Re: [Leica] HCB and Zeiss Sonnar

[lucien <lucien@ubi.edu>]

Marc James Small wrote:
> 
> Mark Rabiner wrote:
> >
> >This is the second I've heard about this HCB and Zeiss Sonnar. I would
> >love to know more about this.
> 
> So would I!  No one at the Zeiss end seems to know anything about this,
> either.  Mehr lecht, bitte!

Marc,

I found the following in the LUG archives:

On Thu, 6 Mar 1997, Thomas Knoles wrote:

   > 
   > Beaumont Newhall's _Photography: Essays and Images_
(1980) includes an
   > article on Henri Cartier-Bresson by Newhall which
originally appeared in
   > _Popular Photography_ in 1947.  I thought the following
paragraph was 
   > particularly interesting:
   > 
   > "He has a Contax, a Leica, and a battery of lenses. His
favorite rig at 
   > the moment is a hybrid: a Contax f1.5 lens mounted on a
Leica body.  He 
   > prefers the 35mm camera to the miniature reflex type
because the optical 
   > eye-level finder is a more direct way of approaching
the subject than the 
   > mirror ground glass image.  His way of working demands
that he be able to 
   > see the subject right up to the very instant of the
exposure.  When he 
   > finds a subject which arouses in him the emotion to
take a photograph, he 
   > seeks a view point, dancing about like a boxer on
tiptoe.  When the 
   > proper combination of lighting, form, organization and
emotion all work 
   > together, he makes the exposure.  Cartier [sic] likes
to speak of his way 
   > of working in metaphors: this split second peak of
emotional tension 
   > culminating in the release of the shutter is 'like a
fencer making a 
   > lunge.'" 
   > 
   > Newhall's book _Focus_, which I had out of the public
library a few months
   > ago, tells the story of HCB offering a fast new lens
(Summarex?  Xenon?, I
   > don't remember now) to Newhall to try.  If I remember
correctly, Newhall
   > put it on his Leica and made a portrait of HCB with it. 
   > 
   > 
   > Tom Knoles

The offered lens to try was a Summarex.

Lucien