Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/05/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Last night, during the American Masters documentary on Robert Capa, the comment was made that in the 30s, Capa and folks like him were excited by, and experimenting with, the new 35 mm photo technology and the new possibilities it offered. I was particularly struck by that, and thought - - why was that transition really any different from the present transition between film and digital? And don't respond by telling me that the transition from film to digital represents a deterioration, because when you think about it, that's also precisely what the switch to 35 from 4x5 represented. But what the advent of the 35 mm camera - the Leica - gave people was a way to carry light-weight equipment and shoot quickly, which they hadn't been able to do previously. Yes, the digital SLRs are big and comparatively heavy - but not that big and that heavy. And they take the concept of shooting freedom to a new level - Today is Thursday - Tuesday I got a phone call from an editor at a Brazilian high-tech mag asking if I could provide a portrait of an MIT professor - and get it to them by end of day today as a digital file. The prof was available at noon today. I shot him, drove home, downloaded the images to the computer, produced a Photoshop web page of 12 images, and had the images up on the web for the Brazilians to choose from by 1 p.m. They then made a selection and gave me the dimensions and their FTP address, and they had a final image from me by three p.m. - just three hours after the shoot - (and during the three hours I also had a doctor's appointment and ran a couple of errands.) Oh - and Tuesday I spent shooting for a freelance story I'm doing for a major U. S. newspaper, and by 5 p.m had 90 images on the web for the photo editor to look at. Why 90 images? The editor wanted to see my entire shoot to get a feel for how I work. Would the results of both these jobs look better if shot with Ms and chrome, or Fuji color neg film? Probably. Would that difference be evident in the magazine or newspaper? No way - and I'd still be scanning the stuff from the Tuesday shoot. ;-) The point of all this? You tell me. ;-) - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of eric korenman Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 4:04 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: RE: [Leica] Slightly OT: C-41 b&w films Yup - my experience exactly. Although XP2 can yield an interesting grainy look when you want it. TCN skin tones are always creamy smooth and zero grain (well - dye clouds, but y'know what I mean). Any opinions on shooting TCN 400 at 250? Eric >From: "Jeffery Smith" <jsmith@dcc.edu> >Reply-To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us >To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> >Subject: RE: [Leica] Slightly OT: C-41 b&w films >Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 14:46:07 -0500 > >Let me just barge in here <g>. XP2 is susceptible to blown highlights >when shot at 400. If you rate it lower, it blows them out even worse. >If you rate it higher, it looks grainier. T400CN seems to be less >likely to do this. > >Jeffery > >-----Original Message----- >From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us >[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Rolfe >Tessem >Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 2:03 PM >To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us >Subject: Re: [Leica] Slightly OT: C-41 b&w films > > >Ernest Nitka wrote: > > Oliver > > As others have said the XP2 just doesn't cut it anymore. > ><snip> > >Ernie, > >What problems have you had with XP2 that lead you to that conclusion? > >Rolfe > >-- >Rolfe Tessem | Lucky Duck Productions, Inc. >rolfe@ldp.com | 96 Morton Street >(212) 463-0029 | New York, Ny 10014 > >-- >To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > >-- >To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html