Re: [Leica] lower classes don't use leicas?

["Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@hotmail.com>]

Tarek writes:

> If I understand you correctly, you use
> Nikon for professional work and Leica for
> your (p)leisure?

For the most part, yes.  The need to manually adjust a camera for each shot is
slow and error-prone, and for many types of work this is unacceptable.  The
limited conditions under which a Leica can take photos (shutter speeds, for
example) are another problem.  The lack of speedy service is also a potential
problem, although Leica gear is generally reliable enough and simple enough that
I should be very surprised if it failed at a critical moment (but if I were
truly working against a deadline, this risk would be enough to exclude Leica).

A Leica is much more useful for exterior portraits, some types of journalistic
work that do not involve time constraints, and street photography where
simplicity and discretion are important (but time is not).

Overall, Leica cameras are a pleasure to use and they are optically second to
none, but these do not outweigh their disadvantages for most professional work.
The exception is freelance "on spec" photography without time or performance
constraints, such as that of HCB and other famous Leica photographers.  At one
time Leica was the leader in photojournalism, but that was before SLRs came to
offer superior performance for PJ use; if it were not for SLR competiton, of
course, M rangefinders would still be the leaders (they are certainly
improvements over Speed Graphics).