Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/06/01

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: RE: [Leica] Use film, or block the panel!
From: "Austin Franklin" <darkroom@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 10:04:15 -0400

Tim,

> Well - you are obviously - I know number of LF photographers who really
> aren't bothered about sharpness (or for that matter depth of field from 1'
> to infinity) - but you seem to presume for them the reasons they chose to
> use LF camera... Hiroshi Sugimoto or Sally Mann for example -
> there are many
> reasons top use LF, but you seem to have presumed what reasons somebody
> would chose to use it for. The reasons are many and varied an not
> necessarily obvious.

I KNOW what reasons a good number of people use view cameras for.  I did not
say I know ALL the reasons.  What is your point, and what does that have to
do with the discussion?  It is undisputable that a view camera is an
entirely different tool than a little P&S digicam.

> I use them (M's) because they are very useful in certain way of
> working - I
> find the rangefinder viewing system and quiet shutter helps when I'm
> photographing people in certain sorts of situations

little P&S digicams are quite quiet, even more quiet than the M.  If you are
so enamored by the use of the small, low resolution LCD on the back a little
P&S digicam, and it is such a superior way of viewing than a viewfinder,
then I must ask again, what reasons do you have to using a Leica?

> Don McCullin made some of the best photographs of conflict and the human
> condition of the last century - a large majority taken with OM
> 1's and 2's -
> why? Quality of the lenses? nope - because they were about the
> smallest SLR
> and they were cheap - when one broke he just threw it away and
> used another
> one.

Because quality of the lense was not his concern, did not mean the lenses
weren't quality.

> it's about something subjection - vision and creativity -
> different peoples
> different ways of seeing

Yes, the ethereal angle.

> > or somehow the
> > > LCD lets you
> > > "see more" or for some other "mystical" reason...it's just
> these cameras
> > > have bad viewfinders.
>
> Again, it's not "mystical" - just a persons vision.

Er, right.  It somehow improves someone's vision to use a low resolution,
small screen to compose images.  As I suggested, it might be equally as
valid to just take your glasses off, or if you don't wear them, put
someone's on...

Hey, Tim, if you believe something works for you, and/or you believe it
makes a difference in the "quality" of your images (but oh, it's not about
quality, at least according to you), then by all means...

Austin

- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html