Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/20
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At 12:40 PM 97-04-20 -0700, you wrote:
>Do you fellow LUGers feel entirely comfy about having a rather large amount
>of money tied up in what is, after all, still a small-format camera, though
>a very good one? I love looking at what might be called "fine art"
>photographs, whether they be mine or someone else's. The ones I seem to
>respond to most strongly seem to be shot on medium or large formats, and
>tend not to be documentary-type shots, though there are a few exceptions.
> And for those of you who ARE good at this sort of thing, does it
>take you weeks, or even months, to recover your investment, and do you need
>to really work your butt off in order to do it?
>
>Wondering,
>Jeff
>
Hello Jeff,
If I was only allowed to have one camera it would be a 4x5 because
it is portable, trouble free, affordable, flexible, precise and of course
because of the negative size. I also like to have a Leica for many of the
same reasons and that is why I have them. Both of these cameras, I think,
are good investments, not because I plan to resell them later, but because I
plan to use them a lot. I don't think that I will have to replace my 4x5 or
my M's for many many years to come and that to me is good value. I watch
some of the other photographers here who just have to have every new model
that comes along but their photography has not improved one bit. My Leicas
may be expensive initially, but I do not have to continually replace them.
Large format cameras are really not all that expensive if you compare them
to the prices of medium format and top of the line 35mm these days. There is
one rider in all of this - you have to use them to get the value out of them!
Ian Stanley
Kathmandu, nepal