Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/07/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Welcome back, Erwin! :) Art Peterson - ----Original Message Follows---- From: Erwin Puts <imxputs@knoware.nl> Reply-To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Subject: [Leica] Rotring pencil Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 14:30:28 +0200 My book is finally off to the printer, and after having been shut off from the world during the last six months, I have to say that a prolongued detachment from habits is quite refreshing. I stepped into the Lug when Jim B, acurate as usual, notes that some Leica users prefer to cherish their own views and perceptions above a search for true facts about Leica and/or Leica technique and that the Lug is recycling the same content too often. It is dangerous to make reliable statements here as we must note, that the Lug may be a collection of 700-odd persons, but 95% of those that are on the list, never have said a word in the public space. The 20-odd persons, who are filling our mail boxes, represent 20 views, no more no less. On the total of let us assume 200.000 active Leica users all over the world, this is a tiny fraction, statistically at least. The Leica booth at Arles this year, has been visited by a multitude of this quantity. From a perspective of information content and value, one week in Arles is worth more than two years at the Lug. A sobering view, indeed! The heading now. I allowed myself to buy a propelling pencil of the marque of Rotring, the equivalent of Leica in the world of pencils and fountain pens. It is standard equipment of engineers and other people who have to make sketches and accurate drawings. One pencil costs more than a inkjet printer and does only one thing: it draws lines on a piece of paper. But it is of exquisite engineering, superb feeling and ergonomics, it has style and elegance and craftsmanship. You can make art with such a pencil and a highly accurate drawing, like a lens design. Using such a drawing instrument, fills you with confidence and forces you to do the best you can. You owe it the instrument to become a master. Anyone can sense the analogy with Leica photography. The Leica is a photographic instrument and it would be very supportive of the camera and its lenses if we, serious students and users of leica equipment, would share information that enhances the use and quality of the results. And have an open mnd to true facts. did you know that the humble Minox lens is closer to diffraction limited optical quality than many a Leica lens. Why then can we not see this in Minox pictures. Because there is more to real mage quality than just a list of qualifications. The new Contax SLR with AF will generate zillions of emails on the Lug, that the leica company is in serious danger, that the management has missed an opportunity, that now the R8 is a dead duck,etc. The only reliable information (sales figures) is not yet available, so this topic is dead before it even has started. We, the leica users, have made a conscious decision to buy into the various Leica systems, after weighting the evidence and this decision has been made while Nikon, Canon etc offer outstanding AF models and still we choose an M or R. So what is the relevance of a new Contax AF for that decision to our use of the camera. (Let the Leica managers study the strategic impact (if any)). None at all: do we enjoy our camera less? If so, you should have bought one of many AF models. Will our pictures be a lesser quality? No, because they would be of the same quality as before. Like the Rotring pencil, an instrument is selected for its intrinsic worth and value, not compared to any other instrument. After thirteen years of conscious Leica photography and seven years of dedicated testing and trying to find the optimum imaging chain for the Leica, I have to confess that I am not even halfway on my road to image quality, at least as I perceive this. The quest for image quality and satisfaction of use would be high on my topic list for the Lug. If I need to study the competition, I know of more rewarding venues and if I need management info about the company or its strategy, the comments on the Lug are a bit thin. I find the trend to digital printing disconcerting as it is easy to calculate that the potential image quality of a leica lens is in jeopardy when being handled digitally. It might be satisfactory for commercial or personal use, no doubt and there is no argumant against the digital print. If I read here and elsewhere that Leica is selected because of its optical potential, there is certain contradiction here. It would make a most rewarding discussion if we could find and describe the borderline cases and the real limits of image degradation by digital printing or in a positive approach, how to maximise the leica quality. Such a topic would transgress the eternal and often pointless discussion about the use of filters. Erwin ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com