[Leica] Effective and enjoyable image quality

[Tom Finnegan <TomF@piengr.com>]

My parents picked up my daughter from daycare yesterday, and when they
brought her back to the house we were standing in the living room talking.
My dad picked up the copy of David Hurn's new book 'Wales: Land of My
Father' that I had just recently bought. I would highly recommend the book,
as well as the two small books Hurn wrote with Bill Jay. Many of the
pictures have a wonderful glow to them. :^) It makes me want to get a couple
of the silver/digital hybrid prints available from Lenswork. My 4.5-yr old
daughter was rather fond of the two girls dancing in the fancy dresses.

As my dad flipped through the book he started to get a somewhat puzzled look
on his face. He sets the book down and his one comment is, 

"Gee, some of the pictures don't seem to be as sharp as they should be."

It hadn't even occurred to me that some of the pictures were less than razor
sharp, and that it somehow made a big difference in the quality of the
picture. I wisely choose not to go off on some big tirade about hand held
vs. tripods, or the optical characteristics of older vs. newer lenses, or
art vs. science. What can you say, different strokes for different strokes,
even when they share many of the same genes! I'm sure my daughter will have
some opinions that conflict with mine as she gets older. 

Tom (Black Sheep) Finnegan

"They don't like to talk about him anymore, ever since his nikon was stolen
and he started using that Leica with the old 35/1.4. Next thing you know
he's babbling on about 'glow' and 'bokeh'. Hardly ever uses a tripod
anymore. It's all quite scandalous really...."