Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/03/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]IMHO... Studio work comes in all flavors. When someone says "studio work", it is usually thought of as elaborate "still" setups. Products. Soap, cars, beer, etc. This kind of "studio" photography requires a ground glass camera. From the smallest (35mm SLR) to the middle (Hasselblad, RB67, etc), to the largest (8x10 view camera). View cameras meant for the studio are called "studio views". Anyway... the studio photographer is usually following a layout and brainfart from some advertising agency. The photographer is attempting to capture, on film, what's in the mind of the Ad director. The only way to accomplish this is to use a camera that has a ground glass. This way you can see the effects of lights, filters, gels, DOF, flare, reflections, etc... This is pretty much impossible with a RF camera. Not pretty much... it is impossible. However... fashion photography is a free form of photography and an M camera will work quite well. There is usually nothing unusual to detect on a ground glass. Lighting is usually very simple. A softbox. And since the subject is moving much of the time, being able to follow the "action" with an RF camera just might have an advantage. I think Brian was thinking about the former, not the latter. Jim At 02:38 PM 3/8/99 -0500, you wrote: >Once again I seem to be doing things back asswards. Brian Bower in his book, >Leica M Photography, says the Leica M is NOT the camera to use in the studio. >While I don’t disagree with his main idea that the Leica M is best suited for >hand held general photography within the range of 28mm to 135mm, I still find >a great amount of enjoyment using my Leica M4-P with my Norman studio strobe >unit. > Currently, I’m using the M4-P with a 50mm Summicron, and getting great >results from my home studio images lighted through a white umbrella. I’m using >Fujichrome ASTIA, and this film with the above equipment equals very enjoyable >images. > I do images of my wife dressed in leather, tattoos, and other odd stuff, and >I find the idea of using an M4-P to do fetish images very exciting. > I guess my point is that I disagree with Brian Bower when he says that the >Leica M isn’t really made to do studio work. My experience has convinced me >that my Leica M is fun to use in the studio. You could almost say that I have >a fetish for using the Leica M in the studio! >Bob Gabriel >