Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Alistair Stewart: >>>the last pre-asph 35 'cron or lux is so much more handy. the 'cron does it all unless you NEED very slow films for big enalrgements with fine detail at the edges to be compared to the same shot with an asph. Otherwise, the last non-asph 'cron has some advantages of size, cost, and a little weight.<<< I totally agree with Alistair. The M6 "classic" (that's got to be the ultimate redundancy!) with the last pre-ASPH 35mm Summicron WELDED to it (i.e., it is not an interchangeable-lens camera, it is a fixed-lens camera that courteously allows you to choose which lens to use <s>)... (Since a few LUGgers seem to tend to take things literally, let me point out that I mean the bit about the welding figuratively...I mean put the lens on the camera and leave it there...) ...but to resume, I think the M6 classic with the last pre-ASPH 35mm Summicron on it is as close to the perfect photographic device as has ever been invented for use by man. At the risk of appearing self-aggrandizing, let me repeat what I wrote for the "25 Best Cameras" list in _PT_ in 1997 (I realize you WILL forgive me, since it is really LEICA-aggrandizing <s>): >>> Most people these days buy cameras off the spec sheet and the feature list. Not counting setup parameters such as loading and rewinding the film, attaching the lens, and setting the ISO speed, the Leica M6 has precisely six operating controls on the camera. (You may have to read that again: it did say six.) Namely, the film-advance lever, the focusing ring, the aperture ring, the shutter speed dial, and the shutter release. That’s five. The sixth is a little lever that allows you to preview the viewfinder frames for other lenses when they’re not on the camera. We know. That sixth feature, although convenient, isn’t absolutely necessary. Leica went nuts. In an era when a leading AF SLR may have sixty controls and a more powerful CPU than an early personal computer, there is something to be said for simplicity and directness. You always know where you stand with an M6: it is supremely unconfusing. Each control is mechanical, and each knob, button or lever is given only one unambiguous function. The M6 never second-guesses you, it never thinks on its own, and it never obstructs you or gets in the way. You always know exactly what it’s doing. And it does just exactly what you tell it to—no more, no less—very quietly, and very quickly. There’s more, of course. The camera is completely mechanical. It’s extremely overbuilt and understressed; the shutter, which fills most of the body cavity, is one of the most reliable and durable ever made. To its devotees, handling the camera is something to be practiced, as a violinist might practice that instrument. Nothing else will do. Like a classic wooden view camera and virtually alone among small hand cameras, an M6 can truly be a camera for life. <<< I would add that the 35mm Summicron (I prefer the pre-ASPH; others may well like the ASPH better especially if they often shoot at f/2 and f/2.8) makes the perfect companion piece for the camera. Let me propose a few reasons why: 1. It is the most natural focal length for the finder, using most of it while still allowing you to see around the edges. And it minimizes the inherent inaccuracy of the framelines, since 35mm shots typically contain more "air" and can better survive being less tightly organized. 2. Being a WA, it allows you to get "up close and personal" with your subject, while still being moderate enough to provide a near-normal perspective and avoid the more egregious WA distortion. 3. The handling of the lens on the camera is superlative. It is just the right size, balance, and weight, has the smallest hood, and the best placement of the focusing tab. We should remember that although the 50mm retains its historical reputation as the "standard" lens, the need for a wider standard evolved organically and changed the camera's basic design: the M2 was so popular that its finder magnification was adopted for the M4 and subsequent cameras. The 50mm is, in fact, NOT the standard lens for the camera--if it was, the M3's .9 finder would still be the norm. (I won't get into my opinions on the HM.) The 35mm is the _de facto_ standard. 4. It is the best and easiest lens to learn to pre-focus. This skill is one of the keys to using a Leica well. To recap for those few lurkers who may not already know this (most LUGgers practice this, I'm sure), it is simply to look at the distance to the object you wish to focus on and set the focus on the camera by feel, without having the camera to your eye and without using the rangefinder. Push the tab all the way to the right [directions relative to behind the camera of course] and you're on infinity; place the tab pointing directly down, and you're focused at about five feet. In between those positions, you can learn to eye the distance and set the tab for the focus that is proper for that distance. I did it by first shoving the focus to infinity, then getting the "feel" for how far I should pull it back based on what my eyes were looking at. If you practice this every night for five minutes in your living room, you get very good at it very quickly. Then, as you walk around looking at the world with your M, you can automatically change the focus continuously for whatever happens to catch your eye. Without ever holding the camera to your eye, you are always ready for a quick grab shot. And again, the slight WA focal length aids you here, by covering up errors with its more generous d.o.f. It is perfectly practical to use an M6 / 35 'Cron combo all day without ONCE ever referring to the light meter diodes or the rangefinder patch. In fact, I would go so far as to say that any photographer who carefully meters and focuses every single shot is simply not using the Leica correctly. 5. It is optically pretty, at least stopped down in daylight. In our articles on "bokeh" in 1997 (I personally must take credit for inventing that now-common westernized spelling, since standard romanized transliteration of the Japanese word for "blur" is "bo-ke" or boke, which I felt was too readily mispronounced), we called it "the King of Bokeh." It's far from a perfect lens, but its flaws are, shall we say, amenable, and its good qualities are very pleasing indeed. Despite the nearly Universal prejudice these days, I don't think Leicas are about good lenses; I think their advantage is mainly in the camera, in its handling, responsiveness, portability, quietness, and in its potential to be mastered. You can find sharp lenses under any flat rock (note to the literalists: figure of speech again). Only the Leica allows such a responsive and controllable camera with lenses that are perfectly good enough. Conclusion: All in all, you can do more, better with a 35mm Summicron on the camera than any other for general photography. With this as an 80% lens, you can add as a 20% lens a 90mm* (if you mainly work outdoors) or the wonderful 75mm (if you do a lot of low light and/or like portraits, and don't mind the awful framelines), and you will have an outfit with which you can do almost anything worth doing with a rangefinder, by which I personally mean, most anything worth doing with a 35mm camera. (Although some photographers, such as Dan Cardish and Ralph Gibson, will reverse those percentages.) Just my opinion, mind you. - --Mike *Although some photographers, such as Dan Cardish and Ralph Gibson, will reverse those percentages, using a 90mm 80% of the time and some other lens or lenses the other 20%. Gibson sometimes goes out armed with only a 90mm. P.S. It is also my opinion--not shared by many on the LUG, I fear--that the fewer lenses you have, the better. If you can get away with one, my hat's off to you; if two, you're in good shape; three (perhaps by adding a 21mm or 24mm to the above set ) and you're on the verge of lens-change inertia and confusion; four or more and you either need more bodies, or you're just not likely to find it easy to photograph in the direct, reflexive, travellin'-light fashion that is the Leica's reason for being. IMHO.