[Leica] Re: Leica Users digest V10 #36

[Dave Yoder <leica@home.com>]

> I'm a professional and I use the R system for the quality of the lenses. I bought into
> it after my newspaper switched me to Canon. I was pretty happy to have a brand-new kit
> at first, but over a couple months the honeymoon wore off and I began to loath the
> system.

I just got a photo essay into the paper that included three pictures shot with my 19mm
elmarit (new model). Critical elements of the pictures included people at the extreme
edges of the frame (no room for cropping). Without a doubt, those images would have been
ruined by the distortion of the Canon 17-35 zoom they issued me.

The quality of my work has improved because I love using the cameras. Using Canon is like
flipping burgers to me. I know that thirty years from now I'll have a portfolio or a body
of work to be proud of in part because it wasn't limited by the optics or my lackluster
attitude when I have to use plastic equipment.

Absolutely, it's an attitude thing for me. With a Leica between my fingers I feel like an
artist (even if the images don't bear that out). Mark Avery and me were talking about that
communion between photographer and equipment--he's also becoming disillusioned with his
Canon gear--and we agreed that it's something very hard to explain, something that
outsiders (like photo editors with limited field experience) would have difficulty
understanding.

And Harrison--give the R8 a break!! Right now there are two brand-new EOS 3's on our lab
manager's desk waiting to go back for electrical problems. It's not just the R8 (that
said, I have to send mine in 'cause the sync plug ain't working). And speaking of the EOS
3, at least you don't have to buy a sync-plug adapter for the R8 to avoid blowing out the
circuitry like is required for the EOS 3.

Sure, on average Nikon and Canon might be a bit more reliable than the R cameras. But I
can't rely on lenses from those systems to produce the best possible results, either.

Dave Y.

>

>

>
>
> >Why do professionals rarely use Leicas?  Well the reason is NOT that so many
> >non-professionals do so!  This is where I can merely say...nothing.
>
> lugnuts (professionals or not):
>
> can you say, concisely, why you do use leica? what is it exactly about
> these cameras that appeals to you? let's try to avoid the hyperbole of the
> fanatic devotee and explain why we choose this camera over another.
>
> guy
>
> --