Re: [Leica] Leica Users

["Raimo Korhonen" <raimo.korhonen@pp2.inet.fi>]

IMHO in order to stay in business even Leica has to progress - even at
somewhat leisurely pace. It can be so that those with weakest vision ha=
ve
the strongest purchasing power. And there is no shortage of meterless
Leicas on the market.
Raimo
photos at http://personal.inet.fi/private/raimo.korhonen
nyt my=F6s Kameralehden juttuja suomeksi

- ----------
> From: Raven Visionary Arts <leonine@redshift.com>
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Leica-Users List Digest V3 #363
> Date: 12. lokakuuta 1998 17:32
>=20
> "I have a Contax SLR with several lenses that I use in my research
> laboratory and am impressed with the quality of the images it produce=
s,
but
> have never felt any special interest towards this tool. I cannot even
recall
> its model number; I just use the thing. This is probably the right wa=
y to
> treat cameras. However, I do not practice my own preaching when it co=
mes
to
> my Leica rangefinders. I treat and love them almost as if they are my
> children."
>=20
> I think Glenn Robinson has captured the Leica mystique beautifully in
that
> quote. So many cameras come and go. They have no personality, no
identity.
> Many have fancy features, which, when it comes to the basic technique=
 of
> photography, amount to nothing. And most do take good pictures, at le=
ast
> from a technical point of view: they have sharp lenses, accurate shut=
ters
> and do manage to hold the film flat. But how many last? How many real=
ly
help
> the photographer to see into creation with the kind of power a real
artist
> needs to have? Only a handful. Personally, I wouldn't trade my M2 for=
 an
M6,
> my unmetered Nikon F for an F5 or, for that matter, any other 35mm
cameras.
> I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I read that some Leica user=
s
want
> Leica to come out with an M7, a camera with an electronic shutter and
> various other technological "advancements." Why? So they can have a $=
5000
> point & shoot!? Don't they realize that the essence of a Leica is the
very
> fact that it IS so simple? Frankly, I think it's tragic that Leica no
longer
> makes an "M" without a built-in meter. Do they think the only reason =
that
> people have M2s, M3s & M4s is because they can't afford M6s?! Has it =
ever
> occurred to them that perhaps the M2 is a purer, finer tool than the =
M6
and
> that's why some people choose it? If Leica should do anything it shou=
ld
be
> to remake the M2, precisely as it was made in 1959. (Of course, it wo=
uld
> cost twice as much as an M6 to make it as well as they made it then!)=
 Of
all
> the great camera manufacturers, it seems that only Hasselblad underst=
ands
> the value of manual cameras. IMHO it's the beginners, the rich amateu=
rs
and
> the hack pros who are so entranced with technology-in other words, th=
e
ones
> with the least vision and the sloppiest technique. They want the came=
ra
to
> compensate for their own inadequacies. They look for the camera with =
the
> most metering modes, with the best autofocus, the fastest motor drive=