Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Tue, Apr 22, 1997 6:17 AM, Oddmund Garvik wrote: >Don Bledsoe wrote: > ><<<It is a mechanical camera that is not battery dependent, therefore it >will work when other cameras won't due to simple failure of an electrical >circuit or the lack of batteries...I can still photograph when batteries are >either dead or simply not available.>>> > >I think there are no point here, but I often hear this argument, especially >from Leica fundamentalists and "Sunday Explorers". The most fanatic about >Leica "tanks" are those who really don't need such a "tank", who just dream >about traveling in the bush, mountain, desert, Polar areas... There is >nothing wrong about dreaming, but one "best camera" doesn't exist. It >depends upon what you want to do with your camera! I certainly hope that *real* tanks aren't made with faux titanium armor :-) Leica could certainly stand some modernization without necessarily giving up it's "Leica-ness", any more than Hasselblad has, with their 2000- and 200-series of electronic cameras. Oskar Barnack didn't have access to titanium, carbon fiber, teflon, or multi-processor workstations, but we do. I think there's lots to like about the basic Leica concept, but after all this time and expense, you think they'd have figured out how to make it more resistant to dings, made baseplates that don't bow out, rangefinders that don't lose alignment, and in general, expand it's capabilities. Why NOT accomodate mini zooms and TTL flash? Where the M excels is user-friendliness, in the sense that it gives immediate feedback to any input: Press a button, and something instantly happens, correct or not. Some electronic cameras give too little feedback: The computer equivalent would be a Mac or Windows system in which clicking an onscreen button had no apparent effect (the button doesn't dim, no wristwatch icon, no sound, no zooming effects, no drive activity lights flashing) until maybe 1/2 second later. It might be as fast as ever, but would sure FEEL wrong. But this, and a lack of serviceability, are not problems inherent with electronic designs. My primary concern with batteries is that they pollute, and some cameras consume them too quickly.