Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/12

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Leica-Users List Digest V3 #363
From: Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 21:36:31 -0700

Good post Eric. Right on!

Jim

At 07:06 PM 10/12/98 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>the value of manual cameras. IMHO it's the beginners, the rich amateurs and
>>the hack pros who are so entranced with technology-in other words, the ones
>>with the least vision and the sloppiest technique. They want the camera to
>>compensate for their own inadequacies. They look for the camera with the
>>most metering modes, with the best autofocus, the fastest motor drive. They
>>search through chemical catalogs and photo recipe books for esoteric
>>developers and toners. They compare resolution test charts (and prices) to
>>find which is the "best" lens. They study the Zone System before they learn
>>
>>Peter Hughes
>
>Though much of this is true, it seems to me a straw man. Why? Because it
>makes the assumption that old cameras with no meters are more "pure" than
>any other camera on the planet. It is just as wrong to believe one as the
>other. No person can say for any other person what is best for them. And to
>complain because someone wants something different than another is just as
>guilty as the anal retentive types who are constantly on the search for
>something "greener on the other side."
>
>Technology has its place, and is no more or less "pure" than any other.
>Sports photographers would be fools to use Leica M cameras as their main
>tools. Just as much as a street shooter would be crazy to use a 4x5 camera
>for low-light candid pictures. The tool for the job. M2, M7, R8, F5, EOS 3,
>Sinar or Minilux. Whatever works.
>
>To call pros "hacks" because they use a lot of tools is ignorance of the
>requirements of the challenges they have to meet. Technology is a tool, not
>the devil in disguise.
>-- 
>
>Eric Welch
>St. Joseph, MO
>http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch
>
>I love cats...they taste just like chicken.
>