Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> David Rodgers wrote: > >> Since the world has gone digital it seems that camera manufacturers have >> placed less emphasis on viewing, whether pentaprism or rangefinder. > > It was AF that killed viewfinder quality, not digital. > > Doug Herr > Birdman of Sacramento > http://www.wildlightphoto.com > > I'm gung ho and overwhelmed by the wonderfulness of my digital nikon viewfinders in recent years; in particular my archaic D200 Hockypuck which I've been using as my main axe of late. Always having it with me despite the extra weight and bulk. I like the options - which is putting it mildly. And Frankly did not have a grasp of how intensive they really were. Cameras nowadays are far ahead of the ones they made in the 90's. It's like 2001 has really hit us. Having a real groundglass on my film Nikons I took as a given and now that's not the case. Its a bit disconcerting but there are percs to the way things look through cameras in this more modern era. I've been experimenting with the various options- Every day for a couple of weeks now I'm doing quite a bit of shooting with some new settings about every day and then immediately coming back and loading them onto my laptop that I'm typing into now. And seeing how these modifications have changed my shooting and the results. I got a book to help me. Or rather I've got it out and am using it after having it for awhile. Its a Magic Lantern Guides: Nikon D200 by Simon Stafford for twenty bucks - http://www.larkbooks.com/mlg http://www.larkbooks.com/catalog?isbn=9781579908867 At the large Barnes and Noble I hang out in across from Julliard (the motherload ship store perhaps) they seem to have most the guides put out by most the companies. If I was auditioning for a job in a camera store this is where I'd hang out. I page through them for free paying for them with the price of an espresso or vanilla soda and having spent some time with all of them I can say the rest of them really don't do too much for me. They seem junky. I've even in the past bought these other series for bodies; in other lifetimes. The Nikon D200 Digital Field Guide by David D. Busch seemed cartoonish and junky. But at the store this year for free I've also looked at - The Pip Expanded Guide to the Nikon D200 by Ross Hoddinott seemed odd and usesless. The Nikon D200 Dbook : Your Interactive Guide to SLR Photography with the Nikon D200 Camera by Helmut Kraus, Rainer Dorau, Rudolf Krahm no doubt didn't click with me somehow. I looked at all of them and at every bookstore I ever go to usually. And its amazing that you find a book on the bookshelf any more on this particular body which went out for the D300 two and a half years ago. But when one book disappears they order another one to replace it so People not only still USE these relics of the early digital age: they also want to really know how they work on not just a surface level. I do think a lot of photography gets done by a whole lot of very good people; pros, and if you say half the time "what does that button do?" they'll say "I have no idea. I avoid pressing it if at all possible". Do you know where your manual is tonight? The Magic Lantern Guides series seems to me for my tastes and sensibitiles to be far far better than the other ones. They look great feel great and read great. Just a tad heavy for such a small book though. Must the clay content of the paper is my theory. I'm getting better shots now that I'm much more aware of the amazing capabilities of my camera. As they are being presented to me in a way that I can absorb. Though devoid of any humor intentional or otherwise. I recommend it. However this particular series doses not seem to have Leica bodies. The publishing company though, Lark (show us your Lark book) makes the well known to Leica Nuts the Brian Bower books. Or at least this one: the 35 dollar Leica M Digital Photography: M8/M8.2. And knowing this guy (which I don't really) they'll be an M9 version any day now. Publisher: Lark Published: June 2009 192 pages ISBN: 1-60059-193-0 ISBN13: 9781600591938 $34.95 US $37.95 Canadian Paper with flaps 8 1/2 X 11 A different kind of much larger more intensively color illustrated hand book. A two handed book. He showed the LHSA some slides once or twice. The fella does not fool around in his spare time but has been on top of the whole Leica thing for decades Traveling widely getting enviable shots with the latest Leica gear and using them most intelligently. Though full bleeds in books I hope to see more of a thing of the past. When the photo is the same size as the page who who knows what the original cropping was. [Rabs] Mark William Rabiner