Re: [Leica] The Leica Mystique

[felix tian <felix_tian@yahoo.com>]

Hi, Bud, 

Thanks for sharing. 

Can I have a full copy of the article?

Many thanks!

Felix  Tian


- --- Bud Cook <budcook@ibm.net> wrote:
> In the July/August 1995 issue of Darkroom & Creative
> Camera Techniques,
> Carl
> Weese wrote a piece called The Leica Mystique.  This
> piece was reprinted
> and
> distributed by Leica.   As a long time Leica user, I
> found it to be very
> 
> interesting.  I've included a (very) few excerpts
> below and can send the
> entire
> piece as e-mail to anyone who is interested.   Just
> let me know if you
> want it.
> 
> The original piece is about 16,000 characters.
> 
> Bud Cook
> 
>
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> ............'Leica partisans may display a loyalty
> that seems truly
> fanatic,
> but they seldom engage in one-on-one comparisons
> with other cameras
> because,
> quite simply, there is no competition for the Leica
> M.  A 35mm, all
> manual,
> interchangeable-lens, optical rangefinder camera,
> the M is not only the
> original but also the only surviving example of its
> breed.  Its
> adherents go
> beyond brand loyalty in their attachment to this
> camera; for many, the
> relationship can truly be described as a romance.'
> 
> Ergonomics
> 
> .................'It is a miracle of ergonomics,
> designed before the
> very
> term came into common use.  This is of no small
> importance.  The
> ergonomic
> comfort of the camera is the first element of the
> intense shooting style
> it
> fosters, which influences the pictures Leica
> photographers make.  It is
> this
> shooting style which I suspect is at the heart of
> the Leica Mystique.'
> 
> Those Leica Lenses
> 
> ................... '35 mm Summilux (f/1.4) was a
> breakthrough lens when
> it
> was introduced and its design reflects a number of
> compromises.  Wide
> open,
> it has very low contrast (that as we've just seen
> can be beneficial) and
> 
> also suffers from coma, which renders point light
> sources as smeared
> shapes.
> I think this defect is so beautiful, that while my
> standard 35 mm lens
> is
> now the current Summicron, I keep and use my
> 27-year-old Summilux for
> it's
> unique, idiosyncratic image qualities.'
> 
> 
> Camera Handling: The Leica Style
> 
> ...........'By contrast there is nothing seductive
> about the view
> through
> the Leica's finder.  It's just a one-eyed look at
> the world tinted
> slightly blue
> and reduced to three-quarters life size.'
> 
> ............'With AF, when making a fast shot it is
> all too easy to make
> 
> pictures perfectly focused on the wrong thing.  Or
> to make sharply
> focused
> images with the invariable stylistic device of a
> main subject dead
> center in
> the frame.  With this pre-focus technique you can
> shoot at lightning
> speed
> while using the viewfinder purely for framing.  This
> can lead to better
> pictures.'
> 
> Leica Technique
> 
> ........'Totally manual control, rangefinder viewing
> and focusing,
> dimunutive size, quiet operation, specialized lenses
> maximized for
> certain shooting
> conditions; this is a set of attributes that stakes
> out a specific
> photographic territory for the Leica.  If these
> attributes are the
> perfect
> ones for the kind of pictures a photographer wants
> to make, it may be
> the
> only tool that is needed.'
> 
> 

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