Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/07/29
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Jim Laurel wrote:
> There is something very special about the M system. I don't know whether
> it's the excellence of the lenses, the accuracy of the rangefinder focusing
> system, or the fact that the camera ha such low vibration. I'm sure it's a
> combination of all three. But I am not able to reproduce the quality of
> images that I get consistently from the M6s with any other camera system,
> INCLUDING Leica R.
I find that I am often (by no means always, maybe not usually) able to
tell whenther a particular photographer uses Leica M gear, but I strongly
suspect that this has more to do with the quality of the image than with
image quality. That is to say, I think that the M promotes a particular
flavor of seeing & composition. William Albert Allard's work provides
one set of examples; Susan Meiselas's work from Nicaragua provides
another.
Certainly my father's family photos declined in quality when he switched
from Leica M to Pentax SLR, although this was probably due to the fact
that he had used the M3 for so long that no other camera was as intuitive
for him.
I can't tell which brand of camera an SLR photographer uses by looking at
the frames. Do y'all *really* think Galen Rowell's or Frans Lanting's
images would have more impact, if only they would use Leica SLRs? I don't.
..........................................................................
Alexey Merz | URL: http://www.webcom.com/alexey | email: alexey@webcom.com
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