Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/04/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 03:48 PM 4/30/99 -0500, you wrote: >Sahara with pictures by Stanfield, which I liked. In a short bio on him it >is noted that he at one time used Leica - does he still?? Last I heard he was all Nikon. But It's been several years since I talked to him. He had problems with reliability of R4s. But then he's quite hard on equipment. Bob Gilka, National Geographic's director of photography for many years, told me that Jim was the most technically talented photographer at Geographic. If it was going to be a challenge to photograph, they sent Jim. One reason he got the Vatican assignment. One shot took over 30 lights! I think Leica would be smart to send him some R8s and let him see what modern Leicas are like. (Of course, send him some late production models!) BTW, he never liked rangefinders. Composition was never precise enough for his taste. His favorite lenses were the 24 Elmarit and 180 Apo Telyt. (Hey, it was the only 24 Leica made!) But he has a massive array of lenses from 15 up - and National Geographic had the 800 Telyt in the pool. Jim has also always used Nikons for those focal lengths that Leica didn't make for so many years, like 400 2.8. And when Leica gave him an 80 Summilux, he sold it and bought a 90 Summicron R. Why? Because it was a focal length he rarely used, and so he wanted to save weight. Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.