Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/25

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Subject: [Leica] Ted Grant On Lens Switching
From: tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)
Date: Sat Sep 25 18:04:25 2004
References: <0I4500LKBDZ3EX@mailsj-v1.corp.adobe.com> <F4A97920-0842-11D9-B941-0050E42E6E0B@shaw.ca> <3.0.2.32.20040917213831.01d06538@pop.infionline.net>

Marc James Small  said: a whole bunch of stuff from my dark and enlightened
past. :-)
Subject: [Leica] Ted Grant On Lens Switching


 > Second, weren't you the guy who first suggested the idea of a 35mm camera
> to Oskar Barnack?  I recognize that you were then in late middle age, but
> still ... you SHOULD recall those days as brilliantly as you do that day
in
> 1789 when you photographed those Montgolfier brothers with that very first
> balloon.  (Being Canadian -- and thus by-definition bilingual -- I am sure
> that the Parisian mob merely regarded you as eccentric and not as a
> dangerous agent from Albion Perfide, a charge you could easily refute by
> pointing out that your home was in a section of North America not yet to
be
> settled for another forty years or so.)<<<,,,


Marc,
I have to tell you it was tough dealing with some of these old time guys,
actually damn near as tough as some of these modern young time guys! ;-)

It was tough dealing with old Oskar who wasn't a bad old fart, a little
eccentric,  but I gave him the line on requiring a smashing good lens as
fast as possible because the film in those days was so damn slow you could
hardly make an exposure of slow moving molasses on a -40 degree day!! So he
thought about an f 4.0 Noctilux would be fast enough.

I responded, " Hey Oskar mine herr, fast, like f 1.0!" And he near choked on
his Warfsteiner beer!  Then he laughed saying, "Domkoff Kanadian, not so
fast!! F 4.0 will be fast enough ya?"  So that's why it took till the early
'70s before the
 f 1.0 Noctilux appeared! ;-) And I might add, designed by a "domkoff
Kanadian!": ;-) Well OK  Kanadian-German! ;-)

As far as those crazy French brothers and their flying balloon? Hell I had
more trouble with them as they kept wanting to  have a brie cheese lunch
with fresh bread, pears and fine white wine. :-) I mean if there was a
flying cop shop those guys would've been arrested for flying pissed more
times than you can imagine! :-)

>>a delightful swill to enjoy after a hard day on the pav? shooting
large-format glass plates of those brothers and their flying
> machine.<,

Naw it wasn't that, it was trying to get those tiny glass plates to fit in
the back side of the ''Leica 00" model. Like oh oh! damn dropped it again!
;-)

>>> Aren't you approaching your 250th birthday?  Or should that be the
300th?
> You ARE more than a bit evasive on this, Ted, but we wish to appreciate
the
> event and to honor you appropriately.  And, in the end, enquiring minds
> want to know!<,,,

Well I'm quite sure as a military man you know how General Patton considered
himself re-incarnated several times as a General in other lives while
leading men into great battles.

However, in my case I didn't lead them into battle as I was an early battle
photographer! A sharp chisel and hard hammer chipping battle scenes quickly
as they unfolded before me and the General. :-) So given one re-incarnates
something like every 200-300 years or so, I'm not sure exactly how old I am.
So to avoid any confusion may I suggest, if this evening you feel like
raising a glass in honour of my birth whenever the hell it was, please be my
guest! As I'm going to have one with or without you! ;-) Thank you kind sir!
:-)

ted




















> Of course, on the downslope, Lagavulin did not yet exist in 1789 but I
> suspect that your investigation of the holdings of various Cheap Frog
Dives
> (You have told me of your days with Maurice and Jean and the rest of the
> unwashed rabble watching you with drooling jowls while you chowed down on
> that blancpain cake and left them with nothing but those vin ordinaire
> squeezings from the bottom of that Last Cask From Hell) at the nonce would
> have exposed you to some rather interesting Brandies, especially those
> pot-still Armagnacs,


>
> Marc
>
> msmall@infionline.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
> Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



Replies: Reply from feli at creocollective.com (Feli di Giorgio) ([Leica] FA-1027?)
In reply to: Message from heninger at adobe.com (Wade Heninger) ([Leica] Question on lens switching)
Message from jbcollier at shaw.ca (John Collier) ([Leica] Question on lens switching)
Message from msmall at infionline.net (Marc James Small) ([Leica] Ted Grant On Lens Switching)