Re: [Leica] Re: quality of Leica images

["Gary Todoroff" <datamaster@humboldt1.com>]

When I worked for a few months as a darkroom technician in the 60's,
photojournalists in Stockholm were shooting at least as many Leicas as
Nikons, probably more. After just a few days on the job, I began to notice
a special quality to some of the negs that I was enlarging. There was a
sparkle to them which I could only describe as a wider range of greys,
along with better separation at the boundaries of different tones. They
were wonderfully easy to enlarge - the prints really "snapped" without
needing a lot of darkroom tricks, and they did not need a higher grade of
contrast paper to get that really sharp feel in the print.

Of course, I later discovered that it was the Leica shots that were giving
such fine negatives. It didn't hurt that they were being enlarged thru the
incredible Focomat IIc enlarger. Getting that perfect print for publication
was one of the sweetest feelings, and enlarging a properly exposed Leica
neg was never a boring job. 

Within a few months, I had acquired my own used M2 with 35mm Summicron, and
I still love to enlarge those wonderful negatives!

Gary Todoroff