Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/07
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tedgrant@islandnet.com (Ted Grant) writes:
>When you use an M6, which is the ultimate of available natural light
>picture taking machines in the first place, then require flash, fill or
>otherwise, to take your pictures speaks of the lack of the photographer's
>ability to see light and make it work for him or her.
>If one considers Leica is synonomous with available existing light and the
>work of HCB, Capa and others, why in heavans name would one need the twinky
>flash to make a picture? If you really know anything about light, as
>"light is the life of the picture," one should know how to make the light
>motivating them in the first place work and not require twinky flash to
>supposedly make it look right.
This seems really overboard to me. That the M is astonishingly
good for natural light work does not in _any_ way the it wrong
to use an M in situations where light is added. If your benchmark
for high quality editorial/reportage is the B/W work of the '30s
to the '60s, then it seems to me that one cannot exclude the work
of people like M. Bourke-White and W.E. Smith. Both of these
photographers produced work of the very highest standard using
artificial light. And while M. B-W tended to use TLR Rolleis,
Smith often worked in 35 mm. Put bluntly, it is presumptuous to say
that other people's technical decisions are incorrect or 'twinky'.
That said, I just purchased a 'vanilla' M6 HM because I don't
often use flash in my own work (when I do, I use N**** FA or FE2),
and because I think that the TTLs are noticably bulkier (yes!) than
the M6, which is *just* small enough to disappear in my hands.
Furthermore, I think that the TTL metering is not enough of an
asset to justify mofification of the M body. A large new
feature set (including a modern shutter, as described by others
here) might justify such a change, but TTL alone does not, in my
opinion.
However, to say that OTHERS should not use M series Leicas for
artificial light work is just silly. Just my $0.02.
..........................................................................
Alexey Merz | URL: http://www.webcom.com/alexey | email: alexey@webcom.com
| PGP public key: http://pgp5.ai.mit.edu/ | voice:503/494-6840