Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/03/06

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

Subject: [Leica] Leica's April 24th announcement - place your bets!
From: jplaurel at gmail.com (Jim Laurel (gmail))
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2014 13:41:33 -0800
References: <d383939d-28b1-4b86-986a-9fdbac5bf80c@me.com> <731EC78B-3543-4C97-8B16-C7D59DAEF339@gmail.com> <5DC11CF5-3BFB-4622-B6DD-AFDA07E2EC3C@frozenlight.eu>

The technology chain for digital photography is very fragile, Nathan. If 
you've gone to a lot of time and effort to travel someplace, you are 
carrying backups of everything. Modern digital cameras are a lot more 
fragile than the mechanical M cameras. Your computer (so you know if you've 
got a big dust blob on your sensor), drives to back up your computer. And a 
tertiary backup because, you know, if data doesn't exist in 3 places, it 
doesn't really exist at all. A power supply for your computer and a backup 
for that for when it fails. A charger for your camera batteries and a backup 
for that. Backup batteries. Your mobile phone. And a charger for that. A 
power strip to plug all this into. And all this stuff is incredibly 
appealing to would-be thieves, so you're always having to look after it, 
locking it up in your room, etc. It's just a lot more stuff to manage.

I'm a technologist, but I am also concerned about the impact of technology 
on society and culture. I walked the Camino de Santiago from St. Jean Pied 
de Port to Compostella last Fall - 800 kilometers. So many pilgrims with 
their faces buried in their iPhones, frantic to find some WiFi. Sitting 
together at tables, but isolated, each one in his/her own little virtual 
world. Every night in the Abergues, people would be scrambling for the few 
outlets to charge phones, cameras, iPads, etc. I can't help but think that 
30 years ago, they would have been enjoying the moment a bit more.

--Jim

On Mar 6, 2014, at 1:21 PM, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote:

> Technology moves on.  When I was young, when going out, I needed to have 
> coins in my pocket and find a pay phone if I wanted to call home. For the 
> past 20 years, I have carried a mobile phone in my pocket as a matter of 
> course. Initially to talk, now also to browse the web, navigate my way 
> through foreign cities etc. Why would that be a bad thing? It's wonderful!
> 
> Same with cameras. In my film days, I had to carry three bodies: one 
> loaded with slow slide film, one loaded with slow B&W film and a third 
> loaded with fast B&W film, in my case ISO 1600, since anything faster was 
> useless. Now with the Fuji X I have with me where I am right now 
> (Maastricht), I can shoot at ISO 6400 and get far superior quality to what 
> I used to get with film at 1600. Again, why would that be a bad thing? It 
> is not an "obsession", it is merely a way to expand one's photographic 
> possibilities.
> 
> Cheers,
> Nathan
> 
> Nathan Wajsman
> (sent from somewhere)
> 
> 
> Den 06/03/2014 kl. 21.57 skrev "Jim Laurel (gmail)" <jplaurel at 
> gmail.com>:
> 
>> I never will understand all this obsession with ultra-high ISO. Along 
>> with bokeh, it has become a fetish in the photographic community.
>> 
>> For so many years, we traveled with the Leica M6 and a few fast lenses 
>> and 100 ISO slide film, which we would sometimes push 1 stop. Only rarely 
>> did I feel the need for ISO 1600. The Leica M8 was already better than 
>> 35mm film at comparable ISO sensitivities. The M9 is better still and yet 
>> in today's world it is considered woefully obsolete. I can understand 
>> that for Chris' wedding work, 12,500 allows him to capture images that 
>> were just not possible in the days of film, but few consumers have such a 
>> requirement.
>> 
>> One thing is for sure. While a few photographers are using the new 
>> capabilities of digital cameras to push creative boundaries, most simply 
>> inundate us with well-exposed and sharply focused images with crazy bokeh 
>> at outrageous ISOs that have little real content.
>> 
>> --Jim
>> 
>> 
>> On Mar 6, 2014, at 11:54 AM, chris williams <zoeica at mac.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> No way on the M-AF mount. The M battery is already small, I would not 
>>> want another battery drain.
>>> 
>>> I just recently shot the M 240 at a wedding. Unless there's a new 
>>> version capable of 12,500 iso I don't really see a need for a new camera 
>>> announcement.?
>>> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



Replies: Reply from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Leica's April 24th announcement - place your bets!)
Reply from images at comporium.net (Tina Manley) ([Leica] Leica's April 24th announcement - place your bets!)
In reply to: Message from zoeica at mac.com (chris williams) ([Leica] Leica's April 24th announcement - place your bets!)
Message from jplaurel at gmail.com (Jim Laurel (gmail)) ([Leica] Leica's April 24th announcement - place your bets!)
Message from photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Leica's April 24th announcement - place your bets!)