[Leica] Leica bashing

[salex@idt.net (sam alexander)]

The current issue (11/14) of Amateur Photographer (UK) has a flame-producing
letter from an irate mr. Paul Greenwood of Middelwich. In light of some
recent LUG threads on the subject, I thought some might find it amusing.
His letter, apparently in response to a prior article on Leica cameras, says:
. . ."I wish these Leica owners would take pics to prove their point
instead of bragging about the technical brilliance of the product. What you
lot should really do is go out in your S-class Mercedes and take some shots
through the window. Then the rest can see what you're made of. If you
can't, go home, polish your multifaceted, mechanical masterpiece, lay it
gently in its velvet-lined, mahogany presentation casket, and shut up!"
(it gets better):
"You're wasting valuable magazine space when it could be used by people who
are serious about their photographs rather than some old-fashioned and
expensive ornament. That these things are auctioned at Christie's is due
solely to the signature of that menace Cartier-Bresson who thought it was
clever to take pictures of strangers quietly picking their noses, as long
as they weren't looking.
(and the best): The Leica is the Frank Sinatra of cameras - brilliant in
its day, but now pushing up the dasies. David Baily could produce inifitely
better results with an old Zorki 4 than I ever could with a Leica. Good
photographs are in the eye, not the machine."

Also In this issue, the Leica Minilux zoom is tested against 4 other compacts.
It placed third behind the Contax TVS and was blown away by the winner, a
Ricoh GR1.