[Leica] M is to EOS as silver is to digital

["Jonathan Borden" <jborden@mediaone.net>]

Mike Johnston wrote:
> Again, I'd like to suggest that there may be a way the LUG can actually
> help Leica. Why not draft a resolution in support of Herr Cohn and
> articulating your love and support of classic Leica photography? A LUG
> Manifesto. You could start a program whereby Luggers offer to help
> younger photographers by showing them your Ms and showing them how to
> use them, letting them shoot a roll or two, whether in your presence or
> not. You could visit photography schools and show kids some Leica
> equipment and talk about the lore, the legend, and the ethos of the
> camera. Pledge yourselves to helping spread the word. Put out a press
> release. Send it to all the newspapers. Heck, you've got the ear of at
> least one magazine editor right now.
>
> Why NOT do something like this? Think of all the accumulated expertise
> that is gathered on this forum, in a hundred different fields.
>
> Do something positive. This silly nattering about how everything's just
> hunky-dory as it is and nothing should ever change and anybody who uses
> any other camera is a benighted moron, none of that is constructive in
> the least; it just doesn't help your cause.
>

Why bother?: the danger is that Leica will go bankrupt and the M line will
become a collectors line only. But stop and think for a millisecond: The
danger is that silver based photography itself will become obsolete and
everything will be done via digital imaging. Perhaps this is not a bad
thing, perhaps digital really is better, perhaps AF really is better,
perhaps the EOS really is better than the M let alone the R. I for one use
all of the above, and there is indeed a role for all the above, digital,
silver, EOS, M. Stop to think where you come down on this argument, do you
prefer convenience and technological innovation or raw quality at a steep
price? For most people CDs give better sound than LPs, but for those with a
great phono, tube etc LPs beat CDs hands down. The problem is that LPs
essentially aren't available because the mass market has rushed to CDs. Has
the consumer benefited? No, the CDs are more expensive, despite being
cheaper to produce. So who has won, the consumer or the producer? This will
happen with photography: digital will be cheaper to produce but more
expensive to buy and operate. (Last time I looked commercial Lightjet prints
were no bargain). Those 0.1% interested in the highest quality will suffer.

my 2p

Jonathan Borden