[Leica] For Leica: Tripods, Viewfinders...

[Wolfgang Sachse <sachse@msc.cornell.edu>]

Hi LU's -

There's been discussions about tripods and viewfinders to which
I'd like to share my experiences.

Tripods - Benbo, Gitzo Mountaineer:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> From: jay coleman <jcoleman@interport.net>
> Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 17:53:53 +0000
> Subject: Re: [Leica] tripods was RRS QR plate
>
> Yes. I have used, and own, Benbo tripods.  I like them a lot.  They are
> not perfect:  they are realativly heavy and have a relatively low
> maximum height.  They also take some getting used to in order to set
> them up.... <snip> ...

	Jay's comments coincide with my experience.

	I have the Mini-Trekker by Benbo and their mini ballhead,
	which I don't like. I also have the Gitzo 1228 Mountaineer
	(with B-1 ball head which is fantastic) except that I forgot
	mine in a Timmendorfer Strand taxicab last July on the way to
	Hamburg airport! Idiot! It's now been carried by a friend to
	Maryland but he's gone back to Germany.) My experience has
	been that if you're photographing in the outdoors (in sand,
	swamps, creeks, salt water, and other inhospitable surfaces),
	the Benbo is great. It is a bit on the heavy side however,
	and it is nowhere near as rigid as the Gitzo. But shooting
	on the beaches in Holland last Summer, I got sand into the
	fittings of the Mountaineer and it took me about 2-3 hours
	of complete disassembly and thorough washing to get it all
	out! The Benbo has a clever design in that the legs are sealed
	up to the first joint - about 1/2-meter. Jay also mentioned
	the adaptability of the Benbo to all kinds of weird terrains.
	I've set mine up on top of complex rock formations and over
	a creek - no problem. Advice: Always hold the Benbo at the
	main (bent bolt) joint, otherwise your camera might crash
	into one of the legs!

Viewfinders:
^^^^^^^^^^^
I think that accessory viewfinders for certain lenses are obviously
necessary and for others, convenient. I too have noticed the pictures
of HCB with a viewfinder on a camera sporting a 50mm lens. It's true
that if you focus in the normal viewfinder and then compose in the
accessory viewfinder, then you might miss the "decisive moment".
However, it's my goal to learn how to "sense" focus (it's possible
with lenses having the focusing tab) whereby one knows the focus of
the lens by simply "remembering" the position of that focus tab (I've
read that really experienced M-users develop a sixth sense for this,
I'm nowhere near getting it, but practive makes perfect.) Of course,
the other thing is to keep that lens set at its hyperfocal setting and
then just concentrate on the composition - a Leica point-and-shoot.

Viewfinder Questions:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now I'd like to re-ask the question I asked previously to the LUG but
have received no answer (or I missed it):

What are the different external viewfinders available for M-cameras?
I'm particularly interested in those one often finds in the used
lists by Tamarkin, etc. (e.g. SBKOO, SLOOZ, SBLOO, Brooks Veriwide,
Alada, etc.)? They exhibit a tremendous range in price from less
than $100 to over $500. What's the difference - aside from the
focal length of the lens that they are intended for? Are these listed
and described in some Leica "Bible"?

Thanks.

- -- Wolfgang
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Wolfgang Sachse   Cornell University  http://www.msc.cornell.edu/~sachse/
sachse@msc.cornell.edu  +1 (607) 255-5065 (secy: 255-5062; fax: 255-9179)
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