[Leica] Goldilocks and the three cameras

[Doug Herr <Telyt@compuserve.com>]

On Thursday of this last week I returned from a few days in California's
volcano country near Mt. Shasta.  My older daughter hates camping so she
spent the week with a friend, but for my 12-year-old daughter, Kelsey, who
has lustrous golden curls on her head, this was a nearly perfect vacation:
woods, mountains and lakes, rocks to clamber over, s'mores by the campfire,
no baths, long hikes with daddy, thunderstorms behind the mountain,
billions of stars at night, and no sister harrassing her.

The drive to one of the campsites was longer than we had expected and
Kelsey was stir-crazy and cranky.  As she sat by the campfire ring, several
ground squirrels came to investigate.  I put a 180 (f/3.4 APO) on the R4sP
and handed it to her.  After a few minutes she had made several exposures
and was in a much better mood.

The next day was at Burney Falls, a magnificent waterfall of Burney Creek
over and through porous basalt rock.  Much of the creek is underground when
it reaches the falls and it pours out through the face of the falls in
hundreds of fall-lets in addition to the main body of the stream hurtling
over the ledge.  Kelsey wanted pictures of the falls so we made a hike to
the base, she with the family's N**** FG and I with an SL.  She used about
a roll of film, all the while telling me "the artist (pronounced arteest)
must not be hurried", then she wanted a wide-angle view.  The only
wide-angle lens I have is a 35mm Summicron-R.  Not one to stifle the
artist's vision I handed her the SL + 35 with great fear and trepidation.

Ordinarily I use the SL on my big lenses, the 400 and 560 Telyts, for which
I have separate straps, so a strap on the SL would only get in the way. 
Did I mention that Kelsey loves to clamber over rocks, particularly those
surrounded by fast-moving mountain water?

Kelsey knows the SL is my all-time favorite and she treated it with the
utmost respect.  She hadn't used a spot meter before so I explained the
limited measuring area to her, and that the meter gives a reading to
produce an average tonal value, so she said "so, I should get the meter
reading from something like the grass, not the falls (white) or the rocks
(nearly black)".

The trip and her photos were a complete success.  Her favorite camera?  The
FG because it's always available to her.  If the R4sP were as available it
would be her vavorite because of the grid viewscreen.  She likes the SL's
bright viewfinder but being much heavier and carrying the extra weight of
being responsible for my favorite camera it was her 3rd favorite.

Doug Herr
Sacramento
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt