Re: [Leica] Leica snobbery

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

Martin,

I like your post (following). I could not figure out why one person cares
what other person buys. There are plenty of BMW M3's M5's, Ferrari's, etc.
cars in the hands of ancient duffers who neither go over 45 MPH nor farther
than the corner store. I'm very happy that these people buy lots and lots
of cars, cameras, etc. It keeps these good companies in the black. It
allows them to have an R&D department and work on the next generation of
cars and cameras. And they also pay money to attend workshops. And buy more
stuff. And attend more workshops. And buy more stuff. This is good. So what
if the camera sits in the closet most of the year, or the car in the garage
most of the time. That's their lifestyle. Not mine. And as long as they
keep upgrading... that's good for Leica, BMW, Rolls, Mercedes, Hasselblad,
etc... It also keeps the supply of mint used equipment flowing.

Jim


At 11:20 AM 7/3/98 +0200, you wrote:
>At the risk of starting a flame war, I really don't understand all these
>posts about people who buy expensive equipment (cameras, golf clubs,
>Beemers, or whatever) and "don't know how to use them".  Who cares?
>Does the fact that *other* people buy equipment affect the way *you*
>use the same stuff?  If twenty fat cat tourists walk into your favourite
>Leica shop and all buy M6HMs with 35/1.4 ASPH and Kodak Gold, and then
>proceed to take holiday snaps, what has that got to do with the ability,
>skill, craft, interest, knowledge, or hair colour of the people on this
>list?  Or, for that matter, your appreciation of Leica gear ("you" in
>general sense, not directed to anyone in particular).
>
>Also, where is the line drawn?  I just bought an M3 with 50mm Elmar,
>after not having a camera for 5 years.  Before that, I had cheap,
>SH cameras (with the exception of a Nikon I bought new).  I'm not a
>very good photographer, at least, not yet.  I cannot fully exploit the
>quality of Leica cameras or glass, but does that mean that I cannot own
>it?  Should I be excluded from this circle because I haven't been
>accepted to Magnum, published in National Geographic, or exhibited in
>the Guggenheim Museum?  Hell, I doubt the local paper would be
>interested even, and they publish the most unbelievable crap sometimes.
>
>My point being: live and let live.  At worst, they'll never appreciate
>the finer points of Leica equipment and photography.  At best, they
>will in time discover just that.
>
>
>M.
>
>-- 
>Martin V. Howard, Application Systems Laboratory,     | 
>Dept. of Comp. & Info. Sci., Linkoping University,    | Just DOHH it!
>SE-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden.  Tel +46 13 282 421,     +----------------+
>Fax +46 13 142 231; marho@ida.liu.se; www.ida.liu.se/~marho
>