[Leica] LUG ovrld, SF Leica Qs, When b&w won't do

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

Multiple topics follow.

Regarding LUG info overload: How do *you* cope? I think I'm getting too
quick on the "delete" button and am missing more subtleties, but I dunno
what else to do when faced with 100+ messages per day. Maybe we need
REC.PHOTO.LEICA-USERS?

Any Leica-related events of note in the SF Bay area in the first week of
January and/or, any LUGers planning to attend the MacWorld Expo? This is
very much up in the air for me right now, but it's tempting. KSP would be a
possibility, though it's well out of the way, particularly now, as friends
in the area have recently packed up and moved to the Pacific NW.

So many tempting Leica deals posted online these past few weeks, and me in a
minor cash crunch: It's no fair! If anyone has a clean, late-model 90/2.8
Elmarit-M for cheap, I don't want to hear about it!! ;-)

Opinions wanted: Is the lenshood of the current 50 Summicron-M worth diddly?
I mean, when a filter's used. I've begun to think that maybe I do want to
carry b&w filters with my Leica. I like my 50 Elmar, but screw-in metal
hoods are not the epitome of convenience when using filters! I have thought
to turn mine in at some point--considering where it's been (on a sidewalk,
for one), it's in amazingly good shape. The weather in Boulder, Colorado,
has been unusually cold, wet and cloudy--exactly the kind of soft, diffuse
light that makes me wish for some means of enhancing contrast.

I have thought to take the easy way out and shoot some color film again! But
I just do not care for some of the results I've gotten under such diffuse
light--rich, saturated colors, but somehow lacking the brilliance I'm after.
Wondering if I should be experimenting with a strongish warming filter
(KR3?).

And speaking of color, as I go through my photos and decide which images to
put online, I'm struck by how few really required color! A project's brewing
in my head: Go out and take some photos which absolutely could not work
without color! Where to begin, and which easy outs to avoid?

Finally, this may seem obvious to some, but how's a MacBeth color chart
used? Can I photograph it on location, and have the lab (my own darkroom
gear's color-capable, but I don't want to get too sidetracked from learning
to do better b&w, myself) make all prints based on settings derived from it,
secure in the knowledge that, so long as the rest of the roll was shot under
the same lighting conditions, that the color balance and exposure of my
prints will be true to the image captured on film?