Re: [Leica] RE: Re: My last word on Hexar, really.

[Krechtz@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/12/00 9:43:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
jim_brick@agilent.com writes:

<< The Leica M will persist and continue doing an
 incredible job of providing just the right tools for those photographers
 who want to practice the craft of photography by exercising complete and
 total control, at all times, over the photographic process.
  >>

I would add that in my experience the only consistent advantage that 
automation, in any form, when it is working optimally, confers is speed.  It 
can and often does slow and even interfere with the photographic process 
under conditions that are not within its design parameters.  
To work like HC-B, one should still employ the same methods he used 50 years 
ago.  It is still best to set the exposure and focus prior to bringing the 
camera up to shooting position.  Otherwise, the opportunity can pass while 
the autofocus searches, possibly in vain, or the photographer desperately 
tries to adjust the automated exposure to compensate for the bright 
background that simply wasn't behind his or her moving subject a moment ago.  
This has been my experience, at least.
Given the latitude of today's negative emulsions, both color and black & 
white, what purpose is served by fretting over whether meter accuracy is 
within .1 stop tolerances?  With chromes, which I regularly shoot with the M 
system, for critical work bracketing is desirable if not necessary, with 
virtually any camera system.  
IME, the real long term effect of automation is to make the photographer 
dependent upon it, forget basic skills and, in the process, lose the "edge" 
needed to obtain the best possible photograph under any given set of 
circumstances.  Again, I speak in terms of what is generally understood, 
particularly by the members of this group, as "classic" Leica RF photography. 
 It is a long recognized genre, in and of itself.  Theoretically, it can be 
done well with almost any 35.  In practice, almost any Leica clone works 
reasonably well. However, as so many of us have learned after years of trial 
and error, it can be done best only with the admittedly imperfect and 
"technologically challenged" Leica itself.  The whole - body, lens and 
accessories - is greater than the sum of the many parts.
Is the Leica all things to all dedicated photographers?  No - certainly not 
since the popularization and automation of the SLR.  But it is still best at 
being a Leica, without apology; and it is still best at giving the Leica 
photographer what he or she needs, without distractions.

Joe Sobel