[Leica] 50mm lenses should be compulsory.

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Neil Beddoe offered:
Subject: [Leica] 50mm lenses should be compulsory.


> When I bought my M6, it had a 50mm Summicron on it so for six months, any
> Leica shots I did were done with a standard lens.  Gear freakery soon took
> over and I bought a 35mm and a 90mm. When I went through my negs recently,
I
> noticed that the shots from this "50mm or nothing" period are better than
> the later ones<<<<<<<<<

Hi Neil,
Some of us learn this eventually. :-) Despite all the lenses lying around
and confessing "I need everyone of them!"

The bottom line is, it's the photographers eye that counts first, any lens
just records what you see. If one has all the money in the world to purchase
every Leica lens, that isn't going to make them a good photographer. If you
don't see it first, the lens isn't going to put it there.

A couple of years ago we did a week shoot for a Leica seminar presentation.
"Vancouver on 50mm's a day." One 50, a Noctilux on an M6. And a Summilux 1.4
on the R8 and it was surprising how interesting the photography evolved each
day hunting with only one lens. It became a sort of 50mm stare! ;-)

The first two days were frustrating from seeing certain subjects and not
being able to capture with what we might do with a 200 or longer or wider.

However, it made one take extra time to seek the best picture out of the
400mm subject, walking closer, composing better. Using the Noctilux as a
macro lens? Those who own them will automatically say...... "a Noctilux
doesn't focus close enough to be a macro!" Trust me, I know only too well.
;-)

However, go wide open, get as close as you can, say to a bouquet of flowers,
then focus on the nearest blossom and the effect is "very macro looking."
;-) See it's "macro looking!" Not necessarily a "macro" photograph as we'd
have with a 100mm on an R8.

It's a simple and interesting seeing-shooting project for oneself on
occasion, kind of pulls your "seeing chain tight" as a re-minder  we all
have to see first and make the lens work for us and not just reach closer or
go wider.

ted