Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/08/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Right on - so to speak...If you have the eye, obviously working with the "right tools" will improve your end product. No arguement what so ever. The only point I have repeatedly tried to make on this subject is that the eye is far more important than the gear. As you say, put great gear together with a great eye, and get out of the way....But remember, what is great gear for one great eye isn't necessarily for another.... A former member of this list recently spent a week taking a workshop with Eugene Richards, described by many as his generation's Gene Smith, etc. etc. Richard uses an Olympus OM3 - and a Canon F-1 - which he told those in the workshop is constantly breaking down (the Olympus, not the Canon), because that way he can use the Olympus 21 f 2 lens. The subject of Leicas came up and Richards apparently sighed and said that the M and M lenses are absolutely magnificent, and he wishes he could use them, because they would fit is style perfectly. But he can't, he explained, because he simply can't focus a rangefinder accurately - his eyes just won't do it. So he uses the equipment that works best for him. B. D. B. D. Don Dory wrote: > > There is a flip side to this. Take someone starting out with a good eye and > mediocre equipment and give them first rate glass and please step out of the > way. When I was teaching a B&W class I loaned an SL/50Cron to one of my > students whose camera had died. What he turned in for his final project was > simply stunning. It wasn't just that the images were sharper, it was that > he seemed to meld with the equipment and his vision expanded. > > So, yes a very talented photographer can make most junk create wonderful > images, and great gear won't turn average eyes into Abel, but in the middle > group of talented people great gear can expand the vision especially if that > gear fits the working style of the photographer. > > more pfennigs into the fire > > Don > dorysrus@mindspring.com