I am considering
> whether or not to purchase this camera.

Go for it, George!

Buy the camera, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Bear in mind the 
Leica M isn't as versaltile as an SLR. Once you learn to live with it's 
limitations, you've got a friend for life. With a Leica M it is very 
easy taking photographs the way you describe. This has several reasons. 
The camera is silent and compact. This makes it easy shooting in crowds, 
very few people hear the camera. Due to it size people that do see the 
camera think it is a point-and-shoot camera and don't take you for a 
serious photographer. Not being taken seriously is a *great* advantage! 
A lot of people feel ill at ease when you stick an F4s (or EOS-1 for 
that matter) with matching zoom lens in their face. Not so with an M6, 
it's a friendly camera.

Bert.
Replied:  3 Oct 96 09:43