Re: [Leica] Was Copyright questions, in defense of the R8.

["Barney Quinn, Jr." <barney@ncep.noaa.gov>]

Mxsmanic,

Good explanation. Thanks. I should hope that the F5 has the world's most advanced
metering system given that it costs half again as much as an R8 or a 1v. I have a
simple metering test which works for me. I put a roll of film in the camera and go
for a drive, stopping at my favorite spots to take pictures. Lots of water, back
light, contrast, and strong side light. I put the camera in "auto" mode and do what
ever the meter tells me to do. What's amazing to me is that my M6 almost never gets
fooled. The R8, F5 and 1v all pass the test with an A+,  meaning that I end up with
36 out of 36 technically perfect slides. The F3, F4, EOS 1 and 1n miss between two
and four shots per roll.

This tells me that photographic automation is something of a saddle shaped curve. On
the simple, meaning low, end of the curve a little bit of it is quite useful. I
really like some kind of on board TTL metering. If it's directly coupled, so much
the better. I think that there is a mid-range of on board technology which has its
place, is useful, but which can also be as much trouble as it is worth. It takes a
lot of very expensive and complex technology to get to the high end of the curve
where what you have amounts to a professional level point-and-shoot camera.

I think that people are beginning to figure this out. I think that's what is behind
the revival of interest in traditional range finder cameras. There are, clearly,
circumstances, such as sports and news, where a highly automated camera is a good
thing. But, I also think that people are beginning to catch on to the fact that
there are many, many, many other situations wherein all this complexity isn't really
all that helpful.

Barney