Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/03

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Subject: [Leica] Re: 100 anniversary book
From: lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)
Date: Sat Jan 3 08:20:07 2009
References: <200901031335.n03DZDmS098682@server1.waverley.reid.org>

Leica equipment doesn't have to speak perfect German. We must  
remember that Leica cameras and lenses were made in Canada, Portugal,  
and Japan by workers who wouldn't know sauerkraut from strudel.  
During WW2 Leica US marketed lenses made by Wollensak as official  
Leica products. Leica allowed its brand name to be used on wholly non- 
Leica equipment from Fuji and Panasonic.

Today's Leica cameras are assembled from components sourced from all  
over the world, including the US. According to the modern Leica  
company, that red dot has a pervasive influence. Any camera with it  
on and any lens with the name Leica engraved on the ring  
automatically becomes 100% Leica. So one might say that any  
photograph made with equipment with the name Leica on it counts.

But, if we want to remain true to the faith, I suggest that we limit  
eligibility to Leica cameras and lenses actually made by the elves in  
Wetzlar or produced in Leitz factories in Canada or Portugal. The  
possible exception might be the Leica CL, although Leica itself  
treated the CL as an illegitimate child. No cameras wholly made by  
Fuji or Panasonic need apply despite the fact that my lovely Digilux  
Zoom is engraved with the Leica name, sports a red dot, and features  
a "Leica" lens.

So while we do not disown HCB or David Duncan, their pictures made  
with Sonnar lenses and LTM Nikkors do not qualify. We have prattled  
on about the marvelous bokeh of Leica lenses and the unique look of  
photographs made with Leica glass. Do we eat crow and say "never  
mind," Zeiss, Nikkor, and Canon lenses are just as good, perhaps even  
better.

The proposed book either celebrates the 100th anniversary of the  
(Barnack) Leica - or it does not. It is not about photographers who  
have used some Leica equipment. That's another book not keyed to a  
specific anniversary date.

Here are some of the comments made in today's LUG post about  
eligibility.
It shows that reasonable people can differ.

Larry Z
-------------

I almost always
use Leica bodies, but my lens kit is "ethnically" mixed.  I've used
Leitz/Leica, VC, Nikkor, Canon, and Sovyetsii RF lenses.  Do I really  
have
to eliminate some of my best shots if I'm not 100% sure that the lens
speaks, proper German?

HCB used a Sonnar on his Leica until he got his Summicron.  David
Douglas Duncan used LTM Nikkors in Korea.  Yet they are often  
referred to
as "Leica photographers." Would we eliminate them as being  
insufficiently pure?

Very definitely 100% Leica - Digital or analog - Glass and Body., new
technology or film as old as Leica I.  I'd consider using both my
IIIA and
my M8.2.

  I think the rules of FOM2, which worked
so well there
should be applied to Leica 100 Years - that is Leica glass for sure
but flexibility on
platforms. That is what we did before wasn't it?

I feel that 100% Leica equipment, analogue or digital, is
appropriate.

My vote goes for Leica Body and Lens but allowing third party
accessories e.g. meters, flash, finders, scanners etc.  This may still
raise some issues - is a D-Lux a 100% Leica?

A LUG celebration suggests to my mind a theme along the lines of the
"Leica Experience" - the glass, the mechanical heritage and the
transition to digital.

  I was remembering how when you go on
a tour of Leica the first thing the guy says is LEICA IS A LENS COMPANY.

Either a Leica camera or lens should be used.
Preferably both but one or the other would do.

Leica use has always involved Nikkor and Canon and Russian lenes and God
knows what else lenses and now we'd not want to excluded the Voigtl?nder
brand made by Cosina made now some of which are exquisite.