RE: [Leica] Leica and 15 year old technology

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

Leica and 15 year old technology.

Reading a few of these posts got me to wonder. What is it that is 15 years
old. Certainly not photography. That's at least 100 years old. Certainly
not the lenses (M or R) as they are literally the best money can buy. Not
the shutter either. The R8 shutter is indeed a modern electronic shutter,
as was the R3, R4, R5, & R7 shutters. So what technology is 15 years old?
Is it the technology that takes the heart and soul out of photography? The
"point & shoot" $3000 F5's EOS 1's, etc? When you have so many
buttons/levers/screens/modes/etc... to do the thinking for you, you are
simply a recorder. Set the mode (sports, landscape, flash, etc.) set the
autofocus (normal, predictive, follow focus, etc.), set the meter (spot,
average, matrix, matrix bias, fuzzy, AI, etc.), and the list goes on. Then
you stand there and push the button while pointing the camera toward the
subject. An autobracket burst takes place... got it! But what did you do?
You recorded a moment of time on film. No sweat. The camera did the work.

Is this how we/you use a Leica? I doubt it. Has photography changed? No. So
what has changed over the past 15 years? Ah... the big name camera makers
have taken the human element out of photography and replaced it with a
computer. Yes, there is a place for computer cameras. Special effects, fast
moving sports, etc. So let them do their thing. 

But I don't think Leica uses 15 year old technology. Leica uses technology
so that humans can make fine photographs of a subject. Leica knows that the
human computer (brain, soul, heart, etc.) far exceeds the capabilities of
any electronic heartless computer. When you understand light, film,
composition, etc., you will work to produce the image that you perceive.
The Leica is the proper tool to create that perception. A human endeavor.

I'll take gray matter logic over fuzzy logic any day.

Jim