[Leica] Denver-area happenings

[Jeff S <4season@boulder.net>]

If you have a group of local Leica users, be *very* careful about going
shopping with them because none of 'em are there to knock some sense
into you! The expressions "What would you want with that?" or "Why is
that thing so expensive?" are seldom, if ever, heard. So it was at the
other week's Denver Camerarama where I found myself looking at a nice
Hasselblad SWC with entirely too much interest--now THERE'S a classy
point 'n shoot! In the end, it was thoughts of eating peanut butter
sandwiches (for more months than I care to admit) over the kitchen sink
that made me put it back down. It *would* be nice to have a dining table
someday; makes a good place for sorting negatives. Denver LUG members
missed the chance to buy a minty boxed set of M4-P and 50 Summicron for
a really nice price--gotta walk through the Camerarama wearing "I pay
cash for Leica" tshirts, I think! M6 "classic" and Hasselblad prices
were good and so were older Canon RFs with some IIIc-lookalike outfits
going for around $250. Nikon RF was another matter entirely, and an
asking price of just under $800 seemed awfully high for a worn-looking S
rangefinder body I had hoped to check out and price a Nikon SP but there
were none to be had this time around.

Yesterday I spent a warm spring afternoon in lower downtown Denver
("LoDo") photographing brick buildings, fire escapes, water towers and
railroad bridges and in general, enjoying the wonderful afternoon light
which really makes the brownstones glow and does magic with the
textures. You can't feel glum when you're there with a Leica! I'll see
about posting entire contact sheets online at some point.

The 90mm Summicron is the lens I use most often here and I enjoy
isolating a composition of a few windows or maybe a lamppost. Here, I
appreciate the fact that it lets me step back from my subject and it
reduces the parallel convergences I get with shorter focal lengths.

Next comes the 50/2.8 Elmar-M which I find very comfortable though I
might replace it with the current Summicron at some point because I
never take advantage of the collapseable barrel.

The 15mm Heliar is a challenge to use here as it's mercilessly revealing
of bad camera positioning, dull skies and foregrounds. But I toyed about
with it and shot some cityscapes from the bridges making no effort at
all to control distortions--if it looked neat, I'd shoot. Normally, I
use this lens in closer quarters but I'll see what happens when I get in
closer and let the perspective run wild.

The 35mm Summicron #2484xxx continues to bring up the rear as my
least-used lens but that's really more a matter of preference on my part
rather than any complaint about the optics. The focal length is great
for candid street photos (nicely scaled for people shots) but feels like
an odd in-between size for urban landscapes. I'll probably use this as
my default lens for awhile to see how I can make it work better.

It's still a little early to catch the spring colors here and there are
few flowering cherry or plum trees in the area, but it's a fine time for
cityscapes!
- -- 

Jeff Segawa
Somewhere in Boulder, Colorado