Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/04/30

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Subject: Re: [Leica] (off topic) James L. Stanfield
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 21:06:56 -0500

At 03:48 PM 4/30/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Sahara with pictures by Stanfield, which I liked.  In a short bio on him it
>is noted that he at one time used Leica - does he still??

Last I heard he was all Nikon. But It's been several years since I talked 
to him. He had problems with reliability of R4s. But then he's quite hard 
on equipment. Bob Gilka, National Geographic's director of photography for 
many years, told me that Jim was the most technically talented photographer 
at Geographic. If it was going to be a challenge to photograph, they sent 
Jim. One reason he got the Vatican assignment. One shot took over 30 lights!

I think Leica would be smart to send him some R8s and let him see what 
modern Leicas are like. (Of course, send him some late production models!)

BTW, he never liked rangefinders. Composition was never precise enough for 
his taste. His favorite lenses were the 24 Elmarit and 180 Apo Telyt. (Hey, 
it was the only 24 Leica made!) But he has a massive array of lenses from 
15 up - and National Geographic had the 800 Telyt in the pool. Jim has also 
always used Nikons for those focal lengths that Leica didn't make for so 
many years, like 400 2.8.

And when Leica gave him an 80 Summilux, he sold it and bought a 90 
Summicron R. Why? Because it was a focal length he rarely used, and so he 
wanted to save weight.

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.