Re: [Leica] Available light and leica M

[jimbrick@photoaccess.com (Jim Brick)]

Some of that was said by me, and more to make a point about the
M6/flash/TTL/.... In the hundreds of rolls of film through my M6 (just six
months old), the majority of my photographs are taken at f/5.6 - f/16. Only
a few down at f/1.4 - f/4, in available darkness. So Erwin, I agree with
you completely. And I have said many times that my M6 is a camera that I
can carry around and photograph anything, anytime, anywhere. I guess my
point might better have been... when you start to think flash with most
other camera systems, the M Leica just keeps on clicking with the existing
light.

Jim

At 08:03 PM 10/8/98 +0200, you wrote:
>Some of you wrote:
>>I'm not going to speak for Ted, but you have to admit that the M6 is the
>>"KING OF DARKNESS" and Leica designed the system to be that way. This is
>>probably why, generally speaking, the words M6 and flash are rarely used
>>together. When a company makes an f/1.0 Noctilux lens, a 35/1.4 ASPH lens,
>>a 75/1.4, etc... you can bet that they have given this "natural light"
>>"available darkness" stuff some serious thought.
>
>>Again, I have the utmost respect for photographers - including Ted,
>>and Tina, and Cartier-Bresson, and Salgado (and on and on!) - who
>>use available light exclusively.
>
>The original Leica has been designed for a new style of photography (or
>maybe the other way around: the Barnack brainchild proved very effective
>for a new photographic style). This style has been mainly influenced by the
>Bauhaus philosophy and artists: capturing the fleeting reality in its
>microslice of time/space continuum.
>Cartier-Bresson is one of the best examples. If you look at his total work,
>you will notice that hardly ANY of his pictures fall into the available
>darkness class. Most are clear daylight pictures, requiring non such
>exotica as a Noct or any ASPH. But they are indeed haunting images of great
>imagery and artistry. HCB referred often to a small  book "Zen and the Art
>of Archery" to explain his approach.
>This approach has also been called the "artless art of the snapshot", for
>me the best description of Leica photography.
>
>In the early days of Leica photography the highest aperture lenses were NOT
>be offerd by Leica, but by Zeiss for the Contax, the best example of an
>anti-HCB style camera (excuse me Marc, no offense intended). It is
>interesting to propose the idea that the higher apertures for the Contax
>were needed as the camera was clumsier to use. (we need Marc for an answer).
>
>Available light then covers much ground, from exposure levels f/1 at 1sec
>to f/22 at 1/1000. The Leica is not designed for some particular part of
>this luminance bandwidth. It is the snapshot camera par excellence with
>great optics. Leica is pushing the wide aperture lenses to extend the
>territory of high quality images to unchartered areas.
>But any wide aperture lens of Leica quality also gives the opportunity to
>use a lower speed fim in the same luminance slot, resulting in very
>improved imagery.
>We should not restrict ourselves to some part of the spectrum. The quality
>of Leica lenses is also very visible when shooting in adverse illuminance
>conditions, low level or not.
>The M, in my view at least. is a universal photographic instrument designed
>for any kind of high quality photography and can be used in low level
>lighting confidently and giving the same high quality results as in more
>favourable conditions.
>
>Erwin
> 
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