Re: [Leica] Leica-Users List Digest V3 #363

["Jeff S" <segawa@netone.com>]

Peter--The Leica M2 is a finely made camera, but better than the M6 from a
user's
point of view? You must be kidding; all the beautifully chromed and machined
metal won't make up for the fact that it's awkward by comparison.
>
They forget (or never knew) that most of the
>greatest pictures ever taken were taken with manual, unmetered cameras and
>common materials. Cartier-Bresson, Gene Smith, Edward Weston, Paul Strand,
>etc. These people used cameras that most photographic technophiles would
>turn their noses up at. Screw mount Leicas, wooden 8x10's with clunky
>shutters and uncoated lenses, etc. And they didn't need built-in meters
>because they understood exposure. [snip]

FWIW, a 1975 photo of HCB shows him with a Leica CL dangling from his neck;
the others are dead.

Jeff

- -----Original Message-----
From: Raven Visionary Arts <leonine@redshift.com>
[snip]
>I think Glenn Robinson has captured the Leica mystique beautifully in that
>quote. So many cameras come and go. They have no personality, no identity.
>Many have fancy features, which, when it comes to the basic technique of
>photography, amount to nothing. And most do take good pictures, at least
>from a technical point of view: they have sharp lenses, accurate shutters
>and do manage to hold the film flat. But how many last? How many really
help
>the photographer to see into creation with the kind of power a real artist
>needs to have? Only a handful. Personally, I wouldn't trade my M2 for an
M6,
>my unmetered Nikon F for an F5 or, for that matter, any other 35mm cameras.
[snip]
Frankly, I think it's tragic that Leica no
longer
>makes an "M" without a built-in meter. Do they think the only reason that
>people have M2s, M3s & M4s is because they can't afford M6s?! Has it ever
>occurred to them that perhaps the M2 is a purer, finer tool than the M6 and
>that's why some people choose it? If Leica should do anything it should be
>to remake the M2, precisely as it was made in 1959. (Of course, it would
>cost twice as much as an M6 to make it as well as they made it then!) Of
all
>the great camera manufacturers, it seems that only Hasselblad understands
>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. [snip] They forget (or
never knew) that most of the
>greatest pictures ever taken were taken with manual, unmetered cameras and
>common materials. Cartier-Bresson, Gene Smith, Edward Weston, Paul Strand,
>etc. These people used cameras that most photographic technophiles would
>turn their noses up at. Screw mount Leicas, wooden 8x10's with clunky
>shutters and uncoated lenses, etc. And they didn't need built-in meters
>because they understood exposure. [snip]